busygirl

holiday recap.

A little overdue, but for anyone who follows me on twitter, you're well-aware that I have done nothing the last few days but pull my hair out while attempting to solve impossible issues at work.

Enough about that though, on to HAPPIER things like recapping Christmas!  I hope you all had wonderful holidays, I sure did.  I had a great Christmas morning surprise, got to spend time with both my families and got some good loot!

Other than being deathly ill with what can only be called 'the cold from h-e-doublehockeysticks', I was able to enjoy the majority of my holiday break.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching my nieces see the Christmas tree for the first time in the morning...there's nothing sweeter than a little kid being so excited that they're about to jump out of their pjs.

And although Adam and I had a little bit of an untraditional Christmas due to our new nephew, I was thrilled that we got to attend the traditional gingerbread house contest at Wren's family's house.  It's a very competitive event.  Plans are drawn throughout the years, strategic candy planning, the awards are highly-sought after.  I personally joined 'Team Gracie' with the feeling that we would be a winning team with her fairy-tale ideas and my ability to efficiently apply frosting where she pointed.  We did an AWESOME job (seriously, Ace of Cakes should be calling any day now) and as expected, took home the gold with the 'FairyTale House Award'.  Take a look:

The boys took home the Silver with the 'Best Overall Design', although they had some questionable techniques and I'm not sure it was as eco-friendly as they claimed.

Winners of the 'Silver Bolt Award'

 
(this is one of my favorites...when Chris was explaining their design and claimed that they had the 'most green' house because it ran solely on loveeee.  And there's Adam practically spitting out his wine while trying hard not to laugh)

There were some good contenders though - I especially liked Wren & Joe's rustic log cabin...

...and Em's crazy squiggles.

But the best part was having everyone today...say it with me now: 'awww...'

Anyway...the night was a success and the rest of my holiday break was spent dodging nerf darts.  It all started when we got the boys these little one-shot nerf guns last year.  Obviously we felt the need to upgrade tremendously this year.  20 and 10-shooters were the name of the game.  And I spent the majority of my time hiding behind busyteacheramy in an attempt to not feel the sting of the whistler darts.

Yup that's me, hiding like a coward behind a chair while my baby sister leaps over to shoot our attackers.

On to the loot...cause really, what's Christmas without presents? ;)  We did get some good ones, but first, here are my favorites that we gave:

My mom opening her brand-new Contemporary Calphalon pans (I'm SO JEALOUS...these WILL be on our registry)

Girlymama opening her coveted Cruisinart Grind'n'Brew coffee maker

And now onto me...I got a great new fossil watch from girlymama, a new crockpot from my mom (remember the tragic death of my last one) and...

A BRAND NEW DIGITAL SLR CAMERA from Adam!!!! SERIOUSLY!!! Look how pretty my new Nikon D3000 is:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!  You think I'm lucky?  He got a Samsung Netbook ;)

The Brownies continued their streak, won four games in a row (WOOT) and we did lots of snowboarding.  That pretty much sums up the holiday break, how were your holidays?

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On a side note, a special thanks to EVERYONE who used busygirldesigns (okay, I don't have an official name, I'm just a girl with a cool computer program) to design for their holiday cards or clicked on my amazon links to order goodies for your loved ones.  Together we raised $283 (eep!!) that has been donated to a charity that provides after-school programs for underprivileged teens.  Your donation helped purchase some lovely holiday gifts for these kids that included new coats, gloves and hats!  Even a few baby dolls and legos for fun :)  Thank you ALL for helping me raise the money!!  Money made from busygirl affiliates will always be donated to those in need (the recipients will most likely change from time to time, we need to spread the wealth). THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! (you rock)

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On another side note, these Dark Chocolate Dove candies are delicious!  I'm currently scarfing down a few since I didn't get to eat lunch today.

as i sit covered in paperwork.

I'm attempting to go through our 2009 financial documents and organize everything for 2010.  Big mistake.  This is a task that clearly i should just hire someone to do.  Is there a reason that the cable company feels the need sends us 3 account summaries a month?

It's the same old story though.  We need to save more, we're not giving enough to charity, why on earth are we getting charged for our DVR box?  I'm so tired of going through this, things were so much easier when we were just kids getting $2 a week for an allowance.  And with the wedding coming up in less than 6 months (EEP!) I guess I have the financial blues.  Sighhh..

