Those three words sum up our week in a nutshell. Now, when it comes to heat I’m not a weenie. I’m Texas born and Texas proud. We know heat in Texas where our spice flavors come in hot, blazing, and wicked ridiculous and 103 degrees from May-August isn’t unusual. We’ve adapted – we don’t own vehicles with leather seats because that’s just stupid, we know better than to let our little arm hairs anywhere near the searing hot metal seat belt, and we have a closet full of stylish shorts and tank tops made of cool, breathable materials. And in reality the heat in Texas, while continual, isn’t really all that bad. Texans aren’t weenies. We can handle the heat. But what we know is dry heat; temperature that more or less matches the heat index. It may be hotter than blazes out, but at least we’re not dripping in sweat.
What we have here in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky is what I like to call a big old steaming pile of CRAP. Crap is a heat index of 108 because it’s 97% humidity out. Crap when you walk outside and your glasses steam up. Crap is when everything is moist and you swear it’s drizzling out, but there isn’t even a cloud in sight. Crap is when it feels like you just opened the lid of a boiling pot of steamed zucchini on your face. Crap is having to put your clothes through the dryer because you stood outside for four minutes in the sun. Crap is when the realtor wants to show you something interesting about the property outside but you hesitate because you have decide if going outside to see it is actually worth the effort. Crap is drinking bottle after bottle of water and never having to pee because you’re sweating so profusely. Crap is when your energy fades after mere minutes of simply walking outdoors and your slink into the house feeling nauseous like you just exercised for three hours or something. Crap is when the only thing you can even consider eating is ice cubes and watermelon. Crap, in short, is lame.
Excessive heat warning.
In Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, that phrase actually means something. Just like the “30 mph around curve” speed limit signs. Anywhere else in the nation, you can pretty much just ignore those signs unless it’s raining or icy and go about 40 mph and you’ll be fine. In Texas “excessive heat warning” means “just another day like yesterday so get outside and have some fun y’all!” Only in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky do “excessive heat warning” and “30 mph around curve” actually mean, and I quote, “stay the hell indoors fool” and “don’t you dare go barreling around this curve at 35 mph because you will royally regret it while you’re peeling your vehicle out of the concrete barrier.”
Extreme.
If you’d like another reminder that you are indeed in Kentucky, please proceed to your nearest restaurant where they’ll ask you “smoking or non-smoking?” Stare at them blankly, utterly dumbfounded, while they repeat the question twice and you try to figure out if that language was English.
Um, what? I seriously thought every state in the union was non-smoking by now. The last time I heard that phrase uttered in a public establishment was in San Antonio circa 2003. By the way, why the hell are you smoking? It’s 111 degrees out.
By some stroke of crazy good luck I unexpectedly ended up with a free pair of tickets to the Friday night Reds v. Cardinals MLB game 3 hrs before it started. By another equally impressive stroke of good luck the seats were incredible (right up front, directly behind home base), the weather was extraordinary, the Ohio humidity was surprisingly non-existent, and we had seats in the priority section with padded cushions, extra leg room, wide aisles, and butler service throughout the game. The game was great – a real competition right up until the end (a Reds victory!), and because the seats were so close it was easy to see everything and really get into it. After the game we walked across the bridge to Newport, KY where we parked. After living my life in Texas where the nearest state border is a minimum of 6 hours away, I think it’s awesome that we can park in Kentucky to see a baseball game in Ohio. From the bridge we watched a beautiful display of post-show fireworks over the river with the Cincinnati skyline in the background. We weren’t the only ones tuning in for the view, however. The river was mobbed with over 200 boats who’d parked it on the water for the occasion. Gorgeous.
We navigated the parking garage maze and high-tailed it out to the tiny town of Amelia a ways East of Cincinnati and made it to the Starlite Drive-In Theatre just in time to park our car up close, tune the radio to 90.5 FM, and catch the 11:50 p.m. showing of “Super 8.” If you’ve never been to a drive-in, let me tell you how A) wonderfully comfortable it is to kick your shoes off, lean the seat back, roll down the windows and watch a flick in the cool summer’s air, and B) how totally spooky it is to watch a suspense flick at a drive-in. Even though the drive-in was huge with tons of parking room and a greasy spoon full-service snack bar included, and it was absolutely packed late on a Friday night, it was still kind of out in the middle of nowhere and every time something creepy happened in the movie I halfway expected an ax murderer to come sneaking into our back seat. It just felt like something you’d see in a horror flick – the unsuspecting young couple at the drive-in. The drive-in is a sublime location for suspenseful flicks set back in the 1970s or prior. But it was a lot of fun and we’ll definitely be frequenting it more often even though we didn’t crawl into bed until nearly 3 a.m.
