The Greater Cleveland Aquarium = Awesome

We finally made it to the new Greater Cleveland Aquarium on Saturday, the one-week anniversary of its opening. My first impression as we walked from our car to the Powerhouse was, "Holy smokes, I am SO glad we purchased our tickets online."

Quick tip: Purchase your tickets online at the Aquarium's website. This allows you to go straight to the front of the line and enter the aquarium immediately. Also, please note that strollers and wagons are not allowed in the aquarium most days right now because of the large crowds.

I wish that I'd had my camera available to take a picture of the monstrous line waiting to get in when we arrived. There were easily 200 people waiting in line. It was so wonderful to see such an interest, especially because we didn't have to wait in that line.

The visit was a surprise to Little Girl; she knew we were going somewhere but she didn't know where until we actually entered the aquarium and she saw the first tank of fish. My first thought was how peaceful the aquarium felt, even teeming with hundreds of people as it was that afternoon. The lighting is subdued, with the focus being on the tanks and the fish. Most of the tanks are open at the top which, weird as it may sound, added to the tranquility of it all. You could almost imagine yourself sitting lakeside or pondside and just watching the fish swim.

Little Girl was like a child transported. She absolutely loves fish and I thought her little body was going to explode with excitement when she realized where we were. She was so excited to see each and every fish in all the tanks. She wanted to know what each fish was called and I'm fairly certain that she made my mother take a picture of just about every fish in every tank in the building. Even Little Man, snug in his carrier, was enthralled by the sights and sounds around him.

As someone who remembers Friday and Saturday nights at the Powerhouse eating dinner at TGIFridays and then hitting Howl at the Moon for some drinks and dueling piano entertainment, I was very interested to see how they had incorporated the original character of the power plant into the design of the aquarium. I wasn't disappointed. You definitely feel as if you're walking through a historical building as you travel from area to area within the aquarium, and one of my favorite features was the skylight that let you look up the side of one of the 200-foot-tall smoke stacks. I also got a kick out of the spiny lobster tank that now occupies the base of one of the other stacks of the building.

As someone who has been to many great aquariums in the country, including the National Aquarium, the Boston Aquarium, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, I was particularly pleased to see how the touch pool was designed and implemented. Gone are the days, apparently, of shallow pools and people just sticking their hands in the water, lifting out sea creatures, and poking and prodding at them. This is a wonderful thing. The touch pool here is about five feet deep and staffed by folks in wetsuits who slowly bring around bins of sea life that remain submerged in the water. This is so much more respectful to the creatures and also more beneficial to the visitors as they now have a knowledgeable member of the aquarium staff to talk to as they examine these animals more closely. The other side of the touch pool is of the sort that you put your hand in the water, but it contained only sharks and rays and was also staffed by an aquarium employee who was ensuring that the animals were treated respectfully and the visitors were behaving properly.

The walk-through tunnel in the final room of the aquarium was also very impressive. The biggest shark in the tank didn't seem to have any interest in swimming over the tunnel but he did make a few close passes on the sides, during each of which Little Girl jumped up and down and begged my mother to take "just one more picture". The smaller sharks and rays were more than accommodating, though, swimming back and forth over our heads many times. We even got the bonus of seeing a couple of divers cleaning the other side of the glass. Little Girl thought that was hysterical.

All told, we spent about 90 minutes in the aquarium and I'm already looking forward to our next visit. On the drive home we asked Little Girl what her favorite part of the aquarium was. Her response? "I can't decide. I loved it all." I completely agree.

What's in a name?

Good morning, all! In yesterday's post about setting my 2012 goals I mentioned that my next post would be about my goal for starting this blog. I figured a good place to start would be explaining why my blog is titled "Grabbing the Brass Ring".

Carousel, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, by ldjaffe on flickr

My paternal grandparents lived in Santa Cruz, California, while I was growing up. When my family would visit them, one of the places we'd often go is the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Like most little girls, I was wild for horses. I'm talking insanely wild for them. My bedroom walls were covered in pictures of horses that I'd cut from calendars, magazines, etc. So, not surprisingly, my favorite ride at the Boardwalk was the carousel. It's an absolutely gorgeous carousel, too. Check out the picture to the left.

Being an older carousel, one of the features for riders on the outside horses was the ring grab and toss. As you passed by one side of the carousel, there was this metal arm that dispensed small iron and brass rings if you were tall, fast, and coordinated enough to grab one. If you were successful in grabbing one of the rings, there was then this borderline terrifying clown face that you were supposed to toss your ring at, trying to get your ring into the clown's mouth.

