Why I Love My Husband

A bunch of my married friends have done this and since I never get tired of talking about Mark I figured I would too!

1. Where we met - At Crossroads. We were going on the winter retreat and I saw him getting on the bus. I remember asking Emily, "Who is that guy?". She replied that she thought it was Eric's friend. I was infatuated with him from the beginning.
2. Our first date - I wasn't sure if it was a date so I actually tried to pay. We went to Common Grounds where he got coffee and I got tea. We just sat and talked for a long time. Next we went to Coldstone for ice cream. He knew the way to my heart from the beginning.
3. How long did we date before we were married? - 2 years and 8 months
4. How long have been hitched? - a little over 4 years
5. Favorite feature - His smile. He has a dimple when he smiles really big.
6. Favorite quality - How laid back he is. This is also something I hate at times, but he really does balance me out. I also love how artistic he is. He just blows me out of the water!
7. His nickname for me - He calls me babe or baby. It's actually very weird for him to say my name.
8. His favorite color - Green, yellow, and brown. He also likes orange. He likes nature colors.
9. His favorite sport - Hockey! That is by far his favorite. He's been begging me for the NHL channel for years.
10. Who said I love you first - I did. This is hard to believe, but Mark was EXTREMELY timid when we were dating. He was very old-fashioned and very patient. I finally couldn't take it anymore and said it to him. He said it right back.
11. Our first kiss, when and where - I kissed him on the cheek when we were at the coffee house one night. His face got bright red. We'd been dating for about a month at this point (I told you he was old-fashioned!). He kissed me later that week.
12. Favorite couple thing to do - Hiking, camping, or going to museums.
13. His hidden talent - He is very empathetic. He can relate to others on a level that I can't. He has an eye for fashion. He's also very good with kids even though he doesn't believe it.
14. His favorite music - Led Zeppelin, Deftones, Zao. Other than that, I'm not touching this subject. When you mention music with Mark, you are opening a whole can of worms.
15. What I admire most about him - What a wonderful artist he is. He can pick up any instrument and literally learn to play it in a day or less. He doesn't read music, but he can play back any song to you after he listens to it. He can create an entire song in a day. He can also draw really well. He thinks outside the box. He acts like a big kid. He has so much compassion for others and lends a helping hand whenever he can.

16. His favorite pastime - Playing music. He's in the other room doing it right now.
17. Will he read this - Probably. Eventually.

Alright, now all of my other married friends need to do this!

Guinness and Mark Play the Wii

This is what happens when you have a hyperactive dog who things that everything revolves around him. We got a Wii and Guinness doesn't understand the concept.

Super Bowl XLIII: Disappointing

As much as I utterly despised the dirty Steelers winning this year, I enjoyed all of the company during the game. Em and Mark definitely rocked the 3D glasses through pretty much the entire game and the annual cake that I make was a success with the help of Em's decorating skills again.

Snowed In With Hong Kongers

I have not blogged in some time and that is mainly due to the fact that I lost freedom in my house for sometime. Every year, our school hosts some students from Hong Kong and their teachers. My principal had her hands full so I offered to take the teachers into my own home for a week to relieve her a bit. This sounded like a great deal because I would get some to experience a different culture.

There were 16 5th grade students (I could never send my kids around the world by themselves) who stayed with various "host families" and 2 teachers (Wing and Peggy) who stayed with us. The plan was that they would spend all day at school (and receive breakfast and lunch there) then there would be planned activities each day after school. There was only 2 days that I would need to make a meal for my teachers and only one of the days would I have to entertain them. Sounds great, right?

Cue the winter storm of the decade.

I will say that overall, Wing and Peggy were very independent. They kept to themselves mostly, but I will say that my week of snow days was not as easy to enjoy. I couldn't just lay around in my pajamas, I couldn't get on the computer (the computer is in our guest room), and we couldn't really go anywhere. I tried to fix foods that they would like. Emily even came up to visit one day to help me out with some entertaining.

Some things to note:
-They were amazed that we had more than 4 channels. They never really grasped DVR either
-In Hong Kong, they miss school due to typhoons
-Students in Hong Kong usually receive about 4-5 hours of homework a night
-All of the elite officials in Hong Kong send their kids overseas for schooling
-The school day is over at 3:00, but if you would like to have classes such as science or art you have to stay until 5:00.
-The building that these teachers taught in was 7 stories high
-Teachers are required to work every other Saturday
-School is so competitive there that one must apply to secondary school (middle & high school) and you can not get into a good school unless you've spent at least some time overseas...hence the students' trip here
-We received a Hong Kong meal which was DELICIOUS!
-Most living spaces in Hong Kong are 300-800 sq. feet
-Only the VERY wealthy have ovens in Hong Kong
-The record low temperature ever recorded in Hong Kong was 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Only 2 students had ever seen snow before
-The teachers had never heard of Wal-Mart or Kohls. We got to take them which was very neat.

