Dream 1

it's 8am on a Sunday morning. i've been up since 7am. too early to be up when a) i don't have anything to be up for b) i've been feeling like crap due in part to a lack of sleep c) i love to sleep and should jump at any and all opportunities.....

but alas - here i sit. at the computer. eating toast. drinking hot cider. my dreams last night kept me awake and becuase of that or just because i felt like i should start keeping track of them - something i used to do when i was younger. so here goes.....

before i begin let it be known i talk in my sleep. scream (not night terror scream - that is something completely different and utterly terrifying if you've ever heard someone do it). sit-up. i am glad that i'm the one doing this. not that i'm glad to be doing it - given the choice i'd rather it not happen. but given the choice between me or my partner having it and i'd much rather it be me. i cannot imagine waking up to find chris sitting up yelling. or shaking or and whimpering. it would probably - no would - scare the crap out of me (where did this expression come from?...)

so. last night.

i remember this one - which is rare. usually chris is the one telling me what i did and me not having a clue it happened.

i started talking about frogs and hats. in my head it made complete sense. i think i was dreaming in part about the book i'm reading right now - The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. in the book (don't worry it doesn't give any big plot secrets away) the handmaid's wear these white hats with wings - makes me think of Sally Field - remember that? Anyhow - those kind of hats. evidently - in my dream - those hats came in boxes of frogs. at least the first 3 hats did - there was a grand total of 5 that you were required to have (and possibly wear...can't remember). you could keep the frogs or kill them or let them go. i think.

i remember talking about this and chris responding. he asked me 'what about the cows' to which i replied 'what the fuck are you talking about' - cows and hats? come on! evidently (as he told me this morning) he was just testing me to see how awake i was. i jabbered some more - completely annoyed that he didn't understand the hats and frogs and drifted back off to sleep. noteworthy only becuase i can recall my speech sliding into jibberish as i nodded off.

interesting to you? no. interesting for me to look back on? possilby.

the next one started out with me driving a car. do you ever have dreams that take place in the same town? completely different dreams - but the same town. and not a town that you've been to before - possibly a town created from scraps of different 'real' towns? or just a new town? it happens to me a lot.

so - i'm driving a car in this town i've dreamt of before. i take the first exit off the freeway i'm on as i realize i don't want to be on that freeway. (blank spot) next i'm riding a bike in the same town. i recognize the town from dreams that i've had before. i recall memories from those dreams as i ride - in particular i'm riding through a white trash/ghetto part of town and come across a house on the corner. i remember looking at an apartment there with my mom in a previous dream but don't recall the neighborhood being so bad - relieved that i didn't get that apartment. riding one - (blank spot) i'm in an apartment building - looking for what i'm not sure - the way out? somehow i'm at the top and am going down stairs - but there is no back staircase. the stairs go through peoples homes - level after level. some question me - wondering if i'm the person they hired to fix something - but otherwise it seems to be a normal occurence for them. the stairs are tricky as some of them have a bed placed in the middle of them with covers all over the stairs making me slide. sometimes i'm carrying my bike and sometimes i'm not.

(blank spot)

i find myself in my parents condo - which is located in this apartment building - i can tell becuase the style and layout are the same from the ones i passed through. very late 70's early 80's. (the images are so clear - too bad i'm not an artist). i'm chatting with my mom who is packing for some upcoming trips. one is to London - forget the reason why. the other is to Colorado. she is laying out outfits for me to wear on this trip - she's bringing me with her - to go shopping. it takes me awhile for her to tell me the dates - she's confused about what i'm asking. i tell her i need to ask for the time off from work. find out it's December 1st - tell her i can't becuase that is the day Chris and i move into our new apartment - it's also his birthday weekend. next we are in another room playing with the babies. that's right - babies. evidently my mom has recently given birth to triplets! but the babies are incredibly tiny - like miniature babies - toy babies. i'm talking 2 inches. they are all strapped into their tiny car seats asleep. one wakes up - hannah (evidently these triplets are Carrie's sisters triplets). i pick her up and she's smiling and giggling. i want to go take a picture because she is so tiny! i've never seen anything like it and at the same time it's the most normal thing.

