Columbus - Our new home

Well there was my post about Lexington. And I'm still sad about it. BUT exciting things are too come in a couple short months/weeks. Do we want to learn about Columbus, Ohio now?!

Well obviously since I've never lived there before and been there maybe a total of 3-4 times (1 for shopping, 1 for fireworks, twice looking at houses) I can't really give you a ton of things like I did for Lexington but I can give you a bit AND the internet will help me out a lot too! :)

We can start with this though. Here is what our house looks like! Its in a super quaint town/area and I'm very excited about living here. Still waiting on a couple of loan things to go through and the fixing of a couple items noted in the inspection. Our lovely little house was built in 1940 and has a picket fence and a yard! :)

1. COSI - What is COSI? No, not the restaurant. Only the coolest field trip location for an elementary school student and everyone else too. We went to COSI once in elementary school and it was epic. It's a science museum, a VERY interactive science museum. I can't wait to take Michael there. SO FUN to get your hands on everything!

2. Ohio State University ?! - Yes, being a large UK fan does not make me happy to be moving to a city with a large powerhouse school. BUT it is pretty exciting to be living in a town that LOVES their football season. So maybe OSU football and UK everything else, especially basketball! I definitely think it will be fun to be involved with OSU, especially since we already understand how to be hardcore fans!

3. Easton & Shopping

4. More and more food - from what I hear they have more vegetarian and vegan options in Columbus. Not that I'm either but that definitely makes it sound like the restaurant scene is a tad bit more diverse than Lexington. However I will be missing my country southern cookin' of Lexington!
5. Running Trails! - The handful of times Michael and I have been to Columbus we have taken notice of the running/biking trails that seem to be everywhere and booming with people. Apparently the Olentangy trail is 13.75 miles long, starting in Worthington Hills and ending in downtown Columbus! Can't wait to give that a try!!
6. Arena District - This area was recently built and is pretty snazzy. My friend Drew also works in this area and there are areas to live. The Hockey team is housed in this area along with concert venues and the minor league baseball park. The area is pretty awesome and apparently used to be  the Ohio Penitentiary.

7. The North Market - Our friends Drew and Catherine took us to the North Market when we originally came to visit. This place is awesome and reminds me of a downsized version of Seattle's market. A year-round farmer's market/eatery sounds good to me! :)

8. the Olentangy River and the Scioto River - growing up down the road from the Ohio River I became used to being around rivers. Lexington doesn't have any major waterways going through. Columbus has 2! And they both have funny names!
9. Festivals - From what Michael and I have read there are some great festivals in Columbus. I have been to their red, white and boom 4th of July fireworks show and it's pretty impressive. Also something I'm looking forward to is the Ocktoberfest held in German Town (super cute area of Columbus!).
10. Professional Sports Teams - Professional sports teams in Hockey, Soccer and a minor league team. That's a tiny bit of a leg up when compared to Lexington, which has no professional teams, well, unless you count our UK basketball team :)
11. Concerts - Something that Lexington often lacks is a large amount of concert options. Columbus has venues of all sizes and attracts a lot of the musicians I enjoy! I will most definitely be attending more concerts in Columbus!
12. Columbus Zoo - Jack Hanna originally worked at this Zoo! And who doesn't love the zoo? ! i love animals obviously. In 2009 this zoo was named the #1 Zoo to visit!
13. Buckeyes Candy - the perfect combination of chocolate and peanut butter! Yes it's slightly embarrassing for OSU's mascot to be a nut, but I will fully support the candy version! :)
14. OH and the reason we are moving to Columbus --- Riverside Hospital! Where Michael will be working!

Annndddd that's all i've got for now. Do you have anything to add? I'm sure i'm missing out on major attractions/events/etc.

Fill me in, I want to know more!

A tale of 2 Cities

So I thought it would be kinda fun to write 2 different posts about the 2 cities that are important to me right now in my life…

Lexington

And

Columbus.

I thought I would talk about some of the things I’ve loved, will love, haven’t enjoyed, etc. A good way to realize how good I’ve got it but to also help me realize how exciting our future will be.

