Holiday Tour of Homes!!

 If you live in the Columbus area, consider visiting the Junior League of Columbus' Holiday Tour of Homes! It's in the Worthington neighborhood of Oldestone Crossing. 

Get your tickets on Saturday at St. John's Episcopal Church in Worthington OR (little secret here) there will be tickets at the first house in the neighborhood. :)

I will be staffing a house in the morning, so come see me if nothing else! 

The Junior League of Columbus' annual home tour offers members of the community the opportunity to tour and admire area homes decorated for the holidays. This year, Holiday Tour of Homes will take place on Saturday, 
December 1, 2012.

The tour begins at St. John’s Episcopal Church (700 N. High Street, Worthington), where guests can pick up their tickets and a map of the tour as well as browse a holiday boutique, featuring unique gift and specialty items from local vendors.

The homes on the tour will be adorned for the holidays to reflect each family’s traditions and values, and decorations include those from professional designers and from the homeowners themselves. Each family shares their personal holiday story, including a homeowner who puts up seven Christmas trees each year and another who celebrates Christmas, as well as Hanukkah, after a moving experience in a Jewish sorority in college. Many of the homes are recently built. Each showcases the homeowner’s taste for a combination of contemporary and traditional décor and workmanship.

Holiday Tour of Homes
Kick Off Party & Silent Auction
Friday, November 30, 2012
7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Gallo Pit Barbecue
2234 W. Dublin Granville Road
Columbus, OH 43085
Tickets are $60 each and include two drink tickets and food.

Home Tour
Saturday, December 1, 2012
10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Oldstone Crossing Neighborhood Hard and Linworth RoadsWorthington, OH
Tickets for the home tour are $18 in advance, or $20 at the door.

Holiday Boutique*
Saturday, December 1, 2012
10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
St. John's Episcopal Church*
700 N. High Street
Worthington, OH 43085
*Check-in Location
Tickets can be purchased through the JLC Store, by calling the Junior League Office, (614) 464-2717, or by mailing a check to the Junior League, 583 Franklin Avenue, Columbus, OH 43215. 
Tickets will also be sold the day of the event at St. John’s Episcopal Church.
Click here to view event flyer.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Quick Trip to Chi-Town

After I spent a week in Indianapolis for work, I decided to head up to Chicago and visit the family since I was already half way there.

I spent the night with Katy, Johnny and Baby Claire, then headed north that afternoon.

I was only there for 24 hours, maybe even less, but it was full of playing in the park, walking to get cupcakes (a tradition), dolls, sleeping bag slumber parties, Cinderella watching, breakfast and lots of fun with the nieces!

Charley girl

"Cinerella"

baby in a box

When I left Holly and Eric's I decided to drive up the coast and visit Northwestern University. I had never been there and visiting the Big Ten stadiums is on my list. And I was by myself, so why not?

Northwestern's campus and stadium is no where as big as ours. The atmosphere is completely different too. I got an ornament to remember this trip to Chicago and took my self portrait in front of the stadium.

Next I ran downtown. I wanted to get popcorn for Molly and John because they watched my house and Bowie, and also for my friend who just loves Garrett's popcorn. I was also majorly craving a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery. :)

I also had to walk through Athropology and the Macy's store on State Street because it was already decorated for Christmas! And just because I love Downtown Chicago! I seriously do. Sometimes I wish I lived there. If I didn't have this awesome job that I really do love and I knew that my sis and her family would be there for another two years, I'd move there. I wish I'd done that about 5 years ago when I graduated college instead of hanging around Ohio. (Stupid boyfriends. Ugh! Ladies, don't put your dreams or wants on hold for some boy!)

As I was leaving Chicago I saw the sign for the United Center and, again, since I was by myself and had never seen the Michael Jordan statue in front of the UC, I headed that way. After driving around the block about 21 times, I finally found a lot to park in, got my picture with MJ :) and unfortunately saw JoKim Noah too. :(

love me some MJ

he.s so gross.

It was a really, really quick trip to Chicago, but I'd seriously drive 14 hours there and back just to spend a day in the city! I love it there. :)

Anyone want to go on a road trip soon?

Will Run for Chocolate

This morning I ran in the Hot Chocolate 5K in Downtown Columbus. It was the forth 5K I've done this year and by far the coldest! The last one I ran was in mid-July, so it was quite a very big difference in weather. Probably about 60 degrees to be exact! :)

I did ok in this race. I didn't train for this one as much as the ones I did back in the spring. Not by a long shot. So about the half-way point I had to stop and touch my toes because I had a 'bubble.'

If you're not sure what a 'bubble' is, it's that sharp pain in your side that you get when you are running. I don't know what it's called really, but Erin and I referred to it as a bubble during cross country in junior high. Our coach told us to touch our toes while running. I'm not sure if he was joking and wanted to see us try to run while bending over to touch our toes or if he was being serious. But bending over DOES help. I would just suggest you stop to do it. Otherwise you might end up eating blacktop.

