Hahn Family Reunion

Every year, the Hahn Family - my Mom's side of the family - meets up between the Christmas and New Year holidays. Usually everyone would just come to our house for the day in Solon. This year we stepped it up a notch by renting out The Wooster Inn's Guest House. It was a nice upgrade because it allowed all of the Hahns to stay the night and spend more time together.

Joe and I made it back to Pittsburgh around 2 o'clock this afternoon. We unpacked, did laundry and started to re-pack in preparation for our vacation. Although we do not look forward to our early morning flight tomorrow, we are very excited to be heading south!

Merry Christmas Part II

Yesterday we returned to Solon to have some holiday time with my family. The weekend kicked off with a neighborly party with the Simonsens and Sultzbachs, as well as Suzi and Jon. We had some tasty food and then had a gingerbread house making contest...which I took very seriously. Here are some of the pictures of what I think was the best house made by Joe and I. We had some great detailed work.

This morning my family celebrated a late Christmas. It was nice to have the holiday together though. Tomorrow we are heading to Wooster for some more family fun with my mom's side of the family.

Christmas Day...

Christmas Day was very relaxing for Joe and I. We slept in til 9:45 (!) - then we ran downstairs to see what Santa left us in our stockings. Before opening presents, we had a pancake breakfast. After gifts we watched Fred Claus and the time that finished, it was already mid-afternoon. We dressed warmly and went for a walk in Schenley Park then drove around exploring the surrounding neighborhoods. We capped off the night with a ham dinner and another movie (The Dark Knight). Hope everyone had a good Christmas as well!

Tis the night before Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve to all! Joe and I went to his parents house this evening to enjoy a shellfish dinner - an old Patrick tradition. We feasted on shrimp, crab and lobster - a delicious tradition I don't mind adopting whatsoever. After dinner, we talked, exchanged gifts and had dessert. Twas a very good night!

Presents are Wrapped!

I few of the presents I wrapped today. I think I'm ready for Christmas now!

Ole Ole Ole!

Over the past month or two, Joe has been playing intramural soccer with his friends in New Castle. I had declined to play because I wanted to stay healthy for my marathon. Now that the marathon is in the past, I played this week! It was a very exciting game and it was a lot of fun to play again. Unfortunately there is only one more game Joe and I can make before we head South for some sun in Florida and the Bahamas.

Just fix it already!

Our plumbing/sewage is still a problem. The plumber and contractor for our house came back and put plugs in two drains (something they should have done originally - they had initially used old rags and trash to clog these drains). Then they put a leveler over top of the plugged drains. Last time they left the floor in its undulating condition. The carpet was supposed to be laid today, but we discovered that there was water leaking around the leveler and about an inch or two of water in our garage and mechanical room (at least this time it didn't smell). If you live in Pittsburgh, never use Allstate Construction for any work. Horrible.

New Header

Per the request of two of my loyal readers, I have changed the blog's header. Considering that I'm pretty sure I only have 4 or 5 loyal readers, I decided it best not to drive away about half of my audience. Enjoy the non-Steeler holiday banner.

Suzi, you can have no complaints - you took this picture.

Happy Holidays!

Real or Fake?

For the past two Christmases, Joe and I have gone to a tree farm and cut down our own tree. We had been intending to do the same this year. However, last night at The Wine Loft I was told a few horror stories of bugs and spiders that were in the live trees and then infested homes. Scary. My parents have always gotten a real tree so I somewhat cling to the tradition, but these stories got me thinking about the option of an artificial tree.

There are a lot of pros to an artificial tree so I have been leaning towards that option. It is hard to let go of the real tree though...

Christmas Present...

About a month ago, I had the perfect Christmas gift planned for Joe. He was in need of a new power drill. His current drill was 7.5 volts - less than 9 volts which is what my remote control car uses to power itself around our house. Needless to say, Joe was embarrassed by his baby drill.

He was able to borrow drills when he made repairs at our work properties and such. However, a problem occurred when we tried to hang our curtain rods. His 7.5 baby drill could barely make it through the drywall and would cry to a stop when it hit a 2x4. We wanted to get curtains up sooner than later so Joe got his drill early.

This happened about two weeks ago and I have been trying to think of a good gift since then. Any ideas...? Email them rather than post a comment...Joe occasionally reads the blog.

MarathonFoto

My pictures from the marathon were posted on MarathonFoto this morning. I'm thinking that no one looks very attractive when they wake up at 5:30 AM and then run 26.2 miles. This is Joe's favorite picture - and yes, I am giving a thumbs up. That was me pretending that I was feeling okay.

Home again.

Our Vegas trip has concluded and we are back in Pittsburgh. We were fortunate enough to be upgraded to first class for our flight back - Joe has "silver" status for US Airways and was able to take me with him to enjoy the large seats and free drinks!

Here is a picture of the sunset over Lake Las Vegas last night. It was gorgeous!
Also, there will be more Vegas pictures to come! Suzi just needs to email them to me...just a friendly reminder. :)

We did it!

Suzi and I are sore and tired but we ran all of the 26.2 miles to complete the Las Vegas Marathon! Katie finished the half marathon as well! We all started at 6:07 AM to the Viva Las Vegas song and fireworks as we ran 6 miles down the strip and to the suburbs of Vegas. Katie and I were able to run together through the first 5.5 miles until the half and full marathons split.

It was incredibly difficult and while running, I promised myself never to repeat such an agonizing event. In the end it was a great experience but I think I would prefer to just stick to the half marathons from now on.

Airport Taxi

We're in Vegas! I knew it was going to be a little chilly but I was still surprised by the mid-50's weather. I have only been to Vegas in the middle of the scorching summer where the sun is unobstructed and beats down in the desert making it 110 degrees.

Yesterday, Joe and I were up at 5:30 AM and ready to seize the day. Usually we might adjust to the 3 hour time change, but this time the trip is short and it is advantageous to be on an early schedule since the marathon will start at 6:07 AM tomorrow. We met up with Suzi and Jon who had arrived the previous evening and then we started our tour of the course (we want to be mentally prepared). After the 26 mile loop, we picked up our race bags and bib numbers and then enjoyed a Sushi lunch before picking up my Mom at the airport.

After she checked in to her hotel, we toured the strip as we walked from the Monte Carlo to Treasure Island. After dinner, we headed back to the airport to pick up Katie and Joe's parents. With it being 8:30 PM, I was exhausted and was finally happy to get in bed.

To Vegas!

Joe and I are headed off to Vegas tomorrow morning. After many months of training, Suzi and I will finally be running our Marathon on Sunday. Since so much time and effort has gone into this race, we are looking forward to finishing it. The marathon isn't really a race for us (we know we will be far behind the 1st place finisher), it's just a challenge to see if we can run the 26.2 consecutive miles.

Mini Closets

The cubbie holes in our bedroom are finally done! I think it was worth the wait because they look great and will be very functional.

sEWWWage.

Here is another house problem I forgot to complain about:

A week or two ago, our garage started to smell horrible. I thought I had a dead, rotting pigeon on the bottom of my tire - that's how unpleasant the stench was. However, we discovered that the culprit of the putrid odor was the sewage backing up into our garage...ewww, gross.

After further investigation, we found that the plumber had messed up and caused this issue. Therefore, we will continue to have construction going on at our house. Does this kind of thing happen with all new homes? Always a few kinks to be worked out before all is well?