1-800-M-a-t-t-r-e-s (s?)

When my mom came to visit a few weeks ago, she asked how old our mattress is. I'm not entirely sure, but I do know that it is the mattress that was in Joe's mom's house before they even lived there. Long story short... I'll give it an estimate of about 30 years old. Old. Joe can correct me if he so desires to participate in this blog ;-) ;-)

On a related note, I've been thinking about getting some help for my frequent back pain. I have scoliosis (I have the charts somewhere around here, taken when I was around 16 or 17, showing the odd curve of my back), but the doctor said it wouldn't need to be corrected - I would just struggle with some pain as I got older. Well, either "older" is here, or my mattress stinks, or my books are too heavy, because this pain is getting really annoying.

Which brings me to our search for a new (bigger!!) mattress! What do you sleep on? Has your mattress been passed down your family, or did you buy it yourself? If you got it yourself, what did you look for? I've seen everything from Memory Foam to Sleep Number to Posturepedic... we want to keep the costs down, but we also don't want to end up buying another mattress in a few years because we cheaped out.

Ideas?

On a side note, I am in love with this bed frame (ignore the heinous bedding!):

Updates

A few life updates (mostly rehashing, with some detail)...

• Joe was offered a job for the next year with the ACLU! The ACLU defends individual constitutional rights. Among other legal work, he will get to teach students about their legal rights! We're really excited that he got such a great job and that he'll be able to take off some time, work throughout the next school year, and have some extra money to cover living expenses!
• I (Sheila) am officially taking the Ohio bar exam on July 27-29 in Columbus. To prepare, I'm taking a 10-week review course that I will hopefully treat like a 9-5 job this summer. That way, Joe and I can have the same schedule and I can still feel like I have time in the evenings to relax and play some tennis while it's warm :) It's going to be a grueling 10 weeks that will hopefully pay off with me actually passing the bar!
  
• We're going to Riviera Maya (near Cancun, Mexico) from May 17-21 (right between graduation and my bar course!). We found a great deal and we're so excited!! This break will be a really great motivator so I can get through exams and refresh before starting the bar course. I wish we could somehow see Maya while we're down there!
  

Irish/Persian Celebrations

Some recipes and pictures from recent culinary endeavors.. These are on facebook, but I thought I'd post the recipes since I always end up losing the links within a few months! I always love cooking, but themed nights are the best!

St. Patrick's Day

Guinness Beef Stew

Found here from Cooking Light

Irish Soda Bread

Found here from Food Network

Irish Coffee

Fill half of glass with Irish Creme (Baileys or other - we used Carolan's) and top off with hot coffee.

Persian New Year

Fesenjan

Found here from Feed Me That (varied- I used pomegranate juice instead of pomegranate molasses and added in some of my mom's suggestions)

Persian Rice

Family Recipe. Made with 1 cup rice to 1 1/2 cups water, boiled with lid on for around 20 minutes. Mixed 2 tbsp boiling water and a pinch of saffron to make a saffron liquid. Pour on rice.

Persian Ice Cream
(Image from here - I didn't take a picture of mine)

From a family recipe- Pour 1/2 pint of cream or half-and-half into tupperware and freeze for 3 or more hours. Remove from freezer and use fork to chip frozen cream. Soften french vanilla ice cream. Add 1/2 cup rose water, a few drops of water, and frozen chipped cream.

Pomegranate Margaritas

Not a Persian recipe, but it went well with the meal! Fill shaker with a few cubes of ice, fill halfway with pomegranate juice, add 2 shots of tequila and one shot of triple sec. Shake and strain.

Decorating!

Ahhh, I love to decorate! Hence the constant additions to our apartment, despite the fact that it'd probably be a lot more 'chic' with a little less kitsch. I gotta be honest though, I love me some good kitsch! (Not in a TGI Fridays way or anything...) I'm hoping that when we have a bigger place one day, the stuff will all get spread out so it color-coordinates in some way. Or maybe not.. I love color!

So I was inspired by the absolutely gorgeous apartment of the couple in P.S. I Love You (one of my favorites for a nice romantic sob-fest and a lovely depiction of Ireland). I don't think there's a name for my favorite decorating style - but this fictional apartment is it! And much to my delight, there is actually a blog that deconstructs rooms from films and television - and tells you where you can find the decor (..even if no one can afford it)!

Happy Birthday to Joe!!

This is my husband, Joe. 29 years old today and still a kid inside, with wisdom and knowledge beyond his years in many ways. I love his inner youth, but I'm grateful for each of his 29 years!

So since it's the last year of my hubby's 20's, and I want him to go out with a bang! I'm so excited to make him a special meal just for his quirky tastes (Rachael Ray's brussel sprouts, Guy Fieri's Spicy Cherry Ribs & Das Pear Pineapple Strudel), give him his gifts, enjoy Saturday at the Cleveland Ice Wine Festival, and finally celebrate with a night out to dinner with friends!

To remember Joe's 29 years, I thought I'd swipe some adorb pics from our wedding slide show ;-)

Just look at this little smilin' baby! He always loved stuffed animals.. he just gives them all to me now ;-)

Now he's lost his alien-ness and is OH-so cute!! Firemen don't drink out of babas, little Joey!

Oh my gosh, this crazy outfit is to-die-for. Now this, my friends, is a child of the 80s!

9 years old - 20 years ago!! And still in his Cleveland gear to this day!

Aw, look at the lil' alter boy! Still in prayer!

He's finally got that teen-look about him. And still totally fashionable (for the 80s) in his denim outfit ;-)

Joe at his undergrad graduation - I'm finally "in the picture" (pun intended!)

Hope you enjoyed this blast from the past! Happy Birthday, Babers :) Can't wait to celebrate every year to come with you!!

House Parties for Products?

Oh my gosh... I just found this online - it's a program/deal where we would host parties in which we promote certain products at house parties and in return we and our guests receive free products and promos! :) Now I wouldn't host a party for just anything... (achem... Poise diapers for women with leakage Party?!? This is actually an option...), but if I believe in a product, I would definitely be willing to set up a totally sweet party and bask in the free products!!

I applied for the Green Earth party, which promotes green living and eco-friendly toilet paper and paper towels. I am all for living green, but these products tend to be super-expensive and not-so-comfy! In fact, there was a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode about the discomfort of eco-friendly toilet paper ;-) But I would definitely be willing to try out some affordable eco-friendly products! If we are selected, we would receive and distribute a number of products like free samples of toilet paper/paper towels, reusable shopping totes, coupons, and more :)

What do you guys think? Would you go to this kind of a party? What about a party for another product or product brand? Is it cheesy/sleazy?

Tired

Anyone have any energy-boosting tips? We've both been so tired lately, despite getting enough sleep. People suggest exercise a lot, but isn't there a learning curve on that? It's always so tiring at first! Another suggestion was taking cold showers... There's gotta be some better stuff out there!