Flowers Make Me Happy

When my plane landed back in St. Louis after my long weekend in Walt Disney World earlier this month, I knew that things would not slow down for the rest of the month - and that has proved to be true!

We had a HUGE event at work - multiple locations within one venue, with multiple parties going on simultaneously and then a huge theatrical presentation with lots of audio/visual elements to coordinate on top of it! There were also issues with parking and RSVP lists, but we won't go into that here.

All in all, it went really, really, really well. :) Everyone was pretty pleased. And that makes me happy.

To reward myself, I picked up some gorgeous fall flowers at Costco last week, per my 101 list goal of having fresh flowers in the house once a month. Every time I do this, I remember how much I love having them.

The Weekend in Review

This weekend seemed to fly by, as they all do lately. So let’s start at the beginning! It’s a very good place to start…

Friday night – no football unfortunately, or Friday Night Lights, but soon we’ll be in the midst of college football! Did you know I always wanted to go to a big state school so we could have a football tradition to follow? Notre Dame would have been great, but then again, it’s north of St. Louis and therefore would probably be too cold for me to live for most of the year.

Oh right, Friday night plans. Yes. We hauled it to Chesterfield to say goodbye to one of my college friends who is moving away from here to follow his girlfriend as she continues her education in theatre by getting a masters at Boston University. We’re gonna miss him and I’m awfully sad that he’s leaving us. Once those hugs were done, we headed back to the city to meet up with one of Husband’s friends who was in town to surprise his sister at his nephew’s first birthday party. We were in on the secret and hung out in the beautiful almost-autumn air at the rooftop bar at the Moonrise Hotel. If you’re coming to St. Louis (or are already here) and haven’t had one of their yummy cocktails under the moon, you must go! Any place with this kind of decoration is ok in my book!

So, knowing me and my reaction to booze, we went home relatively early because we were both exhausted. Saturday morning was time for cleaning and an eyebrow wax. I got my hair cut earlier in the week, to prepare for our quick Disney jaunt, but looking in the mirror earlier, I decided that the jungles above my eyes needed to be cut back. So off to the spa I went. I was so happy when I was done!

I came home and puttered, watched a bit of Bachelor Pad to catch up for tonight’s episode, and then Husband and I headed out again to a first birthday party. Those are the best! Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay to watch the kid devour his cake. Hubs still owes me cake for that one. We had double-booked ourselves with the Sunday night dinner crew and went to Chesterfield to meet up with them. We put a lot of miles on the car this weekend.

Sunday was church, of course, and I was the first lector at Mass. I really do love proclaiming, especially when I prepare ahead of time and know what the reading is about! The afternoon was for packing – because we leave for Disney on Thursday! We are most definitely prepared…

And then I had to get ready for an audition. I believe my sabbatical or hiatus may be drawing to a close. It was great to print out my headshot and resume and look at it, realizing that I need to get new photos taken. My hair looks completely different than that picture! So it was a great show directed by a friend from college and I just had to go. This community theatre is supposed to be one of the best in the area and by attending their auditions, I can agree on that point! It was so organized and really well run. Unfortunately, I wasn’t cast, but I did get a call from the assistant director telling me how much she enjoyed my audition and that she really hopes I’ll come back and audition again, because she would like to see me on their stage. Which I thought was really sweet!

My acting professor once told me that we as actors must fall in love with auditioning – because it may be the only acting we ever get to do! I enjoyed my audition, met some fun people, reconnected with old friends and made the directing staff laugh. I say that was a success!

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.

Organizing is a Tricky Thing to Do on a Week Night

The next time that I suggest on Twitter that I want to clean out a particularly big area in my house (ie – anything bigger than one singular drawer in a singular room), please refer me to this post.

I have got it in my head that the entire townhouse must be decluttered. I believe it’s called nesting – I have the most urgent need to throw things away, gather like with like and reorganize every single space in the house. And it must be done RIGHT NOW. I have no idea why it has suddenly started but it has but boy, it’s insistent.

