Livin' and Lovin' in the ROC city

There exists a little something in the world of hourly-employees who work holidays called “time-and-a-half,” and it is a beautiful thing that instantly brightens an insanely busy, cold, rainy Monday. I, for one, am grateful for the extra cash to boost my otherwise meager paycheck from shrimpy to beefy. Yum. You know what else brightens a Monday? House and Mike & Molly. Mondays and Thursdays are, by a landslide, the best nights for humorous television. Ted’s working late again (but Rent opens soon, which means I’ll get him back starting Thursday night!) so my evening plans include a fully-stuffed omelet (breakfast for dinner is one of life’s greatest pleasures), a few episodes of the good stuff, and devouring the rest of a delicious memoir I’m finishing up. Hope your Monday night is just as gratifying.

You know what else is great?

This is my 100th post!!

Do you recognize this sweet little fellow?

He’s a chinchilla! And much to my extreme delight, I got to pet one today! I was working at the museum when one of the Natural History & Science employees walked by me. He’s a friendly guy and he didn’t recognize me, so he sweetly introduced himself, and the museum’s chinchilla that he was toting across the museum in a little plastic tub that bulk candy comes in. He asked if I wanted to pet him. OF COURSE I WANT TO take him home PET HIM. Was that even a serious question? He was so incredibly soft! Softer than you can possibly imagine – I’ve never felt anything so soft! I about up and left with him (and the remainder of my dignity) right then and there. Alas, I had to get back to work and Mr. Chinchilla had a birthday party to attend. One of the girl’s I work with came over and I told her I was petting the chinchilla. Her eyes widened and she said “Hey! That guy didn’t let me pet the chinchilla when I asked!” That’s when I realized that I either have “DESPERATE ANIMAL LOVER” stamped so clearly across my entire being that the dude felt bad for me and couldn’t resist letting me pet him (likely) or, he missed the ring on my finger and was flirting via chinchilla – which, for the record, is an excellent way to win a single gal. On his way back through at the end of the day, I inquired about the chinchilla’s birthday party appearance (I was secretly praying he’d bring the chinchilla back so I could hold him) and he asked how I found myself in Cincinnati. I explained that I’d just gotten married and we’d relocated to Cincy for my husband’s job. I sincerely hope people do not stop offering me adorable animals just because I’m not single – otherwise I’ll be missing out on some lovely chinchilla nuzzles. It was definitely a highlight of my day!

You know what else is exciting?

A bag of my favorite Valentine’s heart lollipops for only $1! Yep, cheap candy. I was pretty pumped to see them and they’re so delicious that I just couldn’t resist. Happy Sunday!

Oy with the poodles already! Thursday, already?

(If you have no earthly inkling what I’m talking about there may be a lapse in your Gilmore Girls language & skills set. This is cause for serious concern and should be remedied immediately. I would strongly advise you to visit www.gilmore-ism.com or watch season 2, episode 22 to catch up at your earliest possible convenience. While you’re at it, please view all 5 seasons of Remington Steele too. You’ll be a better person for it. Also of note, you’ll have access to a vast mental database of stylish episode titles such as “In the Steele of the Night,” “Steele Your Heart Away,” and “Steeled with a Kiss” at your speedy disposal. I am the proud owner of the complete series DVD collection of these two fine shows and, together, they constructed the base of my high school and college television viewing entertainment. Scott Patterson and Pierce Brosnan are two handsome devils and you should be so lucky to be fluent in both Gilmorian and Steelish.)

Anyhow, back to Thursday. These two sweet chirpers were stationed so picturesquely, snoozing on our front porch, that I had to share them with you:

Fat and adorable. Spring’s a’comin’! I can feel it. They can feel it. It is fabulous outside and I want nothing more than to curl up with them on our porch under the sun and take a nap…now. This weather simply demands Texas BBQ, sweet tea, and Blue Bell ice cream. Last night we took a walk through a nearby neighborhood for a half hour or so before dinner and it was just perfect outside with a light sweater on. My hopes are up for this fine weather to stay a while and I fear my delicate Texas psyche will be gruesomely crushed if it snows again before November.

