Feline Fashion (Non)Sense

I posted a couple months back about the endearing kittens we had adopted last November. As a postscript to that, Chloe and Max have since grown like weeds, and are still healthy and happy. Strangely enough, they have also developed quite a sense of style, one of their favorite places to crash being on top of their mama's designer bags.

While they're pictured here accessorized by Louis Vuitton, they actually seem to prefer Italian design. However, when I found Chloe curled up inside of my favorite black purse and Max grooming the soft leather with his tongue, I had to take the Prada away from them. Sigh...

You must see...D.C.!

Quite a few months back, we scored super cheap nonstop flights from Dayton to Baltimore and back, which I booked with the plan of spending the June weekend in question staying in Baltimore's Inner Harbor area and exploring the highlights that city has to offer. Three weeks ago, just days before we were due to leave on our trip, an impulsive urge resulted in a last minute change of plans, and we decided instead to spend the weekend in Washington, D.C..

Scott had not visited D.C. since the requisite family vacation there as a child over thirty years ago and, although I had been there more recently as an adult, I was more than happy to go back. To any person who falls into either of those categories and, more importantly, to anyone who has never been there, I say get to or get back to D.C. as soon as possible, because the city really is the jewel of our nation (notwithstanding the crime rate, throngs of tourists and the Obama administration). Go now, go again in a couple of years, and even return a few years after that, because it would be nearly impossible to run out of wonderfully fun or fascinating things to do there.

Even better, D.C. is truly a paradise for those of us who travel on a budget. In terms of transportation once there, the city's Metro system is user-friendly and will take you nearly anywhere you need to go for a couple of bucks. Scott and I even opted to use an easy combination of Metro bus and train rides to get from the Baltimore airport to our hotel at Dupont Circle. It took no longer than a cab ride would have, and cost about twelve dollars (versus the seventy bucks we would have paid to travel by taxi).

In terms of accommodations, Washington is chock full of choices. Unless there is a presidential inauguration about to happen or several huge conventions all occurring the same week, a little time spent checking prices online in advance is likely to yield a lodging option that will suit any budget. Our hotel reservations were made at the last minute and, while it was far from the cheapest choice, we opted for the Hotel Topaz. This place, for which we paid a very reasonable $139 per night, is a fabulous boutique-style hotel located a convenient three blocks from the Dupont Circle Metro stop. Our king room was gigantic (more of a suite than a room), the decor was super cool, and the staff was awesome.

There was also a terrific lounge on site that served great food and drinks.

Additional pluses at the Hotel Topaz were the free WiFi (technically, only free for members of Kimpton Hotels' points program, which took me about a minute to register for online), the honor bar refrigerator in the room (in which, contrary to many hotels, the staff encouraged us to stash our own cold drinks we brought in), a ten dollar credit for anything used from the honor bar (also a points program benefit), and we liked the fact that the hotel wholeheartedly welcomes gays and pets (although we were traveling with neither on this trip).

As to what to see and do in D.C., the list is essentially endless. Scott and I enjoyed a very long walk through the District on our first full day there, during which we checked out the White House, the Capitol, the United States Supreme Court and the Library of Congress.

Following that, we strolled down the Mall past the collection of Smithsonian museums, and then did a grand tour of the monuments and memorials, starting along the edge of the Tidal Basin with the Washington Monument...

then walking on to the Jefferson Memorial...

and then on to the one honoring FDR (and Eleanor).

From there, we walked past the World War II and Korean War memorials, and continued to the Lincoln Memorial (with its great view down the the Reflecting Pool to the Washington Monument).

We ended our national monument tour at the Vietnam Wall, with its sleek black granite highlighting the horribly long list of those who gave their lives in that tragic war. Even more touching were the items left by visitors along the front of the wall, which the National Park Service collects each day, and then catalogues and stores off site.

After a quick break for a hotdog lunch from a street vendor and then a short rest back at the hotel, we hopped on the Metro for a stop at Judiciary Square, to visit the Peace Officers Memorial. Perhaps it's because Scott and I have both had lifelong careers in law enforcement, but I actually found this to be the most heart wrenching and awe inspiring stop of the day. Set in a lovely tree-lined plaza, guarded by statues of lions on each corner, the police memorial contains the names of the thousands of law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty, including several from our home county in Ohio.

