Windows to the World

On Wednesday, December 23rd, our window contractor started replacing our old lead windows with new energy efficient windows. We figured since we updated our insulation, we should update the windows as well so all the air we were keeping in the house was not escaping through the windows. Not mention the fact that they were very difficult to open and come Spring I know we are going to want to enjoy the breeze through the house!

Brian turned the heat off and the crew got busy with popping our old windows out and placing the new ones in. Boy, was it cold! The entire house was freezing! And there were wide open window sized holes in our house directly to the outside. It took about 2 1/2 days to complete all the windows, and fortunately the contractor made sure we had windows in at night so we could turn the heat back on. How thoughtful!

We also decided to replace our basement windows with glass block windows. Again, one for energy efficiency reasons, and two for safety reasons. We are well on our way to having a much more energy efficient house!

I say it's time to start spending money on the fun stuff like decorating, and paint colors, and window treatments! Anyone with me?!

Mele Kalikimaka

Is the thing to say on a bright Ohioan Christmas Day!

We are officially on the Christmas rotation and this year we spent Christmas in Ohio with Brian's family. It was my first Christmas here and I got to see and experience first hand all of his family's holiday traditions. It started with mass on Christmas Eve, followed by a gathering at his Grandparent's house. We stayed at his Mom's house on Christmas Eve and celebrated three individual Christmases on Christmas day: one at his Mom's, one at his Dad's, and another at his Mom's. Then, on Christmas night, we headed back home. It was a whirlwind adventure, but really nice to be able to spend Christmas with Brian and his family.

Eventhough I missed my family terribly this year, I know that we will be able to celebrate with them next year, and that doing this holiday rotation thing is just a part of married life. I'm happy to support my love and experience his traditions with him and his family, and I'm so lucky to have someone who is just as happy to support me and my family's traditions too. I look forward to creating our own traditions and bringing our families together to celebrate them collectively with us.

And, in lieu of it being slightly after Christmas, here is a little Christmas rendition that I made especially for all of our family and friends that we didn't get to see this year:

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Ohioan Christmas Day
That's the midwest greeting that we send to you from the land where corn fields lay
Here we know that Christmas will be cold and white
The snow to shine by day and all the stars at night
Mele Kalikimaka is Ohio's way to say Merry Christmas, a
very merry christmas, a very, very, merry, merry Chistmas to youuuuuuuuuu!

Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donder and Blitzen!

It's that time of the year: The Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Crawl was last night! The shenanigans began at Bar Louie and ended at Callahan's! (And, of course, stumbled its way to a few bars in between!)

Yes, those are bright shining Christmas lights that Brian is adorned with...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!

Date Night

Last Monday I was told that we had a surprise on Saturday night and I had to be ready at 5:00 pm. No ifs, ands, or buts. I wasn't given any hints. None of my countless questions were answered: What should I wear? What are you wearing? Will it be cold? Are we going to eat? What should I bring? Etc. And as each day passed, I was reminded that we had really special plans on Saturday night. (Details were not released, much to my delight!)

When Saturday finally did roll around, I got more and more excited as the hours counted up to 5 o'clock. I was told numerous times not to ruin my appetite, but that was about it.

At 5:00 pm, Brian and I both had cleaned up quite nicely, and headed to...[destination: unknown].

Brian took the long way to get to downtown Columbus. Each turn we made he asked if I had any idea where we were headed. And, like a buzzer on a gameshow, each guess I had was wrong. In my defense, I could only make my guesses based on the available information, aka the direction we were headed, and since we took multiple turns that we really didn't need to take my guesses were slightly off the charts.

At last, we pulled up to the infamously stylish and posh restaurant Hyde Park. Brian had made reservations, dinner for two, at this classy, luxurious locale. His decision: this would be our night to celebrate Christmas.

I just love my husband.

We were waited on hand and foot. The food, the service, the atmosphere were all top notch, folks. (I wouldn't have expected anything less from the reputation this restaurant has!) We both ordered delicious steaks for dinner, and shared quite a laugh after we had to send them both back to be cooked longer! I had ordered medium-rare and Brian had ordered medium-well. Neither were what we expected! We may be rookies when it comes to fine dining but you've got to start somewhere, right?!