i walk down the hall to grab the camera - which i recal is sitting on the dinning room table (chris and i's dining room tabe but for some reason it's in my parents condo). i turn on the hallway light only to discover about 50 of these little wormy millipede things crawling around!!! Ack! (*Chris and I have been having a problem with them. we get about 6 a night on average. they crawl in from outside after the sun sets. it's wierd and they are creeepy . fortunately very slow moving so we can nab them easily. but still extrememly gross. so far the ductape we used to secure the sliding glass door has seemed to work and we haven't had any the past two days) I scream for my mom to come. I walk further down the hall to the room where the camera is and turn on that light only to discover MORE of the wormy millipedes! not only those but these monsterous cockroach type bugs. i'm talking 2 inches long and an inch and a half wide or bigger! and fast! they scurry (ish ish ish) around at an incredible speed. and there are a lot of them just clustered all over the carpet. (in my head these monsterous bugs are a product of the wormy millipedes - what they grow into) they start to scurry across my feet and up my legs. i scream some more. scream for my mom to get the vaccuum cleaner and then scream that they'll only crawl out of it. i'm shaking and trying to get the bugs off of me. ick!

chris wakes me up. i'm still shaking my legs uncontrollably and whimpering. evidently i screamed. it was disgusting. i couldn't fall back asleep. i kept seeing bugs. i kept feeling bugs and as a result probably kept Chris awake by constantly rubbing my feet back and forth over each other.

ick. i hate insect dreams.

when i did manage to fall back asleep i kept dreaming about being awake and making myself remember the dream so i could blog about it. and here i am - blogging about it.

i've finished my breakfast though and will now try to go back to sleep. it's a stormy rainy morning - shouldn't be too hard. first i'll do a thorough bug inspection of the floor. ish.

oh - has anyone else read The Handmaid's Tale? If so - let me know what you think. I'm almost finished and it's scaring the crap out of me.

Sunday Monday

Happy Days!

One year ago this past Sunday - Chris and I met :)
One year ago this past Monday - Chris asked me out :)

We spent the weekend up in Duluth - beautiful weather for once! :) Our main reason for heading in that direction was to see my sister who flew in with her baby (my nephew..guess that's obvious though...) Max from NJ. I haven't seen Max since he was born - and he was absolutely adorable!! Unfortunately I was rather dumb and forgot to bring my camera - well we brought the camera but failed to buy batteries for it! (the pictures below come from Carrie - thank you!)

We drove up on Saturday and stopped in to see my friend and former co-worker Chevra at Michelina's (working that fantastic Saturday shift!). It was fun to see her and chat (hi Chevra!). After that we headed downtown to see Carrie and her new offices for 4TrackFilms (check them out!). It was beautiful - great color choices and great location! I was very impressed and in awe of it all! Next we headed to the lakewalk and enjoyed a nice stroll with my sister Amy and Max. It was great seeing her and I'm glad she was finally able to meet Chris :) And Max is just the happiest baby I've seen - all giggles and smiles - so cute! (tick tock tick tock tick tock.....sigh....)

For dinner we met Carrie and Steve at Sammy's Pizza to celebrate :) Without them Chris and I would never have met! So thank you very much Carrie - I owe it all to you! I still can't believe it's been 1 year! It's just flown by!

After dinner we headed back to their place for dessert - I made a spice cake with chocolate frosting and coconut (I died the coconut to make it look like fall leaves but ended up with with something that looked like the Jamaican Flag threw up on) It was really great to see Carrie again and actually have the time to sit and chat! She's looks so adorable with her little belly! (Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock....[pouty face]...)

Sunday we relaxed - walked downtown and along the lakewalk. Had lunch at the Brewhouse (yum!) and then dinner at my parents. All in all it was a great weekend although it made me miss Duluth a lot. I just love that town - especially in the fall. And I miss beling able to hang out on a weeknight with Carrie and just sit and knit/crochet. So that kinda made me sad upon leaving - I'll just have to try and make it up there more often.