I was so proud of my work on the pantry and the fridge that I organized over the weekend that I thought I should tackle my guest bedroom closet one work night when Husband was at class. Because that was a good idea.

Right in the middle of the whole thing, I tweeted out this picture -

And this is why one should undertake such a large decluttering project when really one should be watching the SYTYCD performance show. Because who does this on a work night? Seriously.

So here are the before pictures of the great closet decluttering adventure. It’s a large closet that takes up most of one wall – I love having this much space for all my clothes! Hubs has all of his clothes in the smaller closet in our master bedroom so I get this one all to myself.

Left side:

Middle:

 

Right side:

 

After removing almost everything from the closet, purging and reorganizing, here is what I was left with at the end of the night:

Left side:

 

To the left are my dresses, which are nice to hang here because they can hang beyond the second shelf. Below is my stepladder so I can reach those things on the top shelf. Plus pillows and a box of blankets for those in the guest bedroom.

Middle:

 

Here’s where I’m very proud of myself. I rolled all of my tshirts and stood them up in the buckets on the top shelf. I hardly ever wear them but still need access to them. I actually donated a bunch of old shirts that didn’t fit to Goodwill – because why do I need to store them if I’m not going to wear them?

In addition to the buckets purchased at the Dollar Store, I also got those red fabric boxes. They’re holding tank tops and other light long-sleeved shirts that don’t need to be hung up. It’s a great place for them.

Next to the drawers of undergarments are my shoes. You can sort of see more buckets on the floor with additional shoes. There’s another shoe holder at the foot of the guest bed, but I definitely needed more shoe storage. I thought the buckets would do the trick!

Right side: 

Here we have all my love suit jackets and skirts below. Up above is our traveling stuff – pillows and packing cubes. There’s also a mirror in there that needs to find a home but I don’t know when that will happen.

Although I’m very happy with the space that I have now, I still need to do more purging and cleaning. But baby steps are good steps, right?

I Love Flowers

I came home from a long day of work yesterday, plus an hour and a half long baptism preparation class so I can be a godmother to my cousin’s second daughter next weekend. It was exhausting because of a major meeting at work I had to set up, exhausting because of the meeting we had with SLU regarding the donation in Dad’s name plus a mass said for the repose of his soul. I was on the verge of tears for most of the day.

So I got home and saw those lovely flowers sitting on my kitchen table and couldn’t imagine who they were from!

My mom’s cousin, Helen, had sent us red roses – one for each of us in the family plus my Grandma. Wasn’t that the sweetest thing? She wanted us to have a smile on the anniversary of Dad’s passing. Well, it definitely happened. We smiled the rest of the evening and again this morning when we walked downstairs to see them.

This totally counts for my 101 in 1001 list!

Thank you, cousin Helen!

Oh yeah, I meant to do those.

So I totally ignored my 101 in 1001 list for months and then picked up a few of them in a short span of time. I decided to blog about them together.

When I go through my whole DVR recorded shows, I’m forced to turn to Netflix. It’s really quite addicted how many shows are available to stream straight to Husband’s XBox or the Wii in my craft room.

99. Watch 26 movies, each one starting with a different letter

I decided to focus my next few movie watching experiences on those classics that I just never saw for some reason. This time, it was Royal Wedding, starring Fred Astaire and Jane Powell. Oh how I love Fred. They don’t make dancers like that anymore. [sigh]

10. Send 10 cards to friends just because (0/10)

So I think I may have cheated on this one. I came home from the $ store with some great greeting cards that I had to have. And then I saw my mother’s mother had sent me a card, just because. I had some cute cards so I sat down to reply to her. Now that I have some stationery, I’m planning on doing this more often. I love getting mail, and I know others do too!

I only have a little over one year to complete my 101 list. And I’m not so sure I’ll complete everything. But there’s always the next list, right?

Tush! Tush! Fear Boys with Bugs*

There is something so wonderful, so fun and so perfect about experiencing Shakespeare for free in a public park, outside under the stars. I really think it adds an element of magic to the thing that is live theatre.

