Adventures

Three Ring Circus

Ring 1: Water for Elephants

I read the book Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen nearly two years ago while we were living in Michigan and I remember enjoying it tremendously. The movie comes out tomorrow and I’m anxious to see it! I love the spectacular style, history, and glamour of the circuses of the early 1900s. Visually, the select few production stills and trailer snippets I have seen have been stimulating and enticing. I think Reese Witherspoon will be lovely in her role, though I’m not too sure about the casting of Robert Pattinson yet. The film’s eclectic beauty and creativity remind me of Moulin Rouge and Big Fish. I’m really hoping for an uncommitted evening sometime very soon so we can go see it, and I hope it doesn’t disappoint!

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Ring 2: The Royal Wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William

At just a touch over a week away, this one’s bound to be a circus of a whole different kind! I mean, have you seen the publicity, social media, official royal memorabilia, and strange unofficial merchandise for this shindig yet? China sets, coasters, t-shirts, fingernail decals, copycat jewelry, wall hangings, and other useless crap you’ll never use…and I’m hardly even skimming the surface here! There’s even two look-alikes of the famous pair that have been traipsing about London lately acting out possible royal wedding scenarios. It’s all a bit crazy, but I’m not even going to pretend that I’m not excited to see which dress and tiara Kate chooses! She has great style and I think she’ll choose something really beautiful! And let’s be real here, if I weren’t working on April 29th, I’d definitely be planted in front of the tube watching the affair unfold. Though I’m more than over trials and tribulations of the wedding planning process, I’m still a girl and therefore I still love weddings. I can’t wait to hear all the grand details of this one! It’s bound to be pretty fabulous. Unlike these hideous nails. Can you believe someone out there is actually buying this crap? Whoever you are, thanks for making the rest of humanity look stupid.

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Yep, definitely a three ring circus in and of itself. A pretty, pretty circus that I can’t wait to see!

Ring 3: Cirque Du Soleil’s Ovo

Now this, folks, is a true, legitimate circus and it was grand! If you read my last post, you know that we scored free tickets to the Cincinnati premier of Cirque Du Soleil’s Ovo last night. I’d hoped to go anyhow, but when I went online to reserve seats I found that those ticket prices just weren’t in our budget (like, at all) and winning tickets wasn’t proving successful either…until they basically just landed in our laps the day before the premier by the miraculous fluke of sheer, right place at the right time dumb luck. Our luck didn’t stop there either! We were also treated to free parking at Coney Island, free ritzy butler-served appetizers, free cartons of popcorn, free soda in really nice commemorative Ovo cups, free gourmet bug cupcakes (um, they were delicious!), and free champagne! I added up the cost of everything – tickets, fees, parking, and the food and drinks we consumed – and had we paid for this incredible 6-month anniversary date night last night, we would have spent a grand total of $265. That’s $132.50 per person…and it was all free. We had a great time! Some of Ted’s students from CCM were also in attendance last night, so it was nice to schmooze with some people we knew while sipping champagne and watching amazing acrobatics.

First of all, if you’ve never seen Cirque Du Soleil you are missing out on some seriously good stuff. Talented and flexible doesn’t even begin to describe it. The whole experience is literally spectacular, and there is no other word for it. The lavish costumes, the live musicians and singers, elaborate sets that are constantly changing and evolving and surprising you with new unexpected challenges and tricks, the immense big top tent and vast rigging systems, the gorgeous atmospheric lighting, the exotic acrobatics of all imaginable and unimaginable kinds, the phenomenal talent, the funny characters – it truly was one of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen. We were laughing and cheering and clapping and in complete awe. Even the bathroom stations they had set up were nifty – no smelly porta-potties at Cirque! We had perfect seats that were nice and close to the stage, but far enough away that you could see the whole picture. Though $105.50 per seat seems (and is) pretty steep, after enjoying the show so much and seeing how massive the cast and crew is, and understanding all the technology, rigging, equipment, tent stuff and more that goes into such a large-scale production, I can easily say the price is justified. It’s worth it and if we have the chance to see another Cirque show in the future, I’d pay the $100 per ticket (though free was obviously preferable…). If Ovo is coming to a city near you, you need to go see it!!! Click here for some excellent info and pictures of the awesomeness of this production. 

Onto the pictures! For obvious reasons, there was no photography allowed in the big top tent, so I don’t have any fun stage shots to show you, but I do have a few pictures from the rest of the evening at Coney Island. Enjoy! :-)



Now, this is a circus you want to be a part of!

