The Veruca Salt of Cincytown

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Mondays aren’t all that awful. Sometimes. I mean, yesterday’s Monday didn’t suck. Between officially starting my job search with application #1, researching and comparing UC’s medical insurance options for us, doing our weekly dinner menu planning so I could create a shopping list (here’s another one of those activities I was convinced I would never do because I am not old, boring, or housewife of the year…yet I find myself doing it and actually finding it helpful), and doing a pretty decent job with a low grocery bill – I would say it was a successful day. I made beef and veggie stir-fry over a bed of rice (I’m trying my hand at home cooked meals. No major failures so far Ted is happy to report) and then Ted & I went to Graeter’s on Beechmont to try their ice cream. It was delicious. They’re are a Cincinnati based ice cream, candy and bakery shop. They’ve been in business for 140 years and they have the most delectable pastries and rich, creamy ice cream. Mmm! Their chocolate mint chip is paralyzing. I think it’s one of those “must visit” places when we have company. We need company more often. Our guest room is lonely. Um, with the exception of the wasp Ted found inhabiting it, that is. But now it’s empty.

Somewhere in the mess of all that we are trying to accomplish together, I have been doing some thinking about what I would like to accomplish (eventually of course). Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

– I want to go back to school for my master’s degree. I’ve always liked school. Even as a kid I enjoyed reading, writing and doing homework, which pretty much branded me as a freak in elementary and middle school. There’s still a lot out there I want to learn. Plus, there is no shortage of interesting courses at college campuses these days:  Religions of the World, Anthropology, Beginner’s Canoeing, Creative Writing…and of course all those fantastic artsy classes and Shakespeare courses I’m desperate to dig my brain into. Perfect world, I’d love a Shakespeare MFA – a combination of Shakespearean acting, literature, research and history. But that option is a) hideously expensive, b) extremely hard to find. I know of two universities in the state’s with a program like that, and c) takes about 3-4 years to complete. I’d settle for an arts administration or dramaturgy masters.

– I want to travel the world. My “must see” list is enormous. It’s completely unaffordable, unabashedly selfish, highly fantastical, ridiculously entertaining, seeping in culture shock, and would require at least a year of free time. I checked my bank account and my calendar and it appears that I don’t have quite enough of either saved up. Nonetheless, I continue to drool over travel magazines oozing with adventurous expeditions, breathtaking sights, and mouthwatering foods praying for the day a winning Ohio Lottery ticket purchases itself, leaps into our mailbox and releases tiny luggage-shaped confetti as I scratch off the metallic coating to reveal some very lucky travel-enabling numbers. Ha.

– I want to dance again and I want to perform again. It’s been almost two years since I’ve been in a show. In college I was in a dance company at Texas State called Orchesis Modern Dance Co. We danced mostly modern, but also some jazz. I adored it. I never really expected to get in when I auditioned since I didn’t begin dancing in my crib like most little girls and I certainly don’t have the body of a dancer. But I guess I worked hard enough because I got in. And I loved it. I loved the rehearsals, the choreography and I loved performing dance. I’m not super great at dance, but being an actress I can either actually pick it up for real, or I can fake it really darn well. I was best at tap and jazz and musical theatre type dances, but I made it through intermediate ballet without causing myself (or anyone else) bodily harm. And I loved that too. I know I’ll never be a professional dancer, but I really do miss dancing for fun. Dream job? Chorus/Ensemble girl in professional productions – you get the good intensive dance numbers, lots of singing, and no-pressure acting bits. I’m all in.

– I want to spend more time volunteering. You know, between housework, job hunting, and all that other crap. I’d love to join a ministry or two at the church (our church’s ministry list is huge. I’m impressed), help out at an animal shelter (and hug kitties all day long), be a big sister to a “big brother/big sister” kids organization, and work with seasonal Christmas and Thanksgiving charities. I’d love to do hands-on mission work overseas or even start up my own non-profit organization. I think the best way to start is to start small. Choose one or two things that I can make a time commitment to and go from there. There’s so many worthy causes, so many people, places and things that need time and attention and the world would be a much better place for everyone. And I want to be a part of that.

