Anniversary

Thursday Ross and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary - which seems a little crazy to me! Time has flown by, and I feel like we should have a quaint little house with a nursery all set up - but that is just not the path God has planned for us. It's been such an interesting life and not at all what I could have expected, but it's been perfect... hand taylored for us.

I can honestly look back and see everything we've accomplished together - surviving the first few years of teaching, getting through law school, sometimes really having to scrimp and save to make ends meet, being totally creative and spontaneous with our weekends... and through it all totally falling more in love with each other. Ross makes me laugh harder than anyone I know.

I hope we have many more happy years together!

For our anniversarys, we've decided that taking a trip is the most fun for us. Our honeymoon was an adventure, and this year we decided to go down to Kentucky and tour the Bourbon Trail which is the touring of several distilleries with tasting (of course) at the end. Hence why you would go through several of the same type of tours. We also stayed at an amazing bed and breakfast one night and then spent a few hours at Mammoth Caves (we were going to camp there 1 night, but severe thunderstorms primaturely ended our little trip).

Hanging out at the B and B on one of their many hammocks.

This Bed and Breakfast also had an Alpaca farm where they made a lot of handmade things to sell. They wouldn't let us touch them - but Ross still tried.

This one was giving us the stink eye.

This house was built right before the Civil Way by a plantation owner... slaves did most of the construction (this is so baffling to me as a Yankee to hear someone say this and be walking through a house that was created by forced labor).

Ross and I at Wild Turkey taking our shots after the tour.

This was a really cool distillery - Maker's Mark. They had an amazing tour, and I learned more than necessary about how Bourbon is made. These are the distillery tanks.

Mash - this made the whole place smell like pizza baking.

Barrels that are stored for at least 6 years - the expansion of the liquid into the wood during the summer and the constriction of it during the winter is what gives Bourbon it's amber color and distinct taste - interesting huh?

Best part of the tour.

We also visited Abraham Lincoln's childhood home. Don't be deceived - this is his boyhood friend's home - not his... seemed like false advertising to me, but hey, it was still enjoyable.

It was so hot down in Kentucky (I think this seems to be becoming a trend in the southern states) that going down into Mammoth caves was down right pleasant. It was hard to take pictures down there, but it was really neat to see how water caved out these rooms under ground.

Entrance down into the caves - wish it would've stayed nice for us so we could enjoy another day there, but alas - not to be.

It was a really fun trip. We got home on Sunday and started packing our upcoming singles trips - Ross to Philly and me to Grand Rapids.

Mom's Visit, Of Course!

My mom came up last week from MI to visit. We were so excited to entertain someone. One of the first places we visited together was IKEA (of course!). These were my two favorite kitchens... so cute!

Then because of my excellent blogging skills, my mother desperately wanted to see Jungle Jim's, so, of course, we went there! By the way - Jungle Jim's will be exhibited on the History channel's "Modern Marvels" in the near future. Camera men were there last week.

Yum, to think we could have purchased some animal heads! We had our choice between pig, calf, and lamb.

Dad missed the cigar tasting event, of course... but it's held regularly, so there's still a chance to partake together when he comes and visits.

We bought alot of delicious food and made an amazing dinner; marinated chicken thighs, bruschetta and eggplant bruschetta on Amish sourdough, and also brussel sprouts. My fave!



The next night we took mom out for happy hour at a local seafood restaurant and then walked across the Ohio river to Newport on the Levee. It was a beautiful, but, of course, a hot night!

Thanks for visiting, Mom. Of course, I had a wonderful time with you and appreciate that you could make it down!

Additionally, mom suggested that I use my wine cork collection to cork the inside of our coffee table, so here's the finished product.

4th of July

We made our first visit back to Michigan on July 2... forgot what a freakishly long car trip this was! Enjoyed breakfast with Ross's family, coffee with Bekah, and then another 2 hour trip to Ludington. Well worth it too.

We spent our first day there fishing... We caught some delicious bass -

And then - I received a crash course in gutting and filleting from my father. And then - I put the meat in tin foil, sprinkled with rock salt and black pepper, threw in some basil, mushrooms, and bell peppers and cooked then over an open fire.

Best fish I've ever had.

New Vehicle and Other Musings:

That's right! The Mulders purchased a new vehicle. As you know, I have owned my Achieva since I was 15 and Ross has had the Jetta for an extended time as well. I feel so grown up buying a different car. We love our Mercury tracer!

What else has this week entailed:

WEEKEND: Went to PaddleFest at Coney Island. Ross is on this new kick to buy kayaks for our anniversary - which is fine, I've always wanted them, so we went to Paddlefest to check out what we might want to purchase. Long story short, this place was a little disappointing, but it was fun. My favorite part was probably people watching - Kentucky's best was out for the folky, back country singers. Mix that with a little booze - perfect!

Also went running around the Luken Airport. See photo below. We are so fortunate to live a half mile from these trails. It's a 5 mile loop around the little airport there and we've gone running several times on it. I really enjoy it, but you have to get out before 8 if you want to be able to breathe. Stupid humidity.

In addition, we went to church. Not a huge change from the normal, but we've really enjoyed this little church in Mt. Washington. It's even safe to say we might be joining in the fall. It's funny that in the 4 years we were in Grand Rapids, we could never find a church that felt like home, and then within the first week on being in Cincinnati, we found a perfect fit. We are very excited about this church!

