Monthly Archives: August 2011

This week we have two glowing epic fails to discuss and I am so excited to share them with you! I’m going to keep them fairly short because this week has been C.R.A.Z.Y, but there are two pretty important lessons to be learned here, so take note, friends!

First, congratulations on your move to a new residence! How exciting for you! I’ve moved plenty in the past several years and we are on the eve of yet another move. So I can empathize with you – moving trucks are hecka expensive and if you’re relocating just a short distance away it can be oh-so-tempting to just stuff all of your possessions into that tiny little car of yours and haul it yourself. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Ted saw a sheepish little baby of a vehicle driving down Beechmont Avenue this week with a stove on the top of the car, and a sofa and recliner dangling precariously out of the trunk. I suppose they must have been tied down somehow but rest assured all three items were likely bigger than the car itself and I’m nearly certain that nobody was driving anywhere near that vehicle if they could help it for fear of a wayward stove toppling over onto their vehicle. How NOT to move, lesson #1. (But what a funny sight it was!)

Epic Fail #2 is brought to you by a daycare center in desperate need of some appropriate advertising and a marking director, pronto! Thursday night we went for dinner at the home of our dear friends Nick & Linda. They live out in the Ohio countryside, about a 45 minute drive from our place. They made us delicious steaks and vegetables on the grill – it was totally fabulous! Anyhow, on the way there we drove through the little hood of Bethel. On the side of the road we saw someone dressed up as a clown, holding a sign advertising a daycare center. Let’s discuss the many things wrong with this picture, shall we? First, why on earth would you think it’s a good idea to advertise something as important as childcare with a thing that most children and adults are terrified of? Secondly, if you simply must utilize the clown in your marketing (but please don’t!), aim to select a cheerful, welcoming, smiles and rainbows and kittens clown, not a sketchy clown impostor with truly frightening black face makeup, an ugly scowl that screams “I’m a serial killer” and at the very least give the dude a more festive noise-maker than the dreary one that squeaks out an eerie and deflated lame honking sound that sends children running in the opposite direction and leaves grown adults laughing so hard that they have to pull over because they can no longer safely continue their drive. It was brilliancy at its finest! Ted and I are still laughing just thinking about it.

• If there is one thing Ted and I are more indecisive about than where we’ll call home next year (a fairly important decision!), it’s eyeglasses frames. It has taken us well over ten hours, multiple visits to and back again to every glasses store in Anderson, and nearly a half a month + of pondering to narrow down our choices to 2-3 frames…and we’re still tinkering with the final decision. Anal and picky doesn’t even begin to describe it. Multiply that by two because we’re both on the prowl for new specs and you have the most indecisive and meticulous couple in Cincinnati. It’s a little embarrassing.

• I put two books that I am anxious to read on hold at the library nearly three weeks ago. Today I called to check on the status. I am numbers 36 (out of 693) and 227, respectively, in line for said books. My heart is sad and a little astounded. I guess I won’t be reading them this weekend?

• Last night after rehearsal the intern company went out for “getting to know you” dinner and drinks at an amazing, trendy little restaurant called Lavomatic in Over the Rhine downtown. Um, can I live there!? I absolutely drooled over the entire menu – feta watermelon and arugula salad, fish tacos, honey and basil ale, and the pesto mac n’ cheese that was so tasty that I nearly cried.  I will be a regular. Pesto mac n’ cheese people – I swoon!!

• I received a surprise check in the mail yesterday from my alma mater Texas State University – apparently a refund for some long forgotten university apartment property deposit I don’t even remember paying back in 2007. Yes, please! I think I can handle accepting money from four years ago that I had no idea was coming to me…and thanks!

• “Mobbed” = new favorite show ever! Please go on youtube and watch last night’s episode of that bad boy!

This morning I walked out the door on my way to work, pleasantly surprised to find that it was…cool…outside. Like, an extra spring in your step and considering a new blazer for your fall wardrobe cool. This is especially new to me as by time mid-August rolls around in Texas, temperatures are still climbing into the triple digits and all I’m considering is downing ice water, how work appropriate a bathing suit is, and a siesta.

Suffice it to say, and though I don’t want to jinx it, this feels amazing.

