Please enjoy this photo-filled post and don't drool too much over the food.
It's been a full week since our anniversary trip, so I guess it's about time to blog about it before I forget everything. Better late than never, right? Loren and I went to Chicago for a couple days because it's been calling our names for a long time and it's not too far away from us. We had a wonderful time seeing the sights and eating delicious food and we will definitely be going back some time! Please enjoy this photo-filled post and don't drool too much over the food. Late Sunday morning, we excitedly jumped in the car and headed north! Our first stop once we got to Chicago was for deep dish pizza. SO GOOD! After lunch, we wandered around downtown, saw some sights and got a little familiar with the area.
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Loren's spring break was well spent with a trip down to see family and friends in South Carolina. I took Thursday and Friday off work, and we headed down Thursday morning hoping to make it in time for dinner. Needless to say, we got down a bit later than planned after some unexpected car iusses, but we made it safely, and are grateful for that. We spent most of our time trying out new food places, drinking coffee, and catching up with family and friends. It was so good to see everyone!!! Here is our weekend in pictures and captions: There are more pictures with other people I wish I had gotten, but we were so glad to see everyone that we did.
Thanks for a great visit, Greenville! Until next time. I know I already talked about Valentine's Day on Friday, but that was before we celebrated. This year was the best yet! Just a simple dress up romantic dinner date with lots of candles at home. I'm not a huge fan of hearts and pink and all that, but right before we ate, I decided to cut out some hearts just for this occasion. They were the perfect touch. We ended up watching a movie after dinner, and true to character, I promptly fell asleep 5 minutes into it and didn't wake up until it was over. Saturday morning Loren made me a special breakfast in bed. Some of the best pancakes I've ever eaten! After a long wait for an oil change, we headed to Cincy to see family for the weekend. The weather was so weird and windy! Sometimes snowy, sometimes sunny, yet still a beautiful drive on the country roads. Once we got the in-laws, we had a delicious dinner and played with the nieces and nephew before they went home. Sunday afternoon after church, we went bowling. It had been forever since any of us had played. Our scores weren't the greatest. Well, mine wasn't the greatest. Everyone else did just fine. But we had a blast and hope to play together again sometime soon!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend! “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain One of the items on my bucket list is it to visit every single state in the Unites States. So far I've been to 35. 15 more can't be too hard, right? Especially Alaska and Hawaii. ;) Loren traveled out west on a team during his undergrad and has most of the states I've never been to under his belt. We have visions of us going hand-in-hand to see these sights below (and so many more!!) together. San Antonio, TXThe San Antonio River Walk. I hear it's perfect for a romantic stroll. And we were so close on our trip back from TX a few weeks ago! Alas, we didn't have time to stop by. Someday. Grand Canyon, AZWe've both been here at different times, but why not experience this awesomeness together? Garden of the Gods, COI just love this wild ruggedness and want to climb all of these rocks! San Francisco, CACrazy hilly streets, historic streetcars, and of course the Golden Gate Bridge. Seattle, WASkylines. Also, the first Starbucks. 'Nuff said. Chicago, ILChicago is relatively close to us. Maybe this will be the first place we cross off the list. New York City, NYBecause shouldn't every American visit NYC at some point in their lives? I have no idea how and when we are going to go on all these adventures, but they will all happen someday. Just wait and see! Contributions to our travel funds accepted and appreciated.
Happy Friday! “We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” Jawaharial Nehru Loren and I both love to travel and explore new places. Our many road trips can attest to this! Since I grew up in Germany, I plan on someday taking him over to Europe to explore the familiar as well as new countries and places. Enjoy our list and be inspired to travel yourself! GermanyObviously, since I grew up here. As a matter of fact, just a short distance from the beautiful Heidelberg Castle. SwitzerlandAnother country near and dear to my heart. We went skiing in Switzerland almost every year growing up. My family over in Germany still goes! ItalyI've heard they have the best coffee here. And pizza. And old buildings. FranceCan't go to Europe and be real tourists without a stop in Paris! IcelandAspiring Kennedy has been to Iceland several times and has some great tips. In fact, she's been pretty much everywhere and has great tips for every country she's visited! IrelandI love breathtaking scenery. Can never get enough of God's beautiful and perfect creation! GreeceFor the strikingly blue water, pristine white building and water caves. So there you have it. Excuse me while I go dream of all of these destinations and check in tomorrow for the stateside travel dream aspirations!