I was too young and too short to ever have managed to snag one of those rings, but that didn't stop me from trying every time I went around that carousel.

When I came to the realization (discussed in my first post) that as I've grown older I've allowed myself to make more and more excuses for not going after the things I want - for not chasing my dreams - one of my first thoughts was of that carousel on the boardwalk and of how hard I tried to grab one of those rings each time around even though I knew I wasn't tall enough to reach. Somewhere along the path of growing up and taking on more responsibility I'd lost a lot of that drive and belief in my abilities to make something happen.

I determined that 2012 was the year I wasn't going to let excuses stop me anymore and I started thinking about how I could maintain my energy and enthusiasm for my dreams as the year went on. Creating this blog was the answer, and it became one of my 2012 goals. And "Grabbing the Brass Ring" was the most fitting name I could imagine, as that's what I'll be trying to do this year and into the future. This blog will be the place I'll turn to in order to share my dreams and the steps I'll be taking to turn them into reality. I'm hoping this blog will help to keep my motivated and accountable to myself. Stay tuned in the coming days as I'll be posting about what those dreams are.

Though I think I might be the only one reading this blog right now, I'm hopeful that others will soon join me on the journey. Perhaps you'll see some of yourself as you read through my posts and it would be a wonderful blessing if my words someday give someone else the boost they need to chase their own dreams. Have a blessed and wonderful day!

Goals, not Resolutions

A couple of years ago I stopped setting New Year's Resolutions. I'd grown weary of excitedly setting lofty resolutions each January only to have them blown out of the water by February 1. (Let's be honest, usually well before February 1.)

Multiple goals by shersteve on flickr

So in January 2011, I changed my mindset. I was no longer setting resolutions but would be setting goals for the coming year. And, as much as I bemoan the "SMART" goal during annual review time at work, I was determined that my personal goals would be SMART. They would be specific, manageable, attainable, and all that corporate-speak stuff. As usual, I went a little crazy and set myself about 12 different goals for 2011. And do you want to know what happened? I achieved almost all of them. When I revisited them at the end of the year to do a final tally, I had fully achieved all but four and had made at least some progress on three of those four. (And the fourth one - losing weight - I decided didn't count any longer because I'd been pregnant and had a child in 2011.)

So, feeling proud of my 2011 accomplishments and energized by my dreams and visions for 2012, I set about determining my goals for 2012. What I learned last year was that I did best on the goals that had mini-goals or benchmarks within them. For instance, one of my 2011 goals was to complete four craft projects and I then listed out the four projects that I, ideally, wanted to complete. Not only did I complete those four, but also eight others!

My 2012 goal-setting started in the middle of the night in late December. I had just given my son his middle-of-the-night feeding and, upon returning to bed, found that I couldn't shut my mind off. I couldn't go back to sleep because all these ideas for craft designs, story ideas, book projects, business dreams kept swirling in my mind. Giving up on sleep, I sat up in bed, grabbed my iPhone, and started to type out notes about these ideas. I ended up with nine different notes files including ideas, dreams, and goals. My next several blog posts are going to present most of these goals, starting with one that has already been realized with the creation of this blog.

My goals for 2012 are varied and contain simple, easy-to-achieve ones and also a couple of borderline scary putting-myself-out-there ones, like writing and publishing a book and starting a business. I'm looking forward to sharing them with you.

What's your put-yourself-out-there goal for 2012?

One Fish, Two Fish... in the new tank

This weekend marks the grand opening of the long-awaited Greater Cleveland Aquarium. While I won't be there this weekend (bummer!), I'm looking forward to taking my daughter soon. She's enamored by fish of all sorts, especially sharks, and will watch the fish in the Cleveland Zoo exhibits for ages. Now I'll be able to take her to a place dedicated to showcasing some of the region's and world's diverse marine life and educating about the importance of conservation of these treasures.

The new aquarium features 10 exhibit areas and more than 40 different tanks, including a 500,000 walk-through tank! I can't wait to see my daughter's face as she watches fish swim all around and above her.

If your child is like mine and loves to learn new things, you might be interested in some of these websites that provide learning tools about fish and aquariums. I'm planning on introducing some of these things to my daughter before we go to the aquarium to help her get excited for the visit.

