We All Scream For Ice Cream

Ice cream pretty much equals heaven for the dogs in this household. When we make our rare trip to splurge on some yummy frozen custard, we get stalked the minute we walk in the door.

This is what happens once we've had our last bite -

(Ignore the ugly ugly ugly floors - we're tiling next week!)

Bon Appetit

I officially have my new obsession - Wall Words! I know they've been around for a few years, but I can't wait to use them around the house more.

This past week, we ordered our first wording from Vinyl Attraction. We started with some fun words and added two side "decorative ends" to spice up our eat-in kitchen area. They are SO incredibly easy to use and I love love love how it turned out!

See below for the before, during and after pictures!

Storm Central

Spring has officially started and that means only one thing. Our 7.5 year old first born will lose 3 pounds over the next month. Not because she cares about her figure, or because she smells the males on our evening walks. It's because she will burn so many calories hyperventilating and convulsing each night there are storms. Ever since she was a baby, our poor little girl has somehow been deathly scared of storms. Generally, she lets us know they are coming hours before they are even in the city, but often they sneak up on her.

Both of our dogs were crate-trained as puppies and I'm a huge advocate of this. They have not had accidents in the house since they were babies (except when they catch the flu bug...but that is a whole different post!) and are good, obedient dogs. Lacy has always been fond of her personal 'bedroom' as we call it and can even be caught taking naps in there on her own. Below is a picture of her "bedroom"... yes, it's just her crate with a blanket over it. So when storms come, Derek and I have our procedure down pat to get her in there. This dog won't come out of a corner for a 3 lb T-Bone steak, so one must be sneaky. We've learned to trick her into her collar and coax her out of corners only to get her leash on in order to guide her to her "bedroom". It really is a miracle though. Once she's in, the convulsing and panting stops and she goes right to sleep! It's her own personal panic room.

Michael Buble!

Dereks parents gave us Michael Buble tickets here in Cleveland for Derek's recent graduation gift. He's pretty much one of the sexiest men out there so I KNEW it would be a good time!

He was a great performer and we definitely enjoyed the show! I'd highly recommend seeing him if he's coming to your town soon! 

$.89 Gas

Yep! That's right... you read it correctly. $.89 gas! That's what we paid yesterday afternoon at the pump.

Let's back up a few hours.

While grocery shopping at Giant Eagle, we saw some signs referring to "the more you shop, the more gas credits you earn". We asked the customer service lady about this ongoing awesomeness and it basically goes like this: For every $50 you spend at the grocery store, you get $.10 off PER gallon the next time you fill up at their locally owned gas station. I'm sure you can do the math, but we have been here almost six weeks and had to fully re-stock a pantry and fridge. Hence the 1997-priced gas!

We obviously are super excited about this as groceries are a necessity, and we'll basically earn at least $.20 off each week. PLUS, with Derek getting company gas with this company car and myself working from home, we rarely fill up.

Who doesn't love awesome discounts?

One Month In

So we've been in "Tha Cleve" for just over a month now and our feelings are slowly but surely changing about this place. Last week it got up to 62 and I was able to wear my flip flops out! It's been great this week actually seeing grass and not 2 feet of snow piled everywhere. I'm not sure I have ever experienced three straight weeks where every day there was anywhere from 2 inches to a foot of snow that fell. We've found some 'things to do in Cleveland' lists and have already enjoyed knocking some items off from those. Another bonus is how close we are to so many local shops. Hole in the wall restaurants with wonderful food and cute home furnishing stores with items unlike those in corporate magazines are everywhere around here. We've met our neighbors on both sides and they both seem very nice. On our South is an older Greek couple (Helen and Jim) with heavy accents and lots of children/grandchildren that seem to visit throughout the weeks. I bet they make wonderful baklava. On the North side of our house is a family of four with an older girl who just graduated college and a son who's in his freshman year (I believe) of college. They are huge Ohio State fans and I'm pretty sure 90% of their wardrobe is Ohio State gear. (Hmmm.... wonder if people think I'm a bit obsessed with Jayhawks because of that!). We tried a local Methodist Church this past weekend and although it wasn't where we feel we belong, I'm sure we'll find one in the next few weeks.