Perhaps because the chain of life goes something like cat > bird (yum yum), those little cuties above, whom I have absolutely no intention of dangling in front of Sancho, definitely reminded me of my dear Sancho (um, as does everything) and I realized I haven’t posted a Sancho-of-the-month picture yet. I’m well aware that you’re likely just as disappointed by this as I am. Lucky you, though! That’s about to change:

Today, unfortunately, the iPad 2 was not released as recent rumors had been hinting at. Looks like we may have to wait until April for Ted to get his hands on one. The musical Rent will be opening soon at CCM and I’m really looking forward to seeing it! Great music and I’m excited to see their interpretation of it – I’m ready to be impressed! And just in case you’ve forgotten (though I trust you haven’t), Big Bang Theory will be on tonight, so be sure to tune in! On the subject of Big Bangs, there’s supposed to be a neat solar flare tonight that might be visible via a red glow to the northern U.S., if it doesn’t knock our power, satellite communications or GPS grids, that is. We may not be far enough north, but I’ll probably take a peek outside anyway, just in case. I’ll also be attempting to make fried rice and baked crab rangoons for the first time tonight for dinner. I’d like to try making Chinese dumplings and beef with broccoli to go with the crowd-pleasing lemon chicken I make, but those can wait for another night. I won’t tempt fate with too many new entrees all at once.

Let’s take a second to discuss my hatred of the “hit” TV show Glee. I may be the lone voice of reason dissent in a world that has been oddly brainwashed by its phenomenal stupidity, but I loathe that show. Possibly because the characters are so ungodly annoying that I want to hide under the couch for fear that their unfortunate personalities are contagious, or maybe because it is a complete and utter falsification of the world of glee clubs and musical theatre – allowing gullible middle and high schoolers everywhere to believe that throwing together unique, quality vocals and entertaining, precise choreography is a snap and happens justlikethat without an ounce of hard work or long-trained and meticulously-nurtured talent. Any goon in the school can just waltz into the classroom and burst into song and hey, whatdayaknow!? They all just so happen to be exceptionally talented without any effort or training whatsoever – every. single. last. one of them. And the costumes? Oh yes, killer. Because every high school out there can afford a wide array of matching, snazzy costumes as well as up-to-date audio and lighting equipment. Let’s get real – our costumes in high school were made of trash bags and scrap fabric – if we were lucky. In high school when I spent two weeks every summer at a university theatre intensive camp with like 30 other theatre kids, we were all pretty talented (if I do say so myself), but it took work for us to pop out our rockin’ grand finale song & dance numbers at the end of the two weeks. Hard work.

You could argue that the show is making being a singing, dancing, theatre kid “cool” again – though, let’s not be mistaken, being a theatre kid isn’t “cool.” It never was to begin with – it’s passion and it’s hard work. It brings some classic songs to the spotlight in a new, interesting way – which is a creative way to expose today’s generation of youth to a variety of tunes from all genres. Sure, on occasion it has done some socially redeeming things like promoting the acceptance and love of all people regardless of their gender, race, weight, sexual orientation, past, etc. Glee actually sets a fairly promising example when it comes to that issues and it should be applauded for that, but it doesn’t change the fact that, overall, the show is just plain ridiculous. The asinine plot, the outrageous weekly story lines, the scenarios, the totally unreal and unacceptable teacher/student interactions, the student/student situations – all a royal bunch of B.S. Nothing infuriates me more than the weird lip twitch, head bob, and nasal-tone of that obnoxious brunette girl (was anyone else cringing in pain as she butchered, and outright made up, every note in America the Beautiful during the Superbowl?), except maybe the way Glee degrades the real life effort and talent of people who work hard to be musical performers.

Source

I realize that to some extent, every show on the air does this. They have to – that’s TV for you and how they make it work and it probably wouldn’t be as entertaining otherwise. I love Big Bang Theory and House, but I’m sure someone, somewhere out there is just as horrified by my choices as I am by Glee. Everyone has their pet peeves – this is mine. I’m a little shocked that I was able to construct an entire post about it, actually. Apparently I felt extra passionate about this today. Maybe I’ll sing about it to release my pent up anger. Oh well, onward and upward.

Today I’ll be trying my hand at slow cooker chicken cacciatore for dinner for the first time – Mmmm! I’m also still musing over potential vacation ideas and flights (I think I have cabin fever) but flight prices aren’t impressing me lately. It seems like only a year ago I was getting $99/each way flights back when I was flying to Michigan once a month. I can’t seem to find a domestic round trip ticket for less than $300 anymore (or an international for less than $800), if I’m that lucky at all. Bummer :-( Between fighting for matching days off, needing to use our rare days off to get a handle on our basement, and expensive travel options, it’ll make our dreamed-of travels much harder to achieve. I feel bad looking up all the things I think would be fun to do/see without even knowing if we’ll be able to make it happen. But it brightens my spirits just to see the incredible pictures and to write down all the fabulous excursion, activities, accommodations, and restaurants that would be fun to visit.