I'll post more about Chris and I on our (or what we've determined to be the 'official' year anniversary) year anniversary - October 7th (our first date). Suffice it to say that I've never been happier in my life! I love you Chris!! :)

Water Pressure Please!

Before we move into our new apartment - before we even give the notice to our current apartment owners that we're moving - Chris wanted to get some repairs taken care of.

One of things was getting the tub retiled. While doing this the repairmen also replaced the shower head and knobs to one of those low water things - sorry I don't know the technical term - but know that it should be called 'peice of crap'

People with thick hair - like myself - need water pressure! I got into the pretty shower this morning (the new tile looks great) but was SO dissapointed to discover that I could not even feel the water on my head - through my hair! So while this new 'peice of crap' may be good for the environment - for most people - it's not for me. It takes me twice as long to wash my hair now becuase I can't get it wet - let alone get the shampoo out.

argh.

It was a frustrating morning. Not only did that annoy me (if you can't tell) but when I got to work I went to open my smoothie cup and it splashed up all over my face, hair, shirt (down my shirt!) and lap. Pretty soon I'll start to sour......

Missing Pictures: Day 6

Evidently the 'Blog Monster' decided to make an appearance by not uploading some pictures - that or I forgot.....

Either way - here they are (from the Maker's Mark Distillery)

Lost and Stuffed '07 : Day 6

I've been kinda sucky at this vacation blogging thing - I need to get it done before a) I forget details and/or b) We go on another vacation (in which case I'll never hope to catch up...)

I know the suspense has been killing you and so we move onto Day 6.........


In an attempt to not get thoroughly pissed off at the fonts/size/spacing monster I am not doing picture captions. I'll just drive myself batty and lord knows I do not need anymore computer woes (more on that later - if I get around to it that is....)

We awoke on the morning of Day 6 in historic Bardstown, KY - home of eight million and one distilleries (well - all eight million and one are not technically in Bardstown - but pretty darn close). First up on the agenda was finding Chris coffee - did I mention we had trouble accomplishing this throughout the trip? Evidently KY takes it bourbon drinking more seriously than I thought and just skips the morning coffee and heads instead for a stiff one. On this morning however we were lucky and located some coffee - not iced like he'd hoped for - but coffee nonetheless.

Our plan for the day was to head up to my place of birth and visit some family - on our way we decided to visit one of the eight million and one distilleries just outside of town (just outside meaning about 30 minutes over tiny winding weaving in the middle of nowhere roads). On our way out Chris stopped the car to rescue a turtle who showed his appreciation by attempting to bite his rescuer. The rescue took place next to a cute little replica of old time Bardstown - we didn't get to go in as it was closed.

The distillery we chose to visit was Maker's Mark. It was fun - not as cool (in my opinion as Jack Daniel's) but still cool. Very beautiful and historic! At the end of the (free) tour we ended up in a gift shop (as you can imagine I was extremely dissapointed at this :)). We left $50 lighter but the money was well spent - again - in my opinion :) You could get a small bottle of Maker's Mark and dip it yourself - which of course I had to do! Chris was happy with this until I told him that of course we wouldn't be opening it! I said that perhaps on a special occasion such as a wedding or the birth of a child (he gave me slack about the last one but I'm sure he'd change his mind after giving birth! :)). (Note: We ended up buying another bottle when we got home - one that I would allow him to open. I was explaining to the checkout boy at the liquor store that we had just been there etc etc and that I wouldn't let Chris open the bottle I had dipped to which he replied - rather snarkily I might add - 'it's only plastic.' Men. Carrie understood - girls get it! :)) Where was I? So we left with the liquor, a box of bourbon balls (they are to die for!) and 4 shot glasses - extremely cute :).

It was a good time! On our way out we walked around the sight some more and came across the old Fire Station. Unfortunately the truck itself had been removed so that renovations could take place but a man working inside let Chris take a peek around :)

After that we moved on to Gallipolis - birthplace of moi. On the way we stopped for some food - as you can see :) I love him for letting me take this picture! Ha!

