Thank you cards are written. Gifts have been decided upon. Christmas cards are ordered. Laundry is in the wash. House is tidy and clean. A new dishwasher is in the works with our landlord. Job applications have been submitted. Christmas cookie ingredients have been purchased. See Santa, I’ve been good – now please bring me a Sancho and a warm kitchen!!!!!
For. Serious. It’s cold. I’m not denying that I’m a giant pansy when it comes to this climate, but let’s get real here for a second. It feels like 1 degree outside. I’m not even exaggerating this time. I know in the past I could be accused of whining that it was “freezing” when it was 43 degrees outside, but that was a warm, fluffy piece o’ cake compared to this crap. Our kitchen is clocking in at a frigid 55 degrees. The wood floor is cold enough to ice skate on (even Ted complains about the cold floor!) and I’m afraid to plant herbs in the adorable little Ikea pots I bought because I don’t think I could bear the sight of icicles on my herbs in the morning. I know I’d hate to be covered in icicles, wouldn’t you? For a thin skin like me with Texas blood, it’s brutal, people! I tried plugging in multiple heaters the other night so I didn’t have to wear gloves and a parka while making dinner, but apparently plugging two 15-amp heaters into a 25-amp room blows the breakers. Um, oops? Don’t even try to tell me you wouldn’t have done the same. The new fireplace heater just can’t keep up with the uninsulated floors and drafty windows. So tonight we cover the windows with insulation film to see if that gives the furnace the edge it needs or if it’s just a lost cause.
And I need the Sancho because I need the Sancho. That’s why. I miss this mad little face.
Don't let the bent ears and glaring scowl fool you. He loves being carted around in a hug position all day.
So, if you’ve been following along I’ll catch you up on the past few days – I know you’re curious about that dishwasher I mentioned. A) I finished writing the last of the Thank You cards from our wedding this morning. Writing them was actually really nice because thanking each person for their presence in Door County, well wishes and extreme generosity was a lovely reminder of how much love and support we received from our family and friends. So the cards are done but we’re still waiting on one of our pro pics to come in so we can finish them and mail them out. I must make a mental note to work on my patience. B) I need a freaking job! My savings account is dwindling to dangerously uncomfortable just from grocery shopping and writing the rent check. I’m smart, I bathe, I can be helpful and polite, and I don’t have a felony record – what’s the problem here? C) The remedy to all problems is Christmas cookies. Therefore, I plan to make fresh gingersnaps and decorated sugar cookies for my husband in hopes that he’ll let me crank the heat up to 78 and won’t tear down the mistletoe I intend to hang from every corner of our house. D) Ah, yes. So we’re back to appliances. Again, I am unimpressed that a new appliance now is cause for excitement at the ripe old age of 24. Our dishwasher is on strike. I personally believe that it is protesting working in such a cold kitchen, but that’s just my theory. It doesn’t actually use the detergent – it just sort of smears it around on the door and the dishes come out, well, unclean. So our landlord has decided to replace it. Excellent!
Last night we went to a Cincinnati Cyclones ice hockey game. I lied yesterday – they’re semi-pro, not NHL. We went with six other people from our church’s young adult ministry group. They all seem very nice, but we didn’t really get to know anyone like I was hoping because you’re sitting in a row watching something – it’s like going to the movies. You’re not talking to each other. They try to vary it up between guest speakers, community service activities, and fun events. So maybe in a few months we’ll know some of the people a little better.
Rather than bore you with a long, drawn-out account of the evening, I’ll simply tell you 5 good reasons why you should go to a hockey game:
1) Buy one admission get one free coupons. It’s cheap, the game is easy to follow, and it’s fun to watch.
2) Two on-ice fist fights between the opposing teams. Yessssss. Now there’s the live entertainment people came for.
3) 1 drunk-on-nasty-and-cheap-Canadian-beer twig of a college kid being dragged out by no less than five ushers – kicking and screaming all the way, of course.
4) A quick break-time round of musical chairs…on ice. Brilliant. As if merely walking on ice isn’t challenging enough, they put 6 dudes on the perimeter of a circle and 5 folding chairs in the middle. Music stops – men and chairs go slipping, sliding, and flying across the rink. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard. This alone was worth the price of admission. Please try it with your friends, enemies, children, or co-workers. The perfect recipe for pure, blissful hilarity.
5) Free food in the form of coupons for a free Wendy’s chili and $5 off a City BBQ platter. And who can afford to turn down free food? Not I. And they give away all kinds of gift cards throughout the game for Cold Stone, Skyline Chili and more.
Hug on someone you love and appreciate today and have a happy Wednesday!
