Crystal Madrilejos

Design & Creative

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Going Local



With our 1 year anniversary of our return to Northeast Ohio looming on the horizon, I realize that me and Andrew haven’t really explored much. What with the farmhouse, work, the wedding, and traveling it seems that time just slipped away and now a year into this venture we are still as new to this place as we were the day we arrived in the U-Haul. On one hand it’s nice to feel like there are so many things yet to discover, but on the other hand it makes me feel like I really need to get out more.

The last time I lived in Ohio was the spring of ’99 and I wasn’t even 19 years old. I didn’t get out much then either. Or I did, but was too wrapped up in high school drama to realize that there is some really cool shit happening here. So what’s an Ohioan transplanted to New York transplanted back to Ohio to do? Google it, of course!

I’ve found some really interesting sites that have piqued my curiosity (even more) about my immediate surroundings. The first place to tackle, Cleveland. Being from Northeast Ohio you would think that I would have explored more of Cleveland, but to be honest, I know nothing about Cleveland. Luckily, Clevelanders are a very proud-to-be-from-here sort (as most Ohioans are) and there are a lot of great resources for finding out what’s going on around town.

1. Really Bad Cleveland Accent – I found this blog before we even moved and what drew me to the site was that I was going through what the author, Christine Borne, had relatively recently gone through: The big move from New York back to Ohio. Her writing made me excited to start discovering all that NE Ohio had to offer.

2. i heart {♥} Cleveland – This was one of the first blogs that I found after we had already moved. I was drawn to the simple and clean look of the site. Also the events that the author was posting about were things that I actually wanted to do, mainly arts/culture/design based. (In the back of my mind I though “this person must be a designer” haha) AND I recently discovered that the writer is a local Cleveland graphic designer whose work I really admire! Bonus points.

3. design*sponge: Cleveland Design Guide – This was the real clincher for me because I love design*sponge and have been following it for years now. I really admire Grace Bonney, the creator of design*sponge, and was esctatic when I found out she was doing a design guide for Cleveland. The guide is broken down into sections with shopping and restaurants.

4. Cleveland Foodie – I would never consider myself a foodie, but I do love food and I do love a good restaurant which isn’t hard to come by in NYC. Living in Carroll Gardens, there were at least 5 great restaurants within a 10 min. walk from our front stoop. Here in Medina, not so much. But I hear Cleveland is kicking ass in the food department.

5. Slow Food Northern Ohio – Another great thing about moving to Ohio is there is a lot of green grass. We actually have a yard. A substantial yard. And one of mine and Andrew’s dreams is to have a garden and live/eat closer to home. We have shared a quarter cow and half a pig with my parents from a local farmer and it’s more than enough to last us for awhile. Andrew swears that the ground beef is the best he’s ever tasted. My recent completion of The Omnivore’s Dilemma has really fanned the fire and this site has opened up even more resources.

I can’t wait to get started!

–c.

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I know, I know

It’s been awhile, yes I know.

Summer is coming to an end and fall is creeping up, slowly but surely. Extreme weather seems to be all the rage lately, and that’s never a good thing. Two days ago we had big storms here in northern Ohio and yesterday Andrew and I spent a good many minutes clearing up branches in our yard. One of the pitfalls of having one. Andrew is currently next door at his parents house, in a pair of chainsaw pants, helping his dad clear a tree that was felled by the storm. Ah, the joys of country living!

Speaking of! One of the Towne’s alpacas, Meggy, gave birth to her first cria (baby alpaca)! Unfortunately, I was at work when she popped him out but Andrew was there to document the birth in it’s full glory. It took all of 30 minutes and the babe was up and walking. 4 hours later when I came to see it, the cria was up to full run and was being cute and stuff. Here are picture of the birth (nothing too graphic because there were some photos that were, like, whoa)

The Towne’s shear their alpacas once a year in the spring. I witnessed my first shearing this year and it was pretty neat to see. Currently, there are garbage bags full of wool in the Towne’s garage. I would love to learn how to clean and spin the wool. I’ll just tack that onto my never ending list of things I would like to learn. HA!