Midway through dinner, after thanking Brian profusely for the thought and effort in setting the night up, I mentioned that I had kind of secretly hoped that this surprise night would be tickets to go see The Nutcracker (a BalletMet production that is currently playing at the Ohio Theater), but that I was pleasantly surprised and still loved the night how it was. He brushed my comment off like a crumb on his pant leg and said, 'perhaps we can go after Christmas.' Knowing that this play probably wasn't playing too long after Christmas, I just agreed and in the back of my mind decided that it was something we could do next year.

After our fantastic dinner, Brian mentioned that our next and final stop would be to go ice skating at the capital. (Apparently, this is something that they do around the holidays.) I was skeptical, but decided I would believe it when I saw it, and that no matter what it would be fun!

We neared the capital and I begged Brian to make sure it was there so that we weren't wandering aimlessly around the capital ... in the cold. However, much to my dismay, he pulled into the parking garage beneath the capital...and parked. He assured me that we would figure it out.

When we exited the parking garage and turned the corner, the Ohio Theater was right there! Brian explained that we weren't going ice skating. We were going to see The Nutcracker! I was thrilled! (I admit, I was a tad sad because ice skating sounded like fun, but I was way more happy to be able to be sitting in a warm theater watching a 'what I would think would be incredible' play!)

It ended up being just that! The night was fantastic! The surprises were awesome! And our first married Christmas together will not be forgotten!

Winter Solstice

The glistening snow under the moonlight was completely magical. The millions of delicate snow crystals twinkled like stars in the sky, and the pristine, untouched blanket of white glimmered like a rare, but extraordinary oddity. It resembled an entirely different world, one in which only few are permitted to enter.

And I was allowed.

This moment, this parallel universe, where our entire existence was merely brought to a standstill while Pup and I explored the precious sparkling snow, was completely and utterly ethereal.

It was rare. It was unique. It was brilliant. And I hope to never forget the beauty and simplicity of this ephemeral night.

Snow Beards

After our walk, we played frisbee in the snow laden yard until our chinny chin chins were covered and our paws were frosty:

It was wonderful. Simply wonderful!

Ivy League

When Brian and I went to look at our then potential new house, one of the first things I noticed was the English Ivy. It was everywhere! (Still is, for that matter.)

Being a landscape designer, I notice those sorts of things. Brian didn't really mind the ivy either way, but once we moved in it was a priority for me to have it removed. At least from taking over the trees. We had two large trees that were just covered in ivy: one was a Spruce tree in our front yard and one was a Magnolia in our back yard. Both trees were, and are, great additions to our landscape, and I definitely didn't want the ivy to conquer either tree. I'm not planning on removing either of them. (And to be quite honest, I absolutely cannot wait to see the Magnolia in bloom next Spring! That's the plant geek in me!)

Years of growth sent ivy growing all the way up the trunks of these two trees to the point where you couldn't even see the bark anymore. In some areas, this ivy reached 35 feet in height, at least! We were told that ivy grows approximately one foot each year, so after about 35 years of growth, we put a stop to it today. Adiós, Hedera helix!

We hired an arborist who came out, shimmied all the way to the tippie top of both trees, and cut the ivy, removed the ivy, and hauled the ivy out of our yard. It's amazing to see the bark and trunk of the trees again. They look renewed, healthy, and come Spring, I'm sure they will be thanking us!

Even Brian ended up thinking removing the ivy was a fantastic call! I try to use my landscape expertise every now and then, but sometimes it's easier said than done! For those of us who are slightly more visual people (ah hem, Brian), it's nice to have someone in the fam (ah hem, your wife) that can envision the spectacularness that would result in removing the ivy, isn't it?! Oh, and it doesn't stop there! After envisioning the multitude of greatness that would result from the removal of the ivy, making an educated decision to complete the task at hand to allow the more visual one of the two of us to actually see the end result!... And still be impressed!

I'm starting to build some leverage here, folks!

(Unfortunately, I don't have any before photos, but here are our after photos! Enjoy!)

Mamma Mia!

My Mom and Stepdad, Scott, drove into town from Maryland on Friday night to share an exciting weekend in Columbus with us! They arrived around 11:30 pm and after we poured a few drinks and gave them the grand tour of Hotel Hendricks, we relaxed and enjoyed each others company. It is always so nice to have visitors in town, especially those that mean so much to you!

On Saturday, we took a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood. It really is a pleasant area to saunter about, so we showed them a few sights by foot and found ourselves a Caribou Coffee shop where we just had to make a stop! We shared a few slices of holiday bread, warmed up with a bit of coffee, and chatted before we began our trek (it really wasn't that far...) back to the home front.