For at least eight years of my life mid-December was finals week. Major projects in every single class always seemed to be due at the exact same time – late November or early December. And it sucked. A lot. “Oh! The torture! Don’t they know their class isn’t the only one! I have six other projects to do too, you know!” I’d howl melodramatically to my friends when we exited the building. After that was a week of studying for finals with highlighted index cards, old tests and quizzes, ripped out spiral notes, and small group study sessions at the library or coffee shop. Then came finals week. Campus was quiet and empty. Some days you had two or three finals, and others you had none and no classes. I’d study late into the night and then wake up really early the next morning – sometimes 5 a.m. for an 8 a.m. final – to lock it all into my brain. Then I’d repeat the process until it was finally the last one and – sweet freedom! No more studying or mentally calculating how badly I could do on a given exam and still keep a straight A average. Late night movies and coffee nights with my girlfriends? See ya’ there! Sleeping late? Yes, please!
I think I liked the rush of being incredibly, unbelievably, busy with the pressure to get it all finished on time and done well with the feeling of joy and “nothing to do but have fun!” when it was over. Reading my friends facebook status updates this week about finals and hearing the CCM students say things like “have a great break!” and “good luck with finals.” makes me a little nostalgic, partly because I’m the same age as some of these kids and that kind of feels like what I should be doing, and partly because, well, I want a winter break too! I want to be busy with something and then have it be over so I can go play with my friends and enjoy the holidays with nothing to do but relax. And sadly, neither house cleaning or job hunting gives me that break. I’m experiencing college withdrawals in my grown-up person world. If you’re in college right now and you’re snickering while reading this and thinking “What a loon! I’ll never miss this!”….your day will come.
Yesterday I got my wedding dress back from the cleaners. Sooooo…now what do I do with it? Right now it’s hanging in a garment bag on our bedroom door, but it can’t stay there forever. I’ll always remember it, and our pro pics will help me if my memory does get a little fuzzy so I don’t think I need to keep it for memory’s sake. That, thankfully, nixes expensive gown preservation. Keeping it with the intention of never wearing it again seems like a waste of a perfectly good dress to me anyhow.
I could sell it on a website like Weddingbee Classifieds, Once Wed, or PreOwnedWeddingDressses. This seems like a good option because some other lucky girl could find her dream dress (my dress is pretty rare but received tons of compliments – especially because it is one of the few not strapless dresses, so I’m sure I could find a taker), the dress would get a well-deserved second life, and we could make a little bit of money too. But I would have to get pay to get it fixed because the bustle ripped and one of the jewels on the shoulder strap fell off and would have to be re-attached. Another option is donating it to something like Brides Against Breast Cancer, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Dress, or one of those bridal shops that burned down and left dozens of brides without a wedding dress weeks or months before their wedding.
Or lastly, we could do a Trash the Dress session, have a ton of fun and get some phenomenal pictures like these…
…but we can’t afford to hire a professional photographer right now (we’d have to find a willing photographer buddy and pay him or her in baked goods and wine) and I’d have to get up the nerve to ruin my dress. Out of all the options, I like this one the best! But since Ted’s tux was rented and he’d have to ruin a suit, and since we can’t afford a photographer, I think the most practical option would be to sell it and the most loving option would be to donate it……..unless we can take great “semi-trash” pics with a friend, not ruin it, get it re-cleaned and then sell or donate it….I’m a genius.
Today I will park myself on our couch in front of our beautiful Christmas tree, turn on the lights and some tunes, and not budge until our Christmas cards are ordered and our Thank You cards are written. Then I’ll find and unpack my scarves, mittens and hats (it’s supposed to snow on and off all day with a high in the low 20s) and later tonight meet Ted at the NHL Cincinnati Cyclones game with our church’s young adults ministry group. Hopefully we’ll meet some nice people, enjoy a great game and chow on some Dollar Dogs!
After a blissfully relaxing weekend of tree hunting in the snow, cookie eating, and watching Christmas movies, this busy week is going to be a slap in the face. I’m not entirely convinced I’m ready for it yet. At all.
In addition to the usual hubbub around here – unpacking boxes (still!!), cleaning, grocery shopping, making meals, applying for jobs, and laundry, there’s always the other household duties to attend to. Like digging my car out from under the snow and ice in the 6 degree wind-chill we are experiencing today, siphoning the “for-above-32-degrees” Texas washer fluid (which is frozen solid, by the way) out of my Buick, scratching my old registration stickers off my windshield which months of 100+ Texas heat have permanently glued on, and finding an in-network doctor for Ted so he can get his Insulin prescriptions. There’s also the storage shelving units we are planning to build onto the basement walls, Christmas cards to be designed and ordered, Christmas gifts to be purchased, wrapped and shipped, our Thank You cards from the wedding to be finished and mailed (Dear Photographer: HURRY UP), and joint bank accounts and insurance plans to be decided on. And we don’t want to miss out on all the fun of the holiday season, so there’s the tree to be decorated, the dinosaur and Hubble telescope exhibits at the museum to visit, the ice skating rink at Fountain Square in downtown Cincy, a Cincinnati Cyclones NHL ice hockey game to go to, and tickets to the Cincinnati Ballet’s The Nutcracker on Friday night. Whew! I have no idea how we are going to get it all done.
