I Love My Friends

After a long day of cleaning out our basement storage room, the Sunday night dinner club came and abducted us for a night in Chesterfield - complete with gourmet pizza at home, Andre champagne and Rock Band. I can't imagine a better Saturday night.

Going out with friends is on my 101 list.

My Adventure with a Quesadilla Maker

I have never been a very good cook. I can make things with a recipe (ham and cheddar risotto, anyone?) but simple things like pancakes and eggs and grilled cheese sandwiches are somehow beyond my cooking ability.

So when I realized I had to cook for my standing date with my girlfriend to watch The Bachelorette, I knew there were only a few things that I could cook. My friend, whom I’ll call the Bachelorette (until she gets a blog of her own that I can link to – hint, hint, lady!) because she got me addicted to the show, has certain things that she’s allergic to that make it hard (for me) to cook for her.

I came up with a bunch of ideas but I was worried that there might be the bad allergy item in there, so I asked for a suggestion from the Bachelorette on what to make. She said quesadillas are always a good choice. We have a winner! Quesadillas with fresh salsa from Trader Joe’s it is.

When she came over last night, I had to get her to help me make the silly things. I told you, I have no idea how to cook the most simple of meals! The Bachelorette saw an unopened wedding present above my cabinets and asked if we could use it. Sure enough, I had a quesadilla maker that I had never used.

 

She thought I was kidding that I had never used it, but it was still in the packaging and had the instruction booklet. With recipes, even!

 

We did have some issues with the red and green lights on the machine. The booklet said to wait for the green light to go off, and that would let us know it was hot enough to cook. The green light didn’t come at first, so it was touch and go there for a minute. But does it make any sense for the green light going off to be the ready signal? Yeah, it didn’t make sense to us either.

 

But five minutes later, we were happy munching on our warm quesadilla, complete with the lines that showed us where to cut the portions.

So it just goes to show you that with a machine designed to do one thing and one thing only, I can officially cook a quesadilla. If only I realized we had one of those machines earlier!

And God Blessed the Broken Road, Part 1

When I posted a few days ago about blogger’s block, Meghan of Unintended Housewife suggested I write about my wedding day – how it went, and how I would change things, given my profession as an event planner now. I thought it was a great idea!

But before giving you the wedding detail, I feel like I should back up and tell you how the whole thing started. See, in the beginning of this blog, I gave a very brief introduction of how I met my husband and got to where I am now. After reading the Pioneer Woman’s novel on my nook last week, I’ve got the urge to write down the full story for all posterity. Or at least as long as I keep this blog. So stay tuned for the whole story, in segments!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I picked my college because of my boyfriend.

Ok, so that’s not entirely true. But it’s close!

My dad went to SLU back in the day for multiple degrees. When looking at colleges, he insisted I tour his alma mater, just as I toured my mom’s. Hers wasn’t really my style (it’s ok, because my brother fell in love with it, and it was the right choice for him) but SLU had a beautiful campus and was a really great education, and it was good that we visited.

The boyfriend of mine at the time had chosen to go to SLU right around the time that I had visited the campus. He was a year older than me. Knowing that it was Dad’s alma mater and falling in love with the campus, it all came together. Seeing a show at the campus theatre that fall just sealed the deal. I wanted to act upon that stage. I turned in my deposit the day that I got accepted. It was the only school I ended up applying to.

Fast forward to orientation, the week before classes started. The boyfriend was still in the picture, and I was so excited to get started on the college adventure. Both Mom and Dad went with me to help with move in and all that jazz. I can remember the specific moment when they pulled into the driveway near the Olive Compton garage, to drop me off for a big game of kickball with all the other rising freshmen. We were sectioned off into groups and I was looking for mine across all the other fields but couldn’t seem to find them. While I was looking around, starting to get anxious, because my parents had left and I didn’t know a single person (that’s what the orientation groups are for, so you can have a familiar face on campus), one of the groups popped over and asked me if I was lost. I explained that I couldn’t find my group and a sweet Indian kid who would later be one of the groomsmen in my wedding came to my rescue and asked me to join their kickball team.