– Sometimes, just sometimes I want a social life, like a real one – with friends and happy hours and shopping trips and road trips and stuff like that. Soooo college round 2 for a weekend? Yes. Mostly I just miss my friends and the occasional night out with the girls and guys. I’d take spending time with Ted any day, but living in a new place sure makes you miss your friends.

So after that excessive rant in which I’ve exhausted my wish list, I think I can safely declare myself the Veruca Salt of Cincy.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRTkCHE1sS4]

Today I’m hoping to get a lot of detailed “moving in” cleaning done around here – like umm, vacuuming the dead bugs off the windowsills, scraping the Batman and Disney Princess stickers off the upstairs windows, cleaning the vents and boring stuff like that. Planning to keep up the daily job application process for as long as I can. Hopefully something good will come along. When Ted comes home from work at night we have a list of things we’d like to get done together – like unpacking and organizing the office, cleaning out the garage and finishing setting up the living room. But now that he’s into the swing of his job he has more work to do once he gets home to stay caught up. Last night he was up late reading light board manuals for a unit he’ll be teaching the UC students how to work with. And eventually when I get a job, I’m sure I’ll have some stuff to do at home as well, along with the combined housework and upkeep we’ll be doing – I can see our nightly free evenings of movies and ice cream and shopping and bonfires dwindling to maybe once or twice a week. Oh well, you gotta make the time for things you enjoy as well, right?

 

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Inspiration

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Yesterday evening we went to Crate & Barrel and bought a great set of wine racks to hold our leftover wedding wine. It’ll be nice to get those mounted on the wall and get the wine off our kitchen floor. Then we drove to Ikea and ate dinner at their restaurant – Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes and lingionberries. It reminded us of being at Al Johnson’s (“Goats on the Roof”) in Door County. We purchased an area rug for our living room, an entrance rug for the kitchen door, a lazy Susan, splatter screen, potato masher, 2 table lamps, 2 wall mount kitchen rails, utensil hooks, herb pots, two cork trivet sets, and 6 “damaged” (read: super on-sale) bright yellow doors that we are going to use as lumber to build basement shelves out of. The shopping trip was a complete success. To top it off the price of our last two meals at the Ikea restaurant (one from this evening and the other from our trip a few weeks ago) were completely deducted from our checkout totals. What a great policy! We essentially ate for free both times or we got a great discount. Either way, it worked well for us!

But you know what I realized on the drive home? None of it matters. We don’t need any of it. Sure, we wanted it and had been looking forward to getting it with our wedding gift money. Yes, it will all look great and be useful in our home. And I am very very grateful to have everything we have. But it isn’t what makes us happy. In fact, it made me feel a little guilty. Is having so much stuff, new stuff, wants kind of stuff, when others literally have nothing, is that really fair or even okay? I don’t really think so. I think it feels like so much right now because we are getting a lot of new things lately since we’ve moved into our new house. I’m sure almost all newlyweds or new home renters/owners go through this as well, but it makes me feel bad. I need to step up the volunteering and giving efforts. For all we’ve been given, there’s a lot we can give back to others with our time, our talents and our treasures.

We unloaded the truck and kindled our first fire in our backyard fire pit. Ted built it up with twigs and brown paper bags and kept it going. I took pictures and brought out the marshmallows and roaster sticks. And for the next hour and a half we just sat in front of it, chatted, we enjoyed each other’s company by the light of warm glowing fire. It was cozy and quiet and personal. And I was much happier with a marshmallow, the heat from the fire, and my husband home and by my side than I was with any lusted-after wine rack.

I thought about how lucky I am, how lucky we both are to have each other and to have our families. I thought how I couldn’t wait to see my mom and dad over Thanksgiving, and how wonderful, loving and helpful our families and friends are – and how much I know we both miss spending time with them. Be thankful for who you have – spend time with who you have – treasure the people and experiences over the material things, always. Then we let the fire die out until it was only burning coals. This marbling effect of smoldering embers is Ted’s favorite part of the fire. After our showers we settled on the sofa for a little while before bed. Ted pulled up the a truly wonderful video on his computer. I think everyone can use a little inspiration. I’d like to share it with you all. Have a lovely rest of your day.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciYk-UwqFKA]

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Cultural support of all kinds

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Have you ever seen the Random Acts of Culture videos on You Tube? I really like them. I think everyone could use a little more culture in their lives so the concept isn’t a bad idea. It’s kind of the same thing as a “happening” in theatre. You know how in musicals people just burst into song & dance and, magically, everyone around them seems to know the words and dance steps too and they all join in? Have you ever thought “Man! I wish that would really happen in the real world!” Well, that’s a Random Act of Culture or a happening or a flash dance/opera/whatever it is. A group of people meet somewhere at a specific time, they do something completely random, and then disperse like nothing ever happened. Here’s a few examples

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHiHG_tMYL4&feature=player_embedded#!]

