Cinderella goes to the ball!

I met Jenni (Walker) Irven back in 2000 through a friend from church, Cherry Fullam. When people ask how we met we could say the Vineyard (our church), Mary Kay (she was a customer and then a recruit), but really it was our love of karaoke. Over the past 9 years Jenni and I have been karaoke buddies and have way too much dirt on each other to ever not be friends. (I can hear her laughing at the comment now.) We've had some great adventures: Colin Hay and Journey at the Fraze, Christmas parties with random karaoke afterwards, Brighton shopping (and getting so lost), Turandot with karaoke with the principals afterwards - you get the point. Our greatest adventure so far would have to be last night, the Art Ball.

Several weeks ago I got an email from Jenni with the title "hee-hee!" and a simple question, "do you have plans for June 13?" Jenni won two tickets to the Art Ball at the Dayton Art Institute from her work, Ball Aerospace. Her husband isn't the tux-wearing type, so she asked me to go as her date. Elated, I said yes. ("YES!!!!") And the planning started.


We decided to wear previous bridesmaids dresses to the ball. Jenni wore the dress from her sister's wedding and I wore the bridesmaids dress from my wedding, Melissa's dress. (It fit perfectly, even the length, which I'm still in awe about.) Jenni got ready at my house and Jason got his Crown Victoria looking great and drove us to the Dayton Art Institute.

I decided not to bring my camera because (1) it wouldn't fit in my purse, (2) Jenni was the only other person I knew, and (3) if I really wanted a picture, I could use my cell phone. Therefore, most of these pictures are stolen from the internet or taken with my cell phone. For many more pictures of the evening, taken by professionals, see the daytondailynews.com photos. Jenni are I are in photo 95 of 111.

The party started at 7:00 pm with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. We arrived a few minutes before 7 and got our table assignment and a $1 poker chip. We walked into the main entrance and headed upstairs where we were handed champagne. We then walked into the atrium where the casino was set up. The first hors d'oeuvre we tried was rare tuna on a rice cracker with spicy tomato jam and micro cilantro. I was so caught up in the moment that I actually ate it, and it was pretty good! (Jason will now expect me to try a little more when we get sushi.)


We went into the great room and tried all the other hors d'oeuvers and loved all of them. I have to list these so you get the idea of with savory ride we gave our tongues:

• Golden crostini with sweet pea puree, goat cheese, prosciutto chip and candied lemon zest. (Loved this but the goat cheese gets stuck in your teeth.)
• Tuscan style mushrooms. (I'm not a mushroom person, but had to have a few of these.)
• Mini chicken wellingtons with pink peppercorn aioli. (Also very yummy!!)
• Smoked mozzarella phyllo cups with truffle-honey and figs. (One of our favorites!)
• Seared duck breast rolls with goat cheese, mango and basil. (Pretty good, but difficult to eat.)
  
• Watermelon, bucheron goat cheese, balsamic & fleur de sel. (Needed more flavor.)
• Apple biscotti, machego (an olive), cider almond butter and rosemary candy. (Definitely our favorite.)
  

Jenni's coworkers from Ball found us in the great room and we had a wonderful time talking about the food, the dresses, the bow ties, and Dayton politics. (I literally ran into former mayor Mike Turner.)

We also decided to try a couple of wines and some martinis. I can't remember the wines and I couldn't find a list anywhere. Jenni got a red wine and I got a white and after trying each other's, we switched. Jenni tried a martini called Drunken Butterfly, and I got a Purple Haze. Jenni's was yummy, mine was... mine was passed around so everyone could taste how much vodka and lime was in it. (It was supposed to be pomegranate, ginger and lime.) It wasn't finished.

It was a bit surreal to be standing in this art museum that was normally very quiet, surrounded by hundreds of people eating and drinking. The noise was unbelievable, but it's not as though they put up anything to absorb sound in a museum. The other thing I noticed is that everyone was using their fingers to get food and no one seemed to mind. One very elegant older couple walked by with their plates loaded with food - not just one of everything, but several of everything. I wondered if they realized there would be a full dinner later. Probably just getting their $300 worth of the experience.

Around 8:20 we got the call to dinner which was a trumpeter playing Revelry, which makes you want to run to your table. I found this very amusing. The salads waiting for us on the tables was mixed mesclun greens & hearts of romaine with red flame & green grapes, crumbled pecorino romano, snipped Italian parsley, crushed hazelnuts and white balsamic vinaigrette. Yes, as tasty as it sounds. For dinner we had garlic & pepper seasoned pan seared bistro fillet with Cabernet reduction atop a crispy semolina potato cake and sauteed shrimp, an asparagus bundle with a zucchini ribbon with a citrus ginger emulsion garnished with mustard oil. Holy stinkin' cow, what a delicious meal!

When Jenni and I sat down at the table, we had decided we didn't want to look at dead deer & pheasant the whole time (Still Life with Game in a Landscape by Jean-Baptiste Oudry), so we sat on the other side of the table to look at other oil paintings. (Unfortunately I'm not remembering the artists or the works of art we were looking at, but there was the usual bits of nudity that you normally see with eighteenth century European art.)