As I was being introduced to everyone, most of them I wouldn’t remember their name the next week, I came across a cute guy from a local high school. He had this great short hair cut spiked up with gel and was great at kickball. I found out later that he played rugby in high school, and hence had some awesome thighs, perfect for sports. That was a nice thing. :)

We exchanged AIM names [remember AIM!? This was WAY before Facebook]at that point, to stay in touch. A bunch of soon-to-be-husband’s friends lived in one of the dining halls south of campus, so I joined them for dinner.

I didn’t know back then, but it was the beginning of the story that I would tell my future children about how it all began.

To be continued….

A New Blogger on the Block

Did you know that my husband is a blogger? In addition to writing papers, studying the law and being an all-around awesome husband to a crazy event planner wife like moi. He had a great blog a few months ago, but the combined JD/MBA schedule he has been juggling since last May has really taken a toll on it. So, with the recent completion of his summer class schedule, and on his first extended break from school since beginning his graduate work in August 2009, he has five weeks to concentrate on what HE wants to work on. And his blog is top on the list!

Now, if you're interested in the silly, mundane or ridiculous stories you find here, then his blog is not for you. His new blog has a great new name, 7 Continents, 7 Days.

He's going to blog every day, and focus on one continent each day. He'll find a particular story from that continent and expand upon it, maybe offer additional reading, and of course, his unique take on the subject. This is such a perfect outlet for him. One of the reasons I love my husband is his global viewpoint. He speaks multiple languages, has lived abroad and wants to take our family abroad someday, and has such a passion for people who are different from us. He wants to know about their past and present and ideas for their future, and the knowledge he gains from them informs on his own life experience. It's fascinating to hear him talk about a particular article he found about the creation of a new country (did you know there's a new country in Africa?) or really understand the environmental issues facing a country halfway around the world (I really would like to visit Australia to learn about it in person, methinks).

I'm still wondering what stories he'll find about Antarctica, but I guess that's why we should check out the blog to find out!

So join him at 7 Continents, 7 Days and tell him I sent ya. :)

Bad Movies are Just So Bad!

I love bad movies, just like the next person. If you ask my husband, I don’t know what a good movie is, because all I watch is the bad stuff. I love romantic comedies, silly action flicks whose ending is so obvious it hurts when you figure it out in the first five minutes of the film, and any TV movie made by Disney. But the list of movies we have recently been working our way through? I think they take the cake.

The Sunday night dinner crew stumbled upon Asylum Films a few months ago, God only knows how. While I wasn’t there that night, I was told later that they found Titanic 2 and had watched it, giggling the entire time. It was so ridiculously bad that it was funny. Titanic 2?! Really? How could you create a sequel to a movie where the BOAT SINKS?! And my dear friends actually WATCHED the silly film.

Well, this has now become a game – find the most ridiculous Asylum production and make the group watch it. My husband is very excited about the new game. Recently, I was forced to watch 2010: Moby Dick and Mega Python vs Gatoroid. I’ve been able to avoid such cinematic masterpieces as #1 Cheerleader Camp and 18 Year Old Virgin.

Many of these lovely movies are available on Netflix streaming. Oh goodie. We don’t even need to wait for the mailman to deliver the disc before we are subjected to the fruits of their labor!

Needless to say, the script is awful and the special effects are worse. The boys have done some research and found out that the production timetable is laughably short, the scripts written in a week in some occasions.

But I have never seen these movies in the theatres – have you? So one is left to wonder how in the world they are making back their money, even if the investments aren’t very big like some other movie studios.

The best part about this whole thing? Mega Python vs Gatoroid featured two 80’s pop stars – Debbie Gibson and Tiffany. Do you remember them? “I think we’re alone now…” Oh yes, that Tiffany. But even better than old musicians trying their hand at a movie was Tiffany’s classic lyrics showing up in the action thriller. As serious lines. I think we’re alone now. There doesn’t seem to be…anyone…around. WOW.

