House on Strathmore

4 Month Photo Shoot

2012-02-07T19:17:00.000-08:00

Today our little man turned four months old! Since he seems to be growing and changing so fast, we decided it was a good time to break out the camera once again and snap just a few shots of him. Out of the 326 pictures we took, here were our 7 favorite:

Video of Charlie Giggling

2012-02-01T05:21:00.001-08:00

Things have been pretty hectic around House on Strathmore lately and the blog has been feeling the pain. Here's a little video of Charlie giggling. I know parents always say this but I swear he's the happiest baby I've ever seen. He is smiling from ear to ear all the time. It takes him a little to get into it on this video but it's worth the wait :)

Charlie discovers his first toy

2012-01-11T17:20:00.000-08:00

You know the saying "they change every day," well that is definitely true these days. Charlie received lots of great toys for Christmas and we've been introducing a few of them to him recently and today it he finally got into it. The real key for him was figuring out how to work his hands!!!

CPL's Aunt Amanda & Uncle Ryan got him a Bright Start Activity Station that we're keeping downstairs and his Gigi & Papa John got him another exersaucer for upstairs. We tried putting him in one last week and this was the result:

Bottom line--he wasn't interested!

What a difference a week makes in the world of Charlie Laur. We put him in there again tonight and OMG he has totally gained control of his arms and hands--its seriously incredible! Check out our baby genius!

3 Years of Chelsea

2012-01-04T16:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday marked Chelsea's 3 year "adoption anniversary" with us. Chelsea came to us in 2009 from the Maryland SPCA where she'd been transferred from BARCS after being found on the "streets" of Baltimore. They told us she'd probably been abused and while she was only 1 1/2 she'd given birth to at least two litters of puppies. Anyone who has had the pleasure of walking Chelsea or seeing her interact with other pups understands that she carries those days from the streets with her constantly. Yeah, she is definitely a fighter but she is just as much a lover. She does everything intensely: eating, sleeping, walking, barking, playing, fighting, etc.

While Charlie definitely confirmed our status as a "family" we felt like a family of three before he entered our lives. "Chels" is definitely not a lay around kind of pup, she wants to be entertained, touched, played with, and basically adored 24/7. Since having Charlie I have had many days where she was trying my patience more than him.

She's also as smart as they come. She's a pro at catch and this past summer mastered swimming! She recognizes that good food is hard to come by and always wants to savor the opportunity. During the first month we had Chelsea I left a few steaks to thaw on the counter only to come home and find them both gone. A few hours later when we sat down to watch TV, John reached in between the cushions and pulled out an entire steak! Then, there was the time she slept on the kitchen table to get closer to the fan during a hot summer night.

We couldn't have imagined the past three years without her...she makes us smile and shake our heads in disbelief (mainly that we let her run our lives) every day.

Chelsea's first night at House on Strathmore

John meeting Chelsea for the first time at the SPCA--her name was "Brooke" then

Her first snow, I think we'd had her a week at this point

This past summer, at her favorite spot--Herring Run Stream!

Ringing 2012 in with style

2012-01-01T18:02:00.000-08:00

What a year 2011 was! As long as 9 + months of pregnancy feels like, when I consider that I wasn't even pregnant last NYE it feels like it all flew by. Charlie is growing up so fast and lastnight really showcased that. We had a few friends over, most of which also have little ones, and Charlie was loving all the attention and interaction from the other little boys--Evan & Max. Here are some pictures of them "playing" :)

Once the kiddos went to bed the adults counted down with lots of food, beverages, and an intense game of Catch Phrase. One really fun thing we did this year was have everyone fill out "I want to leave behind in 2011..." card that we then all tossed into a bonfire after the ball dropped. It's been unseasonably warm and even at midnight it couldn't have been below 50 degrees outside.

I am absolutely obsessed with pinterest and have been trying lots of new recipes. For NYE I made Bang Bang Shrimp and these Oreo Truffles. You can see all the recipes on my pin boards here.

And finally, our little guy was well dressed for the night (thanks to his Aunt Amanda), rocking the "Party in my Crib" onesie! We can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for the House on Strathmore Family and look forward to sharing all our adventures with you! Charlie has been talking up a storm lately, if you want to check out what he has to say click here.

A Christmas Outfit or FOUR

2011-12-26T15:24:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas House on Strathmore followers! We had an incredible holiday on the Eastern Shore and saw aunts, cousins, and friends during our 4-day trip. Charlie, as you'd expect, was completely showered with presents and has already caused his mother to have some minor anxiety attacks about where to put all these toys! John and I have always loved visiting my parent's house, because in addition to catching up with family and friends it really feels like we're "getting away" and that's probably mostly due to the incredible hosting job Mom & Dad always do!

Christmas is definitely not over for us as we'll be celebrating with Papa John & Yvette tomorrow and John's sisters on Friday--let the egg nog, Christmas music, and excessive eating continue!

If you are interested in seeing pictures from our Christmas on the shore, click here!

As Christmas approached we starting losing count of all the adorable outfits Charlie was receiving from his grandparents, aunts, and cousins! Here are shots of him wearing 4 of those outfits!

Candy House: A Kemp Family Tradition

2011-12-19T18:29:00.000-08:00

As a kid my sister and I couldn't wait to "make the candy house," which was probably my favorite christmas tradition. The tradition comes from my Pop-Pop's side (Mom's father) and has now found it's way to Strathmore Avenue. John and I have done our own candy house each year we've been together and each year they seem to get better. The real secret to success is in the batter that serves as the foundation for the candy and this year it was P-E-R-F-E-C-T! For those interested in doing a candy house of your own the steps are pretty simple:

1. Build your house from cardboard and duct tape
2. Have your candy all picked out and ready to decorate because as soon as the base goes on you need to hop on the decorating right away.
3. Mix up the batter, the starting point is 6 egg whites and about 2 bags of powdered sugar but depending on how much you need you have to just keep adding some of both components until the batter is the right level of stickiness!