I have a lot of work to do between now and my half marathon in February. Running is now a top priority. I will not be a slacker any more.

But on to today.

I ended up running with my oldest sister for the first half of the race. And finished with an okay time for me, definitely not my fastest. But Nike+ messed up and didn't keep up, but it was a timed race so I saw my official time online.

After the race we got hot chocolate and some treats to dip in chocolate. Nothing super fancy like I thought, but how could it be with thousands of people there. :)

So it was a good race. Definitely what I needed for a kick in the butt to get me running again. And it's always fun to run with a lot of people over just a handful at the Dogwood Festival. Plus it gives me something to work towards, because if I don't have that, I slack. Obvious by the fact the last time I ran on a regular basis was before The Color Run in July. :)

Blurry pic of my outfit all laid out! :)

In the starting corrals.

Me and Heather running together. Before I had to stop.

Almost to the finish line.

Me and my big sis after finishing.

My brother-in-law came to cheer on my sis! :) So sweet!

Me with Heather and her two coworkers!

After the race was over, Abra, Tricia and I went to Hangover Easy on campus and had breakfast! I had pancakes! yum!

 

We all ended up in aqua - not planned!

Flashback to '97 - Players gonna Play

Piketon's football team made the playoffs this year. And that's kind of a big deal in the Village. We last made the playoff's in 1997. Yeah, that was 15 years ago. Some of the kids playing on this year's football team were just tiny babies or WEREN'T EVEN BORN! 

I was in the 7th grade back then. I was at my grandma's when we found out that we had snuck in to fourth place a secured a spot in the playoffs. The coaches had already collected the jerseys. I remember the entire town being so excited they had made it to the playoffs. There was even a giant banner that hung on the front of our high school that said "Ring their bells!" (We played Bellaire, FYI. We keep it classy.) :)

We played at Zanesville High School, which at 12 years old seemed like FOREVER away from Piketon. There were 7 of us crammed in to my parent's van - the five of us, one of my good friends and one of Tyler's good friends. We stopped at my grandparents on the way and they gave us a few bag of popcorn to take for the road trip. We ended up loosing the game. We were leading at half-time, but then we lost our steam. 

For the last 15 years, that's been our football 'glory days'. You know, you see it in the movie when the small town still talks about the football team "taking state back in '98". Yeah, that us.

Anywho - this year we were 8-2. Easily our best record in 15 years. So we knew a few weeks out that we were going to make the playoffs. We played our first game against Minford. Minford had beat Piketon earlier in the season, so it was a little bit of revenge. Last Friday night Tyler and I went to the game and they won! Like massive winning. It was awesome - we had these long passes that were completed, touchdowns were scored. We blocked punts, recovered fumbles, intercepted passes. Just amazing! We made it to Week 2. 

Week 2 wasn't so hot. I road tripped to the game with some friends from Columbus. We were playing the #1 seed in our region, so we kind of lost steam at halftime and ended up getting a pretty good beating. But for the first quarter and a half, we scored when they scored and it was even tied at 20 at one point. We didn't do anything wrong, St. Clairsville just did everything right!

Tyler and I before the game started! - Full of excitement.

And at halftime! - Full of realization that it probably isn't going to be a victory night.

So proud of my redstreaks. Even though I don't live there anymore, I still know more people than in my current town.

Me and my momma.

Saturday evening Hilliard Davidson was playing in their second round playoff game. I'm making my best effort to get involved in things going on in Columbus so I can actually have a life here instead of having to go to Piketon all the time. I mean, it sucks to go somewhere and not know anyone, so I'm trying to change that. Last year when I went to the majority of the Davidson games I got to know lots of people, which is good to recognize people when you're out and about.

Perfect weather for a football game!

Brittany and I went to the playoff game on Saturday and sat with my aunt and uncle. It was 70 degrees Saturday night! Hardly football weather! Especially not Week 12 football weather. Davidson ended up winning over Olentangy and I didn't even take one picture! They play again this Saturday night at Ohio Wesleyan. Not sure if I'm going to make it to the game or not because Britt's going to be out of town and my aunt/uncle and all of their group will be at a wedding. So who am I going to sit with? Davidson games are always so much fun because they have so much school spirit and it's always a really good game because the teams are always good. Does anyone else love football like me and want to go to a game Saturday night? Please!

Election 2012

Political Post Ahead. I'm not asking for comments. I know my views aren't the same as everyone else. I don't judge you, please don't judge me. :)

You know the two things you're not supposed to talk in large groups because of differences - politics and religion. Let's make it all awkward and talk about one of them, shall we.

