the TRAILS................................ remembered

back in 2000 the old Nashbar crew was lucky enough to be shown some land where we could plant our seed and build some dirt jumps...after one bloody machete and a lot of sweat ..
the TRAILS were born..

hitting the first little double before the table top on the old but still NEW Cannondale F900

Joe testing out the fresh dirt.. so fresh it looks like sand.

Larry transitioning onto the whoops

me rolling the back section.. in this very spot a couple weeks later A.J. got the snot smacked out of him when he tried jumping the rolling section.

Joe was able to get a hold of some heavy duty construction equipment and built himself one of the largest dirt jumps to this day i have ever seen.... 20' ? 30'? from tip to tip.

.................... in loving memory to those great days we spent in the woods... never knowing those trees never had a chance because a short couple of years later everything was leveled for a new commercial site.

Running with razors

Last night Eric and his diligent bro Brian began laying down the slate tile in the kitchen! Brian is one skilled craftsman! Slate is a finicky material to work with; even so Brian was able to measure out and cut some tiny little triangle and square pieces to fill in all of the gaps. I've got actual pics to prove it too! But not right now! The camera's downstairs, and I'm keeping the cats occupied.

At about 12:30 last night, the cats were getting pretty restless as they were couped up during this project. Eric opens the door to their lair and yells "Oh my gosh! They're playing with razor blades!" I thought he must be joking, but I walked in to find a razor cradled between PJ's paws while Boss tackled one, and another razor laid shiny side up awaiting its victim. The cats had attacked Brian's overnight bag and somehow finagled the razors out. The suicidal felines were intact with no known bloodshed, but PJ's been slowly recovering from her spaying surgery last week. The kitties now must be seperated; her owie wasn't healing. Oops! The blades probably didn't help either.

I believe in the kingdom come Then all the colors will bleed into one

So blogger says Eric and I have 69 posts since we've started. Here's the 70th!!!!!!!!!

I've been so consumed lately with reading others' blogs, especially after Cin Weekly just highlighted the best of Cincy.

I have a new camera full of kitten pictures and not much else that represents anything in my or Eric's life right now. Chris Glass, one of the bloggers I've been reading daily (I think I've already read most of his journal that dates back to December '02), makes sure to take at least one pic a day of something worth remembering and I think that's a reasonable, worthy goal. I don't even know him, but his blog is inspiring, and he's a grrreeaaaat writer. One of his pics in particular moved me so much. Maybe because after reading so much of Chris' journal, I felt like I sort of know him/relate to him? And/or I simply feel guilty for taking people for granted sometimes? See for yourself - the link I previously posted to the pic is now bunk, but here's his homepage:
http://www.chrisglass.com/

Special request

Yes, it is January 26th, over two weeks since my first eventful posting of the new year, and I'm dedicating this blog today on my lunch break to Karen Elizabeth Edwards. Karen, did you ever realize that your middle name and last name form the name of a famous lady? - one of Julie's friends on MySpace actually.

Karen, I'm sorry, I've just been too busy for Blogger since I've become addicted to MySpace. You'll have to deal since you won't join even after I've tried to persuade you. You're the one who persuaded me into starting this blog. I must really stink at persuasion since I actually took a college course titled Persuasion: Experience in preparation and presentation of persuasive communication. Well, here's my last-ditch effort into persuading you to join MySpace, Karen - you can set your profile to private so only your friends can see, and you can also choose to leave out your last name, so as to disable the search function. None of your students would find you then!

Anyways, since you did not appreciate my last attempt at a fruitful, deep blog, I decided to dedicate this also exceptionally (in my mind at least) fruitful blog to you, my last resort at grabbing your attention. I'm actually really ashamed to have started my blogging year off so poorly (in your eyes at least). Last year my first blog of '06 warranted a hardy (so hardy that I thought the compliment would stand the test of time-not so) compliment from Brady: "I'm so proud of you Jill. I checked your blog just after New Year's and sure enough....a change. This was a great blog entry. Good job."

I'd like to make you guys proud of me again. I think you will be.

My biggest accomplishment so far this year, what I once thought was the unachievable, well here goes. I....clipped my cats' claws for the first time last night.

First Entry of '07..........

WORD!

Reunited and it feels so good!

Best of Chicago:
•Kim and I haven’t missed a beat.
•Kim’s easy-going boyfriend Scott—he endured a lot of girl talk and handled it all SO well.
•Kim and Scott’s apartment in Logan Square—tall ceilings, roomy rooms, very cute and cozy!
•Great food—authentic Mexican, yummy breakfasts at Cozy Corner, and the tastiest pizza I’ve had in ages from a place called Piece.
•Scott’s kindness—he treated me to dinner and also, a night of drinks! I couldn’t stop the man—he insisted. Thanks again, Scott. Did Kim tell you I like you a lot? I do!
•Mad shopping on Michigan Ave and Wicker Park. Kim scored some sexy boots, and we both bought some neat-o earrings.
•Fireworks after the big Christmas parade downtown. After a full day of shopping, we managed to fight the stroller brigade and huge crowd with success, and find Scott in the process.
•Kim and Scott’s constant music contest--do you guys have a name for it? Any song they hear, they see who can blurt out the artist and song title the fastest. Fun at FIRST! I just couldn't even compete!

•Maddie and Libby--their sweet cats! Maddie, Kim's cat, would warm up to me at night and Libby, Scott's grey cat, would be up in my grill all of the time. She's a little butterball and likes to be held like a koala!