For dessert we went back out into the Great Hall. Our choices were:

• Mini cupcakes topped with butterflies
• Colorful layered almond cake with grand marnier ganache
• Almond macaroons in a variety of spring colors
• Triangle cut chocolate shortbread
• White and milk chocolate shells with assorted mousse
• Key lime tartlets
• Chocolate decadence bites
• Cheesecake lollipops
• Pretzel rods dipped in chocolate
• Toad Hollow Risque dessert wine

I tried a chocolate mini cupcake, the layered almond cake, key lime tartlet, cheesecake lollipop, and the dessert wine. All was incredibly yummy, however the fondant butterfly on the cupcake wasn't so great.

After desserts we headed downstairs to see the Inspirational Artwork, Shimmering Madness by artist Sandy Skoglund.

This is a large piece of 3-D work that is displayed in a corner. When you see this you'll notice a few things. The ladies and the floor are made of jelly beans. The walls behind them are butterflies that flutter every once in awhile. (You stand there waiting for the fluttering to begin just to hear the new people exclaim "oh!") The theme of the night was jelly beans and butterflies, which were part of all the decorations. The other thing you notice is that their heads are on backwards. Are they moms with eyes in the back of their heads? Is this a statement about hindsight? Or maybe the artist just likes surreal art that makes you stand in front of her art work in awe. We had a wonderful time discussing this last night - which is really the point of art.

While we were downstairs waiting for part of the group an older gentleman walked past me and stopped and told me I had a beautiful dress on. Of course I smiled and thanked him. That had to be one of the highlights of the evening!

We then went as a group to get our professional pictures taken. I teased Jenni that it was a good thing that her date was tall - I fit in well in the back row between all the wool tuxedos. After this we headed back upstairs to play our $1 chips. I love the roulette wheel, but they had a modified version of this that looked more like something you'd play at a fair. Jenni and I went for the big bucks and lost quickly. Well, we weren't there to gamble so we headed off to find the dancing.

In the lower level there was jazz music playing with a cigar and martini bar. Upstairs Velvet Crush was playing in the court yard. By this time it was 11pm and the party was just getting started. Jenni and I danced the night away. We started underneath the tent, but this area was very crowded and hot, so we found another dance floor on the other side of the the grass, under the stars with a lot more room. There was a very large fountain that blocked our view of the band, but the music was still very loud. Our favorite part was dancing to "Mr. Brightside" by the Killers (one of my favorite karaoke songs) and singing at the top of our lungs. We danced, sang, and laughed until 1:00 am when the band stopped playing.


We retrieved our shoes and purses from the base of the fountain and decided to walk out to the parking lot barefoot. Amazingly, they let us walk through the music without shoes on. Of course you wouldn't notice this with our long dresses except that we were carrying our shoes. Jason was right there in front of the doors waiting for us. We walked past the very long line of those waiting at valet for their cars and climbed in our carriage and took off for home.

What an incredible evening. Poor Jason had to listen to Jenni and I relive all our favorite moments on the car ride home. I say poor Jason because I'm sure we were half deaf and probably talking much more loudly than what was necessary in the car. However, Jason was thoroughly thanked and he enjoyed our jelly bean favors and the Esther Price chocolates we received.

This blog has taken me hours to write and post links and photos and I know I'm still forgetting somethings. I just hope that my descriptions will put pictures in your mind that will replace the ones I didn't take. Please feel free to ask any questions if I may have left something out and you're curious. :)

Security - for a price

Wednesday, May 20th, I got home from work after Jason. As I pulled up behind the house I saw Jason walking around the back yard. I got out of the car and Jason came over and said "Cyndi" and the first thought I had was that he calls me "baby doll" or "hon," or something like that, but never "Cyndi." And then he said "we've been robbed" and my next thought was "by the cable company?" (Yes, seriously.) And then I realized he was listing the items that he could tell were missing: my Macbook (laptop), his ipod Touch (it's an iphone without the phone), and everything out of the jewelry box on my dresser. He was then saying how they went through all our drawers in the bedroom, but nothing else registered. It couldn't be, this couldn't happen. We have nothing, why would they break into OUR house?

And the worst news then came out of his mouth - two of our cats were missing, the two boys. They either ran outside when the robber left or the robber let them outside to keep them out of the way. (The police said this happens a lot.) They've never been outside for more than a few minutes and then I understood why Jason had been walking around the back yard. We started walking around yelling the boys' names. "Davey! Lenny!" And then we heard meowing coming from the side of the house - Lenny! He was shook up and only wanted to get inside. Jason carried him in the front door - we weren't allowed to go through the back door - this is where they came in. They had broken the back window and then let themselves in. Suprisingly there were only two pieces of glass on the floor, the rest of the window was still in tact.

I walked around outside for a moment and then followed Jason in the front door. The spot where my laptop sat was empty, the power cord and laptop bag was gone too, along with Jason's iTouch that was plugged into my laptop, charging. My heart sank, it was true. I noticed though, that they took all the DVDs and CDs out of the bag and threw them on the recliner. Weird. And then I noticed that my camera, which I got last summer, was still sitting on the couch. I looked and all our other electronics were where we left them this morning. All our DVDs and CDs were also there. Why us?

