For the first time in years, I’m not preparing myself for the first day of school.

I was in college for a bit longer than four years, which turned out to be a great thing because I met Sheila towards the end of my college career.

After a break of two years, I went back to school when I started working at Case–yay for tuition benefits.

Then, I went to law school for three years.

I loved school…yes, I even loved law school. Am I a nerd? Perhaps. I learned so many interesting things that I can use to help improve Cleveland and help improve the lives of those around me. I had many amazing professors and had opportunities to do a variety of interesting things.

However, I must admit that it’s been nice not to have the proverbial albatross of homework hanging over my head every night. This past year was especially rough–I had a myriad potpourri of school newspaper and law review commitments hanging over my head every day, and it was no fun switching off the Browns game and dashing off immediately to good ole’ Cleveland-Marshall.

I have really enjoyed getting back to blogging regularly, and it’s been nice to be able to pull my share of the housework. It’s also been fun to have the time to enjoy random moments like being invited to enjoy a cup of coffee on the porch with my neighbors and actually having the time to do so, y’know, like people used to do before everyone decided that life was better if we didn’t know our neighbors.

(In case anyone thinks I’m “living the dream” and not working…don’t get it twisted! I’m looking hard for other jobs to supplement what we’re already doing with the law office. Praise God for the fact that I have a few opportunities that are shaping up to be something substantial!)

I don’t need to post a link to all of the blogging I’ve been doing on here because…you’re here already!

But I would like to post a link to my blog on Football News Now! Earlier in the summer, I was selected to be the Official Browns Blogger on footballnewsnow.com. As soon as the bar ended, I got to work on posting quality content on From the Shores of Lake Erie. I love the Browns, and I really sharing my thoughts about the team and the progress that we’re making here in Cleveland.

While I’m a bit sad knowing that I won’t get to feel the rush of the first day of school ever again (unless I get a Ph.D in History…), I am grateful and happy for all of the free time that I now have to pursue the many other hobbies and interests that were placed on the back burner over the past several years!

I’ve been hearing about granitas for quite some time now, mostly by reference of my favorite celebrity chef, Giada Di Laurentiis. A granita is a semi-frozen combination of water, sugar, and flavorings – softer than italian ice, but not as smooth as a sorbet. Tonight, I was excited to try my hand at a lemon granita as a foray back into the kitchen after a brief respite last week!

Luckily, this recipe lends itself to a little tutorial!

First, add 1 1/4 cups of sugar to 1 cup of water, and bring to a boil.

You’ll need 4 lemons. Zest one lemon…

Then juice that lemon and the other 3 lemons.

Add juice and zest to the boiling sugar-water mixture.

Boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool.

Poor into a pan and freeze for 2 hours. Then scrape ‘er up!

Freezer ‘er again, then scrape again after 2 hours and serve.
Ignore pleading eyes. Enjoy.

…Joe puts up a post encouraging the merits of healthy eating.

Those of you who know me well have seen my waistline shrink and expand depending on the season of life in which I am at the time. When Sheila and I got together, I was at a decent weight. However, as is often the case when one finds the love of their life and feels comfortable in a relationship, I put the pounds back on over time. (While I’m not exactly proud of this, the fact that I have seen many other folks in relationships put on weight once they found “the one” makes me realize that I’m not the only one who can’t help asking for seconds…or thirds in some cases!) Fortunately, I was able to shed many of these pounds for our wedding. As you probably know, I gained much of that weight back again as the siren call of free law school pizza and work lunches steered me to shipwreck time and time again. In my defense, I’ll say that Cleveland’s great restaurant scene combined with Sheila’s stellar cooking night after night makes it hard to engage in restraint at the dinner table!

At the start of the summer, I was pretty nervous about my waistline. I was afraid that the stress of the impending bar exam combined with large periods of inactivity while studying would mean that I’d gain large amounts of weight and fall into a state of poor health.

Fortunately, though, this summer turned out to be quite the opposite! Nightly walks with Butters gave me regular exercise. Sheila’s busy schedule with her work and the law practice meant that I made my own lunches pretty regularly, which often translated into heating up a bean and cheese burrito. Believe it or not, they’re not *that* bad for you! Because I wasn’t working, we also needed to watch our money pretty closely, and while this was (and is) not fun in many respects, one major benefit of this is that we wound up eating at home a lot instead of eating out. I also started reading various healthy living blogs (more on this later) that showed me that one could eat healthy without being a gigantic killjoy. By the end of the summer, I had actually *lost* weight and was feeling good about the direction in which my health was going…

…until the bar exam itself in Columbus arrived. For various reasons, we have eaten out at night for almost a week straight, and by last night, my stomach felt like a cauldron. We ate very well–the meals deserve a post of their own–and had several great experiences, but by the end, I was pretty tired of driving home with a rumble in my stomach that was almost as loud as the engine of our car.