I decided that I will start with the great city of Lexington, KY.

As I sit here trying to think of where to start, I slightly teared up. So much has happened for me in this city since I was first welcomed in in 2006 when I graduated from high school and came to high school.

Now let’s get this straight first. During my college search my dream college was the University of Miami (OHIO). I got in, however, the financial aid was not at the level that I needed it to be. Therefore I had to pick another more affordable school. I REALLY wasn’t all that interested in the University of Kentucky. Mainly because so many of my high schoolmates would be attending this university. But once my friend Bailey informed me that she enjoyed the campus of UK better than U of L , I had to check it out and before I knew it was packing up my room in in NKY and heading down to Lexington to start college.

I have fallen in love with this city. Not sure if its due the fact that I met my love here. Or if its because I got married here. Owned my first home here. Raised 2 super cute puppies here. Met a ton of my friends here. Or even the scenery (um, hello gorgeous!)

What I do know is that it has been perfect for me!

Lexington is moderately sized. Not large and overwhelming to me like a Chicago/St. Louis/NY type city but not as small as my hometown. And also not as urban as Louisville and Cincinnati. It’s the type of town where you can see people you know out and about all the time or not at all. AND I LOVE RUNNING INTO MY FRIENDS!

See a small town feel…

So now it’s time to start a list, because I like lists, being the task-oriented person that I am !

11.     The University of Kentucky – I spent 4 years earning my undergraduate degrees and 1 year obtaining my masters at this University and I loved my entire time spent here!

22.     My wedding – even though I am not originally from Lexington I knew I wanted to have our wedding in Lexington. It’s a gorgeous setting for love.

33.     Basketball – Can you say 8 National Titles? I knew NOTHING about basketball when I came to Lexington. Now I am fully entwined in basketball. This city breathes for basketball season. Everyone awakens with a full spirit when basketball starts back up. It is so much fun to be involved with such a well-respected and historic basketball program. This is something I will greatly miss, guess I better get used to football season being the important season in Columbus!

44.     CSF – I met almost all of my friends from college at the Christian Student Fellowship, some of these people have played very important roles in my life. For instance, Becca went to CSF before I met her, then I ended up living with her for 3 years and we are still super close. Then there is Vanna who I ended up being her matron of honor in her wedding and she being a bridesmaid in mine. Then there are the countless others, Andy, the Sams, Mike, Beau, LB, Drees, Ferg, etc. You all have played a crucial role in my life and a reason why I love Lexington!

55.     Adrielle – April 14^th marks 2 years that Adrielle and I have been matched in our mentor/mentee relationship. And with our move comes the “official” end of our mentoring relationship. That doesn’t mean anything is over, but I have come to learn so much about this young woman, we have had all kinds over adventures together throughout Lexington from skating, movies, snacks, crafts, baking, dog walking, Wii, etc. I will always cherish the relationship we built in Lexington.

66.     Old homes – One thing I knew I would miss immediately when leaving Lexington were the old homes. I truly enjoy all the old homes in the Chevy Chase, Chinoe, Richmond Road area. Their character, the tall trees, the history, I always dreamed of living in one, and you never know we may end up back here :)

77.     Horse farms – After match day my family, michael’s family, Michael and I went out to dinner at a vineyard in the countryside of KY for dinner. On the way out to the restaurant I teared up. The scenery is gorgeous in Lexington. Lexington is surrounded by horse farms every way around. I love the green rolling hills, the fences, the horses doting the scenery, the beautiful blooming trees, the grand barns that resemble massive houses. It is definitely unlike any other areas I’ve ever seen. It is so peaceful.

88.     Southland Christian Church – A few weeks ago the Larson’s came to Southland with us for church. While walking out Jonathan said, “hey isn’t this your name on the wall here? “. I have been looking for that since it happened! Southland has a wall behind the baptismal that everyone signs when they are baptized. I was baptized at Southland on 11-11-07 and knowing that a piece of my history is there for everyone to see helps remind me that I’ve left my mark. Michael and I will greatly miss our church. The people. Jon Weece.

