Dividend Day!

Last Saturday, Kyler and I headed to Kings Island to enjoy a private event put on by P&G, Dividend Day. The whole park was rented out by the company for its employees' and retirees' families to enjoy. And enjoy it, we did. [Sorry the photos aren't the best, they're Droid pics]

All over the park were huge blow ups  or P&G stations. Here is Kyler, sitting on his throne. He often complains that our toilet is not big enough (not sure what that means/don't want to ask), but I think this one would stop his complaining.

I was mimicking Mr. Clean, who was unfortunately positioned right over the sewage tank. Hence, the cross arm and sour face. Not my best photo ever.

We definitely got spoiled that day. We had ridden four roller coasters within our first half hour! There were no lines. And the only ride we had to wait in line was for the dang swings. I hated them. Kyler and I thought we'd probably leave around 6pm. But around 3pm, we'd ridden everything, some multiple times, and we were ready to leave.

This picture below is why we didn't take in the big camera. I'd rather the phone be the casualty.

If you know me, you know that spinning movements don't treat my stomach well. I can ride rollercoasters all day, but spin me in circles or drive me down a winding road, and I get car sick. Kyler thought we should try the new swings ride. Bad idea. We spun around so quickly that I knew before the ride stopped that I was in trouble. So I opted out of the last couple of rides and took these pictures of Kyler.

I am  so glad I could take these  photos before he was aware of it.  I definitely got the "holy cow I can't believe I just did that" look, even though you can't see it well in the pictures.

Before we even entered the park, though, we turned in our voucher to pick up our bag of P&G loot. I guess my post last week was a bit premature since we now possess even more product. Look what we picked up!

All in all, we had a great day together. We enjoyed a day of beautiful weather, an uncrowded theme park, and being with each other! Awww.

Wordless Wednesday: Transplanted

Katy Perry

Jamie: Hey, my director just gave me Katy Perry tickets for next next Wednesday night. Would you like to go or is that too far past your bedtime? :-) Plus I don't even know if you like Katy Perry...

Me: Oh my flippin gosh! I would love to! And yes it is past my bedtime. Though kyler might be a bigger katy perrfy fan than me...for real!
Jamie: Ask him if he'd like to go. Kyle said if Kyler goes, he will too.
Me: Kyler said he would love to go. This was his response: Can we party like Last Friday Night. It would be Exteraterrestrial. You made my Teenage Dream come true. Will there be California Girls there? Will it be Hot & Cold? Can I Kiss a Girl and Like it?

And that was that.

Opening Act: Janelle Monae?

Waiting for Katy Perry. Did  I mention the tickets were for the Mayor's Suite. It was awesome!

The show begins with a little (creepy) story.

And then Katy Perry finally comes on stage.

Always clad in interesting clothing.

She's quite the entertainer.

Set changes. You know, hanging meat from the rafters is normal.

There were cool light shows.

There were laser shows.



There were acrobats.

There were surprise lifts.

Sparkly outfits in mid-air.

There was a huge crowd, made up of all ages. And apparently everyone got the message to wear their orange flashing sunglasses besides me. Luckily, it wasn't too sunny inside ;)

There were trap doors.

There was a flying cloud of cotton candy.

Here she is really close to us.

During 'Hot & Cold' she ran in and out of different changing stations and sported probably 20 outfits during that one song.

Same song. Different dress.

Then she invited fans on stage. First she asked an "Indiana Boy" to come visit her. The first guy, when she asked how old he was, she responded "17!? You want me to go to jail!??

More candy-themed dresses.

The show ended with fireworks.



Of course, while she was singing my favorite song  "Firework"

Then she came out for an encore...in a veryinteresting outfit.

And then the whole thing ended while she doused her front-row guests with a huge squirt gun.

Thanks Jamie for a great night and the awesome tickets!

More Perks of Work

I'm pretty sure I started work at the busiest time of the year. I was immediately taking on huge tasks that I was pretty sure I wouldn't see for at least three years. I thought I needed experience. I guess they think I just needed some guidance.

Our team spent some late nights at the office, but it all paid off. We were rewarded with an afternoon off to catch a Cincinnati Reds game.

Pretty incredible seats!

It was fun to see everyone out of the office. The girl I work with and I were trying to figure out what to wear. We work with all guys and weren't sure our short shorts were the most appropriate attire. But it was stinkin 98 degrees that day.

