Moonfest

Well Moonfest has come and gone already and I've been meaning to write a little bit about it just for memories sake. But like everything else that isn't super necessary, it got pushed aside, hence my lack of blog post in exactly 1 month! Hopefully my memory will serve me well and I can recall that wonderful weekend 2 weeks ago!

First off, wanna know what Moonfest is? Moonfest is awesome, that's all you need to know. But really, Moonfest is a pretty awesome gathering/party thrown at my Uncle Guire and Aunt Pat's house/property in the beautiful mountains of Pennsylvania. I say property because my Uncle, Aunt, and beautiful cousins (Anika and Melina) live on a bajillion acres of land, and I thought I had it made living on my quarter acre in the city (*wink wink*).  This massive amount of space includes multiple ponds, their house, a fully furnished cabin, a pavilion, a 9 hole golf course, a creek, a massive field used for the annual softball game, tons of trails through the woods, and other amazing amenities!

The party hosts - My fun loving Aunt Pat and Uncle Guire! (as pirates!)

Back to the party.. Now this isn't any type of ordinary party. This party is thrown on the full moon weekend in July, typically falling towards the end of the month. The party used to be thrown annually back in the day (this party has been occurring for many, many years, like before I was even a thought), but since everyone's lives have become hectic, kids are growing up, and traveling is expensive Moonfest now occurs every other year. Now the name "Moonfest" does not only relate to a festival thrown because of the full moon. It is also because mooning people is fun, and at moonfest you are guaranteed to catch site of a mooning, isn't it great to know super fun and silly people that enjoy mooning each other?! And there aren't just a few moonings, this isn't just a Webb-family affair, there are about 100 family friends and family (and dogs, we are doggy loving folks so at any time during moonfest there are probably about 5-10 large dogs running around) that come to this get together. People from ALL over the country show up from places like California, Kentucky (us), Ohio (us), Florida, Minnesota, Texas, etc.

A picture of half of the pavilion, just so you can get an idea of the size. 

So, each Moonfest has a theme, on Saturday night (our big dinner night), everyone dresses up for that theme. This year's theme was Pirates of the Moon. The themes are fun and a good way for people to get all silly and creative on each other. OH and another big note about the party, its camping! I LOVE camping, mainly because of moonfest. Everyone finds a piece of property to call their own and then sets up their outdoor home for the weekend. It's wonderful! Some people don't like camping due to the lack of plumbing..alas, this is no issue! My family built an outdoor shower at their house to accomodate the party and their are restroom facilities everywhere!

So what happens at this party besides mooning and dressing up as pirates?! Well, a good amount of the party goers arrive Friday at some point during the day, sets up their stuff, and then gets to helping prepare food, because honestly thats what Webbs do, we surround our get togethers around food! Friday we have a yummy dinner and stay up late having some drinks, or maybe a beer from the locally brewed keg and just enjoy seeing everyone that we haven't seen in a couple years or more (I missed the prior Moonfest due to being in a wedding). Saturday involves more eating, hanging out, maybe some drinking, eating some more, a softball game, and then our big dinner (chicken and grilled corn and a ton of sides and peanut butter pie for dessert!) and a late night of enjoying each other's company some more. Sunday is the day I always hate, knowing that the weekend is coming to a close. More delicious food is made, campsites are torn down and people say their tearful goodbyes, but you are always certain to get millions of hugs as you leave! Moonfest makes me feel good. It makes me feel happy.

All of the Webb cousins minus Ryan and Eric (who had departed prior to pic taking) and Whitney. 

This year's Moonfest was different for me since I was coming from Columbus (michael had to work, surprise, surprise!) and I was going to attempt to drive. LUCKILY Dustin and Christina were going to be driving from Northern Kentucky so on Thursday evening they made their way up to Columbus, through many thunderstorms I might add, to make our journey to PA! Once they arrived we loaded up the Prius, cause come on folks we are gonna save money where we can and not have to buy gas, and headed out on the road! Not leaving Columbus until 7pm, made for a 2 am late arrival but the drive honestly wasn't bad. I drove the first half and Christina drove the second. Dustin stayed up and chatted with me the first half while Christina rested from an early start to her day, but after her nap we were up the rest of the way, chatting, listening to good music, and enjoying each other's company.