• The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California has several lesson plan units designed for teachers leading field trips to the Aquarium, but they can easily be used by parents with their own children.
• The website Teaching Heart has a full unit on ocean life, including printable activities, reading suggestions, and activities across subject areas, all focused on teaching elementary-age children about the creatures and habitats of the oceans.

When I first moved to Cleveland in September 1994, I was surprised to learn that the city didn't have an aquarium, especially one featuring the marine life of the Great Lakes. This new aquarium has been a long time coming and is just one more feather in Cleveland's cap as a great city of the midwest.

So if you're reading this blog post and are looking for something new and different to do with your family, I encourage you to plan a trip to Cleveland and the new Cleveland Aquarium.

Want other suggestions of great places to go in Cleveland? Just leave a comment and I'll be happy to reply!

Simple and Useful Party Centerpieces

My newborn son's baptism was last weekend and we hosted a small luncheon afterwards for our guests in one of the church meeting rooms. Now, I'm not a frivolous spender so I wasn't keen on spending $10+ a centerpiece for flowers that would die or balloons that would just end up in the trash.

After some brainstorming with my mother, we settled on a pillar candle inside a small hurricane glass. The candles were $7 for two and the small hurricanes were $2.75 each.

When we got home, I used my StoryBook Creator software from Creative Memories to create a custom wrap for the candles that included a picture of my son, a clip art cross, and a sentiment. You could also use Microsoft Publisher or even a word processing program to create this wrap. (Note: Other than being a happy customer, I am in no way affiliated with Creative Memories.) Wrap the paper around the candle, adhere it with some Scotch tape or scrapbooking adhesive and, ta-da, your centerpiece is complete! Just don't forget matches or a lighter!

The finished product!

The end result was a simple yet attractive centerpiece for my tables that also serves a practical purpose that cost me only $6.25 each. The best part? They also provided me with nice and useful favors to give to special people at the baptism, including his godparents.

Please note that I've altered the picture to protect my child's identity.

What's This All About Anyway?

I mentioned in my first post that I was still determining what sorts of things I would feature on this blog. Well, I think I have it largely figured out. It's going to be a bit of a hodge-podge of things, so consider yourself forewarned. :)  At any point in time, this blog may feature:

• Pictures of and instructions for craft projects
• Pictures of and instructions for some of my favorite recipes
• Praise and laud for some of my favorite products and services (for which, unfortunately, I am receiving no compensation of any sort)
• Updates on my progress toward my 2012 goals, which will be posted soon
• Sharing my products and patterns as they are created
• Articles, thoughts, and insights on the joys and tribulations of parenting
• Reviews of and information about places and events in the Northeast Ohio area
• Sharing other great blogs I stumble upon
• Anything else that strikes my fancy

Sound good? Still on board with me? Good. I hope that you'll join in the conversation, ask me questions, and give me challenges. Talk to you again soon!

Hello, 2012! Get ready for a great year!

Hello, 2012! And hello, blogging world! I've created this blog because, during a sleepless night recently, I resolved that 2012 is going to be the year I stop talking myself out of things. You see, I just had my second child and my life is not what I envisioned it would be at this stage of my life.

Don't get me wrong, my life is great. I have a my health and my family's health, a loving husband, two great kids, and a job that I enjoy most of the time. But I want to be a stay-at-home-mom (at least part-time) and I've long been suppressing my creative side.

Earlier this week, after my son's 2:00 a.m. feeding, I couldn't get back to sleep. I mean, I REALLY couldn't get back to sleep. My mind wouldn't stop and I was awake for the next six hours with all these varied and lofty and creative ideas swirling in my mind. In the past, I'd think to myself "That would be cool" and then go to sleep and never do anything with or about my ideas.

But something was different this time. I found myself writing my ideas down, and one idea would lead to two more. First an idea for an e-book, then an idea for a sewing project to create, then an idea for three cross-stitch patterns. Then an idea for an etsy store name. This was so unlike me, but I found myself feeling excited about the possibilities of finally saying "YES!" to the ideas that I have and doing all I can to make them a reality.

With that introduction, you're probably asking, "Okay, great, but what's this blog going to be about?" To be honest, I haven't completely decided yet. I know I'll be sharing ideas as they come to me, and I'll be blogging about my goals and steps I'm taking to reach them. I'll probably also seek advice from time to time. And, maybe, if I'm really blessed and lucky, I'll inspire someone else to stop talking themselves out of pursuing the things in life that truly engage and excite them.

I'm resolved to make 2012 my best year ever! Who's with me?