Christmas...Someday!

Someday I hope to be HOME for Christmas, surrounded by friends and family and will throw a fabulous  party much like the one depicted below....I better start growing out my hair!






But for now, we will be traveling back to Iowa to celebrate with our families...
Clang! Clang! Clang! Went the trolley!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Well, here I am with another overdue post! First, I would like to thank those you have helped support my etsy shop Mitty McC! I had my first non family/non acquaintance/non friend purchase yesterday! Keep spreading the word for me. My newest addition to the shop is a friend ship bracelet set. If you have an ideas or suggestions of what you think I should sell, let me know.




I have finally made an official announcement to work that I will be going to graduate school at OSU this fall for my Master's in Social Work as a full time student. They have allowed me to stay on part time. I am very excited! School starts on August 22nd, so wish me luck...I think the academia world will be a big adjustment from Corporate America, but I am looking forward to the change of pace. I am not 100% sure what I will want to do exactly, but I would like to combine my paralegal certificate and experience with the social work field. I am meeting with an advisor on Tuesday. I just bought a book bag and am now counting down the days until the fun begins! This also means, I will probably be blogging more to help avoid doing school work... Dan and I have had a pretty laid back summer. I went Pittsburgh for a bachelorette party, and participated in a pole dancing class. Don't let anyone fool you, that is hard stuff! I took the next level of improv classes in Columbus. Dan and I have played movie trivia. We also made it back to Iowa over the 4th of July for my best friend before preschool's wedding and to see our families and friends. It was crazy hot, but a lot of fun! The wedding was beautiful as well! The theme song for our trip was Call Me Maybe! We also got free tickets to the Airborne Toxic Event last weekend. It was a blast!


 

Next weekend we are going to have a houseful of visitors from Iowa (Jamie, Katie, Derek, and Vanessa) ...I am resting up now to make sure I can keep up! We are going to go to the Heart concert, sing karaoke, go to the North Market, drink and eat like champions!

 Things we are looking forward to in the upcoming months:
-Caitlin and Zane's Wedding in Pittsburgh
 -Mumford and Son's Concert in Columbus
-School Starting
-Going to Madison for the UNI/Wisconsin Game

 Things we are enjoying at the moment:
 -HBO Go (especially Big Love and The Sopranos)
-Of Monsters and Men
-First Aid Kit
-Sweet Corn
-Blueberry Pies
 -Summer Shandy
-Weekend Coffee
-Nightly Walks in our neighborhood

Limboing in Purgatory

So begins a New Year! And along with the new year comes reflecting on the past year and looking forward to what is to come.
I have been reading a lot of memoirs lately, and most of the time I think to myself I could do this, I have a lot of thoughts, opinions, and strange stories I could write about....Then I thought, I have a blog, I can write on there...

This last year Dan and I had a few opportunities come up that we thought would bring us out of Ohio and closer to home. But as luck would have it, it just didn't happen that way. We were (maybe still are) disappointed, but we have decided that wee need to make the most of our time here, while we still have it. Never in my life would I have thought that I would be living in Ohio, let alone more than 4 years in Ohio, but here I am getting close to year 5. And though it seems like EVERYONE we know are moving on, having children and getting married, we feel stuck. Ohio is now synonymous with purgatory. We always thought this was going to be our stepping stone onto the next best thing. I am starting to think this may be this is it!

We have really been thinking about what we want to do and are thankful we have the time to do that. We are learning to be PATIENT and are realizing that we need to stop being frustrated that we may not be doing what everyone else is doing or that we aren't closer to home. We decided now is the time that we can try new things. For example, I signed up for an improv class, Dan wants to do an open mic comedy night and so on. We can keep making plans for future, but we are learning when things don't go as planned that we should use it as another opportunity to try something else.

Columbus is a lovely city. There is a lot of good food and places to see. And most importantly, Columbus is fairly cheap*!
So until the next thing happens, we will be here limboing in purgatory!


*Don't believe me?!? You should come visit!!!

Shaking my fist!!!

That is right, I am bringing back the fist shake.
Here is a list of things that I am raising my clenched hand up and am shaking it violently to...Just like this!

1). Jack and Jill was the second highest grossing film last weekend. This movie which looks like one Tracy Jordan from 30 Rock would have starred in, was filling up theaters. Don't get me worng I used to love Adam Sandler movies, but when I saw this preview, I thought it was a joke, a really bad joke...What is wrong with you America?!?