Now that life is slowly going back to normal, I’m excited about getting back to eating Sheila’s home-cooked meals. Also, I’m excited about resuming our nightly ritual of taking Mr. Butters on walks around our great neighborhood.

Earlier in this post, I mentioned how I’ve been slowly warming up to the idea of attempting more healthy eating ever since I’ve started reading some healthy living blogs. One of these blogs is peasandthankyou.com. The main blogger, Mama Pea, is actually an ardent vegan. However, I really started reading the blog avidly once I learned that she is a lawyer who transitioned into being a full-time blogger and writer once she began championing the merits of a vegan diet. In fact, she even scored a cookbook deal as a result of her blogging! Her cookbook was released this past week, and we enjoyed looking at it at a Barnes and Noble in Columbus after the bar exam was over. Her writing is exceptional.  I highly urge you to check out her blog and her cookbook!

What’s a baby bond? For those of you who aren’t familiar with this tradition, it was once common for the relatives of a new mother or father to give their newborn baby a gift. Now, this gift certainly wasn’t the cutest thing you could get for a baby. It wasn’t a precious onesie or an itty-bitty bib. The gift was a bond. The idea behind it was that you were giving something that would, in the long run, be much more important than an item of clothing, soon to be outgrown. The bond would be purchased at its current value and would be placed in a safe place to mature over many years. When the child grew up, the bond could be cashed in and used toward anything from weddings to college education to a first home. So as the child grows, so does the value of the gift. The later you wait to cash it in, the more it’s worth. Way to teach delayed gratification at a (very!) young age.

In the summer of 2007, I headed to my hometown of Potomac, Maryland to finish up the final plans for our wedding before setting up our first household in Cleveland. Because it didn’t make sense for her to hold them anymore, my mom gave me my baby bonds that summer. Although I could’ve cashed them in during our first year of marriage, I eventually decided to hold onto them a bit longer – because now that I’m older, I understand their value.

But the baby bonds aren’t the only things that have gained value over the past 4 years. Over time, I’ve realized that my marriage is like a baby bond.

Most of you probably know that I was married at the young age of 21. To most people these days, especially from my hometown, that’s considered quite young and immature; now that I’m older, I can’t help but agree. While I recall my passion and excitement for our wedding and our first days of building a home together, I really don’t think I truly knew what I was getting myself into. During that first year, I fought dirty. I thought of myself as more important than Joe. And I was a lousy encourager to him, even as he worked hard as a teacher to put me through my first years of law school.

Thank God that Joe had patience with me, because if either of us had cut and run, that bond would have cashed in for very little in its first year or two. But God gave us this bond, for better or for worse, and we had to keep it safe and wait for it grow in value.

In the years to come, I couldn’t believe what blossomed before my eyes. Seeing the sacrifices Joe made for me, the patient care with which he comforted me, and the thoughtful ways he romanced me, my heart truly began to melt into his. It certainly hasn’t been a cakewalk – Joe pushes me hard to be my best. In fact, he’s pushed me to be more than I thought was my best, because he saw more potential in me than I did myself. That’s just love, pure and true.

Now, here we are, exactly four years into our marriage. While Joe takes the Ohio Bar Exam, I work on a business that he helped me create and will one day co-own. I am floored by what has become of this bond that God has given us, and I continue to be amazed at the way it has matured. The truth is, I don’t know what its value will be in 10 years, 20 years, or 50 years. But I know today that I am honored to hold and cherish this bond, and to believe that God will protect it as we wait for it to grow, and grow, and grow.

Happy Anniversary, Babers. You couldn’t be more valuable to me!

The Tremont Farmers Market has become a Tuesday night tradition for us during these warm months. There’s the specialty olive oils (once got some from Julia – it did NOT disappoint!), Amish cheeses, fresh fruits & veggies, and even the Knife Sharpener Guy who offers free dog treats (..always accepted by us, then refused by Butters… how embarrassing). Last week, we had an abundance of produce at home, so we went for one item and one item only – freshly picked SOUR cherries.