On the plus side, Adam and I went snowboarding yesterday with our friends from Cleveland and had a blast!!  And even got our lift tickets for 1/2 off thanks to Cleveland Action 19 news (awesome skiing deals).  And despite the fact that it was only 8 degrees outside and there was no hope for staying warm, we managed to get a good six hours of snowboarding in and even went down every single trail. My face has some major windburn today though - I'm looking a little rosy.  For it being our first time out this season, we really weren't too rusty...I think Adam fell once or twice.  My embarassing moment happened to come when I was cruising down the mountain and decided to wave at one of my friends on the lift.  Apparently just that little movement threw me completely off balance causing a series of arm circles followed by a loud 'OOF!' as my butt hit the ground.  Note to self, pay attention to where I'm going when on a slippery board going down a steep mountain.

Today has been a day of relaxing and cleaning...and obviously financial organization.  I took down the Christmas tree which is always a bit sad.  I really enjoy the twinkle lights, they're just so pretty...maybe I'll just wrap some around the banister...

And now, I'm off to make Adam some dinner...chicken fried rice with eggs.  Thank you Chicken Helper, that little oven mitt is so helpful.

i swear i'll give it my best shot.

But no promises.  I'm not crazy good at keeping resolutions.  I usually don't even make them in an attempt to keep from disappointing myself but I think that with the wedding this year, a few might be neccessary in order to keep my sanity.

1. SIMPLIFY!  We have so much crap in our house...that we really don't need.  Adam's been forcing me to go through all the boxes in the basement but we really need to consolidate and donate a LOT of stuff.  It is ridiculous that we have so much when others have so little.  Plus...we need to make room for wedding presents (if anyone gets Adam a meat slicer I will personally hunt you down).

2. Lose five pounds and gain three.  Yup, that sounds weird.  But I need to tone up my arms so I don't have 'fat-arm-syndrome' in my wedding photos.  So bye to five pounds of fat and hello to at least three more pounds of muscle.  I really need to stick to my gym schedule.

3. Get out more.  Between work, GenNext and house stuff, we really haven't been taking advantage of the great city that we live in.  We need to explore the Short North, go to one of the hundreds of restaurants we're always talking about and hopefully go to the zoo for the first time ever.  I want to go to the Gallery Hop...

4. 999 challenge.  9 books, 9 genres, 9 months.  I haven't picked them yet, but I'll post them when I do.

5. Most importantly, stop being a pushover.  I used to be so stubborn but I've become lazy...and tired.  Especially with this wedding.  I'm tired of people making my decisions for me or forcing me to pick what they want.  Adam and I have a very clear idea of what we want the day to be like and I resolve to stop giving in to other people's ideas just because I don't want to argue and I want to make everyone happy.  News flash, it just ends up in everyone ELSE being happy and Adam/I being miserable.  No. More.

6. Go to Vegas.  I've never been and that is not okay.  And I'm taking Em with me.

a year in review.

January - the apartment lost heat for five days.  And the pipes burst and flooded everything.  In conclusion, the house hunting began.

February - we found THE house, the only we loved so so so much!  Received an eviction notice from our landlord because she hated us for complaining when they refused to fix our heat for five days...in JANUARY (hey Crawford Communities, if you're reading this, PLEASE FIRE ROCHELLE FROM OLENTANGY COMMONS!), we put down an offer on the house...and GOT IT!!!  Ellie had a build-a-bear birthday which was loads of fun!

March - signed the papers for the house, said goodbye to dealing with our horrible landlord and moved across town to our new address!  My little sister celebrated her 22nd birthday and my girlfriend-in-law celebrated her later twenties birthday :).  And it was my nephew's first birthday! We painted the kitchen and Ricki discovered that sticking his nose in the paint can is not a good idea.  I pretty much took a blogging sabatical in order to force myself to unpack.

April - Celebrated my 24th birthday with getting in a car accident, then Adam getting in a car accident, then Adam's car dying.  Yup, those were all on the same night.  There were finally signs of spring.  Our friends came down to visit and planted a beer garden in our backyard.  The weeping willow in the front yard was no more.