When we arrived at my family's house obviously everyone was pased out, we found a place to lie down on the floor and did the same! Friday morning came really fast once everyone else in the house was rising pretty early. Dustin and I were both up by 8 and surprised to find that my Dad had already made it to PA. That morning I consumed a ridiculous amount of bacon. This isn't ordinary bacon. The bacon from my aunt and uncles town is fresh from the meat plant which is right next to their house. Something about this bacon is ridiculously heavenly, its crispy, yet melts in your mouth. Can I keep talking about the bacon?!

After breakfast Anika and I were recruited to drive to Elmira, NY to pick up some folks from the airport. Side note, Anika asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding that weekend while we were out there, so exciting!! We allowed extra time cause a tornado had swept through the town the night before. While we were out I commissioned Dustin and Christina to set up camp near the creek. While out we made a Walmart stop to buy a crap ton of milk, butter, toilet paper, and drink mixers. You know, the essentials. Since we were out for so long we had to stop for lunch. The town my cousin is from is tiny, itty bitty. So we had limited choices but they were delish! AND the restaurant had ice cream, I ordered the small birthday cake flavor which approximately a gallon's worth of ice cream and immediately went into a food coma. This girl cannot meter her ice cream intake, I think the communication from the stomach to the brain is broken when i eat ice cream.

Me and Anika hanging out

Anywho, we arrived back at Moonfest and got to see some more of  the people that had arrived. Hugs and more hugs ensued. While we were gone Ryan (my brother) had arrived too, I knew the weekend was about to get crazy!! A lot of fun was had that evening. I played it cool cause I didn't want to feel icky on the big day, Saturday. but lots of fun and talking was had,  I face planted onto my air mattress around 2am and slept soundly until about 8 am.

Breakfast Saturday morning was exceptional. French toast made on the massive outdoor grills, MORE bacon. AND super fresh delicious fruit! Drooling on computer just thinking about it. YUM!Not really sure what took place between breakfast and early afternoon. I think a bunch of lounging, chatting, and snacking occurred. But before I knew it, it was softball game time! One of my favorite moonfest events!

Got to finally chill with this little guy, my cousin Ian's son, Graham ! He's precious!

This is how our game works. Basically it's the old folks versus the youngins. And typically the old folks win. This year we split up those under 25 and those over 40 and then divided up the inbetweeners. The youngins took the field first and immediately got creamed by the old folks. yes they are all our parents but they are all pretty good at softball and smacking that ball way out into the outfield at fast speeds. Once the young folk batted it was pretty obvious that we were going to get killed. After a few innings a trade was made. Some older folks were sent to the young team and then myself and an 11 year old were traded to the oldies. I actually started performing once switched to this team and made a few outs and made it on base once. In the end the old folks won.

Softball spectators

The old guys team

the young folks (notice there are 4 women on our team *liz not pictured*, old men had none)

Cousin Eric beating a softball to death. 

Some pretty cool spectators (Ryan and Alycia!)

 After the game it was time to prepare for dinner festivities. Everyone started changing into their pirate apparel. everyone was slicking on dark black eyeliner and fake tattoos, It was amusing watching some of the men put on eyeliner. I will let the pictures do the talking about the evening.

Part of my piratey family!

This is the people getting creative part...you get it? Pirates...seaman?!

Sweet Mikaela

The original Webb girl cousins

awesome collage

Cousin Nora and her boyfriend Mitch!

