Monthly Archives: February 2014

So, my awesome and totally inspiring friend Kristen…

… is doing 90-minutes of Bikram Yoga (in 105 degree heat with 40% humidity, which I am sweating just thinking about) EVERY DAY in March…

…to raise awareness and money for SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy), a genetic neuromuscular disease that an extraordinary local kindergartener named Oscar has.

I met Oscar last year and he is the BEST….the coolest kid ever. He’s amazing! And he’s the boy who inspired Kristen to take on this Bikram Yoga journey to raise money for SMA research.

If you have an extra $1 you can share today, please consider reading up on Kristen’s Indiegogo Campaign called 30 Days for SMA and donating that $1 to help her reach her goal of giving back to and supporting a beautiful, inspiring community! You can also read more about Oscar and his story here. And if you want to keep up with Kristen’s Bikram/SMA March Madness, learn some interesting stuff, and see how she’s doing, you can check out her blog here. She’ll be updating regularly throughout March!

I don’t know about you, but my lofty goal of just making it through March, working weekdays and every weekend, with my sanity in tact, just got put to shame. What an inspiration!

Reason # 17 I am perfectly happy to rent our townhouse rather than own it: Our hot water heater broke yesterday morning and, mere hours later, (while I’m at work, doing my work and NOT dealing with removing a broken water heater and shopping for a new one) a brand new one arrives and is installed in the basement – free of my time, effort, and money. I come home to toasty hot water, a shiny new appliance, and a water-free basement floor – like it never happened. One day I’d love to own, possibly renovate, and decorate our own home, but for now, renting our townhouse is pretty much the best deal around.

That being said, I’ve also been watching WAY too much HGTV these past few weeks (and I have several friends in the process of buying/selling) and I just can’t help myself: I desperately want this house. I’ve been stalking it for weeks now and I may actually go stalk it in person when it has its next open house. With the exception of kitchen appliances (which are not included so I’d get to custom choose them…yay!), it’s practically move-in ready with no major renovations required. It was bought last May for $26,000 and flipped – so it’s been completely updated with all new kitchen, baths, windows, flooring, paint, electric, insulation, drywall and more. It’s a sweet home (great size for our little family of two) in a nice location, AND it has my top four “must-haves”: a beautiful kitchen, a great bathtub, a nice deck, and a semi-spacious and private yard for a garden and lawn games and a trampoline! Ted would point out the obvious downsides: hardwood floors, which are lovely, but unbelievably cold (which means expensive heating bills…so we’d likely invest in carpet in some rooms), the lack of a useable garage for a vehicle (it has a garage, but no way for a vehicle to get into it, so we think it’s been converted into some other useable space?), a basement that may or may not be a mess and may or may not be conducive for storage space and a workshop for Ted, and – of course – all the extra expenses associated with home ownership. But that really doesn’t change the fact that I kind of love this house.

Now this house, though clearly well-cared for by its current owners, is not totally move-in ready because it’s in need of some updates to the outdated/not-our-style cabinets, countertops, and flooring in the kitchen, the wood paneling in the master bedroom (*shudder*), tiny upstairs bathroom which could use a minor overhaul to help it feel more spacious, lack of carpet upstairs, and low ceilings (also keeping in mind we have no idea what condition the roof, electrical, pluming, walls, foundation, etc. are in), is more appealing to Ted because of the attached garage for a vehicle, shed out back for tools and equipment, and a huge, wonderful workshop space for his TORVentures business – which would be so, so awesome for him. With some updates to the kitchen, bathroom, master bedroom, and a few other minor renovations, I could be on board too. Plus, check out that sweet rustic wooden accent wall in the living room – gorgeous!

I’m truly happy to rent for now. Really, I am. We love our townhouse. Also, we’re artistic nomads and in no financial condition to buy a house, but that apparently does not stop me from obsessing over houses on the market. Human beings are funny creatures. Clearly, myself included.

