Trans Siberian Orchestra 2011

For Mr. Buckeye's Birthday we went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. He has always wanted to go but the timing was never right. This year the stars aligned because they were at US Bank Arena on Dec. 1. How perfect to start of the Christmas season!

 Long hair might be another requirement to be a rock guitarist. A stance is the other requirement. Stance and long hair to swing around. If you've got both, you too may rock.

 We may have watched this guy in the front row more than anyone else in the entire show. He was jumping around, air guitar solos, air drum solos, and at one point I thought he was going to jump on stage. He was up the entire show... notice everyone else in their seats.

 Lots of lasers, smoke, fire, fireworks, and rock Christmas music makes for Happy Buckeyes!

More Cuteness coming!

UPDATE: HE IS HERE!!!

Carson
7lbs
19.5 inches

Mom is doing great and I can't wait to meet him and kiss his little face!


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I become an Aunt for the third time today. I am so excited!!

I'll have another tiny human sidekick to add to my favorites!


Cade and Emme, will be the BEST big brother and sister ever!!

Happy Birthday

To my little buddies Cade and Emerson!

I hope all of your amazing 4 year old birthday wishes come true-

Love you and miss you!

Leeshie

2 x 4

One week ago today we celebrated the birth of my 2 favorite little people.

Of course, their real birthday isn't for a couple more days, but they are currently in Florida celebrating in the fun and sun!

It was an absolute perfect day and of course Aunt Leeshie (that would be me) ran around like paparrazi and snapped up as many pics as I could.

Here are some of my favorites.

Happy Birthday



Today is a beautiful day.

Bright and sunny- just like you.

Such a change from the doom and gloom and rain and wind the last couple of days. I like to think that you had something to do with that.

And even better, baseball has started and  the Reds are winning! Let's just hope that streak continues.

You would have been very happy with today and we would have spoiled you rotten just like you deserve.



I'll never forget where I can always find you.



Happy Birthday Papa.

I miss you.



<3

Precious



Happy Birthday

A Quarter of A Century ago, this little ham made me a big sister.

My Brudder- age 8

Happy Birthday Bubby- if I haven't driven you to insanity by now, I'd say you are safe.

Love you!

College Graduation - Dec 2010

PS- I'm still really sorry for that day I ripped Bubby's leg off and we left it in the hotel on vacation and made you cry... Although I still do laugh about it on occasion, I still feel bad.

Happy Birthday

To my bestest friend in the entire world.

I cannot believe it has been an obnoxiously long 15 years that I have known you. Are we really that old? I hate to even think about it. I'm so incredibly thankful that we got past whatever it was that made us not want to be friends in 6th grade. What in the world were we thinking?! I might have been jealous of your bangs... (I kid! I know you so wish you had bangs like me!)

We've been through elementary school, junior high, high school, college, became roomates, and yet we are still friends to this day. I only stop to ask myself once a month now "what in the world is wrong with you for sticking by me that long?"

In all seriousness though, I am so thankful to be a part of your lifeand have you in mine.

Happy Birthday.

2000-2001, yes we rocked those bangs. haha!



2004 - OSU Michigan game



2009 - Steph got married!

Happy Birthday

To my best friend

To my whole world

To the man that makes me laugh uncontrollably and loves me unconditionally

To my husband

Happy 30th Birthday to you.

PS- It's Beat Michigan Week - GO BUCKS!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday To You!

Happy Birthday To You!

Happy Birthday To My Dad!

Happy Birthday To You!

We will pretend you are still as young as you are in that picture...
I won't remind you how old you are today.

I'll do that tomorrow.

You're welcome.

Go Birdie... it's your birthday... we gonna party like...

IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!

To the women who birthed me years and years ago,

You look fabulous!

Your hair is holding up well considering how many times you could have pulled it out over the years. (and the copious amounts of peroxide over the years haven't helped either I'm sure)

You have yet to embrace the old lady fashion sense that I suspect could be right around the corner (I'll have not forgotten the sweatshirt with the ice skating penguins you wore last winter...)  though I will try my hardest to prevent you from ever wearing shoulder pads ever again.

And most importantly, you've managed to raise 2 of the most amazing, good looking, all around rock-star human beings out there.

In all seriousness though- Thanks for being an awesome mom. I know I've driven you crazy more times that I've kept you sane. But I hope you know it's all in love.

Happy Birthday!

Love,

Your One and Only-

Your sun, moon, and stars-

Your whole wide world-

Wheatie

Where did that weekend go?

It's back to work for these buckeyes!

