finally!

so many of you know that i have a part time job at the cheesecake factory (don't be jealous...seriously) and i have been wanting to quit there for...years! but since it's been a steady income for us and since we're on a one income household for now, now is not the time to quit the extra income. it is however time to explore other options for extra income. i've been talking (and talking and talking and talking and not enough doing!) about applying for a job that actually relates to my degree that i have earned (speech language pathology). wow, tada! what a novel idea!

so today i did it. i finally bit the bullet. i applied for a part time/PRN speech path job at cincinnati children's.

wish me luck!

hello. my name is cindy and i'm a bad blog updater. well, i'm inconsistent that is. i would like to use the excuse that nothing exciting has happened for me to blog about. but that's just a lie. straight up fat lie. i can think of a handful of things that have happened since i last blogged...

1. we had our 8th annual wine party in january. that's usually the same weekend as my birthday, so it doubles as a birthday party for me. that gets my husband off the hook. lucky him... and i don't think i have any pictures from that night. is that sad or what?


2. i turned 31. that can be lumped into the same 'event' as the previous, but it was an event nonetheless. now, 2 months later, i can't tell you what i did for my actual birthday. maybe if i blogged about it earlier, i'd remember. OR we did absolutley nothing and it was just divine. i think it was the latter.


3. brent and i joined give back cincinnati. it's a non-profit guilt-free volunteer organization that allows us to learn more about our city while also meeting new people. i even took another step and joined a committee with GBC. i am a member of the civic engagement committee. i'm learning as a i go as far as what the heck the committee is all about! for a while, i was confused. i'll probably post something from one of the events sometime.


4. balls around the block. sounds pretty vulgar...and i think in the beginning it actually was, but it has evolved. bottom line? it's a pub crawl downtown to bars literally around the block. we also raised money for a cause. i think this year was for a dog park to be built. there were 5 of us that participated and it was a blast! at each bar there were drink specials just for us crawlers and we had a good time meeting our team. Go Team Righteous Room!

this is bethany and i with our team leader...of our first team. we decided that we didn't like our first team, so we bailed and joined the boys on another team at another bar. we had to fear the deserted team the remainder of the night!

5. i've had this desire to go to a dance class for a while now. i used to dance when i was a child (hello mildred lyons!), but haven't done it (besides in a bar or club) since. my friend bethany has been going to the cincinnati ballet for a while and so i have joined her on a couple of occasions. the thing abou this class is that they don't necessarily teach you the steps, but you get to flail around the studio while trying to learn the steps. the more you go to the class, the more you learn the dances, the more of a workout you get. hmph. but it is fun, i promise!

2009 in review

I have seen some other people do this, so I thought I'd jump on the band wagon and take this time to remember the past year and the events that have happened. Maybe when I'm old and grey(er), I'll look back and reminisce.

January

To begin 2009, I turned 30. We celebrated by a doing dual purpose party - we combined our annual wine party with my birthday party.

February

Brent and I celebrated our 5 year dating anniversary. Cheesy, I know, but it's something that we both remember. We went to dinner at Arthur's (where we had our first date) and the night was full of symbolism. On the way to out to eat, we heard the OC theme song on the radio. And for those who know, we bonded on our first date over the dumb show (I can say that now, but ssh! don't tell Brent!)and even watched an episode on our first date. Another moment of symbolism is that we found a nickel (5 cents...5 years) on the sidewalk.

March

I'm chuckling, because the one thing that comes to mind about March is that I got a Blackberry. Hey, it's a moment to remember! Around this time, I began volunteering at church in Kids Club. I'm in the three's room...never a dull moment with a ton of three-year-old kids. I often come home with one-liners that the kids say.

April

We celebrated Brent's birthday. Brent and I met his mom and Dennis for dinner. Brent and I also started the South Beach diet in April. I lost a total of 15 pounds...just don't ask if I've maintained! I also hosted Stephanie's bridal shower. As the matron of honor, it was my proud duty. We had it at Essencha Tea House and had the best lunch and tea.