So earlier last week was the big presidential election. I was seriously so sick of hearing those 'this message approved by' commercials on tv that I was ready to scream. 

In high school and in college I was a pretty big fan of elections and this time of year. I have voted in every singe election I could - even if just for a fire levy. I thought I wanted a career in politics and government and I even worked in it for a few years and found out that it just wasn't my cup of tea.

There ARE a lot of good people in government. But there are those few that just put a bad taste in your mouth and make you want nothing to do with politics ever again.

So up until Tuesday afternoon on my drive home to vote, I was just voting as my patriotic duty and then had plans to go to a "Pie and Politics" party with coworkers. I didn't really care much about anything else going on during the day.

Then after I voted, I felt a little more excited. And then the excitement really hit me when I stopped at my grandparents on the way back to Columbus. Hearing my grandma and grandpa talk about going to the election house and the party headquarters really got me excited.

So when I got back to Columbus I went to my Pie and Politics party. I contributed bowls and ice cream, since I hate pie. Seeing the results come in on the TV just kept making me more and more excited. One teeny problem was that most of the people at the party didn't agree with my politically, WHICH IS FINE!  I have no problem with other political parties or views. That's what is so great about our country - we all get to have our own views and vote for the person that we think is best. Every year in every elections there are winners and losers. Not in any election ever will everyone be happy with the outcome. But sometimes opinions are just best kept to yourself when you know that not everyone in the room agrees with you. That doesn't always happen.

So after P&P was over, I found out that a few friends were going downtown to the new Hilton Hotel for the Ohio Democratic Party election night party. So I headed downtown to watch the remaining election results there. I had on a patriotic sweater that looked like the American Flag, so I'm glad I went home and switched in to a sequin tank and black blazer. :)

As soon as I got tot he Hilton and found my friends and former co-workers, they declared Obama the winner of Ohio, which meant he had enough votes to be re-elected President of the United States. The place went wild. 

Governor Strickland was there to give remarks and Senator Brown. And I saw lots and lots of people I knew from my days of working at the Courthouse and even met some new people that were super nice.

I can remember going to the Ross County Democrat headquarters for the first time in 1998. I would have been 13. It was at a bar in Chillicothe where they were having their election night party. It was my, my mom and my grandpa there. We had chili and vegetable soup and I remember my grandpa introducing me to everyone, proud that I was following in his footsteps and had the same interest in politics like he did. 

Then in 2000, my mom and I went to Chillicothe again to the RCDP headquarters, only this time it was in a small house. ha! By the time we got there, all of the democrat candidates in Ross County had already won. Hillary Clinton had already been elected Senator of New York State and we were all just waiting on news about if Al Gore had been elected president or not. I remember the radio guy saying "Bill Clinton has half a smile on his face tonight!" Little did we know that it would be many weeks until we would know that Al Gore would not be our next POTUS. Glad we didn't wait there the whole time. We also went down to the Pike County DP headquarters on the way home that night and waited in there. They also had vegetable soup and cornbread. :) And every time new results would come in from the Election House, we would watch as they were written on the chalk board - YES, they wrote the results on a chart made out of electrical tape on a chalk board. :) I wonder if it's still like that in good ole PC. :)

So I'm glad I made a last minute decision to go downtown this year and enjoy a historic night. I did not however make it until President Obama gave his speech. I was home in bed before then because I did have to go to work the next day! :) I will just have to wait to see him again when I go to DC in January for his inauguration!

Can't tell but that's my friend Ted giving remarks.

Rev. Jesse Jackson was there too.

I may have hung out for a while right in front of the cameras. :)

Party time! :)

Inside the Hilton Hotel! So pretty!

Auntie Em

I'm so excited to be an aunt again - sorta.

My best friend since 8th grade had her first baby last week! He's one week old today. 

I'm so excited to be an aunt to this little bundle of joy!

Welcome to the world Layton Andrew!

Always on the Run

These past few weeks have been insanely busy. I've decided that I overcommit myself to doing things and then I don't have time for other things - like clean my apartment, run, eat, shower, sleep, complete my bible study, blog. Oh, and play with Bowie. I get major guilt trips from her.

While I have enjoyed being so busy, I also recognize that I need to slow down. Sometimes I need to just go home and rest and watch trashy television. Cause I do have cable now and I am never home to watch it!

For 8+ months now I've been keeping busy and running around non-stop. I seriously could count the evenings that I have had nothing on two hands. And sometimes when I plan a "do nothing" night, something pops up - like being invited to happy hour or a friend giving birth. Which I'm not complaining about at all. I just can't believe that a year ago I literally had no life and went home every night to sit and wait for something to do.

My goal for this next year is to find a balance. A much needed balance between personal time and busy. It's much easier to find things to do than to decide what you want to cut back on when you have so many things that you want to do.