Saturday morning we slept in (a real treat because that never seems to happen anymore!) and Ted got a quick cut of the grass in before we hit up the Farmer’s Market to fill up on farm-fresh jumbo squash, zucchini, green beans, eggs, and apple cider.
Later in the afternoon we ran some errands and stocked up on yummy meats as we used up a Groupon (love Groupon!) to a local butcher shop. While we were out we got caught by a mid-afternoon rain shower. It was positively pouring while we ran to the car. Amazingly, I was soaked – as in shoes slushy, mascara dripping down the face, hair sopping wet, clothes clinging, just jumped in a pool soaked – while Ted somehow only got a little damp. How that happened, we have no idea.
After I went directly into a towel and my clothes went directly into the dryer, we grabbed dinner at Hyde Park Pizzeria, Cincinnati’s best (in our humble opinion) pizza joint with to. die. for. pizza sauce. I was craving lasagna and it totally hit the spot. We capped off the evening at home watching “The Proposal” with Sandra Bullock – a truly hilarious movie with some killer one-liners that both guys and girls will enjoy. It’s one of my all-time favorite movies. If you haven’t seen it, you need to get on that ASAP my friends.
Sunday we just laid low and took the day as it came – we slept in, reviewed our wedding photos and finally started the process of picking out some favorites to decorate our walls, hit up lunch and treated ourselves to a few tasty samples (cherry cordials and chocolate coated sea salt caramels = bliss!) at a nearby fudge shop, a quick shopping trip to look for some shorts for both of us (97% humidity and windows steamed over at 8 a.m. warrants shorts big time), a luxurious mid-afternoon nap, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church Festival. As I’ve mentioned before, Cincinnati knows how to throw a good church festival! Games, carnival rides, and nosh for a worthy cause? Yes, please! I may or may not have eaten my body weight in cotton candy. It was worth it. And Ted won us a fish!!! I am so excited to pick out our new little guy at the pet store! We capped off the night watching “Grease.” There may have been some singing involved.
Perfect American summer weekend? Yes, I think so. What did you do this weekend?
When I last left off I had visions of vacations dancing through my mind – our honeymoon, a trip to Lansing, and a long weekend in Door County.
Door County, WI
http://www.doorcountypages.comDoor County is the thumb of Wisconsin bordered by Green Bay on one side and Lake Michigan on the other. It consists of several little towns labeled on the map and Washington Island (not shown) which you ferry to and it’s just about the most beautiful, peaceful place in the U.S. to unwind and have yourself to a simple, carefree, and fun-loving time. Door County is so special to us for many reasons, not the least of which is because we chose this peninsula as the place we wanted to get married and begin the rest of our lives together. Between the sweet little main streets lined with adorable shops and to-die-for restaurants that serve only local food (as soon as you pass Sturgeon Bay there is not a single chain restaurant, hotel, or store anywhere to be found and I mean that in the most literal way), the multitude of state parks, beaches, and summer fun activities ranging from professional theatre companies to water sports and bike tours to drive-in theatres and old-fashioned bowling alleys, you’ll always be relaxed and entertained. And the gorgeous colors covering the landscape in the fall are just icing on the cake. We couldn’t possibly do everything we want to do in one long weekend, but luckily we don’t have to since we’ve promised ourselves one trip to Door County every year to celebrate our anniversary. Here’s what we’re hoping to hit up:
– Square Rigger Galley Fish Boil (Jacksonport): If you haven’t watched or dined on a traditional Dutch fish boil with boiled salted fresh whitefish yanked directly from the waters mere steps away from you served with potatoes, onion, and corn cooked all together in a boiling cauldron on the beach and set ablaze with kerosene and finished the meal off with fresh cherry pie, then you’re missing one of life’s most delicious surprises. We were after something extremely local, festive and non-traditional for our rehearsal dinner and this place is phenomenal. By phenomenal I mean the food is phenomenal, the staff is phenomenal (they had closed for the season but re-opened for one night especially for our rehearsal dinner), and the view – oh, the view! – is beyond phenomenal.