Here in St. Louis, we are very lucky to have an amazing company that produces that free Shakespeare show each year in Forest Park. Last night, a group of our friends went down to the park early with a picnic basket, cooler and our lawn chairs to see the show.

We got there around 6 pm and were surprised to find so many people already there. It was starting to get cool and there wasn’t rain in the forecast so I think everyone else had the same idea as us that night! In any case, we were able to set up our lawn chairs a bit up the hill where it was relatively flat and wouldn’t cause it to come tumbling down the hill when we sat down to watch the show.

We were treated to Juggling Jeff and Josh the Clown’s antics before the show. I even asked them to redo their bit so I could catch them in a picture!

 

I am always impressed by their acts – they’re also the nicest guys in the world. Hence, the redo of their act so I could get a picture!

We nibbled and chatted for a bit before the show started.

And then there was a drunk in the crowd, followed by a policeman. And no, it wasn’t one of our group for once!

 

Definitely part of the show. I knew the play (it was the first Shakespearean show I was in during high school) and remembered that the play-within-a-play plot that Taming of the Shrew employs actually starts with a drunkard. Hence, the wandering thru the audience. It was really funny.

Right before the show started, we settled in, refilled our beers and margaritas, and then I was faced with this:

REALLY?!

We had been sitting there since 6 pm and a lady came in a few minutes before the show started and squeezed herself and her lawn chair right in front of me.

Oh well. I was still able to see if I tilted my head to the left and she did end up leaving during intermission. It got too cold for her, I overheard.

  

It wasn’t blazing hot during the day, but I didn’t realize that it was going to get so cool when the sun went down! Husband’s good friend D gave me his sweatshirt because I was so cold [such a nice guy, that one!] but then he ended up getting chilly too. So being the inventive one that he is, he grabbed the covers for the chairs and put one on each leg. That sure kept him warm! I was much better when Husband found a t-shirt in the trunk of our car and I was able to cover my cold toes with that.

But all in all, it was a wonderful night with friends and comedy onstage. If you’re in St. Louis, you still have until Father’s Day to see Taming of the Shrew in the Shakespeare Glen in Forest Park. It’s a hoot!

  

*Post title is one of my favorite quotes from The Taming of the Shrew, Act i. Scene 2.

Part of my 101 in 1001 list - Go out with friends at least once a month. One more down!

Getting Mail is So Much Fun!

After all the traveling that Husband and I have been doing over the past few weeks, I finally decided that the small roll-aboard suitcase we have wasn’t cutting it. I feel like such a dork walking into a hotel for a one night stay with a rolled bag rather than a duffel bag. Husband has a duffel that he’s been using and it’s so much easier for him to grab it and run.

I had just decided to find a duffel bag when I saw someone on one plane had a matching duffel and tote – well, of course, I needed one like THAT!

Plus, on the last wedding weekend, one of the wheels of our roll-aboard fell off in the parking lot. I hope that Husband can fix it, but either way, another small bag for my things would be nice to have around.

That’s where Etsy comes in. I love Etsy. I spend way too many hours looking at the shops there and drooling over the gorgeous things that much more creative people than me have created.

I did some searching and came across Vicki’s shop – Deerpath Designs. She had some really cute bags with customized monograms embroidered on them – I fell in love with the damask pattern. But she only had the tote bag so I asked if she could get the large duffel in the same patterns. Turns out she can!

My order arrived today and I am officially in love. I can’t wait for our next trip where I can use them!

   

There’s even pink bows with white accents on each bag!

Plus, my monogram is embroidered on both bags in the matching pink thread.

I LOVE IT. The big duffel is going to be plenty big for a long weekend’s worth of clothes and the tote bag is HUGE. I can carry my nook, a smaller purse for the trip, magazines, my toiletries and even snacks if I wanted to! It’s going to be so perfect.

Thanks, Vicki!