Once in Gallipolis (a towns whose name's pronunciatioin Chris and I continue to disagree upon) we met my family (biological father, half brother, 2 half sisters, and neice) at Bob Evans. If you aren't familier with Bob Evans - well - it holds a special place in my heart. The food isn't one of a kind but the original Bob Evans is located in Rio Grande. When I was little I remember going on feild trips to the Farm - which is where I wanted to go but we ended up going to the restaurant in Gallipolis (the first actual restuarant but not the farm one). I was dissapointed - hence the face - but it was still good.

After dinner we hung out at my sister Tiffany's. It was good - kind of awkward but good. I say awkward only becuase it's hard to feel really comfortable around people that are your siblings - your family - but people you only see once every few years if that. By the time you've broken the ice and started to feel slightly relaxed it's time to go. Hopefully this will change - the whole Myspace things has actually helped our commincation which is nice.

After Gallipolis we were going to head over into Jackson - the town I went to preschool thru 2nd grade in. The plan was to find a hotel and then quickly peek around the town (a place I haven't seen in many many years) before heading back to Cincy. The hotels were pricey and I decided I didn't need to see the town that badly. We took a quick drive through in the dark and then started the drive to Cincy - fully intending to find a hotel and stop for the night.

There were practically no hotels - and the ones we did find we're pricey (to us). So we drove. And drove. And drove. And drove. Finally we ended up in Cincy - well after midnight or 1 - I don't really remember. We had absolutely no idea where we were in the city though - and it was dead - we hardly saw any other cars! If you've ever spent any time in Cincinatti you know that it's a cool town but that there are certain parts of the town you really do not want to get lost in - especially at night! I was worried that we were in one of these said neighborhoods or that we would soon find ourselves in one. We were both extremely tired and we're getting extremely cranky. Many foul words were said. Finally we found our way across the river and into KY (where my grandma lives) and stopped at the first hotel we saw - we didn't care in the slightest what the cost was at this point. My foul mood was extremely apparent and the guy at the desk noticed - I apologized - he made fun of me and we all laughed. Thankfully for him (the hotel guy) the room was very cool (temp wise) and comfy - otherwise I would not have wanted to deal with me. I know my description doesn't really do it justice - but it was the drive from hell. It sucked.

And that my friend is Day 6. It is now time for me to go to bed : )

bedtime?

is it bedtime yet?

naptime?

no?

well that sucks. i'd love nothing more than to be able to go home - curl up in bed and sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep....you get the picture...

6.5 hours left

Question: Cats

as many of you know i have two adorable cats - Albus and Minerva. they are currently living with my parents up in duluth in a kennel that chris and i (mainly chris) built. soon (december 1st to be exact) chris and i move into an apartment that allows pets and then i can have my babies back :) until then....

the kennel is located in the garage - not one that is attatched to the house and one that is not heated. the cats cannot be brought into the house for health (allergy) reasons and i'm worried.

the northland can get pretty darn cold into october and november and i'm worried about the cats being out there! my mother insists that they'll be just fine - that they are inside the garage and not outside. i say the garage is at maybe 1 degree warmer than the outside temp and that if forced to stay outside until december 1st they'll turn into catsicles!

am i wrong? will they be fine? ideas?

Biggest Loser

no - not the TV show. anyone can lose weight when you have 24 hours a day in which to concentrate soley on that purpose - not to mention the personnal trainers at your side. but i digress....

here at work a group has started their own 'Biggest Loser' contest. each participant contributes $20 to the pot and then at the end (i guess the people who organized the contest actually watch the show becuase our contest will end the day the show ends) whoever has lost the largest percent of their body weight wins the pot! i'm in!

i'll take whatever motivation i can get! and seeing as how i just (this past thursday) starting working out again it should be fun! if you read my blog you've probably noticed that i've just started working out a lot - but this time i can feel it sticking. the weather has finally cooled off and i no longer sweat at the mere thought of the treadmill. plus i discovered a wonderous invention - the iPod.