Unlike the Vietnam Wall, where the list of names is believed to now be complete, much of the space on the wall of the police memorial is blank, in recognition of the fact that the "war" it memorializes is ongoing, and that names of the brave soldiers that die in this battle will be added every year, forever.

We finished our day with a visit to the National Air and Space Museum, which was very cool. (I'm speaking not only figuratively but literally, because at that point we were definitely ready for some air conditioning.) While this museum is starting to seem a tad bit dated, we still loved walking around and looking at the planes and other exhibits that represent the amazing history of flight and space travel in our country.

The following day, we started out with a trip to another very sobering place, Arlington National Cemetery, but we are very glad we did. Most people are familiar, through photographs or television, with images of that resting ground's white markers dotting its rolling green hills, but seeing those acres and acres of graves in person was certainly something else completely.

While there, we also saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns, which was a very unique and touching military ceremony.

After we left Arlington, a quick Metro ride took us back to D.C., where Scott indulged me by spending a little time at the Hirshhorn Museum, one of the Smithsonian fine art galleries, which showcases modern and contemporary art.

Like many people, I have had far too little firsthand exposure to art in my lifetime, and it was extremely enjoyable to walk through the museum and view works by artists that, prior to that, I had only read about. While I was a little annoyed that they have a Picasso that was not on display, the museum was still fantastic. Some highlights were an entire room featuring Alexander Calder mobiles...


an exhibit of Willem de Kooning's famous abstract paintings of women...

a couple of Warhol prints (Andy still totally rocks!) ...


and an Edward Hopper painting that, in person, made me truly realize why the style is called Realism.

We lunched on giant hot pretzels in the Hirshhorn's breezy outdoor space around a spectacular fountain, and then decided to ride the Metro to Friendship Heights, right on the border of D.C. and Maryland, for a little window shopping. That area gives retail therapy a whole new meaning, with every conceivable famous name department and specialty store located a stone's throw from the subway stop.

After cruising around Saks, Neiman Marcus, Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn and a couple more favorites, we stopped a great little sidewalk cafe, shaded by trees and ivy-covered brick walls, where we had drinks and people-watched before heading back to the heart of D.C..


We ended our day with a few more cold beers at a Dupont Circle pub with an outdoor patio, played a couple of games of pool, and then staggered back to the hotel (staggering not so much from the cocktails as from the miles that we had walked in two days). Exhausted, we splurged on burgers from room service at the hotel, and then slept like babies.

On Sunday morning, we buzzed back to the Baltimore airport and, following the quick flight to Dayton, were home in Lima by noon. Looking back on that weekend as I type this, I am struck by how much we managed to see and do in D.C. in just two days. Amazing as it may sound, our time there was not hurried in the least - to the contrary, we explored D.C. at a relaxed pace and it was completely enjoyable (except, perhaps, for the large blisters that developed on the bottom of my feet).

Returning to the topic of cost, I would be remiss if I failed to point out that every single attraction we took in, including museums, was absolutely free. While the wide range of food choices in Washington runs the gamut from cheap to outrageously expensive, our two street vendor lunches cost us a total of ten bucks (including drinks), and a restaurant dinner for two at night ran about forty bucks each night, including tip (less than the two of us would drop for dinner at our local Applebee's, assuming we could bring ourselves to pay to eat there). Each Metro trip cost around two dollars a person and, as already noted, the lodging was exceptional for what we paid.

For all of these reasons, and because the features I have mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the city's attractions, Washington D.C. deserves to be high up on anyone's list of places to visit in the very near future, even if one has been there before. We're already planning our next visit.

It's summer time, and the living is easy!

But the blogging is hard...a warm weather hazard, I've decided. It seems like forever since I sat down at the computer and managed to put up a post.

The lack of activity in this space is certainly not due to a lack of the same in everyday life. To the contrary, since summer-like weather hit us about six weeks ago in northwestern Ohio, we've been on the go non-stop. Camping in Ohio's awesome state parks, enjoying a fantastic long weekend in Washington, D.C., beginning a much needed back yard makeover and, as I type this, relaxing at a lakeside cabin in West Virginia's Stonewall Jackson State Park and Resort. So much to blog about, so little time...

However, when I began this little site early last winter, it was with the goals of working on my writing on a regular basis, improving my extremely basic photography skills, and just generally sharing my enthusiasm for our Ohio lifestyle (at least with the three or four people I've actually told about this blog).

