Spicing it up!

I thought I would mess around with my blog today and spice it up a little (the brown background was growing a little bland in my opinion).  I think the orange definitely makes a statement! :)  I also added a short bio of both Kevin and I.

I am also so excited for this upcoming weekend...we have a date night scheduled for Friday!  Yay!  Kevin and I haven't gone out for a really nice dinner in months and we (actually I) finally decided it was time to go to a nicer place than the Old Bag of Nails in Delaware. :)  We are going to Barcelona in the German Village (near downtown).  I love this place, and haven't been there forever! :)

Saturday, I am dragging Kevin to the Health and Fitness Expo to see Bethenny Frankel speak (Real Housewives of New York City, and New York Times Bestselling Author).  I just purchased her book 'Naturally Thin' a few weeks ago, and read through it at lightning speed.  It gets two thumbs up from me!  I definitely recommend it.  It is a great way to think about food, cooking, and exercise without having to deprive yourself of the things you really enjoy.  Hopefully I can get a picture with her...if so I will post one next week! :)

Hope you enjoy the new look of my blog!!

Ohio State Fair :)

We have been so busy this summer!! We have had every weekend booked with something since mid-July, and only have one free weekend until we leave for Jamaica in about a month. We have managed to squeeze in some time at the Ohio State Fair this year though, which is always a must for us! It’s kind of trashy and dirty, and just looking at the food booths can clog your arteries, but Kevin and I always have a blast!

Two weekends ago we went to do our usual Fair night. We always have to go on the Sky Ride, ride the Ferris Wheel, see the cows and sheep, and of course…ruin our diets with some Fair food!  Actually¸ this year we didn’t get too out of control…since we are headed to a tropical paradise in a month…but we managed to squeeze in few fun things.

Here are some fun pictures of our first night at the Ohio State Fair.

Here's our obligatory self pic :)

The Ferris Wheel...a must do!

There's me on the Ferris Wheel...with downtown C-Bus behind me!

Kevin having fun on the Ferris Wheel!

Sheep!

Baby calf.  Week old and ADORABLE! :)

Shhhh...they're sleeping....

Butter sculpture in the dairy barn!

Kevin with a really big Pumpkin :)

Everything terrible for you...but do they really need to deep fry PB&J???

Yes, they even had chocolate covered bacon...

And yes, someone was dying to try it :)

Riding the Sky Ride!

Gotta love the fair!

We actually did go back again this past Thursday, but not to tour the cow barn, or sample bad for you Fair food…but actually went to see one of my favorite bands of all time, Heart! This is the second year in a row that we’ve seen them, and they are amazing! A lot of my favorite songs are older than I am, but Ann Wilson sounds the same as she did back in the 70’s…if not better! Here is Kevin’s review on his blog of the concert…I 100% agree with everything he had to say!
http://www.softrock933.com/pages/pp_kevinkirschner.html

Until next time! Hopefully I will be able to post an update before our vacation :)

When I grow up...

What do I want to be when I grow up??? That’s a question I’ve been asking myself since I was about 4 years old! When I was a kid I always wanted to be a veterinarian (since I’ve always LOVED animals). Well…when I was about 10 I realized that you actually would have to deal with blood, vomit, and worst of all putting animals down. I decided that was definitely not the career path for me! I decided to just have pets when I grew up...now, with two dogs and two cats, I think I’ve definitely achieved that!

Going through high school I briefly wanted to be a flight attendant, but then read that most airlines don’t like to employ flight attendants taller than 5’9”. Being almost 6” I realized that was out! After flying on the small Embraer planes with Delta and American, I am glad about that! I can’t even stand up straight on those planes!