Then I walked into the bedroom. The scene made me want to start crying. All our drawers had been opened and rifled through, and all my little jewelry boxes laid open and empty on the dresser. I looked at my nightstand and all my prescription bottles were pulled out of the top drawer and lined up on top of the stand. They must have been looking for the good drugs, but I didn't have any. My large wood jewelry box that sat on top was almost completely empty with the drawer laying on the bed, dumped out. My brain stopped functioning at this point. What was missing just wasn't registering. I didn't even notice that Jason's pillow was laying near the end of the bed, without a pillow case on it.

Slowly what was missing came back to me. My gold high school class ring, my white gold college class ring, all my ruby rings - some are antiques, my grandma's 1924 high school class ring, my ruby and diamond necklace and earrings that Jason got me for Christmas, and a diamond pendant, among many other things. They also went through the drawer that had all my Brighton and Premier jewelry and took none of this, but took everything from a plastic container that held all my sterling silver jewelry. I believe they were going after everything that was gold, or at least looked like gold. They also took Jason's college ring and his watch his parents had given him.

Jason and I went outside to talk to the neighbors and look for Davey, the other missing cat. I talked to a couple of neighbors who were shocked to hear a robbery happened next door to them. They weren't home during the day and didn't hear or see anything unusual. They also hadn't seen Davey, but would keep an eye out for him. Jason went walking a couple houses down calling out Davey's name and suddenly he could hear him crying out. He finally found him under some bushes a couple houses down. He was meowing for Jason, but wouldn't come out from under the bushes, Jason had to get him out. The boys were traumatized but home safe.

The police came and took a short description of the jewelry. A crime scene investigator came and got one really good fingerprint off of one my Brighton tins. I called the insurance company and started to give them a list of everything that was stolen. We were told a detective would get with us within a week and that an insurance agent would contact us within 24 hours. (Neither of these things happened.) I called our friends that evening and told them I couldn't see us going camping with them that weekend - Memorial Day weekend. I just couldn't leave the cats and the house alone for 4 days.

The laptop was gone, along with all my tracking of bills and our checkbook. And all those pictures I've taken since last July are all gone. Thankfully the night before I had uploaded so many pictures to our shutterfly.com site. (http://jcparsons.shutterfly.com) I also burned several CD's of pictures for friends. I would be able to put all of these back onto my new laptop. I also had just uploaded everything to my ipod, which I was told I could also load back onto my new laptop. I just feel like God told me to do these things to prepare for what to come.

The next day, Jason and a friend, Pat Caudill, worked on getting the glass in the back door replaced. They found laminated glass that would basically require a jack-hammer to get through. We also called ADT and Brinks Security and decided to go with ADT. They had a much lower monthly rate ($25/month) but the installation and equipment will cost us an arm and a leg. However, we can pass this onto the next place we live, so we're not out anything. They also could install the system the next day, before we would leave for the camping trip. I was all for this and decided the camping trip was back on.

We got the security system set up and we were reassured that our three cats wouldn't set off the motion detectors. We learned all the ins and outs of the key pad and left shortly after this on our camping trip. We really felt like we'd get quite a few false alarms the first day or two, but there were none. Then Sunday night, while we were at a drive-in, ADT called - the back door alarm had gone off. They asked if we wanted the police to go to the house, and I said yes. They asked if we would meet them there, and I said no, we're 3 hours away. They said they'd call back and let us know if the police found anything. And then the movie started.

About 20 minutes later I got another call from ADT, this time it was a different operator telling me the motion detector alarm had gone off and should they call the police. Um, haven't the police already been called? They said they'd find out and call us back. Another 45 minutes later, still no call. I decided to call ADT back and they said that when the police don't find a door or window open, they don't call me back. (Then why do they say they will???)

We're not quite sure what happened, but when we got home everything was fine. We had a friend check on the house and cats a few hours before the alarms went off. We're thinking the door wasn't shut quite all the way and when a storm came through later, the wind or a pressure change caused the door to shut completely, causing the door to close all the way. The alarm goes off for 15 minutes so I'm thinking the cats were running around and caused the motion detectors to go off. We haven't had any further false alarms since then, so we're hoping this was a one-time event.

I finally got ahold of the insurance agent the following Tuesday. Within a matter of days we had the replacement money in our account. We were able to get our new laptop and itouch about a week after the items had been stolen. I ended up with a better Macbook than what I had before, and Jason got the new itouch which now has external speakers - so he doesn't have to use headphones anymore. Nothing will replace the jewelry, but I did go out and buy a new necklace to replace the three that were stolen.

The last part of this story is missing - the follow up by the police. I went to a pawn shop to start looking for my jewelry and they asked if I talked to the police. They said that the descriptions I give them about my jewelry goes into a computer. The pawn shops hold the jewelry for 15 days before they can put the jewelry out - this gives them time to check the jewelry against the descriptions in the computer. It's now 18 days after the robbery and I still haven't given a description of the jewelry to anyone. A detective stuck his business card the week after the robbery but after a week of trying to get ahold of him, I decided to call his supervisor. Two days later I finally got a phone call from both the supervisor and the detective. Of course I didn't get the message until Friday afternoon, so I'll have to call them back on Monday.

