Cleaning, Crafting, and Chinese food!

So after months of having our house on the market and being excited for people to come see it, we finally had a showing. (We had one a couple of weeks ago but it was a drive by, not a scheduled one.) Jeremy and I spent much of yesterday putting finishing touches on the house and cleaning up. We haven't heard yet how it went but are keeping our fingers crossed!

We had to run a couple of errands. One for some baby bok choy and other veggies to make this meal from my meal plan. I haven't done much home chinese cooking but they turned out really yummy and didn't take a lot of time....and they are pretty cheap! Only downside is that they made a lot of dirty dishes!

The other errand was to pick up some fabric to make this!

My friends just adopted their first baby and I was honored to photograph him last weekend. His room is decked out in argyle so I came up with this idea for sprucing up a plain gray hoodie. I didn't take a before shot, but it was an inexpensive hoodie from Target. With a little bit of fabric (could have used scraps if I'd of had any that I liked the pattern and color for) some interfacing and fun colors of thread, this is what I came up with!

Monday what!?

This is pretty much how I feel today....some of it for good reasons:

#1. I am super busy at work....always a good thing (because it means you have work to do),even if it is because you finished the directed work on time...even early...only to have someone change it 6 hours before it has to be mailed out to the client.

#2. We got a call that we have a showing on our house tomorrow.
       a. This is a VERY good thing
       b. This means I have to finish painting the ceiling in the office....tonight
       c. We need to clean b/c all I did this weekend was pickup and vaccuum. Dusting and mopping on the list        for.....tonight

#3. We are completely out of food at my house and therefore need to make a trip to the grocery store.....tonight

#4 I don't have anything made for dinner yet....so add that to the list.

Is anyone seeing a pattern here?
Too much to do after work tonight.....but here's to hoping for a good showing and eager buyers!

Pioneer Woman rides into Cincinnati!

Please tell me you know who this is.....if you don't, I'll forgive you, but only this once.

See, this is my kind of celebrity. For the past month or so George Clooney has been shooting a new movie here in Cincinnati and many people are out trying to catch a glimpse of him....not me. I am after this chica!

I found her! In a bookstore in Rookwood! (Okay, she was there for a book signing and I had a line number and was only pretending to be the papparazi hiding behind the kiosk of windchimes....which is why there is so much bluriness in these photos....but still!)

Oh she isn't going to like that shot! Who am I kidding? She isn't reading my blog....but just in case, Ree, sorry about that one!

Not sure why once I got to meet her that I was afraid to touch her....and you can't see the fact that I am totally giddy in this photo. Oh, and, if you catch me wearing this outfit a bunch.....there's a reason. Ree said, "You look really cute! I like your outfit!" Yep, I was pumped! I mean, after all she is the queen of cute style, cooking, photography, and generally making everyday things funny.....not that its my everyday to have cow manure on my porch....but in her world it is, and its hilarious!

And this is my friend Allison, without whom I would have missed this glorious evening. See, even though I read the Pioneer Woman every day, somehow I missed the small detail that she was coming to Cincinnati. Luckily Allison was in the bookstore and saw the promotional banner and since her love for her basset hound Daisy gave her a connection to Ree right away, she was nice enough to get a line letter for me.

So, in case you haven't heard of her/(are living under a rock) check out her website blog....and her cookbook. They are fantastic! And if you hear of her coming within 100 miles of Cincinnati again, please call me to make sure I know!

MELTing over this restaurant!

image from http://cincinnati.metromix.com/restaurants/eclectic/melt-northside/606028/content

Last night I finally got to go to dinner with one of my former co-workers and friends Nicole. We hadn't seen each other since the spring and that was way too long! We considered about a hundred restaurants before settling on MELT in Northside. I have wanted to try this place for a while as I had heard many good things. Let me just say......THEY ARE ALL TRUE! It is really worth a trip....especially if you are gluten free. Yes, its a sandwich shop (get it? MELTed sandwiches) but they offer gluten free bread. They also offer many vegan and vegetarian options. But don't let that deter the meat eaters out there. They had some quite tasty looking sammies with Roast Beef and other carnivorous options as well.
I wish I had taken pictures (not sure what I was thinking) but I didn't. :( Next time I definitely will. I ordered the:

