Ornaments I Love

Last night I was looking at the Christmas tree and thinking that we need to take it down in a week or two. I feel like I hardly got to enjoy it!

There are so many things I love about Christmas, but the smell of a Fraser Fir all through the house definitely tops the list.

Another thing I love is the collection of ornaments we have for the tree. We have the usual glass bulbs that are just pretty to look at, but we also have some other special ones on the tree.

Some of my favorites...

The ornament that Dan put my engagement ring in - Christmas 2009.

From Aunt Kris - a little extra bling right after I got the ring!

Our first ornament as a married couple

A gem from Dan's sister - our little family

Representing for my high school - Go Rebels!

An ice cream cone from my Grandma, who used to always give me Handel's gift certificates for Christmas.

Christmas Card Tree

This year I was looking for an extra special way to highlight all of the beautiful Christmas Cards that we receive so that we could enjoy them more. I hate that we put them in a pile on the desk. People spend so much time designing them or writing them out. I wanted to see them!

And where do I go when I need inspiration? Pinterest, of course!

I found a fantastic idea and Dan helped me make it happen - a fabulous Christmas Card Tree - courtesy of Martha Stewart!

It was super simple to make - an old vase, branches from the yard, a ribbon, a hole punch and some string! Doesn't get much easier than that!

We spray painted the branches white so that they would "pop" more. We also put some rocks in the vase so that it wouldn't tip over.

Then, it's just a matter of punching a hole in them, tying some string and hanging them up!

You can check out Martha's page here for more information!

Blog Woes

For the past couple weeks I have been trying really hard to redesign my blog and make it more "me". I have swapped out backgrounds, created header designs and tried to pick out color schemes. Nothing seems to stand out to me. I am super annoyed and frustrated - probably because I have spent more time trying to make my blog look pretty and less time actually writing in it. I think that is the biggest and best change that needs to be made most of all! So, more focus on the content and less focus on the looks!

Edited -
I think I have also decided that Blogspot sucks and maybe my blog needs a change of scenery! More to come!

Yankee Peddler

Saturday was the first day of fall. I absolutely love fall! I love the crisp chill in the air - it's the perfect weather! I love all the beautiful colors! I love football! I love cider and hot chocolate and pumpkin flavored everything! I love sweaters! I love Halloween! I seriously could go on forever! I just love fall!

Dan's sister wanted to go to Yankee Peddler. I had never been there, but I had heard people talk about it before, so I thought it would be fun to check it out!

I didn't realize it was at Clay's Park. It brought back lots of memories of summer, Youth Group and the Alive Festival. It looked so different there without all of the campers, tents and people! I can still remember my way around! Hopefully I'll be able to make it back to Alive next summer!

It was such a nice day and everywhere I looked there were signs of fall!

 

 

Gabby was so excited to go to Yankee Peddler - I think mostly for the American Girl Doll stand, but also so she could spend quality time with Uncle Dan!

 



 



One of the things Gabby was excited about was the butterfly tent. You could go in and the butterflies were flying around you. You could use q-tips with a syrup or sugar on them to attract them.

There was a stand there for Boswell. They have such awesome dips and dressings! We stocked up!

Dan and I got a funnel cake. Gabby was mad because she wanted an elephant ear, so she wouldn't eat any of it. She had never had a funnel cake, so I bribed her with a $1 to try it. She can't resist dollars. She took that dollar and bought herself a face painting!

 

We loved checking out all the art and crafts, especially the jewelry! There were these really cool necklaces made out of typewriter keys. Gabby liked them too!

 

 



There are so many wonderfully talented people in the world. Sometimes I wish that I could do some of these things that they can and as well as they can!

 



 

 

Even Dan had a good time... well, at least he pretended to! 

 

 

Gabby saw this man and had to take a picture with him!

 

 

And, of course, there is my favorite purchase of the day! This messenger bag is from All Put Together (www.beallputtogether.com). It is made of all recycled objects - coats, sweaters, blankets, etc. I love owls so much, so I just couldn't resist this gem!

I can't believe I have never been to Yankee Peddler. It reminded me a lot of the Shaker Woods Festival, but closer! We will definitely be headed back next year!

