Friday, August 29, 2014

Feeling....

blessed! I've been running with my neighbor, doing the ease into 5k with her. We're at week 7 and running 26 minutes without walking. Today was a beautiful crisp temperature morning and since Debra is out of town, I ran a little later..8 am. Well, I didn't realize that an hour or so made such a big difference. The park that we run in is usually pretty quiet with only 1 or 2 people at 6:15 or 7:00 but this morning I must have seen 10 people. And..usually the fountain isn't on but it was this morning.


I'm so lucky this park is only down the street and by the time I get my 5 minute warm up walk in..I'm there!

Jenn has been a little down lately and I've been thinking of her and this song all morning so I posted it on Facebook and told her how she means the world to me..


As always...

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Yes, it's sweeping the country...maybe the world! I was challenged by my sister in law, Barb Ault to take the ice bucket challenge and I accepted. I was feeling honored actually.
My friend Sandy's sister died not too long ago from ALS-Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, and I did it in her memory.

There's a lot of um's, A LOT. I wished I had cue cards because the hardest thing for me - EVER - is to talk in front of people, but I guess that makes it all the more meaningful-for me.


If you can donate just $5, please go to alsa.org.

Thanks and as always..


Sunday, August 17, 2014

Happy 39th Wedding Anniversary!!

Yesterday we celebrated 39 years together! I went for a run in the morning and Jenn had stayed the night on Friday, so she went with my to the "Y". I met with a trainer who showed me the machines I need to work with to help me tone up some of these flabby muscles. 
Paul and I decided not to get each other "things" for our anniversary this year since we've been spending money left and right on stuff for the house. He did however surprise me with these...
Not gonna lie...I LOVE THEM! and him :)

After our morning routines, Paul and I headed out to a small suburb of Cleveland called Tremont. Very quaint little place. Not a lot to do but we spent a couple of hours wandering. One of the 1st things I spotted as we got out of the car was this amazing statue...



So this awesome (tree of knowledge?) became our landmark. Whenever we saw it walking down a side street we knew we weren't far from the car.

We stopped in a really cute boutique and I got a pair of earrings that I just love along with a rotating stamp that has 12 acronyms...just what I need for my Project Life...




We also stopped at an antique shop and found a ceiling light fixture that will look great in our new "library". Right now there's a miniature chandelier of the one in the dining room and foyer. They're a little bit up scale for our tastes and besides, I'm not a fan of having a chandelier in a room that isn't a dining room LOL. Came upon an ice cream parlor and had a cone.

We then came home and took a nap. Later we went to a restaurant Bev had mentioned to me, The Stone Mad Pub in Cleveland. Sorry the pics are blurry, I didn't take them but googled them. 

To the right behind the tall fireplace is a fountain and more seats. 


We sat next to the fountain. I found the atmosphere very unique..I've never been to a place where all the seating was stone. 
I had an amazing sandwich...
Oh my, a salmon BLT!! With some kind of amazing avocado sauce..YUM! 
At first I wanted to go camping but I could tell that was the least thing Paul wanted to do. So I changed it and my whole goal for our anniversary was to go geocaching. Well, that didn't work out so well.  We tried on our way home and stopped at a couple of parks but had no luck. 

But, all in all we had a nice day. 


As always....

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

pleth·o·ra

noun
1.
a large or excessive amount of (something).
"a plethora of committees and subcommittees"
synonyms:excess, overabundance, superabundance.

My co-worker, Bev and I used this word a lot. It's a fun word and I liked saying it LOL. Like when we lived in SoCal and I used Bougainvillea every chance I got! Anyhoo, it describes this post, instead of "this and that" or "random" it's a nice change.

(not sure why my above paragraph insists on being to the far right. I sometimes get really fed up with Blogger...ugh!)

First I want to say how sad I am that comedian/actor Robin Williams died yesterday. Apparently he committed suicide. Such a wonderfully talented and kind man. 




Many things have happened this past week. Paul and I went with Joe & Di to "Twilight At The Zoo". It was a charity benefit for the Cleveland Zoological Society whom I'm happy to donate money too, (unlike anything cancer related because of their mismanagement of funds but that's another post for another day) I know $ for the furbabies is a good cause. They had 18 bands there! Plenty of food, drink and music--what else could you ask for right? 

 
The whole zoo was beautifully lit after dark! 


I bought another gadget from Avon. This time it's a pineapple corer/slicer.

Voila!


Ignore the offset photo. Blogger is really pushing me to find something else. 

Paul and I went to the Summer Market in Avon Lake and I found this perfect necklace for me...


I did some retail therapy earlier in the week...


I had a good excuse, my old blow dryer broke. 

Paul and I went to Middle Bass Island this past Saturday for Ernie's Annual All Island Open House. 13 houses he had open and we each sat in one from 12:30-3:30. I only had a couple of groups through so I got some knitting done. 
I knitted on the ferry to Middle Bass
At the house I sat at was THE coolest light fixture I've ever seen!! It's an outline map of the island!!! 

That just so happens to change colors.
So, we've been painting. Ordered the hardwood flooring for the "library" lol. 


25 shelves! I've got years of book shopping ahead of me..YAY!!
When Harold put the doors in (which at the time it was Dory's room), the framing had to fit the doorway. So, he put up a transom. Well, I really don't like the idea of a wooden transom. Paul and I went to Bev & Tom's for dinner one night and what a coincidence!! Tom does stained glass!!!! So, Paul took out the piece of wood and gave it to Tom and we've hired him so to speak to make us a leaded glass window for it! I'm so excited...

Bev gave me some fresh basil when we were there. I did a pretty good job making a homemade pizza with it...




And guess what? That's all she wrote..for now and as always...