Awesome, right? I mean you know they are rehearsed but to the people just going about their daily lives in a train station or airport or Macy’s or on a college campus (I think UT Austin had one a few years back) and all the sudden one person or a small group of people appears and begins doing something unusual and then suddenly everyone around them joins in and knows all the steps – how cool! In a very modern, busy world I think it’s a creative way to bring culture back into society and remind people about the transformative power of the arts in a non-preachy way.

Last night’s Newlyweds Dinner at Immaculate Heart of Mary was a success. There were about 20-30 couples there (more than I expected!) and our guest speaker was Roy Petitfils, author of the book “What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About the First Five Years of Marriage.” He was a great speaker – very real and straightforward and honest with a fresh approach to the Catholic church’s role in meeting people where they are at right now in their lives and helping people understand and apply these lofty Catholic teachings to what we really deal with in everyday life and how the Catholic church needs to work harder to relate to its people. He had a lot of interesting things to say about the first five years of marriage as well. He was incredibly good-humored and really bold and very funny. Everyone received a free copy of his book. I’m looking forward to reading it as soon as I get the chance. And the food was delicious! There were appetizers, wine and beer, a delicious meal (blue cheese and candied pecan salad, herb-encrusted & stuffed pork loin, french onion bread pudding, and lemon dill broccoli) and a dessert bar. Definitely some of the most delicious church food I’ve ever had! Overall it was a really enjoyable evening and we met several other nice couples in our age range. It’s refreshing to find a church with so much involvement in so many different ministries. And the evening raised a good point, if marriage is such a sacred sacrament and so important, then why isn’t the church doing more to support it? Why are Engaged Encounter weekends vaguely  lackluster and why aren’t there more active marriage support ministries to help build up couples no matter what stage of marriage they are at if married couples truly build the backbone of the church? I like that Roy and this church specifically are really trying to build this up.

Today after Ted gets done working at UC (he has worked everyday for 14 days straight so far) we will hopefully head to Ikea and Crate & Barrel and pick up some things we’ve been meaning to get for the house, get a few things done around here in terms of unpacking and organizing together, and then enjoy our first fire in our new firepit and watch a movie this evening. We’ll see where the day takes us.

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A Fall Day in November

Dear Cincinnati,

I don’t know if you are aware of this, so I thought I would point it out to you. Today is November 13. While I appreciate your holiday spirit and decorating enthusiasm, and while I’m sure that giant Christmas tree you are loading into Fountain Square today is pretty fabulous, I have to ask, why is it here NOW? Do you realize you are forgetting about an awesome holiday? Thanksgiving is 12 days away, it’s still like 65 degrees out, and I haven’t seen a single turkey, pilgrim, Indian or cornucopia cutout being hoisted into Fountain Square yet. I have, however, seen ample Christmas sales and Santa and garland decorations in the malls since November 1.  I love Thanksgiving and I’m a little miffed that it is being skipped. We are blessed with an entire holiday to devote to appreciation and being thankful and we can’t even be thankful for that! We get a whole month of Christmas joy starting December 1st (ahem). So cool your jingle bells, have a piece of pumpkin pie and get into the Thanksgiving mood Here, I’ll help you:

Sincerely,

Lara

Today we did NOT cut down our Christmas Tree at a farm or merrily unpack our stockings and ornaments like many people I know. Why? Because it’s still November, that’s why. Instead, we filled our day with decidedly autumn activities. We finished hauling multiple truck loads of raked leaves over to B-Zak Landscaping and we received a visit from the Culligan man this afternoon to test our water and set us up with a water softener rental so our dry skin can get a little relief.  I went to the library and rented the movies Across the Universe and Annapolis. I hear they’re both very good. Also spent the morning washing our sheets and comforter and kitchen linens and tablecloth while Ted worked Evita tech at UC this morning.