May

My friend, Bethany, and I co-hosted Stephanie's bachelorette party. We had a BLAST! Dinner, wine bottling at Tino Vino, penis shaped cookie decorating contest (Hey, it's a bachelorette party for pete's sake...what's one without your token penis paraphanalia??) and then we headed out onto the town. Also in May, our dear friends, Andy and Lisa Lee, moved to Chicago. So sad...end of an era. We had a couple "goodbye" dinners.

June

June began with unemployment for Brent. Not an ideal time, but when is, really? However, in the end, we know it was for the best. Besides, we wouldn't have Cullen Chiropractic and Wellness Center if we didn't endure. We also traveled to Florida for Stephanie and Craig's wedding, as I was the matron of honor. We spent the whole week at the beach before celebrating the big day. In June we also celebrated our niece's first birthday. You remember our niece, Natalie, right? I mean how could you not? It's not like I never talk about this adorable girl!

July

We traveled to KC for the 4th. It was fun watching fireworks and hanging out with friends and family.

August

In August, I helped to pull off Lauren's surprise 30th birthday party! I worked with Lauren's husband Niel and my other friend Stephanie to create a spectacular surprise. No matter how the party itself goes, as long as the surprise party was in fact a surprise, the party is deemed a success. And that was the case with this party.

September

Brent and I celebrated our one year anniversary! Crazy to think that we were married over a year ago! We ate at a new restaurant and had fun eating our cake from our wedding.

September also brought some traveling for Brent and me, just not together. I traveled to Cape Cod for my uncle's wedding. What a fantastic celebration event that was! While I was there, Brent drove to Chicago for the beginning of his CCSP - Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician. He gets to travel to Chicago once a month for 10 months to fullfil this certification. See? If he were still at his old employer, he wouldn't have been able to do this and Brent is excited to open up his client base with this certification. Oh, also of note, Brent began seeing patients with his new company!

October

I went to two weddings, while Brent only got to attend one. Guess where he was? Chicago! (Total weddings missed by Brent: 2). It's funny because now when I go to weddings after experiencing my own, I see it with a different eye. Before, I never noticed the photographer, never paid attention to the order of events, but now I do! (And my own wedding always wins out in the end...because it was AWESOME!)

November

Another trip...this time to Houston, Texas. Several girlfriends and I flew down to Houston to meet the newest arrival. Our friend, Kim, delivered Jane just 2 months prior to our arrival, so we got to meet the cutie. We didn't do much sight-seeing, just a little shopping and a lot of lounging! I also got to go with Brent to Chicago to visit Andy and Lisa! That was fun to see their new pad and see Lisa and her growing belly.

December

December began Brent and I seeing Chicago at the Arnoff. Loved it. Spectacular. Would go again in a heartbeat. Our friends, Melissa and Rob Hite, announced that they were moving to Arkansas, so as quickly as they announced it, they were off! We, of course, had a goodbye party for them.

The holidays were a blast...celebrating in Lima for 2 Christmases and then driving to KC to spend Christmas with my parents, family and friends. We even got to have a white Christmas!

Can't wait to see what 2010 brings! Happy New Year!

Book Club

Our book club met earlier this month after reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. We all LOVED the book! It's rare for our book club for all of us to have read the book, but to all have liked the book...that's something to take note!

Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

What a wonderful time of year to celebrate with family and friends! We are so grateful for fantastic family and super friends. We are so lucky!

We started out in Lima, Ohio with Brent's family. His mom celebrates Christmas the Saturday before Christmas. That keeps it easy for all family members. We spent the day at Brent's mom's house that was filled with lots of people and 6 little kiddos running around. Christmas is a whole new game when little ones are in play. Kevin had a pig-pile of kiddos on him!

All 16 of us sat at the table, which was fun. We were squished, but that's what the holidays are all about, right? The traditional trimmings were consumed...ham, mashed potatoes, dressing...