We had a fabulous birthday weekend. After the amazing dinner and movie on Friday night, We joined some friends for another birthday dinner at the Ranch for my fav mexican food, and then headed over to a local bar for a night out like no other. Normally there is a fabulous band playing and it's packed. Saturday? Notsomuch. There was a band. Well, if you call yourself a band are you a band? I suppose so. This band had an ipod or something hooked up that was playing all the background music. The drums weren't drums. They were digital or something- looked like straight from Rock Band or something. And I'm pretty sure the guitar player's guitar wasn't even plugged in. The best part though, were the 2 lead singers. Who danced and sang. The most hilarious choreography. It was highly entertaining. The 2 did have good voices, I do have to admit. Too bad we spent most of the time distracted by the unusualness of the whole thing.

Sunday was spent running errands! We made some progress and got new bar stools (on sale! even better!) and they look great with the bar. Also got some frosted shelves from IKEA for behind the bar and then some picture frames and shelves for the bathroom. And we found a tv stand/unit thing as well at IKEA, will probably get that this week. It might be a tad too big but luckily it's different pieces so we can do the stand and the shelf thing that goes above, without having to do the bookshelves if they are too big.

I'm on the hunt for a LARGE map of Ohio. Large like at least 24'' x 36''. 24'' x 24'' would be okay too. I want to cut it up and frame it like this great display I saw at Ethan Allen. I will find one. Or I will improvise. Either way, my project will come to fruition!

In running news, I took the weekend off. And today was fresh. I did run for 28 minutes with a 3 minute break after 20 minutes and then finished up the rest. In total 3.10 miles (a 5K!) in 39:10 including my warmup walk and walk break.

In knitting news, I have cast on yet another project. A Simple Shawl Neck Wrap in the most fabulous shade of green ever. Malabrigo Sock yarn as well. I'm in heaven.



And here is another shot of our new couch. I love it!



and apparently Chloe approves as well. She has found her spot.

Dinner and a Movie

That's how we spent my birthday night. I managed to stay up past midnight so I can't be THAT old right???

Mr Buckeye made reservations at Grand Finale. A favorite restaurant of some of our friends but we had never had a chance to eat there. It was delightful. It's in an old house and is decorated very vintage and fancy grandma-y. Old music and draped ceilings, fancy but not too fancy. (we wore jeans) I had an Oranj Cosmo and he had his usual Stella. For entrees I had the chicken duo (I couldn't decide between the chicken ginger and the chicken and spinach.) Both were excellent but the chicken ginger was OMG delicious! Dessert was of course, the grand finale!, and we chose the "Puff". I could go on and on about this thing. A pastry puff with vanilla ice cream, homemade fudge, whip cream, and a mix of berries- strawberries, blueberries, raspberries- Don't worry those were on the side so Mr Buckeye would be able to share the dessert with me. It was an amazing way to end the meal. Truly delightful and we will be going back again!


Apres dinner, we went to the movies. My pick of course but I went easy on him and instead of Toy Story 3D or Despicable Me, I chose something a bit more age appropriate. Inception. This movie blew my mind. The first 30 minutes he leaned over and was like... you have no clue what's going on do you? of course, I definitely didn't know what was going on. But I trooped along and finally caught up. It was a great movie! One that you need to pay attention to though. I'll not go into details but I definitely recommend this movie! I'm sure we'll see it again at some point once it's out on DVD.

As for the goods, We had gone the weekend before and picked up my running loot!

Alessa at the Glendale store fitted me with a lovely pair of Adidas Supernova Glide 2 shoes and I got some new socks. Super exciting. No really. what a change from running in 100% cotton!

The new kicks! Aren't they purty? (The Nike Pegasus were even cuter but didn't feel as great as these guys) Not sure if you can see the laces but she also taught me a lacing trick called the heel lock. I always feel like my heels are slipping out of my shoes and she said she has the same issue. Heel lock FTW!

As for running. I'm still at it. I'm in Week 7- 28 minute sessions. I finished up Week 6 strong after that really rough start last weekend. I seem to be having a good run, and okay run, and a horrible run... repeat. My run on Wednesday was great. But Thursday was an epic fail. Only 15 minutes before I literally thought my leg would fall off and I would have an accident. But I consider the 15 minutes still a win but it's still a bummer because it should have been 28 minutes. I'm still on target for the half in October but I've really got to push through these last 2 weeks and get to my distance running. It scares me half to death but I'm excited to push myself.

Speaking of distance running, I got a Nike + Sportband for the birthday as well! (Thanks Mom!)

I can't wait to take this baby outside and track my progress as I transition from treadmill to outdoor running. If I want to do the half in october, I've got to learn and train to run outside and not on the perfect temp controlled treadmill!

I think I'm still going to take today off, the leg is still a bit sore so maybe a light walk just to loosen up but I think if I try to pound out 28 minutes I'll regret it and be icing and elevating all night.

Happy Weekend everyone!

Happy Birthday

To:

Stephanie Seymour

Marlon Wayans

Omar Epps

Monica Lewinsky

Michelle Williams

Daniel Radcliffe

and me.

