April Was a Very Busy Month

Very little blogging happened in April because so much activity was swirling around that I barely had enough time to check email and keep up with my mindless twitter account.

But here goes with a quick recap of April:

Mom's weekend with Megan at Miami University. I even slept in her dorm. So much fun and thankfully no Natty Light was involved (several Sam Adams', yes).
 

Greg celebrated a birthday and B decorated each of his envelopes.  He is the proud owner of Indians tickets, Brew Kettle brew-your-own-beer experience, and a round of golf!
 

Bridget posing in front of her school's kindergarten art show.  She was so proud of her work!
 

No month would be complete without attending a concert. This time it was Taylor Swift.  She played for 2 hours (who would've believed?!) and it was actually very entertaining (and wholesome).
 

I got a new pair of shoes to help me suck up the Cleveland Rite Aid half marathon training (wow, who knew 13.1 miles could be so far after completing 24 half marathons already?!).

Last, but not least, we're moving! What an exhausting process, but I am totally organized this time.  Every box is labeled with contents and room assignment so that, when the movers arrive, they only have to move actual furniture. Whew - what a month!

Family Visit and Fun at the Zoo

Thanks to my brother and sister-in-law for making the trek from Virginia to Ohio so we could all spend a wonderful weekend together and meet the newest addition to the their family, Sloane.  Friday consisted of dinner at Easton with what seemed like the world's longest table to fit all of us. Even better, Meg drove up from Miami to join us and I got to squeeze in more time with her. Saturday brought an enjoyable day visiting the Columbus zoo (thank you, Jack Hanna).  I swear I think I have a love affair with flamingoes and simply can't snap enough pictures of these beautiful creatures.  Before heading back to Cleveland, we dined sans kids with my brother, sister-in-law, her sister and brother-in-law, my brother's best friend from college and his new wife (Thank you, Aunt Angie, for entertaining the kids!).  What a fun evening!

Post Run Fun

Now that I'm back to training for the Cleveland Rite Aid half marathon (can it really be 6 weeks away?!), I needed to get back on track with my long runs and start sprinkling in some weekday runs with regularity.  My, how I've gotten lazy.  Sunday, with the help of B in the jogging stroller, I churned out 6 very slow, very sloppy miles.  My reward for this? A glass of old vine zinfandel.  And B's reward for hanging in there for an hour of pure boredom? A cup of Mitchell's ice cream, of course!

Travel Thursday: Your One Item

Whenever I travel, I always make sure I bring scrap paper and a pen. I enjoy writing down my thoughts about interesting sights, places or restaurants I've visited.

When you travel, what is the one item you can't leave home without?

New Guilty Pleasure

I came across this Pinterest site called Sweet Paul Magazine. Wow - I'm smitten.  The recipes are cleverly disguised as food porn.  I enjoyed perusing the section called "Sweet Paul's Favorite Things" and wasted away a small part of my evening scrolling through the remaining pins before stumbling across the fact that Sweet Paul Magazine is found in Anthropologie stores.  Ahhh, now I understand my affection for this site.

Enjoy!

A Night of Garbage

Garbage, as in Butch Vig and Shirley Manson. One of my birthday presents was two tickets to see Garbage in concert.  I am such a fan and love love love everything about Shirley.  Seeing them in concert was simply incredible.  I was taken by Shirley's onstage performance as well as her vocals.  Butch Vig's drum performance was mesmerizing and I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed the heavy guitar rifts.  Unbelievable performance lasting more than 2 hours! I even dug up more old Garbage CDs and I think I'm going to do what I can to wear them out again.  What an awesome evening!

Meatless Monday: Pesto Gnocchi

Tonight was a very simple meal of gnocchi tossed in pesto paired with a light salad and a slice of garlic parmesan bread from the Westside Market.  In our house, we call it the Dan Humphrey dinner, since Dan Humphrey's dad on Gossip Girl  considered this his "signature" dish.  Always one of Meg's favorite's and she's already asking for it when she comes back home after Spring semester concludes.

Buon Appetito!