Thanks Kim and Scott for a great weekend! Also, thank you Scott for finally taking a decent pic of us at the bar. I know that took awhile! ;)

We're adding TWO to the fam.....

and no, I'm not carrying twins!

The gray girl and the striped boy squished next to each other will be joining our fam by the end of this week!

We met them tonight for the first time, and they're as cute as the pic, probably cuter I'd say. They like tackling and chasing each other and should be entertaining! Any name suggestions? Feel free to leave us some inspiration. Maybe we'll end up choosing your name(s), and it'll be our Christmas gift to you! SWEET!

Sidenote: If you're wondering about the other two--the other gray one was already bought, and so I was worried the black one may be left by himself, but he ended up running away! I guess he didn't like being the "token" one.

Kitchen rehab!!!!!!! 1st of 5 entries

Thanks to Dave and Brian, Eric's bros for driving all the way down to Cincy from Y-town one weekend in October, to help out with the initial tearing down of the dining room/kitchen wall and removal of the kitchen floor peel and stick tile and ugly baseboard molding.

Also, a BIG thanks to Brett Lupson, Eric's good friend/college roomie, for coming down two weekends in a row from Cleveland. What a pal! He sure knows his stuff!

Our kitchen hasn't changed much at all from the last photos.

To do list:
1. Lay down slate tile which been sprawled out all over the basement floor for two months now
2. Install new base cabinets
3. Finish dining room wall
4. Paint dining room, kitchen, and rest of the house
5. Find new lighting to replace kitchen celing fan and hang pot rack
6. Remove ugly ceiling fans from dining room and guest bedroom
7. Finish guest bedroom--it needs a bed!
8. Find curtains for all of our bare windows throughout the house!

WooWEE! I'm sure there's more!

Kitchen rehab--part 2

Kitchen rehab--part 3

Kitchen rehab--part 4

Kitchen rehab--part 5

Dancing with the Stars...Love it.

Dancing with the Stars may have a lot of filler junk during the show, but there's something about it—the innocence of TV that reminds me of the Star Search days which I'd watch as a little girl with my grandma. Dancing with the Stars is just pure, fun, guilt-free entertainment! And of course grandma and mom love it too! You could say the same of American Idol, but AI includes some harsh truths--people thinking they rock when they don't--and Simon is just plain mean at times. Entertaining still, these things make AI a guilty-pleasure, unlike Dancing.

I can't help but have a giggle fit every time Emmitt Smith dances with his cute smile and laid back performing. Getting through all of the stupid re-hashing, boring clips, and annoying host that is Samantha Harris, just to see Emmitt dance is totally worth my time. His green dancing shoes last night were hilarious, and I loved his MC Hammer throwback dance. He's going to take it all the way tonight!

Off the subject: Mario Lopez thinks he's the hottest thing ever. I still can't get over his geri curled perm from his Saved by the Bell days nor his hair now—he has to wear a headband during dance practice. Cut that 90s 'do, Mario!

On a completely different note: Kitchen re-hab pics will be posted by next week before Thanksgiving...We've been lazy bloggers.

The Bowed Piano Ensemble

Look at these kids! When I first saw the above pic on the Cincinnati "Classical Music" blog, it reminded me of the game Operation on a much larger scale. But nope, these kids are making music from inside the piano, how genius. I wish we could go see the group perform Thursday night at the CAC, but house duties call. Can't wait to download their tunes!

Foods of Mass Destruction

Donna’s the only one at work who reads this so I can get away with it. Steve, my boss, just came in with his lunch. He’s a late lunch eater and whatever he gets is SO predictable. His high calorie meal will most likely be one of the following 3 things in order of most often consumed: a 3-way from Gold Star, sometimes Skyline; terrible Chinese from the mall food court--I’ve had it, and it’s terrible. I went home early from work once after scarfing it down and then feeling sick; or one of those KFC bowls of chicken, cheese, mashed potatoes and everything else under the sun. Today, he chose his 2nd favorite. The healthiest I've ever seen him eat is a fast food salad. Also, he almost always washes it all down with a huge Coke. Thank God the man works out or else he’d have to fear for his life. What makes this story ironic is that once I was craving a burger and asked Steve where around these parts could I get the tastiest one. He said in all seriousness: “A burger? You know how bad those are for you?!”

1YEAR:1MONTH:10DAYS=1WEDDING

What's it gonna be? Pineapples or a sweet desk?

Last night, Eric and I thought we’d be all sly and cruise around our new neighborhood. We drove by the house, lights were on in the main room with the TV flashing, and it was looking pretty cute in the dark with the dim kitchen light glowing. We thought we had escaped a sighting. Then, we caught the seller posting some signs for a yard sale, the weekend before we move in. Did he catch us or did we catch him?

We’ll never know if he recognized us since it was dark and we were looking the other way. And we don’t know if we caught him in an illegal act since we closed on the home but don’t live there yet. Are they allowed to have a yard sale since technically we’re now paying insurance on the home, and if someone busts their head open while on our property, we’ll be responsible?

Ah, who cares? What we’re really curious about is what they’ll be selling. If Eric and I were audacious enough we’d check it out, but since neither one of us has the guts to actually show up (which would indicate we were in the area and possibly spying on them), we have to wonder: are they going to try and sell that sweet desk, the only piece of furniture we liked in the whole place? Probably not, it’ll most likely be a pineapple bonanza since they may have finally tired of that look and moved on to something a little less theme-like. I can only wonder how many pineapples really graced their walls before they re-painted to sell. We'll just keep speculating, unless I can come up with a good disguise. You think this’ll work?

OCEAN: 1 / JILL:0

OCEAN FUN