New Mindset

Mandy and I made a nice little (Who knew $200 could go so fast?) trip to the grocery store last night and you knew summer was officially upon us when we came around the corner and saw this on the beer shelf. While I have been accused many times of needing to turn in my "man card," I really don't like a lot of fruit-based beers, but the Summer Shandy is the best. Not a shameless plug for the beer because I honestly don't think the taste is amazing, but the flavor is so crisp that it makes you just relax and think of summer...

And with summer, comes the new mindset. Does the world seem happier in summer? Maybe just in the Midwest, but it's like there are two different lifestyles between the warm and cold seasons. The allergies are starting to calm down a bit, and I can be outside in 85-degree heat for 10 minutes without breaking into a sweat. My golf game is starting to round back into shape, and it seems like every week is full of an opportunity to play in a league or any fun outing that allows you to get your picture taken on a Harley. (For your own safety, swallow any liquids in your mouth before viewing the photo below)

This weekend marks the 28th anniversary of my wonderful wife's birth. What's the old expression about marrying young to keep your youthful spirit alive? I've got my spring-chicken bride covered by a solid six months, so it's about time she reached the ripe-old age of 28. We are so excited not just to reach another year in good health (knocking on wood as I type), but after almost five years of marriage, we are actually venturing out into the world for our very first family vacation. Of course, what family of 2 1/2 wouldn't be complete without some friends, so we'll have Kyle and soon-to-be Mrs. Kyle join us. Grace gets to come too and stay in a cottage back in the woods. When she heard there was a lake there, she immediately got dressed up in her boating gear and polished her goggles. Tennis balls and lake water are the summer cocktail of choice for our dog, and we can't wait to wear her out.

Enjoy the summer, and hopefully the bliss of our summer mindset will lead to a surge in posts on this running journal of our lives.

The Month of June

It's never good when your blog title matches the one from the last post, only you change the month. Life got a little hectic towards the end of May for the Hasketts. Not in a bad way, but the frequent flyer miles picked up again for me (Will here). Balancing the full-time job with the part-time broadcasting is starting to become a chore, but that's a good thing. Having more broadcast opportunities is obviously the goal. For the second straight year, I got to experience calling both the women's and men's NCAA D1 golf championships. The women played at Caves Valley Golf Club just outside of Maryland, home of some beautiful terrain for a golf course...

It's amazing what 125K up front can get you!


Part of being on the road for this broadcast work that makes it really fun is having a bit more time to actually explore the city. My friend (and producer) John found this place called Matthew's pizza, and it didn't disappoint. The entire experience was a story. Remember the expression "on the other side of the tracks"? Well, we crossed to the other side about 5 times during this trip. When was the last time you saw an old theatre and the marquee said 'double feature porno show, twice daily?' That was a highlight. It was rough to say the least, but we survived and found the true neighborhood for Matthew's. The setup? It was like a diner, squeezed into a narrow strip of a city building. The murals on the wall were colorful and the place looked like it hadn't had a makeover since opening in the 1940's. It didn't matter, the pizza was flaky, gooey and delicious...







The next week, it was off to the men's championships in Toledo and the famous Inverness club. Drama was in full effect, including an amazing finish to the match play portion of the tournament. You can watch the drama of the last hole archived on ncaa.com (click on the multimedia link at the top of the page and search for M Golf)

In typical Will Haskett fashion, I got to play the top 50 golf course and managed to take only one picture, without me in it...

While my game is suited for long, wide open, modern courses, my favorite ones to play are these old fashioned layouts with small greens and so much character. It was truly a treat.

The weekend also marked the one-year anniversary of our famous Winthrop Ave. flood (check out the archives in this blog for details on that one). Mother Nature did everything in her power to stage an encore 365 days later. I drove back from Toledo (too fast, according to one state Trooper) watching the lightning show from my car, hoping I could get home quickly enough to help with any possible damage (Mandy would kill me if I missed flood #2). Well, we were fortunate, kept power and didn't get hit as hard as other areas. But, experts called it one of the biggest hail storms since spring of 2005, when my car got turned to Swiss cheese in Broad Ripple. If you don't believe that fact, check out this picture taken at 1:00 p.m. the next afternoon...


It was close to 80 degrees in full sun and the hail was still gathered in bunches on the golf course, a full 15 hours after falling. Don't bother aerating the greens, the hail took care of it.