Not that its a competition but before I share pictures of House on Strathmore's candy house you can check out my mom's and aunt's house below for this year!

Aunt Kitty's candy house!

Mom and Dad's candy house!

Now for our house! Of course we documented the process with plenty of action shots! You can be the judge of which household wins for 2011!

Last neighborhood walk of 2011

2011-12-08T14:41:00.000-08:00

We are fortunate to live in one of the best neighborhoods in Baltimore, Lauraville, that has amongst its many many strengths Great Sidewalks! Since moving to the neighborhood 3 + years ago we've been walking the neighborhood streets daily to make sure Chelsea gets plenty of exercise and the past 2 months Charlie and I have been getting out and about. However, sadly, today I think marked our final neighborhood walk of 2011. This is due both to my return to work, which gradually begins next week, and the dropping temps. Its hard to believe that when we get back out on the sidewalks in March he'll be going on 6 months, WHOA.

Here are some pics from our walk today!

The boy seriously can't stop smiling!

Just one of the great views we get of downtown on our walks, Lauraville has one of highest elevations in the city!

Like I said great sidewalks and a goregous moon tonight!

Garrett Heights Elementary and Middle is just a block away and has a fantastic playground that I'm sure we'll be visiting plenty in a few years!

Getting in the holiday spirit

2011-12-06T15:26:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love the holidays (like just about everyone else I know) and while Charlie may be a little too young to have any clue as to what's happening it feels a little more special this year! We got our tree the first weekend of December from the good ole' Home Depot, which has never disappointed us. We went with a Douglas Fir, here's CPL making the final decision!

We got right on the decorating and with the exception of a few more outside lights that Papa Laur still has to conquer we're in full on holiday mode over here. Chelsea is always a great sport when it comes to posing in front of the tree and this year is no exception!

I decided with the addition of the bambino we needed to step up our stocking game so I purchased new stockings for everyone (except the pup) from Land of Nod and I'm super happy with them! If anyone has seen cute/affordable puppy stockings let me know, I'm on the look out!

Charlie, like his momma, LOVES santa hats!

Next on the agenda is constructing and decorating the annual candy house. I'll be sure to post pictures of the final product :)

Growing out of things already

2011-12-01T06:09:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, Charlie will be 8 weeks and he's already growing out of some of the things we used most in those first few weeks. I have said before that babies come with a lot of stuff, but what's even more surprising (and a bit overwhelming) is the short time period they actually use all that "stuff." Here are a few of the items we're already transitioning to the basement!

Fisher Price Newborn Rock and Play Sleeper--this served as our bassinet and was perfect for us because it didn't take up much space, folds up really easily, and Charlie slept great in it from the beginning. We moved it into his nursery at about 4 weeks but kept him sleeping in it. This was to both help us get used to not having him in our room and so we could get some sound sleep--CPL is quite a loud sleeper! We transitioned Charlie to his crib this past weekend with some, to be expected, trepidation. I was worried he wasn't going to sleep well since he's used to being in cozy environments with an incline and the crib of course didn't offer either of these. But, he's doing just fine and slept for NINE hours Wednesday night--yes I was one of 'those moms' and woke up no less than 5 times to make sure he was still breathing.

Avent 4 oz. Bottles--we officially boxed up all the 4 oz. bottles this week and are now onto 9 oz. only. He eats about 5-6 oz. each feeding. We have been happy with the Avent bottles so far and I'm looking forward to when he's using sippy cups because the bottles themselves can be transitioned to sippy cups.

Ergo Infant Insert--I really like our Ergo but was not really happy with the infant insert. I thought it was really bulky and seem to smother Charlie. We used the Ergo a lot on our recent trip to Missouri, since we didn't bring a stroller along on the trip. While the packaging says you can use the infant insert until they are 5 or 6 months old, we've already had Charlie in the carrier without it and he's just fine.

Thanksgiving On The Farm

2011-11-27T06:56:00.000-08:00

The House on Strathmore Family took their first big Family Trip with Charlie to spend the Thanksgiving Holiday with the Krebs family in Cameron, Missouri.

Here is a look at the trip with a series of photos and videos broken up in a few chapters:

Chapter 1: Charlie's First Flight

Charlie proved to be a pretty good little traveler. We saved his feeding for take off, which meant he was a bit upset during boarding because he was hungry.

But once we got his belly full, Charlie spent the rest of the flight asleep, giving us a very peaceful plane ride.

Chapter 2: Everyone Gets Pictures With Charlie

The trip to Missouri was the first time for some to meet the newest member of our family. Obviously, everyone wanted there time with the little man.

Me-Maw a.k.a. Mi-Mi:

Pops:

Uncle Erich:

Grams:

Ryan (Soon to be Uncle Ryan):

Charlie:

Chapter 3: Scenes From The Farm

Here are just some scenes of us hanging outside on the Farm

Chapter 4: Thanksgiving Day Football

Thanksgiving Day was a beautiful day which started with some football:

Maggie wanted to play too:

But found the parking cone to be more entertaining then the pig skin:

We also had some great spectators:

Chapter 5: The Meal

After working up a hunger, time for the Thanksgiving meal. Here is Pops giving us the run down:

Yum

We even tried to get Charlie in on the meal

Looks like he was already too full

Chapter 6: One Final Group Shot

We had an excellent visit and we are very Thankful for the times that we get to spend with our expanding family.

6 week check-up

2011-11-17T10:16:00.000-08:00

Charlie's 6 week stats:

Height: 22 1/2 inches
Weight: 9 lbs. 8 oz.

He seems so big to us but I know plenty of babies, including his Aunt Katie, that entered the world over 9 lbs.