I called the jewelry store where I got the diamond pendant, Albert Jewelers, and found out that they buy estate jewelry. I told the woman about the stolen jewelry and she said that if she can get pictures and a description of the jewelry - she can give this to a man who comes to her store to buy the estate jewelry she buys. She said that he goes all over Dayton and if it's been bought at one of those stores, he would know it. So I have some hope there. Tomorrow night's project is to scan in pictures of my jewelry and add a description. (What do you think, should I post this on my blog?)

How are we doing? Good. We were angry at first, but we know God is in control and there's that verse that says "vengence is mine saith the Lord." (Romans 12:19) We've done a lot of soul searching and although there's still hurt in my heart about what happened, it's just stuff. We're safe, our kitties are safe, and our house is now very safe.

I've read a lot of scripture about God restoring and replacing what was taken, which makes me really want this to mean that our family jewelry will be returned. (But the chance is slim.) However, in the past two weeks we've received amazing things from people - gifts out of nowhere. Tickets to a Dragon's game, a friend wants me to go to the Art Ball at the Dayton Art Institute as her date (this will be another blog), Tommy Bahama items that Jason's had his eye on, and a friend, Mary Ellen Fogg, made me a pair of earrings to replace those that were stolen. This just amazes me.

Thank you to all of our friends for your amazing offers of help, generosity, gifts, support and prayers. We've felt God's arms around us through this entire ordeal because of this.

One last thing - if you have family jewelry that is not only precious to you, but to others in your family, HIDE this jewelry. Do not put it in a jewelry box on your dresser. You might as well put a big red flashing sign that says "STEAL ME" above your dresser. If it's jewelry you never wear, put it away in a fire box (that is hidden) or a safe. Also, throw out your old prescription drugs so they don't fall into the wrong hands.

(More updates coming. And that promise of the blog about Olive Hill and Jason's cabin isn't going to happen just yet. All those photos were stolen along with the laptop.)

The challenge of having a good day

This morning I headed off to work in a good mood. Jason was going in late today so he got me Tim Horton's and then dropped me off at work. I was determined that today was going to be a good day no matter what happened. Why of all days did I choose today???

First, I get in and I have several emails about not being able to run reports out of our system. At first I assumed they were doing something wrong, but I was also unable to run reports. This was a big problem because today is the day I run the weekly reports. So I emailed the appropriate people and waited. About an hour later I had start making phone calls to make sure this was getting someone's attention. I was trying not to get frustrated because, after all, today was going to be a good day.

Emails started to be exchanged and it looked like we were moving forward on getting the reports fixed. I got almost all the work done that was needed before reports could be run and I was actually feeling ahead of the game. Today was going to be a good day.

And then the lights went out. I looked and my computer was dead and the phone was dead too. Unbelievable! Our building had lost power. People started walking around asking what had happened, but none of us knew. Rumors started going around that all of downtown was without power. We were up on the 19th floor so we started watching stop lights at 3rd and Main - they were working. Then 2nd and Main, those were working. As were the stop lights on Ludlow. We soon realized that only the block at Courthouse Square was without power. (I work in the old MeadWestvaco building, now called Key Bank Tower.) This was about 11:15 am.

We started calling people to find out if they had heard any news about what was going on. (It didn't make the news.) We also waited to hear any news about an emergency. We didn't hear any explosions, didn't smell any smoke, and there were no emergency vehicles around the building. We started wondering if there really was a problem, how would they get the news to us?

Around 12:30 pm we still didn't have any news other than a transformer had blown in front of the building. So a few of us decided to head down the 21 flights of stairs and get some lunch. There was one major problem with this - there were no lights in the stairwells. We only had one flashlight on our floor and it was being used in the bathroom. I had a candle (tealight in a glass candle holder) that a coworker gave me years ago for Christmas, and I had kept it on my desk. The other ladies were trying to use their cell phones to light the stairs.

We saw three of the emergency lights on, but the rest were not. All we could think was that the batteries had run down and they had not been checked since. The 14th and 15th floors are double floors and there's also a shift in the stairs where you have to walk down a hallway. We couldn't tell where we were going between our candle and cell phones. We just went really really slow and took one flight at a time. The worst part was trying to find the first step for each flight. I was so afraid I'd put my foot out there and miss the step.

Finally around the 7th floor two maintenance men with flashlights who were checking floors helped us continue down the stairs. One in the front, one in the back. And then finally we were on the first floor, with wobbly knees and rubber legs. While we were congratulating ourselves we turned around and another group came down the last stairs. They were on the top floor - the 27th floor - and one of the ladies looked about 7 months pregnant. So no complaints from me!

Three of us decided to head to Uno's to sit for awhile, get some lunch, and wait for the electricity to come back on. While we were walking out the front doors we heard some of the DP&L workers say that the electricity should be back on in about an hour. Perfect! There was a short discussion about whether or not the 15 minutes spent going downstairs counted as part of lunch break or not. We all agreed it was not!

