Monthly Archives: December 2012

Holiday Traditions: Krohn Conservatory Pointsettia & Train Display

One big holiday tradition in Cincinnati is the train and pointsettia display at Krohn Conservatory. I remembering going as a young child and being mesmerized by the trains; I always loved watching them wind their way around those tiny tracks, and I still do!
The Conservatory was built in the 1930’s and has a cool Art Deco style. The annual holiday display features tons of pointsettias and evergreens as a beautiful backdrop for an impressive train display that snakes all through one of the main areas of the Conservatory. Scattered among the train tracks are replica buildings of some Cincinnati landmarks, all make out of natural materials! There’s even a lifesize Nativity scene on the grounds outside the Conservatory, with live animals (apparently a lamb was born the day we visited, but I didn’t get a pic b/c there were tons of people crowding into the stable to see it).

This is a replica of the local Roebling Suspension Bridge that connects Covington, KY and Cincinnati, OH. It served as the prototype for the Brooklyn Bridge, which was also built by John Roebling. The “stones” of this bridge were actually tree bark, cut and applied to look like stone.

I have never seen a speckled pointsettia before. So beautiful. I’d love to fill my house with them, but I’m sure Molly would eat them and get sick.

The giant Christmas tree in the Conservatory lobby was full of ornaments made from natural materials. I loved this flower; the petals reminded me of pistachio shells, but I’m not sure if that’s what they actually were.

While we were there, we also wandered through the other Conservatory greenhouses. Here are a few images I snapped in the desert room and the orchid room (my fave!).

Hope you didn’t mind that this post was so photo-heavy. I took all of these pictures with my iPhone 4s… and am pretty impressed with the quality! Not a bad little camera in that thing!

Do you have a favorite holiday tradition in your city?

Our Backyard Winter Wonderland

This is why I wanted a wooded lot! So I could wake up on a winter’s morn, and sip my coffee while enjoying this view:

Getting Back on the Workout Train

Today was the day. The day to lace up the ole shoes and start working off all those holiday sweets I’ve been indulging in for the past month.

I’m sure I’m not alone with I say that I have a love-hate relationship with working out. I’ve stuck with a pretty consistent 4-to-5-day-a-week schedule for the past 4ish years, but I still go through many peaks and lulls along the way. I just haven’t found my “thing” yet. Y’know? That thing that you do? Some people are runners, some are weight lifters, some are Crossfitters, or yogis, or Zumba enthusiasts or Jazzercisers. But I can’t figure out what mine is. I’ve tried tae bo (who can resist a spandex-clad Billy Blanks?). I’ve tried free ExerciseTV videos on hulu. I’ve tried running. Oh, how I tried to love running. I ran a few 5ks, one 10k, and then tried training for a half-marathon before I hit a major IT-Band wall. And then I was depressed and cranky for 4 months. So maybe let’s not get into that right now.

My most recent kick was the Insanity program.

If you’ve heard of P90x, Insanity is a similar program from the same producers. 60-something days of cah-razy cardio antics, mostly using your own body weight instead of equipment. There’s cardio, there some yoga-type stretching, there’s even an upper body weight training disc for those who love to lift. I made it about 3 full rounds before I got burnt out. And I guess I should also say that I felt a bit discouraged, because I never saw any of those crazy weight-loss results that the infomercials are always touting. In addition to tracking my starting weight, I also took measurements, since they’re more accurate indicators of progress. I actually gained, but I’d attribute that to muscle mass vs. fat. But it’s still hard to find the motivation when the numbers on the scale stay about the same, and the numbers on the tape measure grow!

So now that post-holiday pounds and New Year’s resolutions are staring me down, I’m still trying to figure out what my “thing” is.

What’s your fitness activity of choice? Have you tried Insanity or P90x, or a similar program before? What has/hasn’t worked for you?

When Life Hands You Snow…

Build a Snowman!

We got between 4″ and 6″ of snow yesterday! So naturally, we had to build a snowman. Tom even crafted his hat out of snow!

Here he is in front of our house, greeting all our neighbors 🙂 Hope those of you who’ve had snow are able to enjoy it as well!

