Random Thoughts: 3/3/14

1. Weekend in Cincinnati

Warped Wing Brewery, Dayton, OH

Hola! It's a very snowy Monday morning here in Kentucky. The hubby and I made it back from Cincinnati just in the nick of time yesterday! We had a fantastic weekend. Friday night, the hubby's cousin and wife took us to my favorite Mexican restaurant near their house. The gods of fate must have been smiling on me, because we only ended up at the Mexican restaurant because there was a 2-hour wait at the restaurant we'd originally planned on going to. Mwhahahaha. Did I send the population of Cincinnati to the original restaurant so I could have Mexican? The world will never know :)

Saturday night, they took us to fabulous little steakhouse near Dayton, OH called The Oakwood Club. The food was fantastic! I ordered the lamb chops, and I'm so glad I did. They were perfect. I compare all lamb to the best lamb I've ever eaten, which was at Texas de Brazil in Las Vegas 6 years ago. This lamb was so close to what I had in Las Vegas, I was just in heaven. Perfectly medium rare, pink, tender, the crust crisp with salt... Uh oh, I'm drooling again. After dinner, the hubby's cousin had picked a couple of brewery's for us to try in the Oregon District (I just love that) of Dayton. Needless to say, after a couple of drinks, the cameras whipped out-

Drinks at Newcom's in the Oregon District.

Cousin's wife and I.

Hubby's cousin, wife, me, and hubby :)

I had to include this pic because I love my face. I have no idea why I'm making it.

We woke on Sunday morning to about a quarter inch of ice on the ground. We were surprised as hell, the storm was supposed to hit late that afternoon. We grabbed our stuff as fast as could, thanked the hubby's cousin and wife, and hastily ran for the car. What an awful drive! The cousin's house is NW of us, so we had to travel about 40 miles east through the ice storm. Among the calamity we saw were a couple of cars sliding off the road and a flipped semi. Not fun.

Sheet of ice covering the road and the front of our car.

Once we got started heading south, we started to outrun it. By the time we were an hour from our house, we were driving in rain. Still, we came home and did not leave! We'd had enough, thank you very much. Until the snow came, which leads me to my next random thought...

2. More birds!

We got another 4 inches of snow last night, which means Casa de Jarrell is the most hopping' bird bar in NE Kentucky!

Seriously. When I opened the blinds this morning, there were flocks of birds in the backyard. Granted, we have 5 feeders, but wowsers! It was, by far, the most birds we've had yet. 

I love this sassy cardinal :)

I might be obsessed with cardinals...

Our latest feeder, a suet basket. Shockingly, the hubby only put it up at 7:30 am. For the 1st time, and they've already found it. I think that's a new record.

It's going to be a great day for birdwatching here on the homestead!

3. The Oscars

Image Source: The Oscars

The hubby and I managed to finish all the movies up for Best Picture. We put "Philomena" on at 4:30 pm yesterday, and powered through. We finished all the movies for the acting awards as well, however we were only able to catch an hour of "Blue Jasmine" before the show started. I felt we got a good idea of Cate Blanchett's performance, though. How'd we do? Awful. Jerame picked 4 out of 24 right, and I got 5 right. I really thought "American Hustle" should have won best picture (I thought it was the most interesting, seamless, well-acted movie we watched), but "12 Years A Slave" is also good choice. It was a very important, well-done movie. I think the only thing I'm flabbergasted by is that Meryl Streep didn't win Best Actress. This is an absolute robbery in my opinion. Her performance in "August: Osage County" is brilliant and awe-inspiring. Yes, Cate Blanchett did a fine job, but her performance didn't hold a candle to Streep's. Of course, this is only my opinion. I also thought Ellen did a great job. I love how her humor is not mean-spirited. And how much does everyone adore Jennifer Lawrence after last night? I can't believe that poor girl fell again. She handled it with such grace and good-humor though, I think I fell in love with her a little bit more. Which I didn't think was possible :)

That's it for today folks. I'm not sure what to do with myself right now, as I'm housebound. Monday's are usually my shopping day. However, the roads are really bad today, so I've relegated myself to being a hermit. I'm trying to summon the energy for a workout, but I've been fighting a losing battle with that all morning. I think the snow is lulling me into a nap. I'm so ready for spring!

Happy Monday everyone!