Fun weekend...

We headed down to Lexington on Saturday morning for a super fun reunion type day at Keeneland. I swear everyone I ever met was there. Including a random high school friend (shout out to AP Econ!) which was totally cool.

Zac is so good at taking pictures.

Michelle, Mandy, Katie, me and Anna

Trackside

Michelle's first bet!

So glad to see Clare!

My white sunglasses are so obnoxious. I will get new ones soon, I promise!

We had dinner with my favorite future in-laws to celebrate Zac's mom's birthday (Happy Birthday Mama Lo!) and I am so bummed I forgot to take a picture. It was delicious and we got home so exhausted - like climb into bed at 10:26 on a Saturday night kind of tired!

Worked all day today, which was exhausting but good.  Looking forward to doing some work on the house this week - get excited for some pictures!!!

Cincinnati Scurry, Part I

Friday was the first Cincinnati Scurry, a sort of "Amazing Race" competition around Cincinnati to benefit the Marvin Lewis Foundation.

Leadership Scholars had a team, and we ROCKED OUT. Sort of. Let me explain....

We started in Mt. Adams, where we had to count the number of steps at Holy Cross Imaculata, run through the streets yelling "Woo-Dey!" to find out which bar would serve us and match props to past plays at Playhouse in the Park.

Then we waited 35 minutes for the limo that would take us to our next stop. This part is key to the end of the story.

We met some super cool friends from Shick Sales (including someone who is going to get me the hook-up at JoAnn Fabrics - yay!) and headed to the zoo, schooled some UC women's basketball players at one-on-one ("schooled" may not be totally accurate here, but it's close) and played flip cup at the Delta Tau Delta house.

This was my moment of greatness, as I downed my beer and flipped the cup over, first try. Without even thinking, the following words came out of my mouth: "Yeah, I was in a sorority in college (hair flip)." Shudder. The Delts totally thought I was cool.

Here's the first group shot I got of our team outside the Delt house:

Me, Greg, Nate and Tracy

We took a HOT PINK limo from UC to Fountain Square (through OTR, which is the most awesome place to ride in a hot pink limo ever) and then hiked on foot to Paul Brown Stadium. Where this happened:

Yeah, that's me.

Someone had to put on the uniform!

I couldn't bend over once I had the shoulder pads on!

Then we headed out to the field, to do THIS:

That is ME, kicking a field goal in Bengals stadium. 

So cool!

And then... my camera died, so I'll have to wait to post more pics until the official pictures are up. But a quick preview... we did some cool stuff at Great American Ball Park, roller skated at Sawyer Point, crossed the Purple People Bridge, rocked out at the Haufbrauhaus, danced at the Aquarium, sang at the Southgate House, ate cheese coneys and tried on a wedding dress (well, I didn't. You'll see).

It was SO much fun - thanks to Tier One and the Marvin Lewis Community Fund for putting on such a great event!

My friend's husband is a bank robber.

Well sort of. Ok, not really. Here's the story:

My friend Erika's husband (Mark) works at a bank. Last Friday, his bank got robbed by this guy, who also hit up some other banks in the area and a CVS.  She was telling me about it on Saturday, and it was a crazy story.

That night, Zac and I were watching the evening news, and a story came on about the bank robbery.  The following actually occurred:

Me: (As a picture of the bank comes on) "Oh my gosh! That's Erika's husband!"
Zac: (As a picture of the bank robber comes on) "Erika's husband is a bank robber??"

Not quite... but easy to misunderstand! I want to take this moment to officially announce that my friend Erika's husband is NOT a bank robber! And seriously, what kind of idiot robs a bank anymore? Don't all bank robbers get caught??

It was just too good of a story not to share. Maybe you had to be there, but man, it was funny!

Sew What

I discovered this AMAZING site today called Sew What.  If you're into quilting, sewing, or any sort of fabric crafts, check this out!

According to the blog, "Whitnee & Natalia created this blog as a place to share and remember all of those sewing projects that we love and would love to sew, if we only had 29 hours in a day!"


Basically, they compile all of these fantastic tutorials from around the web and highlight a different one almost every day.  I have already bookmarked more than 15 projects that I want to tackle - sigh. If only I had 29 hours in a day! 

Really cool free font!

I had to pass long this gem that I discovered today from a really cool blog called How About Orange.

You can download this really cool font here, and it's totally F-R-E-E! What a great font - thanks guys!

Too much hair

A couple of years ago (almost 3 to be exact) we adopted this little bundle of joy from the Humane Society. Her name is Sophie, and according to the experts at the shelter, wouldn't grow much larger and was a short haired cat. At that time, she weighed 2.6 pounds.

Three years and 10 pounds later, Sophie is GIGANTIC and oh, surprise surprise a long haired cat. 

I really love her, even though she sort of sucks.

Which means her hair is EVERYWHERE. And I do mean everywhere. Like covering my clothes, on your feet from the floor. It's disgusting.

So I bought this bad boy at Petsmart the other day. Turns out I spent about twice as much as I should have, but I could return it if I didn't like it.

This is called the DeFURminator, and I can't find a website for it, so you can learn about it on Amazon here.

I was skeptical, because it cost like $40, but I was also desperate. And it is AMAZING. In a really really gross way. The sheer amount of hair it removes is ridiculous, and I (due to the overall cranky temperament my cat has) can only brush her until she tires of so I didn't even get everything.

But if you are also in love with an animal that sheds,  it will change your life.  It stopped me from threatening to send Soph back to where cats don't have moms, so I'd say it's helping our family...

This is what I pulled off of her the other day. The toothpaste is there for scale. Warning: it's really gross.

Moral of the story - go buy one.

The Best Lunch Ever

C-Change Class 4 was the best class ever, so naturally, everything we do is the best... ever.  Lunch today was no exception...

Candid shot of lunch on Fountain Square

Eating ice cream in front of Carew Tower

Group shot!

Seriously - best lunch ever!

Blast from the past

My favorite uncle has been re-discovering old pictures lately (not sure why?) but he's found a couple that are just begging to be shared. Because they're so awesome!

                                       

Swinging with my uncle, probably 1995-ish?

My first Halloween - how's this one for a gem?

My parents. Seriously. This the caption my uncle created: "My sister Gail and my brother-in-law Dave. Gail is 22 in this picture. She went straight from adolescence to middle-age. Fortunately she's gotten much younger in the years since."

My grandmother, holding my mom, with Aunt Ellen, Uncle Tom and Aunt Barb

And the coolest picture EVER:

This is my grandmother and her brother on a trip to Prince Edward Island (which is where my great-grandfather was born). Isn't this amazing??

Aren't those just too cool?? 

Next quilting project...

I love making quilts as gifts for other people. They are so much better as a surprise though, and the bummer part about that is that you can't share many photos without someone figuring out they have an amazing present coming their way!

I started working on my next project today, which is a quilt for a friend of mine. That's about all I can say without giving things away.... so here's all you get for now.  Start hoping it's for you!

As a side note, I love making quilts for other people, but since fabric is crazy expensive, I can only afford to do so many. So -- if you're willing to buy the fabric, I'll make you a quilt! You can keep it for yourself or give it as a gift or whatever... I'm just always looking to take on new projects!

How about this...

Thank you for all of the suggestions about my decorating dilemma.  Is this a little better?

The random extra bookcase will find a new home,as will the lamps. I love the suggestions for a round coffee table, but in the short term, this one is at least a lot less heavy. This orientation of the rug emphasizes my favorite parts (the swirls) and minimizes my less favorite part (the circles).  Does it work better, at least for now?

P.S. Nice that the cat wanted to be in on the decorating action, right??