butterfly exhibits, making thursdays better

nothing can make a normal day better like a trip to an exhibit. and if it's an exhibit with a good chance of having flying things land on your hair, well, count me in! --except bats; those can stay the hell away!-- yesterday we took a trip down to the Krohn's conservatory to check out their butterfly exhibit. i'm pretty sure they have been doing it for years but i've never actually been. and for only $6 a person, i was blown away. 

you walk in this giant room filled with the most gorgeous flowers and literally hundreds of butterflies swarming around. we learned quickly that they don't really care for dark clothes. (we were practically the only people that didn't have butterflies landing all over us. bummer.) 

but they do love perfume, scented hairspray, obnoxious hawaiian shirts and strawberry yogurt! there was a toddler there with all kinds of these flying beauties landing on her and so i asked her mom what the secret was. she said "well, she's covered in strawberry yogurt... so that probably helps!" 

note: roll around in yogurt if we want an experience to remember

 

fancy hotdogs

so we have been talking about making it over to The Senate for what feels like forever. everyone talks about how freaking fantastic it is and i'll admit i was starting to feel completely left out. so today, i stomped my feet and held my breathe until jon agreed to brave the rain. (i'm kidding... he wanted to go, too! sheesh) but really, the weather was the grossest gross which made taking photos less than easy or enjoyable. i mean there is just no easy way to hold an umbrella, camera and purse all at one time. 

oh well, i'm glad i got at least a few shots, because this food was unreal. you've never seen such gorgeous hotdogs (that's a sentence i never thought i would write) and they had the most fun names, too. Jon got the "lindsay lohan" and i got the "trailer park" .... along with a side of bacon fat fries and lobster macaroni. so so good. hope everyone has a wonderful- and at least semi dry weekend. i'm off to take a nap to let all that goodness in my belly settle down.

until our next food coma, senate! 

it's raining, it's pouring, my kitchens under water!

So I love open brick as much as the next guy and I couldn't be more thankful for living in a really unique, great, amazing, fantastic, super duper apartment BUT when it rains here, it pours. Literally. 

Even though we are on the first floor of 3 stories, somehow we get a leak that is pretty darn impressive to say the least whenever it rains for an extended amount of time. So while the rest of cincinnati is cat napping to the sound of raindrops hitting their rooftops, i'm busy making sure my cats have on their life jackets. 

The water drips down the wall, the mortar between the bricks turns into a lovely clay consistency that stains literally everything (good bye, white bath towels) and the water just keeps on comin.  So I spent the better part of my Sunday night with Jon out of town (with no phone service the entire time) and sopping up messes and switching out full buckets of water for empty ones. 

It was ridiculous. 

My landlord couldn't make it out so I was basically on my own. using every towel, rug and dirty clothing piece we had in the hamper to mop up the water as it spread along my kitchen floor. I've never wanted Jon home so badly and I felt completely helpless. I moved around the furniture (including our month old new computer) to try and keep everything that was important safe and dry. It was one hell of a night to say the least.

I stayed up until 5 in the morning sopping up water and tears until finally saying to myself "oooook I'm over this." So I kissed the cats goodbye, made sure they had their swimsuits ready in case things got worse and headed to my moms house for rest of the night. thank god Jon's home, the rain has stopped and my landlord is fixing the issue. 

trying to look at my glass half full (of rain water- ha!) i have to say my kitchen floors have never been mopped better than they were today- so there's that. and with time between work and an eye appointment, i washed every damn thing that was involved in the mess. that's funny, i was using "damn" as a swear... but the clothes actually did act as a sort of damn ... or is it dam? i don't know but i love a good pun, don't you? oh man, just call me butter-- CUZ I'M ONA ROLL!! 

ok. i'm done. 

Also note- no cats were lost during these events. they were practically clueless. 

and now, a photo of what i was dealing with. aint no joke, am i right??

 

just a couple of grown ups owning a piano

oh i wish wish wish more than anything that my parents would have glued my butt to a piano bench when i was little and made me learn how to play. my grandma is one of the most talented pianist you have ever heard (she played for my parents' wedding!) and i should have taken advantage when i was little. but it's better late than later, right?? so for the past few days- very few actually, this whole craigslist thing is almost too easy--- i've been looking for a piano, and we got one! ya know those things are almost all free on craigslist. you just have to come pick them up! i mean... it's hard to pass up something free. but we picked it up yesterday with my parents and 2 of jon's friends. i'm so excited! jon and i both wanna learn and hopefully our neighbors enjoy the clanking for a bit! 

all of these books came in the bench, including Michael Bolton. jackpot!!

our view while we dine!

and just a quick one to show our dining room wall coming right along! 

i fear the day we move out and have to fill these nail holes, but for now...

give thanks thursday!!

oh man, i haven't done one of these in forever but here we go anyways!! 

10 things i'm thankful for as of recently::

1. riding bikes with jon, now that i am a proud bike owner!

2. roseanne reruns 

3. the "free" section on craigslist

4. our PIANO we are picking up this weekend (found in the free section of craigslist)

5. the strong dudes that will be moving said piano while i instagram photos of them

6. chocolate mousse gone wrong that turned into a wonderful accident-- best. chocolate. milk. ever.

7. getting 2 A's and 2 B's this semester!! makes me wanna run down a line of people & smack hands!

8. fresh flowers on my dining room table

9. learning that a squeegee (those things you clean windows with) will remove cat hair from couches 

10. syncing up our work schedules to make for dates all day every day!! 

hope everyone has a great weekend!! 

a little clifton art show, ya know?

this afternoon we took a quick trip down to the clifton cultural center for their craft show. like most every other girl in the world, i love a good craft show. and like most every other dude in the world, poor jon just sorta lagged behind me. but at least at this one, they had multiple food trucks set up... including tacocracy! happy day! there was all kinds of fun Ohio pieces there like pillows, coasters and t shirts. and more crazy lookin' hand made stuffed animals than one could ever imagine. if we had babies, i know i'd have a crib full of these stuffed creatures. but for just the two adults that live in our house, they might look a little weird. on the way out we grabbed a cup of the gojo (shockingly filling for such a little serving!) mango and pineapple basil. absolutely delicious. the whole thing got me stoked for summer, should it ever decide to come!! seriously, it's frigid out, what gives??