May - My crockpot suffered a horrific death when a bottle of whiskey fell on it.  Ricki celebrated his 8th birthday with ice cream cake.  My mom got the stove-of-her-dream's for hers.  My baby sister graduated from college and promptly moved all her crap into my house.  We painted her room green and my room blue. 

June - was spent BBQing and enjoying the outdoors.  We love our house in the summertime.  Adam proposed to me on June 6th.  We went on vacation with his family and friends at the Outer Banks (best week ever).  I spent a gazillion hours at work.  Ricki learned that he's not quite as fast as the rabbits are.  Adam tried sushi for the first time ever...I wish I had my camera at that meal.  We found out that there was going to be an addition to the family in December, that Adam and I would have a new niece/nephew!

July - One year till wedding time!  We decided on a date, a venue, a church and most importantly, I picked out my dress!  Many more birthday parties and I worked another gazillion hours.

August - Repainted the kitchen, the yellow was driving me crazy.  Went on vacation with my family at the Jersey Shore.  Went to the Atlantic City Food & Wine festival, Adam fell in love with a wine called The Juggler, Amy fell in love with gambling.  Amy got a job as a middle school history teacher (yay!).  I booked the DJ for the wedding and decided on colors.  Gracie Girl's Bday at the end of August and we joined a local gym in an effort to get wedding-fit for next year.

September - back to school time, I always miss school this time of year.  Amy and I started personal training sessions.  There was lost of complaining and very little movement afterwards.  There were birthdays GALORE to celebrate, too many to list.  I went to Switzerland with my friend Megan to visit our other friends and went to Germany for the real Oktoberfest.  I drank a lot of beer.  And ate pretzels.  The pretzels were delicious. 

October - Adam celebrated his 25th birthday.  GenNext celebrated its 1st birthday (YAYYY).  We stopped doing wedding stuff for a while.  Several trips to Cleveland.

November - Roadtrip to Kalahari water resort with my siblings.  Thanksgiving in Cleveland with Adam's family.  Chris just keeps getting older.  Save the dates were sent.  Bridesmaid dresses were selected.  And wedding stuff put on hold till after the holidays.  We went to the midnight showing of New Moon but I wasn't impressed.  Ricki threw a fit at the vets, wonderful.  Lots of time was spent revamping volunteering schedules.  Lots of time.

December - Super busy month.  Holiday parties and shopping.  Mom came down to visit for a weekend.  Chris and Megan came to visit.  We had a baby shower for Adam's sister.  I struggled at work, it was a long month with too much going on.  Got terribly sick the day before Christmas Eve and barely made it home.  Glad I did though because my new nephew was born on Christmas morning.  The rest of December was spent dodging nerf darts and eating an obscene amount of cookies.

There better be cookies next year too :)

mia. my bad.

Where have I been?  Going crazy.

I honestly didn't sit long enough at a computer last week to even CONTEMPLATE blogging.  Thus is my life.

The first few weekdays were in definition, a headache.  Attempting to cram a five day work-week into twenty hours is not advisable.  I'm pretty sure if there was an limit to how much caffeine a person should consume on a daily basis, I surpassed it.  With flying colors.

Finally though, it was time to put work aside and jet out of Columbus for a day or two.  I headed home to Cleveland where Ricki was very put out that he walked into my mother's house and there was NO ONE there to greet him (the rest of my family was thankgivinging at girlymama's house in Philly).  Seriously, he was ridiculously annoyed.  Spoiled.

Adam and I headed out to dinner with my brother and my girlfriend-in-law.  And thoroughly enjoyed some Great Lakes Christmas Ale and laughter.  Christmas Ale is heaven in a bottle.  No wait, better than heaven in a bottle.  Robert Pattinson in heaven in a bottle.

Thursday morning we headed to Adam's home town for a wonderful thanksgiving with his family.  Great drinks (seriously, mix vodka, orange juice and ginger ale together, you won't be sorry), FABULOUS food, good company and I got to see the new Star Trek movie.  I didn't hate it.  Actually, I really liked it.  And could follow along with the storyline.

Friday we headed back to Columbus for some major black friday shopping and home improvement.  I will definitely post pictures later.  Painting was done.  Pillows were made.  Curtains will be made.

And on to more today.  But first, time to feed the children.  As in Adam and my sister.  They're grumpy.

euro-trip recap.

