A Ton of Rocks

Marc's on vacation for 2 weeks, in his industry it is typical for companies to shut down for 2 weeks between Christmas and New Years. I figured it would be a good time for me to take a couple of days off and help him do some house work. Now we have been saying this for months, actually a year, and have never quite gotten around to doing the work, we either just end up sitting on our tookus and watching movies or shopping. So the list of things to be done, includes painting the room that is currently the exercise room, paint the master bedroom, clean the garage, clean the guest bedroom closets, and finish the side yard which consisted of mud that was a Homer magnet.

The first few days Marc worked on the garage and we got rid of a ton of boxes out of the guest room. Then we decided to tackle painting the exercise room and doing the side yard this week (well we had the master bedroom on the list but then got into things and decided that was on hold for a bit), so Marc did his research and while I was in Cincinnati last week he rented some tool and smoothed out the dirt on the side yard. Here's what it looked like after he was done:

He also picked out the perfect stepping stones at our new neighborhood Lowes which we have become very acquainted with:

In addition to the tilling, or whatever it is he had to do, and picking out the stones, he also visited 3 rock quarries and we finally settled on the one in Dublin which promptly at 8:00 AM on Thursday morning dumped a ton and a half of red lava rock in the street in front of our house. Marc was out at 8:00 AM shoveling the rock into a wheelbarrow and bringing it into the backyard so as to avoid an HOA fine (we live across the street from a board member - nice). Lucky, for me, I had a date with the DMV to renew the license I got 2 months ago and is set to expire in 2 weeks. I returned home at about 10:30 and bundled up to assist Marc in what we thought would be a 1/2 day project:

Marc double dog dared me to post this picture (for the record I was wearing 3 shirts, a fleece running sweatshirt, a North Face fleece, fleece gloves under my work gloves, a fleece running ear warmer and a beanie and I was still COLD!). Not the brightest crayons in the box picking pretty much the coldest day of the year to work outside. For you East Coasters it was in the low 40s.

Now that you all had a good laugh, Marc and I got down to business laying out our weed blocker which we bought a year ago at Costco and has been in our garage all this time, that's how long we have been procrastinating this project. So here's the weed blocker all laid out and ready to go - pretty right?:

After we rolled out the weed blocker we took our lunch break and then got to work setting out the stones, we got them all nice and spaced out (after much debate on how far apart they should be - we finally settled on my recommendation of a foot apart after I demonstrated that 2 feet apart was way to far for my 5'4" self) only to learn we didn't buy enough and they wobbled! So back to Lowes (for the second time that day - we are obsessed with the new Lowes down the street, they know us there and I am the only wife ever there). So back to Lowes, mind you it is still freezing out, where we picked up 12 more stepping stones and learned about all purpose sand, which compacts and hardens when it gets wet - who knew! So 12 stones and 2-50lb bags of sand later, along with me bailing on my scrapbooking night (sorry MaryJo) we are back in the side yard trying to beat the rain and running out of daylight. Oh and it is getting colder as the storm comes in and the day progresses. So we lay out our 100lbs of sand and I get to wet it while Marc lays out and sets the stepping stones:

Lo and behold, the stones don't wobble. Now it's time for our ton and a half of lava rocks:

So we had a nice little assembly line in which Marc loaded the wheelbarrow, dumped it on the side yard and I spread the rocks in a nice 2" layer around the stepping stones, which I did with my hands until our neighbors got home and I was able to borrow their shovel. I also had to crawl under the kitchen window to spread the rocks out which totally freaked me out, think spiders (good thing I read MaryJos black widow story after crawling under the window). We did this for about 3 1/2 hours, the last hour or so in the dark until we ended up with this:

We beat the rain even though we both hurt tremendously today and our 4 hour project turned into like a 10 hour project, but how many people get to say they actually shoveled a ton of rocks...Marc and I do (Marc actually shoveled them twice).

Stay tuned, next shenanigan...Operation Paint coming soon!

