Life in the fast lane.

Guess what, guys.

While I took my sweet time writing these Spain recaps, life kept on truckin' and a lot more things happened. I mean, a lot. Wheat and I just got home from a dreamy weekend trip to Denver, but before I launch into that, here is a quick recap of the last couple months.

Jenn took me to Columbus to see My Favorite Murder live. For those who don't know, MFM is a podcast where two comedians (Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark) tell true crime/murder stories to each other. Somehow, Jenn lucked into tickets in the second row(!) and we had an absolute blast listening to them discuss the "Angel of Death" Donald Harvey and the Circleville Letter Writer at the Palace Theater. We also used the trip as an opportunity to see TJ and Tasha, get Jeni's ice cream, and meet Todd for delicious pizza at Paulie Gee's. Dream scenario.

Wheat and I celebrated Valentine's Day at White Castle. When every day feels like Valentine's Day, it's not a big deal how you celebrate. So this year, we made reservations at White Castle and it might just become an annual tradition. Every booth in the dimly lit dining room had a tablecloth, fake candle, and flowers. Waiters actually took your order at the table from menus with specialty items like chocolate-covered strawberry shakes. Our food was served with silverware and the bill came out in a Valentine's Day card signed by the staff. Perfectly cheesy.

Plays and events galore. In the last couple months, Wheat and I have seen Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at Clowes Memorial Hall, Les Miserables at the Murat, and a moderated conversation with my queen Michelle Obama at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. All were incredible - need I say more?

We spent a couple wonderful weekends in Ohio during which I had an amazing girls' night in Over-the-Rhine with Jamie, Jenn, Elizabeth, and Kelly. We had alcoholic ice cream at Buzzed Bull Creamery, played some video games at 16 Bit, ate amazing gourmet hot dogs at Senate (the one below is the Lindsay Lohan), and played Yahtzee at Rook. My heart feels so full when I spend time with those girls. We also babysat Scarlett and got lunch at Little River Cafe with my mom and brother.

We took a quick trip to Nashville to see Wheat's parents...and by quick, I mean 24 hours. We stayed with some family friends, attended some other family friends' party, checked out the 12South neighborhood, and ate some barbecue, of course.

...and other things, too. The Eagles won the Super Bowl and March Madness broke our hearts and brackets. Jenn and Kenzie stayed the night with us on their way to St. Louis and we got pedicures and played the Sims. The weather pretended to warm up, then snowed, then warmed up, then snowed. Music competition reality shows nearly drove me into the ground with the return of The Voice and American Idol. Wheat and I met Jason Douglas (Tobin from The Walking Dead) at an Indy Fuel hockey game and he gave us a restaurant suggestion for our trip to Atlanta this summer.

It's been a lot, but it's also been really, really good. I hope this life never slows down.

She's a wild one.

A full month ago (**world's worst blogger award**), my niece turned one and we celebrated with a precious birthday party at Elizabeth's parents' house. The party had a 'wild one' theme and the decor and Scarlett's outfit were too cute for words. I mean, look at the skirt that Elizabeth made for the woman of the hour.

We socialized, watched Scarlett "open" presents, and begged her to smash a massive cupcake into her face, which she basically refused to do. Instead, she picked sprinkles off one-by-one and ate them like a real lady. It took some serious convincing and someone physically pressing the cupcake into her face for her to finally get started.

Oh, do you remember Jagger, the boy baby racer that befriended Scarlett at the Pacers game? He (aka his parents) gave us a birthday present to give to Scarlett! Since he "won" the race, their prize was a cart full of baby items from Kroger and they decided to give the girly things to Scarlett with a note thanking her for keeping him company at the start line. How cute is that?

After the birthday party, Wheat and I met Jenn, Paul, Kenzie, and Zoey at Liberty Center for dinner. I hadn't been to the new-ish outdoor shopping center before and I was absolutely blown away by it. There was an impressive variety of stores and restaurants and the design of the public space had me asking myself, "This is Ohio?" A highlight for me was the amazing toy train track set up in the central park area. I could have watched it for hours.

That was convenient because we had to wait two hours to get a table at Pies & Pints, but the food was actually worth it. We split an order of pizza skins (do I need to say anything more than mashed potato pizza?) and I drooled my way through the chicken gouda pizza. Needless to say, we'll definitely be back to sample some more.

23 Days!

It doesn't seem possible, but my best friend is getting married in 23 days. As in, a little over three weeks.

It feels like yesterday that we celebrated her engagement with a surprise party in our hometown, but it was actually a year and a half ago. Time flies when you're so busy you can barely breathe.

Speaking of time flying, her bridal shower was at the end of July...and I still haven't blogged about it. Forgive me, blog gods, for I have sinned.

The bridal shower, which was hosted by her mom, sister, and aunt, was absolutely perfect. They rented out a beautiful community space at her aunt's apartment complex and transformed it into girly, bridal shower heaven. Balloons, pictures, a mimosa bar, more food than you can imagine, the works.

I felt particularly special because I had the distinct honor of delivering the woman of the hour to her own party. We played games, including a hilarious one where we wrote a story about Jenn and Paul with each guest adding a sentence after only reading the one immediately preceding theirs. We ate tons of food - I set up shop near the brownies and lemon bars. Jenn opened gifts, which included, but was not limited to, a whip and handcuffs from her future mother-in-law. It was a blast.