Things we've really come to love -
     - Derek's commute to work. Used to be 45 minutes and now it's 12 minutes (maybe 15 in traffic).
     - Our mail being delivered directly INTO our house. Yes, INTO! There is a mail chute in our wall!
     - Hardwoods everywhere. The swifter just picks up the hair... no vacuuming over and over!
     - My 2nd floor balcony off the office. It will be GREAT this summer!
     - Being able to purchase all of your alcohol while at the grocery store or Target.
     - How flat the city is. Running is awesome around here!
     - Old, tall, gorgeous trees in our neighborhood.
     - How fast my hair dries. I swear I turn on the hair dryer for 2 seconds and it's done!
     - The wonderful Metroparks.
     - Having a huge un-finished fourth floor for storage.

There are obviously a lot of things we miss from our "JoCo bubble", but I know we'll come to love this city. For now, it's just nice being back together and making our new home 'ours'!

Book Review - The Shack

One word = Deep.

Different from the books I traditionally like to read, this thought-provoking piece of work by William P. Young draws you in immediately with a page-turner storyline. Then with a mind-bending turn, it proceeds to challenge all of your preconceived theological notions. Anyone with an idea of God as an old man with a long beard who doesn't really care about human beings must dive into this book.

I'm giving this book an A (as usual), but with a caution to readers: If you like light, fluffy, easy reads, this is NOT for you.

On a side note, my grandfather was the one who originally told me about this book. It's definitely something for any generation to pick up and although he wasn't too fond of it, I did like that it made me genuinely think about my personal perceptions of God and our relationship.

Sun Hunt

To the left is my little sun-lover who's sitting in my office wanting to go out onto the upper balcony. Too bad she didn't realize there wasn't any sun out there.

That leads me to my brilliant idea of opening up a window on the side of the house where the sun was.

Guess who was laying down within 5 minutes basking in the warmth of the sun on her back? Yep..... my little sun-lover. Can't say it wasn't tempting to almost lay down next to her and soak up what rays I can as well!

Tobogganing!

After our failed attempt last weekend, Derek and I ventured back South to the Strongsville, OH toboggan chutes last night! If anyone thinks this "ride" is for little kids, they are mistaken as these toboggans chutes are almost straight down and reach incredible speeds. And yes, they are heavy..... hence the picture of Derek lugging them all the way up the stairs to the top.

Sure don't have anything like this in Kansas City!

Guest Bath Faucet

Slowly but surely we'll have this house looking exactly how we like it! This past weekend another item on our to do list got knocked off with my brothers help. We called it the "multi-special jewel of a faucet" since it incorporate both silver AND gold. Lovely.

Weekend Recap

"Visitor weekend" number three was my little brother who came up last Saturday. We decided not to spend the entire time working on the house, so instead we found some local activities to try out! I loved spending three days with two of my favorite boys in the universe!

Tobogganing - This was something we were excited to try out as they don't have toboggan chutes in Kansas City, but the wait was an hour and it was a frigid 28 degrees out. It's annual though so we can test it out next winter! Click the link to watch a video to see what it's all about. We had never heard of it before moving here.

Dave's Cosmic Subs - GREAT sandwich place. The "cosmic" sauce is really good and the subs were packed with ingredients!

Lakewood Dog Park - After Mike helped me clip the dogs' toenails, we ventured out to the off leash park to release some energy. The girls (obviously) LOVED it and Mike got a great ride through our beautiful Metroparks.

Winking Lizard - We had heard about this bar from several people before even moving to the city. There are a few locations in the area and our house just happens to be within walking distance from one of them. It was definitely worth the hike to not have to worry about getting a car home. It was also fun for the boys to amuse themselves by pushing me into the 2 feet of snow and pelting me with snowballs the entire walk!

Cleveland Auto Show - Exactly what you'd imagine. People from all spectrums of life enjoying new and old cars, boats, trailers, etc. I tried my best to convince Derek that I'd love a brand new Mercedes SLR, but I think the eye rolling meant a big fat 'no'.

West Side Market - My brother and I ventured over Monday to this indoor "market". You can seriously purchase anything and everything including from pigs feet, the largest tuna you've ever seen, any cheese you can name, cakes, and of course - the very best natural meats!

