Curtains

On out trip to Charlotte in February, I purchased fabric for curtains in the living room. Thank you to Joy for spotting this beautiful, silk fabric. I finished the curtains on the door and side windows. I still need to work on the big window.

Migration at Magee

I spent today at Magee Marsh watching warblers. It was a great day, despite the cooler temperatures. We saw many fabulous birds. As always, I was unprepared and had to borrow a hat and jacket to make it through the afternoon! Thank you to Judy for providing a yummy lunch! All bird photos are courtesy of Carl Johnson.






Black and White Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Scarlet Tanager

At the feeder

Luis's feeder featured White-crowned Sparrows while we were visiting them last week.

Lucer

Lucy was chillin' like a villain for her daily belly rub.

Chicago Style

We've been traveling to Chicago for nearly 20 years and never ate classic, Chicago-style pizza. Last night, we finally had it and it was delicious.

Muffin on the Ledge

Muffin settled in with a stuffed weiner dog.

Tree Sale

The Museum hosted their first native tree sale this weekend. It was a huge success. The highlight of Saturday's pick up were the delivery dogs! My Museum co-worker trains Newfoundlands (Newfies) as working dogs and they were quite helpful all morning.

Tribe Time

Last night, Theresa scored four free tickets to the Indians vs. Red Sox game. We made it through all 9 innings with 30 degree temperatures! Our Indians were winning until the 9th inning. Sad to say, they lost, but we had fun eating dogs and having a beer. The pink cotton candy is better than the blue.

Gluttony

Last weekend, Jules and I went to a Mexican restaurant out in the 'burbs, Strongstuckey to be exact. I ordered their mole, Juliano had enchiladas with red sauce. Miraculously, both our sauces came out looking the same? Needless to say, we will not be going back to this joint. They're just lucky that their margarita machine was working...

Was TK at the Museum?

So I walk out of work today and do a double take, was Theresa at the Museum?

Hike on the Conneaut

A few weeks ago, on a cold, icy morning, I attended a winter hike at the Museum's Blakeslee/Barrows Preserve. The preserve runs along the northern bank of Conneaut Creek in Ashtabula County. It was a wonderfully sunny day, yet the ice along the river formed beautiful ornaments.

How quickly things can change...

In a matter of minutes, Miss Muffin went from calm, relaxed cat to crazy cat!

Welcoming the Year of the Rat

Last night, we attended a Chinese New Year celebration at Shanghai Restaurant in Cleveland's Chinatown. The star of the evening was an authentic dragon dance through the restaurant. It was one of the coolest experiences.

Weekend in Charlotte-Saturday

Douglas and Nicole came over to Jen's today for lunch. They were joined by their three boys, Alexander, Simon & Shepherd. We all sat around talking for hours. In the afternoon, Jen took Joy and I to a fabric store that was loaded with rolls and rolls of upholstery fabric. Joy and I found a very cool roll that will work perfectly in my living room and better yet it was marked $5/yard! Woo hoo. I will post my living room curtains as soon as I make them!

In the evening, we all met up at the New South restaurant. My meal tasted delicious, but proved to be not so good. It was fun to hang out, eat/drink and talk. We ended the night with a very long game of Scene It, which I won by watching ONE movie a million times. "What's happenin' hot stuff?"

Renee and Shepherd

Simon

Alexander

Joy, Renee, Juliano, Jason, Ryan-(standing) Nicole, Douglas, Mike, Jen-(seated)

Weekend in Charlotte-Friday

Juliano and I flew to Charlotte last weekend to spend time with Jen & Mike and their boys, Nikolas and Caleb (aka Dub). We had a great time eating, drinking and visiting. Nikolas is 2 1/2 years old and Caleb is 8 months. Nikolas prefers a dinner of cookies and "bears". Caleb is a very "go with the flow" baby.

Joy and Jason drove down from DC on Friday. It was a regular Schrift family reunion. Lots of laughing and fun. We all watched Superbad. Wha s'up gangstas?

Renee & Caleb


Caleb


Jen & Nikolas


Juliano & Caleb

Uh Oh

This is Muffin's new place to hang out. She's a naughty kitty.

Nappy Time

Look at our little princess in a blanket!

This is just not right

Who's the young guy on the left?

After Christmas Find

Last week, I decided to pop into Hallmark to see what ornaments they had left. I picked up this little gem for half off. I had no idea they used our Muffin as a model for one of their 2007 holiday ornaments!

New Year's Rockin' Eve at Klunky's

Kudos to Klunky for putting out quite the spread on New Year's Eve. We rang in 2008 with many yummys in our tummys! The evening wouldn't have been complete without a platter full of skrimps, thick cut ham and a visit from the spirit of Bhutto. I even heard a male cat showed up and sprayed all over Klunky's dining room. We finished off the festivities with a midnight snack of pork & sauerkraut. Here's to a Happy & Healthy New Year!

P.S. Boo to all those that went to Manheim Steamroller instead.