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Six

Yesterday marked exactly six months to the day that I moved away from my childhood home in the Lonestar State and laid eyes on our new home city of Cincinnati for the first time. On Friday I’d hugged goodbye to all my work friends and left my job though those black metal gates in Hemisfair Plaza for the last time, and on Saturday, October 9, 2010 I sniffled goodbye into the fur of my cat who, understandably, had not a clue what was so terrible that warranted the attack of salty tears on his coat and bounded away, annoyed and offended – tail thwacking, as soon as I released him from my clutches. I boarded a San Antonio airplane bound for Chicago, IL in the wee hours of the morning. In my carry-on I had a wedding dress, and in the belly of that airplane, a massive suitcase crammed to oblivion with clothing, shoes, and wedding stuff. Two full boxes of clothing had been shipped ahead and my Buick and the rest of my belongings would be arriving via Mom, Dad and U-Haul at Thanksgiving.

I loved my life in Texas, my home, my job, my friends, and my cat, and I was sad to leave as the airplane took off and ascended into the sky, leaving a teeny tiny, ever shrinking San Antonio behind. It was a sad feeling despite the fact that I was extremely excited to become a wife in 12 days, have a beautiful Door County wedding, and marry a wonderful man surrounded by our dearest family and all my friends who would be traveling so far to be there. I was thrilled to begin our new life together in Cincinnati, excited to find our very first home of our own, overjoyed to not live 1500 miles away from Ted anymore, and jubilant to have new stomping grounds to explore. Leaving was bittersweet, but exciting.

I landed in Chicago and Ted was there to meet me, ready to begin our new life together.

We jumped into Ted’s truck and drove six hours to Cincinnati. And that was that. Has it really been just six months?

There are things I still miss about home. Most of them are food related. Please don’t judge me.

That list includes Blue Bell Ice Cream – the official ice cream of Texas (Dear Moo-llenium Crunch: Please come visit pronto!), authentic, fattening and flavorful Tex-Mex cuisine, strong Texas margaritas done right – on the rocks with a salt-lined brim, sweet tea, enjoying all these delicacies with my friends, toobing the river and the potent stench of sunscreen and burning flesh as the back of your arm singes against the scalding rubber of the inner tube, seeing Texas wildlife like armadillos, deer, roadrunners, and jackrabbits right in my backyard, my mom and dad, and, of course, the great Sancho. However, I can at least be thankful for the things I definitely do not miss about Texas, including scorpions and pavement so hot you could incur third degree burns from walking barefoot to the end of your driveway.

And despite the outrageous occurrence of snow every two minutes for the past four months and the giant flying bugs that like to hang out in our backyard and threaten to devour me in one sitting should I dare to venture outside to pull the trashcan to curb and are so fat that I have no idea how they can possibly stay afloat, Cincinnati does have many redeeming features that I love and am greatly looking forward to for the next six months.

These include opening our windows to let in the nice breeze, the lush, soft and vibrantly green grass from plenty of rainfall, little glowing fireflies littering the summer sky at dusk (which have all but disappeared from Texas over the past few years!), a thriving performance arts community, quick and easy accessibility to neighboring states and all their fun offerings and adventures, people who actually do stuff (gasp!) outside like play lawn games and cook out, go biking or rollerblading, take their dogs for a long walk down the street, and sit on their front porch talking to neighbors (instead of barricading themselves indoors, sufficiently draped over the nearest air conditioning vent), and of course, living with Ted is pretty cool too. ;-)

So, Ohio, thanks for a great first six months and here’s to six fantastic more!

….that is, after I escape to Texas for a weekend to tube the river and wreak havok on society with my girlfriends, drink margaritas on the porch with my parents, swaddle my cat until he can take no more and claws at my face in a desperate attempt to escape, and gobble up all the Blue Bell ice cream, Tex-Mex, and Bill Miller’s sweet tea my little belly can hold and I have to be rolled onto the airplane Violet Beauregarde style. Yes, I am indeed looking forward to that….

…and then coming home again to my sweet husband and our happy life in Cincinnati.

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Take Me Out to the Ball Game


Not only did we complete the 5k Saturday morning (with minimal whining from yours truly), but we did really well and it was actually….fun. We sped walked most of the way, jogged every now and then, and even ran occasionally. In fact, we’re signing up for more 5k’s in the near future! I know. You’re probably as shocked as I was. But it really felt great and we had a blast! This particular 5k benefited the Catholic school of the parish we attend and also helped the school’s 8th graders fund a special computer for a blind man who ran the race. The weather was beautiful – cool, in the low 40s and sunny. The route snaked through some neighborhoods in our township and was well-marked with cones and police officers at every turn. Families gathered on the sidewalks along the quiet streets with small cups of water for the runners, upbeat music pounding through stereos, kids cheering with pom poms and shouting encouragements, and a couple of teenagers in a band played live rock music in front of their house (at 9 a.m. – much to the grave dismay of their snoozing neighbors, I’m sure) for the race participants as they passed by. There were drawings for free running shoes, free bananas, water, orange juice, coffee, bags of taffy from French Chew, fresh cooked hot dogs, and goody bags full of treats and coupons. Each participant was outfitted with a number pinned to their clothing and a tracking chip fastened to their shoelaces to track their safety, pace, and ranking.