A Night In With My Nephews



Last weekend AJ & Stacy were in town for a wedding. Stacy's parents, Sal & Bill, normally babysit Colin & Brendan, but they had a class reunion to attend. I jumped at the chance to spend some quality time with my nephews.  I have not gotten to see them very much with their living in other states and all. Lucky for me, they are moving back to Ohio this month! Yay! Lots of quality time will be spent, I'm sure!

 

 

Anyways, how does a girl keep two rambunctious little boys entertained?

 

Colin had plenty of ideas to keep us busy - hide & seek, Sonic the Hedgehog, tag... Seriously, he has more energy in 4 hours than I have had in my whole life combined!

 

Brenny had other ideas for how to keep entertained...

 

 

With bowls on his head...

 

 

With blocks on his heads...

 

He's always coming up with creative hats.

 

 

Brenny has come so far in the past few month. I am so proud every time I see him. He has new words, he makes more eye contact, he smiles. And this visit, he even gave me hugs - something he has never voluntarily done before.

 

 

You can't tell, but that is a kitchen utensil in Colin's hand. A room full of toys and yet they still pick the most random things to play with.

Colin wanted to teach me how to play Sonic the Hedgehog on the IPad...

Kids these days don't know what they are missing out on - they'll never really know what a Sega is... or a Nintendo.

 

 

Love their sweet little faces!

 

We had so much fun! I can't wait to babysit again!



Mount Union... Sill feels like home!

I was in Alliance on Saturday to have lunch with Kim. So much has changed! It is amazing at how different things are there. There are new places to eat - Panera, Chipotle, a brand new Dairy Queen in a different location. There are new places to shop - Maurice's and Kohls. Some places have closed. Some have been torn down. I'm not gonna lie - I was a little jealous!

I wasn't going to, but I decided to head over to Mount Union. I thought I might swing by the book store and maybe pick up a new sweatshirt. Of course, the bookstore was closed as usual. Seriously, no matter when I go there, no matter what day or time, that bookstore is always closed.

I didn't want to waste the trip to campus, so I decided to drive around a little bit. It is amazing to me how unrecognizable parts of it are. Obviously there was the little name change. I will never say UMU or University of Mount Union. It will either be There is campus housing now where Sigma Nu and Phi Tau were. The athletic complex has pretty much swallowed a whole block.HPCC is different. T&H is different. Everywhere I looked - things were different. It made me kind of sad. I always thought Mount Union would feel like home for me, no matter how many years passed. But now, just 6 years later, it already felt like a foreign place.

I decided to start looking for things that looked familiar to me instead. Once I started looking at it that way, everything looked a lot different... a lot more like the place where I had made so many great memories and had grown to love.

I walked by the rock - covered in layer after layer of spray paint. I went through the Campus Center and picked up a Dynamo.

I swung by Dewald Chapel - a place where I probably could have stood to spend a little more time.

I walked around the lakes and Elliott - my dorm for Freshman and Sophomore year. I always thought it was so cool that we got to live in a place that reminded me of The White House and we got to walk out and see the lakes every morning.

I walked over the kissing bridge - which never worked for me, but I hear it worked its magic for others.

I was happy to see that 205 Simpson, the house where I lived Junior year and became friends with Christine, Courtney and Rachel, was no longer Campus Security. Seriously, way too much fun occurred in the house - it was just wrong to see it turned into something so "official".

Chapman Hall - This building was one of the man reasons why I went to Mount Union. I remember walking up to it on my senior visit and thinking how beautiful it was. I could really see myself going to class there. 

 

And of course, I had to stop by the ADPi house. I love that little blue house.  I met so many wonderful ladies because of this house and made so many great friends.

I loved my time at Mount Union. I guess they have to keep making updates so that students keep coming and paying tuition. As sad as it is to see so many things change, it would be heartbreaking to see my Alma Mater be anything less than the amazing institution that I knew it to be. It's just nice to see that not everything has changed.

Can't Sleep...

It is 1:37am and I am still awake...

I went home from work today sick and slept all afternoon. The past couple days I have woken up with awful headaches. Today was the worst. My head was throbbing, the light hurt my eyes and I felt dizzy and nauseous. It was awful.

Anyways, after several hours of sleep and half a bottle of Advil, I feel much better. Unfortunately, I am now wide awake, which basically means that tomorrow should be a stunningly fabulous day.