chris has an iPod shuffle that he uses when working out and i never paid much attention to it until i started using the treadmill again. i love to (need to) workout to loud music and am not able to do that living in an apartment. now i can! he showed me how to upload music onto it and what not and then we went and bought a pair of normal headphones (i just cannot do those ear bud thingies) and now i'm set. i love it!

and i'm going to kick ass in this contest - not only could i stand to lose that weight but i could also use the extra cash :)

I'll mention it again - I have set up a private blog (Motivation for Movement) for those needing encouragement or a place to just share their experiences on the exercise/weight-loss(or gain) roller coaster. It seems to have been forgotten about as of late but it's been a busy summer. I - however - am going to start posting again and invite anyone who'd like to join me to do so! Just send me message and I'll send you the invite :)

Kelly Time!

17 minutes and counting until Kelly Time!

tonight is also the night i put down the deposit for the new apartment! i am super excited to have my cats with me again! woohoo!

alright - time for the weekend to begin (soon)!

later y'all!

TGIF

Is it 4:30 yet?

# 5

9.13.07

thursday

5th post

i just finished Day 7 - but as i had started uploading pictures for it a few days ago it published it in the order it was started in - so go back a few posts and you'll find it. it's long.

as for the rest of my thursday - the day of eight million posts. i went home shortly after the last blog. i was in severe pain. severe. i barely made it home and then just basically wanted to die. in all my years of suffering from severe cramps i have never ever felt such severe pain. i thought i might have to go the ER. it royally sucked. i finally managed to get to sleep though.

when i woke up i felt fantastic! i decided it would be a good idea to get in my exercise. i did the treadmill. i did sit-ups. i felt like dying again - not from cramps this time. just general nausea but still. as mentioned earlier common sense and i are not good buddies.

i feel okay now. and i accomplished most of what i wanted to despite brief encounter with death. i baked - it looks awful but tastes good. i blogged. all is good.

now i must rest.

goodnight :)

:[whimper]:

ow.

this usually happens on a weekend.

but it's not a weekend. it's thursday [if i haven't already made that glaringly obvious]. i'm at work.

my stomach now hurts so bad i want to scream. i want to cry. i want to rip out my insides and give serious thought to adoption. i want to puke. sorry - but i do.

i want to be at home and not here. unfortunately too many people are gone today - i don't think i could go home.

ow.


what a random day......

Thursday: The Day To Blog

or so it seems.

this will be my 3rd blog in under 3 hours.

the cavity will be fixed next wednesday at 2pm! i found a very friendly family dentist located right down the street from my place of residence and the costs wasn't as bad as i thought it would be! so things are looking bright on that horizon :)

the only blotch on that horizon are the hours that dentist keep! 8am to 4:30pm M-Th - what about those who really cannot afford to take time off? Ah well. I can't go on chewing on my right side forever!

what else is new since the last time i posted - 20 minutes ago? my stomach pains are worse but unfortunately the girl with the medicine cabinet is on vacation :( you'd think i'd remember to bring my own supply - but that would make sense - a concept i'm not familier with.

back to the book. or perhaps i'll read some new blogs - something i've been meaning to do but haven't gotten around to.

It's Still Thursday.....

that's right. still thursday.

i did a little reading but i just cannot seem to concentrate for very long. maybe it's the weather. what was a bright crisp fall day has turned into a grey windy on-the-verge-of-a-big-storm day. i like it though. the leaves blowing every which direction and the sudden onslaught of the rain. the only thing that would make it even better were for me to be at home either on the couch with my crocheting or in bed with all the lights off. mmmm...bed....sleep......

i have a cavity. i can clearly see it when i open my mouth. left side bottom middle of the row. a perfect little hole. a perfect little hole that hurts like hell when i attempt the chew anything on it - especially if it's hot or cold - room temperature seems to not hurt as much. crunchy foods are also hard. it just started bothering me tuesday night but it's getting worse. so now i have to figure out what to do. it needs to be filled but because my dumbass forgot to sign up for her insurance i'm not covered. i'll have to do some research about options....

brrrrr! water in your mouth seems extremely cold after chewing spearmint gum! the gum is sugarless by the way - since i just got done complaining about a cavity i thought i should mention that. i'm also chewing on my right side only. that gets tiresome after awhile. think i'll spit it out.

