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IT'S FINALLY HERE!!! Yesterday, I was greeted with a box from Amazon, containing the newest 2 Stephanie Plum novels. I'm going to have to rethink this pre-ordering thing next year. I'm sure some people have received their book and finished in the time it took Amazon to send it to me. Anyways, I like to think I've got self control since it's been 24 hours and I haven't yet teared into it...actually, I had a soccer game last night. I hope to get reading on this book sometime this weekend so if I don't answer the phone or your email...you'll know who's got my attention.

First Trip to the Zoo!

We bought a season pass this year since we figured it was a good way to tire Owen out and enjoy some fresh air. I have never visited the Cincinnati Zoo before and was excited. New this year is a giraffe exhibit - I guess they haven't had giraffes in a few years. The neat thing is that they had elevated the platform so you can almost see them eye to eye!

One of Owen's favorite exhibits yesterday was the polar bear. Since he could go right up to the plexiglass and the polar bear did walk right by him to the pool, he got see him up close!

traveling carnivore

Lately, Owen's been eliminating everything meat out of his diet. When we were in Sodus over Memorial weekend, I don't know what got into him but he ate meat like there was no tomorrow and ofcourse, made a liar out of me. Of course, I was quite happy we were able to round out his meals with some protein and had hoped that he would bring this back to Cincinnati but no go...since we've left Sodus, we also left behind eating meat...cherries are his new favorite thing and so he constantly has something dyed red.

Manners?

We went to our last Broadway show for the season - Jersey Boys. For the last 8 years, I've gotten season tickets to the Broadway shows that come to town. We have a good time - it's a good excuse for the girls to get together grab dinner, catch up on what's going on and then watch and critique the performance.

For this show, the audience did skew older which was expected given that this show is about the Four Seasons and how they came to fame & friendship. The ladies sitting next to us were really excited - oohing and aahing as they looked over the music that was in the show and commenting what song was a favorite of theirs. It was funny to see because it was like sitting next to Jennifer Garner in '13 going on 30' except it was more like going on 55. However, the fun ended as soon as the lights went down. I think they forgot where they were - they were singing along aloud to ALL THE SONGS!!!

**PEOPLE, we are at the theatre, not a concert!!**

I really wanted to lean over and tell them to leave singing for the professionals. I think at the beginning of the show, in addition to asking the audience to turn off the cell phones, they should ask people to be quiet like they do in the movie theater.

live and die by your work

I like what I do but I'm not sure if I ever will be this committed to my work - I guess it depends if my work would ever become famous...

CINCINNATI (AP) — The man who designed the Pringles potato crisp packaging system was so proud of his accomplishment that a portion of his ashes has been buried in one of the iconic cans.
Fredric J. Baur, of Cincinnati, died May 4 at Vitas Hospice in Cincinnati, his family said. He was 89.
Baur's children said they honored his request to bury him in one of the cans by placing part of his cremated remains in a Pringles container in his grave in suburban Springfield Township. The rest of his remains were placed in an urn buried along with the can, with some placed in another urn and given to a grandson, said Baur's daughter, Linda Baur of Diamondhead, Miss.
Baur requested the burial arrangement because he was proud of his design of the Pringles container, a son, Lawrence Baur of Stevensville, Mich., said Monday.
Baur was an organic chemist and food storage technician who specialized in research and development and quality control for Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co.
Baur filed for a patent for the tubular Pringles container and for the method of packaging the curved, stacked chips in the container in 1966, and it was granted in 1970, P&G archivist Ed Rider said.
Baur retired from P&G in the early 1980s.

copyright: The Associated Press

An Appetizing Review

For our asian community at work, I am the editor of a quarterly newsletter that is used to keep the community aware of items going on at work and in the city. One of the new things we are wanting to incorporate are asian restaurant reviews. Asians are tough critics of asian restaurants and word of mouth is the best source of PR. As I read responses to my request - it gave me a list of places I wanted to try. The following review gave me a chuckle...

Here is my review for Casual Wok & Grille.
-Good and authentic Szechuan food
- We loved the intestine in hot plate (it was a pot on fire with intestine and tofu in a yummy red sauce)
- We had to order something not spicy for our 2-year old son, we loved (and our son loved) the salt and pepper tenderloin they recommended
- Our visitor who is an Asian from Los Angeles told me the intestine in hot plate is comparable to the best asian food they have in LA
- Our visitor is quite intrigued with the spicy rabbit and said he will want to try it next time

...Some things are probably better not translated. Who wants to join me in checking out Casual Wok??

Spring is here!

We are excited that it is actually getting nice outside we are able to enjoy the weather and perhaps for the first time since we moved into the house, get our yard looking nice. Today, we went out to buy some Mulch, tree spikes, and topsoil to begin the process. Owen thought it would be fun to help and so we gave him his own shovel and let him have a go at aerating the flower bed...