99.     Castle – There is a real castle on the outskirts of Lexington – how many cities do you know with a full blown castle that isn’t in Europe?!

110.  Legacy Trail – This trail is a great new addition to Lexington. About 17 miles out and back to the horse farm, the scenery of farmland, rolling hills, it’s fun for the whole family!

111.  Local Eateries – Some local eateries we have come to love include Merrick Inn, Ramsey’s, Billy’s Barbeque, Rincon Mexican, Cheapside, DeShas, Sals, Malones, Drakes. Who doesn’t love a good local restaurant?

112.  Weather (spring and fall are may favorite in the bluegrass) – EVERYTHING is in bloom here. It’s wonderful. Unless you have allergies, a lot of people get dragged down during this time of year since Lexington has some of the highest pollen counts in the US! The fall is also pretty awesome here too with all the foliage. I can’t complain :)

113.  The Gorge in close proximity – Michael and I have taken many a trip to the Gorge with the dogs, without the dogs, hiking, camping. I’m sad that it will be more than just an hour car ride away!

114.  Keeneland – Horse racing is one of the 4 things Kentucky is known for (Bluegrass, Basketball, Bourbon, and Horses). Although I’m not the gambling type Keeneland is a great place to dress up, meet up with friends and make a day of the races! And since I’m a creeper and love people watching so much this is definitely the place for it. From the preppy guys in their suits to the girls in their pretty dresses. It’s a fun place for everyone!

115.  Family – I didn’t mean to save this until last but this is definitely a great thing to have around. I can’t count how many times Michael’s family has been able to help us out with things since they are so close by. Watching our dogs, taking us out to dinner, letting us in the house when we are locked out, watching basketball games together, letting us crash their house for bible study parties, cookouts, etc. It is definitely an asset to have the Kasten’s in town and my family only an hour away and my brother an hour away in Louisville. Now the Kasten’s will be 3 hours and my family 2 hours. Although this is still manageable it won’t be as convenient. You think if I offer them a dog babysitting job that would be enough to convince everyone to move up to Columbus?

Well there you have it. My short list version of some of the things I love about Lexington.

I shall return one day Lexington, don't you worry!

What do you love about your “Hometown”?

What do you love about Lexington? 

Well take a look at that...

I cannot believe I have not written a blog post in over a MONTH!! That is crazy. But truly, my life has been crazy the past month, so I apologize for not writing, BUT tomorrow is the first Saturday that I don't have to work!! So I actually have time to sit down and write a blog. But oh where do I start?

So much has happened in the past month, like sooooo much. Ok, well a lot of it was working a ton. But there were also things like oh you know, Michael matching into a surgery residency program at Riverside Hospital in Columbus, OH. Oh you know, no biggie, we will just be moving very shortly. Hopefully into this totally awesome house that we have basically bought, inspection done, just need to finish up the financing. I really hope nothing happens to mess up getting this house because it is adorable! I am a super fan of old houses since I grew up in a 100 year old farm house, old houses have a special place in my heart. "Our" house was built in 1940 and you know what else it has?! A yard! Our dogs can finally roam free, I feel happiness for them :)

So what else besides a job for Michael, a new house for us in a completely new city? Well today I found out that my company will be able to keep me on with them in their large office in Columbus!! What great news! No job search for this girl! I was kind of getting worried that this might happen, but thankful the big man in the sky pulled through, purty awesome!

Oh yeah and about a week ago I turned 24. But that was kind of boring. Busy season birthday = lame. But at least my coworkers were pretty awesome about celebrating it with my in the good old eastern kentucky town of Hazard. 

What else what else? Oh the past 2 weeks i've been a pretty big slacker in the whole training for a half marathon thing that will be happening on April 28th. 10 mile run tomorrow should be interesting. I blame this lack of interest in running due to my job's busyness AND the WILDCATS WINNING THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP! If you were unaware UK won the big tournament and brought home our 8th national championship and our town went crazy! It has been 14 years since we won the last one, and for UK fans that is an eternity. So lets say there were grand celebrations throughout the city involving multiple couch sacrifices, a couple cars, lots of honking and people surfing on top of cars as they moved down the street, lots of cops, public drinking and drunkenness, and an overall since of happiness and togetherness. I loved being in the city to watch the game and celebrate with everyone, this is definitely one huge thing I will miss about Lexington. Luckily they won in our last year in Lexington, what a send off cats!