Chip tied on and ready to run!


So, here’s the good stuff:

Ted finished 1st in his age division, 5th overall for male walkers, with a time of 40:34, and a pace of 13:04 per mile. He totally got a medal! :-) Not bad for one month out of knee surgery, eh? If he weren’t having to slow his pace to drag me along behind him, he could have done even better – and probably ran the whole way.

I finished 5th in my age division, 11th overall for female walkers, with a time of 40:41, and a pace of 13:06 per mile. I’m just proud I didn’t pansy out and collapse after mile marker 2, kept my bitching to a near nonexistent level, actually ran part of the time, and am excited to sign up for future 5k’s. Baby steps, people.

Upon our arrival home I made us a full English breakfast, just like the kind the house mother at the B&B we stayed at for a week-and-a-half in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England during the Shakespeare study abroad intensive made for us every morning. I loved the breakfast she made – it was cooked perfectly, and so delicious and filling! I am still a firm believer that America should adopt tea time in the afternoons. Tea time made my soul happy. We had scrambled eggs, Polish sausage or bacon, baked beans, sauteed mushrooms, grilled tomato, a warm buttery croissant, fruit, juice and tea every day. For as much as I prefer pretty much any other county’s cuisine to England’s edible fare, I do love their breakfasts, Indian food, and, of course, the legit fish and chips. Tasty! The English breakfast I made totally paled in comparison to the real deal, but when desperate, a “close enough” imitation will do.

 

After we cleaned up and unwound from the race, we piled in the car and drove to nearby Newport, Kentucky – which is conveniently located directly across the river from downtown Cincinnati. Newport’s entertainment district is great. Located right on the river it boasts beautiful views of the water, riverboats, the Cincy skyline, Mt. Adams, and the 3 arenas/stadiums – home to the Cincinnati Cyclones professional ice hockey team, the Cincinnati Reds major league baseball team, and the Cincinnati Bengals NFL football team – all in one neat little riverfront row in front of the skyscrapers. Newport has walking bridges, comedy clubs, great restaurants, a ritzy movie theatre, a bowling alley, chic shops, sweets & ice cream parlors, a lavish Barnes & Nobles, and the famed Newport Aquarium (which I, for one, cannot wait to visit!). In the summer we’re planning to spend a day at the aquarium (hello penguins and stingrays!) then dine on tasty seafood at the fish market or maybe the sushi bar, both located immediately next to the aquarium (presumably where they dispose of the bad exhibits upon their closure? Just kidding. But it is kind of ironic, isn’t it? I wonder how the fish feel about that.) We’d also like to devote a day to just bumming around Newport, seeing the sights and partaking in the fun attractions Newport has to offer.

I've been waiting for you too, Newport Aquarium.

Found this kitten book at the Newport Barnes & Noble. Please notice that this adorable kitten's name is "Lara." (first page, lower right corner) A cat named Lara! Overjoyed much?

We treated ourselves to an early afternoon matinee showing of The King’s Speech at said ritzy movie theatre. It was an excellent movie – highly enjoyable and funny with a dry sense of humor, especially for a somewhat serious subject matter. Definitely not a girly chick flick or boring period piece (have I mentioned the pretty hats and gorgeous makeup?). Reviewers and average movie goers alike gave it a roughly 95% rating. If you haven’t seen it, I’d encourage you to! Even dudes will like it.

After the film we walked across the bridge that connects Newport and Cincy to the Ohio side where just a short walk led us right to the Great American Ballpark and home of the Cincinnati Reds.

Crossing the bridge between Kentucky and Ohio. In the background you can see the three professional sports arenas. It was crazy windy!

We’d purchased cheap tickets to the 7:10 p.m. MLB opening night baseball game between the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers. As one of the first 2,000 (or maybe it was 20,000?) people in the stadium we each received a free Reds fleece blanket, which came quite in handy as the evening wore on.

The Ballpark itself was great too – clean, spacious, and wide open with a stunning view of the river and Newport and vivid, rich colors all around. It was so nice to watch the game with such a scenic backdrop.

We watched as a team of Budweiser Clydesdales entered the stadium for their ceremonial lap around the field.

At the ballpark we saw some Cirque de Solil dancers performing small dance snippets – drumming up interest for their April Cincinnati tour of Ovo at Coney Island Theme Park, and some really crazy huge Australian bugs brought in for fans to check out in conjunction with the Cirque de Solil’s show theme of bugs and critters. Ted held them; I did not. Apparently they were all too cold to move much, that’s why they’re just sitting there. This did nothing to persuade me to hold them. But I did pet the butterfly.