Tuscan Chicken    $8.50
pesto, caramelized onions, sun-dried tomatoes, chicken and romaine melted on focaccia


Yum-yum! Of course, mine wasn't on focaccia. I also got a side and chose the Rosemary Roasted Red Potatoes. I don't know what was on these things (besides rosemary of course) but they were scrumptious!
Oh, and when I ordered I noticed these beautiful little Flourless Chocolate Tortes they had in a display case. Yes sir, I will take one of those as well! If you have never had Flourless Chocolate Cake please please go try some this weekend. It was around long before us GF people were looking for good desserts, but man oh man, its the best! Especially with a couple of fresh raspberries on top like was served to us. 
They have an adorable setup with only about 8 tables and a hand written chalkboard menu

Image from http://natinosh.wordpress.com/

And the couple (I think they are a couple) that was running the place was absolutely adorable. I think she was about 7 months preggo and easily one of the cutest pregnant women I have ever seen. Anyways, you have to go here....shoot, I have to go back here....soon! Its a great little secret (sorta) of Cincy.

Summer's End

This summer has been a hot and busy one. We haven't used our backyard nearly enough but its been too darn hot! So Friday I came home from work to find Jeremy in the hammock with music going and the dogs enjoying themselves in the grass.

Oh, Somoa? She's really lonely....never gets any attention....

No one at this house loves her ......

And she certainly doesn't get spoiled! :)

Meanwhile, Rosco occupies himself with a stick. I think someone comes at night and soaks our sticks in bacon grease. I can't for the life of me figure out why my dogs love the sticks in our backyard so much. They don't just chew them....they EAT them! I guess its fiber!

Pretty girl!

Crazy boy! (See, another stick crazy face, maybe they are laced with dog crack!)

Mmmmmm. I also have about a hundred pictures with Rosco's tongue somehow positioned out of his mouth. Not sure why....I don't attempt to capture these moments....they just happen.

Yep, this is pretty much how I found him. We were so excited to finally have a Friday that we didn't have something planned that we both just chilled.....then we got really lazy and went out to eat (Los Panchos) and rented a movie. Nice!

Oh, and just for the record, this is what happens when you mess with me! Just kidding!
Actually Jeremy plays softball on Tuesday and Thursday and one of the teams on Tuesday is especially rough and likes to purposely hit up the middle (ie: at the pitcher) Guess what position Jeremy plays!? Yep! He caught a bounce ball off the bat right in the thigh! This is 3 days after the fact. The first day it was swollen to about double the normal size of his thigh! Yikes! Anywho, aside from playing with hockey pads on, I am not sure what is to save you from this so I guess he'll have to deal with it as long as he plays softball.

We are sad to see summer go but pumped about football, hayrides, pumpkins and fresh apples!

Canoe, Run, Bike.....Little Miami Tri!

So one day Jeremy called me about a month ago and asked if he could use a large sum of money from our account. He usually only does this when he wants to buy me something. I told him I didn't need anything and he said it was for him. Well, anyways, later that night he said he wanted to do the Little Miami Triathlon with me. (I did it last year with my friend Sarah). I told him he didn't have a bike and he responded, "Yeah, that's what the money is for!" :)
Well, we found a used bike for him and last Sunday we were a team for this unusual Tri. It consists of 6 miles of canoeing together, then a 6 mile run and 18 mile bike ride that you can do alone, obviously (there's no three legged 6 mile run! ) Our friend John was doing it with his friend too we found out so we talked about it the week leading up. John and Amanda were nice enough to have us over Saturday night before the race for an awesome dinner of homemade meatballs and Tiramasu! Carb Loading!
So, the canoeing was the part I was most worried about. I thought we would kill each other. While the first 3 miles were a little rough (me yelling how to steer and Jeremy getting frustrated), we actually figured things out and worked really well together. The heat kicked my caboose on the run and Jeremy got out in front of me. The biking went much easier this year since I took water. Last year I guess I thought I was a camel and didn't take any water....I got sick....had to stop for a while, so anything was an improvement over that. Jeremy was not a fan of the biking. I think he needs a cushier seat. The boy will never have to worry about having too much junk in the trunk. That, however, is not a good thing on a bike! We only came in about 2:50 seconds apart. (Had I known that, I totally would have pushed it, after all, it would have been great to beat him! Who can blame a competitive girl?) We did great, finished and had a great lunch at the Country Kitchen.....yes I said that. Its definitley kept in business by the I-75 truckers.....and hungry triathletes!