Here's a picture of the big man all dressed up for his doctor's appointment.


11/17/11

Trying to Get Charlie's Attention

2011-11-14T07:17:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, I spent sometime with Charlie on the floor trying to have a little "play" time. What I was hoping was to test his alertness by using toys and noises.

Most infant toys share a number of similar qualities that help grab the attention of infants - like contrasting colors (especially black and white), they will make sounds, and will have different textures. These bugs that I have certainly did the trick.

Check it out . . .

However, these only seemed to work as long as Meet The Press wasn't on. Check out this video (You hear Meet The Press in the background and the TV set is on Charlie's left, where he is certainly focused on more).

It seems that the bugs were no match for David Gregory's silver hair and some good political fodder.

Great Saturday in Lauraville

2011-11-12T13:23:00.000-08:00

The sun hasn't gone down yet today but we've had a great day already. We started out with a trip to our favorite Lauraville/Hamilton Diner, Lost in the 50's, where I enjoyed scrapple, egg, and toast and John had a ham, egg, and cheese sandwich! Charlie managed to sleep through the whole experience so we thought we'd take advantage of his nap and go on a long walk. We stopped by the house to pick up Chelsea and headed to Herring Run Trail. I haven't been back to the trail in a year or longer because Chelsea started getting really agressive with other dogs so it got to be too much. We had a good chat today about how her good behavior could lead to a big return to the trail and she seemed to take it seriously because she was fantastic. Here's a great pic from the walk:

We got back home around noon and had some great Laur visitors and Charlie got a fantastic monkey outfit and blanket with his name embroidered. And now the boys are clearly exhausted, I just captured this sweet moment.

Fall rocks!

Charlie @ 1 Month

2011-11-07T17:52:00.000-08:00

Today marks the big ONE month birthday for our little man. Here are some fun Charlie facts from our first month as a family.

Charlie's favorite activity: The Swing for sure, he loves to check himself out in the mirror mobile and its his favorite napping spot.

Charlie's least favorite activity: Having Dad dress him in anything that isn't a sleeper onezie with a zipper. It's equally as painful to watch.

Charlie's food: He is going through a bit of a growth spurt we think and in just the past few days he's transitioned from 3 oz bottles to 4 oz bottles and he's been powering through them every 3 hours or so. As for what's in the bottles, enfamil newborn.

Charlie's favorite song: We would like to guess "The Weight" by The Band. Dad plays this during his late night feedings replacing the lyrics to say "take a load off Charlie." Take a listen:

Charlie's stats: I'd like to give you Charlie's one-month stats but we don't go back to the doctor until next Thursday when I'll be sure to publish them. At his two-week appointment he was:

7 lbs. 5 oz. (5th percentile)
22 inches (75th percentile)
50th perecentile for head circumference

Charlie's best tricks: Bearing in mind he can't do too much yet his best tricks are sneezing, hiccups, and snoring (in that order).

It's hard to believe its only been a month because it feels like he's been in our lives forever but at the same time it feels like just yesterday we were meeting him for the first time.

Big First for Charlie: First piece of mail, his social security card!

Random Photo: Charlie and Chelsea

2011-11-04T09:59:00.000-07:00

Halloween On Strathmore

2011-11-01T05:25:00.000-07:00

For the past 4 Halloweens Strathmore Ave has been a growing hot spot for the Halloween hang out session. We got in the Holiday spirit a few days early by having all those in the household who are able to play with knives to carve the pumpkins.

John's Pumpkin

Bobbie's Pumpkin

Charlie's Pumpkin (done by John)

Chelsea is upset about not getting a pumkin

The whole family

Charlie starts off the evening by posing by his pumpkin (Note: outfit #1)

The festivities really got kicked off at the arrival of Evan-Saurus

Always plenty to eat at a Strathmore party including Katie Laur's 7 layer dip . . .

. . . Bobbie's Bat Cake . . .

. . . and the traditional Crabs and Boh's on the front porch.

Chelsea got dressed:

Time now for Charlie to get into his costume (Outfit #2):

and for everyone to have a turn of getting a picture with him:

Aunt Katie:

And Rhiannon (outfit #3)

All in all a successful night! Trick-or-treat-er count was placed at somewhere above 160, we did not run out of candy, good food, good drinks, good music, and the Sing-Off were enjoyed by all!

Charlie at 3 Weeks

2011-10-31T09:05:00.000-07:00

Few favorite pictures of Charlie!

2011-10-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

4 Bodies, 1 Couch

2011-10-25T09:08:00.000-07:00

The couch in the living room has been getting filled up lately with all four of us crowding around to watch some football. Foolish for us to think that just because we have the baby now that Chelsea will no longer want to be on the couch with us.

It's ok though, there is plenty of room for 4 Ravens fans to fit.

One end of the couch:

And the other end of the couch:

Getting out and about with Charlie

2011-10-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

Well we've made it two weeks at home and all in all I gotta say its not as tiring or hectic as I thought it would be. He's a great sleeper and thankfully he's not too fussy either. He has his moments of course but for the most part he's a happy little Laur.

As most people would guess, I have already gotten a little stir crazy so we've been getting out when we can. So far we've made several trips to the grocery store, target and babies-r-us, to the mall once, pumpkin picking, brunch, and a few other ventures. We quickly learned, after one not so great trip to Costco, that its all about timing. As long as we feed him pretty close to before we leave he sleeps like a champ for the whole trip unless we pass the 3 or 4 hour mark. One of my favorite baby items is his Bundle Me. I'm sure anyone that has used this would agree that its easy to get jealous of, I mean who doesn't want to be zipped up in that thing.

