Day 333

Blurb: I'm ready for winter.

Backstory: In just about 12 hours it's going to start snowing. This is not good news for multiple reasons; mainly because people in Columbus go nuts when it snows and because I don't have a winter coat. This is kind of ironic because I've been telling the new girl at work, who's from California, that she needs to get ready for winter. Well today I had to eat my own words when the meteorologist told me it was going to snow.
For the past three years I've worn a really gross white coat that was nice when I bought it, but I didn't really take care of it. So this year I'm vowing to take better care of my new purchase, and I better take care of it because I kind of splurged. I bought a long North Face down coat that's really attractive and warm. If I do say so myself it will make me look tres chic when I walk the dog.

Day 332

Blurb: This is real afternoon delight.

Backstory: I have a really knotty back. It's covered with tense little spots, specifically under my shoulder blades and in my lower back. Luckily I had a massage this afternoon so hopefully these little spots will go away soon. But I think the moral of the story is I need to try to reduce my stress levels and not hunch over my computer like Quasimodo.

Day 331

Blurb: My kitchen needs a little color.

Backstory: Today is one of those days the state of Ohio doesn't put in their tourism pamphlets. It's rained almost all day and when it wasn't raining it was misting. Unfortunately this is a weather pattern we're quite familiar with, especially from November to May. It's cold, wet and there's more gray shades of gray then Crayola could create.
That's why I decided to add a little sunshine to my life by purchasing some beautiful yellow flowers for my kitchen. They just looked so cheerful sitting next to all the other flowers. I was very tempted to go with the pink tulips but these bouquets looked like little bursts of sunshine. It should also be noted that these are in a beer stein I stole during Oktoberfest by the Bay when I was in San Francisco.

Day 330

Blurb: A sad day for Buckeye Fans.

Backstory: The Ohio State Michigan game is the most anticipated game in the Buckeye football season. We have a saying here in Ohio: it doesn't matter if you win or lose as long as you beat Michigan. Well this year we didn't beat Michigan; it's the first time in 8 years we haven't beat them. To put this into perspective, the last time we lost I was watching the game in my freshman dorm.
There have been some great games in this series and today was a pretty good one. For the majority of the game the two teams traded off leading, but never by much. Then the fourth quarter happened. Michigan had a couple good series and an interception at a crucial moment. While it was sad to lose I had already prepped myself for a dismal outcome. I know this makes me sound like a bad fan, but honestly this hasn't been our year. I'm looking forward to next year. Sorry Luke Fickell, you're college football's Debra Norvel.

Day 329

Blurb: I'm pretty sure I know this bear.

Backstory: Tonight Megan, Jessica, Brandon, Alan and I all went to Zoo Lights. It's a great event the zoo does every year were they string over two million lights around the park. Brandon's girlfriend Lydia was kind enough to give us free tickets and you can see her (sort of) in the picture above. She was the polar bear last night and it was hilarious. There's nothing better than knowing your friends are a costume character because they're not allowed to talk so they try to communicate with you through gestures. If you know your friend is in a costume it's actually pretty easy to tell which one they are because their signature movements translate through fur.
Overall the experience was pretty fun, even though most of the animals were asleep. I haven't been to the zoo in almost 15 years; for all you Columbus kids, tonight was the first time I've seen the manatees. The zoo lights were a little disorienting because I haven't been there in so long. I had no idea where I was doing because it was so dark with lights specked through the trails. Luckily Brandon knew exactly where everything was so I just followed him like a kid on a leash. I do recommend going to this event, just make sure you know a little about where you're going or you'll get lost.

Day 328

Blurb: Having a non-traditional Thanksgiving.

Backstory: I must say I've been very lucky in my life. There are lots of things that happen that I don't plan for but they turn out well; this pretty much sums up this year's Thanksgiving. Let me start this story by saying when you work in news it's assumed you'll work every holiday. In all my time in news I've never had a Thanksgiving or Black Friday off and I've only had a handful of Christmases off.
Those nuggets of information bring me to my story for today. Originally my family had planned to go down to Indiana for Thanksgiving. My aunt Lilly was hosting and our great-aunt Bobbie was coming up from North Carolina so this was going to be an eating event. For me this meant working a full day, driving 2 and a half hours, eating, driving another 2 and a half hours then sleeping for the night. Even though it was doable it was going to be a long and stressful day. Adding to this stress was the fact that I had to clean my china and silverware that we used for our on air Thanksgiving.
Luckily my dad made a great suggestion when he heard my stressed voice raging through the phone. We decided to split for the holiday. Mom and Jenny went down to Indiana for the extended family dinner and Dad, Uncle Bill and myself stayed in Columbus and had dinner at Lindey's. While it was sad not to see everyone and enjoy all that food, it was much more doable after working 9 and a half hours. After doing dishes at work I went home walked the dog then the guys came over and we walked to Lindey's. The food was really good (but not as good as mom's turkey) and we had a very enjoyable nontraditional Thanksgiving.