When I got to Ohio University, I majored in Communications with a Business (Human Resources) minor. When I got close to graduating I decided to try and find a job as a recruiter. For me, it seemed that every HR related job required ‘X’ years of experience. Hmm….I just graduated college; I have exactly 0 years experience! So, I took a job with Enterprise Rent-A-Car in their “Management Trainee” program (whom I had interned with the summer between my junior and senior year of college). I started full time in Baltimore, MD and lived with my best friend Danielle. After working there for a few months, I realized that this was definitely NOT the career path I wanted to take! To put it in perspective, this was a typical day: wake up and get into work between 7 and 7:30 (offices opened at 8), spend the day picking up grouchy people from body shops and dealerships, get your butt chewed out by at least 5 customers a day, and then get chewed out by your manager about not selling enough damage waiver (aka: car rental insurance coverage), leave work at about 7PM and do it all over again the next day. It was an exhausting job, but I managed to stick it out in Baltimore and Columbus for almost four years overall. (Kevin and I met there, so it wasn’t all bad!)

When I left there, I had gotten a job with BMW Financial Services as a Learning and Development Coordinator. I had finally gotten a contract job in an HR field (albeit training…but it was close enough for me!) At first it took a whole lot of getting used to. I was working shorter hours, and was in a typical office setting. I think I would have loved that job from the beginning, but there was one girl I worked with who was a total know-it-all “biz-natch” that made me dread going to work. Once she left (was canned) I LOVED it. I got to coordinate all the internal training sessions, helped set up and implement the training database, and scheduled employees for internal and external training. To this day, it was the best job I’ve ever had. Unfortunately, since it was a contract job, they really didn’t like you to stay in the same position for more than a year. After 7 months, my managers started pushing me to apply to get hired on full time with BMW. The bad part about this was the fact that all entry level full-time jobs were in the call center. I KNEW taking a call center job was going to be horrible, but if I could stick it out for a year, they told me to start applying for jobs in different departments. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stick it out for a year. I hated it so much I interviewed for another job about two weeks after I started. I got hired at L-3 (my current employer) about 8 months later as an Engineering Aide / Project Coordinator.

I have been at L-3 for almost 4½ years now. I like aspects of my job, and I dislike a lot too. It’s ok, just not what I envisioned myself doing (ever). When I was in school, my dad wanted me to major in MIS or IT, and I told him that I didn’t want to be sitting behind a computer in a cubicle 5 days a week. Welcome to my reality!

I know I would love to get into full-time event planning (wedding / corporate events) because I love doing that kind of stuff, and it’s something I know I have a knack for. This is the fourth year I have been on the Employee Appreciation team at L-3, and I love doing that. I get to plan all the outside events for our office…and it’s a lot of fun! I know in order to be truly happy, I would have to bite the bullet and actually start a business of my own. It’s been something I’ve been talking about forever, so here’s hoping I actually get the courage to do it someday! So, yes, I actually do know what I want to do when I grow up…maybe putting it out here will give me the push I need to start!

Happy 4th of July!

What a fun Fourth we've had!  We've definitely kept ourselves busy.

Friday Kevin and I went shopping and had a drink over at Easton Towne Center!  Instead of going downtown and fighting the crazy traffic home, we decided to have dinner at home and enjoy some flag cake. :)  (I make it every year!)

Saturday we went to the Columbus Crew game with our friends Brandon and Lexi for Red, White, and Crew!  We had a great time and saw some great fireworks.  It helped that they won too! :)  GO CREW!

On the 4th, we woke up to a swollen doggy.  Mullen had either eaten a spider or got stung by a bee and her whole jaw swelled up.  So, we made our way over to the emergency vet for some shots and Benedryl.  I'm happy to report she is back to normal today! 

My Poor Girl :(

After hanging with the puppies, Mullen was feeling better so we finally went to go see Toy Story 3 in 3D.  It was fantastic!  We ended the night with dinner at a Japanese Steak House and viewing the Delaware fireworks from our front yard! 

What a great weekend.  Happy Birthday America!

Veggie-girl no more!

“Wait a sec…WHAT?!?!” was the response from my family and friends. I have been what I term a “pseudo-vegetarian” or “pescatarian” for over 7 years now. To be honest, it wasn’t that difficult to start. I haven’t eaten red meat (steak, burgers, hotdogs, etc) for almost 20 years. Pork just gradually fell out of the equation somewhere along the way as well. Actually, I think the last time I had a pork chop was over at my friend Helen’s house in high school. But, I did remain loyal to chicken and turkey since I wasn’t a big fan of seafood.