Let's get in to all the fabulous things that have been taking up all of my time lately, shall we:

Work
Oh. Em. Ghe. Work has been so busy lately. But that is also good. I am thankful to have a job that I LOVE so much. And  I mean that. I really, really like it. The best way to explain it is to think of all of the fun things you go to do while you were in college - student organizations, planning events, going to conferences, meeting future students, going to dinners - yet, you don't have to pay to be involved, you don't have to go to class or take exams and YOU GET PAID to do all of these awesome things. I am just in love with the job. I just wish I could bring a selected few people from my previous job with me because I really miss them! But I'm so pumped for a few upcoming activities that I have in the works too!

Molly took this while at a school visit last week.

Junior League/Bible Study (My Mondays)
I'm on a committee to plan the Holiday Tour of Homes. Selecting a committee that was in the fall probably wasn't one of my best ideas, so I will definitely thing ahead when selecting my placement for next year. It's been a busy few months, especially on Mondays when the meetings overlap with my Bible Study. SOOO, three more weeks and I will be done with that commitment and have lots more free time. And hope I will be able to commit more time to my Bible Study, because I haven't completed a lesson yet this year.

Football
Tailgating has taken up a large portions of my weekends this fall, which is ok because I've gotten to know some really great ladies much better than I did at the beginning of the season! :) And because I love cheering for the Buckeyes! But tailgating is definitely an all day commitment. Because when I rise to get somewhere by 7am, I'm pretty much zonked for the rest of the day once I get home.

Also, Piketon made the playoffs!! This was the first time since 1997 and only the second time EVER! And to make it even better, we won the first round and will be playing AGAIN tonight! We're playing the #1 team in our division, so lots of positive thoughts and spirit for the Redstreaks!

Tailgating with my sister.

Our Southern Belle.

Ty and I before the Piketon Playoff game. It. was. so. cold!

Brittany and I went tot he Davidson game too! They won!! Every Davidson/Coffman game I've been to they've won!

Running
Oh running. It's taken a back seat and that is not good. I have a half marathon in three months! Three months! I have got to get on this wagon and get to running. Thankfully I have connections to indoor treadmills, because if not for that I would not be running again until the spring. I am not a cold weather runner.


Happy Birthday Mam!
Pretty flowers Molly and I picked out. My mom got the same ones for her, we didn't know it!

28 in 28

For Brittany's 28th Birthday she wanted to do a 28 in 28 thing, which is where she would do 28 good deeds in 28 days until her 28 birthday. Brilliant, right? (Kind of like how I wanted to do 28 good deeds ON my 28th birthday next April.)

She encouraged her students and blogger friends to participate. And while I really would have liked to do 28 things, I only did a handfull. But it definitely brought to my attention (again) how doing random nice things for other people can make their day.

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Taking students to lunch
I remember being a college student and not ever having a lot of money, so I took one girl to Panera one day who wanted to 'chat about life' (Oh the stress of college boyfriends. I wanted to tell her it doesn't get any better after college either!) and another day I was running out to Wendy's so I just asked my student worker what she wanted and picked it up for her. She was thrilled! I need to do that more often.

Last week in Indianapolis I was going to buy the three students that were with me milkshakes, but there was a 45 minute wait and it was already 1am, so we just opted to go back to the hotel. So I tried.

Road side assistance
Have you ever come upon a car accident before the first responders got there? I have a time or two and always called 911. I've never been at one where anyone was hurt, just scared, so I usually called and left. Well about 5 weeks ago I was on my way home one really early Saturday morning (to my parents house from Columbus for Bowie's vet apopintment, just to clarify) and it was really foggy. Anyway, I came upon this "it just happened" accident, so I pulled over and went running to the car. There were three cars involved and a lot of blood. One car had two 18 year old girls in the car and one was injured pretty badly on the head. Like I said, lots of blood. Another car called 911 and I sat in a warm vehicle with these two really scared girls - holding a rag on the one's head and comforting the other that was so nervous and scared (she'd been the driver). After they were loaded by the EMT and taken to the hospital and I went to leave, the other lady that had also stopped asked if I was a nurse because I was so calm and knew exactly what to do. I laughingly told her 'no' and that I'm usually scared to death of blood, but now that I thought about it, I actually didn't even think of the blood the whole time I was with the girls. I just tried to keep them calm and focused on other things - track, soccer, boyfriends. I guess it was just the natural thing to do and my dad being a volunteer firefighter for so many years (30+) has set a great example of what it takes to be a first responder. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to do that for a full-time career, but at lease I know how that I can handle myself in an emergency situation. And that I was there for those two girls, who both contacted me through facebook to say thank you. Their grandma's too!

Nice gestures
I brought popcorn home from Chicago for a friend.
And cupcakes for my sister.

So really, that wasn't that many at all now that I put them all down on 'paper.'

I've really got to start working for next April!