Today I’ll keep it short and sweet. I’ll leave myself and everyone else with this image to remind us to slow down and take a moment away from the hustle and bustle to reflect on what the holiday season is really all about.
State the definition of each word and use it in a sentence.
Deal – A bargain or arrangement for mutual advantage. (Ex: At the University of Cincinnati’s monthly surplus sale we acquired a gently used file cabinet for $10 – what a deal!)
Ready – Prepared and available; willing and inclined. (Ex: After scarfing down a danish at Graeter’s, we were ready to brave the snow to find our perfect Christmas tree at the “cut your own” Corsi Tree Farm in Hamersville, OH.)
Picturesque – Pleasing or beautiful scenery. (Ex: The Corsi Tree Farm was expansive and the falling snow made the scene even more picturesque.)
Indecisive – Characterized by indecision; irresolute and undecided. (Ex: We found this beautiful and strongly-scented tree early on, but because I am indecisive, we left it there and kept looking, you know – just in case.)
Scrawny – Excessively thin, lean, and scraggy. (Ex: Ted was enamored with the potential of this scrawny Charlie Brown Christmas tree, but at a per-tree flat rate pricing, we couldn’t afford to be too generous.)
Perk – To become lively, cheerful or vigerous. (Ex: My hot chocolate and Ted’s apple cider hit the spot. It was just the thing we needed to perk us back up again on a brisk, snowy day.)
Jubilant – Showing great joy, satisfaction, or triumph. (Ex: I was beyond jubilant at the opportunity to pet the farm’s snoring pig, goat, cow, and sheep. I was also relieved to discover that the bunny we’d seen sprinting through the trees was not the entirety of the farm’s petting zoo – as in, “If you can catch it, you can pet it.”)
Relish – Pleasurable appreciation. (Ex: Ted made a new friend in the farm’s chocolate lab. We watched him dash from tree to tree, relishing the freedom to dig an unfathomable number of holes, fling dirt, and feverishly search for bunnies and moles in the snow.)
Rickety – Feeble on the joints; tottering or infirm. (Ex: Feeling adventurous we bounced across the rickety rope bridge at our own risk.)
Embrace – To avail oneself to something. (Ex: We scampered through the ceaseless maze of trees for nearly four hours, but in the end we opted to embrace fate and adopt the phenomenally-scented first pick we saw at the beginning of the day.)
Nosh – To snack on. (Ex: We cheerfully piled our prize into the truck and stopped in at a greasy spoon 50’s-style dinner in Amelia for some grub. Sadly, we had to pass on the restaurant’s 4 lb. cheeseburger – mostly because it cost as much as our Christmas tree. We elected to nosh on a chili cheese burger and blueberry pancakes instead.)
Blanket – Any extended covering or layer. (Ex: Though the forecast predicted the snow would stop at noon, it continued late into the evening and we arrived home to find our home covered in a blanket of winter wonderland flurries.)
Cozy – Snugly warm and comfortable. (Ex: We put the tree in its stand, hung our fresh and inviting wreath on our front door, turned on our new fireplace heater – thanks mom and dad! – and hunkered down for a cozy evening at home.)
Today we’re headed out to a tree farm in the Ohio countryside to cut down a Christmas tree – and hopefully come home with a fresh wreath too! We accumulated some snow overnight and the flurries are still falling – it’s a winter wonderland out there! I hope it sticks long enough for us to search for our tree in it! Add in some hot cocoa and Christmas music and we’re well on our way to a wonderful day! While we find our perfect tree, we’ll entertain you with this…
Newlywed Survey
1. Our favorite thing to do for fun is: Spend time together at home – watching movies, playing Wii or board games, eating dinner and just relaxing. We also like exploring new restaurants and things to do in Cincy. Bowling and a fire in our fit pit are fun too, though we haven’t had the time to go bowling yet.
2. The best decision we ever made was to: Go out for a drink one night after work. That’s how we got started :-)
3. On a Friday night, we can be found: Catching dinner at new restaurant in Cincy and a show at CCM.
4. The best part of our wedding was: Getting married of course :-) And Door County! The bonfire, live swing band, and pumpkin “ring bearer” come in close third though.