Did you want a closer look at that?

I know, right!?

Why, yes, those are stick bugs, giant cockroaches, and some mammoth scorpion looking insect. Even more terrifying is that there’s one sitting on top of his head too, which I’ve spared you from seeing. You’re welcome. Okay, they’re gone. You can come out now.

We also filled up on traditional baseball fare – hot dogs, peanuts and Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy beer (which tastes like lemonade!) – for which we paid approximately $2,746,891.03. At least it was delicious, right? In the interest of keeping America fat, the stadium sells “All You Can Eat” seats for $32. Sadly, this actually is a much better value than a $15 nosebleed seat plus a hot dog, one beer, and a bag of peanuts. So next time we may join in on keeping America fat for a reduced price – which is part of why the obesity rate is so high in America in the first place. I digress. All you need to know is that the hot dogs are tasty and lemonade beer is too.

While Ted is a Brewers fan, I couldn’t decide who to root for – feeling loyal to both the Brewers for being the first MLB baseball game I’d attended and for being from Ted’s home state, and the Reds because I like Cincinnati so much and it’s our home now, so I sufficiently confused everyone by rooting for both teams and wearing a red shirt (Reds), a blue plaid over-shirt (Brewers), and a red baseball cap (Reds) with a W on it for the Wisconsin Badgers (Brewers). HA! Excellent multi-rooting if I do say so myself. We even saw someone in the crowd wearing a golden yellow cheesehead in tribute to Wisconsin. Those darn Packers are everywhere! Much to Ted’s great dismay, the Cincy Reds won. Though I have no idea why these players are paid millions of dollars each because, frankly, I don’t think any of the players on either team played well enough yesterday to earn it. I certainly don’t earn $1 million + smackaroos for a great performance, much less a mediocre one. Ted, ever the smart ass, was sure to point out that my ticket purchase had helped fund their hefty millionaire salary. But whatever. It was still a lot of fun to relax with a bag of peanuts and a beer and watch the ballgame in the warm, windy sunlight as the sun set on the river.

Post-game we were treated to a truly magnificent fireworks show as part of the opening night celebration. It was a 20 minute show to the tune of 4 classic rock songs (Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing being one of them) played by a live band with thousands upon thousands of fireworks, many varieties of which I’ve never seen before, being shot off over the river and in tune with the music. It was pretty awesome and if it’s any indication of the 4th of July fireworks show Cincy puts on, I definitely want to be there! These lame pictures don’t do it justice at all, you’ll be relieved to know.

Needless to say, it was a pretty stellar final weekend together before Ted goes back to working weekends for the next month or so.

Hope you have a great week!

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What Saturdays Were Made For

I’ll start with thanking God and Ohio for the totally perfect weather yesterday. It couldn’t have been better if we’d designed the forecast ourselves! Low 60’s, sunny, and windy. Seriously beautiful in every way. So thank you powers-that-be for that refreshing goodness! We loved it!

Ted’s present on our wedding day was an I.O.U. with a due date of March 11, 2011. So Ted spent his Friday afternoon 99th in line at the ritzy Kenwood mall, stationed outside of the Apple store for four hours ready and waiting to welcome the iPad 2 into our family. There were over 1,000 people in line by the time the 5 pm release rolled around, but from all indications it sounds like they had a great time! He made friends with the people in line around him so he was in good company. They held one another’s place in line for bathroom, food and drink breaks, shared info on the latest iPad apps, and received Godiva chocolate samples, bottled water, and Gap 30% off coupons from the other stores in the mall. Apple closed the store at 4 pm to stock the shelves with the 9,000 new iPads and accompanying accessories and re-opened at 5 pm. Every person in line was individually brought into the store by their own personal Apple shopper’s assistant who walked the store with them, collecting their iPad and accessories and ringing them up by swiping their credit card on the iPhone. A totally brilliant way to control the impending madness and chaos so it doesn’t even have a chance to start! By 5:45 Ted had his new baby in hand and was out the door, anxious for me to arrive home from work so he could open it.

I came home to this sweet little display on our dining room table. Do you think he was excited?
The I.O.U. and the real deal!

He’s been attached to the new addition since Friday night, lovingly adding music, building folders, downloading apps, and enjoying all its fun features. I think anyone could easily admit it’s a nifty little genius of an invention.

Saturday morning we cooked a quick & dirty breakfast of scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, English muffins, and strawberries and blueberries before venturing to the quaint, historic downtown of Main St. Milford, OH which, for the record, is completely adorable.