Yup, that's our food cooking and that's Lake Michigan a few steps away
– Lavender Spa (Fish Creek): I’ve had a few massages in my lifetime, and all of them were okay. But truth be told, though they felt nice, they weren’t the epitome of extreme relaxation they promised to be. For free? Sure. But I’m not so sure I’m into paying $60+ tip for a massage unless I’m positive it will be worth my hard-earned money. Lavender Spa was incredible. It was the most glorious, relaxing experience I’ve ever had. I’m only going to indulge in something like a massage or pedicure once a year and I would gladly fork over the money at this place.
– The Cookery (Fish Creek): The food, omg the food! It is so fresh, so local, so seasonal and so delicious it’s unreal. The menu is just a little bit eclectic featuring a smorgasbord of ingredients grown locally and paired together. I had the best tuna melt of my life here and a tough time to boot picking out just one entree to order because they all sounded delicious. They even have this neat little wine bar upstairs. A definite must for lunching.
– Lautenbauch’s Orchard County Winery (Egg Harbor): Fruit wines made on site, pick your own cherry orchards, free wine tastings, and a store full of cherry goodies including wines, chocolates, salsas, oils and everything in between! Door County is one of top producers of our nation’s cherry crop. We purchased all the wine for our wedding from here and our supply is starting to dwindle, so we’ll be stocking up on our favorites for the year.
– Double Delites (Egg Harbor): Homemade gelato and gourmet popcorn abound in this sweets shop. The Door County cherry gelato is the best one there! I can’t picture a better place for an afternoon snack.
– Goats On the Roof (Sister Bay): Okay, so technically it’s Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant, but this place is the best breakfast place in Door County A) because the food is awesome – think authentic Swedish meatballs, lingonberry crepes, and the most fabulous hot chocolate known to man served by ladies in traditional Swedish get-up, and B) because there are goats. Hanging out. On the roof of the restaurant. That I am in love with. This is a win-win combination.
– Peninsula State Park & Peninsula Players (Fish Creek): Quality professional theatre in a fantastic state park with beaches, dunes, towers, fantastic views and miles upon miles of trails for hiking and biking? Yes, please!! Did I mention quality professional theatre?
We also can’t relax, schmooze, play, adventure and unwind in Door County without stopping by for mass at the church we were married in, staying at the lovely Landmark Resort where we stayed our first night as newlyweds, playing a round of mini golf at Pirate’s Cove, bowling a few rounds at the original Sister Bay Bowl, catching a flick at the drive-in theatre, taking a ferry to explore Washington Island (we’ll make it happen one of these times!), and noshing at Summertime for a romantic evening-long feast of blue crab ravioli.
Oh, how I look forward to Epic Fail Friday when I’ve had a week chock full of stupid bad behavior to share with you!
Yesterday was, apparently, International Drive Like a Loon Day (DLALD). Oh, you didn’t get the memo? Me either. I would have joined the throngs of idiots and showcased my worst driving skills had I known. On the way home from work, in a span of ten short minutes, I encountered more roadway stupidity than I have witnessed since we moved to Ohio over eight months ago. The Stupid Bad Drivers Anonymous Association (SBDAA) would be thrilled to know how dedicated to the DLALD cause people were. Here’s a quick sketch of my trip home:
5:33 p.m. – Disgusting gentleman in front of me hacks a huge spray of nasty spit out his window. It splashes everywhere and glistens in the sunlight.
5:34 p.m. – Stop at a green light because traffic is backed up and advancing any further would land me squarely in the middle of an intersection when the light turns red, immediately making me one of those morons everyone loves to hate.
5:35 p.m. – Taxi cab pulls up behind me, sees me stopped at the green light to avoid blocking the intersection until the traffic clears, then decides to go around me hereby cutting in line and blocking the intersection. I am dumbfounded and infuriated so I honk. This is a bold statement for me.
(Dear Fool: I wasn’t stopped at a green light for my own pleasure.)
5:36 p.m. – Spitting viper is at it again.
5:38 p.m. – I stop at a red light and glace over at the car next to me. The chick driving proceeds to roll down her window and toss three pieces of garbage out onto the streets. I eye the litter on the ground and then glance up at her, making my disgust clear. I hope she felt bad.
5:38 p.m. –More spit.