Sour cherry season seems to be relatively short, so I was eager to take advantage of the opportunity to venture my first shot at making a tasty Persian dish, Albaloo Polo with Chicken (Chicken and Rice with a Sour Cherry Sauce).

From Drop Box

Harder than finding sour cherries is the task of finding a thorough, well-written Persian recipe on the Internets. So here’s what I did.

Persian-Style Rice
Ingredients
1 cup Basmati Rice
Generous pinch of salt
1 Potato (I used Russet)
1/4 cup of oil
1 Tsp of Turmeric
2 tbsp of water

Bring water to a boil. Add salt and a cup of Basmati rice. Boil for 7-10 minutes. Strain. Chop 1 potato and place at the bottom of the rice pot. Then add 1/4 cup of oil, a teaspoon of turmeric, and a little water and sizzle them ‘taters for a few minutes. Then add the rice back, turn the heat down, and cover. Cook for an additional 35 minutes or so until the rice is tender, stirring occasionally.

Chicken
Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp turmeric
s&p
2 tbsp oil (I used olive)
1/4 cup water
4 pieces chicken (preferably thighs)

Add an onion, a tsp. of turmeric, salt & pepper, a few tbsp. of oil, and 1/4 cup of water to a pan. Add chicken pieces (I only had one big breast, but I think a few thighs would work best), cover, and cook on medium-low heat for about 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Albaloo Sauce
Ingredients
1 cup sour cherries
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp orange zest
Chopped pistachios, for garnish

Pit 1 cup of cherries. Add cherries, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 tsp of orange zest to a small pot and simmer until combined and juicy (about 5 minutes). (I had a little pomegranate syrup, so I added a bit of that too!)

Once the sauce is complete, mix with chicken and onion mixture. Serve rice with potatoes, and top with chicken-cherry sauce mixture. Top with chopped pistachios.

This dish is one of the most colorful I’ve ever eaten! Reds and pinks from the cherries, oranges and yellows from the turmeric, and green from the pistachios. What a delightful summer dish, especially when served with Persian ice cream made rosewater, pistachios, and orange zest!

So, let’s be honest here. Every once in awhile, a girl needs a new dress. Okay, “need” is a strong word. And wanting is a difficult word. (Oh, “wanting”, how you tempt me!) So every once in awhile, a girl needs help deciding whether she’s wanting or needing.

Here’s the scenario. My brother and his fiance are getting married this August! I love them both dearly, and I love them together even more. This, of course, makes me very excited for The Big Day. As I am not in the wedding party (they’re not having one), I am struck by a dilemma. I have to DECIDE what to wear to a WEDDING?! (You know me, first the bride, now always the bridesmaid!)

Here’s the deal with needing/wanting a new dress. I wanted a dress a few weeks ago, and I was struck by NYC fashion. So I bought a lovely dress there that is probably not the right dress for this wedding, and now I find that it might have been better to wait and buy a dress for the wedding.

So here’s where you come in, dear friend! I have 5 possible contenders – dresses I already own – that I could wear. Either I pick one of these, or I return the NYC dress and buy a new one for the wedding. Should I wear one of these dresses? Or should I return the other dress and buy a new one?

Contender #1 – NYC Dress

From Drop Box

This is the dress I bought in NYC that might be returned. I must admit, it looks much darker in person.
Pros: Formal chiffon-like material, more modern style. I’ve never worn it.
Cons: It’s black (some are against black dresses at weddings), and isn’t wildly flattering on my body.

Contender #2 The Plum Dress

From Drop Box

I bought this dress a couple years ago, and I’ve worn it on a cruise and to a couple weddings. The hanger look doesn’t do it justice! It has a sheer halter that goes over a sweetheart neckline.
Pros: Fits perfectly, figure-flattering, color is appropriate for a wedding.
Cons: I feel like I’ve worn this so much that it doesn’t excite me at all.

Contender #3 The Las Vegas Dress

From Drop Box

Let’s just say it’s not called the Las Vegas dress because I got it from Vegas. Obvs, it’s a little wrinkled in this pic and I would iron it for an occasion!
Pros: I absolutely love the color. The sequins add a level of formality that wouldn’t be there with just a cotton dress. I wore this to a wedding before and I got a lot of compliments.
Cons: It’s just really Vegas, and maybe a bit informal. My brother HATES sequins.

Contender #4 The Trousseau Dress

From Drop Box

I believe I got this dress as part of my trousseau from my mom for our honeymoon!
Pros: Great material & style, easy to transition from casual to formal by wearing with/without a camisole.
Cons: I’ve worn it to a wedding before, and while it was fine for that wedding, it still feels a little informal.