Perhaps the funniest story I have is when my mom (Granny as she's hoping Charlie will refer to her as) was visiting last week. I had planned out a day full of excursions including the Mall to by the new iPhone 4S (which is on back order of course), the grocery store, the frame shop, staples....anyway you get the idea. Our first stop was the mall where we were going to be using our stroller for the first time besides walking around the neighborhood. This also meant it was the first time I'd had to collapse the stroller. Well after finally figuring out how to collapse it we were off. Upon arrival I attempted to expand the stroller out and after 20 minutes or so (in the parking lot) of unsuccessfully trying every red lever I could find, mom recommended I bow my head and go to Babies R Us to see if they could show me. Well I couldn't have looked more like a first time mom carrying that stroller (still collapsed and all) into Babies R Us and then having a 14 year old behind the counter point out the incredibly obvious latch on the side.

I'm sure there will be many more stories like this to come but for now here's a few pictures from our adventures out...

The costco trip, he was a little unsure about it at first :)

Loves the bundle me!

Added Charlie's first toy to the carrier, he doesn't seem to interested in yet but John loves to play with it!

His first pumpkin may be a bit bigger than him, looking forward to many years to come of picking our pumpkins at Hubers Farm.

Charlie comes to Lauraville!

2011-10-20T15:40:00.000-07:00

I've been attempting to write this blog post for a few days now but keep getting side tracked with, well all the things you'd imagine I'm upto these days, bottles, diapers, constant clothing changes, and lots and lots of rocking and cuddling with our little man Charles Patrick Laur "Charlie."

He made his big arrival at 12:28 on Friday, October 7th and weighed in at 7.02 oz. The past two weeks have been exhausting/incredible/humbling and filled with so much love. We've had so many guests that I feel like its been a constant party--in a good way! For pictures from the hospital and his first few days, click here.

Here are some of Charlie's "Firsts" from the past two weeks on E. Strathmore Avenue :)

First ride on his swing--he's a BIG fan!

First Ravens game and a WIN!

First real bath...he was a big fan of the bath part but not so much the drying part!

First "sharing" experience....for those wondering Chelsea has been absolutely wonderful with Charlie and already seems mesmerized by the little bundle.

First photo shoot

Getting back to blogging

2011-09-24T15:24:00.000-07:00

"The Tomato Journey," was posted well over 14 months ago and while yes a lot has been happening since then it is still a bit embarrassing that we've let the blog slip so far down the list of "things we really need to get to."

BUT, we've made a commitment to be better (that's the first step right?, making a grand proclamation). We've made some improvements to the design of the blog and added a way to subscribe by email (see widget on right).

While 14 months is a really long time here are a few highlights:

September 18, 2010--Made it official

October 3, 2010--Returned from our amazing honeymoon in Spain

Then there was the first holiday season as "The Laurs," which was a fantastic series of dinners and parties with family and friends. In January we learned that we were EXPECTING our first baby and have spent the last 9 months preparing for his arrival. We're naming him Charles Patrick Laur, after both of grand fathers (Charlie and Chic) and my dad (Pat). More posts to come on the experiences of preparing for his arrival!

Also, in 2011 we've been a part of several of our friends' and families' fantastic wedding celebrations. YAY for weddings :)

Sharyn & Jason Grove
Yvette Meyers & John Laur Sr.
Laura & Ryan Grubb
Maggie & Matt Kramme
Brooke & Ashley Murphy
Lori Smyth & Malinda Davis
Lauren & Sunny Bhatia

Looking forward to sharing our updates once Charlie arrives!

The Tomato Journey

2010-07-17T05:55:00.000-07:00

So as crazy as this probably is to believe....until a few months ago I had never eaten a tomato on a sandwich (voluntarily at least). See, I always had this "thing" with eating tomatoes...I had no objection to ketchup, marinara sauce, tomato sauce, etc. but I absolutely wanted nothing to do with raw tomatoes on my salads or sandwiches, it was the texture that was the hold-up.

But, over the past year I've been slowly getting closer to eating tomatoes...I've now become somewhat obsessed with Green Tomatoes...the best I've had so far is the BlueStone appetizer: fried green tomatoes with jumbo lump crab and this lemon beurre blanc sauce, a close second however is the Miss Shirleys appetizer: fried green tomatoes with a lemon-herb aioli.

While fried green tomatoes were a step in the right direction, they weren't really solving the issue! In April, John and I had an awesome weekend getaway in St. Micheals where we stayed with my Cousin Gwenny and her husband Dudley at their amazing home. We choose that weekend in particular because it was the annual St. Michae ls Winefest.

On Saturday night, Dudley made BLTs for dinner...now up to this point I'd always preferred the "Bobbie" version of the BLT--BLMC (Bacon, Lettuce, Mayo, Cheese). But I decided it was now or never...I was going to try eating raw tomatoes! OMG--it was SOOO good! This was a game changer, I now loved tomatoes on sandwiches! Now I wanted them on every sandwich and couldn't get enough...the next weekend when John and I went to pick out our vegetables for our 2010 garden we decided on YES (you guessed it) a tomato plant along with peppers and cucumbers.

Why, am I choosing to share this story of my tomato journey now...well because, lastnight John and I had our very own BLTs, made with our own home grown tomatoes :) You can see the play by play of pictures below including Chelsea even getting some crumbs (which is not a normal occurrence) -- after all it was a big moment for HouseonStrathmore!

The Story Behind the Save the Date

2010-03-04T18:16:00.000-08:00

By now you should have received your Saved the Date in the mail. For most Baltimoreans, these two iconic figures are easily recognizable - but for those who don't know, let's fill you in, and later we'll tell you the the personal touches we put on the characters and a bit of our family history involving the two figures that adorn our save the date.

The Characters

On the left, representing Bobbie is the Little Utz girl. The rosy cheek cutie is the face of a local brand of potato chips, Utz Chips. Through all of our googling, we could not find much information on the origin of the Little Utz Girl, but we did find that she does write a blog and has a Facebook page, go ahead and become a fan.