When I moved to Baltimore after college, I realized that seafood wasn’t all that bad (I think it was the crab cakes…mmmm!). I started incorporating more seafood into my diet, and therefore started eating less chicken. I have also always been a huge fan of vegetarian entrees (with the exception of the ones that include tofu…yuck), and would look for them wherever I went out to eat.

When I moved to Columbus a year later, I was going to be living by myself. I honestly decided somewhere along the drive from Baltimore to Columbus that I wasn’t going to eat meat any longer. I wasn’t really enjoying it, and I had no interest in preparing it for myself. Done! I’m not eating meat anymore. And I stuck with it…

Lately though, I had been rethinking that decision. I know I don’t get enough protein. Even though I do eat fish, I probably only eat 2 or 3 servings a week. I was tired of getting sick all the time, and also knew I had to change something if I was going to get pregnant anytime soon. I was also tired of my stomach always feeling bloated and bothering me. Cooking two different meals for Kevin and I has gotten old too. Although he is more than happy to eat my veggie fare now and then, he is a meat-lover at heart. Another (albeit vain) reason is the fact that I want to feel confident when spending pretty much a whole week in a bikini when we go to Jamaica. I’m not there yet. I work out consistently, and have not seen any results from my workouts. I can run 4-5 miles, work out on an elliptical, lift, and still see nothing. It is true “You are what you eat!” I know I needed to lessen my carb intake, and increase my protein. My motto always was I don’t eat meat, so I can eat as many carbs as I want! :)

So, last Sunday I took the plunge. I got myself a piece of salmon for dinner, got Kevin some chicken, and he was going to barbeque both of them. I told him I wanted to try a bite of his chicken. When the time came, I was actually nervous! I ate the whole bite he gave me, while he looked at me wide-eyed the entire time and thought I was going to spit it out. I didn’t, and was also surprised it was actually good!

Now, I’m back eating white meat (sans pork) again. It’s going well, and although I’ve been a little tired the past couple days…overall, I feel a lot better! Kevin and my parents are very excited. My diet has always been somewhat limiting for family gatherings. I am also excited because this opens up a whole new realm of dishes I can order at restaurants. There are quite a few places where I only get one thing every time we go. It should be interesting!!

Now, I’m going out to get some KFC!! (Just kidding!)

WDW...again!

We decided it would be a great idea to spend a part of Memorial Day weekend at one of our favorite places…Orlando and Walt Disney World! We left Columbus on Wednesday morning and flew down to Orlando. We got in (a little ahead of schedule!) and grabbed our rental car. I thought it would be a great idea to reserve the “lock low and go” car with Dollar. This rate guaranteed us a mid-size car or larger. Well, when we got to the rental counter, the guy told us we had the option of a Grand Marquis or a minivan. This is what Kevin chose…(don’t I look thrilled…)

We drove over to the hotel and our room wasn’t ready yet, so we went over to Downtown Disney and grabbed some lunch at Wolfgang Puck’s Café. It was great to have lunch and spend the afternoon walking around Downtown Disney! At about 3 PM we went back to the hotel and checked in. We had a wonderful view!

Our Room!

The view!

We could see Epcot from our room!

Tower of Terror

More views (it was a gorgeous day!)

After checking in, we put on our suits and went down to the pool bar and grabbed a couple beers, and hung out by the pool. We ended up in the pool for a little bit, and took a cat nap on the loungers. It was a great way to spend the afternoon! We ended the day by having a nice dinner at the sports bar in the hotel, then enjoying a rum and ginger ale outside on the back deck of the hotel. It was a wonderful and relaxing evening!

Dusk in Orlando

Relaxing night!

The next day we woke up early and headed to the Magic Kingdom. This was our first time staying off property, so we drove to the park and paid for tickets at the Transportation and Ticket center, then boarded the monorail with everyone else and went to the Magic Kingdom. It was pretty cool doing it that way.

