I hate Snow

Last week I enjoyed the three inches of snow that kept me home from work for three days. Today I hate the snow that delayed my husband's flight so that he missed his connection to get back home to Charlotte. Instead of coming home tonight and spending the night with me, working all day, and flying out again tomorrow, he'll just be staying in Michigan all week. I guess it's convenient that his connection was through Detroit.

I hate you, Snow.

But I think my husband hates you more.

I've had enough of winter. I'm ready to wear sandals again (my toes are painted lime green and I want to show them off!) I know my winter has been nothing compared to what I could have if I lived in the Midwest, but I've had enough to remind me that I don't like winter. At all.

I wonder if there are any job openings at the University of the Virgin Islands.

I lived in the Midwest my entire life and I always disliked winter, but it never really bothered me. It actually bothers me now. I hate seeing temperatures drop below 40 degrees, I hate snow and ice and slush, and I hate heavy coats and hats and gloves. I hate shoveling and scraping and chopping ice. I hate being cold.

But most of all, I hate that at this time of year, the weather always seems to interfere with travel plans.

I'm ready for Summer.

2010: A review through food

I'm not a big New Year's Eve partygoer. I've been to some parties over the years, but generally I prefer to snuggle up with my husband, watch a movie, and avoid all the drunk drivers. Also, my husband is usually asleep by eleven.

I decided this year to make a great dinner for my husband to ring in the New Year, and I had the brilliant idea to make a dinner buffet that reflects all the things we did over the year. The highlight was our trip to Spain, of course, so I decided that tonight would be the night to attempt paella. And what goes better with paella than sangria!

Spain wasn't the only place we traveled, however. We went to Charleston, SC to celebrate our eight year wedding anniversary. We splashed around at the beach, had a carriage ride, and topped our evening off with dinner at the Peninsula Grill where we ate an amazing dinner of upscale, southern comfort food and the most delicious coconut cake ever baked (it's so famous you can order it online!). Naturally, I had to include coconut cake in the review of 2010 menu.

We also went to Atlanta for a baseball game, and what represents Georgia better than peaches (which we incidentally picked up at a roadside stand on our drive down). Naturally I had to make a peach cobbler, following the recipe of a good ol' Georgia girl, Paula Deen.

We also visited a few places in North Carolina, like Raleigh and Asheville, and had our share of visitors as well! One of our favorite places to bring visitors is Mac's Speed Shop for some Carolina BBQ. I've learned the difference between Western Carolina, Eastern Carolina, and South Carolina bbq and am happy to share my knowledge with visitors as they choose from the variety of sauces available at Mac's. Naturally, our New Year's feast had to include some pulled pork with a choice of Western or Eastern Carolina bbq sauce.

I rounded out our feast with chocolate frogs to remember my sister's visit to Charlotte for the opening of the newest Harry Potter movie. We both love Harry Potter, and it only seemed appropriate that her first visit to Charlotte coincide with the opening of the movie. I made chocolate frogs when she visited, but I tried a new recipe this time around and they were quite delicious.

I had a great 2010 and it was fun reminiscing about all the fun times as I ate some pretty darn good food. I hope you had a safe and fun new year as well!

(Pictures and recipes to come...)

Christmas cookie tradition

I'm having a serious problem today - I want to bake.

I'm feeling this compulsion to bake because it's Christmas and that's what housewives do at Christmas. Every single blog I read has confirmed this fact. I am supposed to be baking cookies for my family, and if I was a really good housewife, I'd exchange them with other housewives. My family is supposed to eat these cookies and drink hot chocolate and watch Christmas movies and stare at the tree and feel Christmasy.

This is a problem for a couple of reasons. First, I can't bake. Second, I have nobody to bake for which translates to my husband and I consuming dozens of cookies all by ourselves. His metabolism may be able to handle it, but mine certainly cannot.