Hopefully the worst of the spring storms are behind us. Mandy and I (who am I kidding, Mandy did all of it) just repainted the kitchen and I'm sure my lovely live-in interior designer will be posting pictures of our new kitchen soon. I like to kid with her, but she can't go 4 months without changing the color scheme of at least one room in our house. My next bet will be our bathroom. But, we got the big project out of the way. Time to enjoy a few weekends together, including a much-needed vacation to Wasatch. We'll be sure to create some envy with posts this month!

The month of May

Growing up in Indianapolis, the title of this blog had a racing feeling. And while the Indianapolis 500 is certainly not what it used to be, the race becomes a part of one of the greatest months of the year; a month Mandy and I can't seem to get enough of.

We will certainly have a load of hilarious pictures from our adventures at the track later this year. I started last weekend, with Pole Day. I have just one picture worthy of sharing with the world. This fine, young man is apparently a legend on Pole Day. We arrived at 10:00 and saw him with a white shirt on, with a "beer tally" on the front. Fast forward to 4:00, and he had consumed 24. This is a picture of him leading one of his many "social" calls to the crowd. (I am toasting his efforts)

I'd like to thank Miller Lite for making this picture possible. That was my shameless attempt at getting free beer for the online picture. Am I lucky enough to get a Miller Lite distributor who stumbles upon our blog?

Speaking of sponsor plugs, racecar drivers are the best at it. From female energy drinks (hot pink cars) to male-enhancement products, drivers will plug anything. But, can the combination of sponsors actually turn you off from buying their product? Scott Sharp is driving in the Indy 500 again this year and his two main sponsors are Patron tequilla and Muscle Milk. He always references them quickly in interviews, saying "the Patro tequilla Muscle Milk car..." Could there be a worse flavor combination?!?!

We have inherited a fine stack of wood to begin our spring, and our fire pit has gotten some good early workouts. Mandy and I are now addicted to smores, again. It turns out that you are never too old to like smores. I am convinced that three major corporations came together 50 years ago and created the idea of the smore to move more marshmallow, chocolate and grahm crackers. Nobody could have "accidentally" stumbled upon that creation. However, be on the lookout for these warning signs of a smore addiction:

1. You are willing to use an indoor candle to make one when you don't have an outside fire
2. You sacrifice the time to fully cook the marshmallow by jamming it into the fire
3. You debate using Hershey sauce when out of chocolate bars
4. You suggest a fire at 5:00 on a 92-degree day

Be careful!

Hopefully our relaxation in this month leads to more frequent posts about the good life. Until then, make sure you scratch the cuddly things in your life:

House Beautiful

It's only been a few months since I gave the dining room a little facelift, and my mind is already swirling with new projects to tackle during the spring thunderstorms, and grey days indoors.

I love design, and read as much as I can about new ideas, ways to organize, colors, fabric and so on. I even recently found a piece about decorating with green (my very favorite color) and the ways it is said to heal you.

Here are a few favorite finds from frequently visited sites, The Inspired Room and Design Sponge....all of which I'd love to somehow incorporate into our teeny weeny 1930s abode. Nate Berkus, are you reading this?

Southern Hospitality

After almost a full month of not travelling, I hit the road last weekend for a few days to attend the reunion of a large group of alumni from our (closed) chapter at Louisiana-Lafayette, home of the Ragin Cajuns! I had all of these impressions of what it would be like, and within 30 minutes of being on campus, saw an alligator. This picture is, literally, 10 yards from the front step of the student union. They have their own swamp eco-system in the heart of campus. It was my first trip to the Bayou state, which leaves me with only the following states to see to complete the full 50:

Alaska; Arkansas; Delaware; Hawaii; Idaho; Montana; Nebraska; New Hampshire; North Dakota; Oklahoma; South Carolina; Vermont; Washington

I am starting to really love the south. If you can get past the fact that they mostly hate you for being a 'Yankee' every aspect of life down there was fantastic. I can't say the word "y'all" enough and talking with a southern accent is the most comfortable way to talk. I don't know how to describe it, but it just feels easier. Like your tongue got a shot of novacaine and your lips only open half way. No seriously, try it. Say a sentence in your normal voice and then talk with a southern drawl. The muscles in your mouth actually work less.

Got to see every possible combination of denim you could imagine while I was there -

• Two-tone denim outfits: When the top shirt is a few shades lighter than the jeans.
• Cut-off denim: For when it gets hot
• American Pride denim: Flag, eagle, flag and eagle. They all work on the back of your denim shirt
• Upper arm hair matching denim: Just what it sounds like. Dude had a lot of fur going on, but he wore a dark denim shirt that matched the color of his hair. It was like camoflauge for over-pubescent men.
• 2004 denim: It fit then; it doesn't fit now

And I also got to sample the local flavor...