Last night we enjoyed an unintentional date night. It started out with a 3 o’clock appointment with our least favorite realty company on earth to see an apartment for rent. The apartment was in one of the neatest neighborhood’s in Cincinnati, Columbia Tusculum, a nifty and unique neighborhood we’d love to live in, but ultimately the apartment was small, overpriced, and just not right for us. After the speediest in-and-out showing ever we decided to do what has become a healthy habit for us lately – drive aimlessly and directionless around parts of the city we’ve never explored before, exploring and searching for a promising new place to call home. This is a surprisingly fun activity for us. It’s incredibly relaxing to not be tied to a schedule or an agenda and to just turn down any which street you please, unaware of the treasures you’ll find. It’s adventurous and we’re always surprised by the things we come across. It’s how we found the house we live in now and the apartment that we are most interested in renting, as well as a number of stellar restaurants we love to frequent. One of my fondest memories in Cincinnati thus far is the very first day we arrived here, before we were even married, and we spent the afternoon driving around in a brand new city, completely oblivious to where we were, and looking for a place to call our first home together. It was exhilarating, fun, and totally surreal.

So we tootled around for a few hours, getting lost and soaking in some great neighborhoods in our city that we never knew existed. We randomly ended up crossing an apartment community only a few miles from our house in Anderson. We love the Anderson area, though it’s a bit of a commute from work, and we were hoping to stay within its boundaries if at all possible. We toured the apartment and were pleasantly surprised by how much we liked everything it had to offer. As of right now, and after all the disastrous dumps we’ve been disappointed by lately, it was a breath of fresh air to find a place we both would be happy with!

Before long we ended up in another one of our favorite neighborhoods, a neighborhood we’d be thrilled to live in if the rent weren’t so pricey, the little suburb of Mariemont, which looks like this:

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and this…

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It’s a fabulous little historic village with German style architecture. It’s the perfect town for taking long walks and enjoying the gorgeous weather. The main square boasts a sweet little three screen movie theatre (pictured above), a fancy bistro with exquisite and eclectic menu called The Quarter (I can’t wait to eat here one day…when we’re rich), one of our favorite Italian pizza nooks – Mio’s, and a Greater’s Ice cream. It’s the kind of town where people ride their bikes, walk their dogs, go for a jog, walk instead of drive, and invite their neighbors over for a drink on the front porch.

We were hungry by the time we ended up in Mariemont, so we walked around the main square for a bit taking in the scenery, then grabbed a cozy booth at Mio’s for a feast of seasoned breadsticks, basil tomato and cheese bread, and delicious calzones. I entered a coloring contest on the butcher paper tabletop and I totally expect to win “most creative!” After dinner I had a Graeter’s coupon burning a hole in my pocket so we walked down the street to this beautiful sight:

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We indulged in a dish of their signature black raspberry chip ice cream at the old-fashioned counter bar that overlooks the street. I’m convinced that if Graeter’s ever took their black raspberry chip ice cream off the menu that half the population of Cincinnati wouldn’t know what to eat for a treat anymore. Yes, it’s that good. After we were adequately worn out from exploring, happy to have found a promising option for a potential home, and sufficiently stuffed with mouth-watering Italian and the world’s best ice cream, we headed home to catch the pre-season Bengals v. Lions game.

Unexpected date nights are the best!

I suppose I should begin with a little back story. I’m nearly, like 95% nearly, positive I’ve already shared this story on the blog, but because it pertains to my current story, you get to read it again – lucky you!

Eight short years ago I was a fresh, eager, and carefree young whippersnapper. I was a junior in high school when our school hosted the annual Aquatic Science summer trip. Essentially, you got to parade around the Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida coastline for two weeks and call it a whole year’s worth of science class credit. I think there were about 18 of selected to participate in this highly prestigious outing.

(blink, blink)

If you have even half of a brain you can see how this was not a class, but an outright vacation for which we got to skip science class for an entire year.

Total win-win situation.