And so, rested and relaxed after four fabulous days at the lake, I have vowed to make a renewed effort to post more regularly, to fulfill the goals I set for myself last January. See you soon...

Head for the hills!

Hocking Hills State Park, to be exact, which was where Scott and I headed this past weekend to camp, hike, and just generally hang out enjoying the outdoors for a couple of days. While we travel fairly frequently throughout the United States, we also jump at the chance to take advantage of the many wonders that our home-state of Ohio has to offer. The Hocking Hills region in southeastern Ohio is certainly one of those wonders.

The idea of a camping trip was conceived just a week prior, when I happened to note that we had yet to try out the small tent I had purchased at a clearance price the summer before. Although my idea of "roughing it" typically means a hotel without room service, I had adjusted to the concept of camping a few years ago through backpacking trips to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and, subsequently, to the top of Pikes Peak. While my camping experience was still very limited, I decided that I could certainly handle a couple of days of "car camping" at an Ohio state park, since I had managed rustic camping in those other locales, with no electricity, no showers, and with only the supplies carried in on my back.

And so I rather impulsively announced to my husband a week ago that we should go camping. Having grown up camping all over the place with his family, Scott jumped at the idea with no hesitation. We made a quick list of supplies, hit Walmart and Meijer to grab a few items and, within a few days, had all the necessities for a weekend of camping packed neatly into 3 large plastic totes. We cut out of work last Friday at noon, and had the Volvo packed for the weekend an hour later.

A leisurely drive through a non-stop rain delivered us to Hocking Hills State Park by late afternoon, where by some miracle the downpour stopped the moment we arrived. Scott and I had the tent up in no time and a camp fire was started.


Campsite set up, we then prepped the food for dinner, which included a batch of beautiful fresh veggies that we bundled up in a foil pack and cooked over the campfire, to accompany a grilled piece of sirloin. (Yes, I understand that this is nobody's news in terms of camp cooking techniques, but I had never tried it before and really delighted in the simple fun of it all.)

Given my love for home design and accessories, I am compelled to mention that I was also totally digging the new plastic dishes on which we ate. It may be camping, but we had decided that there was still no reason food had to be served on paper plates, and so we splurged on these very cool chartreuse green dishes at a local discount store (and by "splurge", I'm talking about spending ten bucks to buy service for four).

Following our campfire dinner, we spent another hour or so by the fire. Bedtime announced itself shortly after dark when it became obvious that a thunderstorm was going to arrive momentarily, and so into the tent we dove. I'm happy to report that, while a driving rain continued all night, our tent stayed dry as can be. In addition to discovering that our tent was a fabulous little water-proof model (made by Eureka), I also learned that there is nothing more comforting than the experience of sleeping in a tiny tent with the sound of the rain outside hitting the tent all night.

Like magic, the rain stopped at six the following morning, the sun appeared and we crawled out of our small shelter. I made coffee by heating water on my tiny backpacking stove, and Scott confirmed my belief that a hot cup of Joe, even instant, is better than no coffee at all. After grabbing quick showers in the surprisingly clean campground bathrooms, we were off to the hiking trails by 10:30.


We walked first to Old Man's Cave, then along the river to the Lower Falls, and finally went a couple of miles or so more to a point known as Cedar Falls. Roundtrip, it was about a seven mile hike, and we loved every minute of it. The scenery was beautiful, the trails were well marked and clean, and the hike reinforced for us just what a fantastic state park system we have here in Ohio.




After arriving back at camp that afternoon, we took a short drive around the area, and then capped off the day with icy cold beers and our all time favorite meal of hotdogs cooked over an open fire.

On Sunday morning, we were again up with the sun and, following a couple hours of drinking coffee and relaxing, we broke camp and were in the car by ten. Because it was a glorious sunny day, we took a roundabout route home, and spent several hours meandering through Ohio on backroads, along with a stop in Springfield to visit friends and (more on this topic in a later post) to pick up Devil Dogs at the Kroger grocery store there.

We arrived home late that afternoon and I realized that, over the span of the weekend, I had become a camping convert. While at Hocking Hills, we had no cell phone service, no computer, no TV, no electricity, and we had the time of our lives! We have decided to take another camping trip in two weeks to a different state park, and I simply cannot wait for another opportunity to cook, eat and sleep outdoors, enjoying nature and the simple pleasure of each other's company. It's cheap, it's easy and it's a wonderful respite from our crazy-busy lives during the work week. Here's to camping!

