a memorable weekend

Enjoyed an unexpected four-day weekend. Friday was the bonus day. Our clothes dryer has been on the fritz lately, making a horrifyingly loud metal on metal screeching noise. The repairman arrived late that morning and took the machine apart. Our dryer requires a pricey new ball bearing. And of course, he didn't have one with him, it needs to be ordered. The good news, we can still use the dryer until the part arrives this Friday. The bad news, the screeching is even worse. Our new laundry plan is to throw the wet clothes in the dryer, start it, and then leave the house for a couple of hours.

Saturday we spent the day in amish country with our friends Tom, Brett, Al and Keith. Al and Keith were in town from Chicago for the weekend. We began the afternoon at the Simply Smuckers Store in Orville. It was my first visit there. Was a cute store. Greg and I picked up some apple butter and ice cream toppings. Next it was off to Lehman's in Kidron. What a large store. We picked up a new cast iron skillet there. Lunch was next at one of the areas big amish-style restaurants. The portions were quite large, and we left uncomfortably full. More shopping at an area market then off to the Breitenbach Winery. I tasted a very sweet Riesling wine. It was quite nice.

On Sunday morning Greg and I had breakfast at Wally Waffle with Megan and Michele. It was omelets for everyone! Afterwards Greg and i did a little shopping. Sunday night was a big Memorial Day party & picnic at Tom and Brett's. We had a great time playing corn hole and socializing with everyone. Brett makes a great cherry martini. I'm afraid that I may have enjoyed too many of them.

Monday was for resting up. We watched quite a few episodes from the Gilmore Girls Season 2. Spent some time at Borders reading magazines. And of course, spent some quality time with the Wii. I bowled a new personal best of 238!

Wii likey

Greg's been saving his money for some time. Today he spent it, on a Wii. It's the best thing since our iPhone. We've bowled, golfed and played MarioKart tonight. I've never really been into video games, but the Wii is so easy to use.

a sweet saturday

Today Greg and I travelled to Hudson for lunch. Greg starts work in Hudson on Monday. He's so relieved to put that long commute to his previous job behind him. We had lunch at Hattie's Cafe then walked down the street to Main Street Cupcakes. According to their web site, they are Ohio's first cupcake only bake shop serving a delicious variety of gourmet cupcakes. We purchased six different flavors to take home. That, of course, means we each picked three. That's them up in the picture. Let me take you on a tour. There in the front is Vanilla Berry, going clockwise, next we have Pink Lemonade, Classic Chocolate, Wedding Day White, Cookies n Cream, and finally, Lemon Drop. So far we have shared and tasted the Wedding Day White and Lemon Drop. Both were delicious. I'm just saying, now that Greg will be working down the street in Hudson, he doesn't need to bring me home flowers, a box of cupcakes would be just fine.
Also today we rented Cloverfield and 27 Dresses. I'll let you guess which I hated and which I liked. Shouldn't be too hard to figure that one out.

mr. derr goes to washington

Here are a few pictures from yesterday's dizzying trip to Washington D.C. with the City of Akron Holocaust Writing and Arts Contest winners.

that kind of day

Came back from lunch and had to park on the very top level of the parking deck at work. This is the first time I've had to do that since we moved the library back downtown.

a weekend off

Had my first full weekend off work in a while. It was delightful. Saturday Greg and I ran errands and did some shopping. I got a new pair of shades. Saturday night we joined a bunch of friends at Tom & Brett's for dinner. They won a catered dinner at the recent Pride Center Annual Dinner and Auction. The dinner was unbelievable. An eight courses italian feast, nearly each course served with an accompanying wine. We were told to pace ourselves, and that was tough with such delicious food. More details from the dinner can be found here on Tom's blog, with a picture of my place setting and menu.
On Sunday we hung out with Michele on the last day of her break between spring and summer classes at the university. We had lunch at the new Bravo restaurant in Fairlawn. Yes, more italian food. More wonderful and tasty italian food. The we caught a screening of Iron Man. It was pretty good. I had my doubts with Robert Downey, Jr. playing an action hero. He was, in fact, very good.
I've got a busy week at work coming up. Thursday, I'll be in Washington D.C. for the day. Be sure to check back here for twitter updates all that day.

breaking news...the greg edition

Greg was offered and accepted a new job in Hudson this morning. His hour drive to work will now be only about 20 minutes. The $300 per month in gas will decrease now also.  The new company sounds great and Greg is very excited. He begins his new adventure on May 19th.  

Had a nice weekend. I worked a bit both days, but I still got to sleep in. Saturday night we went up to Mongolian BBQ in Coventry with Megan, Paula and Ryan. We had a nice dinner and then dodged raindrops. Greg was his normal sweetheart self and went to get the car while we stayed mostly dry. Michele couldn't join us (HI MICHELE!) because she was busy with this year's Induction Ceremony at the National Inventor's Hall of Fame. I'm off today and Tuesday. I went to work for lunch today, we were having a Cinco De Mayo day party. Funny, there was no Miracle Whip.... Tomorrow night, I have some of my co-workers and cooking school buddies coming over for a little get together. That should be fun.