Contender #5 The Sexy Secretary Dress

From Drop Box

I really apologize if the name offends, but there’s no other way to describe this in my mind!
Pros: Great fit, fun colors, and feels very glamorous. I wore this for formal night on a cruise and I got a lot of compliments on my fb photos
Cons: I’m not sure about the higher neckline in August, and again, it still feels a bit informal.

So there you have it! This event will be immortalized in many photos, so I’d like to look my best – I appreciate your advice!

This past weekend, Joe and I got to check out the North Coast Harbor Boating & Fishing Festival! This festival helped me achieve not one, but TWO of my 101 things – both “Go Sailing on Lake Erie” and “Visit Voinovich Bicentennial Park” (the site of our engagement). Even though I checked both items off my list, we’ll certainly make our best efforts to be back to Voinovich Park for a picnic this year! A friend from church is instrumental in making this festival happen each year, so we even got a chance to chat with him while helping to break down the set.

Here’s a photo-tour of our day..

First, we got to the festival and scurried around to get in our boat ride reservation. I insisted on a sailboat rather than a motorboat.. what can I say, it’s more romantic, right?

From Drop Box

Next, we checked out our beautiful surroundings. Voinovich Park holds a special place in our hearts! (See our old theknot.com site for our old engagement story… trust me, we had a nicer wedding website which ended up getting hacked. RIP joeandsheila.com.)

From Drop Box

A few minutes later, we got suited up!

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

Then, we noticed a dude with a JIMMY BUFFETT-INSPIRED HAT. This thing was a work of art! It took some maneuvering to get a picture of it, but it was so worth it. Bonus points if you understand the rocket reference, because I do not. Bonus points, in fact, if you understand any of the references, because I do. *blushes*

From Drop Box

Finally, our boat arrived! The Journey, we later discovered, is steered by a Cap’n/Pastor who offers up trips on this boat as a means to share the message of the gospel with local teens! He actually spoke at our church this past Sunday!

From Drop Box

We settled into the boat and took some pictures with a nice lady who brought a group of local kids with her.

From Drop Box

Then we got to enjoy a few views – first, our engagement spot!

From Drop Box

Then finally, our green city on a blue lake. No mistake about it.

From Drop Box

Thanks to the North Coast Harbor Boating & Fishing Fest and The Journey for a free ride on a lovely boat!

I’m trying to blog more often, but if I blogged about my daily legal beagle-ing (aww, beagles!), I’d be (a) boring and (b) unethical. So I’ll blog about my creative endeavors, which are most often my daily dinners.

Monday

Monday is Real Housewives of New Jersey day! (Well, not anymore since it moved to Sundays.) Anyway, we decided to start a tradition – every day that RHONJ is on, I’d make a recipe out of housewife Teresa Giudice’s cookbook, Skinny Italian – a great Christmas gift from my Mother-in-Law! It just so happened that this Monday, I made 2 recipes!

First was Pasta Cacio e Pepe (Spaghetti with plenty of Romano cheese and Fresh Cracked Black Pepper – have I mentioned that I prefer pepper to salt any day?) and Stuffed Mushrooms. I enjoyed having a hearty, filling Italian meal with some clever ways to save calories. For example, the mushroom stuffing was mostly made up of the inside of the mushrooms sauteed with spices, and the cheesy pasta sauce was made up of just starchy water, cheese, and pepper!

From Drop Box

Tuesday

I had a leftover piece of flounder and some imitation lump crab meat, so I made Seafood Newburg (reducing the 3 cups of cream to 1 by combining this with another recipe…) with steamed asparagus. Creamy and yummy!!

Wednesday

Okay, I guess I lied, because I just remembered we had leftover pizza on Wednesday. I’m not gonna say what day it was leftover from… but it was GOOD.

Thursday

Joe’s mom gave us some smoked turkey sausage, so I grilled them and topped them with caramelized onions, shredded cheddar cheese, and a homemade spicy mustard sauce (grain mustard, regular mustard, mayo, and pickled jalapenos), along with a salad with greens from our Aerogarden, a chopped apple, a shredded carrot, and crumbled feta cheese (this is my favorite salad – I love sweet + salty!).

Friday

Today, I’m making one of our favorites- simple Mango Chicken Salad Sandwiches with some mac n’ cheese! YUM!