We parked right on the charming Main St., which was lovely in part due to the absence of parking meters. Our first stop of the day was Bishop’s Bicycles, one of those home-grown “don’t make ’em like they used to” bicycle sales and repair places where the family dog greets you at the door and they encourage you take the bikes for a test drive in the park out back without holding your I.D. for ransom just in case you feel compelled to forget to return it. They had a nice selection of Schwinn’s, Jamis’, and a few other reputable brands, along with a slew of helmets, handlebars, bells, baskets, insulated water bottles, and other biking gear. I tried out two bikes, honestly grateful to be able to still ride a bike after 13 years without immediately nosediving into the pavement, and got a better idea for what style, frame size, and brands I might be interested in for when the time comes to purchase my own. This place is definitely one we’d love to use for future bicycle repairs and maybe to buy mine. They even had tandem bicycles. I love how vintage chic tandem bikes are!

Our next visit was to Common Cents Coins & Collectibles. Ted is a coin and note enthusiast – he loves rare, old, and unusual money. Naturally, we had to go into this store! He instantly spotted a note he’s been searching for for years, a $10 Andrew Jackson note for the cool price of $115. We didn’t get it, obviously, but it was neat to see. Meanwhile I examined over-sized $500 and $1,000 bills (which I didn’t even know used to exist!) and various silver dollars.

The next store on the street, The Coolest Toys on Earth, was the store we really came to Milford to explore. Someone at work told Ted about it, so as we were searching for its location on the iPad, we lucked out and realized there were other neat stores on Main St. as well. This tiny store was choc full of knickknacks, puzzles, games, gadgets, and old-fashioned toys. My favorites in the store were the snap firecrackers, air propellers, ant farms, kites, sweet old crank music boxes, and a wooden puzzle gamed called Over the Moon. They had lots of “samples” of all the toys out so you could play with nearly everything! We left with a foil bag of airtight freeze-dried mint chocolate chip astronaut ice cream, which actually tastes just like normal ice cream, if you can get past the foamy texture.

For lunch we stopped at Quiznos for sammie’s, just like we used to do when we lived in Lansing. I’d forgotten how delicious Quiznos sammie’s are! Does anybody else remember the old Quiznos commercials with the weird little singing monster with the scratchy voice? “They got a pepper bar!” My friends and I spent the better part of our high school years perfecting our vocal mimicking of it. What the heck was that thing anyway, and why on Earth did they think this creature would be a good mascot for a sandwich shop? Though clearly we still remember the commercials after all these years, so obviously the oddball served its purpose.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhfcdqMTtU4]

And just try to keep me out of an establishment called the Sugar Cupcakery! Visit their swoon-worthy website here! They make the most delectable cupcakes ever! For a treat, they are simply amazing and the icing is so creamy it nearly melts in your mouth! I had the whiskey butterscotch and chocolate orange. Yes, they really are as good as they look. Your drooling is justified.

I was inspired by the Sugar Cupcakery’s original flavors like chocolate stout (with Guinness baked into the batter!), banana caramel, and lemon raspberry to imagine some ideas of my own for scrumptious cupcakes I’d like to make one day: chai caramel, orange amaretto, lemon lavender, green tea cream cheese, German chocolate Andes mint, and butterscotch pistachio. Maybe I should open my own little niche restaurant and bakery with a select menu of my specialties and favorite dishes.

After we left Milford we drove through the phenomenally wealthy and outright gorgeous suburb of Indian Hill oogling over the house’s we’ll never live in. The land looks like it’s out in the country, hilly and curvy, and the mansions are truly stunning. Then we drove past a fenced in yard full of these:

Why, yes, those are furry longhorns in the middle of the ritziest neighborhood in Ohio. We couldn’t help but pull over on the one-lane narrow road to take a closer look and laugh. I mean, these guys rock, but they look so out of place! This is literally the last place I’d ever expect to see them – among the pools, manicured lawns, 5-car garages, and 19 room villas.

We went to Saturday evening mass, I made a fantastic Chinese chicken recipe for dinner (that I plan to share with you all tomorrow!), and we cuddled up on the couch to catch-up on last week’s episode of Big Bang Theory. What a great Saturday! Hope your was just as wonderful!

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Forgotten Cincinnati

Yesterday at the museum I overheard someone mention that the city of Cincinnati has an unused underground subway system. Apparently the subway tunnels and stations were built in the 1920’s for $6 million but the project was too expensive to complete and an additional $6 million would have been needed right around the time of inflation and the tightening of the economy. They gave up in 1927. Eventually the city got wise and sealed all the entrances to prevent illegal visitors. The majority of the completed tunnels lie beneath Central Parkway and Liberty Street – two of the streets I frequent nearly daily on my way to and from work! Who knew there was a mass transit system under those roads all this time!? Consider my interest piqued! I told Ted about it on the drive home and we spent a better portion of the evening looking up information and photographs about this illusive abandoned subway system. In the 1960’s one of the stations was used briefly as a nuclear fallout shelter – they went so far as to equip it with restrooms, ventilation, lighting, and food and water storage. Since then it has been considered for future use as a tornado shelter, underground mall, bar and nightlife district, and again for its original intended purpose, mass transportation. Rumor has it that a few times a year the city offers a rare special guided tour of it (that I desperately want to go on!), but as of now, there are no solid plans for its renovation or reinstatement. The debt and bonds for its construction were finally paid off in 1966. The result? A perfect waste of a staggering $13 million for what equates to a giant, useless hole in the ground. Excellent work Cincinnati. Wanna see?