Chinese Food on Christmas

My dad sent me this YouTube video, it's hilarious and so very true:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1uZ_W7atDE

Marc and I buy Chinese food on Christmas Eve and put it in the fridge until Christmas Day, all of a sudden Chinese restaurants celebrate Christmas, it's crazy, so we stock up on our favorites and drool over it for a day. Christmas Day we pick a matinee movie, get a large popcorn, and our Diet Coke and enjoy a movie. Occasionally we throw in a Starbucks because the one down the street from us is open on Christmas, we love them! This year we had a hard time finding a good movie but we have finally settled on Juno this afternoon. After the movie, we come home, relax and dive into our Chinese food. This is our Zimmerman Christmas tradition, we've been doing it every Christmas since we met and is so much fun for us.

Oh What a Night...

Last night Marc and I went into the city to see Jersey Boys. It was an early birthday present for me because Jersey Boys is set to leave San Francisco in just a few days, I have wanted to see it forever so Marc asked me if I wanted that to be my birthday present. I was all for it! Jenny and Josh saw it with us and we had a blast. We met at Gordon Biersch had a few beers and then headed up to Union Square for some dinner before the show.

The show was absolutely phenonmenal! It was the best show I have ever seen. The songs were so much fun and the energy was amazing. I have to say that Marc really outdid himself this year.

In addition to the show being amazing, the city was absolutely beautiful. Macy's was covered in wreaths and Saks Fifth Avenue was decorate with huge lit up snowflakes. It definitely made it feel like the Holiday Season!

Here are a few pictures from our outing:

Addicted!

I have 2 new addictions in life...

1. Facebook...Amy introduced me to Facebook and I am absolutely addicted. It's so fun. It is definitely a wonderful procrastinating tool. My brother is even on Facebook, we have been posting stuff on each other's wall. So fun!

2. USPS Click n Ship...Best found tool ever, you can print postage, and even request for the mailman to come to your house and pick up your packages. Post office be gone! I love it!

Is there anything you can't do on the Internet?

Funny Story of the Day

So the funniest story of the day by far is that I got talked into playing on the ConAgra basketball team with all guys! 5'4" me playing basketball in a predominately male league. They have a team every year that plays at the local community center. I don't know how it happened but everyone was standing around in my office and talking about the upcoming basketball season and people were telling stories about their basketball days, so since I played in high school I chimed in with the time we played in Julian, in the barn, and my coach made me drive up the middle and I went home completely black and blue. Well that opened up a whole can of worms and I got talked into playing as a guard on the team. They tried to make me feel better by telling me one of the teams had a girl on it last year and she was the best one on the team. Unfortunately, that will not be the case on the ConAgra team. The sad part…I got really excited that I could buy a new pair of shoes and immediately went to the Internet to look up women's basketball shoes. I should probably be more concerned with my jump shot!

Girl's Weekend

2323=<95=:28=3232<959375;8nu0mrj.jpg">Friday I left super early in the morning for Cincinnati to visit my college friend Amy. I got in and Amy picked me up at the airport and we headed for Kroger to stock up on some supplies in anticipation of the big winter storm that was coming in on Saturday. Amy showed me her new condo which she bought a few months ago, it is gorgeous and immaculate. Marc wanted me to pick up cleaning techniques from her. He’s so funny. After I saw her condo, we went to dinner at J Alexander’s, it was quite tasty, then we walked around the shopping center before going back to her condo and changing to head out to the Hofbrauhaus for one of Amy’s friends birthday parties. Here's a phot of me and the giant lion at Z Gallerie that we saw.