Also, thanks to the awesome generosity of my wonderful parents’ sky miles, my flight home to Texas for my 10 year high school reunion has been booked, and my ticket has been procured!

Several things: A. I cannot believe I am actually old enough to be attending my 10 year high school reunion, B. I’m really excited to spend some quality time catching up with all my high school buddies again, C. I am beyond ready for Tex-Mex, Texas BBQ, Texas sunsets, margaritas, Blue Bell ice cream, my cowboy boots, hot weather, Boerne Berges Fest, river tubing with SPF 900, trolling around Boerne to see how much has changed in the past year-and-a-half since I’ve been home (I’m almost frightened by this), quality time to spend with my awesome parents and brother and his family, and SANCHO. Obviously, I am crazy excited to love on that cat of mine. TEXAS I’M COMING FOR YOU!

Furthermore, here’s this to make you smile

Because sometimes, after a day that tests your patience and temper to its limit, you really do just need to drop everything and feast on comforting and delicious shrimp pad thai with one of your best friends (using a buy one get one free coupon, of course) and then go shopping at Macy’s and buy two pairs of super cute yet practical and badly needed clearance/store closing shoes funded by a generously donated gift card. And then you take a deep breath and realize your headache is gone, and you feel a million pounds lighter, and calm and grateful and loved that you have such wonderful people to share life with.

Cider agrees. But Cider did not have pad thai. Cider had bloodworms.

Pickles, the 20 lb. cat

One happy fox

Dear Neighbor

This. I want.

{Our romantic Valentine’s Day dinner – slices at Great Northern Pizza Kitchen}

{They were delicious!}

{Geva staff/alumni/interns/teaching artists/artists/directors, etc. at Naz for Shrek the Musical}

{Gathering snow in the backyard beside our poor, neglected grill. Don’t worry grill, spring is coming…maybe}

{An easy Valentine’s recipe for a tasty treat}

{Vanilla snow ice cream!}

{And it was awesome!}

Along with our V-day date of pizza, Shrek, and homemade snow cream, I also attended Ted’s Bacharach musical show again on Thursday night, attending opening night of Clybourne Park at Geva with Shawnda and a bunch more Geva folk on Saturday night, hosted a post-show discussion of Clybourne on Sunday afternoon, and attended a lovely cast party for the Bacharach show with Ted on Sunday night. This was, indeed, a weekend of friends, food, and theatre. Which makes it a weekend of love.

Hope your weekend was full of love too!

Alas! It has been one long week. It’s finally Friday! And Valentine’s Day! When I was younger I used to align with a pro or anti Valentine’s Day sentiment, depending on the year. I’ve never been one for the color pink or hearts or flowers or teddy bears or chocolates or jewelry or cards or poems or soft romantic music or ridiculously overpriced anything or unoriginal expressions of love. So to most people, I suppose, that would make me a V-Day naysayer, but in truth, though I don’t care for all the vague, inauthentic, bland, over-hyped, commercial Valentines traditions, I do actually love the idea of a holiday devoted to spreading the love and letting your significant other, family, friends, coworkers, pets, peers, mentors, etc. know that you value them. I just happen to think that you can find a million more genuine, thoughtful, fun, and practically free ways to share the love with everyone you adore (not just your partner), any old day of the week, without feeling like you must spending $55 on a dozen roses, $25 on chocolate, $3 on a card, $18 on a bottle of wine, and $65 on dinner and a movie on this particular Friday or you’re doing love wrong.