So that's my quick update for now. Thought i'd fill you in on what's going on. Hopefully I will be a little more regular with my blogging, but now that busy season has settled down it appears that I will be traveling to weddings, baby showers, bridal showers, stock the bar parties, bachelorette parties, family reunions, etc. on the weekends through the next few months. WHEW...I need a vacation!

Valentines Day

So it's cool that I'm finally blogging about Valentines day about, oh, you know a half month after the fact? Well, I want to document it so i can remember it forever and ever! DUH!

Anyway. Here is our Valentines Day story -- 2012.

Oh my oh my was I a lucky girl when I discovered that I would be working in Lexington during the week of Valentines day. As soon as I found out I knew where we needed to have Valentines Day reservations.

3 Suns Bistro in Brannon Crossing.

Why this place? well about 4 years ago this is where Michael and I went on our first ever Valentines Day date. We had been dating for only a week and he took me out for a pretty fancy meal. Spoiled? I realize this.

I knew it would be meaningful to me and hopefully Michael especially since #1 we are highly likely to be moving away in the next couple of months for Michael's residency and #2 Michael and I have issues with restaurants that are important to us closing.

Exhibit A: Buddies Bar and Grill on Tates Creek/High Street - This is where Michael and I went on our very first real date (you know if you don't count fazolis, which I don't!). A few months ago the place went out of business. sad, sad day.

Exhibit B: Murrays Restaurant on Harrodsburg Road - This is where Michael and I ate dinner before he took me back to his house (now our house) to propose. Michael used to work here too. It's a fancy restaurant like Malones where basketball coaches and the like ate. They shut down about a year or more ago. Even sadder day.

Both restaurants were VERY good. Never really had a bad experience there, but now they are gone :(.

Back to the Valentines day story.

Anywho, so I knew we had to hit up one of the few remaining influential restaurants still surviving.  I called and made a reservation about 3 weeks in advance to make sure! i'm a planner!

Also, I wanted to make our Valentines day gifts special this year. So I devised a plan that I got the idea from Pinterest on. It wasn't going to be expensive, just time consuming. I call it "Gifts on the hour"

A week or 2 before Valentines day I started collecting small, random, unique, or useful gifts for Michael. Nothing costing more than $8 or so a piece.

Once I collected about 12 items it was time to set my plan in motion. I selected random times throughout Valentines day that ended up being signifcant to our relationship:
- 6:26 pm (wedding anniversary)
-4:01 pm (Willis' birthday)
-2:08 pm (dating anniversary)
-10:26 am (MIchael's birthday
etc, etc.

I did have to fudge 1 or 2 hours because I was trying to get them to be hourly from about 8 am until 10 pm.

Each gift I wrapped separately and attached a time stamp for when to open and a little note about the gift. I hid everything in the closet and told Michael if he went in there I would seriously hurt him. Cause I'm loving like that! :)

Valentines day approached as I frantically wrapped and finished things up the night before to ensure the perfect giving. Valentines morning Michael woke up with me (he had to be into the hospital an hour later than I did for work) and we headed to Magees (a local bakery) for breakfast to use a Groupon that was expiring on that day.

Michael got a yummy egg and bagel sandwich while I munched on a delicious pumpkin muffin. We chatted and it was wonderful to spend time together before we went our separate ways and started our busy days. As we were saying goodbye I ran to my car and pulled out a card and a brown paper sack. The note told Michael where to look once he got home and addressed the rules of the gift game. In the brown sack I gave him our camera to document everything since I'd miss a good part of it. He was confused but I think he thought the idea was cool.

Sadly though and to my great disappoint he didn't have time to go home after breakfast. I pouted, saying my hard work wasn't going to workout right. Luckily he only missed about 3 gifts and headed home. So he just opened them all at once!