Bloody good!

It was many years ago, on a vacation taken while in college, that I was introduced to what would become one of my favorite cocktails. A late night out was followed by an even later breakfast the next day, and someone in the group decreed that Bloody Marys were in order. The waitress delivered a round to our table and, by the time I took a few sips of that first glass, I was hooked.

Refreshing tomato juice dosed with a healthy splash of vodka, then jazzed up with a variety of spices and flavorings, typically including Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco or other hot sauce, salt and pepper, and served on the rocks, this drink is often touted as a morning-after cure for hangovers and it has long been the quintessential brunch cocktail.

However, it was soon after my first experience with this drink years back that I determined Bloody Marys were not just for breakfast anymore. An icy cold Bloody Mary makes a terrific cocktail to enjoy on a hot summer afternoon or evening. It is a great drink to serve up at cookouts or barbecues, as the bold tomato flavor goes wonderfully with grilled burgers, chicken or steak. Bloody Marys were a big hit when we offered them at our garden wedding reception last August and we find that the drink's spicy kick makes it a fine cocktail to enjoy in colder weather too, as evidenced by this photo of Scott and I, taken while cruising off the chilly coast of Alaska this past fall.



To stir up these cocktails at home, the simplest way is to add your own vodka to a really good prepackaged mix. After years of trying various brands, we came across the Bold & Spicy version by Mr. & Mrs. T, and it is definitely a keeper. The consistency of the mix is perfect, being neither too thick nor too thin as many other mixes are. The flavor is fabulous and needs no doctoring, except perhaps a grind or two of coarse pepper or a twist of lime to top off the drink. And, happily for travelers like us, it is readily available at groceries, liquor stores and carry-outs throughout the United States.


As to the vodka to be used, I was a longtime fan of both Absolut and Grey Goose, although the price of those made me wince every time I needed to replace a bottle. Last year, friends turned us on to Svedka, a relatively new Swedish upstart that instantly became our vodka of choice. People who really know their vodka swear by the stuff and, amazingly, it costs about one-third of the aforementioned brands.

For anyone desiring to mix their Bloody Marys from scratch, there are a mind-boggling number of recipes out there. Personally, upon discovering the Mr. & Mrs. T mix, I must confess that I have not made a single scratch Bloody Mary since. However, prior to that, I swore by a recipe that I stumbled across twenty years ago in a little cookbook entitled "Hot, Hotter, Hottest" by Janet Hazen.

To digress slightly, I will note that this book also contains a collection of great food recipes, all of which feature one of five different ingredients - ginger, horseradish, peppercorns, chilis or mustard - and which range from relatively mild to nearly incendiary in flavor.

For those who enjoy such food, or for anyone who wishes to add a little spice to their cooking, I highly recommend this cookbook, which can be ordered online for under ten bucks.

Back to the topic at hand, the Bloody Mary recipe from the cookbook follows, as modified by myself over time. It will produce a truly fine cocktail for purists who like to mix drinks from scratch and, for those who don't, may still come in handy for those times when a good prepackaged mix is not available. Cheers!

Hangover Bloody Marys (adapted from Janet Hazen's Hot, Hotter, Hottest)

1 quart tomato Spicy Hot V-8

1/4 cup prepared horseradish

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon hot sauce (I use Frank's)

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Pour the mix into glasses filled with ice cubes, leaving enough room for the vodka. Generally, 1 to 1 1/2 ounces of vodka per 6 ounces of mix is used, but in the case of a hangover as little as a drop or as much as 3 ounces of liquor could be in order. Garnish each glass with a sprinkling of pepper and one stalk or celery or a lime slice. Serve immediately or sooner.

Speed decorating?

Leafing through the latest issue of Midwest Living (a fantastic magazine that focuses on home, garden, travel and dining in the - you guessed it! - midwest), I came across a small feature captioned "3 Lessons in Speed Decorating". Per the article, one can "make over a room in a matter of minutes" by following the three tips provided. While the listed ideas are fine ones for freshening up any space, thinking about the concept of "speed decorating" left me feeling more than a little disheartened, as I have been making over a room for a bit longer than a few minutes. Actually, I have been working on it for more than a few days, or even a few months. Okay, I will confess, it's been a damn year!