CRAWFISH!

The folks down there were actually shocked (and perhaps offended) by the fact that I had never really sampled 'Mud Bugs' before. The ironic thing is that the serving shown above is not nearly enough to constitute a full meal. I had to go back for another serving, err, I mean shovel full (her words, not mine). I literally imagined a man dying of starvation as the person who discovered this 'delicacy.' If you get a thimble worth of meat out of one, it's a keeper! I love seafood, so it all tasted fine to me, but it made crab look like an endless supply of goodness compared to these little suckers.

The community feel and genuine happiness of the people down there will stick with me for a while. There is something so comforting in going to an area where community togetherness is a big deal. I always feel alienated on the East Coast compared to the Midwest, but then you get to the south, and Midwestern hospitality has been given a triple shot of Red Bull. Nothing wrong with that. Good food, good drink, good people. It makes the job completely worth it.

However, it felt good to get home yesterday. With spring arriving, you just don't want to miss any day of the best season to be in Indianapolis. Golf league starts this weekend, and the weather should be approaching perfect in time for May. And, of course, while I heard there were a lot of stories involving Grace, why do I always imagine her waiting for me at home like this...

Clean the oven, rejoice and repeat

Today, I am pretending to be a housewife.

I'm channeling my inner Jill Zarin, and it's fabulous (okay, think Jill on a much smaller, more Midwestern scale). The past six months have been chocked full of cancelled doctor appointments, rescheduled oil changes, declined party invites, postponed paper work and completely neglected dog walks. I have a stack of magazines unsorted since December, overflowing half-eaten mail (thank you, Grace) in my little red leather slot, old pudding in the fridge, half a dozen mud-covered tennis balls in my beige back seat, laundry for days, hair balls for months and no time whatsoever. 

Truly, my calendar is FULL of pink ink, and still all I do is work, work, work. Now let me be clear-- I am not complaining. I am beyond grateful to have a job (and a good one at that), but I am beat, exhausted, dizzy some days with the amount on my plate. 

So today I took a day. (pause for deep breath)

I took a day to catch up on all (okay, some) of the stuff I've let fall by the wayside including ...myself. That's right, people, Wynonna Judd and I are puttin' ourselves back on the list! No I don't mean shedding "bills," I mean taking a little time just for me..to do, well, whatever. 

Today I took appointments, ran errands, made it home in time to cook a delicious lunch for my husband-- a lunch for which I (gasp) set the table! I washed the sheets, scrubbed the floors, unloaded and loaded the dishwasher, headed out for another appointment, stopped for coffee (could have been a Bentley I was so happy), made it home in time to exercise with the pup, and enjoy much needed family time. 

Could this be real? I am stressless, the house is spotless, and even the dog is smiling. What a truly fantastic day! The Daylight Savings time has even helped trick me into thinking there is actually more day left; that I beat the clock, and that with a little sunshine past 5 comes found time... every modern woman's holy grail.

New fantasy found: The Housewife.

Now if anyone knows anyone (or is someone) who'd like to pay me for running my own errands, exercising my dog and doing my own laundry, let's talk. I am available 7 days a week for the rest of my life. 

Who needs March?

Well, apparently, the Haskett family took the entire month of March off. Sorry about that. We promised ourselves when we got into this blogging thing that we would keep it up consistently and then you just seem to forget about it. Being out of the country is a good excuse, right? We were in paradise for much of it...

Ah, Cabo! Our home away from home (I wish). It was another brutal spring break of "work" for me while Mandy worked on her tan and pool lounging skills. But this time around seemed to be even more authentic for the Haskett family. Besides our usual hot-spots in Cabo (I love Bulldogs, not the dog but the drink, to your right... tequilla, lemonade and an upside-down Corona; heaven), we really did a better job this time of getting out and seeing the town.
We ate the authentic food, we mingled among the people and we drove the authentic cars. Seriously, who knew flying down a Mexican highway in a third-world Nissan (anybody heard of the brand Tsuru? I hadn't!) with no rear-view mirror and a very violent shake if you get the thing going faster than 80 kmph could be so much fun! After all of that was over, we needed authentic drinks. Don't ask about that night! All in all, it was another tremendous vacation for us and something we hope to be a part of for a very long time to come!

We've been back for a few weeks and have dodged a few illnesses, 12-hour work days and await the return of 80-degree days in our lives.

I imagine Mandy will be on here soon posting pictures of our blooming flowers and everything else that makes springtime around the house so uplifting. But until then, Adios March!