5:41 p.m. – While driving down a particularly steep and curvy road I look to my left. What do I see but an exemplary citizen simultaneously driving and devouring the messiest burrito ever on a grease-soaked paper plate with one hand in between puffs of his cigarette, which is in his other hand. If you’re anything like me, you’re impressed with his mad multi-tasking skills and also a little curious as to which hand he’s using to, you know, steer his vehicle down the steep and winding road since his left hand is occupied by a cigarette held tightly to his lips and his right hand and leg are occupied by a oozing burrito.
5:42 p.m. – The tailgater makes his debut leaving approximately six inches between his car and mine on said steep and winding road.
5:43 p.m. – I become angry because not only are my chances of making it home unharmed diminishing with every passing vehicle but I cannot even tap on my breaks to passive-aggressively showcase my annoyance at his tailgating and warn him to back the hell off my handsome Buick because there is no room for him to stop should I have decided to tap my breaks in warning. I settle for shooting him my most seething glare when he finally squeezes past me. Do I taste fail sauce? I do.
6:01 p.m.– I scramble in the door and collapse in my husbands arms, relieved to be alive.
6:03 p.m. – I check online and discover it is DLALD sponsored by SBDAA.
And it all makes sense.
Welcome to my Epic Fail Friday, Cincinnati Drivers! I only wish I’d snapped pictures of your license plates to post on this blog so everyone knows just who you are. Ironically, snapping photos while driving would have landed me in with the DLALD crowd and then I’d have had to write about my own foolish antics for Epic Fail Friday, which I try to limit to doing only once every six months and I’ve already met that quota with my blackberry thyme margarita disaster of 2011.
P.S. I think Epic Fail Friday would an excellent time to discuss what the hell old ladies wear to smell so strongly of…well, old lady. You know that scent so potently overwhelming that you can’t help but cough clouds of powder out of your lungs when a gaggle of the Dove Club tootles by? Is that just naturally the way you smell when you get older or is it a cocktail of baby powder and aging perfume left over from 1948? Whatever it is, please don’t allow me to smell like that in 50 years. Friends don’t let friends wreak.
We have a great honeymoon fast approaching and it’s summer. Reasonably, all I have on my brain is vacation, vacation, vacation! Honeymoon vacation, Lansing vacation, Door County vacation – any and all please!
Our honeymoon is all planned, scheduled and we’re ready to go, but we have yet to wrap our heads around when we’ll be able to make it, schedule-wise and financially speaking, to Lansing MI or Door County WI. Not to be extreme, but there’s also a trip home to Texas for Christmas in the works and in the future (um, far future) we’d also love to hit up Germany again for a week+ and take a legendary road trip across America, enjoying hand-picked sights, restaurants and personal areas of interest all across our beautiful country – a vintage “U.S. tour” if you will. Clearly we’re not floating in oodles of cash or anything, so that’ll have to wait until we find the oodles of cash tree. If you have any idea where that is, please let us know.
While we may not know when we’ll be going to Lansing or Door County, we certainly know what we’ll be doing while we’re there.
Lansing is the city where Ted and I first met working with some incredible people at BoarsHead Theatre. We dated and got engaged there. In Lansing Ted earned his Master’s degree in Technical Production & Design from Michigan State University and did a bunch of freelance lighting designs for area theatres while I broke into the world of equity theatre with my internship at BoarsHead. Lansing seemed pretty dreary at the time but we had plenty of fun and, looking back, we miss it dearly. We spent our time exploring the city and becoming regulars at our favorite joints. Here’s a few we have solid plans to revisit. It’s no coincidence at 95% of them involve food. Essentially, we plan to reconnect with our old haunts and eat our way across the capital of Michigan (fear not, it’s all in the portion control).
– Horrocks: The best grocery store/farmer’s market in Michigan! It was a short walk down the street from Ted’s apartment and stocked full of local, fresh off the farm produce, grains, spices and sauces, by-the-bottle wines and beer, wholesale candy, cheeses, meats, grind it yourself honey roasted peanut butter, and complimentary coffee. We’d walk to and fro with our bags full of apples, cheese and other goodies grown or produced a short distance away. I could have lived in this grocery store.
– Fitzgerald Park & Korner Kone: Our favorite park and ice cream stand located just a hop and a skip away in the tiny historic town of Grand Ledge, MI. Our park was home to a little summer theatre, and acres upon acres of rolling grassy meadows, hiking trails into the woods and along the Grand River, and a disc golf course. We’d meet one of our friends at Korner Kone for creamy, delicious hand-dipped ice cream.