5. What is your spouses’ favorite food? Ribs. He could live on ribs and tacos.
6. The worst thing about living in Ohio is: Well, we’ve only lived here a month, but I think we’d both say the weather but for different reasons. For me because it’s too cold and for him because it’s not cold enough!
7. The best thing we’ve done this year is: It’s kind of hard to compete with a fabulous wedding! So, I’d say getting married and starting our married life together with a fresh start in a new state.
8. The worst thing that happened this year was: Dealing with a long distance engagement, wedding planning (it’s so rewarding, but a huge pain in the ass sometimes, especially when you do it all DIY), and facing periods of uncertainty with employment and where we’d end up living.
9. An ideal date night would include: It kind of depends on the season – there’s ice skating at Eden Park in the winter, outdoorsy stuff in the spring, drive-in movies, ice cream and mini-golf in the summer, and nice indoor activities like science museums, movies, football, or bowling in the fall. But for a relaxing evening out you can’t go wrong with some shopping, trying a new restaurant, a trip to the movies, or exploring a new part of town.
10. Our dream vacation is: the Honeymoon we have yet to go on! We’d like to go to Alaska, Iceland, Sweden and Finland so we can do the Blue Lagoon, Ice Hotel, see the northern lights, go glacier climbing, husky racing, snowshoeing, and see all the cool cobblestone-street towns, palaces and cathedrals. We’d also love to return to Door County every year for a weekend to celebrate our anniversary. And Door County has so much to offer! Though right now I don’t think either of us would mind a mini-vacay to Cedar Point or King’s Island roller coaster theme parks!
I saw this tea set almost two years ago and have been lusting after it ever since. Since I’m the only tea drinker in our two-person family (and since we, coincidentally, have a running joke about a dragon and a tea cup), this Chado Tea Room Tea for One cup and pot set in Dragon is perfect.
I have a thing for rain boots. I love them and every single time it rains and the bottoms of my jeans get cold and soaking wet, I wish I had them. Oddly enough, I have never owned a pair. I stalk them online several times a year searching for the perfect pair, but when, after days of looking, I finally find a pair I adore (like these green paisley lovelies above- size 8 please!) I can’t bring myself to part with the seventy bucks they cost. Functional and completely adorable, I’m bound and determined to finally treat myself to these one day (uh, when I have a job that is.)
A new battery for my 12″ iBook G4. My current battery is headed for that big battery heaven in the sky. If I don’t keep it plugged in at all times my battery power drains like quicksand and is gone in about an hour. As for the laptop sleeve? I can think of nothing that would not be improved by the addition of a dinosaur. This gentle herbivore is totally necessary.
Warm lounge wear please!! Two days ago I was wearing long underwear bottoms, a green sweatshirt and green striped knee-high wool socks to keep from freezing. Ted took one look at me and asked where my pointy green hat and jingly elf slippers were. The ones I have (the roll-up ones on the left) are so well worn and loved that there’s kitty-claw looking holes all over the back of them. I think that’s a sign that I need new warm, comfy skivvies!
Yes, one of these masterpieces will do just nicely. Warm and colorful – such perfection. My tweed pea coat from two years ago is too big on me now and no longer keeps me properly warm. Living in a cold climate, I think a solid winter coat is definitely a must.
New Puma Voltaic II’s. I loooooove these sneakers! Worth every penny. Can I help it if they are the most comfortable sneaker I have ever owned? I have the white/silver/orange pair and I am dreading the day they start to die on me. I’m considering picking up two more pair the next time they’re on sale. Every time I slide my feet into them I am still amazed at how marvelous they feel and how well they fit. I love this green/black/gray pair – too bad they’re the men’s version. I always seem to prefer the dude colors over the chick colors. I wonder if they carry these in the equivalent of a woman’s 8.5?
A nuzzle from my Sancho. I really, really miss this sweet guy. It sounds ridiculous, but this separation from him has been really hard. He’s the number one thing I’d like to see under my tree on Christmas morning.
What’s on your big kid wish list this year?
P.S. – Last night I made a delicious cranberry crumble pie. I had a bag of fresh cranberries left over from Thanksgiving to use up so I made this recipe. It’s super easy and speedy to make, requires very few ingredients, tastes delicious, and is a great low carb dessert for diabetics (especially when you use the splenda mix sugar and brown sugar). Cranberries are perfect for December desserts – puts you right in the holiday spirit. And it’s husband approved.
This morning we are off to get Ted’s license, inspection, title, registration and plates done (in the icy snowy cold). Today will be more of the same for me – job applications and unloading boxes – blah. But tonight we’ll be seeing the dance show at CCM which should be really neat! Enjoy your Friday!