Day 327

Blurb: Getting a little work done.

Backstory: I can't really afford to do any decorating right now so I'm trying to make a database of measurements, so when I do have money I'll be prepared. I have tons of stuff to put on my walls but I don't have frames, so I spent my evening measuring my maps and prints. When this is finished I'll create my little database that I can carry in my purse when I go shopping, so when I find the right frame I'll be able to buy with no fear. Hopefully after black Friday or the day after Christmas I'll be able to get a few things to give my place some characters.

Day 326

Blurb: Getting my bake on.

Backstory: I hate to toot my own horn but I'm a pretty good baker. It all started when I took a Wilton cake decorating course a couple years ago, but I haven't been baking a lot this year. For some reason I haven't really felt the need, possibly because I become all consumed with making my baked goods perfect. But today I decided to break out my big ol' Kitchen Aid mixer and make my friend Stuart some birthday cupcakes.
It was surprisingly satisfying to bake again. I love the way cupcakes look and how they smell. It just excites all my senses and fills me with happiness. Sometimes baking can become cumbersome with all the different ingredients and clean up, but today that wasn't the case. I stayed up with the dishes, kept the dishes clean and created some beautiful treats.

Day 325

Blurb: I'm officially the grumpy old woman in the neighborhood.

Backstory: My house is situated in a beautiful little courtyard and I'm surrounded by five other apartments, some of which are connected. Call me territorial but I believe the majority of the courtyard is mine because of the way my house is situated in relation to everyone else. This brings me to the need for the item in today's picture; one of the guys in the other houses just got a dog and I don't think he's picking up after it. It has been driving me insane!
Not picking up after your dog is one of my biggest pet peeves in the world because my dog eats poop. That means every time someone leaves their shit, there's a possibility Sadie will eat it (she's a good dog but this is her disgusting habit). This situation with the neighbor has been going on for about three weeks and sometime last week I was pushed over the edge. I took to Amazon and ordered the sign you see above. Later tonight I'm going to put this in my yard with a roll of doggy pick up bags, and hopefully he'll get the message. If I need to I will make an addition to the sign that says "My dog eats shit, please do me a solid and pick up your solid."

Day 324

Blurb: Trust me, there are two dogs in this picture.

Backstory: If you've learned anything from reading this blog you've learned my dog can be kind of mean. I frequently have to say "she's not friendly" on walks and she loves barking and growling at other dogs. That's why today was such a big deal for us: she met Sherman. Jenny and I have been debating when to introduce them since she got the little guy.
Luckily things did end up well. We started slow, letting them smell each other and after about 15 minutes we let them roam free. I think Sadie does understand that Sherman's a puppy which meant she was a little easier on him then she would have been with a stranger. One factor that does work in Sherman's favor is he's so fast Sadie can't really tell where he's going (a common problem when you only have one eye). If you look at today's picture you'll be able to tell he doesn't sit still.

Day 323

Blurb: This is a familiar sight five days a week. Now let's make it six.

Backstory: Say hello to day number six in my work week. I try not to write about work here but this is really all I did today; I waited around to go to work. Part of me doesn't mind working the extra day because it means extra money, but the other part of me is depressed because there were actually other things I could have done today. For the first time this year someone offered me tickets to Ohio State's game verses Penn State, which is always a good one. And if I hadn't gone to the game Paul Simon was in town and I could have gone to see him. So today's a depressing day. Here's to next week when I only work five days.

Day 322

Blurb: This is more than a burger, it's happiness on a plate.

Backstory: You have no clue what the food in this picture means to me. It truly made my week. I've been dieting pretty hardcore for two weeks, even on the weekend, and I haven't had a meal like this in I don't remember when. Around the middle of this week I became obsessed with having a big, fat burger. These thoughts literally became all consuming. While I was eating pieces of fruit and salads Jimmy Buffet's "Cheeseburger in Paradise" was playing in my head. Tonight mom and dad came into German Village and I was able to have fulfill my week long dream of sinking my teeth into a big piece of beef. It was extremely satisfying and filling, and add that with a Yuengling and it made for pure happiness. Thank goodness for Fridays and having a diet buster day.

Day 321

Blurb: Hello midday booze.

Backstory: One of the most embarrassing thing is to purchase alcohol in the middle of the day and have one of your co-workers see you (I'm talk about you Nick). We all know we drink but I just feel really pathetic when someone sees me in gym clothes a the grocery store staring at the wine bottles. I will defend this purchase by saying it was a gift for someone.

Day 320

Blurb: Things are looking a little different.