And pictures of the shearing! Enjoy!

Fondly,
Crystal

The first few months of our move from NYC back to Ohio revolved almost entirely around fixing up the farmhouse. So much time was spent (and still is) on fixing up the house and we’ve barely posted anything about it. The only posts that we do have about the renovation are mainly to bitch and moan about how back breaking the work was. So, finally we have some photos to show for it. I wanted to wait and put the photos side-by-side before I posted them and I’ve finally put them together. There aren’t pictures of the entire house because there are rooms that are still a mess (not because of renovations necessarily, but because we need to clean!).

One day… For now, enjoy these! We definitely are!

(click no the picture for a bigger image)










The first few months of our move from NYC back to Ohio revolved almost entirely around fixing up the farmhouse. So much time was spent (and still is) on fixing up the house and we’ve barely posted anything about it. The only posts that we do have about the renovation are mainly to bitch and moan about how back breaking the work was. So, finally we have some photos to show for it. I wanted to wait and put the photos side-by-side before I posted them and I’ve finally put them together. There aren’t pictures of the entire house because there are rooms that are still a mess (not because of renovations necessarily, but because we need to clean!).

One day… For now, enjoy these! We definitely are!

(click no the picture for a bigger image)










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Tonight

This is what the sky looked like tonight! I figured if our posts are going to be so few and far between we could at least leave you with a beautiful image to look at!

The wedding was wonderful and the house is livable. Now, we can sit back and relax and hopefully POST MORE OFTEN!!!

(click for bigger image)

Fondly,
Crystal

It’s officially been one month since our last post!!! I don’t even know where to start. Right now, I’m writing from Andrew’s parent’s computer because our entire existence is put on hold until we can move into the farmhouse, including our computer being relatively out of commission until we have a proper internet set up of our own. If any of you didn’t know, we just did a giant move from Brooklyn, NY to Medina, OH and we’re still getting adjusted.

First big hurdle being: The living situation
Our big plan all along has been to move into a farmhouse that Andrew’s parents rent out. It’s old, built sometime before 1930 and it needed work. Before we moved, we figured it would just need some cosmetic touch ups such as tearing out the old carpet, splash on a new coat of paint, etc. However, this house has proven to be almost more than we can handle!!! I can’t even begin to explain the walls that have been thrown up in front of us every step of the way. So almost a month after moving, we have yet to actually “move” into our new place. Currently we are residing above Andrew’s parents garage and we have a goal of moving into the farmhouse in the next 2 weeks. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. As soon as we are more settled, i’ll post pictures of all the progress we’ve been making.

Second hurdle: Work
Currently, both Andrew and I are blissfully unemployed. I had planned on taking off the whole month of February, but some freelance popped up and I can’t say no when the prospects of work in the future are unclear. More work seems to be on the horizon, which is a really really good thing but I was actually sort of enjoying the not working part of our move. HA!

I have so much to share so as soon as we have settled, I promise to post more.

Hope you all are well.

Fondly,
Crystal

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New Beginnings



Things are moving forward quickly and our move is imminent! I’m officially done with work. Our apartment is almost completely dismantled. Our bags are literally packed. It’s a bit nerve-wracking and completely exhausting. I’m excited to finally get on with it, but I’m definitely sad to be leaving the place I called home for the past 8+ years. So many of our friends have been so supportive and it’s been wonderful spending time with everyone. We will miss you all dearly. I can’t even begin to describe the emotions and thoughts that are running through my head all day and night. I’m excited, scared, nervous, happy, relieved, exhausted, anxious, and everything else all at the same time. I’m hoping that this move will give us a kick-start into new and amazing parts of our lives. There is so much to look forward to and I haven’t truly expounded on all that there is to come. Basically, all aspects of our lives will be thrown for a loop. A new house, new job prospects (Freelance, here I come!), new environment, new (and old) friends, family. This may be my last post for a little while, but we’re going to try to set up shop ASAP so we can keep you up to date on all things shiny and new. Take care and see you on the other side.

Fondly,
Crystal