Now that we have a place we can call our own, it’s time to think about choosing some fitting holiday decorations for our nest. Up until now most of our holiday decorations have been acquired, gifted, and handed down. And while we love many of them and plan to use the special ones for years to come, I think we’d both like to have a few things that we chose together that fit our style and our home and will be special new traditions for us as a family. We don’t have a lot of spare time (and we definitely don’t have a lot of spare money), so these are all little things that would work much better for us than outfitting our entire house with strand upon strand of lights, velvet bows, inflatable reindeer, or Santa door knockers. Most of them are budget friendly to some degree because they can be found inexpensively or even hand made for an extra personal touch! And after all the DIY work we did hand-making nearly everything for our wedding, I’d say we could tackle some of these without a hitch! Let’s get started:
Stockings
Luckily, we already have these! My brother and his family gave us these stockings as a wedding present and we love them! It’s something we have wanted to get for the past two years but never found the time, money, or ones we liked well enough. They are simple, personal, and timeless.
Stocking Holders
I like to keep things elegant. If you attended our wedding you know I like pine cones. And for as much as I hate driving in it and digging my car out from under it, snowflakes are pretty. And they make a lot more sense when you actually live somewhere where it snows. I always thought snowflake decorations in Texas were a little ridiculous.
A fresh, full, live wreath! Why get a fake when the real ones smell so wonderful? I’m a fan of using nature whenever we can. And these are just plain gorgeous.
Our first Christmas together we bought a beautiful ornament to cherish as “our first ornament.” It’s a heavy glass globe blown with blue and white swirls. A little nontraditional for a “first” ornament but perfect for us since we don’t give a lick about fitting into the standard cookie cutter mold of tradition anyway.
There’s no shortage of ornaments out there for any occasion, but finding an adorable newlywed or “our first married Christmas” ornament is harder than you’d think. As with many of our wedding purchases (cake topper, hair accessories, attendant gifts, personalized Thank You cards, succulents for the bouquets, bouquet tag, etc.) I turned to Etsy – the land of handmade, unique goodness – for some inspiration and found these contenders:
Beautiful, unique tree toppers are another real challenge to find. Seriously. Just do a google shopping search for “Christmas tree topper” and tell me if you’re in love with anything that comes up. No? Yeah, me either. Even my trusty Etsy let me down on this one and that’s pretty unusual. I couldn’t even find a picture I liked well enough to post. That’s pathetic. I think stained glass stars toppers are awesome.
Nativity Set
We would both love a really nice Nativity Set to display in our house around Christmastime to be a constant reminder of, as cliche as the expression is, “the reason for the season.” But like most really nice things, those suckers can get expensive. With so many options and styles out there, this will be one purchase that will require a lot of research and browsing until we find the perfect one for us. A hand carved wood set or even stone is a possibility. We won’t be getting around to it this year, but maybe in a year or two we’ll have found one.
My taste in advent wreaths is similar to my taste in door wreaths – live, fresh and uncomplicated. Picture the ones above with the four taper candles in it and maybe a few pine cones for garnish. I don’t think adding berries, bows or ornament balls will make it any more meaningful. This may be another DIY project since most of them nowadays are so decked out that the candles are hardly visible.
In other news, look what arrived yesterday! Can’t wait to break it open and finally have a selection to choose from other than tiny, gigantic, dull, and duller.
Our knife block!
Today I’ll be working on a few job applications and unpacking boxes from Texas. Since our new kitchen table, chairs and island cart set is still being stained at the family-run shop we purchased them from, our kitchen is in a state of mild chaos. I’ve mentioned our lack of storage before. We have a spacious kitchen but hardly any storage room. Right now our blender, food processor, slow cooker, corningware set, new pots & pans set, and countless other such items are being stored on the floor in a heaping pile. Needless to say we’ll have to wait until the island cart (with storage!) arrives before I can unpack any more kitchen boxes from Texas. But I’ll unpack what I can for the time being. If I can move quickly enough I’d like to get started on some Christmas shopping too!
Ted is in meetings almost all day today at CCM for various productions. The dance show opens tonight and we have plans to go see it tomorrow evening. He’s been able to come home at a reasonable time for the past few evenings which means taco night, Christmas cookies, and episodes of Hell’s Kitchen :-)
Today is December 1 and in my book that means it is officially the Christmas season! Bring on the Christmas carols, pine trees, velvety red bows and the icicle lights. Dig out the holiday movies, bake up some sugar kiss cookies and hot chocolate, start sending holiday cards, and let it snow (except not on my Buick). Now that it’s no longer November (or, you know, July – ’cause that’s when the holiday begins in America apparently) maybe I won’t be such a Grinch about hearing “All I Want for Christmas” joyfully ringing through every. single. store. I step foot into.