After lunch we started walking back to the building and noticed the lights were on in our building. We got in the building and a lot of people were standing around in the lobby. The elevators had just started working again and no one seemed in a hurry to head back up to work. I believe the main worry was getting stuck in the elevator if the electricity went out again. (If you remember, last September when most of Dayton lost electricity for days, it wasn't unusual for it go off right after it came back on.)

The three of us decided that we braved the stairs down, we could brave the elevator back up. And we were fine, of course. However, back on the 19th floor we realized that only the front side of the building had electricity. The phones and computers still did not have power. Another problem was that there was no running water, so no flush on the toilets. (And unfortunately I forgot to go at Uno's when I had the chance.)

A little after 2pm the power to the computers and phones came back on. This caused a lot of excitement until we realized that the servers had been turned off so still had no access to emails, the internet or our documents, and no phones. I kept calling my boss in Cleveland and giving him updates on what was going on. And finally, a little after 3pm, the server was back up and running and the office was functional again! (Except that most everyone had left to work from home.)

So I get into Outlook to find out what the status of the reports was... still not working. I had to start on the reports at 4:30 pm or they wouldn't get sent out by 5pm. The problem was that the software support people were telling us to reinstall the system, but our IS people didn't want to. There was quite a bit of back and forth and finally I got the email at 4:15 that the software had been reinstalled and I could run the reports. At 4:45 pm I finally had all the reports done.

Never did I have any idea this morning that it would take so long to get those ... reports done. And was it a good day? I'm trying really hard to see the good in that day. I ended up with a headache after going down all those steps (probably from straining my eyes and worrying the whole time). And I know my legs are going to hurt tomorrow. But on the good side, I got to do lunch with 2 friends who never go out for lunch and really talk. I'm sure there were other good things that will come out of that experience, but I'll think of those tomorrow.

For now I'm grateful for lights, running water, and being connected to the internet. I just find it hard to believe that twice now in 8 months we've lost electricity in situations that have never happened before. Will this continue to happen? I'm starting to think I should carry a flashlight with me. Just in case.

Bathroom Remodel

We decided to have a friend, Ralph Ludwig, remodel our bathroom while we were in Gatlinburg. When we got married a year ago, we registered at Home Depot to get the parts of our bathroom. We got just about everything, except the flooring. We used our gift cards to get the remainder of the items and stored everything in the basement.

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to our bathroom by gifting us gift cards and a toilet. (If you were at the wedding reception, you saw it on the gift table. I love Ken & Melissa!!)

And there it all sat in the basement, waiting for some final decisions to be made. In January we finally found a floor for the bathroom and ordered it. It came in a couple weeks before our trip, so the timing seemed perfect.

We came home last Saturday and after greeting the kitties, went to go look at our new bathroom... BEAUTIFUL!! It looked so much bigger!! And I loved that it finally looked more like a white bathroom than a light blue bathroom.

(Side note: With Ralph working on the bathroom all week, the kitties were kept company all week. And Ralph so graciously offered to check on the cat food and water each day, even when he wasn't working on the bathroom. The kitties are now attached to Ralph, especially Lenny, and they were happy we were home instead of sulking. I told Ralph we'd have to come up with another project next time we went away for a week.) :)

Work done:

• Ralph replaced the old wood window last year, and so began the upgrade.
• I scraped and painted the shower area in February. (Part of what I painted came down, so a bit of useless work.)
• We then decided the arch dividing shower from the rest of the bathroom needed to come down. There's no fan in the bathroom and having the vent in the glass block window wasn't helping. Ralph convinced us that taking down the arch would open up the bathroom and help the air to circulate in the shower area.
• Paint over the old light blue paint with white paint.
  
• Carpet and old tile below the carpet removed. New linoleum flooring put down.
  
• Old toilet removed and new toilet installed. (Forgot to get new toilet seat.)
• Old sink and cabinet removed. New sink and cabinet installed in same location (so we don't have to worry about replacing the tile behind the sink).
  
• Medicine cabinet removed and new mirror installed above sink.
• Lights installed above the mirror.
• Cabinet installed above the toilet.
• Electrical outlet installed next to light switch.
  

Work that still needs to be done in the bathroom:

• New toilet seat
• White light switch & plate
• New grate for floor vent
  
• Fix shower faucets
• Install new towel bars
• New shower rod for curtain (the kind that bends outward)
• Fix caulking between tiles on walls

And now what you've been waiting for... Before and After pictures!

Before...

and after.


Before...

and after.


Before...

and after.


Before...

and after.


Before...

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Before...

and after.


Other views of the bathroom...

Anniversary Trip to Gatlinburg

By Monday morning, it’s already been quite the adventure. Our cabin is very close to downtown Gatlinburg. It’s off SR 321, where we didn’t go exploring last year. As we pulled off the main road, we were heading towards a large chalet and were afraid we’d end up right next to it. Then we took a turn to the right and our final destination was at the very end up the road, quite a ways above the chalet. The only other cabins near us are a private, and two other rental cabins which are currently empty. None of which we can see from our cabin, perfect! (Map of the area - we're at the very end of Kates Road.)

