No, YOU have a Happy St. Patrick's Day

I haven't been to the dentist lately. I want to go. There's one in town who (through his billboards) promises to give me shiny white teeth and yellow lustrous hair. I want both. But I'm holding back because I'm being harassed about an unsettled dental bill from April of 2007. I promise I did have insurance. The claim has been denied approximately 8 + times. I was introduced to this fun bill last December; a year and a half after our teeth were cleaned. It could be that our claim was processed as Nathan and Liz Harrison. For the last couple of months, I have received a bill approximately every two weeks. This last one is my favorite; you know, I feel like Maggie and I are friends now. She wants me to have a happy St. Patrick's Day. Thanks, Maggie.

Please click on picture to view larger image. Please.

My Stormy Valentine

If you think my title is dumb, I'll agree with you. It was the theme/title of the international cat show Nate and I visited on Valentime's Day. It wasn't a stormy day, so I'm wondering if it is supposed to be referencing the complex dispositions of cats, thereby only letting a choice few in on the clever title? You tell me; we just went to the show.

To start the weekend off right, I got myself an allergy induced cold. I'm now averaging one every 2 months, so I'm an expert in colds and cold management. Saturday morning I canceled my trip to the YMCA for running and yoga (try doing yoga with a head cold). I did the next best thing and stayed in bed and watched Gilmore Girls until about noon. Nate was at a baptism, so he was spared. He arrived home around 12:30 with some Valentime treats for me as well as a call to action. It was time for me to change out of my pajamas. Fine. Soon we were out the door and on our way to the cat show. Thanks to Google maps, we were once again routed across the wrong part of town, but eventually made our way to the cat filled rec center. $3 is a small price to pay for such entertainment, and we gladly forked over the cash.

One of the judges with a kitty stuffed in his vest

One of the leopardy kitties being judged

Sometimes I would rather avoid a large crowd, but a convention of any type carries a special "Star Trek"-like quality, so it was worth it on Saturday. Included in the show were booths of cat products, cats in waiting, and cats being judged in the rings. I honestly imagined herds of well trained cats being paraded around a large ring...the stations of cages brought me back to a more realistic situation. Nate and I visited most of the stations and stopped for a bit to watch some of the kitty inspection. To further my theory of Star-Trekkieness, here is an excerpt of a conversation we overheard:
cat owner: "we want to know if she'll come in red or cream."

cat judge: "what were her parents."

cat owner: "one was blue, the other was a flame; I mean red. She was red."

cat judge: (silent, but kept looking over the fluffy cat in question)

Turns out, it was just a conversation on the cat's coloring, but...flame? I was getting hungry enough to consider cat show nachos; Nate took that as a sign that we should leave, so we made our last rounds to see some leopard kitties and buy a furry mouse for our girls at home and we were out.

Tiny cat that was casting a spell on the audience

As we left, we discussed our own cats' chances in competition. The conversation wasn't long because they wouldn't hack it and we don't own enough animal print clothing/cat sweatshirts to fit in. Maybe next year.

Nate judging in the "cats that cost $25 from the Humane Society" division

Liz judging in the "these cats are too overweight too win anything else" division

Duplex Fever

It's February (not Febuary; Nate would like to clarify) already. And while weather.com says our current temp is 12 degrees, the sky is perfectly blue and the sun is out. The sun is a victory; however, it's still not warm enough to melt the ice on our road (causing me to very nearly hit a tree this afternoon-it was almost funny and expensive). This permachill gives us very few entertainment destinations including the following: Costco, the mall, the YMCA...and Wal*Mart if desperate. Otherwise Nate, the kitties and I are stuck indoors. In order to counter the effects of duplex fever, some goals have been made (some individual and some collective) to pass the time until Ohio defrosts...in May.

-I enrolled in yoga again; it's very relaxing and I've missed watching an 80 yr old man prove how much more flexible he is than I am.

-Nate and I make an effort to work out in some form most nights. Most of the time, that means time at the YMCA; Nate throws out sports lingo every now and again to fit in with the menfolk. In the same vein, I'm planning on a half-marathon in June. The race finishes in Notre Dame stadium; if that isn't enough motivation to finish, I'm sure there will at least be a bag of goodies with my name on it waiting for me.

-I've been expanding my (waning) Toledo music collection. Circuit City has been having their last hurrah sale here so on Saturday Nate and I stopped by to give them a nice send off. While milling about the store, we were favored with 90s hits, including an unedited version of "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails. If you don't know the song, don't look it up. Even the "clean" version is gross and I was ready for a shower by the time the song was over. Up until that point I was feeling sorry for the employees who would be jobless soon. I'm glad they found a way to express their 90s angst about the situation.