i cannot seem to position my space heater in a neutral setting. the only real place for it is the place that blows only onto my right foot/calf/or thigh (depending on how many phone books i stacked underneath it). so right now my right thigh is very toasty while the left one is kinda cool.

my stomach isn't really feeling too hot. the woes of being a woman. but then they have their benefits as well.

this blog seems to have no real intent. but it's keeping me entertained for the time being which is what counts i guess - it being my blog and all.

we seem to have a cricket infestation at work. i take that back. no infestation - jsut way more crickets than (with the exception of being outdoors) that i care to be around. there is one in particular that has managed to survive in the elevator shaft for a few days - although now that i make note of it i can no longer hear his chirps. hmmmm. well - up until a few minutes ago there was a very loud cricket in the elevator shaft directly in front of my desk. they've also been hopping around the halls and in the bathrooms. ick. i for one cannot 'go' that comfortably while fearing that a big black insect may jump up onto me. i'm not a big insect type of gal i guess. jumping and scurrying just aren't my forte.

speaking of forte - how do you pronounce it? kristin asked me the other day saying that a fellow english teacher swear its 'fort' while we claim it's 'for-tay'. thoughts?

oh - that reminds me - not sure how exactly - about my 'bonsai tree'. it is a bonsai - of the hawaiian umbrella kind i think. it came with a bonsai tag from the bonsai section and the gardner man in charge told me how to care for my bonsai. so. i'm going with it.

what else? i suppose i should do some dental research. back later. :)

Thursday

today is thursday.

i have not forgot to blog about my vacation. unfortunately i was sick this past weekend. on monday the computer was an absolute putz about uploading my pictures (it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r). as for tuesday and wednesday - i'm just lazy.

but today is thursday. a day to get things done. things like exercising. like baking. like filling out housing applications. like making a to-do list. like blogging about my vacation. will all of these tasks get completed tonight? probably not - but the morning is young and i'm full of energy and optimism - which i'm sure will fade by the time 4:30 rolls around. by then i'll just want to go home and make myself comfy on the couch with crocheting needle and yarn. we'll see.

as for now i'm at work. pretty soon i'll finish this blog and resume reading 'the tortilla curtain' - which so far is very good. i just finished reading 'the blind assassin' by margaret atwood. excellent book in my opinion. took me awhile to get into as i only had little ten minute segments to read it when i started - but once i had more time and got used to her writing style it was hard to put down.

what else? updates? let's see.....

the weather has finally cooled off which makes me happier than you'll ever know! i feel rejuvinated and refreshed. it is now possible for me to work up a sweat while working out instead of sweating just sitting on the couch and thinking about it. everything seems richer - the blue of the sky and the green of the leaves. the air feels fresh and crisp. i absolutely love it. i've always said that i can never pick a favorite season but if pressed it'd have to be fall. when i get married it will definitely be in the fall.

chris and i will be moving to a new apartment in december. not a house liked we'd hoped for. but a place that will give us time to think about where we want to live and what we want to do. chris will still be able to make the fire calls on time and i'll finally be able to have my cats with me again! definitely not a long term thing but something that fits for the here and now.

hmmm..my mind is wondering and i'm getting distracted easily. hopefully i'll be back later on this evening with more vacation blogs :) or maybe just this afternoon with more mind wanderings :)

Lost and Stuffed '07 : Day 7

I'm back! After some sickness, some computer putziness, and just plain laziness on my part - the vacation blog train rumbles on.....(that was rather dorky....)

Anyhow - Day 7!

Where should I start? At 12am of Day 7? Nah - I'll save the fun details of that until Day 6 :) Are you in suspense? Don't be - it's not really that exciting.

We woke up in - what would later show up on our hotel credit charge as Fort Wright KY. When we called The Radisson to say that we had been double charged for our room later on they would claim not to have a hotel in Fort Wright - or not really even knowing where Fort Wright was. The bill mess up eventually got taken care of but I'm still not sure what city we woke up in. It was very late when we arrived and we were incredibly cranky.