Monorail Entrance

Magic Kingdom Entrance

We had a wonderful day! We went on all our favorite rides, and enjoyed great weather all day long.  Here are some fun pictures!

We were excited to ride Space Mountain!

The Castle!

Kev's favorite

Yay!

Mmmm...Mickey Ice Cream!

Me having fun!

View of the castle from TTA

We know how to have fun!

I was able to book reservations a few months ago for Chef Mickey’s and we headed over there for dinner. We had a great waiter and got to see all the characters (with the exception of Donald). We got some really cute pictures as well. (Side note: the food was actually really good!)

On our way back to the Magic Kingdom we went over to the Polynesian to check it out (and see if we would want to stay there on a future trip). I really thought it was cool…but I think Kevin was definitely more dazzled by our last stay at the Grand Floridian!

The Lobby

The awesome pool at the Polynesian!

We decided to head back to the Magic Kingdom to check out Spectromagic and Wishes. Although it started drizzling right before the fireworks, we still had a great time! It was a great end to the evening!!

Great night pic!

Best picture I have ever taken!!!

Spectromagic :)

The next day we got ready and headed over to Epcot. We both felt great even after the long but fun day the day before.  Must be magic. :)

I'm ready to roll!

Here's the view from our spot!

We were walking into the park, and were surprised to see that we arrived right in time for the rope drop. In all our trips to WDW, we have never seen it before. It was pretty cool. We then noticed everyone had the same idea we did…get a Fastpass for Soarin’! It was ok though…we still got a great time!

Another of Kev in front of the Epcot sign!

Rope drop!

Run!  Get that Fastpass!

We took the entire day at a somewhat leisurely pace. We rode all our favorites in Future World and headed over to the World Showcase around 12:30. We grabbed lunch at the quick service counter in Morocco, and walked around. We may have even grabbed a Grand Marnier slushie and a beer along the way. :)

Us in front of the fountain

Shot of Spaceship Earth

Show in the France Pavilion...I wouldn't do what this guy is doing!

Maelstrom :)

Kickin' back in the World Showcase

Mariachi band in the Mexico Pavilion

We went to dinner at Les Chefs de France, and had a wonderful waitress named Melanie. We got to see Lidio, our favorite waiter there too! It was a great meal! Afterwards, we walked outside and were trying to decide what to do with about an hour until Illuminations started. We stopped and talked to a cast member named Debbie.  She was so friendly and personable, that we just chatted with her for a while about Disney and other things. She was so nice, and said we better bring our kids back to see her someday! After saying bye to Debbie, we grabbed a soft serve cone and headed over to the other side of the World Showcase Lagoon. Again, it started drizzling a little bit before the fireworks started…but wasn’t too bad. We saw a great show, and headed out of the park after a long but fun day!

Where we staked out for the fireworks

Nighttime shot of the America Pavilion

The lit torch

The next day we spent at the resort. Kevin booked us a couples’ massage in the morning, which was wonderful after two long days on our feet. We then went over to the pool bar and got some lunch. It started pouring while we were eating. We were under cover, so it was no big deal to us!  After it cleared out, we enjoyed some time in the hot tub and the pool before it started clouding over again. Kevin got some great pictures from our balcony!

Pool bar

Florida afternoon rain

Yikes!  Ominous...

That night we headed over to Universal’s City Walk. We checked out some of the shopping, and had a great dinner at Margaritaville! It was an early night for us since we were both exhausted.

Hard Rock at CityWalk

Margaritaville :)

More shops :)

The next morning I woke up, and once I opened my eyes…uh oh. I had a sinus infection. Ugh. I usually get one every May and every September, and sure enough…I got one at the end of May. I managed to muddle through the plane flight home with the help of two packages of Kleenex! Unfortunately, one of my ears still hasn’t popped yet. After we got home and picked up the dogs, I headed over to Urgent Care to get some antibiotics, and am (slowly) on the mend. It was not the best ending to our trip, but it definitely didn’t put a damper on the fun we had! It was a wonderful 5 days!!

Sure, I was tired...but I wasn't near as tired as these two!  Thanks Auntie Gayle!