Indy Recap

Our weekend in Indianapolis was fabulous! We arrived at The Villa Inn around noon Saturday and had a great lunch at the onsite restaurant. Then we headed down to the spa where Kevin got a men's facial and sport pedicure and I enjoyed a 75-minute hot stone massage (heaven!) and a spa manicure. After that, Liz Truitt stopped by and we hung out with her in our huge but very cozy room. Then we got ready and headed to Mass. Ave. for a little shopping and dinner at Bazbeaux Pizza. Later, back in the room, we popped in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (hilarious!) and fell asleep on the super comfy sofa.

Sunday morning we enjoyed a complimentary full breakfast in the restaurant then headed over to the mall. We spent nearly all our time at H&M, a favorite store of ours that's sadly missing from Cincinnati. We both got lots of stuff there, including little thank-you gifts for Courtney and Alexis (for watching Gilmore), and I got some super-sweet brown pointy-toed boots at Bakers. Then it was on to Kingsway Church where we throughly enjoyed an hour of Christmas songs, then laughed our heads off at Liz in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever." We're definitely going to have to rent the movie now. We went out for some cheap Mexican food, then headed back to Cincy to pick up the Gil. Tonnya said he was a good boy and lots of fun, which was a relief. We were all tired, but also relaxed and happy, when we got home.

Weekend Update

I wanted you all to know that MacKenzie made his debut as Pet of the Week at Glenway Animal Hospital this week. He'll actually fill the post for two weeks since this week's pet blew the vet off. I went into the office today and snapped some photos of the Pet of the Week bulletin board (yes I'm a nerd, but you already knew that). His photos should be posted on the vet's website soon. Isn't the bulletin board cute?

Things are in full holiday swing around here. Last Saturday was our annual "get the tree and shop til we drop" day. We took Kenzie to the vet for his photo shoot and fabulous prizes, then we took Gilmore and picked up our beautiful tree, compliments of Melissa Caruso's parents who distrubute fruit and trees. Then we shopped for 9 hours straight, and got most of our Christmas list crossed off. We were dragging when we got home at 8, but we managed to muster up some old-school energy and headed to Longworth's in Mount Adams for Erin Morley's 30th birthday bash. We didn't get home until 2, and we tried to go to Taco Bell on our way for old time's sake, but it way closed!!! Sunday, we decorated the tree and the house and watched "Elf" and "Scrooged" before we passed out from all the fun.

Tomorrow, we're headed to the Villa Inn and Spa in Indy for a little Christmas gift to ourselves. We're going to get some spa services, eat good food, shop and see Liz Truitt in her church's production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever." Gilmore is staying with Kevin and Tonnya Boehmer, which should be a treat for him, Courtney and Lexi (and hopefully for Kevin and Tonnya). We'll write all about it when we get home.

Have a great weekend!

Holiday Hootenanny

If you're looking to waste a little time, here are a few fun links that people have pointed me to this week:
Line Rider lets you use your mouse to draw lines and curves and then send a hapless sledder cruising down your creation. (thanks Megan)
Scared of Santa Gallery features photos of kids who are terrified of Santa Claus. It's hilarious, and a few of the Santas frighten me, too. (thanks Doug)
Tree Decorating 101 shows what would happen if cats were enlisted to decorate and tend to the Christmas tree. (thanks Katie)
Enjoy!

Hiding from the paparazzi

Now that he's the Pet of the Week, Kenzie is forced to hide from the paparazzi in his brother Gilmore's room. Fortunately he has Maury the Moose for protection.

Or he might be just trying to avoid the chaos of holiday decorating.

Either way, he cracks me up!

We finally found it!

Earlier this year, my Grandma Engler gave all of her grandchildren some money and asked us to buy something that would remind us of her. Sarah and I spent a lot of time thinking of what would be just the right thing. We decided that we would really like to have a nice set of vintage china (something we didn't register for when we got married) so since then we've been looking at antique malls for "the pattern." Yesterday we were doing some Christmas shopping and stopped at the Brass Armadillo, a local antique mall. While we were there we found two partial sets of Noritake china, Sarah wrote down the names of the patterns and we decided to do some online research to see how hard it would be to find additional pieces. After some checking this morning, I found a more complete set of the pattern that I really liked for a great price on eBay. So I bought it, some extra dinner plates, and I plan to go back to the antique mall to get what they had there.
We were really going for a mid-century-modern-vintage look and I think we hit it on the mark with this pattern. It is called "Helene" and was made by Noritake from 1955 to 1961. I'm really excited about them and it makes me feel really good to know we can think about Grandma Engler whenever we have a special meal.
As an added bonus, I'm going to be able to install the old kitchen cabinets in the basement so we will have a great storage place for we're not using them!

Crafty Ladies

The F+W Bizarre Bazaar craft show was today from noon to 2. It was a huge success this year with about 20 crafters and tons of patrons. The HOW staff represented with Susan's notecards, Tricia's photo sets and my cat and dog wares. I did more than $100 worth of business, and I sold some more STAF Big Bucks raffle tickets for a grand total of $210 worth of tickets. Plus, I scored a few great Christmas goodies.

Almost Famous

Mackenzie has been chosen as the upcoming Pet of the Week at Glenway Animal Hospital, our vet! We have to take him in Saturday for a photo shoot and for him to choose a free gift. He'll be featured on the website and the bulletin board in the office. Here's a link to the Pet of the Week section of their site. I'll let you know when Kenzie makes his debut.

Toshie was featured in Cat Fancy's 2004 page-a-day calendar (Miss September 7th). Now that the cats have had their 7 days and 24 hours of glory, respectively, we wonder what Gilmore's claim to fame will be.

String up the lights

It's holiday time at the Whitman home again this year!
I've uploaded all of our Christmas CDs to our iPods and got up the outdoor lights. Here's a photo of their first night up! Next week we get our tree. I can't wait!

Many Thanks

We just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to our wonderful friends and family. This year, you've certainly shown that you're not only there for the fun and laughs, but also to help and bring cheer during the not-so-great times. We're thankful for each and every one of you.

Hanky Panky

I'm on vacation all week and, among other things, am making bandanas to sell at our Bizarre Bazaar craft fair at work again this year. I'm making a different style this year, and they're super cute and really nice. They slip onto collars so you don't have to tie them. Gilmore agreed to be my model and struck a few poses in front of the fridge for me. He said to let him know if you need any handkerchief gifts for your canine friends. We have different sizes (even tiny ones that fit cats, too) and lots of styles, including candy canes and snowmen. Next project: peanut butter poochie biscuits and tuna kitty krackers!