Before Mom and Scott arrived, Brian and I purchased some surprise tickets to the Columbus Blue Jackets Ice Hockey game for Saturday night. So, before we headed to the game, we met Mary and Tom at Buca di Beppo, a family style Italian Restaurant right next to the hockey arena for a little family gathering and dinner. We shared sangria, ensalata, pizza, pasta, and we really-a had-a great-a time-a! It was nice that we all got to hang out while my parents were in town. Fortunately, Mary and Tom were also headed to the game to watch the CBJ trounce the New York Rangers, so after dinner we all went to our respective seats and watched the action! After the game, we headed to Easton to get a quick glimpse of the Holiday decor and stopped by Fadó, the Irish pub, for a little after game celebrating! It was quite an eventful night!

On Sunday, we awoke to a rainy morning that quickly turned into snow. The ground was covered in a matter of minutes and it just kept coming down! This was our first official snow this year, and it was so picturesque watching the snow fall from our living room window! It started accumulating quickly, and since Mom and Scott were driving back to Maryland that day, we decided to have a quick Christmas celebration before they started on their way.

As usual, it was just so wonderful to see them! It makes me feel so good that my family is willing and able to travel to Columbus (even in the rain and snow) to visit. I was the one that made the decision to move to Ohio, and I really do miss my family and friends greatly. I get homesick much more often than I anticipated, and it really makes me cherish the moments that we all have together that much more. Distance does make the heart grow fonder, but I certainly wouldn't complain if it were slightly easier to make the journey from Ohio to Maryland, or Virginia, or New York, or Germany, or Switzerland, or anywhere else in the world where there are people that mean so much to us! For now, probably a pretty long now, we will continue to keep our lives updated in this bloggeriffic world, keep up the constant communication with all our loved ones, and continue to arrange weekend trips where we get to fully enjoy the love that we all share!

'Tis the season! Merry Christmas, Mom & Scott!

Hot Toddies and R-Values

I awoke this morning to my fav local radio station broadcasting the weather forecast. This is what I heard, 'The current temperature in downtown Columbus is 15 degrees Fahrenheit. The windchill makes it feel like it's around zero...' (ZERO?! This is not helping me get out of bed.) '...Highs today will be around 22, so bundle up! It's going to be a cold one!' (Clearly. Nearly 20 degrees F lower than the averages around these here parts during this time of the year, mind you.) At that point, I turned the radio off, rolled over in the warm covers, got a little bit more cozy, and went back to sleep. I figured I'd wake up again later to some hopefully warmer news...

I didn't. It's still cold. But it got me thinking of a good way to warm up: a hot toddy! It's the perfect day for one, or two! I've found what sounds like a delicious recipe and may have to test it out after work!

Speaking of cold, we had insulation installed in our attic yesterday and it brought our R-Value up from R-7 to R-42. For those of you that aren't aware of R-Values (I wasn't either before this endeavour), they basically are measurements of the resistance to heat flow. The higher the R-Value, the greater the effectiveness of the insulation, the greater the resistance to heat flow. In other words: higher R-Value = less heat escaping through the attic and then through the roof, keeping us and all our toes warm and cozy! Well, warmer and cozier then they would have been!

When our inspector went through the house with us, he said that it looked like the insulation hadn't been updated since the construction of the house in 1936! Therefore, the tenants (for the seventy six years before we moved in) have attempted to heat the outside during the winter and cool the outside during the summer. We are not huge fans of wasted energy so we decided to put a stop to that right away. We weren't sure that we would really notice a difference but we have already! It actually felt quite warm this morning when we woke up, despite what the radio was saying.

 Take that, Weatherman.

Holly Jolly

We sent our Christmas postcards out on Wednesday. (Warning: They are not your typical Holiday cards.) Brian and I have had this tendency to get a bit creative with our holiday greetings. This year we used a picture that was taken on our honeymoon in Mexico. We doctored it up a bit to make it more festive, added some text to the back, and called it a day!

We're wondering how many people will think it's junk mail...

2010 Holiday Card

Take a look at some of our Holiday cards from years past:

2009 Holiday Card

Brian's 2009 OSU Holiday Card

Bun & Erin's 2008 Holiday Card

Brian's 2008 OSU Holiday Card

¡Felices fiestas, mis amigos!