I really do like to bake Christmas cookies, and I am a master of the sugar cookie - or at least decorating the sugar cookie. However, cookies don't travel on airplanes all that well, so I had no plans to bake any this year. And honestly, it's part of my strategy to not gain weight this holiday season. I exercise, but I'm not one of those people who tells myself that if I run for an extra twenty minutes I can enjoy a cookie. I know there are recipes that are lower in fat or calories, but those aren't ones I want to make or eat.

But somehow it just doesn't feel like Christmas without getting covered in flour and frosting.

This is the one time of year when I really, really miss being in the Midwest. I don't miss the cold at all, and I really don't miss the snow either, but I miss being close enough to my family that I could drive to their houses on Christmas with my cookies. I didn't worry about shipping presents, or whether I was going to fit all my clothes in a carry on suitcase, or last minute changes to our trip itinerary. When I lived in Wisconsin, I lived a mile from one of my sisters, so we could do all sorts of Christmasy things together.

In a lot of ways, this move to Charlotte has been similar to getting re-married in that we've had to rethink and renegotiate our Christmas traditions. I didn't shop on Black Friday for the first time since I was thirteen, we didn't decorate the outside of our place, I'm not making sugar cookies, etc. We've had to figure out how to make quality time with both families while working around airline schedules and prices. I'm not able to do the things I've always counted on to put me in the Christmas Spirit so I'm being challenged to come up with new traditions and new ways to celebrate the Christmas Season - like visiting the Biltmore. I enjoy these new experiences, but I still miss some of the old traditions.

And I miss the smell of freshly baked cookies.

The Biltmore

While many of you were out shopping on Friday, my husband and I took a road trip to Asheville, NC. Asheville is northwest of Charlotte and in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We'd been told by many people that we had to see the Biltmore Estate at some point, and that it was gorgeous when it was decorated for Christmas. We decided to take advantage of being in North Carolina for Thanksgiving and drove two hours to Asheville to do a candlelight tour of the Biltmore Estate.

The Biltmore Estate is huge - it was almost three miles from the entrance gate to the house! We were directed to a parking lot, and from the parking lot we took a shuttle through the dark woods up to the mansion. When we pulled into the driveway, lighted by hundreds of luminarias, we saw this amazing and beautiful home. The outside of the home wasn't decorated, but there were lots and lots of Christmas trees on the lawn that were covered in lights!

Grinch toured the Biltmore with us

When we walked in the home, we were immediately transported to a Victorian Christmas. They even had ballerinas in the Winter Garden performing the party scene from the Nutcracker. The rooms were beautifully decorated and all of them had at least one tree. They used fresh garland and wreaths throughout the house (they estimated at least four miles of fresh garland were hung this year), and the Christmasy pine smelled absolutely wonderful. They also made a gingerbread replica of the estate that smelled delicious! I wanted to sneak a piece - they wouldn't notice, right?

They normally have audio tours available, but they weren't available for the candlelight visit. Instead we had a booklet to follow, that gave the history and interesting details of each room. There were also docents available to answer questions, particularly in the larger rooms with historical significance. For example, the library had a chess set owned by Napoleon! We had a wonderful time learning about the history of the home, as well as enjoying the beautifully decorated rooms. My husband and I took a trip to Spain in May, and walking through the mansion reminded me of all the castles and churches and museums we toured. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but the website has a few pictures so you can get an idea of what we saw. It was beautiful, and certainly not a place I would've visited if I didn't live so close.

That's one thing I've learned since moving to Charlotte - I definitely appreciate visiting and exploring new places. When I was living in the Midwest, I know I took my area for granted and assumed I'd seen everything worth seeing because I'd lived there my whole life. Everything is new to me in Charlotte, and I love visiting places I never knew about or traveling to parts of the country I'd never visit otherwise. I can honestly say I'd never go to Asheville if I didn't live so close to it now. Plus, I'm doing all of this exploration with my husband, and I always appreciate and cherish new experiences and making memories with my partner.