      

Alycia (cousin's wife, so basically cousin) and me

That night was another late night, maybe 3 am and crashing face first in the dark onto my air mattress again. It was awesome getting to hang out with all my cousins and friends for such a long period of time, I just didn't want to go to bed! Morning came quickly though and I felt good still even with the lack of sleep. Another delicious breakfast was consumed and then came the denial. The denial of leaving Moonfest of course. I began acting like we didn't need to pack up our tent. People were slowly trickling out.  I should have chained myself to the pavilion and refused to leave. but after lunch at around 2 Dustin and Christina pulled me out of Moonvalley kicking and screaming. The whole 7+ hour trip home I was already reminiscing about the weekend. 

And there's my Moonfest 2012.

Yes, some of this means nothing to most of you. But this get together is very important to me and I wouldn't change a thing about it for all the money in the world . 

More Thursday Thoughts

So here' s some of what i randomly think about during the day, the little things that get me excited, or even stuff that's going on right now.

1. Lunch breaks in columbus are totally different than the ones i had in Lexington. I rarely bought lunch at work in Lexington, I am always in money saving mode so lunches there were spent at my desk checking all my social media, maybe writing a blog while everyone else enjoyed their more delicious meals. Well in Columbus a majority of people pack their lunches AND we eat together in a conference room. Grand idea. I love it. At least I get to step away from my desk for a bit!

2. I get rather excited about small things...like this bowl I found at walmart for like $1 something. perfect container for veggies and dip....well until said container tips upside down and the veggies and dips intermingle whilst the dip tries to drowned the veggies.

3.I have been knocking out my reading a book a month challenge in the past month. I read like 2 1/2 books in June and 1 in July, and am on my way to many more. What does a girl do when her husband is working constantly?! read outside on the hammock and get eaten by mosquitoes while her totally cute puppies gallivant around the yard!

4. Exercise has been my thing in the past week...quick flash back to that whole workout wednesday thing?:
Tuesday: 5 miles on treadmill in theater room at gym
Wednesday: Clean and cook  like a wild banshee for 4th of july party - sweat like crazy
Thursday: Elliptical 30 minutes, Bike 10 minutes, body rock workout 12 minutes
Friday: Pure Barre class with awesome groupon
Saturday: 11.5 mile bike ride in 93 degrees...hot!
Sunday: rest...lazy and loney..not a good combo to get you motivated to workout
Monday: Swim - not sure how many laps, swimming makes me feel so out of shape, its a nice challenge for me
Tuesday: WAXED my car...geez...this takes arm power!
Wednesday: Early morning run around the neighborhood, just winged it and avoided death hill. Just mapped it and apparently only ran under 3 miles (WOAH when did mapmyrun change so much?!)

5. I think this is the first time in my life that I am excited about garbage day tomorrow. We have had the same garbage sitting in our can for about 3 weeks. UM gross. and it has been so hot. therefore it is SO stinky. SO I want to get it away from our house ASAP. please someone text me and remind me to take it out tonight, it NEEDS to happen, we cannot forget, I think something has died in that nasty thing!

6. I listed my car on craigslist last night. And then I cried and then Michael thought I was weird. Emotional attachment to inanimate objects much?! I have had my lovely snow white since i was 16. I felt bad for her. I am an irrational crier, but don't hate! Anyone who would like to extend the life of my awesome 1998 white 2 door civic ex please let me know. I'd love for her to go to a good home.

7. Along with listing a car comes purchasing a car. Purchasing a car is terrifying. I just need to have something with 4 doors. plus I travel a ton so it needs great fuel efficiency. I have flipped and flopped about a million times on what i want. what i like. nothing will stand up to snow white! i love her so. We may finally have a winner though. It makes me wanna throw up, out of nervousness of purchasing a car, having a car payment, AHH i need to stop talking about it, i WILL have a heart attack!

8. My husbands work is making my husband a very tired man. I do not blame him, i understand the work and all. but geez. he's tired for the whole hour he's home. HOWEVER last night since i had dinner ready pronto we were able to chill out on the hammock, he made it out there before me, he had some studying to do so I snapped a photo through the blinds. I'm glad he got to see the sun a bit yesterday!