After dropping off the leaves we headed to Home Depot (are you counting? That’s 4 times this week. Do we win a prize?) and picked up a shovel, firewood and landscaping rocks to build our backyard firepit. Wanna see? Start with a backyard.

Clear a 4 ft. circle of the top layer of grass using your brand new shovel. Don’t worry Mr. Fireman, the pit will only be 3 ft. in diameter as Anderson Township fire code dictates. And no brush burning! We are up-to-code citizens.

 

Dig out the sides of the circle to start making a pit and use the extra dirt and grass to fill in the multiple ankle-twisting holes in your backyard. Smile at the genius of it all. Start laying rocks firmly into the dirt. Fill in the gaps between rocks with dirt so the stones sink a bit and then dig out the center to create a pit for the wood.

 

 

 

 

 

Marvel at your handsome firepit and be sure to take many pictures of your hard work. Add firewood. Repeat marveling and photo taking. Take out firewood because it’s going to rain tonight and postpone your late-night s’mores and weinie roast to another night. Now, I know it looks like I did nothing here since all the pictures are of Ted doing the labor. Not true my friends. I took pictures but I also shoveled, dug dirt, laid rocks and filled in holes. But he did most of the hard work ;-) I forgot to mention yesterday that Ted also put down the runner in the basement, started placing empty boxes under the basement stairs for storage and began setting up our electronics in the living room (while I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner!). Love him!

Tonight we are going to a Newlyweds Dinner at the Catholic parish down the road. There is going to be an author and guest speaker there talking about his book and “what I wish I knew during the first five years of marriage.” Should be interesting – and free dinner! Have a great Saturday evening everyone.

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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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The Dunn Daily

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After working every day last week (including 9am-midnight on Saturday & Sunday as well) Ted got some time off yesterday and was able to come home around 2pm. I manage to get a lot of little things done around the house during the day – and those little things add up. But having an extra set of hands around (strong, knowledgeable ones!) sure makes things faster and more efficient. Yesterday we tackled a meeting with our insurance agent to hammer out auto, renters & life insurance information as a married couple and we ran some errands to Home Depot – again (surprise surprise – today is Thursday and I have been to Home Depot 3 times this week). This time we came out with yard trash bags to bag up our ridiculous pile of leaves and a fire extinguisher (um yes, this should have been one of our very first purchases. Oops.), and we priced out landscaping rocks to make a fire pit in our backyard (yes! can’t wait to do a s’more and hot dog roast!). We finished installing the weather stripping on the front door of the house, swept and power hosed off the side porch that I made a mess of raking dirt and leaves, finished cutting out and laying the carpet in the rest of the basement and we still had time to enjoy dinner and Hell’s Kitchen and do picks for football this week.

However, amidst all the productivity we did manage to forget one thing. This morning as I emptied our kitchen trash I realized that today is Thursday. Thursday is trash day. And our trash was not at the curb by 4am. Oops again. Getting used to a new schedule takes time I guess. There may be some very appreciative raccoons at our house this week. I suppose it should have been a clue when we saw a neighbor driving down his driveway towing a garbage can to the curb. Nope – didn’t ring a bell then. Looking back, that should have definitely sparked something in the brain…

And since I know how much everyone loves hearing about the random rumblings in my head, here is today’s tidbits:

1) Apparently there is a fairly large and active coyote population in Anderson Township where we live. Huh. Who knew? It was on  the news last night. Lots of pets have gone missing and there’s been plenty of coyote sightings. Our house is set back on the road and we have a deep backyard that eventually backs up to a lake. Sounds like prime coyote spotting territory to me!

2) My pedicure from our wedding three weeks ago still looks fresh. Three weeks! I’m dumbfounded. Not that I’m a big mani/pedi know-it-all (I’ve had two pedicures and maybe 5 manicures in my life), but even I know most polish chips after 3.7 seconds. My pedicure still looks like it was done this morning. The lady who did the manicures and pedicures was raving about how excellent this top coat stuff was as she was applying it, but since I was getting married in like 30 hours, I pretty much promptly disregarded the top coat nonsense to be honest. Dear Santa, I think I need a bottle of that top coat.I would only have to do my nails like 3 times a year! And that, folks, is how the cheap and lazy operate.