Ahhh the long-awaited post.  i apologize for putting it off, it's been a bit of a hectic week here with trying to get caught up on work.  The trip was wonderful though!  My friend Megan and I flew over to visit some of our friends that are living there temporarily for a work project.  And it conveniently happened to be on a weekend when Oktoberfest was going on in Munich, Germany!

The flight over was uneventful, other than birds flying around the airport.  Odd.  We landed at 8am Zurich time (2am Ohio time) and headed to our friend Travis's apartment in Oerlikon without too much trouble.  The train system in Zurich is amazing, it's so easy to go anywhere around the city.  I really think that's what creates a lot of allure about a city.  Having to drive to get anywhere in Columbus is not only an annoyance, but parking is expensive and hard to find.  If only Columbus would use its tax dollars for something as productive as a train system...

Anyway, after a quick shower we took the train to work to see all our friends for lunch and then spent the rest of the day exploring downtown Zurich, Switzerland.  Dinner was at our friend Jason's favorite restaurant, Rolli's and then we all crammed into Travis's apartment for some beers and what else?  ROCK BAND!

The next morning came early as we all piled on a train to Munich at 7am.  The ride was gorgeous through the Swiss countryside, parts of Austria and Germany.

As soon as we arrived in Munich we checked into our fabulous hotel.  Seriously, FIVE STAR hotel, we were stoked.  And then headed to get lunch at one of the beer gardens.  And a beer.  Because, we're in Germany, what else is there to do?  My lunch consisted of sausage, liverwurst and vinegar-potato salad, yum.  After lunch we went on a tour of the city with a tour guide who was over-the-top excited about Munich.  I'd love to tell you all the stories about the places we saw, but for some reason they all have to do with beer so I'm sure how accurate they are.

We did get to stop by the wave, a natural surfing spot in the river.

And then had dinner a restaurant called the Augustine that serves over 5,000 people!  The place was HUGE.  I had chicken and pork knuckle, along with beer of course.  We ended up staying for a while, to have a few more beers and some funny conversations.

The next morning we dragged ourselves out of bed to head to OKTOBERFEST!!!  It was like nothing I have ever seen before.  It's the Ohio State Fair and an OSU tailgate rolled into one and multiplied by 100.  It. was. insane. and SO MUCH fun!  The tents were unbelievable.  Apparently they begin construction in July, Oktoberfest lasts for 3 weeks and then they spend 5 weeks taking everything down.  They look like permanent structures since they have full-working kitchens, bathrooms and are full of tables, band-stands and people.  We lined up outside one of the tents to get a table at 9am.  The rules of Oktoberfest are that you have to be sitting to be served, you have to be sitting to be drinking and if you puke, you're out.

It really was a melting pot event.  There were dutch to our left, italians to our right, australians shouting in the corner, and americans answering our O-H-I-O cheers in the back.  We met so many people, prosted to everything possible (including trees at one point...), spent the day drinking and laughing and eating pretzels.

We had a great time.  Maybe too much fun.  We all did make it back to the hotel.  Eventually.  And with stories to tell.

The next morning we went back to Oktoberfest for a more sober good time.  Since it was Sunday and less crowded we were able to walk around and see in some of the tents which were all decorated differently. 

And then we had a few beers.  Oops.  And stumbled back to the train station to catch our ride back to Zurich.

The next day day Megan and I caught a train to Luzern and took a cable car up 7,000 feet to the top of Pilatus.  Now, I am not scared of heights, but I wasn't too keen on the whole dangling from a string 7,000 above the ground.  But, I made it and boy was it worth it.  We were so high up we were above the clouds and the view was gorgeous!  We ate lunch at the top and then made our way down on the world's steepest train.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Luzern by just wandering around aimlessly.  It's a beautiful city, full of life and history.  In the center there's a wooden covered bridge that's been around since the 1400's.  On many of the buildings there are original paintings of family trees and crests.  And the flags...were...everywhere.  We wandered in a few buildings, got some gelato then made it back to Zurich in time for our friend Ryan to make us a delicious dinner.

The last day we went to lunch with some of our friends and then Megan/I spent the afternoon hanging out with downtown Zurich.  We walked around, sat by the water, people-watched and drank coffee.  It was the perfect relaxing last day.