So, what do you do at 2 in the morning when you can't sleep? Well, I am watching 30 Rock and organizing my calendar...

If you see me tomorrow, I apologize in advance.

30 Rock – Rocks my socks off!

I know that I am late to the bandwagon, but I am in LOVE with 30 Rock!

I have never watched it on TV. I’m not sure why. I don’t even know what day or time it is on. But I was looking for a new show after I finished watching How I Met Your Mother. I wanted something easy to follow so I wouldn’t have always have to give my full attention and I wanted to watch something that would make me laugh. After digging around Netflix a little bit, I landed on 30 Rock. JACKPOT!

I love Tina Fey as Liz Lemon. I love how easy it is do other things and just listen to the show – like work. I seriously sit at my desk laughing all day long. People are starting to look at me weird! I especially love all the references of Cleveland! How awesome to have our city mentioned on the show!

I’m on episode 80 of 102. I’m kind of bummed that I am getting to the end.

Taking suggestions now on what show to watch next!

When I grow up...

Recently I have decided that I do not want to be in the insurance industry anymore. “Why?” you might ask? Well for starters, because it is insurance. Enough said, right? If that is not enough of a reason, there is a long list of other reasons…

It isn’t fulfilling.

It’s full of bureaucratic b.s.

It is full of shady shady people, and usually they are the ones in charge.

You get ahead based on who you know and how much you kiss their butt, rather than what you know and how hard you work.

You pour hours and hours of your personal time into trying to be caught up and on top of things so that you aren’t looked at negatively and your efforts are rewarded with more work.

I feel like I could go on for days about the reasons why I know longer want to work in the insurance industry, but it would not do any good. I decided that I needed to do something to make a change rather than complaining. I needed to make a life change...

Quarter life crisis, party of 1?

When I started thinking about what I wanted to do, my mind was all over the place. I could go to law school like I had originally planned. I could become a college professor and teach Sociology or Criminology. I could go work at Starbucks and get free Chai Tea Lattes and spread cups full of happiness. I could run away and join the circus… wait, no, that’s not a real option, although I have considered it several times.

I am so jealous of the people who always knew what they wanted to be. How nice it must be to have discovered your purpose early on and were able to pursue it. I didn’t want to work in insurance, I just landed there. And while I had passion and excitement for a while, that has all been sucked out of me!

When I was in high school I wanted to be a doctor. When I got to college, I wasn’t serious enough to go through the steps. That’s when I discovered Sociology, Criminal Justice and Law and I fell in love. But, after college I wanted to make money rather than go to school more and I ended up in insurance.

Over the past couple months, I have been looking into the medical field more, and I finally landed on something! I could be a Physicians Assistant! They basically can do everything a doctor does, but under the supervision of a doctor. So I could examine patients, prescribe medication, order and read diagnostic tests and perform procedures. I found a program through Tri-C and Cleveland State – 28 months and I would have a Master’s Degree and a certificate! It sounds perfect for me!

I went to an information session at Tri-C. The program is very intense. 28 months of full time, all year around the clock school. No time for working, family, friends or fun.

And that’s the down side…

No working.

We would basically need to make it thorough 2 ½ years on 1 person’s income. Also, where do kids fit in to all of this? Yeah, they don’t…

So, now it is back to the drawing board to find something that I really want to do with my life. Realistically, I know that I will either need to go back to school or start out again at the very beginning of any other field, which I don’t mind. I just want to find something that I love to do and feel happy doing.

So the question now is – What do I want to be when I grow up?

Science!

This past Sunday Dan and I took Gabby to the Science Center. It was a trip set up by the Cleveland Photographic Society. We could bring our cameras, tripods and other gear, as well as our family. I wanted to go, so I convinced Dan to come along and then we decided to bring Gabby. I absolutely loved science centers growing up. I love seeing how things work in a way that makes sense - the exhibits at science centers are so practical and based in real life. Science was always my favorite subject. The Science Olympiad team was my favorite club in middle school and high school, even though my mom was one of the coaches. Needless to say, I was really jazzed.

Gabby - not so much.

She seemed moderately interested, but fluttered from thing to thing, not really caring about how things worked. That's ok... she's still young. I still have time to mold her! :)

Here are some pictures...