Backstory: It's only Wednesday and it's already been a long week, so long in fact that I've switched my sleeping schedule. For the past year and a half I've been sleeping a split shift, which means coming home sleeping five hours, getting up and doing stuff for three hours and going back to bed for four hours. It worked when I was living with mom and dad and during the summer but now it's become a lot more difficult.
I've been working long hours this week and I had to make the switch this week to sleeping between 3-11pm. This is what most morning show producers sleep but you can't really spend time with people in the outside world when you do this and I hate that. Now I have to take some of those preconceived notions back because sleep this schedule has been pretty good so far. I'm going to work not feeling groggy and I have time to work out when I get home. I actually think I might stick to this change.

Day 319

Blurb: Sadie's afternoon project.

Backstory: I must say my dog is quite the little artist. Her favorite medium to create in is toy fluff. For the past couple months I haven't given the dog toys because she's very aggressive with them. She won't let Ginger or myself touch them and she tries to bite us. Since moving that's changed. I've bought her a couple toys because she does enjoy squeaking them around the house, she also love destroying them. Today she ripped a little hedgehog to shreads and it was freaking adorable. Just watching her focus on ripping every thread out of the toy made me smile a little. Yes it's destructive but it was really amusing.

Day 318

Blurb: Say hello to my food steamer.

Backstory: What can I say, I love a good kitchen gadget. One of the things I really wanted when I moved to Mohawk was a food steamer. I have no clue why I wanted one, but I needed it. Well I've lived here for two months and I finally used the appliance I had to have, and I was very happy with the results.
I'm still struggling with my stainless steal pans and the steamer was a great way to cook multiple things without dirtying lots of pans. The first thing I decided to steam was a chicken breast. I must say I was a little nervous cooking meat first because I wasn't sure I was going to get the meat done enough. Luckily it came out fantastic, the meat was moist and cooked the entire way through. I'm definitely looking forward to using this because it's super easy.

Day 317

Blurb: You can see who's important in this picture.

Backstory: There were a lot of different pictures I could have posted for today but I settled on this because it really represented our day. You can see little 11 month old Cole surrounded by six women, and soon to be seven(that's me). It was a hilarious site to walk into because you can tell that's the only thing everyone cares about. Nobody wanted to be more than an arms length from Cole, especially my mom. Auntie Linda really wants a grandbabie of her own.
This was also one of the days where I really wanted to post more than one picture. These days don't come around a lot but Cole was very cooperate with the camera. He spent most of the afternoon rolling around on the floor, but the best part was went he decided to play on the dog's bear skin rug. It was really adorable and luckily one visit from him works as birth control for months.

Day 316

Blurb: Happy dinner everyone.

Backstory: Tonight I had a lovely date night with Megan (Porter) and Brian Smith. The three of us went to Fiesta Mariachi and then Megan and I went to see Tower Heist. Dinner was ok and the movie wasn't that bad. The ending of the movie was kind of surprisingly; the ending is not happy in the traditional way but it's still happy. Plus there are a lot of good actors, specifically Ben Stiller, Matthew Brodrick and Gabrielle Sidibe. I wasn't really that crazy about Eddie Murphy but he's never really rung my bell.

Day 315

There's really nothing to write about today. I went to mom and dad's for dinner. Yes, this is very boring but I like going over there on Friday nights because they don't expect anything out of me.

Day 314

Blurb: Hello commitment.

Backstory: I've had a free pass to Snap fitness for almost two weeks and I finally decided to sign on the dotted line. The sad thing is I considered just staying on the free pass so I could see how long it would take someone to figure me out. But guilt got the better of me and I paid for my membership. The good thing is I actually like the gym and have found myself going there more than I did at the Y. Hopefully this is not just a honeymoon period and I'll actually keep going.

Day 313

Today I've been updating my blog. I would have done it yesterday but my wireless router was freaking out. Dealing with technology makes my head hurt, I even had to call both my mom and sister to help me figure this thing out. Instead I just swore a lot and restarted a lot of stuff then gave up. So I started up everything today and it worked. Happy technology.

Day 312

Blurb: Happy voting day!

Backstory: Yes, I did my civic duty and voted. It wasn't sexy or interesting because it was an off year. Nothing really revs up the electorate like voting on statewide ballot issues and members of city council. I have to admit I almost didn't go vote because I was feeling super lazy, but guilt got the better of me. My polling place is far from work and I didn't feel like leaving the dog at home even longer by herself while I voted after work. But I did, so there, happy America day.

Day 311

No blurbs about this. Pretty much mom and I went out to Hooters for wings. Dad is getting ready to go on a diet and mom and I wanted to get one last dig in before we downgrade.

Day 310

Blurb: I broke one of my cardinal rules.

