Cars and Art

Tuesday of the Family Reunion was for Indianapolis field trips.  One of my nephews couldn't decide between the Indy Speedway and the Art Museum, so John and I figured we could take him to both.  We went to the Speedway in the morning with the big group.  There were 24 of us, so we got a whole tour bus to ourselves. 

John and I had been there before, but this time we did the big tour, which meant we got to get out on the track, and actually go into some of the buildings.  It was much cooler.  

Nephews by the bricks

Dad and Uncles in front of the pagoda

Thomas and me posing by the trophy

After the tour, everyone else spent some time at the museum, but we split off for a quick lunch and then headed to the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

First, we wandered around the Hundred Acre Park, because I wanted to see the Funky Bones.  

jumping off the ribs!  

On the way back, we saw all these signs, which I thought were pretty cool.  First, I wanted to stand by the human sign.  I'm apparently also "natural" and a "thing."  So many signs!

Then John made me stand by the pretty sign.  I didn't feel particularly pretty on such a hot day, but I'll take the compliment!

Anyway, it was a fun day.  If you're ever in Indy, I'd recommend you check out both the speedway and the art museum!

Top: Gap
Shorts: Old Navy (exact)
Shoes: Sperry (exact)
Purse: Dooney & Bourke (exact)

Junkstock (aka Not Festival Style, Pt 2)

Have you ever heard of Junkstock?  Well, I hadn't until I was invited to go with a group of friends on Saturday.  It's basically a little antique festival in a field.  I'm not super into antiques, but it was still fun to hang out with friends and look around at all the crazy stuff.  It's amazing to me how much they charge for stuff that I could have just scavenged from my grandpa's farm 15 years ago.  But that was before Pinterest taught us all how to do crazy DIY projects and decorate our homes with refashioned junk.  Here are some random things I took pictures of:

My new arrow tattoo.  Just kidding - it's the entry stamp!  A silver tea set.  Kansas earrings that I probably would have bought if I didn't have sensitive ears.  And a Hershey cocoa tin robot, because obviously.  

    

I was very tempted to buy the Mrs. & Smith pendants.  They are from an old friendship quilt, but were $20 each.  Too expensive.  Buckets with numbers on them!  Charming Bible stories - I am curious how they are different from regular Bible stories.  And tea light candle towers that I think I could probably manage to make myself!  Maybe someday...

I only bought 2 things:  a bottle of water and a sno cone.  Because I have priorities!  

sno cone buddies

Oh, and I even remembered to get an outfit photo by the windmill!  Very simple outfit for trekking around the antique shops.  I should have worn older shoes, because it was super muddy!  My Chucks have a little more character now.  

I'm afraid the background of this picture just reinforces all the stereotypes about Nebraska.  I promise I really do live in a city!

Top: Old Navy (similar, similar)
Shorts: Gap (similar, similar, similar)
Shoes: Converse (similar)
Purse: Dooney & Bourke (exact)

Not Festival Style

 

On Saturday, John and I went to Lincoln to see Ben Folds.  It was an outdoor concert - definitely not a "festival,"  but many of the other attendees were in full on festival style mode.  This is not a style that I participate in (oops, I forgot to wear a bikini top and a maxi skirt and a flower crown!).  Rather I was in full on prep-tastic mode:   

I didn't take any official outfit photos, so here's a little PolyVore set to give the full effect. 

In hindsight, I would have worn jeans because my legs got a little cold, and sitting in the grass was kind of itchy.  I also would have brought an extra jacket to sit on.  And probably worn shoes that I was less concerned about getting muddy.  But whatever.  It was fine. 



Ben Folds was fantastic, as usual.  As I've mentioned, I've seen him several times ( I think 12 or 13?) over the past 10 years.   In 2004, it was just him and his piano.  Every other time, he's had a band with him.  This time it was just the piano again.  Honestly, it's great either way.  And he did a little drum solo randomly in the middle of the show. 

The crowd was a little lackluster, but I have unreasonably high standards for who should go to concerts.  Like, if you don't know all the lyrics to all the songs, just STAY HOME and leave room for the real fans!  I'm kind of kidding, but not as much as I should be.  But Ben Folds has several songs that require audience participation, and it's really cool if the crowd is in the know.  It's kind of awkward if no one else around you is singing the trumpet parts.  Also, if you are going to hold up a stupid sign (that blocks everyone behind you) letting him know you will also be at the Kansas City concert, I'm going to harbor negative feelings towards you.  Hypothetically, of course.   