9. speaking of the hubs, I am so excited for the weekend! Michael gets Saturday and Sunday off! woot woot! i already have it planned, eek, he probably hates this idea. But I have been slightly bored and lonely and craving activity....do I sound like a dog?! I hope to go kayaking saturday (weather permitting, since you know my luck), maybe a movie or chill at the house after, then dinner with a giftcard we got from michael's parents for our anniverary. Then sunday church and hanging out at the pool allllll day (weather permitting again), pool days are easy on the body, i dont think it's that rough :)

10. Next week starts back a lot of my out of the office work. Luckily next week is not overnights but at least I will be busy during the week which normally means faster workdays!

11. I am obsessed with summer fruits, so vibrant and colorful!

12. There's nothing like spending your lunch break talking to yourself on your blog!

13. I am still so happy about free slurpees at 7/11 happening yesterday. And so glad Mrs. Catherine could join me. I enjoy free things, who doesn't? (pina colada on the top, wild cherry on the bottom)

14.  For some reason my phone has decided to selectively send pictures from my phone to my email. This is lame, since i want to add pictures to this blog and it is just doing its own thing. urgh. silly technology!

15. Breakfast for dinner is always a sure fire win for me. Blueberry pancakes with blueberries leftover from the 4th and turkey bacon, yum!

But really, I have been cooking a whole lot more this past week than I had in the past few months. Some of the stuff I've made? Well theres all the cookout food I made, turkey meatloaf, baked ziti (one of our new favs), grilled cheese and tomato soup (ok that's easy), and on the menu for tonight...chicken breasts marinated in this delicious sesame teriyaki sauce we got from trader joes!


16. Dogs sitting in gardening boxes are my favorite. Paparazzi from a far (ok now i'm just going through my phone photos, can you tell?) (Plus I HAD to have a dog pic!)

17. I am currently reading A.J. Jacobs, the Guinea Pig Diaries (he is hilarious by the way, read his book about living biblically for a year!) and one of his essays talks about how we have become such large multi-taskers and he tries to eliminate it from his life for some time.  I tried that today. This morning it worked semi-well. Afternoon comes and its all shot. Being a uni-tasker is hard!

Well that's it for now! Lunch break is over and I got to get back to work!



P.S. I think my blogging comes in pairs, its like once I post once I realize how much I enjoy it basically as my personal diary and memories tracker. Will this posting extend beyond 2 this week? we shall see!

Just a quick thought...

Last night this awesome girl randomly called me out of the blue.

(picture from her 5th grade graduation in May)


She was calling to wish me a belated happy anniversary since her cell phone was dead on our actual anniversary so it couldn't remind her.

This meant a lot to me. First of all I rarely get phone calls from ANYONE, the only person great about calling me is my Dad, I've been told that I am the type of person that will keep people in touch, the "party planner" and "family reunion organizer".  Adrielle isn't always a super chatty girl and didn't normally call me when we lived in Kentucky. BUT last night we talked for over 12 minutes on the phone it was wonderful.

She told me all about the billions of camps she's been to this summer, all the sports she's been doing (this is amazing to me) and all the fun she has been having this summer. I am so glad that she is keeping busy! She also mentioned that she misses me, and I could tell, she was the chattiest I have ever heard her. I loved every second of it. I feel so bad that I can't be there for her as a mentor any longer but I hope that we are able to keep up our phone relationship and hopefully the next time I'm in Lexington I'll be able to see her sweet face!

Miss you Adrielle! I hope your summer continues to be awesome and fun-filled! Love yoU!

***just a quick note before I head into work***

The New house Tour!

Since the only visitors that we have had to the new casa have been Michael's parents, the Larsons, and some of our Columbus peeps I think it might be appropriate to do a new house tour!

What do you think?