Backstory: Every year Christmas starts earlier and earlier, seriously. In Columbus one of the radio stations started playing carols the day after Halloween! I'm sorry, that is to early. I'm ok with starting the music in the middle of the month or maybe a few days before Thanksgiving but the day after trick or treat is too early. If we lived in a perfect world Christmas carols wouldn't start until December, the month when we actually celebrate the holiday.
Now that I've set you up with this rant I can explain how I broke one of my rules. I don't listen to Christmas music until the middle of the month and I try not to listen to it until the day after Thanksgiving. When it comes to buying holiday related stuff I will not buy anything until December. This is something I'm normally pretty strict about, at least until I saw what Sadie is wearing. Target put out ugly Christmas sweaters for dogs and they were only $2.50! I just had to buy it, even though I felt a little bit of shame.

Day 309

Blurb: Saturday night football!

Backstory: I'm trying to make new friends, and it's difficult. When you get older you lose all those opportunities (mainly school and extra circulars) to meet different people and you have to go more out of your way to make friends. That's why today I have to thank Nicki, she's my grand little Chris' best friend from high school and she's recently moved here to Columbus. She invited me to watch the Alabama-LSU game at her house tonight and it was quite enjoyable. Football, dogs, food, funny new people, what else could I have asked for. So follow Nicki's lead and be nice to people.

Day 308

Blurb: Big news on the Ohio beer front.

Backstory: Take a look at my first Yuengling in over a year. For some reason Ohio has not been allowed to have this great Pennsylvania beer in decades; something about they couldn't find a distributor or liquor laws. But that's all changed now. Yuengling came to the buckeye state on October 3rd but I've been dragging my feet about getting one. This is very odd considering it's the cheap draft choice of almost everyone on the east coast (seriously it was the main beer I drank out there). Tonight I decided enjoy my first pint at Cap City diner and it did not disappoint. I've kind of been over light beer recently, the carbonation has been a little too much. That's why I found my glass so refreshing. This could be the start of something new and good.

Day 307

Blurb: Please back away from the dog.

Backstory: Today was an extremely embarrassing day with the dog. German Village is filled with nice, playful dogs that just want to have a good time, but this does not include Sadie. For some reason this week I've been forced to say "Sorry, She's not friendly!" at least four or five times a day. The worst was today with an old man. I have no clue why but I felt like a mother dragging a screaming child through the mall when she decided to go crazy at the end of the leash. So come on down and walk through German Village with me and "she's not friendly."

Day 306

Blurb: This jar means a lot more than just cheese.

Backstory: When you look at this jar you probably just see cheese, I see so much more. I see my youth going down the drain. Tonight was the first time I've ever really, truly struggled to open a jar. I mean I've had problems opening them before but not like this. Use your imagination to see my struggling, pushing and pulling to get this jar open for about 10 minutes; all I wanted was some delicious cheese. It was a crushing feeling to know I might not get in that jar. It was also a weird feeling because it made me think of my grandma (hence my youth going down the drain). She used to have one of those jar openers, and after tonight I'm seriously considering getting one. Also, yes, I did open the jar.

Day 305

Blurb: Catching up on some good reading.

Backstory: While doing dishes this weekend I caught an episode of NPR's "Wait, Wait don't tell me" with Nora Ephron as the featured guest. I always forget how much I like her. This little episode inspired me to go to the library and get the three books of her's they had in stock. I'm looking for ideas to add flare to my writing and I feel like picking up her books might give me some great ideas. Before Nora Ephron wrote this books and 'When Harry met Sally" she was a journalist. So who knows, maybe Nora can help me find my calling.

Day 304

Blurb: Happy Halloween!

Backstory: I have to say I'm a bit of a sucker for Halloween. Not when it comes to me dressing up and going out, but when it comes to little kids putting on their favorite costumes and going trick-or-treating. To me this is the purest form of happiness for children; you get to dress up as your favorite character and load up on candy. I'm not ashamed to admit I went trick-or-treating until I was a senior in high school (what can I say, I like candy). Now as a grown up it's my turn to pass out candy and watch from the sidelines as the children enjoy themselves; this is something I'm surprisingly ok with. Even though I'm not getting the same experience as I used to, I get a second hand high off their sugar coated happiness.
This year I didn't pass out candy at my place in German Village because I didn't think there would be a lot of kids out, so I went to mom and dad's. The old neighborhood always has a good turn out and this year it seemed better because there are a lot of young children who live there. Most years mom and dad sit in the driveway and wait for kids but I wanted to watch Toddlers and Tiaras so I sat at the front door with the dogs. They were very excited to smell the bowl of candy, so I decided to do a mini-trick-or-treat for them. Whenever a group of kids came to the door the dogs got a small Milkbone treat. Needless to say no one tried to escape when I opened the door, my little chunks wanted their treats.