What I'm reading

I love to read. When I read for fun, I generally read brainless, entertaining, popular books. I'm sure I would enjoy other things, but when I'm strolling through Borders and scrolling through the Kindle store, the books that jump out at me are the ones I call "airplane books." Airplane books are the kind of books that I can read for extended periods of time, but that don't require a great deal of concentration or attention. To give you an example, my default authors in this category are John Grisham and Nicholas Sparks. They both released books recently and I have them ready for the Christmas traveling!

I do sometimes read books with more ... substance, however. Most recently, I read The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall. It was a quick read, despite weighing in at 600+ pages, and was both light-hearted and serious. The story is told from multiple perspectives, namely the patriarch of the multiple families, the youngest and newest wife, and one of the children, and the shifting perspective keeps the writing and the story fresh. Underneath the four wives and twenty-some children, there's a typical family with typical family problems and that makes the characters and the stories real.

Other reviews describe the characters and the plot and all its literary merits, but I'll just say it meets my criteria for fun reading: Easy to read, engaging, good story and plot, and interesting characters. I recommend it - Put it in your book list queue and read it when you have a chance!

Holiday fun revisited

I booked our flights home for Christmas! I am happy to have this task out of the way, and even happier that I didn't have to pay a zillion dollars for our flights. I checked on our flight options over the weekend, and they were ridiculously expensive which led to a mild panic attack on my part. But here's a little known travel tip - it's not only cheaper to fly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but it's also cheaper to book flights on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The two tickets I booked tonight cost less than any of the options I found over the weekend for one  ticket. Phew. One less thing to stress about for the holidays.

We've also had some resolution about the Christmas trip with my husband's family. We are not going to take a vacation and will stay around Chicago. My husband proposed going to The Second City, but my in-laws didn't want to go "all the way to downtown." It's okay though, because they actually came up with another idea that I love! They suggested going to see Jim Brickman, who is playing at a theatre in my sister-in-law's town.

I love Jim Brickman. My husband and I went to a Jim Brickman concert in college, and our first dance at our wedding reception was to his song, "Love of My Life." I introduced my mom to his music, and bought her one of his Christmas CD's that we always listen to at my parents' house at Christmas. I have a lot of special associations to his music, and I'm thrilled to see him in concert again.

I don't know if my in-laws picked the concert because they also like Jim Brickman, or if they remember and recognize how special he is to us, or if it's just because it's close to home. I suspect it's the latter - they presented this option to us as "a holiday concert in Aurora" so I'm sure they don't know or remember that we love his music. It also might be a little awkward to share something so personal and so romantic with my in-laws, but hopefully they'll also enjoy the beautiful music. However, I fully expect my father-in-law to fall asleep about three songs into the concert, and for my mother-in-law and sister-in-law to respond with their standard "It was okay" when asked what they thought of the concert - because that is what they always respond, even though it drives me nuts that they can't muster enthusiasm for anything, especially something so special to me.

Besides, if I get to listen to this on Christmas Eve Eve, what do I care if they can't appreciate it? It's their loss.



But I really hope they do love the concert, that they understand why Jim Brickman is so special to my husband and me, and maybe, just maybe, they begin to understand us just a little bit more.

EDIT: The video doesn't seem to be loading 100% of the time, so you can also go here to see it.

Happy Anniversary, Charlotte!

Today marks our one year anniversary of living in Charlotte. When I think about where I was in my life a year ago compared to where I am now, I marvel at how much life has changed and how much I've personally changed.

There are geographic adjustments, of course, between Michigan and North Carolina. I fly a lot more now than I have in the past, simply because flying is necessary to visit most family and friends. I've visited places I'd never thought of visiting before, like Charleston, SC simply because it's convenient now. I find myself more concerned about hurricanes (though Charlotte is far from the ocean and hasn't been hit in more than 20 years) than snowstorms, and I've had to adjust my time line for seasonality of produce. When I shop for clothes, I invest in lightweight pants and short-sleeved shirts rather than heavy sweaters and sweatshirts. I found it necessary to invest in prescription sunglasses because I need to wear them year-round. These have been slight adjustments, but adjustments nonetheless.