2) Leggings as pants...They are OK for SOME people under LONG shirts and short dresses. They are not pants and I don't care what to know what you look like under your clothes...

3)Community has been shelved...Don't get me wrong I can't wait for 30 Rock to come back, but can't Whitney go away instead?

4) Nicholas Cage...You are awful!

5)Congress blocking more nutritious school lunches. Wow...Who is running this country??

6) The drivers in Columbus...You are awful!

7)Fur Vests...I don't get it...You look like an ewok, or a wookie if you are a tall person...



8) People that rant and rave on the internet...Wait...Wahh?


That's it for now. I couldn't think of anything else to say. I was going to try to get to 10, but I am tired. Yes, I am shaking my fist at myself right now...

Fall has arrived...

SUNDAYS are my most dreaded days, and they always have been! I think it is because it means my weekend is over and it is back to the grindstone...

Last weekend we went to Akron for John and Lisa's wedding. It was a beautiful day for a wedding and it was a wonderful wedding! The reception had the drink the Sidecar, which I never had before, but it was delicious!
We also went to the cracker barrel for breakfast the next day. It was delicious!

This weekend we were able to stream the UNI/SDSU game on ESPN3. We had a few friends over to watch the game. It was a lot of fun! I also bought some more yarn at the Knitters Mercantile for gifts for the nieces and nephews! We also had some amazing Venezuelan food at the Yerba Buena food truck today. I love me some plantains!

For Halloween this year, I think Dan and I will be Pete and Pete from the Adventures of Pete and Pete. I will be big Pete and Dan will be Little Pete.




For work, I think I am going to do Toddlers & Tiaras. This may require a fake tan....


Other than getting excited about seeing Aziz Ansari next weekend, boot and sweater season, digging Foster the People, and getting sick of horrible Columbus driving and people obsessing over their new iPhones...There isn't much going on here!

The Manda/Ina Project

Back in December I talked about Julie/Julia, and what neat idea I thought she had. So with this entry I feel like I pretty much ripped off the idea, but it was fun!

I wouldn't call myself a cook or even a baker. I baked a lot when I was younger, mostly for the Hardin County Fair when I was in 4H. My mom is a great cook! She made most of our meals and desserts growing up, and even convinced my siblings and I to eat beet cake.

In High School I would bake, but it wasn't from scratch but it was easy enough and I would get brownies out of the deal.

In college, I really didn't have an interest in cooking or baking...
Over the least few years I have developed an irrational fear of baking for others. What if someone finds my hair in their food, they wold clearly know it was my hair! Also what if everyone hates what I make, but feels bad and eats it anyway? Or worst of all what if I get everyone sick?

So lately, things have been a little stressful at work. And as most people do, you vent to other coworkers. One of the other managers for another department and I have been spending a lot of time together lately, mostly because we are trying to implement new procedures and our departments directly effect one another. I notice every time I go to her office she has baked goods. I always ask her why she bakes so much an she says is it is relaxing for her and she ENJOYS doing it. I always tell her how I should bake more...

A few weeks ago a mini-series on HBO called Mildred Pierce started. I honestly didn't know much about it, but it took place in the 30s (I like the hairstyles and dress of that time) and star Kate Winslet, so I thought why not...I won't tell you about the story, but Mildred does a lot of cooking. She made really good pies! As I watched the show, I kept thinking to myself I could/should make a really good pie! It also made me think of the movie The Waitress with Keri Russell and she also made pies. And when I watched the movie I was like I could/should do that!

Like I said earlier, work has been pretty stressful lately. I like to bring bagels or doughnuts for everyone when things are like this, but this time I wanted to do something different.
When I lived in Milwaukee, my roommate Alli always made the best scones. They were the best scones I had ever had! I asked her the recipe and she sent it. I also found a a recipe for orange cranberry scones (my favorite) from Barefoot Contessa (Dan's Favorite ;0)).

Dan was playing in a concert for most of the day Sunday, so I decided that would be the best time to start baking (you know what they say about too many cooks in the kitchen!).
And bake I did... I made a lot of scones and a few muffins (in case someone did not like scones).

I knew I was probably in over my head, because I wasn't even sure how to zest a lemon, or what that meant really...Thankfully Dan was able to educate me.
Once I got over the initial fear of actually trying something new, I was fine. I really enjoyed it!! And Holy Moly do we have a lot scones!!! They were a big hit, so I will probably keep up the tradition!










