101 Things to Do in St. Louis

A few weeks ago, I came across a link on a friend’s Facebook page: 101 Things to Do in St. Louis.

A few of them just aren’t going to happen:

• Attend a Cards/Cubs game. Well, I just don’t have that kind of cash, now do I?
• Take in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. A) I missed this one. B) I have no desire to be drunk in a city street in the middle of the day, thanks.
• Bike the Katy Trail. I just might die.

But here is one that is just WRONG:

No. 72: Get the Krispy Kreme burger at a Grizzlies Game

Can I just EW?!

Others, I think we can handle:

• Get a concrete at Ted Drewes. I think I’ve completed this one five times over, at least, this year alone.
• Tour the AB Brewery. I haven’t been here in YEARS, as in, since I could drink. This might be a fun Saturday activity with friends this summer!
• Get a BLT and malt at Crown Candy Kitchen. I’m so there. However, I think I have to wait until it’s a bit warmer. It’s a perfect spring lunch break!
• See a movie at the Moolah Theatre. The next law school girl’s movie night is going to be here, so that’s easy.

Looking through the whole list, I’m impressed by how many food items are on the list! Us St. Louisans love our food, no matter what kind. :)

Spending Saturday Night on the Town

My brother was in town over the weekend, interviewing for a big scholarship to SLU Law. We hope to find out shortly whether or not he got said scholarship (so if you’re the praying kind, please throw a thought his way!).

That night, there was a fundraiser auction for the Public Interest Law Group for SLU (PILG). Hence, we got all gussied up for the evening:

Doesn’t Husband look adorable? I think I’ll keep him. :)

That purple dress is my new favorite piece of clothing – it’s a Tahari silk dress and is SO comfy. I can wear a normal bra (always a plus) and I can sit appropriately at a table (also good) and dance the night away at the after party (just awesome). Even better, Mom and I found it on sale at Nordstrom’s Rack and she decided I had to have it!

I must admit that taking my brother with me to an event like this, and asking him to get me a refill of Riesling, it’s still strange. I know he’s 22 and almost ready for law school but still, in my mind, he’s 5 and needs my help opening a jar of peanut butter.

He was there that evening with us at the auction, after his interview, but of course I didn’t get any pictures with him. Sorry, Mom!

After the auction, we ended up at the Library Annex and danced the night away with the rest of the law school kids. Brother had a great time! I think he saw himself fitting comfortably in the law school here. Which is a good thing.

Now to hear about the scholarship here, and decide if it’s SLU or a school in Texas. It’s a big decision and one I’m so glad that I don’t have to make!

Giving is Easy!

Have you heard of the Hunger Site?

I’ve been clicking away on this site every day for years. By visiting the home page and clicking a few links, the sponsors then donate food, free books for kids and free mammograms to those in need. If you shop in the store, you can have even more donated.

This is the absolute first site I go to every day – it’s easy to do first thing in the morning while my email is booting up. Easy and it helps something people in need – and that’s awesome!

So by 8:45 am every morning, I have donated free food, free mammograms, free food and care for animals, free meals for veterans, free child healthcare, free books for children in need and funded vital wildlife habitat.

Now that’s a way to be productive at the start of the day. :)

[This is not a compensated post – all opinions are my own.]

Cars and I Don’t Get Along Too Well

I hate cars. Even more, I hate red Saturns. Okay, so that is kind of harsh. I don’t have my lovely little Edna. But she is cantankerous, just like her cousin the Red Roller Skate.

They are the only cars I have ever owned and both have had major issues. I’m hoping that those things are now behind us, because I’m done paying boatloads of money for silly things like valve replacements and such.

You can see all the fun issues I’ve had recently here. It seems that cars and I don’t get along.

When Dad died, Mom decided that she didn’t need the extra car that he drove and that since my car was older, she’d pass it along to me. That meant my brother took my older Saturn coupe when his car was totaled in a wreck. We did the big car switch-eroo and finally got everyone in an appropriate car.

Then, in January, the beautiful 2006 Saturn Ion that Mom gave me seemed to be having issues shifting. I took it in to the repair shop that a friend recommended and told them that the check engine light is on and it’s having issues shifting around 15-20 mph.

Two weeks and a snow storm later, I got my lovely car back. Sharing a car with Husband was difficult but worth it when they replaced the valve at the bottom of cylinder 1. Apparently, they had to re-machine the part in order to get it to work.

In the process, though, the machine shop put the cylinder head on the wrong way. So when the repair shop tested it after the valve replacement, it died on the highway. Back to the machine shop for another fix it went. This time, they got everything on the right way and my pretty little red car came back to me.

It was so nice to have two cars again! I’m not sure we could handle our schedules if we only had the one car. We’re just two very busy people for that!

All was going well for a few days, but when Mom came into town for her birthday, we were having some issues with the timing again. Then the check engine light popped on. There was a definite rattling noise coming from under the hood – and then the oil light came on. At that point, the rattling noise turned into a huge rumbling and made the car sound like a diesel engine. Something was NOT right. Husband checked the oil and there was hardly any on the stick when he pulled it out of the engine. Oh dear.