-We've been trying to eat a bit more healthy. We went to Subway for lunch last Saturday. "Heather"* didn't seem to care that we were a) trying to eat healthy b) customers. I was tempted to throw my sandwich back at her...that would've been fewer calories.
*sandwich artist, or

Liz at Birthdaytime

I would/will post a birthday entry for anyone else in the Toledo family, so it's only fair that I post about my own, right? Last year, on my birthday, I woke up, put my hair in an up do of sorts (woke up late) and went to work. The work day was void of any birthday fun, aside from my lunch with Lyndsay (thanks, friend). I had only been at my job a few months, and was planning to split at any moment; maybe they could sense it, because no one acknowledged my birthday. I learned later that no one's birthday is celebrated, unless the birthday person should bring a treat in, begging people to ask what the big occasion is. I felt slightly consoled when I was finally clued in to their fun protocol, but on my actual happy birthday, I wanted to throw a cupcake at someone...but I didn't have any to throw since I didn't make any for myself. As a side note, working at the University of Phoenix completely spoiled me; any holiday, birthday, baby, wedding, Wednesday, etc. was celebrated in our office-it was great.

This year, in preparation to becoming a year older and wiser, I decided to act like it and took the day off from work. It took (professional) begging, but I got my wish. It was nice because Nate didn't have class until that night, it snowed like crazy all day, and I wanted to stay home and stare at the Christmas tree (I've since taken it down, okay). We went out to lunch at the Elephant Bar Restaurant, then walked around the mall until my feet hurt (bad shoe choice) and Nate had earned a spot in heaven. He braved several stores that annoyed even me, but I still wanted to shop in them. The cats had planned a crazy party for me at home, I got my cupcakes, some fun presents, some fun birthday wishes, and I've eased gracefully into 28....

What has been your favorite birthday day?

Sharks at Christmastime

Nate and I have yet to visit the Toledo Zoo for an official look at the animals, but we've already been twice and have had a great time. Just before Christmas, we visited to check out the Christmas lights. We got in the spirit of things first by eating at a Lebanese restaurant near our house. Toledo was tundra/Hoth cold that night, and I'm still impressed by my own staying power. The aquarium stop helped (my hands especially) us reach a normal temperature for a bit, so hooray for fish.

Sleeping seal-it was encouraging to see an animal enjoy a temperature that low

Pretty much everyone yelled "NEMO!" at this tank

Jelly fish

The Merry Christmas Shark

Impossibly big tree with Nate's silhouette

Lizsicle

Christmas...was a while ago...

...but my tree is still up, so why not still blog about it? Nate and I had the pleasure of visiting the "tah" over Christmas!
A good time was had by all; how could we not with a PT Cruiser?! After finding the car rental desk, we were told that driving an economy car (take notes people) in the snow is "extremely dangerous". Really. After getting the opportunity to yell back to the girl that our car as booked was "FINE" (I was watching the bags), she suddenly realized they were out of economy cars (tricky girl) , so a PT was it. And I'll say it. I loved how they drive. Nate likes a nice Buick, and I apparently like a nice Chrysler. See, Detroit is good for something.
Our visit included lots of family gatherings, a few friend gatherings, a few workout sessions, new houses, new babies, new snowblowers, and last but not least, snowglobes...Alisha. We also fit in a trip to Murray Park, Temple Square and the Castle Creek Inn (all while Nate was sick! We are so efficient!)Having a car of our own really helpful and allowed us to tour the Sandy area quite nicely (and in style). We are so blessed to have such a great family and friends. Some pictures:

Steve and Lizze transferring music

Nate and I showing off a Lizzie original

Lilly, Afton and Aunt Liz

Afton and Nate

Vince in his basket

Liz and Grey

Grey's responsible dad

Afton, Nate and Lizzie

Georgia on my mind

This Thanksgiving Nate and I took a trip down South to see how Thanksgiving is celebrated in Atlanta. Turns out it's pretty much the same, except they have about 30 degrees on Ohio in addition to being the home of Nate's two brothers. We drove down Wednesday night and Thursday morning just in time to catch Thanksgiving dinner at Aaron and Bonnie's house. We had a great time and I learned that I can function on less sleep than I previously thought. Thanks to Nate for driving. It was at least my car? We had a good time checking out downtown, bowling, eating, moving watching, coveting Aaron and Bonnie's exercise equipment, and catching up. Thank you to our wonderful Georgian hosts!

Nate checking out pictures with Sadi and McKay

Nate helping Jackson with his church shoes

Nate, Aaron and Ben

Bonnie, Liz and Jenn

Nate, Ben and Jenn at the bowling alley

Aaron wearing some of Bonnie's old pants. It cracked me up. PS-Bonnie is skinny and just did a triathalon, so don't feel too bad.

The lake by their house was so relaxing that I tried out a yoga move or two...and realized how bad I still am.

Sitting down to dinner: Jenn, Sadi, Bonnie, Jackson, Liz, McKay