Over on the right of the Save the Date, representing John is the one-eyed, mustached icon of Baltimore, Mr. Boh. Mr. Boh is the mascot for National Bohemian Beer or Natty Boh as it is referred to here in Baltimore, the place where the beer was first brewed. Mr. Boh is easily the most seen face in all of Baltimore and represents a damn fine beer!

Getting Them Together

We can not take credit for being the ones to put these icons together. It was an ad for Smyth Jewlers (the some spot where Bobbie's ring was purchased) shouting the slogan "Where Baltimore Gets Engaged."

The ad is prominently displayed in Baltimore, just a few blocks away from where Bobbie and John first lived together. The billboard was an obvious influence. It was often joked that the two characters would make great Halloween costumes for us.

Personal touches

For, us we loved the concept of the original Smyth ad, but certainly wanted to add some pieces of our personality. That's when we put Maid of Honor Katie O'Connell to work. Using her great graphic skills, Katie was able to add these personal touches to the save the date.

Check out the Utz girl and notice her Diet Coke shirt.

Bobbie endorses the Diet Coke product like NO other product. It makes up the majority of her favorite beverage - sing it with me "Captain and Diet, tall glass, but just a single, with 2 lemons."

Now check out Mr. Boh. Yup, old school Chuck Taylor Converse shoes. Easily John's favorite shoe and perhaps favorite article of clothing all together. In fact, every year for John's Birthday, Bobbie gives John a fresh pair, always black low tops.

Family History: The Laur - Mr. Boh Connection

Mr. Boh has shown himself a lot in John's life. John's Dad, Mr. John, has always had his father Charles' "Chic" beer mug. The mug features a Mr. Boh on the outside and a surprise Mr. Boh the pops out from the bottom of the mug.

While I have never seen the mug used as a beer mug, we hear that the mug was mostly used in the Laur house as the place to store the ping pong balls in the basement.

Family History: The Kemp/O'Connell - Utz Connection

Story about Family getting and giving UTZ chip tins

If there is an O'Connell/Kemp family gathering, whether 2 or 20 people, you can guarantee the presence of Utz potato chips and sour cream and onion dip. The Utz are so popular in their family that they have even shipped the tins, full of deliciousness, all around the country, mainly to make her Aunt Kitty's day.

Getting "Magnetic"

We were always really into following the trend of having our Save the Date put out as a magnet. Maybe its because we love food and being on the fridge is like home to us. Who knows.

Best Man Troy Laur was able, through magic, voodoo or some kind of odd super power able to get use a killer deal on getting the Save the Date printed on magnet. It is thanks to him that we now get to live side by side with some of our other favorite couples.

In Memory of Sebastian Bach, the Tortoise

2010-02-09T03:33:00.000-08:00

Last night the House on Strathmore suffered a major loss. Sebastian Bach, the Russian Tortoise who lived with John for a number of years, has passed on to the great under the bed storage container in the sky.

Sebastian was given to John as a birthday gift and named after the great rock singer and leader of the rock group Skid Row. Through his lifetime Sebastian shared with John many great adventures including a summer in Ocean City and moves all over the state of Maryland.

Memorial Services will include a burial in the yard of bamboo behind our house as soon as weather allows and in the spring time we will dedicate a section of the garden in Sebastian's honor.

In closing, Sebastian, we all will remember you:

Merry Christmas from John and Bobbie 2009

2009-12-24T16:12:00.000-08:00

Here is our Video Christmas Card for 2009:

Click Here if You can't see the video

Yes, 2009 ended with a bang - us getting engaged. Click here for more about our engagement.

AND for more Holiday fun, John put together Christmas Cards for 98 Rock and WBAL and Bobbie is in a New Years Card for Towson University's DECO

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Engagement

2009-12-23T21:48:00.000-08:00

It all went down on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009. John managed to get Bobbie to come to the corner of St. Paul and Biddle Street in Mt. Vernon Baltimore, the spot where John and Bobbie first lived and fell in love. Across the street were many members of our friends and family. Here is the engagement from their perspective:

Click Here if you can't see video

Long story short, Bobbie said "yes" and there was much rejoicing! 2010 will be a busy and FANTASTIC YEAR!

And for those who care, here is a picture of the ring.

Hamilton-Lauraville Tuesday Market at the Connection

2009-06-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Bobbie and I decided to hop on over to the 4500 block of Harford Road for the Hamilton-Lauraville Tuesday Market at the Connection. The Market has grown quite a bit since its first days just about a month ago. Now there are about 20 to 30 vendors offering all kinds of local food and products. We decided to skip out on the dinner we had planned to enjoy some of these local flavors. Not only was the food tasty, but it was pretty cheap. We had 21 dollars and were able to have these meals:

Bobbie:
- Fresh Mint Lemonade
- 2 Chorizo Tacos from one of our favorite area restaurants, Clementine (we also hear their expanded restaurant should be open sometime in the next week or two)
- Frozen Fresh Fruit Slushy thing

John:
- Fresh Mint Lemonade
- Chilled Cream of Asparagus Soup
- A Killer Brisket Sandwich from Chef Mac’s Louisiana Cuisine.

I was very excited to hear from Mac himself that he would be opening a Louisiana style restaurant where the Alabama Bar B Que used to be.

With all the food purchases done, that left me with $5 left over to donate to the true highlight of the Market: the talented St. Veronica's Youth Steel Orchestra pictured here:

I wish I would have had my flip camera to film them, but I was able to track down this video. Good stuff. The band, as detailed on their website, is a program called Pan in Community and it “uses the medium of the steel drums to re-direct the young people of our community into positive social and behavioral ideals.” Find out more about these guys at http://www.paninthecommunity.org/

Good times had - we hope to catch you out at the next Hamilton-Lauraville Tuesday Market at the Connection. It happens everyweek between the hours of 4pm and 8pm.