The Hofbrauhaus is apparently exactly like the one in Germany and it was crazy. Amy’s brother Brad was there too as well as a few other people that went to IU but were younger so I didn’t know them very well. I even danced on the tables. Everyone else was so I figured I looked more stupid sitting there than dancing. Here's some random people dancing on the benches:

Saturday, I must admit I woke up pretty excited because I heard it was going to snow. Sure enough it was mad snowing! They got somewhere along the lines of 2-4” of snow. Amy and I went to her complex’s work out facility for a nice workout. I won’t mention we wore shorts to the gym in the snow. We worked out for an hour and then we had some lunch and I worked as we waited for the weather to get a little better. When the snow stopped and the rain started we ventured out to the mall. After the mall we hit up Graeter’s Ice Cream. I was first introduced to Graeter’s back in college when I went home with Amy for Passover. It is quite possible the best ice cream ever. After Graeter’s Amy took me on a Cincy tour, she showed me all the different areas of Cincy, including the fun big houses. Here's some pictures of the snow:

That night we went to an area called Mt. Adams for dinner. We met our friend Red-Dawg (aka Michelle) and her husband Adam who live in Cincinnati also. Woody (aka Jennifer) was supposed to join us but because of the blizzards and the fact that she is prego, she and her husband decided it was best for her to stay home. We all agreed even though we missed her dearly. At least I get to see her in February when I brave the Midwest winter for the second time for her baby shower. She’s having a girl and Auntie Allie is super excited to start spoiling her. But I digress, back to this trip…so Adam, Amy, Michelle, and I had dinner at a Thai restaurant called Teak. Now I am mentioning specifically that it is Thai because back in college Amy did not eat Chinese, so when she asked if everyone was ok with Thai, I nearly rolled out of my office chair. Jenn, Sara, and I took her to Mark Pi’s in Bloomington and introduced her to the fine cuisine of Chinese cooking. We had a great time with Adam and Michelle, especially because they are moving to Mississippi soon (Adam in 2 weeks and Michelle in 6 months when she is done with her MBA). Adam currently coached on the UC football team and just got a coaching job at a school in Mississippi. We very happy for them and excited to tease Red-Dawg about living in Mississippi! After our yummy dinner, we headed to a wine bar where we caught up and brought out some Cancun stories, Red-Dawg was my partner in crime in Cancun.

Sunday, Amy and I worked out again, yep 2 days in a row. Then we had some lunch, watched Shrek 3 because I had to do some work. Then we went downtown and I got to see where Amy works plus a train display that they set up every Christmas. After our downtown adventure, which by the way it was freezing – in the teens with the wind chill, we headed to the art museaum for an hour before heading to Amy’s parents to have dinner with them. Amy’s parents are great, it was great to see them and we got to catch up. After dinner Amy and I drove around and looked at Christmas lights.

The Art Musuem:

2323=<95=:28=3232<959375;4nu0mrj.jpg">

Crazy Christmas Lights:

After Christmas light scoping we went back to Amy’s place where we proceeded to be total nerds and played on Facebook for a few hours. Monday morning, we were up bright and early and on the way to the Dayton airport and the weekend was over. L All in all it was an awesomely fun weekend. I am so fortunate to have found such amazing friends in college.

Allie & Amy:

Beautiful...

Hanukkah ended last night and I had to capture this picture of the Menorah fully lit. Hanukkah is my favorite holiday because I think a fully lit Menorah is one of the most beautiful things. Now lets be real, I also love presents, I love to give them and of course get them. Hanukkah was always a big deal in our family, my mom would cook a huge dinner and invite all of our friends over for latkes, we would play dreidel, drink apple cider, and open presents. My mom collects dreidels but I think I will start collecting Menorahs.


This year we were able to celebrate Hanukkah with Jill and Edwin. Edwin just finished his first semester at Berkeley so it was an extra special celebration. We had pot roast (compliments of Marc's mom - she brought it to us when she visited for Thanksgiving, which I haven't blogged yet because I am a slacker), green bean casserole (a Wilensky Hanukkah tradition), potato latkes of course, homemade apple sauce, sour cream, and trifle. I made the latkes from scratch and my only war wound was a 2nd degree burn on my wrist from the oven, Homer is licking it better as I type. We started by opening presents. Homer decided his job was to check them out.

Marc got an awesome wine decanter thingy. It decants individual glasses of wine, we did the wine taste test challenge and it really works! I got OC Season 4, which completes my collection. I can't wait to take it to Cincinnati with me to watch on the airplane.