I’m Dreaming of a White Day After Christmas

This morning, we woke up to this!

Cincinnati rarely sees snow at Christmas, much less in the entire month of December, so I’ll take a White Day-After-Christmas if that’s what I can get. Plus, it really helps my case for staying in my pajamas all day today.

We had a wonderful holiday; the past 5 or so days we’ve been going non-stop with holiday dinners, parties, post-party cleaning, food prepping, family time, etc. I’ll back up and start at the beginning to give you all a recap of my very merry diy’d Christmas!

On Saturday, we hosted some couples for dinner. We got to use our dining room for the very first time since we moved in! Yea! Only took a year, haha. We don’t have a formal dining room set, so we used two folding tables instead! I put the table centerpieces together out of things I already had around the house: hurricane vases, ornaments, festive berry sprigs, loose tinsel, snowflakes, etc. I put a clay lollipop at each place setting in lieu of a place card, and asked everyone to take them home with them. I got 2 red paper tablecloths at Target for about $3.50 a piece.

I like to cook most/all of the food myself when we have parties versus getting pre-made meals or asking everyone to bring dishes. I just think if you’re invited to someone’s house for dinner, you should be able to go and enjoy yourself without worrying about bringing food along, keeping it hot, etc.

This was our menu for Saturday:

Appetizer: smoked sausage, garlic and herb cheese spread, olive tapenade, crackers, and cashews.

Main Course: mixed greens salad with toasted pine nuts, dried cherries, fresh parmesan and balsamic vinaigrette; baked salmon with herb seasoning (a “coastal blend” purchased from a local spice shop); and orzo with pesto and peas.

Dessert: homemade truffles and peppermint bark. Here’s my truffle assembly line: chilled ganache, toppings (chopped pecans, pistachios and cocoa powder) and a clean baking sheet to set them on!

(Scroll to the end of this post to find links to the recipes I used)

On Sunday, we celebrated Christmas with Tom’s parents. In year’s past, we celebrate on Christmas Eve, after the larger Kennedy family gathering. But with the new pup in the house, we decided to space things out a bit this year. We even took Molly with us to Tom’s parents’! She was pretty well behaved, and by the end of the night, had shredded a lot of wrapping paper. Girl loves to shred paper.

On Monday, we went to Christmas Eve Mass and then to the Kennedy family gathering.

On Tuesday, we hosted Christmas for the first time! My parents came over early in the day for brunching and gifting; then my extended family came over later in the afternoon for dinnering and gifting. Then we cleaned up real quick and went to Tom’s Grandma’s house to see his mom’s side of the family. Whew! Hence, why I’m staying in my pajamas all day today.

Here’s our Christmas Day Brunch menu:

Spinach, Bacon, and Red Pepper Quiche with Sharp White Cheddar

Portobello and Crimini Mushroom Quiche with Apple-Smoked Gruyere

Maple and Brown Sugar Sticky Biscuits

And some shots of the day’s various festivities:

Yes, those are official Clark Griswold Moose Mugs! Tom’s parents gave them to us. They are just as awesome in person as I could have imagined them to be!

Molly opened her own gifts! Smart girl shredded the paper, then plucked out her toy (a squeaky gingerbread girl), and started playing! I got to clean up her soggy paper shards.

Tis the season for owls! I got this awesome owl stuffie (from Kohls), an owl ornament, and an owl tealight holder. My family knows me well…

For out Christmas Day table, I changed out the table cloth (another paper find from Target; this one’s got a bit of Scandinavian flair!), and added paper trees underneath the clear plastic plates for a bit of color.

I added some other decorations around my chalkboard-inspired painting.

And lastly, the coolest gift I received, from the most awesome husband in the world 🙂

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with family and friends!

Recipes via: Coastal Blend Seasoning / Pesto Sauce / Homemade Truffles (I rolled mine in cocoa powder, chopped pistachios and chopped pecans)/ Peppermint Bark / Basic Quiche (I always reference this for baking temp, time, and the number of eggs; I usually skip the half-and-half because Tom is lactose intolerant) / Sticky Biscuits