(Click on pictures to get a larger image)

The porch wraps around two sides and the spa (hot tub) is off the back porch with a view of the valley and the mountain on the other side. We can hear dogs barking occasionally back there, coming from down in the valley. The upstairs loft is huge with a separate area for the bathroom and jacuzzi. There are two hide-a-beds, so you could have 8 people here, but I think that would feel very crowded. Two is perfect, and four would be cozy. The kitchen is large and open, with lots of counter space and a table with two benches for eating. The couch is directly in front of the fireplace with the TV off to the side, perfect. Jason is loving the fireplace and the large supply of firewood and kindling.

We headed off to the Alamo for dinner where Jason had the best steak of his life. He shared a piece and I’d have to agree with him. I decided to try BBQ shrimp with bacon wrapped around it, a first for me. I decided I prefer my shrimp without bacon and BBQ sauce. We hit the grocery store and picked up food for the week and then headed home for dessert. (Oh, not that, it’s a family-friendly blog.) We had the top layer of our cake remade for our anniversary and shared a couple slices of cake. (Love love love the buttercream icing from ele cake/Taste of Elegance/Woody’s bakery!!)


Sunday morning we woke up to rain falling. The rain turned to sleet and then the sleet turned to snow. We weren’t worried at first because there was no snow in the forecast. Jason started a fire in the fireplace and we decided to wait out the snow before heading out. We also took the opportunity to sit in the hot tub while the snow was falling. The hot tub is on a covered deck, but the snow was still falling on us. Hours later the driveway was covered with snow and due to the steepness, we decided to stay in until the snow melted. We walked around outside for awhile and had some trouble walking back up our driveway, we decided at that point that staying in was a wise decision.


While we were making dinner the lights flickered and then the electricity went out. About a minute or two later it came back on. Our dinner was done and then the electricity went out again. This time it didn’t come back on. We called the rental office and they suggested we drive into town to get flashlights and candles, just in case. We brought some from home, so thankfully we didn’t have to make that trip. It was still daylight out so we sat upstairs, where there are windows on all sides, and played Uno. We planned on sleeping downstairs on the hide-a-bed in front of the fire if it got cold in the cabin. Thankfully, about an hour later, the electricity came back on.


The temperatures Sunday night got down into the ‘teens, so we were expecting the layer of sleet under the snow to turn into ice. Monday we woke up to light snow still falling, but we could see breaks of blue sky in the clouds. We kept watch on the driveway and the snow melted pretty quick. By noon we were able to head down the hill and into town. We ate at Bennett’s BBQ for lunch and then headed over to the tram to Ober Gatlinburg. (We did this last year too.)

It turned out to be a beautiful day, although it was still chilly in the 30’s. We took the tram up the mountain to Ober Gatlinburg where they have skiing, snowboarding, tubing, ice skating, and a bear exhibit. Of course, like last year, what we were interested in was closed - the tubing and the bear exhibit. We went up to the lounge and watched skiers and snowboarders come down the mountain. The tram ride back down the mountain was spectacular with the views of the snow-covered mountains. I’ve said a few times that March is an ugly time to go to the Smokey Mountains, but with the snow, it was beautiful!




When we got back to our car, almost all the snow was melted off of our car, except for a mound of snow on top of our antenna topper. We had to leave it up there, just to see how long it would last. We got back to the cabin and the view of the mountains around us was so clear, we could see the cabins on the other side of the mountain. The scenery from the upstairs bedroom is just amazing! We headed to the Peddler for dinner, one of our favorite places to eat dinner. We love the atmosphere and the salad bar has the best fixings for a salad. Jason loves the marinated artichoke hearts, I like the bean sprouts and sun flower seeds. (Jason got steak and decided that the Alamo has better steak.)


Tuesday morning was still cold, but clear. Skies were blue with just a few light, fluffy clouds. We ate breakfast and lunch in the cabin and then headed off to Ripley’s Aquarium. Few people were at the aquarium, so we had time to look at each exhibit as long as we wanted to. (This helps when you’re taking pictures.) There’s a large shark tank with tubes that you walk through, or ride on a moving sidewalk. We took our time going through the tubes, looking at all the sharks and other water life. The pictures I took didn’t quite turn out, so I ended up taking a lot of video of the fish. At the end we decided to go through it again, and that time I put the camera down and just watched everything. Amazing! At the end there was an area where you could reach into a tank and “pet” a sting ray. I did this once at the Monterrey Aquarium and was excited that Jason got to experience this. You have to push your sleeve way up, because the sting rays like to swim just out of reach and you’ll find you’ve stuck your entire arm in the water. Jason got to touch them a few times, but I only got one good chance. And yes, I stuck my entire arm in the water and got my sleeve quite wet. I think they feel like wet velvet. Jason said they feel slimy.


After the aquarium we walked around Gatlinburg, looking at some of the stores. Last year I saw a shower curtain that I really wanted, so we found the same store and their shower curtains were on clearance. Unfortunately, the one I wanted was completely sold out. They had the waste basket and Kleenex box cover, but these were expensive and only 30% off. We continued to walk around until the shops started to close around 5pm.

