quick trip to Cincinnati

Ryan was going to a concert with our friend Dan the other night in Cincinnati, so I decided to tag along and meet my parents for dinner. It was a fun little surprise trip during the week!

I'm sure I say this all the time, but I love skylines. I think they are so pretty! And of course, I think Cincinnati is definitely my favorite. I've tried (usually unsuccessfully) to capture it many times over the years... I had some fun looking back through pictures, but here is my journey with the Cincinnati skyline, enjoy!

(2002)

(2003)

(2003)

(2004)

(2004)

(2005)

(2005)

(2006)

(2007 - the Reds are playing!)

(2008)

(2008)

Great memories! Most of these pictures are taken at the same spot up in Mt Adams, which is probably one of my favorite places. And I believe to be one of the best views :)

Reds game!

Oh my goodness I am so far behind! A few weeks ago Ryan and I made it down to Cincinnati for a Reds game, and it happened to be the night they won the division! We had been watching for a few days to see if that day would be the day they would win it, and they did! Jay Bruce won the game with a walkoff home run in the bottom of the 9th. About as exciting as it gets, and the stadium went nuts. We walked back to Fountain Square with the streets full of people running and screaming. Very exciting!

Miss Molly in Fountain Square before the game

the stadium was packed.

and they won! fireworks and all to celebrate!

Cupcakes

Saturday was my 25th birthday.  25.  That sounds old!  I know it’s really not, but I feel like 25 just jumped out and surprised me.  Since Ryan was down in Nashville already for the wedding, I headed to Cincinnati to celebrate a little in the morning. 

my crazy parents,

and sister.

We went to the BonBonerie, a cute little bakery in Hyde Park to pick up some sweets.

My dad, being a crab, with an appropriate cookie!

The perfect birthday cupcake

Thanks guys for a great birthday!

The Styrofoam Jesus

images from cincinnati.com

I’m not sure if you heard about the “styrofoam” or “butter” Jesus that was struck by lightning last week and burned to the ground?  The only reason I feel this is worth sharing with you is because it was in Cincinnati and I used to drive past it allllll the time.  Anyway, it even made national news last week because everyone assumed it was build of solid rock, but was actually styrofoam and plastic.  So it burnt to the ground in minutes.  I thought I would share this commentary I found about the incident and an interesting perspective.  Enjoy!

http://blog.sojo.net/2010/06/21/goodbye-styrofoam-jesus/

Congrats Drewby

My brother graduated from Miami this spring!  He will be starting law school this fall up in Chicago and I am so proud of him.  Andrew is such a great little brother and I love him so much.  I am excited to get to visit him next year and watch him succeed in law school!

Mother’s Day 2010

I stayed in Cincinnati for Mother’s Day to spend some time with my fabulous mom!  Molly made a delicious breakfast, we played some games, and then headed to Alms Park.  The park is in the middle of the Tusculum neighborhood just outside downtown (which I am currently in love with, but more on that later).  Even though it was another chilly and cloudy day, the park was beautiful.  It reminded me a lot of Ault Park, but anyway, it was very pretty and had a killer slide on the playground (sorry, no pics of that).

Me and Miss Molly

We thought a jumping photo would be fun…

and another (I can not make my face not do that when I jump)…

and Dad wanted in on the fun :)

So I mentioned that I really loved the Columbia-Tusculum neighborhood…  It has a bunch of old Victorian style houses that are starting to be brought back to life, and with some crazy colors!

rachelrichardson.org

hookedonhouses.net

And being only a couple miles from downtown would be fun as well.  I should also mention there is a local coffee shop right at the bottom of this hill…making it just about perfect.

hookedonhouses.net

 

What a great day to celebrate Mom!

a few wine bottles...

This past weekend, when I was home, I told my dad I had a project I wanted us to work on...making wine bottles into glasses! I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm crazy whenever I mention these types of things, but my dad is a good sport. Not to mention he is curious like me, so why not give it a try? It also helped that my dad has all of the tools we needed :)

So we started with Dad cutting off the tops of the bottles with his tile cutter.

Then I took over by grinding down the sharp edges.

and voila!  I think they turned about pretty cool.  Not sure what we are going to do with them necessarily, but I now have glasses made out of something I would have otherwise thrown out!

Running with a Purpose

This weekend, I was able to do something a little special. Lindsey invited all the girls to come home and run in the American Heart Assoc. race in honor of her dad who passed away several years ago. We all ran (or some walked) the 5k on a nice chilly and wet morning, but it was great to get to see everyone!

We were able to spend some time the evening before sitting on the infamous Pam Brose couch and catching up. All of us live in different cities now, so I really appreciate the times we are together!

getting ready to start...

check out these beautiful ladies!

classic pic with jenny at the fountain

coming back into downtown!

Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day, my parents sent us this awesome block of cheese shaped like cupid:

from Jungle Jim's

Nothing says love like cheese and crackers :)