Here are some more photos of the fun night:



The place setting, my fun paper Hanukkah goods:

















Edwin Opening his presents (the dogs wanted to help):

















Marc and Edwin:

















Marc's proud of his new book...finally a book he will read (for those of you who can't see it, the name of the book is "What's Your Poo Telling You"!

















My turn (Homer thinks maybe it's for him):

















The OC, yippee!

















Jill's Turn!

















Marc likes his present (and Homer thinks this one might be the one for him!)

















Allie & Jill enjoying a tasty beverage:

















Dancing while the latkes finish...

















Just one more present pleeeease mom?

















So we didn't get any photos of the latkes, they went too fast, but we had a great Hanukkah and we learned that little Homer is a present whore!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Last night Marc and I decided to touch up some walls. After he taught me all about semi-gloss paint and flat paint, I got the lucky job of painting the bathrooms, kitchen, and all of the base boards that needed touching up. As I was sitting on the floor touching up the base boards on the staircase I thought to myself, a) "I can't wait for our housecleaners to come tomorrow!" and b) "Wow, this was the first thing I wanted to do when we moved into the house. And here we were exactly one year later actually doing it." Where does the time go!

So the moral of the story...Happy 1 Year Anniversary in the house and time flies when you are having fun!

Your INDIANA HOOOOSIERS!

I was flipping through the channels late one evening this week and I came across ESPN. Now I was super excited when Marc left that I would not have to watch ESPN for a week while he was gone but something caught my eye…college basketball. College basketball I love, now even though it was Ohio University and Columbia, I still watched it because I love this time of year. I love college basketball, I have most of my life. My dad and I used to sit and watch Duke games all season when I was younger and I even followed the Fab 5 at Michigan. Then when I went off to Indiana and I became a Hoosier…later I went to University of Florida for my MBA and semi-became a Gator but I will always be a Hoosier fan first. (I will admit when the Hoosiers are really bad I jump on the Gator bandwagon).

Not only have I always loved college basketball but I used to love this time of year when I was at IU. The whole campus was buzzing with excitement as the date allowed by the NCAA to start practice approached and that night we all went out to Assembly Hall for Midnight Madness. Red-Dawg (aka Michelle) got hardcore this time of year, and if nothing else it was awesome just to watch her yell at the players or the TV, whichever was closer. But watch out because if IU stunk that year, she was mighty grumpy. (Love ya Red-Dawg!)


I had season tickets to the games all four years at IU and it was the best, I think we could have groups up to 6 in a block (I could be off, my memory is getting bad in my old age - or I may have the case of the Woody's and be forgetting half of what happened in college). We would walk over from the sorority house, when we were legal from Kilroy's, and watch the Hoosiers do what IU, and Indiana for that matter, is known for. My first three years we watched Bobby Knight coach the team, we watched as the school rioted when he was fired and we watched Mike Davis take over under very tough circumstances and take them to the finals in the NCAA tournament, naturally after I had graduated and was back in California. Every so often around tournament time the Hoosiers play a round in California and I try to get tickets. One year they played on our spring break at SDSU so I got tickets for myself and my parents. After I graduated they played in Sacramento and I drove up to watch them play. Basketball season was the reason I chose to go to a school like IU rather than a better known private school. The school came alive. Not matter how cold it was or how bad the team was, students, locals, professors were out on the streets, in the bars cheering on the team. On many occassions we saw John Mellencamp and his family at the IU games since he didn't live far from campus. The school and Bloomington just thrived around basketball season. Games were like nothing you have ever experienced, no one sat, not even alumni. I must say my favorite part was after 1/2 time when the cheerleaders came running out with the IU flags and we all sang the fight song.


http://www.fightmusic.com/mp3/big10/Indiana__Indiana_Our_Indiana.mp3 (The words are below so you can sing along!)


Indiana, our Indiana,
Indiana, we're all for you
We will fight for the cream and crimson
For the glory of old IU
Never daunted, we will not falter
In the battle, we're tried and true
Indiana, Our Indiana
Indiana, we're all for you!
Our cream and crimson school. IU!