Sure we tested water, examined rivers and streams, explored caves, studied wildlife, memorized terminology, took pop quizzes, and wrote journal entries. But we also road tripped across the most southern part of the U.S. in three white vans for two weeks, pitched tents and camped out on the sands of a beach nearly every single night, cooked all our meals over an open flame, swam in the ocean and soaked up the sunlight, caught stingrays, baby octopus and fish by the bucketful in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, sneaked up on snoozing alligators in the Florida keys, canoed rivers and swamps, went boating and snorkeling on lakes, hung out with the dolphins at a marine center, took a field trip to the New Orleans Aquarium, and engaged in about a bazillion other awesome experiences . Clearly this was, in fact, a vacation disguised as a class. I have no recollection about how much this little jaunt/best summer vacation ever/science class credit cost my parents, who generously footed the bill to further my education and give me an amazing opportunity to experience something I was truly interested in, but I am so thankful I somehow ended up on this trip! My best friend Katie and I signed up together. Along the way we bonded with our other classmates selected to go on the trip and it was an absolute blast. Seriously, it was phenomenally fun, and crazy, and wild, and yes, educational.

Back to the shark tank.

One day we had just finished a boating excursion and snorkeling expedition. We were drenched, covered only by bathing suits, coverups, and towels. I’m blind as a bat without my contacts, but I wasn’t about to wear them in the water and risk contacting some mysterious salt-water eye infection while snorkeling, so I had my contacts out and just accepted that I’d be blind for the next hour or so until we got back to the vans and I could put my glasses on. We walked into some kind of a mini aquarium/nature center at the lake. I instantly spotted a shark tank with one giant lovebug of a shark right in the front. I love sharks. So, fast as my little legs could carry me, I made a bee-line for the shark tank, full speed ahead to see the sweet little guy. Without my contacts in I big time misjudged the distance between the thick pane of glass and my face. I kept running, overjoyed to reach the shark, and smacked loudly, face first into the tank. The shark was right there and I’m sure he about died laughing, as did my friend Katie who was rolling on the floor, tears streaming down her face. This is Katie’s favorite memory of me, ever.

Let’s venture back to the present day, shall we?

A few days ago Ted and I were checking out a little fresh market mom & pop grocery store in Anderson that we’d never been to before. Ted asked me how the fruit compared to the fruit at our usual supermarket. I stooped down to examine the fruit as I walked. Because I clearly wasn’t looking where I was going I smacked head first into one of those hanging weigh scales with a booming DONG sound effect so perfect that you wouldn’t believe this wasn’t a sitcom. The conversation went something like this:

Ted: How does the fruit compare to Kroger?

Lara: (looking down and walking). Hmmm, well the strawberries aren’t so great, but the green beans look amazing! Ohhh, look at these…

Ted: Watch out! Don’t hit your head on the…

(DONG!)

It was awful, y’all. The sound was deafening. I stood there in utter shock, my head ringing, the scale swinging. Ted, meanwhile, was laughing so hard that tears were forming in his eyeballs, his face was beet red, and he was literally hunched over in the aisle gasping to catch his breath. This is Ted’s shark tank, his favorite story of me to date. Every single time he thinks about it (which is often, I assure you) he laughs until he cries.

I am proud to be this week’s Epic Fail Friday.

Sunday evening the sky looked like this when Ted picked me up from work.

Nasty as this storm cell appeared, it produced nothing more than a few flashes of lightening and a quick sprinkle as we parked the car on a neighborhood street and walked our way to Glier’s Goetta Fest at the beautiful shore of Newport on the Levee.

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I was pretty pumped to finally try me some Goetta – a Cincinnati original first produced in bulk by poor German immigrants new to the area way back when. It’s a breakfast sausage made of beef, pork and oats. Naturally, at Goetta Fest they jazz it up and stick it in as many unique offerings as possible.

One booth featured a series of map boards from countries all over the world with push pins so you could document where you were from and how far you came for Goetta Fest. I was surprised by how many states had multiple pins in them as well as the number of international visitors from Asia, Europe, and all over! Ted and I were proud to be the first visitors to pin Green Bay, WI and Boerne, TX – gotta represent! (Yes, Boerne was actually listed on the map!) We were also the first to pin Fruit Hill, our neighborhood in Anderson Township.