Steve's Gyros - Voted "best gyro in the US" a couple years ago by Maxim magazine, we had to try these gyros out. Thankfully, we were there on a Monday afternoon as they told us the line on a Saturday can have a 45 min to an hour wait! Also, the travel channel and Man vs. Food was just there literally 7 days before us. One word = scrumptious. Huge, juicy and WONDERFUL!

Angelo's Pizza - Another recommended food joint that we tried and fell in love with. Very unusual sauce and yummy pizza crust made the pizzas there REALLY delicious!

All of that, combined with a few hours of our favorite game, Mario Kart, made for a great weekend! I'll miss you tons Bean, but glad you were able to come out and enjoy the city a bit with us!

Who's coming to visit next?

Before and After #2

I'm going to try my best not to make this blog a "house project" blog, but seeing as how that's pretty much all we're doing right now, I have no choice. Unless you want to hear about the 2 feet snow drift I shoveled for 30 minutes this morning in our driveway, or my annoyance with waiting in line for a treadmill at our new gym, it's all I got. Lo Siento Senorita.

Let's get right to it. This past weekend, my mom spent hours and hours scrapping (hideous) wallpaper from the old bathroom. It was little moons and stars, kinda like you'd put in a little boys room, except.... well it was on the first floor! It had definitely been on there for a while as we went through two bottles of Dif!

Then the boys changed out the (even worse) black blinds and now the bathroom looks refreshed also!

Below is a little recap of the changes as well as a before and 2 after pictures. We will have yet to tile the kitchen and that same tile will run into this bathroom.

New blinds

So the people before us had a major fascination with the colors silver and black, much unlike Dereks and my taste. Thankfully, with both of our dads help, we have replaced all black blinds in the house as well as 6 other windows that had ugly, plastic, small blinds. The new 2" plantation blinds really make the house look refreshed!

Week 2 in the House

More changes have been done and it's coming along quite well! This past weekend with my parents were about building pantry and closet shelves, renovating the guest bathroom (including removing walpaper!) and changing out all black blinds with white ones. Of course, there was more painting as well. Thanks again mom and dad!!

I'll make sure to post some better 'before and after' shots in the upcoming weeks!

My first NBA Game!

Although Derek has been to an NBA game before, I have not had the chance to enjoy the excitement and visual stimulation that comes from one. After my first game last week, I gotta say though, I'm HOOKED! Even though I love my jayhawks more than anything, I definitely enjoyed all the 'extras' that come with an NBA game. The music during the game, the audience participation, the fun 'video' events, half time, etc, etc, etc.

And who was the star of my first game? None other than Labron himself. And let me tell you... he is a GOD. Seriously the guy is just freakishly good and fun to watch play. He partakes in some shots and moves that probably wouldn't fly in college basketball, but they sure do at the Quicken Loans Arena! I also completely forgot (or might not have ever known) that Shaq is on this team too. I've always been a fan even if he does look like a GIANT on the floor. It was kinda funny to watch how slow he actually ran from one side to the other. That 350 pound beast is not the most graceful.

We will be watching for cheap tickets for the games to come so we can enjoy more of our new home town team. Go Cavs!

New Home Week 1

Well, we are officially Clevelanders! We've been here just over a week and I don't even know where to begin with the blogging. It's been nonstop work around the house with unpacking, projects and painting. I'm already back to work and Derek has knocked tons of things off my 'honey-do' list for him around the house. We're adjusting quite well and our house is already starting to become our 'home'.

 Below is another slide show of the work and changes over the past week! Derek's parents were in town last week to help around the house and my parents are coming in Thursday as well. We've got a couple larger changes to be made (ie: change out the hideous kitchen linoleum) but we'll have it just how we like it in no time. Meanwhile, the girls are loving the (daily) snow in the back yard and I'm loving being back with my husband!

Graduation and the Trek Home

I could go on and on about the record snow falls in DC and the 20 hour drive home, but wouldn't you rather just see some pictures?

Thought so.

Happy Birthday to my Brother!

Can't believe my little "Bean" (soon to be doctor!) is all grown up. We'll miss you in Cleveland and hope you come visit soon. So proud of you and all your accomplishments. Love you tons!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!!

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

WE ARE OFF!

Bags are packed, dogs are loaded, and the driving has begun. Fingers crossed that the snow holds off for the most part for when we arrive in Ohio on Wednesday! More pics of our house to come later this week.

Bye Bye Kansas City!