3) I am having such a hard time finding the motivation do start the job application process. I would love a job. I love researching things. I love writing. I love all that stuff that goes hand-in-hand with applying for positions, but just gussying up the motivation to actually get started is killer. I know once I’m started I’ll have great drive and energy to keep going, but pushing for the initial motivation makes me suddenly want to do things like clean the bathroom instead.

4) Just ate a carton of golden raspberries. They are supposedly sweeter than red raspberries, but I can’t tell a difference. And, like normal raspberries, they are delicious.

5) Our first grown-up people big-item purchase as newlyweds arrived today:  Our new LG2101 washer & dryer. I enjoyed watching the huge Sears truck attempt to turn around on the street and back down our driveway (now that’s entertainment people) and Ted enjoyed whipping out his wrench and level and going to town making it perfectly level. It does all kinds of neat things like sensor washing where it auto balances and weighs the loads. For the insane amount of research I did on the sucker to make sure it has excellent reviews (it does) and to know all its pros and cons, I sure hope it works! The test cycle without clothing when it was hooked up went well. And most importantly it has a bazillion controls & options, it lights up in a rainbow of LED-goodness, and plays little tunes when it powers on and finishes a load – umm, love it! But in all seriousness we’re thrilled to have it!

Now that Ted is home early for the day we’re on to bagging leaves. Maybe I’ll eventually get around to posting pictures of our wedding and the house for everyone to see.

P.S. – A heartfelt THANK YOU to all our soldiers, military and veterans. You are the heroes of this nation. Happy Veterans Day!

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Chaos ensues

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It’s only 10 a.m. and already this morning has made me want to crawl right back into bed. We’re trying to order some of the remaining items off of our amazon registry using amazon gift cards, a visa gift card and then the remaining balance will be put on my credit card. Amazon split the one order into four separate ones, split up the gift cards among those four orders, and charged the remaining balance to a limited-funds debit gift card instead of my credit card, which has resulted in partial cancellations or orders because of lack of funds (yeah that’s what happens when you charge a large amount to a debit card with a specific amount on it) and nobody – me or the people at Amazon – seem to have any idea what was charged to what card and what actually went through and what didn’t. FAIL. So now a better part of my day will be spent figuring out this nightmare (excellent, because I was looking for a time-sucking activity today), continuing to rake the yard (noticing a trend yet?), making phone calls, and unpacking the guest bedroom/storage in our house. Tonight we’ll be finishing carpeting the basement for our washer/dryer’s arrival tomorrow. Other than the Great Amazon Fail of 2010, sounds like it could be a decent day. Yesterday we got the shelves assembled in the china cabinet so now we can display our toasting flutes, unity candle set and cake service set from the wedding. We also got the office furniture arranged upstairs and started to unpack all our office stuff – it’ll be nice to have a work space again. It kind of sucks knowing that in two weeks all my stuff will be arriving from Texas so even if we are completely unpacked by the time my parents pull into the driveway with my little mini-moving-truck…we still have to unpack all my stuff. Sometimes it just feels like life won’t ever get back to normal. Maybe this is our new normal?

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November musings

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Here’s some things on my mind today:

1) Now that we have approximately 87,000 (give or take a few) mini-pumpkins and gourds left over from the wedding…what do we do with them all!? I can’t trash them, and while I think a few would look nice decorating the house, I don’t think we need a pumpkin patch in our dining room.

2) Also wondering what to plant in our flower beds. We need something inexpensive, easy to maintain, will stay alive year-round, and decently pretty. Don’t know if we should bother planting now since it’s already mid-autumn and gets into the low 30s at night, or if we should wait until the spring. Having a house will do strange things to you. I have never in my whole life cared about flowers or gardens or planting or landscaping. That was an old boring person hobby. It’s not so much that I like doing it, but more that we want to keep our place looking spiffy, so it needs to get done.