We walked past the goetta sausage roll vending machine. Where boetta to stock up on your goetta? (Ha ha ha)

A neat local band The Cincy Brass – a quintet self-described as “N’Awlins Soul meets Cincinnati Funk” – played a bunch of recognizable tunes from the classics to Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance with a jazzy/swing twist – it was really cool! The tunes were super fun to listen to while we relaxed by the river and a bunch of people were having a blast dancing it up in front of the stage.

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We split samplers of the goetta mac n cheese (I will never pass up the opportunity to try a new mac!), the goetta fried rice, and a totally phenomenal goetta calzone made by Papa John’s Pizza. All three were absolutely delicious. Seriously tasty eats! I wish they were served somewhere other than Goetta Fest because they’d be best sellers! Sorry, no food pics – I was too busy eating & enjoying! To top off dinner we stopped by Cold Stone at the levee to try their new mojito sorbet because Goetta Fest ran out of goetta brownies. Mojito is a favorite flavor of mine so I was anxious to give it a try – thumbs up from me! On the walk back to the car we stopped to watch one of my favorite attractions at the levee – the hamster water wheel!

Yeah, it absolutely is just as dumb as it looks. People pay a whopping $8 to spend five minutes making a total ass of themselves in public as they attempt to walk, run, crawl, flip, turn, chicken fight, etc. in a baby pool while encased in a human-sized inflatable ball. They totally look like hamsters in a rodent ball running on all fours in the water. This, my friends, is serious entertainment at its finest. I love it! Fear not, they are available to rent for pool parties. When we build our dream house, you’ll know where to find me.

Then we went home and watched a mindless marathon of funny I Love Lucy episodes to commemorate her 100th birthday – you cannot deny that woman’s comedic genius or the quality of the show itself. It’s good stuff.

It was great way to end the weekend.

The next time you’re in Cincy let’s make a date to scope out some goetta and take a spin on the ol’ hamster wheel, deal?

We have adopted a new tradition, just for us. Every Sunday morning Ted and I go to 8 o’clock mass at the little church down the street and then enjoy a leisurely breakfast of pastries and chai or breakfast sandwiches and bagels at Panera before the morning rush comes in. We eat tasty breakfast treats and talk and relax. It’s our Sunday morning tradition and a sweet way to start off the week together before the frenzy of a hurried schedule sets in.

Looking at my newly-wedded friends wedding pictures also brings a smile to my face. Recently, all of my friends have started getting married. We’re just at that age I guess! I love seeing their faces glowing in candid wedding shots posted to their Facebook wall by friends. It never fails to remind me of our own wedding and how amazing the weather was, how beautiful the autumn scenery was, how much fun the rehearsal dinner fish boil was, and how truly awesome and unique the entire Door County wedding weekend, surrounded by our beloved friends and family, was. Ted and I often dreamily comment how incredible and different and wonderful our weekend was. It’s nice to be reminded of it often and to see our own experience mirrored in the smiling faces of our newly-wedded friends.

I checked out Bristol Palin’s new book “Not Afraid of Life” at the library because I’m always up for a good, cozy read. I wouldn’t identify myself as a republican or a democrat. I simply vote for the candidate who best represents the issues I believe in. I see things I like and dislike in both political parties so in my estimation, there’s no sense in choosing sides or bashing the other party. The Palin family was adored by many but also picked up a lot of slack. I figured the book would be an interesting read and so far it has been. I’ve really enjoyed reading about what life is like growing up in Alaska (very cool, btw!), and seeing a side of the Palin family the media missed. I do wish Bristol had waited a few more years to write her memoir until her whole teen mom situation had mellowed out a bit, and her personal writer’s voice had developed more, and frankly, until she matured a touch because a good portion of each chapter so far has been spent whining about what a scumbag Levi is, or how rude Meghan McCain is, or how obnoxious her ex-uncle Mike is. It’s not without its flaws, but it also has its high points. But all in all, I’ve been really into the book – it’s a fun read regardless of your political preference, and that brings me joy.