Ok, I have to confess – I fell asleep during that movie. As I did with Moby Dick. Because who in the world can stay awake during those silly movies? Husband filled me in on the classic lyrics insertion and I feel like I watched all 90 minutes of ridiculousness.

Guest Post: So Sonderful So Marvelous

Hi, strangers!

I think I'm going through what one might call "blogger's block" - there lots of posts in my to do list, but when I sit down to write one, nothing intelligent comes out.

So it's a good thing that I sent Michelle of So Wonderful, So Marvelous this guest blog a few weeks ago, for her to publish when she was on maternity leave. Now that she has greeted her beautiful daughter, Tate, to this great big world, she posted my guest blog!

If you don't know Michelle, she's an awesome lady who has a permanent place in my "Good Reads" folder on Google Reader. No matter if she's talking about her neato son, Finn, or sweet husband, Dave, or any number of random things that tend to pop up in a blogger's life, I love reading every post she publishes.

So do me a favor, go over and say hi to me over there, ok?

And I promise I'll try to come up with something interesting to tell you soon.

Fights about Future Issues

After spending the better part of last Saturday at Silver Dollar City, it got me thinking about a conversation I had with Husband a few months ago about taking children to our favorite vacation place in the whole wide world, Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

On one of the many road trips we have taken in the past few weeks, the subject of vacationing to Disney with kids came up. I said that I couldn’t wait to take our kids to Disney. Walking around the parks that I love, seeing their expression when they meet a character, getting their first hair cut at the barber on Main Street! What’s not to love?

Ok, yes, there might be issues. A cranky baby in a crowded park doesn’t sound like my idea of a vacation. Having to lug all their stuff in a diaper bag plus a stroller to deal with isn’t exactly the easiest way to travel. But won’t those little inconveniences be trumped by the awesome experience?

Husband firmly disagrees. He thinks we should leave our kids home until they are older and able to travel more easily. It would be easier to travel with an older child, as they might not need a stroller or special food.

I can’t imagine how having a baby should interrupt our vacation plans – it absolutely shouldn’t! If I were to get pregnant with a trip planned, THAT might change things. After all, there would be the plane trip to consider and I probably couldn’t ride many of my favorite rides once I got there.

But taking an infant to the World? We’re so good at touring that taking a baby along doesn’t seem like it would be that hard.

Honestly, I don’t know why we’re arguing about things that don’t even matter yet. We are years from having children and we will have LOTS of trips ahead without having to think about taking kids along. There are more important things to fight about!

THIS is the Way to Watch Baseball

Last night was my third Cardinals game in five days. After all, it’s baseball season!

Wednesday night, I had a work celebration at the stadium and I got a yummy cookies and cream Dippin’ Dots. Did you know they’re the ice cream of the future? They’ve had that same marketing slogan for about twenty years. Isn’t it the future yet?

Friday night, Husband and I were invited to the game against the Diamondbacks. We were told to enter through the third base gate, near the Stan Musial statue. Man, those are where the good seats are, we thought!  We had no idea what we were in for.

Here was our view:

We even had the red, cushioned comfy seats! Although we weren’t in the very front section where you get food delivered to your seat, our tickets weren’t anything to shake a stick at! If these were the seats we always got, I would be at the ballpark EVERY home stand. What a view!

I even got another cookies and cream Dippin’ Dots. They’re just the best ice cream at the park!

Tomorrow, we are back at the ballpark with Husband and a few friends to enjoy a game from the bleachers on his birthday. I’m so excited! That means more Dippin’ Dots. :)

I Try to Be Organized, I Really, Really, REALLY Do!

Source

Do you ever put something away in a particular place because you don’t want to lose it, and if you put it in that particular place, you can’t POSSIBLY forget that you put it there?

Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s where our safe deposit box key is. Hiding somewhere – probably where *I* put it to keep it safe.