Wing trying on some of Mark's firefighting gear

Mark and I with Peggy

Fun Night Out

I've been meaning to blog about a fun night out I had a couple weekends ago. Em, Jen, and I were dying to get out of our houses to go do something so we all met up at the Penguin downtown. I know it's been around for some time now, but it was mine and Em's first time there. We had a really good time. The dueling piano theme is so much fun to watch and it's just a neat place to hang out. Eric, Em's bro, joined us for a little while, and Jordan also joined us.

It can get very rowdy, but we had a great time enjoying the music! I recommend it for a fun night out with friends.

New Blogger

My good friend, Brittany, has just started a new blog!

Brittany and I both went to Georgetown College, but didn't really get to know each other until we both worked as kindergarten teachers together at PCA. Brittany is an avid reader and includes summaries and insights on books she has read. She usually reads one or two books a week (I don't know how she does it) and we tend to have the same taste in books so go check out her blog at http://bluegrassbuckeyebeauty.blogspot.com!

New Additions

On some of my snow days and cold days off I've been enjoying time with Mark and we've been fixing the house to the best of our ability. On one of the days, after enjoying a yummy Thai lunch, Mark and I browsed some of the local stores. I love Twisted Twigs, which just so happens to be just a couple blocks from our house, and I seem to always find something fun in the store. I was taking a couple watches there to have the batteries switched out when Mark spotted a sign for our house. We couldn't decide if we liked it best in our bedroom or kitchen (since both have a black and white theme), but we decided on the kitchen/dining area.

I love it and it's the perfect daily reminder for my life.

Mark and I also tried on a few pairs of glasses while in the store. So becoming on us!
Mark and I also ended up rearranging both the front living room and the back dining room that day which included not only moving a piano and couch (multiple times each), but also purchasing and assembling a new TV stand. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of these.

Finally, on Thursday Mark called me at work and told me he'd gotten me a small gift, but he wasn't sure if I'd like it. I assured him I would no matter how cheesy it was. I came home to this:

YAY!!!!!!!!!

I know that last year I blogged that I'd gotten a Kitchen Aid mixer for Christmas. That wasn't entirely true. Mark gave me most of the money to buy one so I was all prepared to go pick out the one I wanted. Without getting into details, we needed the money for other things so my Kitchen Aid was not purchased. I never forgot it, but wasn't getting too hopeful for a new one.

Mark knows that if there's extra money I don't like to spend it on myself. Therefore, he purchased it with some money he'd been saving secretly for a while, and he had it waiting for me when we got home!!!!

I've already mixed everything in my house and looking for more! I'm happy as a clam thanks to my wonderfully thoughtful husband!

Christmas in Ft. Wayne

After enjoying many Christmas festivities as well as a small New Years get-together at our house on New Years Eve with some of our favorite people, Mark and I traveled with the family up to Fort Wayne to celebrate one last Christmas.

This year was particularly fun for me because there were lots of babies around this year. The new addition this year was my cousin Andrea and husband Reid's new baby girl, Trinity. I've blogged about her before, but she has grown so much since then and she really is a doll baby. I got to spend plenty of time fulfilling my baby bug need by playing with quite possibly the sweetest baby. Trinity is so well-mannered! She'd just sit there on your lap chewing her fingers and giggling. She was so much fun to love on. I've included some pictures.

Mark with Trinity. This picture cracks me up!

Just chewing on those fingers!

Trinity with Grandma (her Great-Grandma)

All that partying caught up to her. Her head literally fell forward and stayed just as it is.

This year I made gifts for Taylor and Kayla. Since my camera was MIA until right before we left for Indiana I was not able to get any close up pictures of the gifts, but I do have a picture that I took of the girls holding their gifts. I got the idea from Jen. It's simply wooden letters from Michaels with scrapbook paper cut out with many layers of Modge Podge. Taylor has a striped letter and Kayla has flowers. They were a hit!
This was my first Christmas without Grandma Dorse. It felt very surreal for me that she wasn't there, but I made sure to bring chocolate covered cherries in her honor. Someone has to carry on the tradition!