We brought the lap top so we headed into Pigeon Forge to find internet access and check emails. We ended up at the Atlanta Bread Company (very similar to Panera) and ate dinner there. We stayed until they started closing at 7pm. (Definitely the off season.) On the way back to the cabin we stopped and rented a couple of videos. We wanted to watch Australia but they didn’t have any left. We ended up with Vantage Point (very good, but the rewinding and seeing the same part again got annoying) and Pineapple Express (we were hoping this would be funny but turned it off after half a hour).

Wednesday morning we got up early and headed out for pancakes at Flapjacks. (Mom and David - the one across from Brookside Resort.) We had a huge breakfast (slightly overpriced, even with the 15% off coupon) which we couldn’t finish, and headed off for Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountain National Park. We stopped by the visitor center and got a few booklets to help us get around. About 45 minutes later we got to Cades Cove and started driving around. About half of the buildings on the loop are a short walk from the road, but a few were up to half a mile away. With the sunny skies and the mountains surrounding the cove, the scenery was perfect. There were few people on the road, so we got to take our time and just take everything in.

We noticed a road to Parson Branch Road, but couldn’t get to it due to roads being closed for the winter. We noticed later that the roads would open up on March 6th, so we started thinking about heading back out there on Friday. (Some maps call it Parsons Branch and others call it Parson Branch.) We headed home and made an early dinner and then watched the sunset on the back patio. Beautiful!


Thursday was a lazy morning and we ate breakfast and lunch at the cabin. We headed out to the arts & crafts loop to do a little more shopping. We thought it would be more of the same that we saw in downtown Gatlinburg but we couldn’t be more wrong. The loop was full of craftsmen and artists who were working on items to sell. With every shop we went to we got to meet the people who made the goods and chat with them. We were usually the only people in each shop, so we had their entire attention. It was hard not to get attached to the people and their work. We ended up buying a bear print by Grace Dyer at the Fireside Gallery for the cabin, and some fudge and candy. If we had a lot more money, we would be coming home with a car full of pottery, jewelry, wood carvings, baskets and prints. (Jason just corrected me and said we’d rent a U-Haul trailer and take one of the 8’ carved grizzly bears home.)

We ate dinner at the Bear Creek Grill. Once again, over-priced even with the 15% off coupon. Usually the food we get that is over-priced is quite yummy, but I was disappointed with this place. We were basically the only people there and our medium burgers came out without any pink at all, my toasted buns came out almost burnt, and the fries tasted like something they warmed up from yesterday. The room was beautiful with a pleasant view of Bear Creek, but I wouldn’t recommend it. We had planned on going to karaoke that night, but my throat was still sore so we just stayed in and watched Survivor and CSI.

Friday we were up for an adventure. We ate breakfast at home and then headed out for a day of driving and hiking. We decided we wanted to hit those roads that opened March 6th, including Parson(s) Brand Road. We believe it’s actually Parson Branch Road and the sign we saw is spelled wrong, but we’re not complaining to anyone. You might want to check out a map while reading through the next paragraph: Great Smoky Mountains Park Map.

The plan was to head back to Cades Cove and head down to Forge Creek Road (a 2-way road) and then to Parson(s) Branch Road (a 1-way road). Because the road is 1-way, we’d end up out of the park in North Carolina once we headed down the road. So we were going to drive clockwise around the park to Townsend and have lunch there if we didn’t find anywhere before this. We would then head back into the park and go hiking to Laurel Falls. And then finally finish up the day by driving around the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail on the other side of the park. This is another road that wasn’t open until March 6th. Then dinner at the cabin and a long soak in the hot tub.

Sounds perfect right? But it never works out as planned. We headed to Cades Cove and decided we couldn’t wait until we were on the other side to get lunch and tried to find something on the way. Nothing. So we snacked on cheese crackers and Girl Scout cookies. We get to Forge Creek Road and it’s still closed. We parked the car to see if we could walk to Parson(s) Branch Road and gave up after walking close to a mile. It was a nice walk by ourselves and I got a few pictures that I really like. So we hop back in the car, finish the loop and get lunch at Townsend anyway. Afterwards we headed to Laurel Falls and hiked up (and up and up) to the falls. More great pictures and back down (and down and down) to the car. Then we headed to the Motor Nature Trail and once again, the road was closed. We still had a great day and enjoyed the long soak in the hot tub.



We decided to hit the town our last night in Gatlinburg. I’ve been to the Smoky Mountains quite a few times and never found anything to do in the evening. That night we found Puckers, which has karaoke every night at 9pm. (woo hoo!) We found a table in the corner and Jason went to find a karaoke book. Turns out there are no books, you just walk up and tell them what you want to sing. The DJ finds your song on his computer and then enters your name, and you’re automatically put in the rotation. (How cool is that!) Jason put in my old stand-by, “Runaround” and within a few minutes, the DJ called my name. Between rotations, they would play dance songs, so I got to do a little regular dancing, line dancing, and of course more karaoke. I ended up singing “Video Killed the Radio Star” and “Flag Pole Sitta” (by Harvey Danger) before we called it a night. I have to say that was one of the best nights out I’ve ever had. (And one of the nice things about Puckers is that if you get drunk enough to start being annoying, they ask you to leave. They also don’t let intoxicated people come in. We witnessed this a few times and were impressed.)

