February is Liz's Birthday Month, pt. 1

February 3: Now… as everything was coming together for our house purchase (quickly and smoothly, I might add) I was also preparing for Liz’s big birthday AND the accompanying bevy of secrets and surprises lined up for the celebration. One of the first things Liz did when our offer was accepted was pack up our guest bedroom bedding and linens which, ok, that’s fine BUT I had two surprise guests coming out for the party! So on the Tuesday before her birthday I took a sneaky solo trip to the Gardner residence to pick up some bedding that they and Anne leant me.

February 4: Final walkthrough of our new place to be. Everything looks pretty good!

February 5: It’s Liz’s birthday! An atmospheric drive into work and then after work I dress up the party house for the celebration.

Now, the Big Surprise of the party was that Liz’s friends Tawna and Jese had flown out to celebrate with us. Liz came into the party and greeted her assembled guests but when she saw Tawna and Jesi just standing around all casual like your normal party goer Liz just said “No! No! No!” And the partying kept on partying, thanks to assembled friends and family and an excess of Jets Pizza.

February 6: After Liz’s Big Day, another big day! We sign on our house and start owning it! First things first: pancakes at Mercury Diner.

And then we go sign a stack of papers and the house is OURS!

Big shout to to Jesi for her endless support during our visit and always helping with a project or finding a project. Here we are, the day almost done, making a stop at Home Depot to find replacement locks for all our doors, which she would install the next day.

February 7: And speaking of the Next Day…we wake up on Saturday and it’s moving day number one. Today’s project: Boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes!

We couldn’t have done it without the mob of helpers who showed up, of which I barely got any pictures at all (because we were working!)…but the team got the truck loaded in about an hour. Wish I had a picture of all the boxes filling the old house, but, actually, kinda glad to forget what it looked like, too.

Unpacking at the New Place was a little bit more work but we did it and Jesi got so many locks installed before having to zip off to her flight and Tawna was able to stop by for a group photo.

And with all those goings on going on that Saturday, would you believe that that night Liz still played a gig? She sure did!

February 10 & 11: Two days of calm. Waking up at the old house. Dropping things off at the new house. Making special guest appearances at the Bridgeway recital. This is the calm before the storm that would be Liz’s Surprise Birthday Trip!

January 2026

JAN 2: January, a not so insignificant of a month this year, began with a rousing game of Zombicide. Reed and Valerie hosted. Ron mastered and showed off his painted figurines. Liz organized figurines. We beat the zombies.

and when we get home…time for a walk! It’s cold out there.

JAN 3: A walk around the neighborhood.

JAN 9: Take my car in for its annual physical, admire a gorgeous V90.

JANUARY 7-9: Around the house and outside the house.

JANUARY 10: Gets off to a nice start taking graduation and mission photos for niece Lizzie.

And THEN we spent a life-altering afternoon looking at a few houses we had seen on the internet. If you know us then you probably know which one we made an offer on three days later but if you really know us you may know which one we almost made an offer on that night. And if you were there, you know which one we wish we could have changed our whole lifestyle to live in. Oh and if you were at the post-touring late lunch debrief at Chuy’s you know the excitement over possibilities was palpable.

JANUARY 13: Jeff blows through town again on his annual Californa-and-Back roadtrip. He is one of the first to hear me say “Dude, we made an offer on a house.”

JANUARY 15: Well, that was quick! Really the purchasing of this home was miraculously smooth and, writing this on March 1st, the coming together of the new home is also going very very smooth.

JANUARY THE REST: And honestly, from there everything was a blur of driving to work, going to the OSU vs Michigan swim meet, looking at vintage toys, seeing a movie or two, going to a friend’s dad’s viewing, a couple of temple trips, and a big heavy snow while we gathered the paperwork and money to buy our new dang house! But also … something else was a brewing the scenes, much not to Liz’s knowledge. I’ll tell you all about that in the February post.

Catching Up and Wrapping Up, pt. 3

And now we finish off 2025!

December 24: Dinner and gift giving at Anne’s! A certain backpack and Jell-O vase were Big Hits!

December 25: Christmas! Our first fully Columbus Christmas — before we’ve always been running off to California or waking up in California. But this year: Just keeping it nice in Columbus. Began the day with the unwrapping of presents (Cornelius got a mirror ball and a new tunnel!) and the cooking and eating of the Christmas quiche!

And then…a big long Christmas walk! Testing out new shoes and sweatshirts and looking at cute houses and rose gardens in winter.

December 26: I start the day with a walk around the neighborhood outside of our neighborhood.

And that evening, after walking around a Target and parking lot while Liz got a massage, we return to our beloved La Supertorta after quite a lengthy absence and I return to eating tortas cubanas after a very lengthy absence. This was a delicious one, surely it would’ve been lauded in a certain article if it were in New York eleven years ago.

December 28: A big long long walk all through all over Quarry Trails Metro Park. Did you know there’s an old cemetery there? There sure is!

December 30: Were you worried I wasn’t going to post a neighborhood walk this post? Worry no longer!

December 31: I had lunch at Red Robin, it wasn’t so bad. And after work I came home, that was even better.

And then, we got a little dressed up and went to Ruth’s Chris to celebrate the new year with steak and vegetables. What a life! What a year! It seemed pretty good to me.