Tonight is GoettaFest at Newport on the Levee! In case you’re wondering what the hell Goetta is (I know you are), it’s as Cincinnati as Skyline Chili. It’s a German breakfast sausage originally made by poor immigrants from ground beef and pork and rolled oats. At GoettaFest it is served plain, in nachos, in waffles and pancakes, on pizza, in stir fry, and fried as an ice cream topping –  just to name as few. I am simultaneously intrigued and disgusted. I haven’t tried it (yet) but I am looking forward to a uniquely Cincinnati experience. Regardless, Food. Festival. How can those two words not brighten up your Sunday?

What’s made you smile today?

Yesterday afternoon, for the very first time in our 3 years together, I drove Ted’s truck. Rather, I steered Ted’s truck. It was not on.

You see, when a Ford F-250 decides to crap out on you in the most convenient of places, a low clearance parking garage on the UC campus of course, and the towing company requires that, because of the size of the F-250, the truck must somehow make it out of the garage to be towed (even though the truck does not start, hence the need for towing), someone’s gotta steer the beast. Since I am surprisingly incapable of pushing a 7,000 + lb. truck on my own, I found myself – finally – in the driver’s seat of the beauty that I’ve been yearning to drive since we met. Unfavorable circumstances, true, but history was made nonetheless. It was an unexpected adventure of epic proportions.

In case you forgot where we live, we live in Cincinnati. Currently, Cincinnati is hotter than blazes and, on the off-chance you missed my prior bitching, Cincinnati is the San Francisco of the Midwest. It is extremely hilly – every road, all the time, just like a roller coaster. What does this mean for us? It means Ted pushed that 7,000 lb. truck uphill to get it out of the parking garage (with the eventual help of a kind friend) while I steered the sucker to the best of my abilities without power steering. It was a joy and a blessing, I assure you. Two hours later Truckie was safely towed to the Ford dealer, I got an amazing looking sunburn on my cheekbones, and Ted got the workout of a lifetime (again, my hero!). It had fail written all over it. But I had gone to work with Ted yesterday to help him out with some stuff since I had the day off (yes, I go to someone else’s job on my day off), so at least we were able to power through it together…and then spend the evening running all the errands I was unable to run in the first place.

This brings me to my second epic fail, which occurred while running errands. Apparently, the co-pay for the motion sickness patch is $24 – each. Talk about a huge kick in the pants when I was expecting a mere $7 co-pay, per the usual prescription. Even the co-pay for Ted’s insulin maxes out at $12. It was painful. I cried, then my bank account cried. And we were both miserable. You now what they say about assuming. My bad. But seriously, why is a lousy box of motion sickness patches so damn expensive? Whew.

Two total successes? I got my engagement and wedding rings back from being polished and re-dipped at the jewelers and they are so unbelievably gorgeous and sparkly. They look as wonderful as the day Ted gave them to me! I don’t even want to wear them because I can’t stand the thought of dirtying them again until our honeymoon. Getting my rings cleaned is one of my greatest pleasures for some silly reason. It brings me extreme, unreasonable happiness. And this morning as we were getting ready for work, we looked out the window and saw a mother deer, two baby deer and two bunnies just a few feet from our windows chowing on an early morning breakfast of weeds. They’re all such pretty creatures and to be able to observe them up close, all together in harmony, from the comfort of our bedroom is just awesome.  They make my day! Seeing stuff like this on a regular basis is one of the many reasons why I love our house so much!

Happy weekend everyone!

I had to RSVP ‘no’ to a dear friend’s wedding yesterday.

It was pretty much devastating.

Very unlike the amazing blanket fort we constructed for a slumber party in my living room sophomore year of college or the infamous toast burning (then tossing) dinner during one of our girls’ nights senior year – both with our third musketeer, Julia. Those, on the contrary, I’d classify as nine parts epic success to one part devastation.

This is ten parts devastation.

As a recent bride I know how eagerly and excitedly you await the arrival of those RSVPs and how every ‘no’ from someone you love, even as understandable as they all are, sting a little. I am beyond sad to have to miss out on such a special occasion and bummed to have to pass along that fresh feeling of disappointment to such a sweet lady especially after being bestowed with the honor of an invitation.

The pitfalls of living 1,200 miles away from your friends, huh?

Sigh.

At least it was taco night last night. That has to count for something.