One Valentines Day I received a dozen gorgeous red roses in full bloom, a nice romantic dinner out, and The Notebook on DVD from a boyfriend, which was absolutely lovely and very much appreciated – but the next year I was single and my best friend and I had a girl date at Olive Garden where we laughed way too much, scarfed huge portions of seafood pasta, drank mango margaritas, brought our own crayons and coloring books to keep us entertained, and left pictures and candy for our young, clueless waiter, which was amazing. I’ve spent the day with boyfriends, with my lady friends, with a mixed group of friends, with my parents, in rehearsal or performance, cuddled up with my cat, and completely alone – and you know what? Because I’ve been graced with so many wonderful, loving people in my life every day, I’ve never felt more loved or less loved on Valentine’s Day than any other day of the year. And though I’m not gonna turn down any offering of free, delicious, fattening chocolate or some pretty flowers on our table (because, duh), these ‘tokens of affection’ don’t make me feel any more loved than a heartfelt hug.

So, if I’ve got to be in a camp, I would say I’m in the pro ‘love thy neighbor because you want to and have fun doing it’ camp and I’m in the anti ‘shower thy love interest with expensive flowers because you’re supposed to’ camp.

This year Ted and I have a hot date to scarf a completely unromantic meal somewhere quick and cheap, usher for/see a bunch of my talented pals perform in/laugh our tails off at Shrek the Musical at Naz, followed by the making of snow ice cream (oh yes, this is happening), and probably a hot bath for me after I’ve eaten a frightening amount of snow ice cream that will probably make me sicker than a dog, because that’s just what I want after a long week. And if $30 magically appeared in our bank account, I’d probably insist we go bounce ourselves silly at the new indoor trampoline park in Rochester too. Because nothing says ‘I Love You’ more than simultaneously flailing yourselves at a trampoline wall and laughing until you cannot walk.

What are you plans for this fine Friday with the ones you love, or all by yourself?

Click here to view our silly little sledding video.

So, we pretty much lucked out and chose a townhome within super quick walking distance from an elementary school that is home to a completely fantastic sledding hill. It’s just a little steep and really long and smooth and everything you could want in a sledding hill…except the climb back up – that sucks – but other than that, it’s perfect! Build in a ramp or two and you’ve got yourself an epic afternoon of sledding. Which is exactly what we did Sunday afternoon. With about half a foot or so of thick, plush snow on the ground and more snow lightly falling from the sky, we grabbed our sleds, bundled up in winter gear, and hit the slope. And, oh, was it fun! I can’t believe I missed out on all of this sledding fun as a child! You can sit and go forward, lie on your tummy and fly down face first, get a big push from your hubby for an extra fast trip, run and dive into your sled as it begins to make its way downhill, and even sit backwards if you’re feeling daring. But seriously, while we still love all the great sledding ramps and hills that we discovered last winter at Mendon Ponds Park, this hill is awesome because its practically next door and its so long, which means you get a great sled ride in before you have to wearily haul yourself out-of-shape self and your sled back up that long, snowy hill – calves burning all the way.

I’m actually hoping for more snow this month and in March so we can get more sled runs in on the hills before the season is over.

Anyone want to come with us? Hot cocoa and pizza at our place afterward?

For all my fellow Texans, this is what a frozen sandy beach and Lake Ontario looks like in the winter. Ice galore! And this – snow sculpture contest, horse-drawn sleigh rides by the frozen beach, Siberian Husky dogsled pup cuddling, chili tasting cook off, Finger Lakes wine tasting, ice chunking, ice “skating” across frozen lake, and a Polar Plunge for all the yahoos out there who choose to submerge themselves in frigid water when it’s 4 degrees out – is what a Winter Festival looks like in Rochester, NY. Who says the beach is only for the summer?

(Check out my adventures at Winter Fest ’13 here.)

Somebody at Hedonist Artisan Chocolates has my number.

Ted and I visited them on Friday afternoon for their Valentines Day Under the Sea chocolate tasting, and these two beauties were among the variety of gourmet handmade truffles in their display case just waiting for me to happen upon them.

Oh, yes.

Ice wine and pop rocks are my culinary kryptonite, and some genius at Hedonist put them into truffles. Day = Made.

Dear Hedonist, I love your style. Make me a rhubarb truffle and I’m forever yours.