Source and Source

This morning I also toured the brand spakin’ new, not yet opened, exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center. Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt. Pretty cool my friends. It’s a National Geographic exhibit and Cincy is one of only 5 cities in the U.S. to be receiving it for six months. It’s going to be a hit seller. There’s a nifty audio tour narrated by Cleo herself, lots of background and history on prominent gods and goddesses, Egypt, Rome, Greece, family ties, her lovers and political allies, war, and most of the many artifacts in the exhibit were just recently discovered and yanked out of their liquidy ocean home where they’ve been since the ancient cities were covered by a tidal wave after Cleo’s death. I learned a lot of very interesting things I didn’t know before. I honestly could have stayed there for at least another hour. The most cutting-edge tidbit is that the ancient underwater cities are still quite the hotspot right this very minute. They’re currently continuing to map how it might have looked back then, pulling artifacts and 16 ft. statues from the depths of the water, piecing together clues, and they think they’re pretty darn close to discovering Cleopatra’s tomb in a hidden temple. It’s rockin’ to see history in the making, right?

One of my friends I met and worked with a few summers ago just got engaged to her boyfriend as well. Happy news for her! She was wearing a duck costume at the time – which immediately makes the story about 10x more adorable. This will be the first night in a long time that Ted should be home at a normal hour – I’m pretty excited that we can hang out tonight! :-) Have a happy Wednesday!

George Clooney is in Cincinnati. EVERYBODY FREAK OUT.

He’s in town to film his latest flick, The Ides of March. Apparently, this gives everyone a free pass to act like idiots. Or at least it gives 17 semi trucks the right to park on a narrow two-lane inner-city road and block traffic in Mt. Lookout all day while people rubber-neck. Same thing.

I awoke to a sweet surprise – an adorable card from my dear husband on our dining room table yesterday morning for Valentine’s Day. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I’d be happy with a good hug and I certainly didn’t expect him to buy me anything since we don’t typically buy into the commercialism of Valentine’s Day, so I was happily surprised to receive a card! Ted was gone from 7:15 a.m. – 12:00 a.m. yesterday for work, so I made him a tasty cheesy Italian sausage pasta casserole and fresh berry cheesecake and brought it to him over his dinner break. We sat in his office, ate, and watched an episode of Big Bang Theory on Hulu. After parking for 30 minutes in George Clooney traffic, I came home and unwrapped this…

….from my awesome brother, Brent! He’s stationed in Germany for the year and he sent us a huge box of Germany candy, which arrived on our doorstep this morning (perfect timing!) – Haribo gummy bears, Toblerone, Milka, and Ritter. I’m in heaven! After surveying the candy scene and deciding where to start, I plopped on the couch and debated between watching Up or The Notebook for the 4 millionth time. Fun fact: The Notebook was released at midnight on Valentine’s Day 2oo5. It was in my dorm room by 7 a.m. that very morning (and I had watched it twice by midnight that evening) thanks to my Valentine that year who knew that it was quite possibly going to be my favorite movie of all time. The poor, unsuspecting dude saw it in theatres with me where I burst into ugly, uncontrollable sobs and bawled for a good 45 minutes post-showing before I was able to get enough of a grip on my life that we could leave the theatre without causing a scene. Conversely, my friend Emily had quite the opposite reaction. The first time she saw it she laughed so hard that she turned 8 shades of red and practically spit out her mouth full of malted milk balls onto the carpet in my bedroom. I guess it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Anyhow, that’s all beside the point. I settled for Up because it’s funny, original, romantic and I don’t have it completely memorized. Ted and I saw it in theatres when we were living in Lansing and loved the animation and the story. We knew immediately that it was a “must own.” It’s likely to become another favorite, especially since I sniffled through the first 15 minutes of this one too. Apparently a movie has to summon tears in order to meet my stiff criteria.

Have a happy Tuesday!