Moving on - we left The Radisson in Buttfucksville, KY and headed out to pick up my Grandma for lunch :) I love my grandma and only wish I lived closer to her - seeing her once a year is just not enough! Luckily I got to see her more growing up and I least I'll always have that - but I'd still like to see her more. We picked her up and headed over to Frisch's (Big Boy's) - her favorite restaurant. It was alright - the onion rings were good. Chris had to go and order a salad - I think he tries to make me feel fat sometimes! (Kidding Chris - I'm kidding! :))

After lunch we headed back to her apartment and chatted it up for a bit. I love listening to her stories! We took this lovely picture - I have to remember to print it out and send it her way soon! Maybe as a Christmas gift....

My Grandma and I

She gave me some records to take home with me - one of which I find hystarical but I don't have a picture of it so I'll save that story for another time. The record itself isn't funny - it's just the fact that I got it from my grandma :) She's a pretty hip lady! Involved in protests, a writer, an incredibly strong woman! I cried when we left. I hate leaving her. It's making me tear up now just thinking about it. I really wish we lived closer together :(

After leaving Chris and I went off in search of a coffee shop - we found a Starbuck's. Not a huge fan of the chains but it's reliable and I LOVE their strawberries and cream drink. Mmmm! Chris was extremely happy to have his iced coffee - as you can clearly see :)

Wahoo!

I on the other hand was happy for him but off in my own world - as you can clearly see :) Did I mention that hands down we are the dorkiest couple around and that we enjoy every blessed minute of it? Well - we do! :) Ha....sigh....

Who Knows.....

In the photo below Chris points out our 'Drive from Hell.' As the title might suggest - it sucked. It sucked ass. But as it happened on Day 6 you'll just have to wait unti I blog about it to get the details - oh the suspense!

'Drive from Hell'

After the coffee and after the map looking - it was off to Cincinnati to meet Kari at the Museum Center (I always want to spell 'center' 'centre' - the same with 'theater' and 'theatre'). It was a beautiful day - not too hot. Just right. We got there before she did - none of us actually looked up directions we just wung it (is that how you spell 'wung'? is 'wung' a word?). Luckily we all ended up at the right spot. The Museum Center used to be a train terminal but now houses the Cincinnati History Museum, The Children's Museum and The Museum of Natural History and Science - along with many other features.

Union Terminal (built 1933)

Chris spots Kari in the parking lot!

Hi Kari!

Before heading into the Museum we had to have fun in the beautfil fountain! I absolutely loved the green color! Isn't it just gorgeous?

Chris decides to take a dive!

Kari and I contemplate a dive...

Unlike Chris - we go for it! Chris is kind of a wimp :) (Unfortunately Chris cuts Kari's head off)

Close-up

After playing around in the fountain we headed inside. You have to buy tickets for each museum (which kinda sucked). We wanted to see the Pirate Exhibit so we bought tickets for that and also the Cincinnati History Center. The pirate exhibit was....it was good. It wasn't great but it was good. Was it worth $16? Eh... I did learn things about pirate ships that I never knew before - which was interesting. It was (as always) fascinating to see all the artifacts and imagine the last time they were used and by whom and so on and so forth though.

The ceiling inside the intrance - the picture doesn't do it justice

Inside the entrance

I seem to be well known for my souvenier buying. I see nothing wrong with this. I think getting funky dinky tokens to remember your trip by are fun! (We did not buy the hats in the picture below - even I wouldn't go that far....) On Kari and I's trip last year I decided I wanted to start collecting snow globes. There is a slight problem with this - no one really makes the anymore! They are incredibly hard to come by - at least for me. I only came away with one for the entire trip (not from the Museum) - so that kinda sucked. We had fun looking though. They had taken anything and everything you could possibly imagine and made it pirate. Even rubber ducks -as you'll soon see....

Arrrrrr Matey!
(Although we do look rather fetching - perhaps I should have bought them...Kidding! Only Kidding! :))

Kari and I ride the train!