I would get random texts throughout the day and pictures of him with some of the gifts. It made me smile. Here are a few with some explanation:

After coming back from our honeymoon Michael used my toothbrush by mistake. Silly gift! :)

When in Louisville for Michael's marathon we tried on crazy sunglasses at Lynn's Paradise Cafe

This is silly, acting like socks are mittens! :)

This is the gum Michael ALWAYS chewed when we were dating, the smell of it brings back great feelings.

Willis smelling the "bouquet" of tootsie roll pops. I mean a guy deserves a bouquet of something too! Carson is so jealous in the background!

fazoli's giftcard.... no awkwardness about who is going to pay... i had it this time :)

A canvas with the words to our first dance song on it...didn't turn out as nice as I'd hoped though :(

Since it is busy season I worked until around 7 and headed home to get all fancied up. I couldn't wait to talk to Michael about my gifts and get ready for our dinner (which the location I kept secret from Michael).

I arrived home to see a BOUNTY of Valentines day gifts. I was like woah! He went super way overboard. It was intense. I felt SO very much spoiled.

Look at this, I mean it's crazy!:

I have been talking about wanting a toaster oven forever, our ghetto $10 toaster just doesn't do it sometimes. He also gave me socks, cause he complains about how dirty and nasty mine are. I don't even know how it happens. Its not like i walk around outside shoeless. Crazy. He also bought 2 bottles of wine and a bottle of dark malibu since I was finishing up the bottle I received for my 21st birthday! Oh and he also got my CHOCOLATES! I have never received chocolates before and was so excited about this!! And lastly....boot polish. Cause my boots needed it, it's true! So super random assortment all so wonderful!

Once Michael and I got all fancy I handed him a gift that I had timed for him to open before we got in the car. It was a CD "mix tape" of songs that were important to us, I even put a picture of us on the case. I have NEVER made him a CD before, I felt like I was in 8th grade. It was awesome. Unfortunately Michael's CD player in the car only likes to play to about song 5 on the CD. BUMMER.

Once we got in the car I gave him another gift. He, still unknowing as to where he was driving  me, unwrapped the gift to find a picture frame with a picture of a map and the 3 Sun's Bistro logo on it. So now he knew where to drive me!

Now is the unfortunate part of the night, slightly disappointing. We arrived at the restaurant at 8, our reservation time, and had to wait about 20 minutes for our table. Even though there were about 4 empty tables. The place was VERY understaffed and VERY unorganized. It kind of made me feel bad for them. However, the only accordion player in the city of Lexington was playin' away in his sparkly shirt. He was a very sweet man!

 Once we finally got seated it took us FOREVER to get any service. Michael and I were polite, but also starving. We didn't receive bread or anything until about 8:45 and our food at 9-9:15ish. 2 other couples at different tables got up and left after they had ordered because the service was terrible. It was like I was foreseeing the future of 3 Sun's. Oh restaurant. Please don't fail!
We still took pictures of ourselves though while waiting:

Our food was mediocre. But we enjoyed each others company and had a great time. I know many of you are Valentines Day haters, but you know what, I enjoy showering my spouse with love. (it's not like I don't regularly, but its just another day that you can make extra special!)

So there's that....my long Valentines day story!

Thankful Thursday!

Despite a pretty tiring workday today (worked from 8:15am to 7:45pm at the client) and a icky run at 5:45 am this morning I can say to sum it up that I can find wonderful things in my day. And the optimism continues.

Maybe my optimism can be somewhat annoying, but on days when we are working 12 hours I think it is a way better option than being a negative Nancy.

Things that made my day:

1.     Let start with the big one, cause you know it really was pretty awesome. Today I became an AUNT! Isn’t that weird sounding? No, none of my siblings had a child, Michael’s oldest sister Jennifer did! She was a week late with no symptoms still so they induced her on Tuesday hoping to have a child by Wednesday, which also happened to be Leap day! Well after hours of waiting – almost 48 – Baby Antoine entered the world on March 1^st around 5am (Seattle time of course). What a great way to start the day. I nearly shrieked with joy when I received this pictures of little Antoine:

2.     An employee at our client, who dresses cute and such complimented me on my shoes today. It made me feel good. You can’t bring me down work!