At this point, Jenn's family has basically become mine, so it was wonderful to catch up with them and celebrate one of our favorite people together. Several of our college housemates were there, as well as a couple dear friends from high school, and I left wondering why there aren't more perfect opportunities to gather all your close friends together and party in the middle of a Sunday afternoon. Oh, and my precious niece was there, so it was a real party.

Am I the only one that thinks Jenn looked gorgeous enough in that white dress that it could pass as her actual wedding dress? I can't wait to share pictures of her in the real thing because it's AH-MAZ-ING.

I should probably start blogging about my wedding.

Guys, I think I've committed the ultimate blogging sin.

I haven't blogged about my wedding yet...and I've officially let five months pass. Yikes.

Unfortunately, this means I've already forgotten some of the special details of the week's events. However, it also means that I have my professional photos back and can talk about the weekend with some hindsight and perhaps even a little wedding wisdom. So, without further ado, I'll start at the beginning.

Wheat and I left Indianapolis after work on the Wednesday before our Saturday nuptials. We somehow packed everything we needed into one car and headed to Ohio, where I spent the evening with my family while Wheat worked the Pacers' season opener. On Thursday, we ran some wedding-related errands, including picking up tuxes and getting our marriage license at the gorgeous Butler County Courthouse in Hamilton.

The process was pretty quick and painless, but I did cringe a bit when the probate court clerk asked us if we were first cousins. Apparently, you're allowed to marry your second cousin in Ohio. Inquiring minds wanted to know. She also told us some interesting stories about people applying for marriage licenses when they are clearly out of their minds on drugs. I don't envy her the job of turning those people away one bit.

From there, we stopped at the Hampton Inn (the hotel where we blocked rooms) to spend some time with Wheat's family. That night, we got dinner at a nearby Rooster's with some of my extended family members who were in town early. Oh, and my Grandmom and Grandpop officially welcomed Wheat into the family with some old-school Bengals helmet hats. Who-Dey?!

On Friday afternoon, my mom and I met my six bridesmaids at Eden Nails (which has sadly since closed due to a fire) to get manicures and pedicures as part of their gift from me. I also gave them the other part of their gift, matching pink-and-white striped flip-flops with their name and role in the wedding emblazoned on them. It was so great to spend some quality time with my best friends before the chaos began and I can't recommend a pedicure enough as the perfect way to relax before your wedding.

In an effort to make these recaps a little easier, I'm going to break here.

Next Up: Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner!

A baby is coming and I can't contain myself.

As usual, Wheat and I spent our weekend in the state of Ohio. Maybe we should just move there and make things easier on our ourselves. Aside from the boring commute, we had a wonderful time indulging in all things home. Friday night, we decided to take it easy and enjoyed pizza, college basketball, and a bonfire at my brother's place. In full disclosure, I probably spent more time in the nursery, tearing up over all the baby shoes and onesies. How am I expected to handle the cuteness?

For Christmas, my brother gave me a coupon for four tickets to a Cyclones game. So, when Wheat finished working his away game, we piled in the car and headed down to US Bank Arena for their matchup against the Quad City Mallards. If you're confused about where Quad Cities is, you're not alone (it's Illinois and Iowa for the record). It was the first time I've been to a Cyclones game since I interned there a couple seasons ago and I'll be honest - it felt nice not to have a deadline after the final buzzer. It also happened to be Pucks and Pups night, so we had the added bonus of giggling over dogs between periods of play.

Somehow, we nabbed seats in the lower level and our ticket package even came with free t-shirts. Although the Cyclones lost, 3-2, we still had an awesome time. There was a wiener dog race during the first intermission and the only thing I can think of that's cuter than dogs desperately sliding on ice is a baby taking a short snooze during a baby race. If you're having a bad day, watch this video.



The next afternoon, my mom and I attended Elizabeth's second baby shower, which was hosted by her cousin and aunt. It was held upstairs at Royce Cafe, a precious, quaint cafe that I'd never noticed before in my hometown. The space was gorgeous - decorated with bright colors, antique furniture, and upside-down umbrellas hanging from the ceiling. The light appetizers, which included chicken salad in croissant boats, meatballs, and strawberry and cream cheese bites, were only surpassed by the cupcakes and cookies for dessert. We received incredible-smelling, locally made bars of soap as party favors and played baby-themed bingo.

We also played a few awesome guessing games - one where we had to guess the baby food flavor (Jenn won that, even though I taste-tested them) and another where we had to guess which melted candy bar made the mess in the diaper. I'm only slighted ashamed to admit that I got all of those right. It was wonderful to meet so many of Elizabeth's family members and watch her open such great gifts for Scarlett. They're going to have to change her five times a day in order for her to wear every outfit she has received. Of course, I contributed to the problem, but I couldn't stop myself from buying her a shirt that says 'The COOL AUNT gave me this.' Sorry I'm not sorry, Jamie.

As we get closer and closer to the due date, I get more and more excited. I absolutely cannot wait to be aunt (and Wheat's going to make a pretty killer uncle, by the way) and I feel so very lucky to have Elizabeth in my life. Over the last couple years, she has honestly become like a sister to me. Whether it's a heated text conversation about The Bachelor, a quick trim of my bangs, or ziplining in Las Vegas, we've already made some special memories together and I can't wait to share in the next exciting chapter. LP sure knows how to pick 'em...