– Golden Harvest: I could rave for years about this little breakfast joint. The restaurant, owned by a bunch of free-spirits with neon hair, nose rings and tattoo’d arms who grow some of the produce out in the back of the restaurant, has only has a handful of tables stuffed in cozy proximity to each other. There’s always a huge wait line stretching out the front door and past the 7 ft. tall sunflowers growing along the side of the building. The menu boasts unbelievably tasty and unique breakfast offerings and massive portions. The walls can hardly be seen because every available surface is covered with fliers, posters, oddball art, random dinosaur statues, old signs, gothic and hippie-inspired stuff and basically anything else you can possibly imagine. In short, it is heaven on earth.
– Leo’s Outpost: Our late night, post show, log cabin, animal-head furnished bar for drinks and unfathomably tasty thin crust pizza. It was the hang out for our family of theatre staff and actors after shows and a place for us to laugh or cry or vent or celebrate or simply catch up.
– Fleetwood’s All-Nighter Diner: A traditional black and white checkered all-nighter diner, perfect for a breakfast of hot coffee, omelets, and hippie hash casserole with broccoli, feta cheese and gyro meat. Delicious at 2 a.m., 11 a.m., 7 p.m. and any time in between.
– Tim Horton’s: Okay, so we lose a few brownie points because this is totally a chain – mostly in Canada. Incredible hot apple cider and a fresh array of doughnuts for a quick morning breakfast on a chilly winter day before work or after church. Need I say more?
– Stormfield Theatre & family: We met working at BoarsHead Theatre. Shortly after my internship was up and Ted was in his second year of his Master’s program at MSU, the Michigan economy died and with it, many of the arts organizations, including BoarsHead who could no longer afford to pay staff, professional actors or keep their doors open. So BoarsHead’s Artistic Director, not without a brave and courageous struggle, started a new professional theatre company and brought the staff with her. These people were our artistic family for our entire time in Lansing and we can’t wait to see a great stage production and catch up with our friends at Stormfield.
– Clara’s Lansing Station: Lansing’s “nice” restaurant located in an old original train station. One room of the restaurant is even housed in an old train car. This was the celebration restaurant where we’d go for special occasions – our engagement, parents vising town, Ted’s graduation, or dinner with friends or favorite visiting actors. This was the place you went for casual elegance, atmosphere, a round of cocktails, and phenomenal ribs and salads. It was classy, had a menu that was so large it read like a novel, and somehow still managed to be reasonably priced.
– Uncle John’s Cider Mill: In the summer it’s a fully operational farm and winery, and by autumn it becomes a pick your own pumpkin patch with legit corn maze, and apple orchard that produces wonderful cider. This is where we got engaged, so obviously it’s not only a blast but it also holds a special place in our hearts.
– Goodrich Quality Cinemas: Our old movie theatre! Even at regular pricing, we never paid more than $4.75 for a first-run movie ticket and with coupons from the frequent movie-goers club, splitting a popcorn and soda was only a few bucks more. Movies were often our entertainment of choice as even our poor intern and grad student salaries could accommodate it.
– Potter Park Zoo: The peacocks roam free. Roam free. As in, if I can get close enough to it, I can pet it. This, quite obviously, is incredibly exciting for me.
We can’t accomplish it all in two-and-a-half days so needless to say I’m leaving out a lot of our other favorites like Ted’s old apartment where we fed the colony of wild bunnies carrots on his back porch and played washers until dusk, or the Main Street of Williamston where we walked, or the BoarsHead Theatre building itself where we spent 75% of our time (I think it was demolished last year). I promise we did more than eat while we lived in Lansing…
Up next: Where we’ll be going on our (eventual) Door County vacation!
I was super psyched to whip out my roller blades from 1996 and take them for a spin for the first time in 15 years. I think this is the year for me to “get back on the horse” so to speak and rediscover (er, re-learn how to do…) things I used to love doing – bike riding and roller blading for example. So I bought a new bike and dug my blades out of our Texas garage where they have been warmly and comfortably stored for over a decade without use, and moved them to Ohio with us. Ted used to blade often in high school and in college. His blades are no newer than mine, but they’ve definitely been used more recently and frequently. Last year while he was living in Lansing he even switched out his old wheels for a brand new set. Someone’s on top of things (hint: it’s not me.)