Anyway, there's my not-at-all-festival-style post for the summer.  I'll probably be wearing not festival style a lot.  Like all the time.  So if you need any not festival style inspiration, you're in the right place. 

You're welcome. 

Exciting Shopping News

In the past couple of weeks, I've heard 2 very exciting things about the shopping situation in Omaha.

1. The outlet mall between Omaha and Lincoln is being completely revamped, and will actually be pretty legit.  I've heard rumors of Gap, Loft, J.Crew, and other favorites.  The mall opens in November, so I need to save my pennies! 
2. H&M is coming to Omaha!!!  Opening in Spring 2014, so I have to be patient, but it will be worth the wait.  

Omaha is really upping the retail game with these changes.  This will greatly reduce my desire to shop when I am on vacation in "real cities" AND I'll get to hit up the J.Crew outlet to actually try stuff on instead of ordering online and just hoping it fits right!  

It's the little things in life, right?   

Dress: Gibson&Latimer
Jacket: Izod
Purse: Dooney&Bourke
Sandals: Love Culture

**I realize I should have written about this with an outfit actually containing J.Crew Factory and H&M items.

Geometry and Botanical Gardens

Today I am killing two birds with one stone!  It is Third Thursday Threads time, and Bri really stumped me this month with Geometric Prints.  After being out of town over the weekend, and then just generally uninspired this week, I was going to pass.  Then I started organizing my St. Louis pictures and realized this tank top is perfect!  Weird shapes are totally geometric!  

Anyway, these pictures are from Saturday at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  This is the #1 item on TripAdvisor's list of things to do in St. Louis, and I am so glad we spent the afternoon there.  I'd definitely recommend it!  I imagine it is even more beautiful in the spring, so I'll have to go again sometime!  

Top: Gap
Shorts: J.Crew Factory
Purse: Dooney & Bourke
Sandals: Havaianas

Root Root Root for the Cardinals

After a loss on Saturday, we were pretty excited to see them win on Sunday afternoon.  Again, it was a beautiful day for baseball.  We had great seats and were actually in the shade for most of the game!

View from our seats

View in the other direction

I'm pretty much the only adult woman who keeps a scorecard during the game.  It helps me pay attention!  

*and now you know how terrible my handwriting is!

I got a little worried in the 6th inning, but the Cards stepped up and took care of business for the win!  

Happy with the win!

Now I just hope they can get back on track for the postseason!  Another World Series would sure be fun!

Meet Me in St. Louie

 

As I mentioned yesterday, John and I drove to St. Louis for the weekend, to meet up with my dad and go to a couple baseball games.  This is sort of a neglected tradition, so I was pretty excited that it worked out this year.  Back in 1998, my dad took my brother to St. Louis for a few games.  Middle school Andi was not cool with being left out.  The following year, my dad took me, and then it somehow turned into an annual tradition for the two of us.  I think we saw the Cardinals play every summer from 1999 until 2006.  We were able to catch them in Kansas City in 2008, but otherwise, the summers have just been too busy and we haven't had a good opportunity.  It was awesome to be back in St. Louis, and even more fun that John got to come.  Going to games with my dad is a favorite memory for me, so it was really cool to bring John into the tradition.  Plus we were able to stay with our dear friends who always hosted us back in the day!  It was so great to catch up with them and introduce them to John.  (and their kids are totally teenagers, which makes me feel old!)

Anyway, we spent Saturday afternoon at the botanical garden (but that's a whole lot of pictures, so I'll save it for another post), and then headed downtown for the game.  I wanted to go up into the Arch, but the lines were long so we skipped it.  We just went into the museum and walked around for a bit.  

I just had to take a picture of the bear for Kate

And this buffalo was just standing there, so I had to get a pic with him, too

After mostly just taking ridiculous pictures at the museum, we grabbed some dinner at Imo's Pizza and then headed to the stadium.  

It was a beautiful evening and a pretty exciting game (including 2 home runs by Matt Holliday), but the Cardinals totally blew it at the end and let the Cubs win.  So disappointing!  I'm also bummed because I forgot to get a picture of us being sad that they lost.  I was looking through my old pictures and found these ones that just make me laugh.  

2006 - in Chicago

2008 - in KC

But don't despair!  They won on Sunday, so our sadness was short-lived.