My cat is a ninja

Anders has mastered the art of scaling the side
of the refrigerator to get on top of the cabinets. Great.

Missing this already

I was fully clothed because of my
ridiculous sunburn

More Southern Food

Beignets and coffee! So. Good.
Can you tell which coffee is mine and
which is Liz's? (aka, how well do you know us? :)

Fried pickles at Bahama Bob's!

Vacation to the south= LOTS of fried food

Dinner at LuLu's
(Jimmy Buffet's sister's restaurant)
My face was really burnt because sometimes I'm an idiot
and I don't know how to properly apply sunscreen.

Beauty

View of the pool and ocean from our 19th floor balcony

Sunset view of the island from my aunt's 17th floor balcony

Alabama here we come!

I spent this past weekend in Gulf Shores, AL hanging out with my family and soaking up the incredible 80 degree weather. The 25 hr roundtrip drive wasn't nearly as bad as it sounds... probably because Liz and I have road-tripped to Denver twice which, between the two trips, meant that we were in the car for about 84 hours. AND we drove through the night during both of those trips... which is actually pretty empowering when you think about it because a) it's much cheaper than stopping at a hotel and b) you can enjoy many more daylight hours at your destination if you can bust out most of the driving during the night (although at one point, we may or may not have had to take a 3 hr nap at a rest-stop somewhere in northern Alabama because we were both too tired to keep going). But still, pretty impressive I must say.

Liz and I about to depart on our adventure.
I insisted we take a pic in front of the BAMF-mobile
we rented. It was pretty amazing.

Song Obesession #19

This song was played during Parenthood (season 2, episode 8) and I fell in love with it. You should too.

There are some places in this world where it is perfectly acceptable to wear a wal-mart tank top in public... like Hamilton, OH. And Hobart, Tasmania. I'm actually not sure about Tasmania but I was a foreigner so no one said anything to me :)

Gracing Kofenya with my presence

Krishna! Again :)

Lizzi and I were converse/skinny jean twins.

Go Redhawks!

UC game vs. Miami... unfortunately, they slaughtered us

Friday night hangout at Whole Foods

$5 for 5 appetizers, 5 wine tastings, and a wine glass!
Seriously, where else would I be on a Fri night with a deal like that??

Living for the weekends? Not this girl.

When I got a full-time teaching job at Colerain High School, my dear friend warned me to not live for the weekends wishing away Monday through Friday in hopes of enjoying my life enough on Saturdays and Sundays to get me through. That sounds pretty soul-sucking, ya know? Only enjoying 5 days out of 7 each week? No way.

On weeknights, I therefore try to be intentional about the following: making social plans, doing somewhat adventurous things, being outside as much as possible and exploring the world (local Cincinnati area) outside of Oxford. So far, I'd say I've done quite a bit of living during the past few weeks since starting my job.

I've visited some fun, unique restaurants in Hyde Park, Mt. Adams and Covington.

I've spent some time at Hueston Woods with friends.

I went to a really awesome and random art show in College Corner, IN.

I've been visiting my parents in West Chester once/week which has been really refreshing.

All in all, I'd say this whole "working full-time as a teacher" thing hasn't been too bad. Being fortunate enough to have friends with flexible schedules who are also willing to go out on weeknights probably helps a lot too :)

Oh ya know, just sitting in
 a giant flower pot in Hyde Park

Stole this from a friend's blog because I think it's pretty great

This is the girl who's blog I jacked this quote from.
Her name is Lori Wagner, she's pretty incredible,
and I get to visit her in Toledo in 23 days :)

A rare moment when my 7th bell girls were being super productive and quiet for the entire class period. Seriously, this was a big deal.

This is what I do when my students insist that they understand all of their work and don't need my help...

Sneakily taking pictures of myself on my mac with 4 students
in the classroom... they had no idea. Which is kind of awesome.

Last night, I walked 2 blocks in the pouring rain to eat Skyline by myself. Because I had a coupon. And because I really love Skyline.

I mean, how could you deny this deliciousness?

Love this place.

Another September wedding!

Saturday, my friends Kim and Ben got married and had their reception at the Oxford Community Arts Center... which was pretty awesome. They had a live band who played "wagon wheel" which is really all I need in life- to hear that song played live. And I got to hear it twice in one weekend! (Folly to the Wise played it the night before as well). So that was definitely a plus. And of course, I was able to spend my entire evening with some wonderful people drinking delicious wine and eating some great food. Ben and Kim also wrote every single one of their guests personalized cards and it was possibly the coolest thing I've ever seen at a wedding. And these weren't like impersonal cards with generic phrases, they were specific and intentional and really sincere... and because I'm an idiot, I accidentally left mine on the table when I left the reception. My name was written in really big letters on the front so maybe someone will track me down and return it to me. Probably not. But a girl can hope.

Flying Pig Flashback. Kim and I cheering on runners in Hyde Park.

Live music night!

So if you didn't know already, I'm kind of obsessed with music. I'm obsessed with a lot of things, but music definitely makes the top of that list... which made Friday night especially exciting. The evening started with dinner at Mt. Adams Bar and Grille and then moved next door to The Blind Lemon where we drank cozy hot drinks while listening to some chick rock it out. After that, we drove to Covington to watch a friend's band, Folly to the Wise, play on the rooftop of a restaurant called Chez Nora.. and it was pretty spectacular. Definitely a good Friday night.

I'm not sure what was happening, or why Linder was so excited
about the salt and pepper shakers....

Me, Linder, and Welky. Once again,
not sure what Linder's doing... :)

Good ole Dan and Terri

Thursday night, I had the privilege of hanging out with my parents in West Chester for dinner. I just recently started tutoring on Thursday nights which allows me to sneak in a free meal at home at least once/week... and of course gives me the chance to spend some time with the rents (sidenote to my Dad who I know reads this on a regular basis- "rents" is short for "parents" :)

This past week, we went to a family favorite (Bob Evans) for dinner. I ordered the southwest chicken sandwich and a side salad w/ ranch dressing. Seriously, their side salads are the best. Oh, and I had a sweet tea, can't forget the sweet tea. It was a lovely evening to say the least and definitely a great way to start wrapping up the week.

Are you picking up on a theme, here? I like food. A lot.

This is Krishna, an Oxford establishment
which serves the most incredible Chicken Tikka
Masala and plain nan that I  have ever tasted

Hyde Park Adventures

I promised myself that I wouldn't just live for the weekends once I got a full-time job. Therefore, the past month has involved going on regular Oxford/Middletown/Cincinnati evening adventures during the week. Last Tuesday, Liz, Allie and I checked out a restaurant in Hyde Park called Keystone. They have an entire mac n cheese menu and it was incredible. I ordered the "Buffalo Springfield" which is basically mac n cheese mixed in with buffalo chicken dip. Allie got some sort of mac n cheese that resembled pesto pasta and I think Liz ordered one with onions and mushrooms. They were all pretty amazing and I would for sure recommend this place if you ever find yourself in Hyde Park someday.

Middletown, how I love you.

So here's something I thought I'd never hear myself say. I'm falling in love with the city of Middletown, Ohio. Partially because of the adorable, delicious burger/hot dog joint called The Jug. I stopped by on my way to a meeting at church last week and had a chili cheese dog with onions and mustard, fries, and a root beer in one of those really cold mug things ... and it was incredible. I plan on visiting again sometime soon.