3) Croissants are delicious. I’d also love another bubble tea and green tea cupcake from a place I checked out this week closer to downtown Cincy. If you’ve never had bubble tea it’s flavored tea with these plum-colored, gooey & chewy, edible tapioca beads at the bottom that you suck up through the straw. I know this description probably sounds extremely alarming and slightly off-putting, but it’s really yummy. And the moist green tea cupcake with rich, flavorful, velvety cream cheese frosting? To. Die. For. Ted also mentioned that Chicago Gyro near campus has a fabulous gyro. I’m drooling already.

4) I want an herb garden in the kitchen so I can grow cilantro, basil, parsley and mint. Mmmm. I adore the way lemon grass smells, but I’m not exactly sure if it is useful in cooking or not. Anyone know? Ikea has these great wall-mount rails we are going to pick up with hooks to hang stuff on. Well, they also have these awesome little pots that can hang from said hooks. I’m thinking they might be perfect for a mini herb garden.

5) How soon can we start planning our honeymoon? We don’t know next years vacation schedule or work schedules yet, so I don’t know how soon we can start planning. For what we want to do, airline tickets, accommodations, and excursions really need to be purchased well in advance.

I love traveling. I love tropical places, great architecture, snowy places, and gloomy rainy places – I love it all. So I don’t necessarily care where we go. My list of places to visit is huge. Among the top contenders are Italy, Russia, Poland, Egypt, Greece, Iceland (again), and about 27 other fabulous locations. I’ve been lucky enough to go to China, Japan, Iceland, Germany, France, England (2x), Switzerland, Hungary, Jamaica, Mexico, Canada, and a fair share of states in the U.S. Ted has done some traveling as well. But we did some brief discussions early on in our wedding planning and our top choices at the time were Alaska and Iceland/Finland/Norway/Sweden. We’d probably go in the winter so we can do the blue lagoon, see the aurora borealis, check out the ice hotel, go husky racing, glacier climbing, snow shoeing and all that adventurous stuff in addition to sight seeing in the towns and loading up on fantastic foods. I think for all we would want to do, including travel time, we’d need two weeks (still working on that unlimited bank account too). I think we’ll make it happen somehow ;-)

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Marriage is…

Now that we’ve been married a whopping two-and-a-half weeks and I’m a pro (ahem) at this whole marriage thing, here’s a quick update on what I’ve learned so far:

Marriage is, of course, love and passion, but there’s so much more to it. It’s about finding the person you can share love and passion with, but also share all of life’s adventures and experiences with – no matter how exciting, new and unusual or mundane and monotonous they may be. Marriage is spending a week raking a yard full of leaves until you can’t move your throbbing arms anymore. Marriage is installing weather-stripping on the doors in the dark after work and taking weeks to decide which washer & dryer to purchase because you want to read every review ever published and make the right decision (those things aren’t cheap – we’re on a budget people). Marriage isn’t complete togetherness – sometimes it’s a little lonely when your husband has to work days and some evenings and weekends – you try to put together a bookshelf alone (and fail miserably) and you eat pasta and watch America’s Funniest Home Videos alone and wish he were there instead of at work. But none of that matters because you are overjoyed the second he is home.

Marriage is learning where your husband likes his milk positioned in the fridge for easiest access and living in Lowe’s and Home Depot (we make a minimum of 4 trips a week to each store. They should just starting giving us crap for free. For real.) Marriage is spending our money on things like kitchen island carts, closet organizers, bathroom hardware, and saving for a new sofa and recliner set instead of going to Cedar Point and dining at Hell’s Kitchen in between jaunts to Vegas and Italy. It’s insurance plans and banking accounts and retirement plans and medical decisions. It’s leaving a job and friends you love to move to a new city and start all over again with your best friend in the whole world. It’s giving up your handsome cat (I’m not biased, he really truly is that handsome) and postponing a honeymoon so someone can start a great new job. We figure that honeymoon will be appreciated even more in a year when we’re worn out and need a vacay.