Valentine’s Day has never been a favorite holiday of mine. I prefer 4th of July, Thanksgiving and Halloween. I hate pink, and I never really got on board with the cupid confetti or holiday decorations. If I was feeling unusually festive, I might have worn a red shirt that day (or any other color shirt I found appealing to me) but I definitely skipped the iridescent pink lip gloss, hair straightener, and sugary perfume. A few years ago during college I remember making full-out handmade Valentines out of construction paper and lace with the true story of St. Valentine and a little love note attached to send to my friends and family – and it was a pain in the butt and I promptly decided that was the last time I was going to do that. I was always my parent’s Valentine. I gave or made my parents cards every year and once or twice I might have made a special dinner or dessert for them or something. My parents and sister were great about making sure I got a card from them every year too – and usually a little gift, a new sweater or a movie, accompanied my parent’s card. They showed me that Valentine’s Day wasn’t just about romantic love, but about appreciating every love in your life.

Clearly, I didn’t have a vendetta against the holiday either. As an adolescent I didn’t slump around cloaked in black and mournfully displaying my bleeding heart shirt because I didn’t have a romantic Valentine. In fact, my most awesome Valentine’s date ever with at Olive Garden with my college-friend Tiffany. We were each other’s dates that year so we dressed up nice and treated each other to a dinner of creamy pasta and sunset margaritas! We knew it would be mobbed that night so we brought crayons, Valentine’s day coloring sheets, and candy to keep us entertained while we waited for our table (for an hour and a half). We colored our girlfriend-less high school waiter a pretty Valentine’s picture and left him a bag of candy and a nice tip. It was a blast and we were so happy to just be with each other! In high school I didn’t snarl at the girl’s bouncing through the halls clad in pink tees toting cards, roses, and heart-shaped boxes of candy from their suckers admirers. Simply put, I didn’t care one way or another. I was an easy Valentine to please – my boyfriend had it good. Though I made sure he knew he didn’t have to, I usually did receive a bouquet of flowers, a card, and a gift from him anyway. Probably initially because he was unsure of whether or not I was joking. Like it was a test and if he really didn’t get me anything I’d be pissed that he didn’t know better than to believe a female when she says she doesn’t want something and he’d be out. Come to think of it, I’m sure many a girl has played out that scenario with less than fortunate results, but I honestly would not have been offended if I’d gotten nothing more than a great hug. I’m much more smitten by sincerity and daily affection year-round than by flowers on Valentine’s Day.

Truth be told, as I child I looked forward to decorating my shoebox the most. Oh, the possibilities! I think taking time out of educational classwork (especially if it was math!) to color a stupid shoebox was more exciting than the store bought packages of Inspector Gadget themed class cards that went into them! And the candy was pretty delightful back then too – and not the expensive boxes of assorted truffles. I’m talking the dinky junk that came on said class cards – tiny rolls of life savers, cherry heart-shaped lollipops, and conversation hearts (but only the white ones with really lame expressions on them like “fax me!” were my favorites  – what 3rd grader had access to a fax machine in 1994?) That was the good stuff!

My position on this holiday always was that every day should be Valentine’s Day. Meaning, you shouldn’t need a holiday to remind you to be extra nice, to give many hugs and kisses, to say “I Love You” or to get flowers, jewelry or a card for someone special (as material things like that are hardly a true expression of love anyway – they’re appreciated, but not really what counts). Besides, you don’t just have one Valentine once a year – you have parents, siblings, friends, and significant others year around to smother with love. Why pinpoint a single day? (Oh yes, so we can impose a 200% markup on blossoming bouquets, decadent chocolates, and thick glittery cards. That’s right.) Why not wait until tomorrow to buy these things, or June, or any day you feel like it? If you’re an excellent Valentine on Valentine’s day but crummy about expressing your love and appreciation with compliments, kisses, thank yous, and little surprises like making the bed or washing the dishes year around…what’s the point? Be a Pepe Le Pew everyday!

So, to all my family and all my friends (and to Sancho & Ted, of course), Happy Valentine’s Day! I love you and am thankful for you every single day!

Dear Readers,

Since my blog was recently hijacked by our wedding, you’ve been missing out on the tame occurrences in our day-to-day lives. Allow me to enlighten you. We, along with the handful of eye-candy robins and blue jays frequenting our trees, have been gratefully enjoying really nice weather for the past few days. I’m talking mid-50s and bright, warm sun! My herbs and my toes are in heaven. This is huge since I’ve been permanently frostbitten since November. Next weekend our weatherman says we’ll be in the 60s (!!!!!) which would be excellent for a quick afternoon visit to Bass Island, a huge paved trail perfect for rollerblading and biking (um, on the bike I don’t have yet). Now the trick is us both being off work at the same time (or at all, for that matter) so we can go together. It’ll also be perfect weather to dry out and cover all the chipmunk holes in our firepit and have a fire again, which we’re planning on for Friday night!