Not only had my roller blades sat unused for 15 years and not seen the light of day from their hot Texas garage, but they still have the original set of wheels on them (vintage!), and I also had no idea I was supposed to have been rotating the wheels periodically all these years. Um, my bad. Obviously, as if the above criteria were not enough to nominate me for the sports-equipment-owner-of-the-year award, I also didn’t realize that rubber eventually expires. I somehow thought that years of neglect would lead to good things during my first time out blading since I was a kid.
Clearly, this was not the case.
Much like my first time on a bike since I was a kid, getting used to roller blading again was less than pretty. Both took me a lot of trail and error, negotiating, remembering, and pushing myself to stop being a pansy. I bladed slowly at first and once I got the hang of it, I started getting faster and my strides became smoother…then slower and choppier. Then my wheels wouldn’t roll and I became concerned that I was seriously out of shape. Until I looked down and saw my rubber wheels, shredded, with nearly half the rubber missing on nearly every wheel.
Impressive! At least I take comfort in the fact that my extreme struggles weren’t due to pansy-ness, the excessive heat index, my lack of mad roller blading skills, or my being way out of shape, but rather to wheels that should have been replaced about a decade ago.
Oops.
With that we cut our daily exercise agenda short (the best laid plans right?) and went over to Dick’s Sporting Goods to see what they could do for us. Now I may be waving my cheapskate fly high here, but since when did roller blade wheels get so expensive!? And until I can pony up the courage to fork over $40 for a new set of wheels (which may be soon), we’ll be sticking to biking. And I was so looking forward to taking up blading again! Though perhaps it’ll be much nicer in the fall when it’s 60 degrees out instead of 105.
Good thing I’ve got my bike Carmela! :-)
Let this be a lesson to you all: Yanking something out storage after 15 years and expecting it to work like a charm? Probably isn’t going to happen. So in the meantime (you know, to make yourself feel better about cutting your exercise session short) help yourself to hearty bowlful of Haagen Daz Sweet Chai Latte ice cream because it is sinfully delicious and definitely makes you forget about exercising.
Kids shouldn’t be the only ones having fun in the summer. Actually, that blanket statement should apply on a year-round basis, but especially during the summer when it doesn’t get dark until 9:30 and you feel like you have all the time in the world to veg, explore, and play because you don’t have to wake up early or go to work until September (except that you do). Ted has a shirt that reads “Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional.” Ted and I choose to be eternally youthful, and really, being kids and adults simultaneously is a pretty easy decision for us. Sure, we gladly shoulder the responsibilities of adulthood and marriage, have careers, pay bills, and maintain a home like respectable adults do, but we also think that making room for fun, relaxation and adventure is important for ourselves and each other. So we’ve made sure that the under 18 crowd aren’t the only ones hunkering down for a fun-filled summer! In the past week we’ve…
…seen a freakishly adorable production of “Winter Wonderettes” at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati. It’s one of those shows that positively boosts your spirits. You leave the theatre grinning from ear to ear, humming folksy Christmas tunes and snickering at show jokes and memories days later.
…released our inner kid at Chuck-E-Cheese….where a kid can be a kid! Chuck-E-Cheese holds a special place in both of our hearts. I used to have awesome birthday parties there as a child and Ted worked at the Chuck-E-Cheese in Green Bay for seven years throughout high school and college. It was a fun job for him and he recalls a lot of great times and funny memories as a game tech/server/Chuck-E/etc. fixing the game machines, perfecting his mad gaming skills with coworkers after hours, wearing the Chuck-E costume and chasing kids into the ball pit or jungle gym, and downing pizza. Though we do actually (um, most of the time that is) pay for the tokens when we indulge in the occasional Chuck-E-Cheese escapades, Ted still has an entire bag full of tokens from his former life as well as over 2,000 prize tickets we have yet to redeem – hey, seven years of practicing has made him a jackpot winner when it comes to skee ball. So we bounded in, ordered a greasy pizza, drank sugary soft drinks, and took our cups full of tokens and went to town on the games! And guess what? It was just as fun as when we were kids.
…gone biking along the Little Miami Scenic Trail. Miles of bike riding along a gorgeous wooded trail is engaging, therapeutic, and a traditional part of a nostalgic summer. It’s exercise, sight-seeing, enjoying the great outdoors, and having fun all at the same time.
