Happy Birthday!

Bryan turned 25 yesterday!

Instead of trying to find the words to express how amazing this guy is, I picked out a little "birthday" song from our favorites to commemorate his "sweetness." :)

Mass Ave and Beyond

I was looking through pictures from this summer and found the ones from the day trip that Bryan and I took around town. We dubbed it our "Explore I. Day." Everything was absolutely perfect, and that day is probably one of the best memories I have with Bryan so far. Who knew that exploring your own city could be so fun?
After breakfast at an outside cafe in Broadripple, we headed to Mass Ave. These few blocks are one of the city's fun "cultural districts" and are filled with unique shops and restaurants.
Here's the vintage silk poppy hair pin that Bryan let me buy from one of the cute boutiques. Do you like my hot model pose here? Sorry about that, completely unintended. :)
And here are our other purchases. Bryan had been dying to buy a french press, so we finally splurged. I also splurged on a fun water bottle for campus. :)
Next was lunch at an incredibly good Greek restaurant named Aesop's Tables. If I remember correctly, we got a tabbouleh wheat salad and the gyros...both were impressive.
Another fun restaurant that we want to try is the Rathskeller with its outdoor concert courtyard, The Beirgarten (featured above). If you couldn't tell by the name, it is an authentic German restaurant.:)

We also found this amazing cathedral and wanted to check out the inside. Turns out that we were just in time for Saturday mass, so we sat and listened to a very pretty song by the organist and soloist for a bit.
The best part about days like this is that there is time for lazying around and reading...one of our favorite things to do.
After trying hard to get a good picture together to commemorate the day, we finally gave up and headed to the Symphony on the Prairie. This is a summertime series of outdoor weekend concerts in Indy. The theme for that evening was music from the James Bond movies...which was fun. We met Clint and Alesa there and enjoyed the time together, the music, and the sunset.
I found out later that we are prohibited from taking videos like this, so don't tell anyone...or try to sell it.:)

My Brown Thumb

I want to be posting about my trip to CA with Kait or vacation in AR with Bry's family. However, I'm still working my way through the hundreds of pictures, so that will have to wait. In the meantime, I'd like to share my frustration with you concerning plants...

I'm coming to the realization that, although I love them, I do not have a gift with plants. In fact, I should probably just give up now, because it seems that everything I touch ends up wilting and dying. For example...

Here is the sad and patchy grass in our back yard that we worked so hard on. (you have to look hard to see it through all of the weeds)
And here is one of the front-yard transplants from my aunt that was supposed grow nice and big and shield our house from the road. I don't think it will be much help. In fact...it's quite dead and quite pathetic looking.
And last but not least, here is one of our evergreen trees that I planted last fall. I've somehow managed to transform it into an everBROWN tree...not cool. (and not cheap either)
Oh but wait...maybe there is hope. There has been green life spotted somewhere!

Yeah, too bad it's along the wall in our BASEMENT! We spilled grass seed down there at some point, and apparently the basement is the perfect ecosystem for flourishing grass. And all this time we had been trying to grow things in the yard...if only we had known!

Sigh...that's cruel irony for you.

Oh yeah, and I'm in a horticulture lab this semester. I think I will be expected to keep some plants alive. I'm a little worried...:) And what if nurturing capabilities with plants corresponds to nurturing capabilities with children?? That does not bode well for our family...