HOME home

Over the course of my life, I've had many places that I have called "home", but there is truly only one real home for me... and that is Ohio. I just returned today from 10 great days with family and friends, and feel renewed by being in the only place that really recharges my batteries. I flew in on Tuesday the 22nd, and this journey was reminiscent of journeys past... meaning kind of a nightmare! ;) When I booked the flight, I was already pretty nervous about all of the connections (Amsterdam to Frankfurt to Washington D.C. to Columbus), however that was the schedule that was available for the price I wanted to pay. I knew that it was going to be tight, so when my first flight from Amsterdam to Frankfurt got delayed by 45 minutes, I was worried that the rest of my schedule was going to come tumbling down, domino-style. I was pretty stressed and nervous for the whole flight from Amsterdam to Frankfurt, and, when we finally touched down, it was that classic airport scene - girl with large backpack sprinting from one end of the airport to the other, shouting "excuse me!!!" as she passes passengers with a more leasurely schedule. I sprinted all the way to to customs, and then to my gate. When I got there, I was SO relieved - that flight was delayed also! I told the lady at the desk how happy I was, and she told me not to say that so loud, because the other passengers weren't too happy. ;). This delay however made it really tight on my connection to Columbus, so it was another sprinting drill at Dulles. I thought for sure that when I got through customs, security, etc, and it was already time for my plane to be taking off that I was going to miss it. I ran to the gate anyways, and when I got there, they saw how out of breath I was and just said, "Columbus?". I seriously started crying at this point... it had been SUCH a long and stressful day, and they had held the plane for me. Unbelievable. So, I made it home on schedule. My luggage, unfortunately, didn't find its way home for 4 days! That was honestly the least of my worries!

KP, state-side!

The first few days in Enon, it was just me and my parents, so I just relaxed, got used to the time difference (6 hours), and discovered my new passion for Wii Fit. What a fun program! I also drove up to Lima to meet my two best friends from college, Ellen and Mandy. It was really nice to just have a few hours to catch up with them. :)

Ellen, Mandy, and I at Bob Evans.

Em and Matt arrived on the 24th, and we continued our annual tradition of Chinese food with my Aunt Deb, Uncle Bob, and their family. We made it to midnight mass that evening, which has been moved up to 10pm... not exactly midnight, but with the jet lag, I was just as happy! ;)

Rubbing the Buddha's belly on Christmas Eve

Ready for midnight mass...

So, every Christmas, my dad hides the pickle ornament on the tree... I think this is a German custom, but I'm not really sure. Anyways, the person that finds the pickle gets good luck for a year, plus bragging rights. I don't think I have EVER found the stupid pickle! And this year, with Matt as part of our family, I have more competition than ever! And, guess what? I didn't find it again! ;) It's all in good fun!

Looking for the pickle... sneaky santa found it this year!

Every year, we have a progressive dinner with some of my dad's family, where we eat appetizers at one house, then salads, main dish, dessert, etc. It's always a lot of fun, and this year was no different. Here is the whole crazy group at my parents' house:

Pitsticks on the loose... look out!

Saturday after Christmas, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful, but cold weather, and go for a hike to the Pine Forest in Glen Helen. It was nice to get out and enjoy a little Mother Nature. :)

Bundled up in the forest

Sean arrived on Saturday night, and so the whole family drove down to Cincinnati to enjoy a dinner at the Hofbrauhaus (yes, the sister to the real one in Munich) and to pick up Sean. It was so nice to see him... everything felt a little more complete after he got there.

yum!

Sunday, we carried on our annual tradition of a family movie at Christmas-time. This year, we saw Avatar in 3D, and it was AWESOME! I absolutely loved it -the story and the effects were great!

The whole gang enjoying one of my mom's delicious meals

Sunday night, the snow was really coming down. Since I'm still a big kid at heart, I was really itching to go out and play in it. I proceeded to get wrestled to the ground by Sean... fun times!

It's a little cold!

On Monday, Em, Matt, Sean and I went skiing at Mad River Mountain... unfortunately, my camera died, but we had a great time!!

Wednesday, Em and Matt had us over to their beautiful home for a yummy dinner. I made my first recipe out of the Julia Child cookbook I got for Christmas - Reine de Saba chocolate cake - to bring for dessert. It was a really nice evening.

The Pitwards, Pitwolfs, and Pitsticks

For New Years Eve, Sean and I decided to get out and spend some time just the two of us. We booked a hotel in Cincinnati, and enjoyed the sights there. We of course had to go to the Hofbrauhaus, and then we made our way to the Newport Acquarium in Kentucky. It was cool, but a little overpriced, I thought.

My favorites were the jellyfish!

We celebrated the New Year at Cincy's oldest bar, Arnold's, where they had a really great blue grass band playing. We made our way to Fountain Square just in time for fireworks and to welcome in the new decade.

Happy new year!!

Sean and I both left on Saturday... him for Portland, and me for Amsterdam... it was hard to say goodbye after having such a nice week. We are counting down the days until we can be in the same city permanentely... which is hopefully less than 50 at this point, but I don't have the exact date yet.

So, here I am, just me, myself and I, back in Amsterdam after such a great week. Waiting for my suitcases... oh yes, that's right, they didn't make it. AGAIN! Hoping to have them by this afternoon, but I'm not holding my breath!

Wishing you all a happy, healthy new year!!! All the best! xx