As promised, here is finally my post on our recent trip to Texas. This story actually goes back to a couple months ago. My car was having several major issues. We took it in to get evaluated, and it was going to be an exorbitant amount to fix, so we started looking for a cheaper, reliable shop to possibly have the car repaired at. (Side note, if you'd like to buy a fabulous little gray Volkswagen Beetle, I could probably make that dream come true for you.) Fast forward a couple days. Loren called me on his way home from school saying that his car was making horrible noises and he hoped he would make it home. We knew it needed an oil change, so I went ahead and scheduled that appointment for him first thing the next morning, knowing that we would also get a diagnostic on what else was wrong. Turns out, he needed some immediate work done so that the car was even driveable. He went ahead and had the necessary fix done and we were set back a little further with the repairs my car needed (his car still needed other repairs). Since we both require cars to drive our separate ways to work/school, we prayed and discussed several possible solutions that would be the wisest. In the end we decided to sell my car and find a good, cheap car in the area. We didn't really know what to look for and who to trust, but we slowly started into that process anyway. Then, a few weeks ago, my sister in Mexico messaged and asked if any of us sisters stateside needed a car, as they had to buy a new one in Mexico and wanted to give away their current one. All we had to do was buy one-way flights to Texas to pick up the car, and it was ours! Talk about perfect timing! So long story short, Heather found some amazingly cheap one-way flights to TX and the next week, we found ourselves on a plane. And since we were picking up the car from Heather & Jason, naturally we got to see them and the niece and nephew. :) I was super excited for several reasons, but especially because I love flying and this was the first time I got to fly with Loren AND we were getting to see family AND we were going to take a very long road trip. Unfortunately, Heather & the kids were sick, and I didn't get very many pictures of our time with them (I really need to work on this. New Year’s Resolution?), but we still had a fantastic time seeing them. We flew down the Monday before Christmas and wanted to be back in Indy for Christmas. This meant a 23 hour road trip to get back by Christmas Eve morning. But armed with snacks, audio books, music, water, a German book for Loren to read and me to translate, and fun car games, we were up for the trip. And we made it in exactly 23 hours. The trip was actually not as hard as I thought it would be. Between the clear traffic, driver switching every 1-3 hours and activities we brought (or made up), the time flew by pretty quickly. One way we stayed motivated was taking a selfie and a picture of the road [almost] every hour. To your relief, we didn't get a picture every hour, as we didn't start till about 2 hours in and kind of tapered off when it got dark. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I will let these pictures do the talking. And that pretty sums it all up! There is so much more I could write about this, but we are SO grateful for the Lord's provision, timing and safety, as well as the generosity of family!
**I do apologize for the lower quality of pictures, courtesy of my iPad.** 2014, thank you for being a fantastic year. So many life changes and blessings were showered on us this year and here are a very few highlights for your enjoyment. January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
December And that pretty much sums up 2014. 2015, looking forward to all the fun times and growing experiences you have in store for us. Happy New Year!
Thursday morning after making apple crisp together (my inauguration into the "Crisp" family), Loren and I hopped in the car and headed to Cincinnati to spend some fun family-filled days with Loren's family. The amazing Thanksgiving dinner was celebrated with all of Loren's siblings, nieces & nephew, aunt & uncle and some cousins. We didn't actually get pictures of the food, because we were having such a blast stuffing our faces, catching up and playing games. But we did get some of some of the other action going on. Friday afternoon after recovering from late night/early morning Black Friday shopping, we headed out to Big Tree Plantation to hunt down the perfect Christmas tree for the Crisp family room. I had never been to a tree farm to chop down a Christmas tree before, and it was quite the fun experience, definitely worth doing again. And we found it! I love this man and am so thankful I get to spend these first married holidays with him! Friday evening, we celebrated Mom & Dad Crisp's 40th wedding anniversary with a special dinner, mainly prepared by Chefs Jonathan and Rachel (5 year old niece). It was delicious! Mom & Dad have done so much for us and there is no way we could thank them sufficiently, but it was fun spoiling them for the evening. Plus, we learned some new information about their sweet love story! Saturday we headed downtown Cincy for some ice skating (perfect ice skating weather!!), Graeter's ice cream and coffee with the siblings. Loren and I were going to head home Saturday night, but we were having such a blast that we didn't want to leave, so we ended up staying another night. We spent the evening celebrating Jeffrey's upcoming birthday, making cranberry and popcorn garlands for the tree, watching Elf and playing games. Sunday we went to church with the family then reluctantly headed home so Loren could get some homework done. All in all, the long weekend was a much needed refreshing break/vacation. We are so thankful for the wonderful family (on both sides!!) the Lord has given us and surely do not take them for granted.
Sometimes you just need to pack up and take a surprise visit to see your sister you miss like crazy for a weekend. So, late Friday afternoon, that’s what Loren and I spontaneously decided to do. I got home from work around 6 pm, we left around 7, and got to Crystal & Joel’s around 10:30 pm. I had texted Joel earlier about coming, but Crystal didn’t have a clue. She was putting Timothy (22 month old nephew) to bed when we rang the doorbell, so Joel answered the door, let us inside then went and told Crystal that two homeless people from Indiana were at the door and looking for somewhere to spend the night. Needless to say, she was rather surprised when she saw us! We spent the weekend touring their new house, catching up, playing with Timothy, cooking together, visiting their new church, eating and just relaxing. It was a much needed visit and I wish it could happen more often!
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