 

This is the blueprint of what they were going for

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How it looks now

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Ahhh yes, the commemorative t-shirt.

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If you’re interested in seeing more pictures of it, Google’s got tons to choose from. The first few hits for “Cincinnati subway system” under Web and Images are especially informative and have some great pictures!

But at this point we were totally intrigued by the forgotten landmarks of Cincy, so we started looking up other abandoned Cincinnati treasures. It is simply fascinating to see pictures of amazing things that once were, and to see what they look like now.

Next we discovered Surf Cincinnati – a now defunct water and amusement park that was popular for several years in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. It faced financial difficulties and closed around 2002. When it was a flourishing fun park, it was home to a tidal wave pool, racing water slides, a sandy beach, a lazy river that circled the park, an arcade house, mini golf course, go-kart track, banquet halls, a food pavilion, and (like any good family amusement park), a night club. I can imagine it very similar to Schlitterbahn or Splashtown for you San Antonio natives out there (except with mini golf and go karts). I can definitely picture it being one of those fond memories places from your childhood. It looked quite smashing in its prime.

 

A children's play area at Surf Cincinnati in 1999. Not bad, right? Looks kind of fun actually!

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And look at it now. Mmmm, stagnant water! Appetizing, no? One of the pools back in 2007.

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This webpage and this webpage have some amazing pictures of it! The deteriorated water slides are just so creepy!!

And finally there’s Union Terminal, home to the Cincinnati Museum Center (which houses the Cincinnati History Museum, Natural History & Science Museum, Duke Energy Children’s Museum, Amtrack station, Omnimax Theatre, and a library). This one has a happy ending though, as it is now mostly renovated and extremely useful. It started out in the 1930s as a major train station with nearly 20,000 people passing though a day at its peak. But after the railroads lost popularity, Union Terminal was abandoned for nearly 20 years! The building is absolutely massive so it cost a fortune to heat, cool, light and maintain. It was so expensive that the city offered to lease it for $1 a year and they couldn’t find any takers. I think at one time it was considered for a possible hospital, but eventually a company out of Columbus took the lease and turned it into a shopping mall in the 1980’s, which was an utter, dismal failure. Luckily, after much needed renovation, the space works beautifully for the museums that inhabit it.

 

Back in the day operating as a train station

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I searched but couldn’t find a picture of it when it was empty, unfortunately. The other day we got a tour of one of the original back hallways that is still un-renovated and it was was crazy! There was probably a 4 ft. x 6 ft. hole in the wall, cracked paints and ceiling, and exposed old piping. It was definitely sketchy, to say the least. However, a vast majority of it was renovated in 1930s art deco style and is gorgeous.

 

Modern extetior view

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Union Terminal's interior rotunda today

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So there’s a small sampling of Cincinnati’s forgotten hotspots. Do you ever pass by anything like these? I know there’s an old abandoned carnival and permanent fair that used to exist near downtown San Antonio that some of my friends at the Magik Theatre remember frequenting as a child. It’s now overgrown with weeds and shells of the pavilions and rides are all that remain, coated with faded, chipping paint. I think Pear Apple County Fair sat empty and overgrown for a while too. What other abandoned San Antonio treasures can you think of (besides the monorail transportation system built for the 1968 World’s Fair)?

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From Chicago to Milwaukee

Do you remember when I said I didn’t like to skip days of posting and would, with the exception of a good reason, post daily? You don’t? Excellent. That’s what I was hoping you’d say. Yesterday we were without wireless internet, which makes it rather a challenge to post. Please excuse my lack of a post, but sometimes it’s just not meant to be. And today I’m absolutely drained (uh, vacay is tiring. no joke) so if my thoughts seem a little rambling, disjointed or loopy, it’s because it’s 8:30 and I’m fighting to keep my eyes open. Lame. I’m 24 and worried I won’t be able to stay up until midnight on New Year’s Eve – that’s the definition of ridiculous. I’ll have to remember to space out my energy consumption throughout the day tomorrow so I have enough to stretch out until midnight so we can properly ring in 2011 – preferably toasting with milk in a wine glass as we did last year. We are classy people, afterall.