I was looking through old scapbooks with Marc a few months back while we were getting pictures together for our wedding slide show and I found this cut out from the school newspaper (which I used to work for in college) with the back of my head, I am in the white t-shirt toward the bottom left corner of the picture. We had just beaten Michigan State and I had court seats that game and after we won (I think at the buzzer - again, bad Kilroy's!) we all rushed the floor. Looking at the score on the scoreboard, I am pretty sure it was a buzzer win.


Not only am I happy to see the Hoosiers are undefeated thus far (never mind that they are all unheard of schools) but I am equally happy to say my Hoosiers are once again ranked, now I don't want to jinx them so early in the season because they can do that on their own but they are ranked a solid #8. I can't wait for the regular season to get under way…I have already been sporting my IU Basketball t-shirt in anticipation and am in the process of downloading a schedule so I know when I can catch them on TV. Most of all watching them reminds me of all of my good times at IU and all of my girls I shared it with. Ahh memories!
I miss you girls!


And of course let's go HOOSIERS!

Favorite Marc Singapore Story

Marc sent me some photos of his adventures in Singapore this week and my favorite story is of his coffee in a bag.

He went to a deli near his office in Singapore and ordered a coffee and this is how they served him, when he got to the office he asked how he should rest it in case he wanted to take a sip later…as you can see it isn't like a Capri Sun and stands up on his own. The locals told him to use the string on the bag and hang it from the door knob…shenanigans! The coffee just hung there all morning!


This is my favorite Singapore story so far!

Double Decker Planes

For some strange reason most of my life I have been obsessed with double decker planes, don't judge me, they just fascinate me, which I know is odd but to me they are the coolest. I don't know where my fascination stemmed from or why I am so intrigued by them, I guess it's just amazing to me that something so massive gets in the air. I also think it is pretty cool that you can go upstairs on an airplane. How cool is that? It sort of takes away the claustrophobia of the whole experience. We always pass the double decker planes when we fly out of SFO because we have to pass the International Terminal to get to the parking garage and I stare in awe at the Virgin, Cathay, and Qantas double decker planes.

I have been to Europe twice in my life and have not yet had the joy of experiencing a double decker plane - traveling on one remains one of the things I want to do before I die - mostly because American doesn’t fleet them, which I think is a big mistake on American's part. Anyway, when Marc told me he was going to Singapore the first question out of my mouth was: "Do you get to go on a double decker airplane?" Ding, ding, ding, the lucky guy did. So I begged, begged, begged him to take pictures. I even told him he could call me crazy and tell the flight attendants his crazy wife was obsessed with double decker planes. It's not everyday I allow Marc to call me crazy - but in this case I can admit that it is a little odd to be obsessed with double decker airplanes.

Marc was very conservative with his pictures on the plane but this is what I got (and they are small because I got them off of Snapfish):

I'm hoping he reads the blog while he is away and feels bad and takes more on the way home, yes he gets to go on 2 double decker planes! But if not I guess it will have to do until I get to go on a double decker plane myself, and rest assured, I will buy a business class ticket so I get to ride on the top deck and go up there!

"The Homer Test"

Back in the day I used to put potential suiters through what I called "The Homer Test." Basically if Homer didn't like you, you were out. Now obviously Marc has passed the Homer test. However, not passing the Homer test involves, but is not limited to:

• Peeing in shoes (yes, inside so there is a nice puddle)
• Chewing flip flops
• Following the potential suiter to the bathroom and sitting outside the door shooting nasty looks
• Nasty looks in general

Homer has been known to do all of the above, but not to Marc. Homer's test has actually been pretty flawless, all failures have indeed turned out to be losers.

Now, I bring up "The Homer Test" because Marc left for Singapore yesterday for a week and I have to say, he has truly passed "The Homer Test." Homer has not been the same since he left; he is barely eating (which for Homer is a tell-tale sign there is something wrong), he is moping around the house, and on multiple occassions he has sat by the door to the garage and has been sniffing at the door (which he is actually doing right now), something he always does when he is waiting for one of us to come home. My boy misses his Dada!