Then there are actual changes I've made in my life. I exercise four to five times each week, and this is a major change for me. I exercised when I lived in Michigan, but it was inconsistent and always at the bottom of my priority list even though I wanted to do it more often. Here, I fit it into my day naturally. I started tennis lessons because it's fun, and because it's what the women do around here. I cook more often, though I admittedly use Dream Dinners to help me (I'm completely okay with that, and my husband does not care), and have greatly reduced the amount of junk that I eat. I've lost 30 pounds since moving to Charlotte which is the product of
the exercise and cooking, rather than a conscious effort to lose weight. My hair is lighter and my skin is darker from the sun, which is again natural and a product of being outside more often, and I generally look healthier than I did when I lived in Michigan.

My priorities have shifted. I've always considered my husband the primary breadwinner in our family, but I've also always considered myself a contributor to household income. I felt that because I also made money, my career was just as important as his. In the past, we've made moves in order to benefit my career and we've made moves to benefit my husband's career. After this move to Charlotte, I don't think I'd consider moving to another city to benefit my own career unless I was absolutely certain my husband was going to benefit too - as in, he also had a job opportunity that ensured greater professional and financial benefits in hand. I've always known he was smart and good at his job, but this year has shown me that he is truly remarkable at what he does, and he deserves every opportunity to develop professionally. I know, I know, I deserve the same opportunity. Except I don't. I'm good at what I do, but he is truly extraordinary. And frankly, I'll never make close to what he will and in these tough economic times, that is a very real and important factor.

Because of the realization, I've accepted more responsibility for the household tasks. I cook, I clean, and I launder (is that I word? If not, it should be and that should be the correct use for it). I'm not great at these tasks, and I doubt I ever will be. I still grumble as I do them, but I also never think "it's [husband]'s turn to do the dishes" as I unload the dishwasher. These jobs are just ways that I can contribute, and even though I feel like I'm not doing enough sometimes, I know my husband appreciates that he doesn't have to worry about them when he gets home from work.

And as I already learned, I'm happy. A year ago, if I had a crystal ball and saw what my life would be on September 15, 2010, I would've predicted I would be miserable because smart, independent, and career-driven women aren't supposed to be satisfied with life as a housewife. But I am, and it doesn't make me a less smart, independent, or career-driven woman - but perhaps now I'm a bit less selfish. I'm still trying to figure that out.

I sometimes wonder if I would've gotten to this point if we hadn't moved, and I really don't think I would have. My life would be different than it was a year ago regardless, but I'm not sure about how my priorities or my feelings or my body or my relationship with my husband would've changed, if at all. I've moved many times in my life, and I've always learned and changed as a result, but I think this is the first move in which I can say it's been nothing like I'd hoped but I wouldn't change a thing.

Happy Anniversary, Charlotte! Here's to many more!

So many things to write about...

... and not enough patience to do it. Here's a few random thoughts:

We've done quite a bit of traveling the last couple weekends- Columbus, OH and Raleigh, NC- and we have another trip coming up this weekend- Nantucket, MA. We visited my cousin and my friend respectively, but this weekend is another cousin's wedding. I'll also see my parents on this trip, so that's a nice benefit. I haven't seen them since Christmas... or maybe I have and I just don't remember.

I saw my first (live) MLS game - #1 Columbus Crew v FC Dallas - and my first (live) ACC soccer game - #3Wake Forest v. #1 Akron. I hate to admit it, but the college soccer game was so much better than the professional game. I don't mean that in terms of a preference for college sports over professional sports; I mean, I think the college players were more talented than the professional players and the game quality was that much higher. Granted, Akron is the #1 team, but I'd never pick #1 Alabama to beat the Superbowl Champion Saints in football, you know what I'm saying?

