Twosies

It seems like everything going on in my life lately is private or just hush-hush-for-now, so sorry I haven't posted much lately. I thought I'd steal this fun little idea from Joan to tide me over for the holiday weekend. Enjoy!

1. Two Names You Go By: Oddly enough, Kevin and I don't really have nicknames for each other the way we do for our pets and our friends. I'd have to say "Sarah" and "Small Sarah," although in the past it was SaMo, Morty and Sally.

2. Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now: Jeans and Nike flip flops (big surprise)

3. Two Things You Want In A Relationship: Good communication and laughter

4. Two of Your Favorite Things to Do: Eat great food and watch TV (I sound interesting, huh!)

5. Two Things You Want Very Badly At the Moment: To be outside (it's finally a gorgeous day) and a yummy breakfast

6. Two Pets You Had/Have: Kenzie & Tosh

7. Two People Who Will Fill This Out First: Hmmm, maybe Kevin and Tyana

8. Two Things You Did Last Night: Watched Friends re-runs and did laundry

9. Two People Who Live in Your House: Kevin and Gilmore

10. Two People You Talked to Last: Bryn (my co-worker/friend/manager) and Vicki (my production coordinator)

11. Two Things You're Doing Tomorrow: Driving to Edgerton and having a belated birthday celebration with my in-laws

12. Two Longest Car Rides: Hmmm, probably to Florida and to Eastern PA (I never seem to drive west)

13. Name Two of Your Favorite Holidays: Christmas and Halloween (mostly because I just love fall)

14. Name Two Favorite Beverages: Earl Gray hot tea and gin & tonic (especially when Kevin makes them with a splash of sweet lime juice)

Lucky Girl

I've been very lucky when it comes to sweepstakes and raffles in my adult life. Today I found a box in the mail full of goodies from Everyday with Rachael Ray. Turns out I won their Ultimate Movie Night Sweepstakes, which came with the movie "Elizabeth I," the first season of "Sex & the City" and lots of little goodies I can use to host a movie night with a bunch of friends. Fun!

Last month, I won one of three grand prizes at my company picnic: a very nice Nikon Coolpix digital camera. I also won the grand prize at my company party in 2005: a pair of Southwest Airlines plane tickets. And when I was planning my wedding, I won a box of goodies from a bridal magazine--all stuff that actress Leah Remini (Carrie from "King of Queens") gave to her bridesmaids at her then-recent wedding (bath products, candles and other stuff like that). I even won a very cool vase at a Macy's bridal registry event.

I guess I'm a pretty lucky girl!

Week In Review

I borrowed this template from Tyana, thought it was a great way to keep you up to date. This was a busy week!

Favorite moment: Hmm, three favorites.
One - having Sarah's brother and his girlfriend over for dinner.
Two - Going to the Nickel Creek and Fiona Apple show in Columbus and meeting Liz and her friend Sarah there.
Three - Going out to dinner with Matt & Amanda to celebrate our July birthdays (Amanda's, Sarah's, and mine).

Most stressed moment: I work at a bank. Every day is a stressed moment.

Song downloaded off iTunes: Ben Lee's EP tracks from his new album coming out next month.

Song I’m wearing out on my iTunes: How It Ends - Devotchka

Book I’m trying to read: "The Good Guy" by Dean Koontz

Biggest laugh: Flight of the Conchords on HBO, "Part-time Model" song

Best TV of the week: Flight of the Conchords (hilarious, check it out!)

My favorite person of the week (other than Sarah): These people aren't my "favorite," but I did make two new friends on Tuesday. I always get really excited when I make friends with random people, because it doesn't happen too often. They were having dinner at the table next to me before the Nickel Creek show and it turned out that we have been to several of the same shows together, they're from Cincinnati, and big fans of Ellery. So I'll probably run in to them at the next shows I go to. Small world!

Stupid people moment: I work at a bank. Every day is a stupid people moment.

Our pet update: Gilmore got some kind of scratch on his left eyebrow that caused a small patch of hair to fall out. I think Kenzie shaved it as a prank.

Family Fun

This weekend, Kevin's mom, Kathy, drove down to Cincinnati by herself. She's never made the trip alone, so we were very proud of her independence! We got take-out from Thai Taste Friday night, and she tried edamame and sushi (California and Shrimp Tempura rolls) and actually liked both, much to her surprise.

Matt was home for a short leave before they ship out to Iraq this weekend too. Katie threw a fabulous party for him at her house Saturday and had a great turnout. It was nice to see so many different people come together to support Matt before he leaves. I'm sure Katie will post more about the party and their time together when she recovers from all the driving back and forth to Wisconsin, where he's currently stationed. I hope she got some pictures, because I didn't. I think Kathy did, though, so maybe she'll post them on her blog.

Last night, my brother, Michael Seth, and his girlfriend of a few years, Joslyn, came over for dinner. We had lots of leftovers from the party, so Kevin just grilled some burgers to go along with them. It was so much fun just to hang out and talk to the two of them. There are usually so many people around and so much going on when I see them that we really don't talk much at all. I'm amazed at how much Michael has matured in the past year, and how funny and talkative he's become. And Joslyn is such a sweet--and beautiful!--girl. I hope we can see more of them now that Seth has his license and can drive to Cincinnati.

A Very Good Day

On Saturday, Kevin, Gilmore and I headed up to Yellow Springs, Ohio, near Dayton, around lunchtime. We didn't really have an agenda, but Kevin wanted to take a little day trip, and I've always wanted to visit Yellow Springs. It's a village, centered around Antioch College, with that hard-to-find combination of small-town vibe and big-town culture. The downtown is just a few blocks of little restaurants and shops. We started our adventure at a dog/cat boutique, where Gilmore got some biodegradable "oops I pooped" bags and some treats. All the other customers told us how friendly, sweet and well-behaved he was. That was really the only store Gil could go into, so we decided to eat lunch at The Corner Cone, an ice cream stand with a grill and a big patio. It was a perfect choice that served up bowls of water for dogs and amazing veggie burgers for me. After lunch, we popped into a few of the other shops while Gil waited outside, then we headed to a farmer's market about a mile away and got some homegrown veggies and jam. Located right behind the market was a plant nursery that also served as an animal sanctuary. Our clerk at the market told us that the nursery owner leases the land for only $1 a year, and in return he cares for unwanted/abandoned exotic pets. We decided to check it out, thinking that it would mostly be cats and dogs. So we were surprised to find roosters (lots of roosters!), emus, goats, pot belly pigs, horses, donkeys and, of course, a few cats, which every good nursery should employ. After that we headed back into town to get soft serve ice cream cones at The Corner Cone. When we approached the window to order, the server told us that dog cones are free, so Gilmore got his own vanilla cone, which he quickly devoured. Of course, being the odd dog that he is, he actually ate the cone like a human would, biting off little pieces and working his way to the bottom. Next we took a long walk around the town and through Glen Helen, a wooded nature preserve. It was a hot day, but overcast, so it was actually very pleasant.

To wrap up our day, we decided to check out a free concert the local public radio station was sponsoring. The had food vendors there so you could get dinner, and the bands were pretty good. We threw down a blanket, got a shrimp basket, some nachos and some sweet tea, and listened to 2 of the 3 bands. We headed home around 9, very relaxed and pleased that we had found so many fun things to do on our spontaneous adventure with our little dog.

I've posted a few of my favorites photos from when we were fooling around waiting for the show to start.