Speaking of December, I’d like to congratulate the snow on its impeccable timing for conveniently showing up exactly on December 1st. It has been non-stop snow flurries swirling in the sky since I woke up this morning. Nothing has accumulated on the ground really, so for now it’s just very pretty. And very cold. Dear friends: Please send warm clothing. Socks, long underwear, mittens, coats – anything will do. Thanks.
In other news I now have in my possession an Ohio title, vehicle registration, license plates, and driver’s license. But not without a battle. Here’s how it goes, folks…
Step one: Ace your insultingly easy driver’s test by correctly identifying and stating the meaning of a stop sign – multiple choice answer format.
Step two: Drive across town to another office. Get lost in the boonies for a while and curse google maps. Arrive at destination and have old lady puffing on a cigarette glance at the make and model of your vehicle and call it an “inspection.” It passed.
Step three: Pay an asinine amount of money for state title conversion, new registration and two highly colorful license plates – the circus would be jealous.
Step four: Drive back to location #1. Stand in line, expertly prepared with your old license, birth certificate, SS card, marriage certificate and proof of residency so you can obtain your new license. Upon stating that you have a new middle and last name for your license, be told that you’re not allowed to change your middle name to your maiden name anymore without a formal application process, newspaper advertisement, and court hearing after you’ve lived in Ohio for at least a year. Question why the donkey working at the Social Security Administration last week issued you a new middle name on your new SS card without so much as requesting to see proof of legal name change. (Side note: I thought changing it at the SS Administration office was the name change process. That’s the process for changing your last name after marriage. So why would this be any different? How are you supposed to know these things if nobody tells you!? It’s not like I change my name often, people and would simply know better). Suck it up and get a license with your old middle initial on it. Contemplate how some things should really be much easier than they are. Sulk about it and decide the Ohio license is tacky because it’s pink and then go out for Chinese dinner with your husband and watch Polar Express until you feel less angry about all the time and effort it’s going to take you to change all your documents back to your real middle name until you can start the legal name change process in one year.
So, rather than dwelling on that nonsense, I’d like to take this cold, snowy Wednesday to make a list of things I love today:
4. Holiday ice creams like Peppermint Stick and Moose Tracks. There may or may not be some sitting in our freezer right now.
5. Weird bathrooms of the world.
The porta-potty (but not inside) looking bathrooms at Jungle Jim'sIt's only a painted floor but it sure looks real (enlarge the image).How about this public restroom in Houston, TX? It's a one-way mirror so you can see everyone else, but on the outside they only see a mirror reflecting themselves.
And finally, two December 1st wishes:
1. I wish that our wedding pro pics will make their appearance soon. We’re at the 5 of 6 weeks mark and I’m starting to get antsy.
2. I wish that Ted had stayed home from work today so we could have driven to a fresh Christmas tree farm in the northern Kentucky countryside, cut down our tree in the snow flurries, drank hot cocoa, and then gone ice skating outside at Fountain Square in downtown Cincy. *Sigh* It’s a great dream anyway. Another day.
After yesterday’s painfully long entertaining chapter book post I hope you’ve all given serious consideration to a trip to Ohio and decided to come spend a few days with us in Cincinnati. In addition to everything we showed my parents (if you missed it scroll down for a full recap!) there’s still the Newport Aquarium, Flower Conservatory, Kings Island Roller Coaster theme park (Cedar Point’s competitor), Graeter’s ice cream, a plethora of fantastic ethnic restaurants, the Cincy Ballet, Cincy Orchestra, the art museum, museum of history and science, Fountain Square, shows at UC, Coney Island, the zoo, biking trails, Mt. Adams shopping and wine tastings, and the horse races in nearby Kentucky. Oh, and there’s us – a great little house with two weirdos, a squirrel and a coyote (who are surprisingly not the two weirdos), a wii, a firepit, enough Door County wine for the next year, and a cozy guest room. So all of you who haven’t come to visit yet (um, that’s pretty much everyone) and are looking for a very inexpensive vacation, a tour of a great city you’ve probably never given a second thought to, and good friends to chum around with – reserve your airline tickets for sometime next year. We’d love to have you!
Today I will be stationed at the Ohio Licensing Agency for a good portion of the day getting my vehicle inspected, taking an Ohio rules of the road knowledge test, converting my title from Texas to Ohio, renewing my registration, getting Ohio license plates, and getting a new driver’s license with my updated name and address. I am changing everything there is to change all at the same time – with any luck. I can see this being a long and frustrating process. So in lieu of another novel (and in hopes that you’ll love our house and be further persuaded to come up for a long weekend), today I give you a picture tour of our home. Enjoy!
Happy Monday after Thanksgiving (blaaaahhh)! Now that our bellies are all a little pudgier and we’re all a little sleepier and we all probably have a daunting amount of crap to catch up on at work and at home (I know I do! The laundry pile has its own zip code), I thought I’d start off the week with a lengthy nice recap of the past few days.
