Dad's 50th Birthday

This past weekend, we celebrated my wonderful father’s 50^th birthday! My mom throws amazing parties and this was no different. We had a great time celebrating with all of our family.. The pictures will speak for themselves J

Beef on the spit…yum!

My Dad, Bub, and Big Bubs

Brandon and Audra

Some Nanner kisses

My loves

Lamb on the spit…again, yummm

The bar

The sista

My mom's garden

The boo

Seafood!

The parents :)

Uncle Joe + Bubs



Lovin' on big bub

We had such a fabulous time! I love getting to go home. With how busy life gets, it’s hard to make it back to Youngstown for some family time so I cherish each and every second of it.

Title Change!

Notice any changes in this little blog of mine?? I got a new name! *high five*

The bestie and I were sitting around watching tv last night while the guys were being active and rock climbing and I said “Hey, should I change my blog title since in a few weeks I will no longer be a “newlywed”? We decided that I should then the hard part came when we had to THINK of a name. How in the world was I going to think of something!? I could barely think of “It’s a Newlywed Life” let alone a whole new blog title. The challenges of life, right? Anyways, luckily Megan is super creative and came up with “Young Love and the City” and I knew that just HAD to be my new title. I ended up dropping the “Young” in the name because I hope to have this blog for the long haul and as much as I hate to admit it, I’m not going to be young forever! So rather than risk the chance of changing this little blog’s name again, I just made it “Love + the City”.

So many (or just two) of you may wonder “Hey, what’s the meaning behind the name?” Well folks, it’s pretty simple. The hubs and I are in love (sappy romance) and we LOVE living in downtown Columbus, hence “Love + the City”. We live in the Victorian Village/Short North area in Columbus and could not be more in love with the area. We have sacrificed potentially having a newer/nicer apartment in the suburbs of C-bus for a small, not so nice apartment right in the city and it is perfect for us.



<3



Downtown

So, cheers the new blog title! Maybe one day if I get real into blogging I’ll have someone fancy it up for me! But for now, you’ll have to deal with my photoshop/paint shop art. ;)

Run with the Pack!

This Saturday, Megan and I will be participating in the “Run with the Pack” 5k which benefits the Pets without Parents Animal Shelter. We love participating in charity run/walks and now we can with our pups, Hannah and Gunner, which makes it even better! Even if you don’t have a pup to walk with, you are more than welcome to join and support this great, no-kill animal shelter.

Here are the details:

Date: Saturday, June 23, 2012

Place: Scioto Audubon Metro Park on the Whittier Peninsula of the Scioto River, 395 W. Whittier Street, German Village. We will be by the dog park - turn off Whittier Street to Maier Place, which ends at the dog park (see park map and MapQuest map)

Distance: 5K race and 1 mile fun run/walk

Course Maps: Click here for the 5K course and the 1 mile course

Time: On-Site Registration starts at 7:30AM. Run starts promptly at 8:30AM (rain or shine).

About “Pets without Parents”:

Pets without Parents, founded in June of 2001, is a non-profit, no-kill, all-breed shelter for dogs and cats.

Their mission is to place every pet that enters our shelter into a loving, permanent home; to motivate our local community to support our shelter, its no-kill mission, and spay-neuter efforts through donation, volunteer, and adoption opportunities...until every pet goes home.

We LOVE our shelter pups and can’t wait to support this amazing cause. If you’re interested, join Team Han-Gun! (aren’t they the cutest??)

Guess who's back...

Back again? Shady's back, tell a friend.

(had to get that out of my system...)

So, whoa, guess who made a comeback to blogland. This girl *thumbs pointing to me*

Cuuute, right? ;)

Ok, ok, here is a “normal” me

I haven’t posted anything since, hmm, about the January time frame? Wowzers (yep, I just said that). So the reasons for my hiatus are:

A.      I really didn’t don't have the time to post everyday and I thought you had to to be a blogger. 

B.      Most everything I do is with this girl (my bff) and she blogs about our adventures AND she is really good at blogging soooor I'll just be linking to her blog when we do cool shiz that you might want to hear about (which is everyday, duh)!

C.      I suck at blogging (see below for explanation)

So why start up again? Well for one, I love reading people’s blogs. It’s a good way to learn about other people from around the Columbus area (and find good activities to do with my hubby and friends!). I also love learning about people from other states, seeing what they are like and learning that people from Utah, Texas, Kentucky, etc really aren’t that different from me (except for the occasional “ya’ll” and cowboy boot outfits) aaaaand because I feel like a total creep when I know a lot about other bloggers and they don’t know I exist (that puts me at the TOP of creeper status, all I’m missing are some binoculars) so I feel like I should give this blog thing another go and give others a chance to get to know me!

Another reason of why I stopped is because I felt like a blogger fail. I didn’t don’t think I am all that good about expressing myself through writing. I have a big background in blogging/writing but that was in sports so when it comes to writing about me, I suck. I set so many “rules” about how a blogger should blog but then I thought to myself, there are no rules to blogging. It is my own blog and whether people read it or not is not a goal for me. My goal is to create a “diary” of sorts for me to look back on and reminisce. Don’t get me wrong, I would loooove for some people to find me interesting enough to read, but that isn’t my #1 goal.

So, here is my first post on my take-two blog.

Have a great weekend everyone!

PS - Should I change my blogger name since in about a month I will no longer be a "newlywed"??.....let's not get ahead of ourselves, here. I just got back into the swing of things ;).

Danielle still has a blog?? Bling-Bling link up!

HimynameisDanielleandIneverblogunlessitisalink-uporaneasytopictowriteabout.

So the only reason why I am blogging after a month-long hiatus is to show of my ring bling! This is the best gift I’ve ever received! Here is a little bit of a back story on this pretty little thing on my left ring finger….

So I had absotutely*, no stinkin' idea that Jason was even thinking about proposing to me when he did! We discussed that I had to wait for him to pop the big ? until after he finished law school! Which is not until 2013! Ahh, talk about surprise!  Yes, we talked about getting married and all of the important questions potentially engaged couples need to talk about before getting engaged (cough, Kim K.) but one thing we never discussed was the bling!  I think the main reason we never discussed it was because Jason already had the ring!

After Jason’s mom passed away, his grandma decided to buy him some diamonds for Jason to give to his future wife since Jason’s sisters got his mother’s jewelry. Jason decided that I was the lucky girl he was going to give those purtty diamonds to! I not only love this ring because Jason gave it to me but also because it also comes from a very special lady to both of us and because Jason got to design the ring himself! So pretty much, I have a one of a kind, never replicated ring. (Not sure how true that last statement is considering I’ve seen rings like mine but never one exactly like it. There might be one out there though!) Also, Jason was able to use some of the diamonds in his band which is great!

So much meaning behind the ring bling! Love it. So without further ado…here is the BLING!

they're hiding in the wedding bouquet ha!

both of our rings!

We’re I’m hoping to add another band for a special anniversary….so I’ll update you all in 10 years…(hint…Jason….hint)

So there you have it! The bling that keeps my left ring finger warm and symbolizes the love and commitment Jason and I have for each other.

Thanks for reading! (pretty much just my bff, Megan who already knows all about my ring lol J )

*absotutely is a Parks & Rec reference. I know the word is supposed to be “absolutely”. Please don’t think I’m an uneducated idiot. Thanks.