Saturday morning we started packing and cleaning. Check out time was 11am and we had plenty of time. So we spent some time taking in the view from the rocking chairs on the back porch. We headed back to Flapjacks and got the same waitress. We wanted to hit Hillbilly Golf before we left but changed out minds when we realized it was $9/person. We ended up wandering around Gatlinburg a little longer and finally decided to head home at 11:30 am. On the way home we had a little problem with a plastic part under the wheel well coming loose and rattling quite a bit. We stopped in Southern Kentucky at an auto parts store and quickly fixed the problem. We finally got home a little after 6pm. We loved seeing our little fuzzies again, but we were really looking forward to seeing our “new” bathroom. But that’s another blog for another day. :)

Fireworks in February?

I just saw the most amazing thing.

I was sitting on the couch trying to get caught up on my '09 Challenge reading while Jason was out getting a heart-shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's. (They were on sale for $6.99.) First I heard a loud banging noise, which sounded like someone kept hitting a trash can. I looked up and saw what I thought was fireworks, but a lot brighter! I went to look out the front window and saw the explosions coming from the back yards of the houses across the street. I was wondering why in the world anyone would be lighting fire crackers while it's still daylight in February.

Of course they were such a bright white that I quickly realized they weren't fireworks at all. I figured out that the explosions were all happening the same height above the ground - the electrical lines! I stood there for another minutes watching the lights and then they stopped. I probably ignored the sounds for a good minute or more, so I'm thinking it must have gone on for at least 2-3 minutes. Crazy.

I called Dad and Claire to see what they thought and they're thinking that a branch must have fallen on the line and caused the line to short out. You know me, I'll google search this until I get some answers... and maybe a video. Updates to come later.

Update: found a video that shows what it looked like...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYUmdqQ94Ao

To those who are dreading Valentine's Day...

This article is for the single, and coupled-up. I have low-expectations for Valentine's Day (and rarely tolerate Sweetest's Day) so it's usually just another day for me. Well, there is the very wonderful husband who is sending flowers (I tried to talk him out of it) and getting me something from Brighton (which I did not try to talk him out of). To him, and all the other romantic guys that go above and beyong - way to go! Woo hoo!! For everyone else, keep reading...

Awful Valentine's Day -- How to Avoid It (from cnn.com)

By Judy McGuire

(The Frisky) -- Valentine's Day is a minefield. Whether you're single or hooked-up the potential for misery is high because, much like New Year's Eve, it rarely lives up to its reputation.

For the single ladies

1. Don't fall into the trap of believing that because there won't be some significant other mailing you a mass-produced cardboard sentiment this year, that you are somehow lacking or unworthy of love.

Valentine's Day was designed specifically to sell greeting cards. (And to make single people miserable.) Does being single on Halloween make you wish you were a zombie? No. See how silly you're being?

2. Unless you're going out with a group of friends, stay away from bars. There is a certain breed of predatory guy who lives for February 14. He douses himself with cologne, opens his shirt an extra button and packs a pocket full of terrible pick-up lines. It may sound like it'd be cute to tell your grandchildren you met on Valentine's day, but most likely the only thing you'll come home with will take a full course of antibiotics to get rid of.

3. Don't go into desperation dating overload, trying to scare up a date -- any date -- just so you won't be home alone on V-Day. Only a masochist or a maniac would ask a woman out on a first date on 2/14. Here's hoping you want neither.

4. Stay home and sulk if you want, but instead of making yourself miserable with romantic comedies, check out the "War of the Roses" or "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer." And whatever you do -- don't eat a pint of ice cream. Nobody should willingly reduce themselves to a cliché. Have some nachos instead.

For the taken ladies

1. If your boyfriend forgets what day it is, you have nobody but yourself to blame. Do you know when the World Series is? Probably not. If you want your man to remember something, remind him.

2. Along with the above, if you have big expectations for THE MOST ROMANTIC VALENTINE'S DAY EVER, you should also convey that. Hinting never works with men -- whether it's willful or just obliviousness, I've never heard of a heterosexual male who is capable of picking up a subtle hint.

Give him restaurant suggestions, remind him that he needs to make a reservation in advance, advise him that you're getting him a gift (if you are), so he might want to select a little something for you. If you must, resort to PowerPoint and pie charts. It's not very romantic, but it will get your point across.

3. You are not allowed to get upset if he doesn't propose. Unless it's completely spontaneous, V-Day proposals rate way high on the cheese-o-meter and you can hardly blame him for not wanting to be part of a real-life Diamonds R Us commercial.

4. Don't you dare compare your relationships to other couples. Competitive dating is a loser's game. That twosome making out at the next table? Chances are, they're married to other people. Your bigmouth coworker who can't stop talking about the ginormous rock her FIANCE (say it loud!) bought her? He's probably compensating for shortcomings in other departments. The more in-your-face the display, the more likely they're just masking the unhappy truth. Be glad for what you've got.


(The whole "ginormous rock... shortcomings in other departments" defense is another blog for another day...)