Overall, I feel pretty good about incorporating at least one vegetarian meal (Monday) and one seafood meal (Tuesday) into our diets, but I’d like to do better and make a more sustainable impact. At least we have some fruits or vegetables in our dinner every day! Perhaps I’ll keep documenting our meals and it’ll help me to cook at home more and keep note of what we’ve enjoyed.

I spent last weekend exploring New York City with three boys. I don’t know if it was a counter-reaction to the excessive testosterone or Joe’s constant references to reality TV shows set in Manhattan (SATC, BGM, BEA, RHONY, FELLS, okay the last one’s made up, but the list goes on…), but the only thing I could focus on was the FASHION.

Not many of you knew me in high school, but if you did, you know that I was somewhat known for my daring fashion choices. I don’t know if I was a trendsetter, but I dared to wear the following things to school:

• A Cowboy Hat
• Egyptian-Style Armbands
• Patchwork Pants (Both in Brown Corduroy and Denim)
• Fire Engine Red Hair
• Homemade Bellbottoms
• Two different earrings (stud in one ear, a long silver chain in the other – this was one of my signature looks!)
• Themed outfits (head-to-toe green, 60′s, modern rocker, 80′s americana, etc.)
• A head full of mini-braids
• A goth trenchcoat with black platform boots
• …. the list goes on.

Where did this wacky sense of style go? I’ve often heard that self-expression and a display of independence is part of adolescent development. If so, I apparently expressed myself out during my teenage years.

I find it very difficult to go back to those daring fashion decisions. I’m not sure if it was the nerdiness of undergrad, the seriousness of law school, or my current desire for professionalism, but I’ve certainly buried my love of fashion.

Sometimes I like to blame Cleveland for my lame fashion choices. It just seems that most people out on the streets don’t make a lot of daring fashion choices. (Although Julia has proven me wrong today!) So here’s a list that I came up with in my head while I was in NYC…

Things I Would Wear in NYC That Somehow Seem Inappropriate in Cleveland

5. Really Bright Clothing

Color'd!

What is it about crazy allover color that seems inappropriate in my day-to-day life in Cleveland? Perhaps it’s the sense that we’re as far as possible from anything that could be conceived as ‘tropical’. Either way, I miss bold all-over color!

4. Themed Outfits

Who doesn't want to be a cute sailor?

Walking along Madison Ave., it was nice to see that each designer had their own style. The windows seemed to go along with a certain theme. Sailor chic. Preppy casual. Outrageously glamorous. Rich. Okay, rich isn’t a theme. Well, maybe it is in Potomac.

3. Leggings as Pants

YAYYYY Kimmie!

YEESH Khloe! :-p

Sometimes, in some circumstances, I like leggings as pants. There, I said it. Yes, in the midst of a group of bundled up Clevelanders, a lone gal in a short puffy jacket, leggings, and Uggs looks pretty ridic. Furthermore, an outfit consisting of a tank top, leggings, and flipflops makes one look quite literally like a fish out of water.

But a long sweater pulled over leggings (past the butt) is, IMO, hot and ‘cozy’-looking. See Kim, not Khloe. Sorry Khlo.

2. Caftans

What’s a caftan? Town & Country Magazine had a whole article on caftans (…don’t ask why I read Town & Country when I live in neither a town nor the country, nor am I the ‘high society’ woman for whom this magazine was intended.) Anyway, caftans are ceremonial robes originally worn by Ottoman emperors (see?) that are meant to go from a day at the beach to a night at a gala. Colorful, glamorous, dramatic, I’d pay to see one of these make an appearance here in Cleveland.

1. Hats

Ooh! Ahh!

UGGHH!

Okay, people don’t wear these kinds of hats in Cleveland. But the truth is, they don’t wear them in NYC either. Or in England on non-wedding days. But who doesn’t love a good hat? Tell me people, why can’t we wear these?

I considered joining the Red Hat Society so I could wear a red hat, but apparently I’m too young. Want to know the poem on which the Red Hat Society is based?

“When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me. …” (read more)

The idea behind the Red Hat Society is to let oneself be ridiculous, in a good way. You know, not take ourselves so seriously. I think that’s all I want out of fashion. Permission to be ridiculous.

I cannot describe how frustrated I am with myself for accidentally deleting ALL of Joe’s graduation photos. I neglected to take photos of our morning brunch, but I had quite a few from the actual graduation (including him receiving his diploma!), the reception afterward, and our celebratory dinner at B-Spot. For now, this slideshow of iphone photos will have to do! Congratulations to an incredibly special man with a heart of gold and a brain of sponge I’m sorry for deleting our wonderful memories