But marriage is also heading to Buffalo Wild Wings on Sundays to down a Woodchuck and some wings while cheering on the Packers together, trying a new restaurant every week, and playing games together on the awesome Wii you received as a wedding present. It’s getting lost, and sharing the couch and ripping open wedding cards and wedding presents like kids on Christmas morning. It’s making macaroni & cheese together, breaking open a bottle of wine (courtesy of Door County!) and settling in for an evening of Hell’s Kitchen or Big Bang Theory. It’s snuggling into bed and falling asleep to the beat of his heart and the sound of his breathing. Marriage is exploring a new city, riding bikes and rollerblading and bowling, making this house our home, inside jokes and lame puns, a “fun things” to-do list, and learning to love, respect, appreciate and enjoy each other more every day.

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Turning a new leaf

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Ted & I got married two-and-a-half weeks ago on October 22, 2010. Our wedding weekend was in Door County, WI and after a year of living 1500 miles apart, working and completing graduate school, and planning a completely DIY, uniquely-autumn wedding weekend, we both agree the whole shindig was a smashing success. The weather and scenery were stunningly cooperative, the winery tour-Sweets & Sips welcome party-Peninsula State Park-“Guys & Does”-pizza and gelato picnic-and friends & family night activities were fun and relaxing, our many guests who traveled so far to celebrate with us were brimming with love and support, the rehearsal dinner was a delicious and gorgeous lake-front, fish-boil dream, and our 9-piece Big Band & bonfire reception was the talk of the town among our family and friends. Three days after our wedding weekend extravaganza we packed up and moved from Green Bay, WI (I had moved from Texas to Green Bay only two weeks prior) to Ohio where Ted had a new job waiting for him and a rental house we had found and signed the lease on. Our honeymoon will have to wait until next year when we have some vacation time saved up. We are enjoying finally living in the same city (and household!) and adjusting to life as newlyweds in Cincinnati.

All these changes are refreshing and every day seems to bring new challenges, adventures and joys – a definite learning experience – but the process of moving, unpacking, cleaning, fixing up a house, yard work, adjusting to a new city, looking for employment, and staying home all day while Ted works is definitely more work than I anticipated. We have a newly remodeled, spacious kitchen but very little storage space. So we find ourselves in need of a kitchen island cart, a kitchen table and chairs, and a wine rack or two to house the 25 leftover bottles of wine from our wedding – enter Ikea stage left. The hardwood floors I adored when we leased the house are, I am learning, a mixed blessing. Sure they’re pretty, but they keep the house less than cozy in the winter. And what’s left of the weather-stripping from the 1930s on the doors isn’t helping keep us warm either. So new weather-stripping it is. I didn’t even know what weather-stripping was three weeks ago. Oh, and all those fabulous trees in this nice big yard I fell in love with? I may not love them quite so much now that I realize that raking those suckers isn’t as fun or easy as it looks in comic strips. I don’t ever remember raking leaves in Texas. Our very first brand-spanking new front-loading washer and dryer should arrive on Thursday. In the meantime we are adding carpet to the basement to make it look more like a part of the home and less like a dragon-infested dungeon. Not that a dragon wouldn’t be helpful occasionally. He might help keep us warm with his fire-breathing talents. ;-)

During the day while Ted works hard at UC-CCM, I unpack boxes, find homes for things, try to organize out living space, go grocery and home-goods shopping, stare at the leaves in disgust before finally convincing myself to stop being a pansy and go out and rake them, and I got a library card at the Anderson Township Library so I borrow books and movies to keep my mind going and allow me to see the world when I can’t physically do so right now.  See, I like working. I like having a job and co-workers. Granted, my jobs are fun since I work in theatre and the arts – there’s never a dull moment and that’s what allows me to enjoy my jobs and look forward to going to work. I love the creativity and I love sharing dance and music and art and stories with others. It’s fun, exciting, and something different every single day – and the people who work in the arts are generally a bundle of fun and laughs, and I miss that. There’s nothing wrong with staying home and working at home. It takes all types to make the world go around. This past week I have been schooled and I learned that house work in and of itself is a full time job. But it’s not for me, at least not permanently. For now, it’s okay. It’s nice to set up a new home and relax a little and make meals and be waiting for Ted when he gets home and try out a different kind of job, but I’m looking forward to doing this for another few weeks and then finding a job I love (hopefully!).

So stay tuned while we figure out this whole wife & husband, newlyweds, house, job, Cincinnati thing together. After all, this is just the beginning!

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