Our Dog Sleeps on Our Kitchen Table

2009-06-12T06:20:00.000-07:00

Twice Bobbie and I have come home from a date night to find Chelsea sleeping on our kitchen table. Thanks to Bobbie's iPhone we were able to catch a shot of this.

I am not sure what to do about this. Maybe this guy can help.

Orange Sky on Strathmore

2009-06-09T17:45:00.000-07:00

Hit Play and Enjoy

Adventure on Strathmore: Public Enemy + Roots!

2009-06-07T19:07:00.001-07:00

I don’t usually use this blog to do any music/concert reviews, but I was so excited about The Roots Picnic in Philadelphia and had talked about it so much that I though I would share some pics and videos of our time there. And no hate to any of the great artist that where there like TV on the Radio, Santigold, Black Keys, Asher Roth, and more – BUT my true love at the festival was getting to see Public Enemy backed by The Roots and Antibalas performing one of my all time favorite albums “It Takes A Nation Of Millions to Hold Us Back” so that is what our pictures and videos are of. But let’s start with a picture of the concert crew:

There is Bobbie, John, Grubb, and Laura

Now on to the Show

Here is Chuck and Flav back to back as they kick into "Party for your right to Fight"

Here is where I couldn't believe my eyes. Chuck D, Blackthought(Roots MC), ?uestlove (Roots drummer) and Flavor Flav

How about some videos? Starting here with a clip of my favorite Public Enemy song "Prophets of Rage"

Another favorite of mine - "She Watch Channel Zero?!" which, I was excited to hear what the guitar part would sound like, but was more impress with the sound of the Antibalas horns who I try to feature in this video

And I wanted to finished with this video. It's the end of the night and the Roots are closing off the evening with a killer mix of thier favorites. Not only did they start the set with a 25 minute version of "You Got Me" which also included a version of "Sweet Child of Mine" in the middle of it, but at some point they break into the Curtis Mayfield classic

BEST SHOW EVER!

New Lawn Mower and a New Found Love for Consumer Reports

2009-05-26T19:21:00.000-07:00

With spring and summer time comes my favorite time of the year: The season of yard work and lawn cutting. I say this with absolutely no sarcasm, I LOVE to mow a lawn. I am not sure exactly if it’s the smell of freshly cut grass, or the sense of accomplishment when you finish, or just how a yard can look 120% better after a fresh cut but I do know that if this radio thing doesn’t work out, I would be more then happy in the landscaping business.

Now, with my first house comes the purchase of my first lawn mower. Seeing how I take lawn mowing very seriously and I don’t make any major purchase on whim, I knew I would need some help to decide which mower was the right for my yard. I found that help with Consumer Reports and their ultra helpful website comnsumerreports.org. I CAN NOT STRESS how much I love me some Consumer Reports. Imagine a company where all they do is just test things out. And they report on EVERYTHING from Cars, to digital cameras, to kitchen knives, to coffee. The next time you want to over analyze your purchase of a meat thermometer, this would be the place to do to it.

But let's get back to the mower. I started my journey by watching the Buying Guide that taught me all the stuff to look out for in a good mower like cutting performance, discharge, start up, and other special features. Take a look for yourself:

Click Here if you can't see the video

The most helpful tool from consumer reports was the ranking of the best gas push mowers that they tested. In the top 5 were:

1. Lawn-Boy 10640
2. Cub Cadet 11A-18MC
3. Bolens 11A-414A
4. Poulan Pro 96130008
5. Craftsman 38905

I printed out and took this ranking with me to the Home Depot. When I got there, I almost couldn’t believe that they had the Consumer Reports highest recommend buy in stock waiting for me.

It was the Lawn Boy 10640, a 20-inch mower with no-prime starting and can side-discharge, mulch, and bag all while being backed by a 2-year. AND 40 bucks lower then the suggest retail price. Sure enough, that was all I needed to make that purchase.
So starts a summer full of lawn cutting with my new Lawn Boy. The first cut was nice and smooth, a very nice, even cut with great mulching. We’ll check in through out the summer with how the Lawn Boy is running and, I am sure, plenty of more valuable information from Consumer Reports.

Chelsea's New Trick

2009-05-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

Sooo, I am very excited I was able to make this happen.

Chelsea's New Trick from John Laur on Vimeo.

Not quit as cool as Molly's "Give someone a beer" trick. But I love it.

"O"pening Day Photos

2009-04-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

Katie, Bobbie and Troy - 3 tickets, 3 friends, a bunch of other people and here are the photos:

Bobbie and Buzz - pre game

J.T. was an early front runner for the Mr. Pat look-a-like contest.

O'Connell gals

Bobbie and work buddy Mike

View of the field

Troy, Bobbie and souvenir cups

O's Win 10-5

Brian and Mr. Pat celebrate the victory

John and Bobbie (and a sneaky Troy) at Mothers Fed Hill

A Father and his Daughters

Troy signing up for this year's Hot Dog eating Contest. A huge effort - He came very close to winning, just like last year.

Nervous John, Confident Troy

Mr. Pat and Mr. Matt - BFF for over 20 years

All in all a great day and looking forward to big things this season for the O's!

Birthday Party On Strathmore

2009-04-04T16:33:00.000-07:00

Ain’t no party like a Strathmore party, cause a Strathmore party don’t stop. Well at least until John passes out on the couch watching reruns of The Office. But that would happen for this party to celebrate Bobbie’s 27th birthday. A shin dig that started with Bobbie saying “I don’t want anything too big for my birthday” turned into a pretty nice sized bash with a four person Party Planning Committee (known as the PPC).