I am thrilled that Homer misses Marc and loves him but I keep reminding him who poops him, feeds him, and walks him everyday - ME!!! None of that seems to matter to Homer because his cuddle buddy is missing - Marc cuddles with Homer almost every morning before work while I am the drill sargeant keeping everyone on schedule.

Don't worry Homes, Dada will be home soon!

Florida Trip: Part C - The Party

My Aunt and my mom arranged to have a party at a very nice restaurant called Brooks which is located near Boca Raton. 28 people RSVP'd that they would be attending. My Aunt picked up my grandpa for a "family dinner." My cousin, Travis, came early to help my mom and I set up, and most people had arrived when Poppa showed up.

Poppa arriving, he told Marc he was walking as fast as he could...he's so funny!

Poppa realizing it isn't going to be just a family dinner:

Everybody mingled for a bit before we sat down to dinner. My mom's cousin flew in from Connecticutt (she is the daughter of one of my Poppa's brothers). I also got to meet her son, my second-cousin Matt whom I had never met.

Ed & I:

Ed & Lauren:

Ed, Lauren, Marc & I:

My cousin Jason & Poppa:

Cousin Travis & Poppa:

Lauren was brave and tried escargot:

After dinner it was time for toasts, almost everyone in the room had wonderful things to say about my grandfather. We heard some funny stories about him as a Doctor in New Haven. I'm going to attempt to post a few videos Marc took on his camera...the quality is not great but you will get the idea.

My Dad's Toast to Poppa:

Poppa Making his speech:

After speeches a cake was brought out for Poppa and we all sang happy birthday to him and everyone had a taste of cake for good luck.

He looks so happy!

The dinner was a huge success with Poppa. After dinner Marc and I went to a wine bar with Ed, Lauren, my cousin Travis and his girlfriend Kat, and my cousin Jason and his friend Eileen. We had a great time hanging out with my cousins and meeting Travis' girlfriend (we totally hit it off). Hopefully all four of them will pay Marc and I a visit so we can continue to hang out some more.

So in summary, flying to Florida for one day is very hard but to see how happy Poppa was to have us there was well worth the exhaustion. My mom said Sunday he went around the facility telling everyone he knew that his grandkids flew all the way across country for one day just to have dinner with him. It was also great to see Nana and Poppy and spend time with them.

Oh and we also promised Poppa that if he made it to 100 we would promise to tell him that we were coming out to visit him and not surprise him.

Florida Trip: Part B - The Surprise

After spending a few hours with Nana and Poppy we headed out to surprise my Poppa. After Ed and Lauren surprised Poppa everyone explained to him that Marc and I couldn't make it because we had to work so he had no idea we were enroute to surprise him. Unfortunately our drive took longer than expected because my mom has a new habit of leaving the last few digits off of addresses so instead of mapping to 8500 Sunrise Blvd we had mapped to 85 Sunrise Blvd. It took us forever to go from 85 to 8500. My dad met us outside of my grandpa's building so that we didn't have to go through the front desk and ruin the surprise by the staff calling my Poppa. He let us in and when we walked into his room, my mom, brother and Lauren were sitting on the couch but Poppa'a back was to us. I walked up next to him as my dad made a joke about going outside and having rif-raf follow you back in. My Poppa turned around and his jaw just dropped. He was so shocked to see Marc and I standing there.

Here are a few photos Marc captured of him seeing us for the first time:

After the shock wore off, we hung out for a bit and kept Poppa company. Poppa and I shared some Diet Chocolate soda which we used to drink together at the condo and I had brought to him. His new apartment is very nice, he is in a Hyatt Retirement Home and it is super nice, he has a nice sized room and the grounds are beautiful. Plus they have a shuttle that with bring him to the bank, shopping, doctors, etc. It's a very nice place and he is beginning to make lots of new friends, which is no shock to anyone since he is super social. After we visited for a while we let him rest up for what he thought was a family dinner.