Living the Dream this Week

these shoes have seen some serious walking in the last week

When things click, they just click.  The past week has been a whirlwind of crazy schedules, grant writing and finding some time to unwind.  For as much sweat, blood and time as I’ve put into my passions in life of work and play, this past week has been absolutely awesome to see it all coming together.

Nine13sports threw the party of all parties this past Saturday as a fundraiser and in conjunction with our friend Ryan M. Brewer’s record release party.  One of the most talented musicians I know singing in my favorite space at the Speak Easy with great friends surrounding me was absolutely paradise.  It was a perfect evening that raised some good funds for Nine13 and just as importantly, helped one of Nine13’s biggest supporters and created a chance to educate a whole new set of individuals on what it is the organization does.  If you haven’t bought Ryan’s new album, “trails”, you can do so on iTunes, Google Play and Amazon or through his website directly.  Check out the first single off the new album, “What Are You Mad About?” to hear the amazing talent he has.

the star of the evening and I

what a setting–hard to believe I call this place my office during the week

The other big news this week is that I closed deals with two sponsors.  The first being the Indiana Air National Guard and the second being Bicycle Garage Indy/BGI Fitness.  They’ve both been in the works for multiple months and it feels awesome to have them buttoned up and signed off on.  They’re both financial relationships and allow me to continue to highlight the broad appeal of our services across Central Indiana.

these sidekicks helped me get a couple of grants crafted this week

I’ve had multiple meetings every day this week as we’re in between program sessions.  I’ve been playing catchup between those meetings on emails and got two major grants submitted today on behalf of the organization.  They both had a lot of sweat equity in them to finish and I’m crossing my fingers we see some success on them.  I’ve also got the Run913 event that we’re doing on September 13 as a major fundraiser for Nine13sports (http://nine13sports.org/run-913-team-relay/) so that’s currently on my plate as it’s quickly approaching.

Most importantly, I finally got back in the damn kitchen.  I’ve been super lazy when it comes to cooking and my schedule has been all over the place in terms of dinner/meetings/after-hours events/hanging with Partner-in-Crime/a million other things; but I decided this week to make a push to get back to cooking at home and enjoying the beautiful kitchen I built two years ago.  In ultimate penance, I totally screwed up dinner last night.  I was making a pizza on the Big Green Egg and it turned into a disaster, although how that happened is still a mystery.  So I dusted off my pride and gave it another shot tonight and nailed the absolute best lemon pasta chicken that I have ever made.  I got my pride back, had a good glass of wine to go with it and at the end of a very long and hard today, closed it out with another win.

best dinner, ever

I’ll keep taking these wins, we seem to be on a roll….and I’ll take a botched dinner every once in a while if I keep scoring the W’s everywhere else.

Eat Well, Drink Well and Challenge Yourself,

-th