Another year has gone by.
Who knows what's in store for my 27th year.
Let's hope it's good.

Three!

I never did share any photos from my 2 favorite little people's birthday party.

And sadly, I don't have a bunch to share.

But seriously. They are getting too big. Way too big. They need to stop growing, like right now.

Birthday girl ready to party!


He's missing something- get the kid his sunglasses!


Dora and Thomas. Duh.


The wonderful woman who birthed these 2 babes. She. is. awesome. Oh and Dad is in the background there too. He's pretty cool too. Together, they make beautiful babies. Wouldn't you agree?

At last! The Reveal!

I know you have all been on pins and needles this morning awaiting the seveal of the Secret Project! Well, wait no longer my friends.

I give you the source of my agony and stress these last 2 weeks:


That would be Flutter Scarf. Knit in lovely Bably Alpaca lace on size US3 Needles.

A fabulous scarf for a fabulous woman.

My Mama.


Yesterday we celebrated her 76th birthday.


I just love her to pieces. She opened her scarf and immediately put it on and wore it the entire party and bragged about me to all of her church friends. She is just sweet as sugar and I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful inspiring woman as my grandmother.

Home project 2010 has been announced. We are finishing our basement! That little bit I shared last week was in fact a ceiling tile :) Construction begins in T-Minus 7 days! We can't wait!!

Birthday Celebration

Since I wasn't home on my birthday night and spent the night hanging out with the girls (my mom, mama, and 2 BFFs) Patrick treated me on Friday night to dinner and a movie. My choice of course and since I was needing a little more happy that day we went to Happy Hour and I decided to torture bring Patrick to the premiere night of The Ugly Truth. It was either that or Harry Potter, which he would rather staple his eyes shut. So The Ugly Truth it was. I enjoyed it. A lighthearted, comical chick flick and of course who doesn't like to look at Gerard Butler? (No, I've not seen PS I love you, I hear he is great, but no I don't want to see a movie that I know will make me cry thankyouverymuch) Since it was still early when we left the movie, we went to a local bar to watch a band and "people watch." The crowd did not dissapoint and we spent the next 2 hours trying to figure out how some people have absolutely no rhythm yet act like they are Beyonce; we totally weren't ready for all that jelly.... gah.

26

Well... here it is. My 26th birthday. It's come along quicker than I knew it would and it's pretty much just another day. I don't feel any older, and 26 isn't one of those milestone birthdays.

In my opinion, milestone birthdays include:

1- oh! you're one! you made it a whole year! (this is more a congratulations to your parents)
2- the "terrible" twos... or is it threes now? Either way I was a gem, no chance of being terrible. Maybe a terror... but not terrible.
10- double digits! Welcome to middle school. Get ready to defend yourself.
13- A teenager. Full of angst and rebellion and do what I wantness. (not me, but so I've heard)
16- I can drive! I passed my test on the first time, on my birthday. And then I almost wrecked the car on my first drive solo. But my parents didn't know about that... oops.
18- I can buy cigarettes- big whoop, I don't smoke. and I can Vote! (missed that election. oh yeah) and no matter what you say I am now an adult!
21- No longer drinking underage, not that I ever did that anyway ;)
23- My golden birthday. Turned 23 on the 23rd
25- Quarter of a century! My car insurance went down!
26- zzzzzzzzzzzzzz..... I'm 26 now? What is there to look forward to this year?

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not mad about getting older. It's just one of those things you have no control over so might as well not cry about it. In fact, getting older isn't all that bad. (well, yet) So I'm embracing 26 with as much vim and vigor as any birthday and will just hope for the best. I'd say I'm right where I want to be in my life and I have no complaints. I have a wonderful husband, loving family, crazy cat, great friends, a house, a car, a job, I could go on and on. I'm truly blessed to be where I am in my life and it's been a great 25 years. So bring it on 26! I'm ready!

Party Time!

Cade and Emme's party went off without a hitch and it was a great time! The weather cooperated and the kids were just adorable. Makes me want to have kids! (eek! no! not for us... yet)

The bouncy house was a smash

Bubbles were the hit of the party

and Radio Flyer races wore the guys out more than the kids!

Emerson was a birthday princess

and Cade was ready to save the day!

It was an awesome 2nd birthday party, we are still sad we missed the first but look forward to many many more!!!

Right Luca?

:)

Happy Birthday to You!

To our darling niece and nephew-


From the moment we laid eyes on you, we knew we would love you forever and ever. It's been such a blessing to be able to watch you grow into the adorable little people that you are. We can't wait to teach you all the fun things that we can and help you become the amazing woman and man that you are meant to be.

You are truly lights in our life and we love you so so much!

Love,
Uncle Pat and Aunt Leeshie


Look how far you've come already and it's only been 2 short years!

From here- May 2007


To here- June 2008

To here- April 2008

We love you!