I don't understand why Southerners think their tailgates are so much better than Northern tailgates, or why Southerns think there's a difference between ACC and SEC tailgating. They're the same, except the food might be different. Might. I've certainly had pulled pork sandwiches at Northern tailgates, though I prefer brats and burgers for sure. I dunno, there's something about having the guts to stand outside in the freezing cold with nothing but a grill and alcohol to keep you warm that makes me think Northern tailgaters could kick some Southern tailgating butt.

The pool is officially closed for the season. This makes me very, very sad. However, I went to the pool the last day it was open and it was cold so I suppose it makes sense to close the pool. It doesn't have a heater, and overnight temperatures have gotten into the 60s so it definitely cools off overnight. However, it's still 90+ degrees during the day and a refreshing dip in the pool would be nice.

Our air conditioning broke. My northern friends turned off their air conditioning in the last week, but as I said, it's still 90+ degrees so we need our AC a few more weeks. We had a couple of miserable nights, but thankfully it got fixed this morning and I can sufficiently freeze myself tonight.

I voluntarily cleaned yesterday. I cleaned the bathtub, vacuumed, and washed the floor in the kitchen and bathrooms. And I cleaned the oven AGAIN. I have barely used the oven since the last time I cleaned it, but somehow it got disgusting again. I think it's a conspiracy of some sort. Today my back hurts. I blame the cleaning, especially the oven. However, I think it's a sign that I have earned a visit from a housekeeper.

Ahh. My brain feels less overwhelmed. Hopefully I didn't overwhelm yours with my randomness.

Frequent Flyer

I am an impulsive person - or at least it seems that way. I'm actually not as impulsive as a I may seem to others. Really, I think about decisions a lot- almost obsessively - but I don't always vocalize my thoughts, and sometimes I'm not even fully aware that I've been tossing the idea around in my head. So I know that it often makes it look like I made an impulsive decision.

Take today, for example. I just booked a flight to Milwaukee and I'm leaving at 9:30am... tomorrow. My nephew's birthday is Thursday and I'm going to surprise him.

But really, I've been thinking about this for weeks. I wanted to visit, but flights are expensive. Plus, I didn't know if I would have a job, so I didn't want to make plans too early. Unfortunately, the closer to departure, the higher the price of the flight so it quickly became cost prohibitive and I didn't think I would be able to do it.

However, I do have frequent flyer miles.

A little known travel secret - sometimes it is possible to book last minute trips for a minimum number of frequent flyer miles, especially in the middle of the week. If the flight isn't full, airlines would rather fill the seats than leave them empty.

So I'd been tossing around the idea of visiting for a while, but didn't think it was possible. Then my husband told me he was going to be out of town in a couple of weeks, and I thought, "Hmm, maybe I can go somewhere too." I started looking at flights to Milwaukee but realized the timing of the trip probably wasn't great because my nephew would be starting school. That change in schedule would be disruptive enough in his life without my visit. So I started thinking about this week again.

Last night, my husband and I started planning some other trips so I was fooling around on the travel websites. I thought about this week again, and decided to check on flights using my miles. I was shocked to see that I could book a last minute roundtrip flight for the minimum number of miles and decided that was a good enough deal for me to go. So in less than 24 hours, I'll be in Milwaukee!

I'm very lucky to have these options available to me. I love having the freedom to just pick up and go, and I love having the resources to be able to do it. I try to be responsible with money so I'd never drop $1000+ on a last minute flight unless it was absolutely necessary. But I flew a lot last year and accumulated a lot of miles and I think a trip like this is a perfect excuse to use those miles. I wouldn't be able to do this if I wasn't a housewife.

I'm so excited to give my nephew his present in person and welcome him to the world of Harry Potter!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

A few years ago, my husband and I decided that we wanted to visit all the MLB stadiums. Many people have written blogs, articles, and even books about planning a MLB stadium trip and the experience of road tripping. Authors have developed various rating systems to rank the ball parks in an effort to determine which is "the best." Much like others who have attempted to visit the stadiums, we have our own system which essentially that it is a non-system. But it works for us.