In the meanwhile I’ve been amusing myself with grand plans of a spring camping trip in Hocking Hills (um, in the tent we also don’t have, as Ted observantly pointed out. But we’ve got the bed of a truck and blankets!) complete with canoeing, hiking, biking, ziplining, cave crawling, archery, cooking over an open flame, and swimming. I’ve also been dreaming of a long-weekend trip to Texas to see my family, friends and Sancho (my handsome boy!), and to relish in the delights of terrific Mexican food and tubing down the Guadalupe river slathered in sunscreen. As if that weren’t enough scheming for the week, I’m tossing around thoughts of a day at King’s Island Roller Coaster Amusement Park (only 45 minutes away!), pro baseball games (Cincy Reds v. Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs), another Cincy Cyclones semi-pro hockey game (on $1 beer and $1 bbq night of course), a morning at the zoo, and maybe, just maybe heading down the Louisville for the Kentucky Derby the weekend of May 5th. Tickets to actually see the race are totally unacquirable partly because they’re sold out and partly because the least expensive one is about $2,000 booked three years in advance. But $40 gets you general admission into the grounds to see the horses lining up, watch the races on big TVs, and be there simply for the atmosphere and excitement of it all. There’s possible visits to Cincy from both of our sisters sometime in the spring/summer, and hopefully a honeymoon in store for us by the end of August if we can make it happen! So much to look forward to!

Ted had a crazy hectic schedule last week working 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. almost every night in preparation for the opening of the opera The Marriage of Figaro at CCM this weekend. He did manage to sneak away early one night so he could get some sleep and so that we could have a relaxing evening downing wings and queso at Buffalo Wild Wings while playing their electronic trivia game thing. Another afternoon I got off work just in time for his dinner break so on my way home I met him at Mac’s downtown while he ate, much like we used to do when we were both on dinner breaks between show calls at BoarsHead and MSU in Michigan.

Last night he got me a comp. ticket to see Figaro (my first opera!). The story’s trickery, mistaken identity, disguises, unrevealed secrets, and bawdy humor remind me of many of Shakespeare’s plots, which I loved. The orchestra sounded amazing, the voices were very pretty, and I loved the costumes, set and lighting. But I gotta be honest with you, it was a 4 act, 3-hour opera, and by act 4 I was struggling just to stay look awake, not because of the performance, but because that’s a really long time to shut-up, sit still, and not pester the crap out of the monocle-wearing opera fanatic next to you every time you change positions. All in all, I definitely prefer Shakespeare to opera, but it was enjoyable nonetheless and I’m really happy I got to experience one.

In Ted world, he’s in physical therapy two mornings a week for the next few months for his elbow, which leaves him sore but should ease the pain in the long-run so that hopefully he can keep working hard, take up bowling league again, and stuff like that. He’s also got an outpatient knee surgery scheduled for March 1st. It should be pretty non-invasive and with a fairly fast recovery time. His long-awaited 2nd generation iPad is rumored to be released this week as well. It’s his wedding present from me and he’s been anxious for it since October, so we’re both excited that it should be available within the next month!

In my world, I’ve gotten a lot of reading done lately and I’m loving it. I’ve been able to read four books in the past two weeks. I really like memoirs, so that’s been my focus lately, but I’m open to whatever the library has that sounds good. It’s a nice change to have a chance to read, even if it is only at work. One of my best friends loves to read too. She’s a mom and in grad school, so if she can find the time, so can I. Every time I read a book I’m reminded of how badly I want to write a novel or a play. I know I’m capable of it (though getting published is a whole other ball of wax), but it would take a lot of time, dedication and persistence (and an agent if I have any hopes of publication). I’ve also come to understand that Cincinnati is the San Fransisco of the mid-west. So many hills!! I’ve started driving my car in 3rd gear most of the time and its worked wonders so far – my car’s transmission is much happier and I can scale the hills much more smoothly and without worrying about rolling backwards at stoplights. I don’t work today so I’m relaxing, reading outside in the gorgeous fresh air, popping in a red box flick and dining on delicious Chipotle carryout. The makings of a perfect Sunday! I always feel kind of bad relaxing like this when I know Ted is stuck inside at work all day until 2 a.m. (strike of Figaro and load-in of Rent), but I’m looking forward to the days when he’s home and we can do all these things together. So that’s what we’ve been up to lately. Hope everyone out there is enjoying a leisurely Sunday at home and taking advantage of some nice weather!