WEEKDAYS: Enjoying summer break! Even though it's hot, I've still been in the kitchen, trying some new recipes. Honestly my favorite has been Julia Child's omelette method (yes, I checked out her DVD at the library and watched her make it). I made the omelettes last night - stuffed with cracked pepper goat cheese and drizzled on the top with butter. So delicious! I also did a

twist on Ina's crab cakes, using tuna instead of crab. So good on toasted sourdough bread!
Honestly the worst? Candied ginger. I got like 3 pounds of it from Jungle Jim's for 1.46 and thought - candied/crystallized ginger is so expensive! What if I make it myself? Bad idea. Spent 5 hours doing the prep for these things just to watch them flop. Never crystallized - just a soggy mess. Oh well. Just another productive day in the Mulder kitchen.

Looking forward to spending the fourth with the family in Ludington. Can't wait for some House of Flavors ice cream and Lake Michigan!

My New Favorite Store...

Too bad it's a half hour away and has a stupid name, but "Jungle Jim's" is my new favorite grocery store.

Store Description:

http://www.junglejims.com/about/index.asp

My Summary Description for the Lazy:

The website describes this store as a "theme park" for foodies, and thus it is. Initially we walked in and thought - okay, decent prices, good food... but then we started wandering through this maze of a store, getting lost several times in the 3 executive aisles devoted only to Korean food items. Amazing - think of an ethnic group and there is a part of the store devoted to its imports. The seafood department is awesome - whole fish - any kind and all kinds - how fun to plop one of those whole suckers down at a dinner party. Love it. We got 5 ounce chevre cracked black pepper cheese for .50. Yes, 5o pennies. We walked out of there with 2 weeks worth of fresh veggies, organic items and staples like peanut butter for 52 dollars.

New favorite. I got so carried away that I missed almost all of the Bachelorette. Bummer - I wanted to see why Casey got the boot - besides his weirdo frog voice...

First Week

WHAT a whirlwind! Finally found the time (and the nice hubby willing to hit the public library) to get on here and update. First week of Cincinnati went fast - lots of firsts, some minor disappointments, some anxieties, but a lot of good things coming forth as well. Biggest adjustment was living with Ross again (I didn't think it would be difficult), but the last 3 months I've sorta grown into being more independent and reliquishing some of that was hard, but I know it won't take long to get into the swing of things again.

Week in recap:

Sunday morning - My wonderful mother and father in-law, parents, and brother came to our condo to help us pack up the U-haul trailer. Took forever as packing it "just so" was important. We ended up having to leave some things behind, but that's okay. Thanks mom for providing lunch! We got on the road at 1:30 (Ross and I driving the jetta, his parents driving their jeep that hauled the trailer). It took us exactly 6.5 hours to get to our place. From 8-10, the four of us took everything out of the trailer, lugging everything up a flight of stairs in 95% humidity, and went to bed right after. Took a flip video of being bored on the way down...

Monday - Said good bye to family (actually the hardest part - seeing our last link to GR drive out of town) and spent the day rearranging furniture, etc. Too hot for dinner - had slurpees. Huge lightening storm at night and threat of tornados. Little scary - see note below.

Tuesday - Ross went back to work, so I spent the day unpacking and sweating. Did I mention it's been in the 90s with insane humidity? Refused to put on the air because the house is old and leaks too much. At night we took our first trip to IKEA!!! So fun. We spent 3 hours there because of the air conditioning. No luck on finding a computer desk. Bummer. Went out to buy a converter box and antenea so we could watch TV again. Storms at night.

Wednesday - Took a 6 mile run. Humidity finally broke down into the 50%s, so heat was much more bearable. Spent the day doing truly summer things - reading, talking on the phone... Went car shopping at night and got an idea of things we want to look out for at the right price.

Thursday - Unpacked. Went out good will, thrift store shopping - no luck. Drove around suburbs just to see what's out there.

Friday - Hiked up to Mount Lookout - don't be impressed, it took me 20 minutes. Watched all the good am talk shows, worked out and unpacked. Uneventful. Ross and I went downtown to Fountain Square for a live music show. Apparently they have this every Friday night, so it might be a ritual. Met some of Ross's coworkers - friends - I like them.

And now the weekend - the news keeps bulletining this weekend as a "Heat Emergency". Goody. Our one goal for this weekend is to test drive some vehicles so that I can be more mobile and explore our new city better. We're thinking of going camping next weekend - which would be a lot of fun.

** Interesting Tidbit:

Ross made me film this on the way out -


As you can tell, we started the discussion on what Jesus would think of this... Monday night we had horrific lightening storms. Apparently lightening struck Jesus and he burned down... hmmm...

Recent Visit

Last weekend I went down to Cincinnati for my first visit. I was a little nervous to see the house/neighborhood/city that Ross had picked out (think about giving up that power ladies - it was nerve wrecking), but he did a fabulous job. The house is so cute, the neighborhood is quaint, unique and in walking distance of several fun things. Basically, I love it.

Here are 10 facts about Cincinnati ("facts" being loosely defined):

1. Cincinnat is HOT (I don't know how I will survive the summer without air conditioning - Ross seal up those windows!)
2. There is no need for 2 vehicles in Cincinnati (and yes, we are trying to sell our current ones - anyone want a 93 achieva or 02 jetta?) because the bus system works so well.
3. We have nice neighbors.
4. The parks in Cincinnati are very cool - think fountains, overlooks of the city, walking trails...
5. I will never be hungry because of the many restaurants in walking distance (and Speedway, which means slurpees - they were dinner Sunday night)
6. It is incredibly clean - for a city
7. I think it will be easy to become a Reds fan - the stadium is neat, right on the river, and the fact that they are number 1 in their league makes it easy to like them.
8. Cincinnati has more sunny days than Grand Rapids AND only 20 inches of snow accumulation a year. :)
9. Although I will miss Meijer, there are other fun places to try (never been to Kroger until last weekend - they gave us a key lime pie sample that was a full slice. New favorite location right there).
10. Cincinnati is where my heart is (being Ross) and I can't wait to move down there!