That evening we went over to visit and celebrate with the Durick side of the family. Nick and Stacey brought over Jonny and he was tons of fun! He is getting so BIG! We'd love to see him become a linesman for the Bengals because they could definitely use him (probably as is), but I think his parents would prefer the Colts.

Hard to see but it's Nick, Matt, Stacey, Melissa, Jonny, and Londa

Jonny takes after me in the fact that he can't resist pushing buttons. We heard "Silent Night" played by this bear quite a bit.

Daniel and Grandpa who seems to have a headache from too many Duricks in a room at one time (we set the number over the top by being there)

Too goofy!

Finish the Year with the Bengals

I have gone to a Bengals game at PBS since 2006 and despite the Bengals pitiful season 2008 was to be no exception. Plans fell through for us to go to the Bengals-Ravens game on November 30th, which worked in our favor since it was freezing and raining. My entire family went to the last game of the season (since there was no hope for a Bengals preseason after their 0-8 start) this past Sunday. We knew we were all going to go, but we had no idea how great the tickets would be! Mom and Dad got us tickets on the 5th row behind the endzone. They won which made this game the first time I've actually seen the Bengals win while at the game. Here's some pictures from the day!

Mark and I bundled up to stay warm.

It was 40 degrees without a cloud in the sky. Perfect weather for football!

Daniel and Jen

Had to share our blanket to keep the warmth in

The whole family! Loyal fans!

As promised, I'm including a picture from one of the highlights of the game...the 2nd annual Mascot vs. Pee-Wee football game. Who Dey, the Bengals mascot, gathered all of his local friends such as the Xavier blob, the Cyclones mascot, the IKEA Moose (I was just as surprised as you), Max and Erma, and all of the Reds mascots (Mr. Redlegs, Rosie Red, and Gapper) to help play against some of the 4th grade kids from the local Pee-Wee league teams. Well, from the first play you could tell that Mr. Redlegs came to play. He obviously felt this was his chance to relive the old glory days because he seriously took it to those kids. As a kid was running for a touchdown, he slammed the kid into the crowd which invoked an uproar of boos from the crowd. I'm pretty sure this only fueled his fire because on his turn to run the ball, I swear he stiff-armed at least 6 kids. I can't make this stuff up! Here's the picture to prove it!

Yes, that is a drop of blood chasing after them. Fitting for this debacle.

This was all I could capture on film because I was in a state of shock and disbelief! Soon after, Erma's head fell off to reveal a man underneath which explained the muscular calves she had. The whole day was great fun!

7 Things

I had every intention of completing my list of 7 things that people don't know about me when Cameron made her list, but due to my laziness around the holidays I didn't blog right away. Since then many other friends have also blogged their list of 7 things and tagged me as well. So, for everyone, here are 7 things that you may not know about me (but I'm sure many of you already know one or 2 of these items):

1. To my mother's horror, I actually do not like warm doughnuts. I know that many people would protest that it's the only way to eat them, all fresh and warm, but the idea of sticky, hot doughnuts makes my stomach turn. I like my doughnuts cool albeit still fresh. On the same note, 9 out of 10 times I do not care for icing on my baked goods. I'll take a little but I don't like a lot. This is strange because in actuality I really do have quite the sweet tooth!

2. As a child I was absolutely terrified that I had gorillas living in my closet. I thought the only way to keep them from coming out was to have my parents shut my closet door. In my defense, the closet really was big enough to hold a single gorilla...

3. I am constantly doing math in my head. My mind works around numbers and patterns. I can create any pattern from addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers, etc. It's hard to explain, but just to give you an idea I'll tell you that to pass time while driving on the highway, I divide the tenth of the mile into the mile marker number (remainders and all). i.e. 98/1, 98/2, 98/3, 98/4, etc. That's about a math problem every 10 seconds or so. It drives Mark crazy!

4. I have a bit of a phobia when it comes to bees, wasps, yellow jackets, and really anything that flys and stings. Have been since I was 6. It's pretty embarrassing.

5. I can't swing on swings. I used to love it growing up, but now I can get nauseous...every time!

6. I think empty churches and empty post offices are incredibly creepy!

7. I have what Mark calls "foot claustrophobia" when I sleep. I can't stand to have anything restricting my foot or leg movement when I am sleeping. The first thing I do when I get in bed is untuck the sheets. I can't wear socks to bed and I don't like any heavy blankets or objects resting on my legs.


Now that I've read this, I'm beginning to wonder how I have friends and a husband that loves me. Most of my friends have already done their list so I don't know that I have many others to tag, but I do suggest it if you haven't already! Thanks Cameron, Jen, Ashley, and Em!