…caught a showing of the movie “Up” under the stars. A local church set up a projector screen in park and offered a free showing of this wonderful movie with unlimited popcorn, so we showed up, equipped with blankets and bug spray to enjoy a great night of cinematic excellence under the stars.
…spent a lazy day doing nothing but playing the video game Zelda on the wii and watching episode after episode of “Scrubs.” Actually, this was all Ted, but he totally deserves a day to do this. He’s usually either working at his job or working on freelance work he gets. When he’s not doing that there’s millions of other things that keep him busy, from paying bills to mowing the lawn, so this is the first time in a very, very long time he’s actually had a full day to veg out and do something totally relaxing that he enjoys. Video games and great television sound like a necessity of summer to me!
…played black light, glow-in-the-dark mini golf at Lunar Golf where the theme was, what else? Outer space! Not only did everything glow neon under the lights, but there was also all kinds of neat space and moon black light artwork decorating the walls at every turn, and the course itself had a bunch of cool twists for the balls to navigate like tunnels, bridges, and roller coasters.
So how’s that for summer fun, kids?
P.S. I also think you all should know that yesterday the heat index was 117 in Cincinnati. 117!!! As in, it felt like it was 117 outside. It was only a 92 heat index in San Antonio. THAT is ridiculous! You know something is messed up when it feels 25 degrees hotter in Ohio than Texas. And we exercised outside in that crap. It was miserable. Totally miserable. Ted’s glasses steamed up upon walking out of the grocery store. We had intentions of pulling up to the Drive-In theatre in Amelia for a nighttime showing of Cars 2, but even at night it was just far too steamy to be outside any length of time. But the drive-in is definitely on our list for the summer, just when it’s a tad bit cooler!
Friday afternoon we toured a house about a mile and a half up the road from us in Anderson, the area we currently live in and absolutely love. We pass by this house daily on our way to work and ever since we noticed it, it has peaked our interest. For several months in the winter it was undergoing promising-looking renovations and updates; it was neat to see its daily evolution as we drove past. The house is a charming two-story white house with slate gray shutters and a red door comfortably nestled in a little cutout grove of trees along a wooded, scenic road. A “For Sale” sign went up a few months ago – and has stayed up. We always thought it was a sweet house in a superior location and we were curios to see the inside, but the house looked small from the outside, didn’t appear to have a basement, and we weren’t looking to buy even though the price was surprisingly reasonable. So we settled for stalking it on the local realtor’s website once or twice and then let it go.
Recently we noticed a “rent to buy” sign had made its way into the front yard. Upon closer inspection of the website materials we realized that the house did have a basement. That was about all it took for our curiosity to get the better of us. On our way home one evening we stopped by the house to peer into her vacant windows. Impressed with what we saw we tempted fate, called the realtor, and set up an appointment, hopeful that renting would be an option.
No such luck folks and I wishwe hadn’t seen that house because it is perfect for us. In the fall the house was purchased by a contractor (read: someone who likely knows what he’s doing) who flipped the house and added a whole slew of appealing updates. Because he’s a contractor, he’s not interested in being a landlord and would much prefer to sell the place, which would be less expensive than “renting to buy” in the long run.
In addition to the massive, clean, and freshly renovated unfinished basement that could safely and dryly store everything we own (cue Ted drool), there’s a brand spanking new concrete driveway, roof, a/c unit, furnace, carpeting, double-pane windows, electrical panel, water heater, and outdoor drainage system. It has a small yard (read: less lawn to mow and less leaves to rake!) but all the landscaping was redone, beautiful plants were planted and awesome new tile and stone walkways were installed. The house features a large gourmet kitchen with all new completely stainless steel appliances with tags still attached (cue Lara drool), an abundance of new cabinets stained a lovely deep hue (drool drool) and gorgeous finished concrete counters (drool drool drool!). The 2.5 bathrooms were all refinished with those same cabinets (again, drool), marble counters (swoon), and new fixtures. The 3 bedrooms are softly carpeted and beyond spacious (read: um, huge) and the closets are not only large but also have shelving already installed in them (faint!). The house is gas heated (which greatly cuts down on electrical bills during the winter!), has a cozy gas fireplace, a beautiful living room with hardwood floors, and this totally awesome extra room with a brick chimney for a touch of texture and nearly wall-to-wall windows that not only provides a stellar view, but could be used for anything from a dining room to an entertainment lounge. It even has an extended window seat that would make an incredible reading nook for me. Even more importantly, it appears that the poured concrete foundation is rock solid (a.k.a. it won’t fall down like our current house is threatening to do) and is likely insulated as well. The house is 52 years old so it’s got enough of that historical vintage charm to draw us in, but with all the updates it “doesn’t look its age” structurally. The realtor said the house wasn’t going because the first listed price was too high (it has since by reduced) and because it doesn’t have a garage, a high priority for people in this area, especially with the winter snow.