The evening began with a nice dinner with friends and family. Lauren’s Chicken Tacos, Kristin’s Home Made Mac and Cheese, John’s Sweet Baby Ray’s Meatballs and a green salad started off the food with desert consisting of Katie’s Confetti Cake and the KEY LIME PIE THROWDOWN! See that what happens when two people bring the same dish to a party, you have to have a throw down!

So here are the two pies:

Kristin’s the one that actually looks like a Key Lime Pie where as John’s was yellow(?). Now on with the taste test.

if you can't see video, click here

While John’s pie may have won the taste test - it was true, Kristin’s Mac and Cheese was the best dish, in fact, it was the only dish that we would not have left-overs of the day.

After dinner, the party became a typical House on Strathmore bash. There was good friends . . .
A dance party . . . .
And of course flip cup . . .
This is where Bobbie, the birthday girl had a legen…wait for it...dary performance during a round of survivor flip cup where she knock off 4 guys in a row to take home the championship.
So, all in all a pretty successful Party on Strathmore and a great birthday party for Bobbie.

Big thanks to all that came and HUGE thanks to the rest of the P.P.C.!

Thanks to Katie O'Connell for additional photos.

Vacation Blog 3: Rincon Bar Crawl

2009-02-18T18:58:00.000-08:00

Well, come on, it was vacation and what would vacation be with out some delicious local cocktails?

Bar #1 – One of the MANY Roadside Bars. About every mile in Rincon there are these little roadside bars which are just a shack with a pool table, a jukebox and some cheap drinks.

I had been eyeing up these bars since we made it to the island, so I was very glad that it was our first stop. Our bar tender did not seem to know too much English so our drink orders were fairly simple. Rum and Coke for Mr. O’Connell, Passoã and Orange Juice for Bobbie and her Mom, and for me - Medalla Light, my go-to beer in Puerto Rico (only 3 carbs and its “full of Spirit”).

Bar #2 - Shipwreck Bar and Grill

For me, Shipwreck can be described like this – simple décor, fun feel, and GREAT appetizers. They had some pretty killer calamari and an interesting take on Jalapeño Poppers – it was more like a single fried cream cheese and jalapeno cake, if that makes any sense. For drinks this go around: Mr. O’Connell and Bobbie had their favs, Vodka Tonic and Rum and Diet, respectively. Mrs. O’Connell had the Medalla Light and I went with the frozen Piña Colada.
It was also here that Bobbie adopted a new motto:

Bar #3 - Villa Cofresi Hotel & Restaurant

The good times rolled on at this little hotel hut bar. It was just at the end of hotel's open air lobby and next to the swimming pool and featured an excellent view of Rincon beach. What made this place a lot of fun was their famous "El Pirata" drink, or Pirate Drink. It’s a pretty toxic mixture of multiple rums and other ingredients, including evaporated milk, served to you in a coconut. Our bar tender lets us in on how the drink is made:

Click here if you can not see the video:

Yo Ho Ho Yum . . .

Bar #4 - Calypso Cafe & Tropical Bar
The final stop is probably one of the most talked about watering holes in all of Rincon - Calypso Cafe & Tropical Bar. Calypso is noted mostly as a surfer’s bar, and for good reason. The beach is home to one of the world’s great surfing locations and with the Calypso’s great selection of munchies and active night life what surfer would not love to be at this great beach hang out. While there, I highly suggest ordering the Jalapeño burger, so good I had to visit the bar more then once to get another taste. Calypso also features a great gift shop to pick up items for those back at home.

Vacation Blog 2: Sea Glassin' Adventure Fun Time

2009-02-17T19:10:00.000-08:00

One popular pastime in Puerto Rico is goin Sea Glass huntin.’ Sea Glass, in a weird way, is pollution turned pretty. To be more specific, it is glass found on beaches along oceans or large lakes that has been tumbled and smoothed by the water and sand, creating small pieces of smooth, frosted glass(Thanks wiki).Apparently Rincon has a big history for having some of the worlds finest sea glass. So when in Rome, do like the Romans or when in Rincon do like the Rinconians(?) and grab some sea glass. Here are pics from our adventure which also included Mr. and Mrs. Gerlitzki and Mr. and Mrs. O’Connell:

And here is what we ended up taking home with us, which should make for some pretty fun Arts and Crafts projects:

Vacation Blog 1: Our Place

2009-02-14T12:22:00.000-08:00

We could not be more thankful that Bobbie’s parents asked us to vacation with them for a few days in Rincon, Puerto Rico. A place that neither Bobbie nor I have ever visited and really knew very little about. Our flight had us taking off at BWI early on Wednesday morning with a stop in Atlanta then landing in San Juan, which is really the COMPLETE OPPOSITE side of Puerto Rico that we were staying on.

Thankfully the O’Connells, who had already set up camp in Rincon, are very kind and didn’t mind spending the day traveling to pick us up.

When we finally got to the place we were staying – we were simply floored! Take a peak at some of thes the video tour and some great pictures:

Welcome Chelsea to Strathmore

2009-02-01T09:38:00.000-08:00

It has come time to officially introduce the newest member of House On Strathmore. Please welcome Chelsea a 1-year-old terrier and lab mix.

After two days of running around to various shelters we found the playful mutt at the SPCA on Falls Road. The people there were great and we found the adoption process at the SPCA to be pretty painless. Bringing Chelsea home, we found her to be very subdued and timid. Here is her first tour of the house:

Click here if you can’t see the video

After about 4 or 5 days, Chelsea became much more comfortable and now she is running around and is a full on active puppy.

Click here if you can’t see the video

Now that we have had her for about a month, here are some Chelsea Fun Facts.

- Chelsea like a lot of dogs came home with a pretty bad case of Kennel Cough. We had great help from our Vet at the Parkville Animal Hospital and The Pet Plus ER.