Earlier this week, Dan was at band practice again and we still had some lemons ( I am a zesting machine now!), so I decided I was going to try some lemon bars from Barefoot Contessa...

Though I hit some snags (my room temperature butter was a little too warm, I mixed the sugar with the flour at first instead of the butter, etc.) I think they turned out great!








I learned that we should probably invest in a zester, whisk and probably a nice mixer. the hand mixer does not do well with cold butter! And most importantly, there were no hairs in scones, no one got sic, and everyone liked them!

So what should I try next? I am thinking the chicken salad!

Spring has Sprung!

And now it is April!

We have been keeping busy with visitors already this month! Don, Dan's Dad, came and visited us last weekend. It was really great to see him. We ate a lot of good food and went to a Blue Jackets game. We had the highest seats in the place, and we got some free food. Even though the Blue Jackets lost pretty bad, there were some good fights, and the whole day was pretty fun!

Our friend Sarah, who moved to Kansas last fall, is here this weekend for a conference at OSU. It is great to hang out again. We have also decided we are gong to make our own reality show much like the Real Housewives on Bravo!, keep your eye out for us!

Our bowling league has ended, and our team got 4th out of 8 teams! We are pretty proud of ourselves.

March Madness is over, which means College Basketball is over. The tournament was crazy with all the upsets and my bracket imploded, but I really enjoyed the watching the games. I took Friday the 18th off work and watched Basketball and crocheted all weekend! It was amazing!

Dan and I got a Kinect a few weeks back. Pretty much it is a Wii, but better, because you don't have to have a controller. We have the Sports game and Dance Central. It has been a lot of fun. The sports game has Bowling, Track and Filed, Beach Volleyball, Soccer, Table Tennis, and Boxing. It is a really good workout! It will be interesting to see what other games will come out.

Dan has been blogging away on his other blog: Advertisements Explained. Please check it out and pass it along if you haven't already!

We have also been throwing the idea of moving closer to home someday. I think we just miss our families ad friends and would like to be closer to home. Fortunately, we have good jobs here and don't have a real reason to move just yet. Hopefully, someday soon we can make it closer to Iowa! If it was meant to be then it will happen, I guess!


That's all for now!

Like a Fox....

I know I have been talking a lot about how I want to be more crafty. Well, I finally feel like I have made some progress.

Dan helped me move my Desk out of the guest room and set up a little craft area for me in our living room. I like the setup, because I can still watch TV or Dan play Xbox while I am crafting!





First, I made some hair clips for my nieces out of buttons. I just needed to by the special bobby pins and buttons. I used a glue gun to attach the button to the bobby pins.
It was pretty easy, and I liked picking out the fancy buttons to use.






My next adventure was making magnets. I made some out of bottle caps and some out of the decorative glass pebbles. The bottle cap ones were fairly easy. I just need to sand out the inside of the bottle cap, glue a nut a magnet then to the back of the bottle cap. Next, I will try to flip the magnet over and put a picture in and fill it with resin. I just need warmer weather so I can open our windows, so I don't gas myself with the fumes of the casting resin.





The glass magnet were my favorites, I cut out cool designs from magazines and glued this to the back of the pebble with fabric glues. That way the glue will not eat through the paper. then I glued a magnet to the back of the paper.





I also started to make paper beads out of magazines. I love finding pages that will make interesting beads.






Lastly, I started making stencils and making T-shirts! This was a hard process. I found the template online, then printed them off on card stock. I cut out the stencil with an exact-o razor and then taped the stencil to the shirt and used a roller brush to paint on the shirts. I am very pleased with how they turned out. We have a white chair from Ikea that I would like to stencil on, but am not sure what design to stencil on. Any suggestions? I did get this book, Stencil 101, so I am excited to keep stenciling things! My nephew is obsessed with Lawrence Welk, so I think I am going to try and make him a shirt for his birthday!








When I finally finish my granny square blanket I will post pictures, but it won't be for awhile.



What are you making? What should I try next?

Side Swiped...

Well...This week went pretty fast! Monday was Valentine's day and I did get some roses and really good chocolate. Dan got an art print and some Xbox points. We went out to eat the Chile Verde Cafe, and it was delicious!
All in all a pretty good week.