The next morning we hopped on the train, headed to the airport and flew back to the states.  It was a short trip but worth it for the little bit of site-seeing we got in, Oktoberfest and getting to see our friends!

I have tons more stories and pictures, but the abbreviated version of this trip was a long enough post.  Maybe more stories later.  And I'm sure the photos will make an appearance at some point.

Taste the Future.

I was lucky enough to be one of the recipients of a ticket to this year's ever-popular Taste the Future at Columbus State Community College.  This 21-year-old event is features culinary masterpieces from more than 50 of central Ohio's best restaurants, bakeries and caterers. These amazing chefs come together to showcase their talents while raising scholarship money for prospective college students. 

Wow, this WHOLE event was amazing.  I have never been to a food show that had so many high-end chefs serving the most fabulous food.  I hadn't even made it halfway around and was stuffed.  No worries, I kept eating, the food was too hard to resist!  Every table was beautifully decorated, every chef was friendly and outgoing.  And the aptmosphere was wonderful.  A dressy event held in the college courtyard complete with twinkle lights, music and dozens of different wines. 

And check out some of this food:

 

Ohio Sweet Corn Bread Pudding with Rosemary Caramel Sauce

 

 

 

Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad

 

 

I've been meaning to go to several of these famous Columbus restaurants but have been putting it off for a while.  It's hard to pony up the cash for an expensive dinner when you're not quite sure if you're going to LOVE the food.  This event was a great way to sample their signature dishes without worrying about the price!  I found a few restaurants that I will definitely be venturing to in the near future, such as Sage and Due Amici.

I cannot wait for next year's event!

favorite day.

I love Sunday mornings.

things i'm loving today.

- Trader Joe's English Breakfast Tea.  Warming up my afternoon.

- My newly cut bangs.  A spur of the moment decision.  And I know they'll be on the 'hate' list soon as they start bugging me because they're always in my face, but I don't care.  I'm loving 'em right now.

- New desk location at work.  A change of scenery makes everything exciting.  Moving away from a loud, disgruntled, obnoxious employee makes work bearable.

- Boss is traveling the rest of the week.  I like it when he's here but his inability to be patient causes much more stress than is needed.

- The one living room wall that is painted.  I'm dying to post a photo but I promised Adam I'd wait till everything is complete!

- Oatmeal.  My current breakfasting fav.

- Reading everything I can get my hands on.  TV is out this month.  Books are all the craze.  Unless True Blood is on.

- www.easycolumbus.com.  I was introduced to this fabulous site this morning.  What a resource for young people living in Columbus!

- Less than two weeks until I get to see all my Swiss friends.  I.  cannot. wait.

- A weekend at home.  Not having to pack tonight.  Knowing I can go to happy hour tomorrow.  Knowing the possibilities for the weekend are endless.

- Crossing things off my to-do list.  IS there ANYTHING better than that?

it's september 1st!

Now I KNOW that technically autumn doesn't officially start until September 22nd, but I can't help but feel it's already here.  And I'm in love with it.

There's just something about that moment when the air suddenly becomes brisk.  When your thoughts begin to wander to those sweaters packed away.  When dry leaves suddenly litter the street after August's drought.  When you want to just enjoy the moment and forget that this season brings the inevitable...snow, sleet and enough salt to totally disguise the color of your car.

I love fall.  I love everything about it.  I love the colors of the leaves.  The smell in the air.  Cooking comfort food.  Wrapping myself in a blanket or a large comfy sweater.  Coats.  I love coats.  They are the world's greatest accessory.  Pulling out those old mixed cd's from fall quarters in college.  Nostalgia.  Football season.  After a summer of fun in the sun and being on the go, fall is a relief.  A time to slow down, cuddle and enjoy life.

Except that I still have to work.  Minor detail.  But getting an email from Starbucks in the middle of today's extremely frazzled work day declaring that the Pumpkin Spice Latte is making a comeback was like music to my ears.

I seriously might stop there on the way home today.  How good does this sound:

a delicious blend of pumpkin and traditional fall spice flavors combined with our signature espresso and freshly steamed milk, and topped with whipped cream and pumpkin pie spices.

 

 

 

Looks good huh?  It's amazing!  If you need me, I'll be waiting in line at their drive-thru...