No, it’s not in Husband’s sock drawer (where I’m told ALL men keep important things, Husband and my father are evidence of this one).

No, it’s not in any one of the MULTIPLE bags that I use to shuttle to-do items between home and the office.

No, it’s not in the hanging mail organizing by the staircase. Not in any one of the pockets in that organizer.

No, it’s not in my car.

No, it’s not in the important file box.

And it’s not in any one of the random piles of things around the house.

I have prayed to St. Anthony [patron saint of misplaced things], I have prayed to St. Jude [patron saint of lost causes] and I have cursed to high heavens when I.just.can’t.find.it.

After learning of the $150 re-keying fee imposed by my bank, I must ask you, O Internet…

WHERE is my safe deposit box key?!

A Holiday Weekend in Bullet Points and iPhone Pictures

This weekend, we headed down to Table Rock Lake to spend some time with friends M and K, our Sunday night dinner friends. Another couple joined us at M’s parents’ lake house. Three of us brought our fancy DSLRs, and I was determined to get some great pictures of the fireworks, the lake and friends. You know what they say about the best laid plans..

This weekend, we…

• Hit lots of traffic on the way out of St. Louis, on the way to Branson. I hate traffic.
• Ended up meeting our friends at Lamberts’ Cafe in Springfield, about an hour from the lake house. It was my first time and I was *SO* excited to get rolls thrown at my head!

• Were served the biggest drink I have ever seen at a restaurant at Lamberts. It sure does cut down on the refill runs that the waitress has to make!
• Made a Saturday morning trek to Silver Dollar City in Branson. SO much fun!

 

• Did not eat the mountain cookies that were as big as my head at SDC that morning. We ate a cinnamon roll as big as my head instead.

• Purchased SDC season tickets for cheaper than a one-day ticket, so we can go back with my family in our trip in August. I’m very excited about this. I mean, who doesn’t want to spend a hot summer day in a place like this, with lots of trees?

 

• Tried on lots of silly hats, and Husband was looking away when I caught this one. :)

• Spent Saturday afternoon spelunking. Well, sort of. As much spelunking as one can do underneath a theme park. The views in Marvel Cave were gorgeous.

 

• Were able to get a good iPhone picture of me and husband, and he’s actually smiling! This one might be bumped up to Facebook profile picture status.

• Went out on the boat on Sunday morning and the jet skiis too.
• Ended up in the hospital Sunday afternoon with a friend after a jet skiing accident. Surgery is definitely necessary and we’re just praying at this point that it’s not as bad as they say it is. They have said that she had a clean fracture of the pelvis, so yeah, it’s kind of scary. The jet ski went into a wave and then immediately into another big wave, and they lost control, causing the two riders to go up and over the jet ski and hit the water pretty hard. Sunday afternoon was a scary time at the lake house, waiting to hear how she was. If you’re the praying type, please pray. We need all the good thoughts we can get!
• Drove back to St. Louis on Monday afternoon after spending the day at the hospital with our friends. Literally, it was the longest three hour drive in the world. Ugh.
• Will not end up doing vacation laundry tonight because I’m exhausted. So there.

So here’s to a four day week ahead, ending in Husband’s 27th birthday!  

A Plan to Get My Butt in Gear

I found this little beauty of an exercise plan the other day on Pinterest:

Original Source

I’ve really been slacking at the Couch 2 5K program that I said I started literally months ago. It’s been hard to get up early and get in a work out, even if it’s only for 25 minutes a day. When I can’t wake up early enough, I promise myself I’ll come home and do it right away. And then I don’t. Because I’m lazy!

But this little breakdown sounds relatively easy. It is designed to get slackers like me working every day until you’re ready to exercise regularly. It even gives you break days!

The trick? If you stop for one day, you have to start at the beginning again. Now THAT’S motivation.

When I get back from the holiday weekend (the last traveling we’ll do for a while), I think I’m going to try this. Why not? I’ve got nothing to lose!