See, doesn't he look so happy to be on that bike!

Oh now he saw Amanda with the camera and out comes the smile!

And a few minutes later, here I come

That clock was way kooky. I think our actual times were 3:46 and 3:49

Yeaaah for team Action Jacksons!

That's John minus his teammate. Chris had to go to flying lessons. I don't know how he had the energy, I just wanted to eat and sleep when it was over!

So, yesterday, after Jeremy talked about how much his butt hurt, he informed me that by the end of the week he will decide if he wants to do the LMT again in the fall. I think he will. He wants to beat his time......by 30 minutes! Crazy kid. I just want to finish again!

I hope I am not Dumb now!

Well, I am officially free of any wisdom attributed to my teeth. My last two wisdom teeth were pulled this morning. Yes, I said pulled. Apparently they were super easy for the doc and didn't even require cutting or stitches. They did knock me out though so I am sure Jeremy got some laughs. The only reason I had chipmunk cheeks was from the gauze. I spent the day relaxed on the back deck in the b-u-tiful weather and working on my tan. I don't even have to go back for a check up appointment. Very cool! I love when things go better than they are supposed to. Tomorrow is supposed to be gorgeous out too so I will hopefully be out here again. Oh and on another note, those of you who know about our home repair drama, they finally officially finished the shutters on the house. I will try to do a before and after blog sometime soon. They came today and fixed the wrong color, crooked, wrong size, incorrectly drilled shutter. yes, this is the 4th or 5th time they have had to come out b/c they screwed up. Yikes! Oh well, I signed the COC so I guess they are done!

I Declare War!!!!!

Okay some of you may be familiar with the big boy toys called air soft guns. Not sure why soft is in the name. They shoot hard little balls of plastic. Jeremy has one....its broken. We do however have a large container of 4500 of the little pellets from Satan. Not only have I been hit by one of these things and not happy with that but tonight I officially declared war on them.

I went to my hall closet to put away a jacket and the container of pellets fell in the floor cracking the lid allowing the little guys to run allllllll over! This picture was after I picked up half of them. They go everywhere. In addition, they are probably useless now. See since I have two dogs and wood floors all the fur that can't be picked up two seconds after it falls off the pups slowly rolls in little tumbleweeds under closet doors. So once I got them back into the container at a rate which seemed to be two by two, there was quite a lot of fur in the container too! Yikes. They even invaded my shoes.....but alas! they are all back in their little container. Battle #1 Victory Erin

So today is actually Friday for me since tomorrow I am taking the day off! Hooray! Oh wait, its to have my wisdom teeth removed. Oh well, at least I have an excuse to eat ice cream and be lazy all day.....and its going to be in the 80's and sunny all weekend!

On another note, does anyone else have super weird dreams? I do....all the time...since I was a kid. I think its just another sign of my creative brain. Jeremy thinks its weird. :) I don't usually remember most of them but one time in high school I had a very vivid one. Here goes:

It all starts when I was washing dishes in my house. I could see into the backyard through the window above the sink and much to my surprise there stood a man with a gun pointed at me. I freaked...ran upstairs into my bedroom and sat in the middle of the floor. Unfortunately the whole back wall of my bedroom was glass (in the dream, real life would just be weird) and I could still see the guy, which means he could see me. I ran downstairs again and told my mom about the creep to which she replyed, "Oh, that's nice honey!" What? No, its not nice. What the..... So I proceed to call 911 and the operator informs me they will have someone there in a couple of days. Great they will be there in time to pick up my body before the wild animals come! Maybe overreacting a bit. At that moment I hear the front door open.....oh no! he's coming inside. I peek around the corner and he says, "Hey, do you guys have any pretzels?" Of course, this makes no sense but I throw him a bag of pretzels to which he says, "thanks!" and promptly leaves.

Really, that is the kind of dreams I have. Totally and completely weird. Oh and by the way, I had pretzels in my lunch for about a month before that dream. I think I was tired of them. :)