The space in question is our guest room and it was just over twelve months ago that I decided a re-do was definitely in order. No longer utilized by its previous teenaged tenants, the bubblegum pink walls, chocolate brown accents and funky mod decor that delighted my stepdaughters was not exactly in sync with my own design sensibilities, to put it mildly. I preferred that the room reflect the look of the rest of our home, being a somewhat traditional but also slightly transitional design, mixed with a dose of classic cottage style.

Unfortunately, my Pottery Barn taste is severely hampered by my KMart budget. Nonetheless, I set out a year ago to redecorate our guest room. I cleared the room and felt inspired. I am an HGTV addict, so I know how to go about such projects and I told my husband the room would be done in a couple weekends, give or take. Turns out, my timeline was a tad overly optimistic. A year later, at least the room is close to done.

The obvious initial fix for the room was paint, always a cheap way to transform any space. However, contrary to all the design authorities out there, I will never call painting "easy", because I frankly find it to be a royal pain in the ass. In my situation, repainting is also not "quick", primarily because I pick paint as if I'm choosing my last meal. Deciding upon the wall tint for the guest room was a prolonged process involving much indecision and agonizing scrutiny of a pile of paint samples I had toted home.


After the room sat bare for a couple weeks, I finally ordered up some paint, and got the walls done in a long but tedious weekend, slathering the existing pink paint with a gorgeous taupe shade. The end result was a perfect color...light enough to be cool and soothing in summer, but just dark enough to be warm and comforting in winter.

I was thrilled...game on! My plan, and a good one, was to use the existing brown velvet drapes and valances, which would be gorgeous against the taupe wall color. A quick change of bedding and - voila! - the room should essentially be done, more or less on time.

Unfortunately, after seeing the room empty, we came to the unavoidable conclusion that the carpeting was totally trashed. Stained beyond repair by grease, food, drink, mud, dirt and all the other assorted grunge that a trio of teen girls and a tribe of their friends had tracked in over time, the carpeting had to go. Another month passed while I obsessed over those ridiculously small pieces of carpet on sample boards and, once a color was picked, there was still the major problem of paying for a room of carpet. Flooring was certainly not in the original design budget, but a timely income tax refund thankfully solved that problem a week or so later.

With new paint and carpet finally in place, the room was now ready to decorate and I figured that I could get it finished in no time. Inspired by photos in several design magazines and catalogs, I decided that bedding in a bright, almost chartreuse, green would look very fresh against the taupe walls and deep brown drapes, although I realized I may tire of the bold color in a couple of years. Couple of years? Try a couple of days. The comforter and shams I had purchased went back to the store within a week, and I went back to the drawing board in terms of bedding.

Another color inspiration finally struck a couple months later while I was aimlessly tooling through Walmart. There, a display showed a rich paprika red coverlet with deep brown accents. I already possessed the brown drapes, and the deep red looked great mixed with the chocolate color. A sale enabled me to get a coverlet, shams, and two mix and match throw pillows for around 75 bucks, a total steal. (Thank you, Sam Walton, wherever you are.)


After the bedding delay, I thought the makeover was back on track, until I went looking for a light fixture to replace the dated white ceiling fan in the room. Initially, I desired a chandelier, but each one I found was either too big, or too small, or too expensive, or not the right finish. Feeling a bit like the Goldilocks of home decorating, I continued my search for a lighting fixture that would be just right. I finally found a period-style ceiling fixture in antique bronze with an alabaster glass shade at a great price (which, for me, meant under fifty dollars). Let there be light!


With that dilemma solved, another one quickly took its place. The white painted wood furniture previously in the room looked just awful with the new color scheme, and so I informed Scott that we needed to purchase a new piece or two in the deep stained wood tone I was envisioning. That idea was immediately shot down on the basis of budget (or lack thereof). Thankfully, I recalled that an old rattan writing desk and chair of mine was gathering dust in my mother's basement. When I went to retrieve the desk, I began eyeballing the dining room furniture that was also being stored at chez mom. Necessity is definitely the mother of invention, and it occurred to me that I could use a dining room sideboard in lieu of a dresser, since storage was not an issue in the guest room. Another design issue resolved, albeit half a year into my "quick" room makeover.

Accessorizing took another six months. (Insert heavy sigh here.) Small but critical, accessories can add up quickly in cost, and I was forced to shop for mine over time, looking for bargains to help decorate the space. A lamp on clearance at Lowe's was my first buy.