We thoroughly enjoyed a fantastic 4-day holiday weekend in Cincy with my parents – our first Thanksgiving as a married couple, our first Thanksgiving that I’ve hosted & helped cooked, our first Thanksgiving in Cincy, and our first Thanksgiving in our house. That’s a lot of firsts! I should also throw in there that this was Ted’s first real day(s) off since he began his job November 1. Needless to say, we’ve been looking forward to the Thanksgiving holidays and my parent’s visit!
My parents arrived with a 10 ft. u-haul and my Buick in tow on Wednesday afternoon…in the rain. We have a long, narrow driveway and a car in tow on the car dolly attached to the back of a truck cannot be put into reverse (Who likes a challenge?). Dad maneuvered it down the driveway, parked it in front of the house and we unloaded all my boxes into the basement. Luckily I did a massive “I don’t need all this junk” cleaning before I moved and got rid of about half or more of what I owned (and wow does that feel amazing!), so there’s only a reasonable sized pile of boxes – most of which are kitchen things and clothes. Did I mention we unloaded in the biting cold, windy, rain? Oh, well, we did. Ted came home from work a few hours early and he and my dad unhooked my car from the tow dolly while mom and I brought some cooking stuff up to the kitchen. That night we went to dinner at Montgomery Inn – Boathouse. It’s a fantastic hot-spot restaurant right on the river that is the border between downtown Cincy and Kentucky. While dining you have a awesome view of the river, the bridges that connect Ohio and Kentucky, and the downtown Cincy and Covington areas. The food is excellent. They’re known for their ribs and they are fall-off-the-bone tasty. The place is huge for a fancy restaurant but always mobbed. That night because of the crowd it was mandatory vallet parking (which in the cold icy rain was quite alright) and we had to make reservations for priority seating so the wait isn’t as long as the normal seating wait. I had a creamy portobello mushroom and red pepper bisque, ribs, and the most delicious mac n’ cheese I’ve ever feasted on. Everyone else had ribs too along with a glass of their signature house beer – Ted’s Pail Ale. It is definitely a restaurant you take your guests to as an introduction to the city. So, come visit us! :-)
Thursday was Thanksgiving. We went to church to celebrate Thanksgiving mass in the morning (one of my most favorite traditions). Mom and I cooked all day and the guys watched Football. It was cold, gloomy and rainy again all day – perfect staying inside weather. The food was great and the company was even better. We sure do have a lot to be Thankful for – this year and every year. After dinner we watched Garfield’s Thanksgiving. The classic cartoons are hilarious. Please do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of it if you don’t already have it recorded off the TV onto a VHS tape from the 80’s. The humor and sarcasm won’t let you down.
My Thanksgiving drawings on our fridgeOur dining room table all set for dinnerMom & dad enjoying appetizers during a football game
Baking piesPumpkin cheesecake and apple pie - YUM!
That night around midnight as Ted & I stayed up late to cash in on a starting-at-midnight-Black-Friday deal on a warranty plan for our new washer & dryer set (ha! you know you’re no longer 21 when your idea of a Black Friday sale is a warranty, not clothing) we happened to look out the window to see this….
Our first snow-fall of the season!
As a disclaimer, I’ve never gone Black Friday shopping. There’s pretty much no reason good enough for me to crawl out of my warm, cozy bed at 1:30 a.m. to stand in line with 200 other grumpy people at 3 a.m. in 30 degree weather and risk being trampled to death in a stampede. Nope. Not for me. That being said, we decided it might be fun to see what all the hubub is about. We all slept in, ate a leisurely breakfast at home, and left home around 11:30 to return the u-haul. We drove around some of the big shopping spots in Cincy making stops at Target, Sears, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Christopher & Banks (for my mom – she likes that all her kids live in a city with a C&B nearby since they don’t have any in San Antonio). I was expecting full parking lots, boisterous crowds, snaking lines, and super hot deals. Sooo…what’s the big deal about Black Friday again? We effortlessly found parking spots, walked right up to the cash register at Target with our purchases, and I didn’t see any major sales that knocked my socks off. Maybe all the big sales are timed ones in the wee hours of the morning and maybe that’s when all the crazies are out. But by the time we made it to these stores in the early afternoon – it was no big deal. Just a normal shopping trip. We received gift cards to Sears, Bed Bath and Beyond and Target as wedding presents so we stocked up on Wii games & accessories for our new Wii console, shop work lights for Ted, and a several kitchen accessories including a knife block, knife set, knife sharpener, and electric turkey carving knife for next year (um, regular dull knives don’t cut it on a turkey folks….lesson learned) – all stuff we’ve been wanting to get and all for free. Excellent. And Thank You Everyone! We lunched at Five Guys – a great burger joint if you’ve never been to one (go!) – and then took mom & dad on a scenic driving tour of Eden Park, Mirror Lake, the museum district, Mt. Adams (Cincy’s upscale bohemian Greenwich Village), and the bustling downtown area of Cincinnati including Fountain Square. For dinner we met our friends Nick & Linda at a yummy (but spicy! Hope you like your food hot!) restaurant between Anderson & Williamsburg called Great Scott. They graciously allowed us to stay with them while we were house hunting – they’re great people and it was very nice to see them again.