Well I'm gonna do it! Even if you don't care, its my way of documenting/journaling this whole new experience!

So this will be in super random order because it took me approximately..um...forever to download all these pictures!

Here is the 1 full bath in the house. Yes only one full bath, I think we will be able to manage. And hopefully our visitors will be able to too! Our shower is tiled, the floor is tile as well and the counter top is new. Also a pretty awesome feature only in the bathroom is the "in-between the windows blinds"

 This is the super meh room. So lets just get it out of the way. When we moved in it was green and yellow stripes (a kids room). Well we decided to paint it the same color as the rest of the house. It isn't working. Like at all. that's why there are about a million different things going on with the room cause we were trying to make it work. 2 different bedspreads, random wall art, curtains (room gets hot too). We have no idea what to do with this room, it has our old dark bedroom furniture in it. Any suggestions? cause this room is just darn bleck!

 Oh the one awesome thing about the room still?! We haven't taken down the ah-mazing girafee light switch. OH and we also have light green ABC drapes if anyone is in need of them, they are very nice however I do know my ABCs and don't need a constant reminder!

 Here is one of my favorite rooms, our bedroom! Our room has 3 nice windows, 2 closets (his and hers), and plenty of space. So much space that we brought our old living room chair up to fill in the void and it goes nicely. However, now we need a replacement chair for our living room tee hee. Do you like our new bedroom furniture? Cause I Love it!! OH and we didn't have to paint anything in the house except for the baby room. pretty awesome!

 Opinions --- do you think we need a rug for the room? Right now I think it's fine but wasn't sure on what was proper. The dust bunnies do like to hangout under the bed, i wouldn't like to evict them! :)

 Here is the "third" bedroom on the second floor. It is an office. I'm sure you could make it a bedroom if you'd like. There is SOOOO much storage in this room! When you walk in to the left is a window seat with storage and huge cabinets!

 The room also has huge bookshelves! We don't have a ton of books so we put our UK memorabilia, graduation programs, and other random novelties to fill in the spaces...We aren't super keen on the tiny glass desk but since we just bought a house a new desk is defiinitely not at the top of our priority list, it'll do for now!

 Another awesome room in the house...the sunroom! The sellers left their wicker furniture which saved us from an empty awkward pretty visible room. We love this room, and our scripture wall art given to us at our wedding and the stained glass window work perfectly in here! We love chilling out here and talking or reading a book or whatever!

 The dogs stand here a lot...let us out let us out!

 The view of our patio from the sunroom with our new, very orange patio set. We were frightened about the orange color at first (the brown version of this was $100 more, silly? Why yes!) but I think it really works fine! It looks super orange in this picture for some reason that, i promise in person it is not THAT orange!

 Moving on to the dining room, this is coming from the sunroom, directly across is the kitchen which has a cool swinging door! To the left is the living room!

 An amazing feature in this room? Built in china cabinet! And lucky us, we happened upon some china for free from one of Michael's great aunts! I think it's pretty nifty!

 Into the kitchen we go! Gas oven, with bottom drawer cooking ability, however I have no idea what you cook in that drawer, do you? The stove also has a long middle burner with a griddle, fancy! This kitchen has a ton of storage too! The door to the left exits to the 1 car garage

 Huge sink and more counter space

 Fridge, key hanging, and to the left of the fridge is what we use as our pantry! So weird/nice to finally have one unlike our old house!

 Tiny itty bitty half bath off the kitchen before leading into the basement. I love the tiny window in this room!

 Here is our half finished basement. Currently our ironing board lives down here and apparently also a random backpack. The cabinets are built ins with MORE storage! Sadly we do not have the proper size tv, need a 37 inch OR any furniture to go down here yet, but that's why we have dreams people! Since the room is basically hidden away it doesn't bother me that much, but Michael REALLLLLY wants his man cave. One day hubs!