Yesterday morning we drove to my sister’s house just outside of the Chicago area. We woke up at 4:45 a.m. to get there by mid-morning, which I think majorly deserves some sort of badge of courage, or at the very least a pat on the back and hearty congratulations.

First we went sledding. It was my first time ever to go sledding and it was awesome! We found a fun, fast sledding hill and we slid down multiple times. I took the boys a few times, Ted and I slid together for a few runs, and Kim and I took the last flight down.

Then Ted, Kim and I cozied up in the living room to watch The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (a fabulous and very highly recommended movie, if you’re in the mood for something thought-provoking!) while the boys napped. After the movie we set out for a stroll around the outlet malls, making stops at the Sony and Puma outlets, and for dinner we went to Swordfish, a fantastic contemporary sushi restaurant. I adore their sushi! It is so fresh, flavorful, and smooth, with gorgeous presentation! Cool Japanese decor and lighting provide a sophisticated urban atmosphere, and their ginger dressing is to die for! Like most couples, there are some things on which Ted and I are completely on the opposite ends of the spectrum – nothing wrong with a little healthy disagreement, right? For example, he likes it breezy & chilly and I prefer to be toasty warm. And while I really, truly enjoy excellent sushi every now and then, Ted won’t touch it. Luckily, his first sushi restaurant experience was neither horrible nor scaring. He ordered deliciously cooked salmon (he rated it among the top 5 salmons he has ever had), served with miso soup and a ginger dressing salad. I’m still salivating just thinking about how good it was!

After dinner (but right before we pansied out at the meek hour of 10:30 and crashed), we caught an episode of TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras. Hahahaha! What a treat! It is one of those shows that is so awful and so ridiculous that it’s hilarious and you just can’t look away or stop watching. If you’ve ever been on Toddlers & Tiaras you should be mortified of your life choices. But thanks for the entertainment anyhow!

This morning we enjoyed Panera bagels at Kim and Tom’s, said our goodbyes, got some Jamba Juice for the road (another favorite thing that we catch when we drive through cities that have them!), and drove back to the Milwaukee area to spend the new years holiday’s with Ted’s sister and family – our annual tradition!

As is included in the tradition, we headed to the movie theatre with her and saw Tron (in 3D and on UltraScreen) – another wonderful pick! I was actually surprised by how entertaining and fun of a movie it was for an action film – if you are on the edge about it, I’d suggest going to see it because it is worth the money and experience to see it in theatres. And now we’re settled on the couch with some pizza and we just threw in the movie Deck the Halls to unwind a little before I wuss out and head to bed. I just realized that it sounds like all we do is watch movies and eat terribly unhealthy foods. Oh well, vacation is vacation, right? They don’t call it a treat for nothing!

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Have a fun (and safe!) New Years Eve, everyone! I hope happy memories of 2010 bring a smile to your face and that 2011 is full of love, laughter and blessings!

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HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE!

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Part Two

If you missed the first half of this post, please scroll down to the next post. Hmmm, now where were we? Ah, yes! Enchanted Christmas tree forest. At the National Railroad Museum, among the steam engines and tracks, they had a small forest of uniquely decorated trees. Here are a few of my favorites. Please excuse the hideous placement and odd formatting of these pictures – as I’ve mentioned, wordpress is an unreasonable beast to work with and places all the photos you’ve carefully arranged any old place with reckless abandon, and I’m too tired to care about fixing it

Buffalo Wild Wings tree (YUM!)
Campfire tree

Old fashioned tree
Gold swirly ribbon tree
Nature tree
Snow tree
Vintage colors tree

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also managed to work in a little snowjoyment time.

For lunch we ate at Chili John’s, which is one of the best restaurants in Green Bay. In Texas, chili is eaten atop burgers or hot dogs, or as a hearty soup. Up north chili is eaten over a bed of cooked spaghetti and oyster crackers, with or without beans. I used to think that was so. weird. I mean, spaghetti and chili are two distinctly different entrees, right? But in some parts of our great nation, I guess it’s normal to combine them. I’ve gotten used to this custom though, and Chili John’s has a super secret amazing recipe for their chili. Every single time we are in Green Bay, we have to eat here – the smell walking in is enough to bring about instant drool syndrome. Tonight we curled up with popcorn and blankets in the basement to watch Meet the Fockers in preparation for seeing Little Fockers at the theatre sometime this week. But before that we stopped by Green Bay’s Botanical Gardens for their holiday lights in the garden walking trails. With a little over a mile of walking (or horse-drawn wagon, if you prefer) trails and millions of LED lights, it was quite the light bright fest – we’ll forget about the 6 degrees outside part (boooo!) and let the pictures speak for themselves. Keep in mind that the pictures really don’t do it justice. It’s very difficult to accurately capture the brightness and saturation of Christmas lights at night with a flash camera, and even more difficult when you are completely unwilling to shed your gloves to operate the tiny buttons on the camera for fear of instant frost bite.