That is until Wednesday night... Dan and I are in a bowling league with my work. We play every Wednesday, and it pretty fun. On our way to the bowling alley on Wednesday night we were side swiped...There was a car trying to get off the exit onto the interstate, but we were there. Most cars would slow down and go behind, which this car eventually did, but then it went around us came up on our left side, came into our lane and hit our car and then drove off...
WHO DOES THAT?!??!

It was probably once of the strangest thing that have happened to us while driving. I don't think Dan saw it coming, as most of it occurred in his blind spot. Once I saw the car that hit us was not going to stop and in fact sped away, I yelled at Dan to get the license plates number while I tried to call 911.

I called 911, and it was strange experience. I never called them before so I am not sure what I expecting, but it was weird...
I hadn't seen the damage that was done and was expecting the worst, but it was not as bad as I had imagined it.

The officer came out and gave us the info of the person with the license plate number we provided, it was for a Hispanic woman, but I saw a white male driving. Which doesn't mean it wasn't her car, but we aren't 100% sure we had the right plate number.
I don't think any charges or tickets will be issued to the person, but our insurance company is looking into it...

Not sure if we will fix it or not, because in all honesty it isn't super bad, and would rather get a couch.

Here are some pictures I took aright after we pulled over at the Speedway gas station and were waiting for the police officer to come check it out.







We were lucky that this is all the damage that was done, and that we only missed 7 frames of bowling, and could play our whole second game!

Feb, R U Ary?

Well we are well into the month of February, so I thought I should probably write about something...

Last week Abbie and Alexis came to visit me and it was a lot of fun! It makes me miss when I could see them everyday!

The weather has been really cold here, it really feels like Iowa here...Dan and I ordered new coats, and they should arrive next week, just in time for our 50 degree weather....The ONLY reason I will be sad winter is over, is that Boot season will be over....BOOOO! Speaking of which Zappos and Piperlime are having sales!

I am still trying to get through the Freedom book, for the book club I joined...

Lately I have been feeling a lot like Jessie Spano at work, minus the caffeine pills. There are lot of projects with deadlines looming and I am finding myself saying,"There's not enough time...there isn't any time...." a lot. Don't worry I have people checking in on me!



I am working with Abbie and Alexis on planning Sarah's Bachelorette party on May 7. WE are going to go to the Cubs/ Reds game. I will cheer for the Reds. I want to make some schnazzy shirts for it...Any ideas?!?

Dan and I will probably do the same thing we did last year for Valentine's Day! It should be nice, and I will probably blog about it!



Now that February is almost over, March is well on its way here, which means March Madness is coming! YES!!!!!

Put A Bird On It!

We just watched the first two episodes of Portlandia. The show pokes fun at hipsters, yuppies, and of course Portland. It was pretty funny. Below is a clip found especially funny. I do love putting birds on things!!

Put it in Print!

Happy New Year!
My birthday is very close to the new year, it is January 3rd. I am not sure I am a huge fan of the date, but it works. I have never been one to get overly excited about my birthday, but I had a good one this year. You see, by the time my birthday rolls around most people are tired of celebrating things (Christmas Eve, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Years). Also it usually the first day back from Christmas Break and when most holiday sales and deals end. People are usually not happy it is January 3rd. Looking back, I do remember getting a lot of re-gifted lotions and bath gels from Bath and Body Works, mostly in the scent of Country Apple...Any way my parents were always good about not combining my Christmas gifts with my birthday gifts. I even had a pool party once! I may not have had a pool party this year, but it was still fun. Dan and I went out to eat at Surly Girl. We came home and I opened some gifts! Thank you to all who sent me something or wished me a happy birthday! It means a lot, especially because deep down I know you were dreading to go back to work/school...




One of things Dan got me was the book Lotta Prints. I am super excited to try the stuff in there, I think it will be a lot of trial and error, but it will be an adventure. Maybe I will blog about it!



I have always liked prints. In fact when I was a Textile and Apparel major, I wanted to be in charge of picking out fabrics for designs. But in order to finish the major and minor I had to master sewing...


I love the aesthetic of things in nature. I like prints with leaves, birds, owls, trees and flowers.
Here are some examples of what I am trying to describe.

Right now I am in love with Orla Kiely! I just cannot bring myself to sped $50.00 or more on a wallet right now...







I am also thinking of getting a new bedspread for the guest room. I love this quilt:





A friend I went to high school with has a great Etsy page, Urban Ecology, with cute and decorative pillows:





And there is always Amy Butler:







Do you have any suggestions of anything I should check out? What is your aesthetic?