I wanted to recap my fun here, first with this disclaimer: I didn't spend any money on any of this. That's right. Free. All of it (with the exception of dinner on Friday). I also worked everyday last week, albeit only a total of 37 hours, a few short of my usual. Parking was free because I walked downtown from work, which is a bit of a hike, but not bad at all.
So without further adieu, here is Steph's Week of Fun and Crazy.
Monday
Oh, Monday. We were so naive, thinking we'd walk down after work and hop on the zip line. My only Super Bowl regret is not buying advance tickets. The zip line looked oh-so-fun, but not worth a 9+ hour wait. After learning that it was sold out, we headed over to the NFL Experience at the convention center. I got free tickets because I was a Super Bowl volunteer. I wasn't sure what to expect, but ended up quite impressed. Several of the exhibit halls were filled with interactive games, memorabilia, sponsor setups, and my favorite, Channel 13. Below is a fun shot of Ashley, Ellen and me pretending to be angry football players.
Tuesday
My first volunteer event was Tuesday: the media party. While my dream of meeting Bob Costas did not come true, I did enjoy the people watching. Six thousand members of the media were invited to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for food, fun and drink. Emphasis on the drink. My assignment for the evening was coat check. Had it been a typical January 31, this would have been quite appropriate; however, it was unseasonably warm, so there weren't a whole lot of coats to be checked. Below is a photo of me hanging out before the guests arrived. (By the way, I love my Super Scarf. A lot. The person who came up with that idea is a genius.)
Wednesday
I volunteered at a party at the Lucas Estate on Wednesday night. It's a 25,000 square foot house in Carmel, owned by Forest and Charlotte Lucas. Huge. It also has a pool house and a sports barn, complete with a full-sized basketball court. About 1,200 people attended this party. They were local folks who had helped make the Super Bowl happen... a process that took several years. Again, good people watching. I had picked out the worst dressed by 7:30pm. This is a shot of the main entrance to the house.
ThursdayAdmittedly, I was wearing down a bit by Thursday. I was out past midnight two nights in a row for the parties, and having a hard time staying awake. But Sixpence None the Richer was playing in the Village, and I couldn't miss it! Sixpence was a favorite in high school, I didn't even know they were still playing shows. This one was at 4:30, so I left work a little early and headed down to the stage. I was able to shimmy my way to the front row. It was fun to hear some old favorites, as well as new material from Sixpence. After the show, I walked around for awhile, then headed home early. I was asleep by 9pm that night.
Everyone who was in Indianapolis last week has this photo. Very cool.
Friday
I got up early on Friday, met Lindsay at work, and walked down to Capitol and Georgia for the Today Show. We got there about 7:05am, and it was packed! We hung around for a bit and watched Al Roker on the zip line. We were able to get a little closer to him when he got off at the end. After a quick stop at the Westin's Starbucks, we were at work by 8:15.
Our office closed at 3pm Friday because of the traffic craziness, so a group of us headed downtown then. Another photo that all Indy residents have:
We stopped at The Huddle for a couple drinks (after which I realized I didn't eat that day), then walked down to the stage to see En Vogue. Another early 90s favorite!
Our plan was to stay for the LMFAO concert at 9:30pm. I'm proud of myself for having the foresight to make dinner reservations in between the concerts. We had a very yummy (and hilarious) dinner at Adobo Grill. After dinner it was time to stake out our space for LMFAO. But there wasn't really any space. We were on Penn (at the side of the stage) about a block away from the show. As the concert neared, the crowd grew thick. The show started, and we realized we weren't really going to be able to hear it because of where we were, and people kept pushing their way through the crowd. At this point, I was done. (I was thinking back to a certain scary incident on 08/08/08 in Beijing...) So we gave up on LMFAO and headed back to the car. Sure, I would've liked to hear Party Rock Anthem live, but by then I was pretty exhausted anyway. It was a fun day, overall.
Saturday
My third and final volunteer shift was Saturday from 10-3:30. This time I was at the NFL House at Union Station. Basically, the NFL tricked out the Grand Hall and made it into a giant fancy living room for NFL guests and sponsors. I was stationed at the door, scanning credentials. When my shift ended, I walked back to work, grabbed a quick dinner, then headed to the fairgrounds with Jeanne and Diana. I had requested tickets for the taping of CMT's Crossroads a few weeks ago, and was told I was not chosen. Then about 9pm Friday night, I got another email that said I was in. I was very excited. We had to arrive at the Pepsi Coliseum at 5:30pm. We'd been warned that it was standing room only, but the show is only an hour, so it couldn't be too bad, right? Wrong. Once we were in, they told us that there was a DJ, then a local band, then Sugar Ray (yes, that Sugar Ray), then Steven and Carrie would come on at 9:40pm. Jeanne and I were very sore and exhausted already, but had to power through. And it was very much worth the soreness and tired feet. Carrie Underwood and Steven Tyler were ah-mazing. My favorite was the unexpected mashup of her This is Just a Dream and his Dream On. Love.
And there you have it. Exhaustion. Exhilaration. Once in a lifetime, or so we thought. Indy's getting rave reviews, and I wouldn't be surprised if we get to do all this again in a few years. I'm up for it!
You may notice that the actual day of the Super Bowl is missing. Yep. What did I do for the big game? Sat on my couch. Ate ice cream. Did laundry. Recovered. There you have it.