A lake in Eden Park that overlooks CincinnatiI love the intensity of the color still on this one treeMom & dad at a lookout point
Saturday we took mom & dad to UC to show them where Ted works at CCM. Ted gave an awesome 2-hour tour! We saw all 6 performing spaces including recital halls, costume/prop/set/lighting storage, the massive scene shop (anyone in theatre would be highly jealous of this shop), Ted’s office area, the hydraulic lift on the orchestra pit, the trap door room under the stage (for the 20 some odd traps), the music rehearsal room that overlooks the Bearcats football field, some of the 164 Steinway baby grand and grand pianos in the building, and the electrics shop where some of the moving light are being fixed (aaaand I may have gotten to play with the color, gobo patterns, focus and positioning of said light with the light board :-) ). They have some pretty fabulous stuff! After that tour we ventured over to West Chester to the Ikea to clue my parents in on the self-contained world that is Ikea. If you haven’t been to one, it’s worth the drive to just spend a few hours walking through it and, of course, the Swedish food at the restaurant is tasty as well. Don’t miss the Swedish Meatballs, Lingionberries or the Chocolate Overload cake (though it is recommended that you share it among 4 people…bring friends!). After Ikea we went to check out a place called Jungle Jim’s that we’ve been hearing about from people all over town. Jungle Jim’s is an international food market. They have a hugely extensive wine and beer section, meats and cheeses from all over the world, cooking classes, old vintage-type candy, fresh produce and herbs, and more. Oh and they have a monorail (monorail!) outside that circles the whole building and a lot of jungle animal statues and decor. Their restrooms are award-winning (they look like you are entering a porta-potty on the outside) and they have a nearly 800 lb. cheese. We picked up some butterkase cheese from Germany, some cigarette candy sticks (good luck finding those anymore!), and some different flavors of Woodchuck Hard Cider to try. We ate at Skyline Chili (a Cincy chili chain that makes a Greek recipe chili with spices like cinnamon and nutmeg in it – a very unique flavoring that’s worth a try if you’re in the Cincinnati area), and then built a fire in our backyard firepit to have s’mores and coffee/cider around.
With a bat puppet at Ikea - Katie this is for you! Bartok says hello :-)It was chilly - perfect fire weather!Mom & dad with s'mores & coffee. Please note the Green Bay Packers hoodie!Our toasty warm fire!
Sunday was our chill day. We went to Mass and checked out electric fireplaces at Lowe’s & Home Depot that blow heat for our kitchen (our kitchen is missing a minor something called insulation and is easily 7 degrees colder than the rest of the house which is costs a fortune to heat and keeps it in the 50’s or low 60’s in there). We ate Thanksgiving leftovers and made turkey veggie noodle soup from the bones of the turkey. Ted watched the Packers game (not a pretty outcome) and then we went for a small hike through the woods at the nearby Stanbery Park in Mt. Washington. I love discovering new parks – there’s no shortage of pretty parks in Cincinnati and most have little rivers, great hiking trails, swing sets, and grills. There’s still plenty more I’d like to visit before it gets too snowy or cold. At the worst I’ll have to wait until spring. We can check out a new one every weekend. We came home and watched a few episodes of a funny Irish TV show called Ballykissangel (recommended for a good laugh – kind of like Northern Exposure) and broke open the Wii for a few rounds of archery! It’s hard to believe that the Wii has been out for like 5 years already! Such amazing technology – we love having it!
Mom & dad hiking in Stanbery ParkTed getting aquainted with our Wii
Mom & dad left this morning and the house is awfully quiet with Ted at work. So now it’s back to the real world – a world of laundry, grocery shopping, cooking dinners, unloading boxes in the basement, getting my Ohio drivers license, and oh yeah, that little thing called finding a job. Up next is finding our Christmas tree, Christmas shopping, holiday cards, hopefully receiving our pro pics from the wedding very very soon so we can get our Thank You cards out, and tying up loose ends from moving and getting married. And, oh yeah, still finding a job. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post: A picture tour of our house! Hope you all survive easing back into real life after your holiday weekend.