Right back to the car repair shop we went. Bob, the general manager, was sort of disappointed to see me – wouldn’t you be too? I was the frustrating customer whose car seems to keep having problems.

The reason the car had the rattling noise and then the bigger nosie later on was the cam shaft actuator had broken – hence the sound effects going on under the hood. Bob took care of that for me as a warranty repair and I was on my way again. He asked me to stop in next week, just so they could make sure everything was fixed properly and we were actually done with the whole thing.

The next weekend I brought in the car like they asked and mentioned that there was still white smoke coming out of the tailpipe, like it was still burning oil. There wasn’t any leaks from where I parked it, so I wasn’t sure what was going on.

At this point, I asked Bob if I could have a rental car – because I can’t afford to share a car anymore!

After almost a week in the shop, we finally got our answer. We think it relates to the machine shop and all the valve work – when they did that replacement, and put the cam shaft top on incorrectly, it messed up the timing and caused some of the valve guides to bend and when that happens, the whole engine can be messed up.

We have new valves, new valve guides, new cam shaft actuator and tops. Those may not be the technical names. But they’re new. And the car is fixed. And I don’t ever want to go back to a car repair shop again.

Can you tell I’m not an automotive expert? I don’t understand many of the things that went wrong with the car but I’m glad that someone can understand and fix it for me!

Now I Know How My Mom Felt at Award Ceremonies

Last week, my mother-in-law was inducted into an honor society at her college. She’s finishing up her degree in Christian Ministry – something I think is so cool!

All of that side of the family is currently in school – Pops is in the deaconate program, Nina is about to get her CM degree, BIL is getting his Masters and my dear Husband is almost done with the MBA portion of his degree plan.

Everyone asks me when I’m going back to school – it’s kind of crazy how much education is going on right now in our family.

In any case, we gathered in a really nice building on the campus, had a great dinner, and watched my mother-in-law get inducted.

We heard about all the things the inductees did this year in the way of service, and what requirements were necessary for membership…

She stood for the oath…

And then went up to the front for her medal. 

 

She was given a certificate of accomplishment…

And can wear a neat medal and pin at graduation…

Pretty neat medal, huh?

 

Of course we had to take a family picture for the occasion. It’s a bit blurry because Nina’s friend offered to take the picture and got a little confused by our fancy DSLR. Oh well!

   

As an extra piece of awesomeness, Pops decided to bring her flowers too. Isn’t he sweet?

We had such a great evening, with dinner and the awards. Nina is one of the top students in her class and that, of course, made us all very, very happy!

I Love Getting Mail!

A few weeks ago, I signed up for the key chain swap at Mrs. Jones’ blog. I had never done of these things before so I didn’t know what to expect.

I was paired with NewTeacherWife, a great gal who lives nearby and is from my town. We’ve been bonding over husbands in law school and all that fun it brings.

Saturday afternoon when I was cuddled up on the couch and working on clearing my DVR inbox (it’s hard work, but someone has to do it!), I heard our post lady knock on the door with a package. When I opened it up, I found these little lovelies!

There was also a lovely note from my partner, E, and explained why there are TWO bags. One had the keychain – it has purples and pinks and it just gorgeous! It’s just perfect.

After oohing and ahhing over the keychain, I opened the second bag. There was a small set of fleur de lis earrings.

 

E explained in the note that she found the earrings and was able to pick up both for the budget of the swap – she knew that I’m a SLU grad and love that motif that is all over the campus as well as the area.

I loved participating in this swap. Any excuse for shopping, really! But it’s fun to get things in the mail and make a connection with others in the blogging community in a different way than reading their words on my computer screen.

E, I know that you received yours and love it! Go Cards!

Anyone up for another swap? This was too much fun to only do once! :)

I Dreamed A…

This week has really been crazy at work. I know I always say that, but early morning meetings are just the worse. I had two of them and so you can imagine what that does for me in one week.

Thursday night, I had a dream. That’s not so unusual. But the fact that I woke up and remembered it, that was unusual. Somehow, all the details of the dream just float away when I rouse myself in the morning and I can never seem to bring them back. I guess the normal wake up time on Friday morning allowed me to retain some of those details.

This dream was kind of an eye opener. It was about a baby.

[And NO, dear mother and mother-in-law who both read this blog, I am NOT pregnant. I repeat, NOT.]

I woke up on Friday morning with a smile on my face because the dream involved me being pregnant. And happy about it. Really, really happy.

Women talk about the overwhelming love that they feel the instant they set eyes on their newborn immediately following birth. This dream is the closest I have come to that feeling. It really was an amazing dream.

It was an all-encompassing, great, wonderful, expansive overwhelming feeling of love for a person I didn’t even know. I want to meet that baby so badly! Perhaps that is God’s way of telling me that He has someone he wants to meet in a few years – our baby.

I’ve always known that I was born to be a mother. I knew that at some point in my life, I would have a small human person to take care of. It’s what I’ve wanted every since I can remember.