The evening ended with a mean card game of euchre. Brent is pretty sure he and Dennis won...
I wouldn't know...I went to bed!

On Sunday, we stayed in Lima, but we went to Brent's dad's house for Christmas festivities. Complete with pizza and presents! Natalie was the only little one. Natalie opened her 'easel' and called it her computer. Brent and I got her a stool, which will come in handy in the house.

We then hopped into the car and drove to Kansas City to spend Christmas with my family. We ended up picking my parents up at the airport from their 25 (!) day cruise down to Brazil and the Amazon through the Caribbean. They are now certified scuba divers and are loving this new hobby! In fact, they have suggested that Brent and I get certified as well and then can go traveling together to scuba. Sign me up!

Christmas morning our household woke up to snowballs being pelted at bedroom windows from our dear neighbors, the Foxes. You can't be mad at them...it was Christmas AND they shoveled the driveway!

Dad played Santa for the Fox grandkids. They melted when the saw Santa and believed every word. It was great! Santa (and his crew - Brent, me and mom) went over to Mark and Anne's to have Santa visit Jacques and Alex, but Jacques was having nothing of it. "I know you're Uncle Jake! I know you're in a costume!" Alex just cried. Too cute.

We then went over to the Fox house (whose house was really full of family!) for dinner. Including kids, there was a table set for 20. Wowsers! Even though we're not "family" in the traditional sense, the Davis family and the Fox family are certainly family, if you know what i mean. Lamb, salmon, brussel sprouts, gnocchi...yum-o!

Meet baby Jude. This is Catherine Fox's baby. What a laid back, beautiful baby! At 30 days old, he already has a handful of nicknames...Judah-vision, Jude the dude, Judah-bug. For those that may not know, Catherine and I grew up together. The wall of photos behind me is a wall of history. I've seen the same pictures for years and years, but each time I'm at the house, I find myself looking at them all again and reminiscing.

Enjoy the season!

For more pictures of each event, I have them uploaded to my picasa page.

Lima Christmas

Lima Christmas part 2

KC Christmas

I Voted

I voted today...Did you? I used a great website to learn about the issues that I was voting for. http://smartvoter.org/

For the past several weeks I've heard ads on the radio, saw ads on TV and drove past billboards advertising all sorts of issues..."vote yes on issue 6" or "vote no on issue 3". That can get confusing trying to remember what each issue is about. I have enough to remember in my brain that I don't need to stress it out when I can use that great website.

Last night Brent and I sat down and read through the issues. Man, they're wordy! That website was fabulous for sorting through the verbal mumbo jumbo and getting to the heart of the issues.

And I got a fancy schmancy sticker when I was done voting!

Cape Cod Wedding

I'm trying to upload pictures from my uncle's wedding in Cape Cod in September. I have pictures on my Picasa site, but I can't figure out how to move pictures from my Picasa to this blog? They're both on this google thing so you think I'd be able to do it, but I can't figure out how. So...all you get is this.

http://picasaweb.google.com/cindycullen117/CapeCodWedding#

Go take a peek yourself. Hmph.

haircut

Last week I got a new haircut...

got it all chopped off! I totally love it. What took me so long after the weddding to chop it?

Anniversary Fun

The cake wasn't that bad...but it wasn't that good either. It wasn't preserved in the freezer very well and so I'm blaming that as the reason it wasn't as moist.

Lauren's 30th

This post is WAY overdue...

Back in August (I know that seems like forever ago!) Lauren turned 30. Lauren's husband, Niel, Stephanie and I worked together to plan a surprise party for Lauren. It went off without a hitch and Lauren was truly surprised! Those are the best!

This is Lauren walking in...the look on her face is just priceless. That's when you say to yourself "yes! we pulled it off...she really is surprised!"Niel made every guest a necklace that had Lauren's picture on it. It was fun! And of course, a picture of the speechies who were there! Stephanie (with child...Killian made his appearance less than a week later), Summer, Jill, Lauren and myself.