I'm don't remember exactly how we decided we were going to see all the stadiums, but I believe it began with a trip to San Francisco. We were living in Milwaukee, and my husband was sent to San Luis Obispo, California for a business trip. We decided to make a vacation out of it. After he finished the business portion of his trip, we drove up Highway 1 to San Francisco. We planned to be tourists and visit with one of my friends who was in grad school at UC-Berkeley. Somehow we decided being a tourist involved going to see a San Francisco Giants game at what was then called PacBell Park (now AT&T Park). Barry Bonds was in the midst of his chase for the home run title, and we'd seen the park and the famous splash hits into McCovey Cove on television so we thought we should see it for ourselves. I believe it was either during this game or during a discussion of this game that we decided we should see all the ball parks.

At this point, we had been to Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers), Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs), and Comiskey Park (or the US Cellular Field as the Chicago White Sox field is known now), and we added PacBell to the list. We had no rating system in place, and didn't try to create one, and we had no specific time line to complete our visits. We just wanted to see them all!

When we moved to Michigan, we had the opportunity to visit a few more stadiums. My husband became an instructor for the continuing education program at his accounting firm, and he was sent all over the country to teach. I also traveled for conferences, so we tagged along on trips whenever we could and tried to visit ball parks whenever possible. Often times we had poor timing and the home team was on a road trip (three trips to the Bay area and Oakland has never been in town!) or it was the off-season so we couldn't take in a game. Sometimes we made plans to visit a park and the business trip was canceled which was frustrating and disappointing.


However, a few times we said "Let's go to a game this weekend!" and we'd take off for whichever city we decided to visit. This was the case last weekend when we decided to drive to Atlanta to check Turner Field off the list. We had a free weekend, we had an excuse to go (our favorite team, the Milwaukee Brewers, were the Braves' opponent), and it was convenient so off we went!

The game was enjoyable and Turner Field is nice. Getting to Turner Field and into the game, however, was an exercise in patience that we both failed. They really need to be taught how to direct traffic and parking. Atlanta traffic is bad enough, but add in a 40,000 people heading to a Braves game and the result can only be described in one word: clusterfuck. Service at the concession stands was slow, but the people were nice and I suppose that's important too. Overall rating: Not as nice as PNC Park, Camden Yards, or PETCO Park, but better than Comerica Park. This rating system doesn't even include all the parks we've seen. I told you, we're scientific.


Whenever I tell people that we're doing this, I get one of three responses. 1) That's cool, I've heard of people doing that, or 2) I've always wanted to do that (for MLB or other professional sport), or 3) Why? Visiting the ball parks isn't just about visiting the ball parks. We love sports and we enjoy baseball so we do like the experience of being at the ball game.

However, it's also a way for us to travel and to see the country. It's an excuse to spend time together, to be spontaneous, and to just get away from our daily lives. We both have professional and personal goals, and though we support each other, we accomplish these tasks individually. We have family goals as well, but they generally involve money, retirement, housing, and the like. The stadium tour is our common goal, something we both want to achieve, but more importantly, something we want to achieve together.

And as we visit the stadiums, we make memories that we can share for years to come. I may not remember every Easter I've spent with my husband, but I do remember the Easter we spent in San Diego, watching the Padres play the Giants from the all you can eat seats at PETCO Park. It was 75 and sunny, and I enjoyed every ray of sun on my face after a long Michigan winter, and the sip of every Diet Coke after giving up soda for Lent. I also remember my husband looking completely happy and relaxed after a draining few months dealing with the bankruptcy of General Motors. We've visited about half of the stadiums thus far, and are eager to see the rest. We've tentatively planned for one more this season, and hopefully we'll sneak a few more in there as well. With each ball park, it's not only a step closer to our goal, but it's also a shared experience that I can cherish every day, even if/when the time comes that my husband can no longer take me out to the ball game.