- One another medical note: Chelsea ripped off part of her nail while playing in the house. Bobbie doctored and bandaged her up until we could get here to the vet. Duane S. Mangini V.M.D. has a very sophisticated tool to fix these problems.

- Chelsea's best friend is Molly

- Chelsea loves walks, but loves to pull the walker begging the question “Who is walking who?” I am trying to work on this by using the advice of the Dog Whisperer.

- Stuffed animals are a favorite toy of Chelsea but she tears through them pretty quick. If this also true for your dog we suggest you get stuffed toys from the Goodwill. They have a wide selection and they are really cheap. We also got her a Kong, but that only seems to entertain her until she realizes she’ll never get the treat out.

One final story – The Great Steak Incident: We decided not to crate Chelsea while we are away from home. After a few days of Chelsea being really good and not getting into anything, thought it would be no big whoop if I left our steaks out to thaw. That was a wrong move of course. While we were at work Chelsea had a nice steak lunch and “saved” the other steak for later. Later that night while we were watching TV, I felt a wet spot on the couch. I then reached in-between the cushions and found a perfectly good piece of steak. We now store all thawing meat in our microwave while we are away at work.

Purple House on Strathmore

2009-01-16T18:06:00.000-08:00

Yes, ok, I am obsessed with the projector. I used it to spread holiday spirit over this Christmas. Now that Ravens are in the playoffs, I am using it to show off a sweet ass Ravens Slide show.

Click here if you can’t see video

For a closer look at the photos that I used, go here and you can download them yourself. I am currently using this one as my desktop wall paper.

It will be a nerve-racking game on Sunday, but this has already been the most action packed Ravens season I have ever seen.

Go Ravens ! ! !

De-Christmased - Just in time for Playoffs, Baby!

2009-01-03T20:30:00.001-08:00

Sadly we have taken down all of our Christmas decorations for the year and I have to say - the front lawn was looking very dark and a lot less cheerful.

Luckly, our Ravens made the playoffs. Sooo....I found some purple lights and another use for the movie projector.

Our Holiday Greeting

2008-12-25T20:23:00.000-08:00

Christmas Song Top 5

2008-12-17T19:57:00.000-08:00

Since Bobbie and I have our own Radio Station (107.1FM on Strathmore Ave), we decided to collect our choices for the Top 5 Christmas Tracks of all time. Click the songs to hear it and please note - each top5 is in no particular order:

Bobbie's Top 5:
N Sync - Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays
Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas
Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan – God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
The Eagles - Please Come Home For Christmas
Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song

John's Top 5:
Stevie Wonder – What Christmas Means to Me
U2 - Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) the Darlene Love version is also very good
Elvis Presley - Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me
The Waitress - Christmas Wrapping
Jimmy Eat World – Last Christmas

What are your favorite Christmas songs? Comment with your Top 5 and we will send you a copy of the first ever Bobbie and John Christmas Mix.

Don't forget to give a listen for these songs and many others at 107.1 FM

Christmas Decorating Video Blog Episode #7

2008-12-16T09:50:00.000-08:00

John and Bobbie dec out the tree with the help of Stevie

Christmas Decorating Video Blog Episode #6

2008-12-11T09:13:00.000-08:00

Do you hear what I hear . . . the sounds of Christmas Movies being played on 107.1 FM

That's right people, we now have sound for our projected movies AND when we are not doing movies we are playing John and Bobbie's own mix of Christmas Jams. So anytime you roll by Strathmore Ave, keep the dial locked on 107.1 FM.

Christmas Decorating Video Blog Episode #5

2008-12-09T14:13:00.000-08:00

Our big decorating day is done out side.

Lights picture!

2008-12-08T15:41:00.000-08:00

Well the lights are up and Rudolph is playing! Sound to come later this week :)

Christmas Decorating Video Blog Episode #4

2008-12-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

Up on a house top Click CLick Click . . .

Christmas Decorating Video Blog Episode #3

2008-12-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

Here are all of our lights and how we plan to string them up.

Bobbie and I have taken off on Monday to hang these and put up the tree. Sooo...if you want to waste time at work on Monday, keep checking the blog - I'm sure we will be putting up lots of updates.

Home Depot Trip and John is Santa

2008-12-07T07:03:00.001-08:00

Big shopping day had in the morning--2nd year in a row we got our tree from Home Depot. We also loaded up on tons of supplies for outdoor decorating! Saturday was also the annual Santa Bar Crawl, where over 100 Santas take over the streets of Baltimore.

Christmas Decorating Video Blog Episode #2

2008-12-07T06:28:00.000-08:00

Bobbie still is battling with the "Color Lights vs White Lights" debate. At least she gets here white lights inside. Take a look:

Christmas Decorating Video Blog Episode #1

2008-12-04T11:39:00.000-08:00

Here is the Grand Idea for Our first Christmas in Lauraville:

Thanks to Pat O'Connell for letting us use his projector.

Now, it has been asked “John, What will you do about sound?” What I have planned is to purchase this FM Transmitter:

What that will allow me to do is put the sound on an FM station, so people can hear it in their cars. I will be putting up a sign letting people know what station to tune to - AND when we are not doing movies, I am hooking it up to itunes with a Christmas playlist and recordings of John and Bobbie's own season greetings. Our own Christmas radio station!

Christmas Debate

2008-12-04T04:13:00.000-08:00

Colored Lights vs. White Lights--I wonder how many couples have dealt with this looming question....last year we settled with white lights b/c partially that's all we had and beyond a tree and mantle nothing else to light up. However, with the new house this year it has been quite a discussion. I have grown up with only white lights and rather conservative outdoor decorating--however John has his heart set on colored lights in full effect outside. In the end we decided on keeping it white lights inside and colored lights outside. I'm still not completely sold on the idea, but I'm just going to wait and see when we decorate this weekend!

John and Bobbie Buy a House

2008-12-03T18:41:00.000-08:00