 Our beautiful new washer and dryer...and yes the washer is on ghetto wooden boards to keep it balanced, we should probably cut those sometime soon!

 The dog's cages are in the unfinished part of the basement, it is pretty cool in temperature down here and I think they like it. Plus it keeps the dog fur level down a bit along with the doggy smell!

 And look ya'll even more storage space!

 And now we have jumped back up to the living room!

See our beautifully mounted tv over the gas fire place?! This job was quite a task but my professional hubby was able to do it. We are in the process of ordering cord hiders because they are slightly out of control!

 Here is our furniture situation...see that space where we need a chair or something? we have no idea what size furniture to put there, our old chair wouldn't really fit since it had an ottoman, so we probably need something without that. Also, we need a rug, definitely in process, kinda a drab part of the house.

 HOwever I do LOVE the front door, it's soooo pretty and has a really nice storm door that Willis thoroughly enjoys looking out of! Do you see where the 4th of July wreath is hanging? That's our mail slot, one of the things I thought was super cute about the house!!!

 And look the photo stairway has returned from Gray Hawk. I Love personal pictures so I begged and pleaded my handyman to return our wall of glory to our Worthington home! He's so awesome!! Finishing touches at the top!

And there ya have it folks! Our new house which we honestly love love love. If you asked us (after being here for about a month) what we didn't like about the house I'm pretty sure we would have a hard time determining what that would be!

Time Together

Although it is not quite our anniversary yet (June 26th) Michael and I did our celebrating a little early. However, I fully believe that we will celebrate it on its actual day as well. The main reason for the early celebration? Well, Mr. Michael started his first day of residency (well orientation for a few days) on June 20th and I knew he would be busy for...well...errrr.... the rest of his life. So I planned a surprise. I was determined to keep it a surprise too!

About 2 weeks ago Michael had mentioned that he had purchased my anniversary gift. *GASP*, Michael planned ahead AND had beat me to the purchase of the gift. DANG BOY! Well that got me thinking about what I was going to get him. I wanted it to be something fun and something he would be able to use. Then I remembered that he loved the Cleveland Indians as a small child and since we are now conveniently located in Central Ohio the city of Cleveland isn't truly that far away! Then I looked at the schedule, geez, of course we hit the time where the team was basically out of town for forever, except there was one day that I could make work...a monday night. We both had no plans. I would make this happen!

So I purchased 2 tickets to the 7:05 game in Columbus. Lucky us it was the Ohio showdown games -- Indians vs. Reds -- so it would be an exciting game! I went all out -- for me -- in my ticket purchasing and got us tickets in the 5th row. Ok 5th row like in right field, but still, we were sooooo close!

Anywhoooo...after the purchase of the tickets I realized that Cleveland is a little over 2 hours away so that would make for a late night, so I got us a cute little room to stay the night in so we could enjoy our last carefree days together! (I took Tuesday off to spend time with Michael).

So now we are to Monday, June 18th. I leave work at 3:30 and plan to get on the road by 4:30. Michael has no idea what we are doing. Well he actually thinks we are either A) going hiking since I asked about hiking places near columbus on Facebook or B) going hang gliding (michael saw i groupon for it, um hello why would I choose to risk his life before he starts work?!). I tell Michael to put his shoes on while I change and sneakily pack a bag for him with an Indians shirt and overnight stuff. We head out the door.

The slight problem we had was that we have 2 dogs. 2 dogs that do not have thumbs or the ability to pee in toilets that would need to be let out since we were staying the night. OH and did I mention we live in a new city where our super supportive family in Lexington and NKY do not live? Oh and where we have a grand total of maybe 8 friends?! So I schemed a bit. Our awesome and totally helpful next door neighbors that I already love to death had mentioned helping us with our dogs if we need it. the thing is I was at work that day when I determined we were going to be doing an overnight visit. Planning fail. AND I didn't have their phone numbers. Plan devised -- tell michael I MUST talk to the neighbors and send him over for their phone number. Michael was super awkward about it and told our neighbor's recently high school graduated son that "Ashley needed his number" ...too cute! Well i called and called once I received the number but to no avail. This is when I came to my last resort and called some of our newer friends and left voicemails begging that if our neighbors couldn't watch the dogs that maybe they could.

