Too Much Fun

What is it about going away for a weekend or a week...or more, that makes everything seem more fun, no matter where you are?!  Coming back home is always nice, but after spending almost 5 hours on the phone yesterday trying to get the financing on my parent's house straightened out so that the contract doesn't run out yet again, well, it just isn't fun!

My recommendation to anyone out there who is listening...NEVER, sell your house to purchasers who will be using state financing, at least not in the state of Maryland!  For 5 1/2 months, we have waited to go to settlement, and in another few days our contract will once again expire, and frankly we are done!  The worst part of it all is that now 4 wheelchair bound women will be without a permanent place to live, thanks to our ever so efficient state employees.  But with broken promise after broken promise from the state, we as a family can't afford to keep waiting and not have our house on the market!

Phew, I'm glad I got that off my chest!  Now on to the fun stuff, our recent trip to Indiana.  Mr. Tide spent most of his formative years growing up in a suburb of Indianapolis, so it's the place he calls home.  His brother and his family, along with his parents still live there, as well as his closest friends.

It had been awhile since we had been out that way, so we decided to head out for a whirlwind trip to see family and to help celebrate the 50th birthday of one of his dearest friends.  We landed late in the  afternoon on Saturday, made a quick stop at his folk's house in Zionsville, and then headed out to the party, which was just a small gathering of the birthday boy's family and another friend from high school, and his wife and son.

When you marry, you gain a whole new set of friends through your spouse, and luckily for me, Mr. Tide has very good taste in friends!  And those friends in turn have had very good taste in wives, so I never turn down an opportunity to visit with any of them.  Each time we visit we normally get to see a few of his friends, but we never seem to be able to see everyone, which is always a little sad.  But hey, that just means we need to go out there more often, right?!

On Sunday, my brother and sister in law, along with one of our nieces joined us for brunch at his parent's house, which was great.  We don't see them nearly enough, and it is always fun catching up on how their lives are going.  Then on Sunday, we treated my in laws to dinner at a local restaurant not far from where they live called The Loft.

Before we headed out to Indy, I had gone online to check to see if there were any organic restaurants, and low and behold The Loft came up right near where we would be staying, so I booked a dinner reservation right then and there.  The restaurant is part of an organic dairy called Traders Point Creamery, and it is housed in the upper level of a cool barn...hence the name "the loft."  To say our food was yummy would not do it justice...not even close!  We started the meal with a cheese plate, and I have to say that both the various cheeses and the chicken casserole I had for my entree turned out to be some of the best food I've eaten outside of France!  Next time we'll be sure to save room for some of their organic ice cream!  So if you live near The Loft, I highly recommend it!  Yes, it's a little pricey, but for me, it was worth every penny! 

On Monday, I took my poor in laws on a bit of a wild goose chase looking for a good pair of walking shoes.  I had done some reading online and had found some recommendations for shoes that seemed to suit my needs, and since we live in the boondocks, being near a major city meant I could visit a few shoe stores to find what I was looking for.

After a few misses, one store was closed the day before, and when we did get there it was not what we were expecting and only sold inserts, we decided to just browse around the area and pop into a few little shops...always my favorite thing to do!

I don't know if it's because I grew up in a rural area, so no malls...even now our closest decent mall is almost 2 hours away...but I just love small privately owned stores!  Oliver's Twist is one of those cute little shops that I would frequent if I lived closer.  Just look at their window with all of the vintage typewriters!  As a writer and now a photographer, I am instantly drawn to vintage cameras and typewriters, so I knew that I had to pop in for a closer look.

I was a bad blogger and didn't bring my camera when we went shopping, thank goodness for cell phones!

The shop is located in Carmel, Indiana...which my daughter and I jokingly refer to as Caramel, don't ask me why!  And it is run by a mother daughter duo who just happened to both be working the day I stopped by.

The shop is mostly stationary, and boy oh boy did they have some beautiful stationary, cards, and invitations, there are even some letterpress items made by the owner in her basement!  She makes letterpress cards in her basement, runs a shop, and has a tiny baby...how do these young women do it all?!  Oh yeah, her mom helps her...yay mom! :-)

They also carry a few gift items like candles, baby clothing, partyware, and even books.  I snagged the Lollia bath salts on sale, and I can't wait to take a nice long soak.  I deserve one really after my day yesterday!

If you have read my blog for any length of time, you will know that I am a bit of a stationary hound.  I just love a beautiful card with a handwritten note in it, there is something so basic yet so personal about them.  So of course I picked up a pack of assorted cards while I was there.  There were so many to choose from it was hard picking one!  I'm telling you, Mr. Tide, and our bank account, are both really happy we don't live any closer than we do, because I can see my stationary addiction becoming a problem if we did live nearby!

Though I have to admit that I'm not the best person for sending out Christmas cards, I might just have to find a reason to add some people to my list this year since I picked up these beauties!  

Maybe all of the chaos in my life this past year (not all bad but still chaotic), has brought me to a place where I crave simplicity, and these cards had me at hello.  But once again, I truly had a tough time deciding.  There was one set of cards with the most beautiful drawing of a sleigh on it, and they had trimmed out the sleigh with something that looked like shimmering snow...but it wasn't glitter, those were gorgeous!  But I was a good girl and only bought enough to send to a few family and friends.

If you live in the Indy metro area and you need some gorgeous stationary, invitations, or more...stop by Oliver's Twist and tell them Kat from Low Tide High Style said hi!  Or you can always visit them online to purchase something by clicking HERE!  And no, I'm not a paid spokes"model" for them...though they did beg me to be one...I jest, I jest!  They were super sweet though and I hope they continue to do well, because I love these little stores and support them whenever I can!

So that was our trip in a nutshell, it was too short, we flew home early on Tuesday morning but it was wonderful none the less.  I have to give a warm thank you to my in laws, pictured above with Mr. Tide and his brother, for going WAY out of their way to buy me everything organic to help with my adrenal issues, to my brother in law and his family for spending time with us, and to our dear friends G & C for hosting such a great dinner, and to M & B for staying up until 2:30 am with me yacking their ears off...it was too much fun!

And to Jen of The Cottage Nest, another Indy girl and blogger crafty girl extraordinaire, I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to meet while I was in your "hood," but next time, I promise!  So get that house all spruced up and ready, I'll be there with my camera in hand when we next head off to Indiana!

P.S.  For those of you with Whole Foods in your neck of the woods, you can purchase your own Traders Point Creamery yogurt...it's yummy and that glass bottle is too cool!