3.     I was able to run 5 miles before my work day even began. Yes the run felt AWFUL, which I blame on mozzarella sticks, French fries, and mcDonald’s hot fudge sundae (I hadn’t had ice cream all week and was really craving it guys, how bad!) that I had consumed the night before at dinner. But you know what, I’m glad I got a significant run in during the middle of the week! (i am so sweaty and gross and look like death warmed over):

4.     I am 75% through my “February” book. I am counting this as keeping up with my resolution. I sure hope you accept this. Still enjoying Mindy Kaling’s book, I read it on the touch pad during our 30 minute drive to the client and in the hotel room at night before bed.

5.     My fortune cookie from the Chinese Buffet we had for lunch today was actually a fortune for once. And you didn’t even need to add the usual “in bed” at the end, it was sort of implied! :)

6.     Um hello guys. The sun. it’s shining. Like crazy. And it’s so warm. My lunch break rides in the car to lunch are spent smiling and gabbing about how much I am loving this.

7.     And it wouldn’t be an Ashley post without some dogs. Loving that I have an awesome hubby that knows I can’t get through a week without some pictures of my pups!

8.     I’m about to go out to eat pizza with coworkers and watch UK. Michael is at the game and it’s Senior Night! I love me some Darius and Eloy! Go Cats!

And the fun don't stop!

Whew! Guys, life has been crazy busy!

Like I have been so busy Michael has taken it upon himself to clean our house 3 times!! I haven't cleaned it in sooo long! But things have been good the past couple of weeks!

Yes, I am working 55 + hours a week...but I'm finding that work life balance they talk about except its like. Workkkkkkkkk 8-7 then hurry workout....then doing something fun...then go to bed...do it all over again!

So why not get caught up on what i've been doing?

I have a hefty amount of pictures on my phone so here we go!

- I have been running...well when time permits

- I have been trying to cook new recipes...well when time permits --- Tonight we made spaghetti squash with chicken, peas, broccoli, sundried tomatoes, and garlic and it was tastey and you couldn't tell it was healthy. Michael even gave me a high five.


- I have been patiently awaiting becoming an auntie! Michael's sister is due on the 21st!! whoop whoop! exciting!

- I have been trying to read but failing due to my busyness and trying to incorporate fun into my life.

- I went to the UK vs Ole Miss Basketball game on Saturday. Walked straight from work to the game. It was awesome and it made me a very happy lady.

- I have been taking full advantage of our free work meals on Saturdays. Um hello can you say Panera bagel + half a pumpkin muffin + fruit for breakfast?!?! So I definitely wasn't that hungry for lunch and filled up on pudding with bananas, cool whip, and nilla wafers!

- I have been having a movie night with my love Becca, with wine, and peanut butter m&ms and cuddling under blankets.

- I have been counting down the days until Michael's match day ---25 if you'd really like to know

-I've been mentoring my girl Adrielle. Bowling and getting our nails done all in one week?! super fun!
  

- I've been celebrating birthdays...you know...Kara's birthday...cause she's awesome

- I've been enjoying large margaritas!
 
- I've been playing scrabble with awesome friends...you know like real life words with friends?!


- I've been celebrating Valentines day (post to come about this wonderful day)


 -I've been enjoying the little things in life like Dunkaroos!


- I've been visiting Columbus to visit the very Cute Drew and Catherine Hamilton while enjoying a tour of the city and some fancy ice cream from Jeni's and yummy lunch from North Market (Columbus has reached the top of our list of places for Michael's residency)(this is gooey cake ice cream!)

I've been spending a TON of quality time with my hubby since I have been home the passed 2 weeks and it's been wonderful. Just the perfect work pick-me-up I needed!

 
It's been great! It's been crazy busy, but I'm young, I can handle this. At least I'm having a good time!!

Goodnight friends!