With my fingers crossed for some sort positive reply, we put our dogs in the cage (Michael still doesn't know where we are going or that we are staying overnight somewhere). I secretly hope and pray that we don't have to return to 2 dogs that have massive potty issues or bladder infections and we head out.

Once on the road the sky begins to turn dark, REAL dark. You know, just my luck. Michael continues to say that this is my fault. That I always bring the rain. He is still thinking we are doing the activities I mentioned above, which could be terrifying to do in the weather that we were currently driving through. Although a baseball game can't really occur during this weather either. We ended up driving at least an hour through monsoon style rain and lots of lightning while Michael complains about being starving. Since he told me what he thought we were doing I told him we couldn't stop and eat cause I didn't want him to barf when in reality I just wanted him to save his appetite for a big ol' hot dog and a beer (see i was looking out for him!).

During our drive our neighbor called me back. I had to be super vague and tell him I had to call him back in like an hour. Michael was like um what was that!? I didn't wanted to reveal the secret! So once Michael knew the plans I was able to call the neighbor back and we had a dog watcher! YIPPEE!!

By the way, while it is monsooning I am moderately freaking out. Super depressed that our plans would be ruined. When we are 30 minutes outside of Cleveland we have to make a gas station stop. OH and Michael had to drive his car over the 100,000 mile mark. (Michael is a car guy and was very excited about this).

While we were stopped we were both getting grumpy and complain-y cause we were so hungry so we split a package of poptarts! :) Since Michael was now driving he needed directions and once i informed him to get on I-90 he figured out we were going to the Indians game! He was pretty excited and surprised! I also told him we'd be staying the night! fun fun!

Amazingly, once Michael started driving the skies instantly cleared and the sun came out and it was perfect. I mean really weather?! We parked in and skipped into the game with beach towels in tow (luckily we had them in the car) to wipe off our seats.

Michael has been to this ballpark before but it was my first experience there and it is a pretty nice park if I do say so myself! We walked around a bit then took our seats! We were pretttty close! As we were sitting there, Brandon Phillips from the Reds came out to take pictures and sign autographs. It was pretty cool to see him so close up!

Since we were finally settled in Michael went to grab some food while I was finally able to relax about the whole surprise thing! He returned with a hot dog, brat, fries smothered in nacho cheese in a baseball cap, popcorn, and a beer! hahah it was baseball food heaven! We woofed down our food while enjoying the great game!

Seriously though, I think this was my first professional baseball game that I have watched with full attention for its entirety! The game was so intense and pretty high scoring with hits happening left and right and a good amount of home runs! And the park was basically filled with half Indians and half Reds fans so the noise level was awesome at all times! The Indians had michael worried at some points but they ended up pulling out the win! Super exciting!

Oh and did I mention I almost died at the game? We were sitting along the foul line and a batter hit one, I ducked into a ball and it slammed into the guys shoulder that was about 2 inches from me. It was basically like a line drive, the ball ricocheted off his shoulder and flew back 5-10 rows! He instantly bruised, so glad that wasn't my face! Michael said he was glad he didn't grab for it or he might have broken his hand...not to worry about my poor face! :( haha!

After the game we headed to our hotel which was a pretty sweet random find. I found it on expedia and it was called the Glidden House located on Case's campus. The hotel was a mansion built in 1910 and it was super cute! Breakfast in the morning was delicious too!

My favorite part?! The massive bowl of fresh strawberries and blueberries! yum - o !

On our way home we stopped by some outlets -- yes this is super exciting --- I bought some running shorts -- even more exciting --- and Michael bought a polo from the polo store!