With law school and crazy work schedules, it’s just not the right time. Seeing all of my work friends and blog friends have lovely, amazing children just makes my uterus ache. But I know it will be my turn some day.

Because I really want to meet that baby I dreamed about – she was beautiful. :)

 

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Five Question Friday

1. Do you know what your REAL hair color is?

Most definitely, yes. It’s pretty much brown in the winter and a little lighter brown in the summer. I’ve never died my hair  completely so I’ve got my original hair color!

2. Do you plan ahead for summer, or fly by the seat of your pants?

I’m just praying for warmer weather at this point. We have a lot of weddings and graduations, so I would say I have planned for them. :)

3. What is your favorite meal to cook?

I dislike cooking. I’m not very good at it. It always seems to get burned when it’s not supposed to burn.

4. Do you get offended by not receiving thank yous?

No, I’m not usually offended by that. Although I always try to get my thank yous out because I feel like others would be offended if they didn’t receive one from me. Does that make any sense?

5. How did you meet your best friend?

Well I guess that would be Husband and I met him at college. The first day of orientation. Then we didn’t speak to each other for three years. My best gal friend I also met in college. It was a good time.

I Can't Believe I'm THAT Addicted

I had my last soda last night. I can't have anyone until Sunday, April 24. That's 47 days away - the length of the Lenten season. I wanted to do something big this year, because in the past, I've sometimes tried to stop swearing or promise to go to the gym or some other silly thing. I think based upon my caffeine headache this afternoon, giving up soda was DEFINITELY the right thing to do. It's a pretty massive caffeine withdrawal I'm going to head through. Now, I'm not giving up coffee - I.might.die but still. Husband is with me in my endeavor, thought, and he's given up carbonated beverages as well. So hot chocolate and lemonade will be my beverages of choice for the next few weeks. I can do it. Right?

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The World for a Good Cause

Ok, so you know I’m a Disney freak, right? By the way, it’s only 183 days until I’m back in the World. :) Just thought I’d mention that again.

You might also remember that I listen to a bunch of podcasts, Disney related ones among them.

I was working my way through some of those podcasts the other day when one of them mentioned the Power of 10 project.

According to their website,

The Power of 10: Give Kids the World $1 Million Challenge is the combined effort of a group of passionate Disney enthusiasts using the internet as a means to help raise money for Give Kids the World. We are looking to find 10,000 people who are willing to commit to asking 10 friends to donate $10.

I thought this was such a neat idea!

I’ve donated my $10 and now I’m hoping you all will do the same. Give Kids the World is a great organization that brings children to Walt Disney World and gives them and their families the trip of a lifetime. It distracts them from the illnesses that they suffer from and brings them a huge dose of magic and pixie dust.

If I had a sick child and couldn’t afford to give him or her a magical family trip (one that might be our last as a family), I can’t imagine how much I would appreciate a service like the one Give Kids the World could offer.

There are a few ways to donate:

1. You can visit our FirstGiving.com page and make a donation of any amount.
2. You can also text the word DISGKTW to 50555 and $10 will be charged to your cellular telephone account with the money sent directly to Give Kids the World via mGivefoundation.org.
3. You can also send donations directly to Give Kids the World via mail. Send your donations to:
Give Kids the World
Power of 10 $1 Million Challenge
210 South Bass Road
Kissimmee, FL 34746

So far, they have raised over $9,000 to date. But seriously – it’s only $10. What’s the harm in that? It won’t hurt your pocketbook – and can only serve to help out some needy kids. And that’s a good thing, right?

[I have no affiliation with the Power of 10 or Give Kids the World. I just think they’re awesome.]

If I’m Not Careful, I Could Spend Way Too Much Money On Etsy

I bought this beautiful sign from Etsy seller DefineYourSpaceVinyl for my cousins to decorate their brand new house. It was also a Christmas gift.

I really liked working with this seller – she was so quick to respond and I think they are really going to like their new sign! 

We ran into a problem with my order, though. I accidentally put 2010 on the sign instead of their actual marriage year, 2009! Whoops! Angela was so great to work with though. She fixed my mistake and made an awesome sign for them.

Then, in the rush of Christmas orders, and her little boy getting in the hospital after the holidays, my cousin's sign got stuck in her workshop. I got an email a few weeks ago saying that she was sorry that it hadn’t gone out yet! After hearing the story, of course I told her that it wasn’t a big deal! She promised to get it out the next day (so nice of her to rush it) and also offered me a custom made sign to make up for the problems!

I hadn’t expected it, but I was awfully excited. I found her shop and was lusting after those gorgeous signs but didn’t think I could get one. I got to go shopping and found the perfect sign for me and hubs.

I wish I could show it to you in its full glory, but it has our last name on it and I don’t like to show it on this blog! :)

And here it is all hung up in our dining room – I see it every day when I come home. :)

Thanks, Angela! I love our sign and I know my cousins love their too. :)

[Note: I was not compensated for this review, even though I received a free sign. The vendor did not give the product in order to get the review – I just wanted to give her publicity in thanks for it!]