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Vocabulary Test

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.”)


[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7HEx2dX0hY]

 

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.)



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A Lot to be Thankful For

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 fridge
Our dining room table all set for dinner
Mom & dad enjoying appetizers during a football game

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baking pies
Pumpkin 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 Cincinnati
I love the intensity of the color still on this one tree
Mom & 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 Park
Ted 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.

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Friday’s Tale of Terror is brought to you by the letter “C”

So I know I can be a pretty big pansy about things. Crazy scenarios of highly unlikely situations run though my head, I can be worry about nonsensical things, and the sight of a spider or scorpion that probably wasn’t intentionally hunting me down can send me into a panic. But this time I don’t think my mind was playing tricks – I swear I saw a coyote 50 feet away from me in our backyard this morning.

I was raking the leaves (“Again?,” you ask. “Do your leaves reproduce overnight?” Yes. Sure do.) and I was like 10 feet of leave away from finally being finished and I turned around and saw this dog-looking creature emerge from the woods. I got one decent look at him before bolting up the driveway and into the house. His eyes didn’t appear to glaze over in hunger and he wasn’t feverishly licking his chops and I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a neon sign above me that read “Breakfast On-the-Run…Fresh & Delicious!” so I’m not sure if bolting was my best plan of action as I’m sure he can run faster than me anyway and he could have mistaken me for a roadrunner (meep! meep!), but I was terrified. The rake is still outside exactly in the position I threw it down in and the yard remains unfinished – and it will stay that way until Ted and I can finish it up tomorrow….together. I was able to get another look at him from the safety of the kitchen window (while catching my breath…) as he trotted across the yard. Then, just to be sure, I googled “coyote.” Yep, same tail.

I mean, it could have been a dog and I’m just paranoid, but he was kind of big for a dog and didn’t really look like any dog I’ve seen recently. He pretty much looked exactly like this picture. If you remember from one of my previous posts, the other night on the news there was a story about the abundant coyote population in Anderson Township. We live in a pretty populated area. We’re not downtown or anything, and our house is set back off the road and in a semi-woodsy area. Maybe that’s where my brain is, but I’m convinced it actually was a coyote. Regardless, that’s enough raking excitement for me for one day.

I drove to UC today to meet Ted during his lunch hour. I’m kind of proud that I didn’t get lost. Driving in an unfamiliar city, especially on a confusing college campus, is always a challenge. Kudos to Ted for being an awesome direction giver. We went to Chicago Gyro and it. was. phenomenal. We had the Philly Gyro which was gyro meat, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, mozzarella and tzatziki sauce wrapped in a pita. Definitely worth the drive downtown. I inhaled it. And it was really nice to see my husband during the day :-)

University of Cincinnati’s CCM (College Conservatory of Music) is one of the top music schools in the nation. On the way to the CCM building where Ted works (he’s the Resident Master Electrician for CCM & the theatre department) you walk by an entire building of practice rooms and the music coming from that building is gorgeous – violins, pianos, tubas, opera singers – you hear it all through the open windows and it’s like a symphony of beautiful, wonderful sounds. The talent in there is astounding. I love it. I really miss being on a college campus. I miss being in school and learning. There’s always so much to do, so much going on and it’s great for people-watching. The campus isn’t bad looking either. I’m thinking of looking more seriously into their Arts Administration graduate programs. The competition is killer to get in though. Bummer. On the drive back home I drove on Observatory, which I affectionately refer to as “mansion row.” Between the fabulous architecture of this enormous homes and the gorgeous colors on the trees lining the streets, it’s hard to keep your eyes off the homes and on the road.

Today I am trying out our new washer and dryer for the first time. I have to admit, I really like it. It just looks so nice. I also like that it is an energy star & he appliance. I actually read the manuals on this beast cover to cover – it’s so sophisticated it’s a little intimidating. I don’t think I’ve ever been so careful measuring detergent before in my life. HE appliances require a special kind of detergent and less than normal or they might over suds and leak. I’m running the first load now and it’s very very different from any other washing machine I’ve ever used. It uses so little water that I spent the first 7 minutes of the cycle crouched on the floor looking into the little glass door trying to determine if there was actually water in there or not and figure out what all the odd on-again/off-again noises were.  It’s really quiet and you can’t hear any vibration – just swishing. I’m anxious to see how this load comes out! 3 years ago I would never have been excited about an appliance. Ever. Anyone who was excited about appliances was clearly boring enough to not have anything better to be excited about. But I can’t help but feel a little twinge of joy at actually owning our own stuff and pride in taking care of what we have.

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