And there you have it! Our anniversary celebration! I believe that we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves which is spectacular! Hopefully I didn't bore you to death!

April Resolutions and May goals

Hey friends! I'm still out here don't you worry! And yes, I am still trying to keep up with my New Years resolutions. I have been slightly failing at a good amount of them but I thought it'd be good to do a little recap.

Goal #1:
Try to cook something new a each week.

Ok, this is a fail. However, 2 weekends ago I made a new homemade dog treat recipe. Michael made a new tasty spinach, garlic and chicken lasagna recipe a week ago too. So we are randomly trying to cook new things. But with all the busy season work, buying a house, preparing to sell a house it seems like a bad idea to go out and stock up our kitchen since we will be moving at the end of the month! I would like to try some new recipes though, definitely in a food rut!

Goal #2
Sub 1:50 the Derby Mini marathon

stole this picture from Andrea. From left to right. Michael's Dad Greg (ran his first full marathon in 5:10), Andrea (PRed her 2nd half marathon by 7 minutes, how awesome!), Michael (ran the full in 3:50), Me (half marathon, 1:52), Jeff (Abby's husband who ran his first half marathon, Abby ran with us last year but is super cute and preggo this year!)

Oh look another excuse. I did run the half marathon however I did it in 1:52...wah wah. I was glad though that I did not walk at all. In my training runs I had been mixing it up with running and walking but I did not let myself walk at all even though my hip and knee joints were screaming at me. I realized looking back at my derby post from last year that I did it in 1:59 so i guess it's an improvement but my overall PR is a 1:52 at the Indianapolis mini marathon.

Chip Time was 1:52

Michael ran the full marathon and did it in 3:50. He is now being crazy and wanting to PR a half marathon and is looking for a race to run in May or June. I think we now may be going to Chicago for their half in June. Now the question is do I put myself through the torture of training alone. Which I despise, guys, I get super lonely, and then negative, all in order to get a PR or do I just go and support?! Opinions?! Anyone wanting to train if I decide to continue on since I'm already in the running shape?

Goal #3
Try to complete a book a month.

January - The Hunger Games Series
February -"Is Everyone Hanging out with Me?" - By Mindy Kaling
March - nothing ...fail...busy
April - Wicked

Reading Wicked last week while eating Michael's lasagna!

I finally sat down and dug into Wicked at the beginning of last week and ended up flying through the 400 page book in a week! Glad I made my April goal before the month was over! Now to pick a new book to read....

Goal #4
2 date nights a month with the hubby

I'm pretty sure it was April when Michael and I went out to dinner at Merrick Inn, we also went to the theater (which is rare for us) and saw 21 Jumpstreet last month. I know there were a few other times that we did activities, like getting massages together. Now we must work on setting actual real date nights, not just turning a night into one. Although i'm afraid that once Michael starts working this may be near impossible :(

Goal #5
Choose Optimism

I can say that this is true. The night before the half I was very anxious as usual. But as I was laying in bed trying to sleep I just kept talking myself up, encouraging myself that I had trained hard and that I could do this run no problem. I can say I chose joy!


A couple of Goal for May:

1. Ride this baby more often. I LOVE traveling via bicycle. I must make the effort to ride my bike more often! -- I rode it to the gym yesterday and was reminded how much I enjoy doing that!

2. Reduce sugar intake. Beach vaca is right around the corner and honestly I consume WAY too much sugar, even at breakfast I'll sneak in some jelly beans or a cookie after I eat my cereal. So this month I will attempt to reduce my dessert each meal way of life and limit my self to special occasions and fun times with friends! That means I shouldn't be enjoying ice cream cones like this one that I got while in Louisville for training and hanging out with my brother. Also doesn't help when Michael's mom gives us a bag of jelly beans, which I have an official addiction to.

Less of this:
 
More of this:

 

And of course to keep up with my other goals. 

So there's that, a little review of my goals and my progression! Hope your goals are being achieved as well!