After getting out of the Pirate exhibit and Pirate gift shop we realized we had a mere 20 minutes to get through the History Center! Ack! We didn't really bother with most of it but instead concentrated on the awesome miniature Cincinnati they had made. It was incredible! I am a sucker for all things miniature - love them! (Unfortunately I never did have a doll house...) The glass panaling around the exhibit was tall and hard to take pictures through - luckily Chris is tall and got some good pictures :)

I told you they had Pirate duckies!

(Miniature Union Terminal)

Fire! Fire!
These are not the only pictures of fire trucks we have!


Miniature Cincinnati Zoo

This is what it looked like in the early 1900's - the building shown above is still there though


Minnie Cincy


Kari and I and Minnie Cincy

I mentioned that we only had 20 minutes or so to look through this exhibit. Well - take into account my obsession with souveniers and we had about 13 minutes. I ran off to the gift shop and frantically tried to find something to purchase! I left with a lot of magnets. A lot. Maybe one of you lucky readers will end up with one as a gift - you're excited aren't you? I knew it :) That's why I bought them!

After the shopping extravaganza we left the Museum Center. Below are pictures of this exit - just in case you didn't believe me and thought we were still there.....(I blame the fact that I was again sick today for all the stupid commentary.....)

The View as you leave....




I did mention we were dorks, right?

but Happy dorks :)





I loved this fountain!



Chris and Kari

They really did like each other - despite the faces :)



Goodbye Union Terminal!

(Is it just me or does the font function give anyone else trouble? It's a major pain in my ass and I have no doubt that upon publishing this post the fonts will be anything but what I picked and at sizes of their own fancy. Argh)

Moving on! After the Museum we headed off to Porkopolis - a restuarant I've been wanting to eat at for a long time! The reaon for this you ask? As many of you know I used to work at Glensheen up in Duluth as a tour guide - I loved that job! If you've ever been there you probably remember the breakfast room - aka The Green Room. The tiles used in that room were made at the Rookwood Pottery Factory in Cincinnati - which has now been converted into a restaurant. You can actually eat in the kilns they used to fire it! If you go the website I linked above it gives you more of the history - very intersting :)

We ordered some appitzers and drinks which were very good. Then Mark joined us for dinner. I had selected a nice little sandwich and then at the last minute decided to order some pork - was I not in Porkopolis? I saw a special they had on ribs with sourkraut. I love sourkraut. I ordered a slab of dinner. A slab. (1/2 a slab if that makes it any better. It doesn't? Sigh...) It was good but WAY too much food! We did get some funny pictures though....(some of them are not show below. Maybe you'll see them at a later date. I haven't decided :))

Mmm! Nuttin' like licken the bones from your slab of dinner!


One of the kilns

I didn't so much care for the decorating choies that were made - but that's just me. We didn't eat in one - they were meant for larger parties.

Porkopolis

I'm not trying to look pregant in this picture. I was just full. Did I mention I ordered a slab of dinner?

Chris is excited!

Our wonderful and gracious hosts: Mark and Kari!

Aren't they cute?

Chris and I - I totally admit to trying to look pregnant in this picture :) Kari saw what I was doing and was laughing - poor Chris had no idea. I'm sure he's going to love me posting this! (I love you Chris!)

After leaving Porkopolis and Mt. Adams (where it's located - more photos of that later on) we headed down to the Ohio River to have a look about. Our camera had eaten it's last pair of batteries and so Kari let me use her camera. Unfortunately it didn't like me and took blurry pictures. Ah well....

Downtown Cincy as seen from Newport KY

The Bengals Stadium - game in progress.

The Happy Couple

After exploring the river we headed back to good old Hamilton. I think we stayed up for awhile and chatted but we were all pretty tired and turned in earlier than usual. It was a good day. Oh - and least I forget - don't think I left Porkopolis without souveniers! We are now the proud owners of 4 pretty jar glasses that have the Rookwood label on them. Chris laughed at me but we've used them every day since our return :)

And that is that. Day 7.

Wow - that took a long time. I'm scared to hit 'publish'. I know it just screwed the crap out of my fonts...argh!