In other words, were we looking to buy, we would have brought in an inspector today and, if all went well, made an offer tonight. After seeing something we’re both so smitten with, it’s hard to walk away or view anything else with unbiased eyes. The kicker is the price is actually reasonable. If we knew we were settled in our jobs and knew we’d be staying in Cincinnati for a length of time (we’re already sold on the city – we love it here!), we could probably afford it if we really tried, though it might be stretch. With our future so uncertain we weren’t really looking to buy, but now the seed is planted in my head: When will a house this nice and with this many updates be available for a reasonable price again? I don’t know. And that makes it even harder to pass it by, though that’s exactly what we should and will do.
The lesson to me is let sleeping dogs lie. If it calls to you, but you probably can’t have it should you end up loving it, don’t even look at it.
Thursday night we invited our friends Nick & Linda over for dinner. In October when we learned we’d be moving to Cincinnati and needed a place to crash for three days while we did a whirlwind round of house hunting, Fr. Bob’s friends Nick & Linda generously took us in without knowing a thing about us. They were having a bonfire at their home when we arrived late that night so they introduced us to all their neighbors, trusted us with the keys to their home, and even gave us a garage door opener to use while we stayed with them. They housed us, fed us, gave us our first real tour of Cincinnati, helped us locate areas of town to start our house searching in, and advised us of the areas of town we definitely wanted to avoid. When we signed the lease they took us out to dinner at Montgomery Inn BoatHouse to celebrate. When we moved into the house a week after our wedding, they showed up at our front door to help us scrub the fridge and unload boxes from the moving truck. They brought with them a “welcome home” box full of new-house necessities like toilet paper, disposable plates and silverware, bottled water, light bulbs, hand soap, and cleaning supplies. They also brought a lasagna, salad and garlic bread; it was our first meal in our new home. They even picked us up at the Cincinnati airport and drove us back home after our Christmas vacation. Needless to say, we’re very thankful for them! We’ve all been swamped lately and haven’t seen them in several months, so to remedy that and to say a big old “Thanks For Being So Wonderful To Us!” we invited them over for dinner.
I was excited for the opportunity to break out our set of cute wooden salad bowls, Packer wine glasses (yes, we actually own Green Bay Packer wine glasses), and shapely serving dishes I collected during college. I used our low bowl succulent garden for a centerpiece because A) it’s awesome, and B) it adds a sweet flair to the table and still allows you to see and converse with the person sitting across from you, unlike a vase of tall blooms which can block people off from one another. For an appetizer I made a fantastic creamy spinach artichoke dip (find the recipe here) and served it with lightly salted bagel chips. And because I grew up an olive-loving Bidus, no dinner party would be complete with the obligatory and beloved black olive and petite dill relish tray that has made an appearance at every family function and social dinner since as far back as I can remember. For dinner we started with a really simple yet abundantly flavorful salad I absolutely love – spinach, strawberries, almonds, and goat cheese. Try it. It is astonishing how tasty this salad can be. I don’t even use dressing on it because it’s so good without it. After the salad course we dined on crescent rolls and my grandmother’s crowd pleasing Italian sausage pasta casserole. We drank Door County wine – black cherry and honeycrisp apple were on the menu – and finished the meal off with a Le Cordon Bleu custard-filled butter cookie crust fruit tart I’d made that afternoon (recipe here). The fruit tart is absolutely mouth watering! I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re looking for a quick dessert to throw together in less than 30 minutes, but if you’ve got a few hours of time on your hands, guests to pamper, and a hankering for something light and sweet, this dish is both visually beautifully and delicious without feeling to sinful or heavy. Nick & Linda brought us a pretty bouquet of flowers, which if my memory serves me correctly, is actually our first bundle of flowers we’ve ever had in this house! It’s about time!
Sadly, I’m working both days this weekend because that’s just the point we have to be at in our lives right now in order to keep our ends meeting, but I hope you’re all having a lovely summer weekend :-)
