Ode to a Brew Master (on his birthday)

Already so many good things
To our five year relationship you bring.
Turkey dances, monkey faces, and guitar shows.
“It’s peanut butter jelly time!” you sing.

But then once upon a Google,
You found some fun recipes to brew.
Ever since we’ve been flush with alcohol.
And now, Andy, I really love you!

Hic-cup! Hic-cup! Happy Birthday!
Raise your glass! Have one more, then we go!
Wishing a wonderful and beer-soaked birthday,
To the greatest brew master I know.



Hoppy Birthday, Andrewshus!

More Guitar

Git yer fill, 'cause Andy tells me this is the last class he's taking for awhile. It was pretty sweet listening to a constant stream of David Bowie for the week leading up to the concert. Much better than the "Buckets of Rain" days.

Untitled from Kristin Sutter on Vimeo.
Next time, I need to remember to bring our digital video recorder instead of my camera which takes up a phenomenal amount of memory (hence why I stopped before the song's end... well, that and my fingers were itching with the want to clap in that "jing ga jong e jangggggg a clap clap" part.)

Easter Sunday - Revisited

This Easter, we decided to stay in the city since Andy's parents came to us and I'm planning to head home at the beginning of May for some bridal showers.

Luckily Andrea was in town as well. And baking.

From Easter09

Don't worry, we also had scrambled eggs with ricotta cheese and chives with a side of bacon, too.

From Easter09

After brunch, we headed across the street to Lincoln Park for some bocce ball. Andrea's throwing style was my favorite.

From Easter09

Her arm was like a super fast, backwards trebuchet. Tiny arms with ridiculous amounts of oomph behind each throw.

Garrett had the prettiest extension, though, and gets points for his girly artsy finger finish.

From Easter09

Ball watcher, Eric.

From Easter09

Winter had obviously left us out of practice and not up to our usual standards of awesomeness.

From Easter09

That unfortunately meant the guys won.

From Easter09

I blamed my arm for getting tired because bocce is definitely a hardcore, endurance kind of game.

After play time was over, we headed home where Andy turned on The Masters golf tournament and I was asleep before my butt even hit the couch cushion.

The Perils of Non-fiction

Just submitted a story to my writing class that started as a character exercise about a guy I went to high school with. I wrote it with the intention that it would be seen by my teacher and no one else. When she emailed to ask if she could share it with the class, my ego said, "Of course!" before my brain had a chance to evaluate the situation.

It's weirdly horrifying; putting real people from my past out there for other people to see from my point of view--with all my bias. I'm pretty sure no one in my writing class has any direct connections to Cincinnati suburban public schools, but I'm still a little anxious it'll somehow get back to him.

I always assume people don't want to be written about. The idea of someone else writing things about me, things I have no control over, really freaks me out.

(I do love to write about myself, though, if you haven't noticed.)

In other news, some advice:

Don't feed your dog with one hand and yourself with the other. You'd be amazed how easy it is to mix that up.

Random Facts About Milo

• When on our walks, Milo immediately goes into stealth mode, slinking close to the ground if he sees any dog/person/squirrel/etc. coming toward him. His stubby, fuzzy legs have yet to inspire fear in any living thing. I'm not sure how the occasional plastic bag he stalks feels, though.


• Milo doesn't like most dog treats. I know this, but often forget when walking down the treat aisle and now we have 3 cups of useless doggie ice cream sitting in the back of the freezer.


• Like a good Sutter family member, Milo LOVES cheese.


• When he first wakes up, Milo will put both paws in your hand and splay his back legs out so you can give him a morning stretch.


• His furry paws and our hardwood floors don't mesh well. There are lots of cartoon-like running into the wall situations. He still hasn't learned to put on the brakes 5 feet before he really should.


• He is terrified of anything dropping or falling to the ground. Seriously, a throw pillow makes him run for cover like an air raid siren. If I drop the remote one more time, he may need therapy.


• He does awesomely hilarious aerial breakdance moves when we hold him over the bathtub. "Must. Avoid. Water. As. Long. As. Posssible."


• He loves playing with ginger kids and babies.


• Before he eats them.


• The 6,395 times he's tried and failed to jump onto the bed haven't sunk in yet. I like to think of it as optimism rather than a probable sign of brain damage.


• His tongue is too big for his mouth. I know this, but pretend to be surprised when EVERY SINGLE PERSON on our walks points this out.


• The first night we got him, I had buyer's remorse.


• I now have remorse for my buyer's remorse.

Beer Label

I hope I'm not ruining the Saturday debut with this, but wanted to share the beer label I made for Andy's new home brew.

It's a blonde ale that got its name from Andy's new found hubris (called out by Eric) at his twice demonstrated beer-making skills. I helped cap this batch, so I consider taking half the credit a reasonable exchange after spending 20 minutes on my knees (HI-OH!) with the bottle capper.

Andy also created a label of his own that's a little classier, but I think mine kicks ass.

I've been waiting for a chance to "I told you so!" his ass for buying all the equipment, but so far my taste buds and I are impressed. I'm even thinking of making our second bedroom the full-time beer making/storage facility, especially if it means keeping the fridge stocked with tasty Belgian-style ales.

Burgers and Pup Hoodies

Spent last weekend in Columbus which meant Thurman's on Friday night. Finally, back to Ohio for the best burgers I've ever had and these little lovelies.

Pretzel Bites.

Best thing I've ever put in my mouth.

Well, maybe except for this.

Or this.

We came SO close to finishing this time! I blame the two pitchers of beer for the slow down. We started out so strong!


(Don't ever say I'm not willing to post bad pictures of myself on this blog.)

It was a fantastic weekend filled with an awesome trip to Athens that I'll have to chronicle in another post since I don't have the energy to resize all those photos tonight.

I did pick up a little something for Milo while hanging around our old college town.


Yeah, it's even cuter in person. Trust me, it's possible.

Jenny couldn't keep her hands off of him.

He might not've liked it quite as much as we did, though.

Don't worry, he eventually came out from under the table when I promised not to dress him up any more that night.