Kyler asked me if I saw anything cool. While I think he was referring to a home run or someone stealing home or a no-hitter, I exclaimed "YES!"

Ben Affleck's twin sat in the row in front of us. I spent most of the last half of the game trying to secretly capture his picture. This is by far not his best angle ;)

I'm not sure that's exactly what Kyler was looking for, so I also mentioned this:

"Oh yeah, when the visiting team was walking off the field, one of the players was carrying a Hello Kitty bag and a pink boa."

And his follow up may have been..."So, did you see anything cool?" Guess we have different ideas of cool.

Perks of Work

Kyler interned for Procter & Gamble this summer (in case you hadn't heard).

And one of the perks of his work was all the product he brought home.

He spent the summer in the finance department in the fabric care division. Gain. Tide. Bounce. Era. (He's asleep as I'm writing this on Friday night or I'm sure he could rattle of all the ones I'm forgetting).

I heard about them all summer, and I got to take some on a test drive too. After our move, we finally had a place to consolidate our laundry supply stash. And it's quite the stash!

Besides the Zest bars on the second shelf, this was all loot from Kyler's job. And this was after I'd given my mom a few favors for helping us move. And this doesn't count the Cascade and Joy dish soap that are in the kitchen. I tell you, our house and laundry smells amazing!

Some things wouldn't fit in the cabinet though.

In our old apartment, we had to share laundry facilities with our building. Kyler, especially, was excited that we finally had our own laundry set. Not because he does laundry but because he couldn't wait to install one of our many Bounce bars into the dryer. Verdict: Wonderful. No more forgetting dryer sheets. No more static-clung socks.

Here he is with the over-zealous installation:

Ta Da! No more staticky socks for at least 3 months :)

Now, if only he could work for the Olay finance department. I think I'm getting some wrinkles :(

A Drizzly Day in Pittsburgh

While Saturday in Pittsburgh was scorching hot (109 to be exact), the next day was drizzly and headed down to Monday's high of 65. Before we left, we checked out the weather and had decided to do all of our outdoor walking on Saturday, and we saved the indoor activities for Sunday.

I chose our first stop (after Dunkin Donuts) to be the Henry Clay Frick Museum.

The daughter had a huge art collection housed in this building, along with the PAN collection currently on display. Interesting but not amazing.

Our favorite part of the Henry Clay Frick Estate was the carriage house. We weren't allowed to take pictures but there were multiple models of the family's carriages, and we had a volunteer guide us through the carriage house explaining why the family chose each carriage.

A little walk down from the carriage house was a small cafe, fully stocked by herbs from its very own green house.

And this is what I get when I ask for a picture.

Here is a building on the estate, but I'm not exactly sure what it was...besides gorgeous.

We could've taken guided tours of the family's actual home (which is what I really wanted to do) but we didn't realize it was $12/person until we got there. So we shot this half-exposed picture of the home.

Completely fed up with the rain ready to check out other attractions in town, we headed to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Kyler was all about this museum. Although we saw some pretty awesome gemstones and dinosaur fossils, we're abiding by the rules and not posting them online. Bummer for you guys, but next time we see ya, we'll be sure to share our photos. Those dinos were amazing.

So we headed back to the hotel for the evening, and packed our things to head out the next morning. In the lobby, though, was this cute old-fashioned telephone. I just wanted a picture of it, but Kyler picked up the phone and had shoved it up to my ear just in time to hear the lady at the front desk asking if I needed assistance. So...I hung up on her. And photographed the phone.

And now I want a vintage telephone. And camera. And buffet......I like antiques. What can I say? Grandma Faye took me to one too many flea markets, I guess.

This was my best attempt to get a photo of us both. Fail.

Oh, and we had chinese food that night at the classiest chinese restaurant either one of us had ever been to.

Although it's difficult to see, you may notice another one of Kyler's "spills". I can't take this boy anywhere! And I'm definitely not taking his picture anymore. I'm done with the blank stares hehe.

Monday morning, we woke up early (you know, because when you have the option to sleep in, your body won't let you) and headed home. Pittsburgh was our perfect three-day weekend trip. Two days was the perfect amount of time to explore the city, and the extra day to travel and relax at home allowed us to catch our breaths before heading into another busy week of work and school.