This is just one more thing I’ve bought from an Etsy store that counts towards my 101 in 1001 list.

Why Does Working Out Hurt?

On the way home from work tonight, I decided I was going to hit up the gym for the first time (again) of the Couch to 5K program. After all, it’s part of my 101 in 1001 list.  When I mentioned it to Husband at dinner, he said to wait for him and he’d go with me!

Spending time together with my dear husband just makes me smile, whether it’s sitting at the kitchen table working on our separate projects, working out, or snuggling on the couch watching tv. I love it. :)

We worked out to our Cto5K program on our own little treadmills – and I was rocking out to the playlist he made me a few days ago. Let’s just say that running to NKOTB’s “Right Stuff” was awesome to the max.

But walking back from the gym in the rain, with lighting in the distance and then walking up the stairs, I think I might regret this whole working out thing. It’s gonna suck when I wake up tomorrow morning.

Saturday Night in the City

I’ve been awfully quiet here the past few days – because I’ve been crazy busy!

Last Friday night was a law school future spouse’s bachelorette party. The girls and I had a great time out on the town, visiting lots of bars and giggling as the bride-to-be did lots of dares. Bachelorette parties always draw lots of attention and ours was no exception. I would post pictures here but then I’d have to kill you… and change my blog identity. Some of those girls are serious party gals! Also, people like my cousins and mother and mother-in-law read this blog – and I’m just not going to subject them to that. Ick.

But Saturday night takes the cake for the best night we’ve had in a LONG time – we attended the Bob Costas benefit featuring Conan O’Brian and Faith Hill.

Oh. My. Goodness.

It was the best night ever.

First, we started off at the Scottish Arms with two couples that we absolutely love hanging out with. One of the gentlemen with us had invited us along, because he got the tickets from his dad. Boy, were we in for a treat and we didn’t even know it!

And then we went to the Fox for the big event.

Conan O’Brian was hysterical, of course. He tailored his set to St. Louis and it was great.

But the lady in the picture above – Faith Hill? Brought down the house. Seriously, I didn’t realize how many of her songs I knew every single word to! Every new song she started had me bouncing in my seat, singing along, and even crying.

Especially this one - “Wild One”. Do you remember that one?

She's a wild one
With an angel's face
She's a woman-child
In a state of grace
When she was 3 years old on her daddy's knee
He said you can be anything you want to be
She's a wild one
Runnin' free

Faith Hill was one of Dad’s favorites – along with Shania Twain. This song would always remind me of him, even before. Because he told me I could do anything I wanted. So when Faith started singing this song in St. Louis, I was a little weepy in my plush Fox Theatre seat. But that’s ok – because music is supposed to touch the soul.

We had a great time that night, with my husband and our friends. Being out and listening to great songs and a funny comedian is an awesome Saturday night. :)

Great way to start a Thursday…

Yesterday, I came into the office and found these on my desk:

While picking up jelly beans for the communal candy bowl, my boss saw these pretty tulips and thought they looked like me. Isn’t that sweet? When I asked her why, she said that I had been working like a crazy person and deserved a treat.

It’s nice to be loved at the office!

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!

Happy Valentine's Day

My valentine took me to lunch and brought me these flowers today to make up for having class until 9 pm. Isn't he a sweetie?

It’s the only way he got me to play a video game

This little lovely came in the mail today. A few days ago, I saw it was on sale at Newegg and decided that for $30, I might as well take the plunge. It’s a video game and it has Mickey Mouse in it? I might actually like to play it.

And after all, I do have this goal of playing five video games with my husband. So yeah, it was a perfect fit.

When I got home, Husband had it set out and ready to go. The Wii was already plugged in and I had the Wii remote and nunchuck in hand within minutes of walking into the house.

There were a few scenes that set up the whole story and showed you where to go and what to do. Then there’s Gus, some kind of Gremlin or something, that helps you figure out what you’re supposed to do – spin move here, use thinner here to remove rocks, paint this area so you can walk across a crevice, that kind of thing.

My husband was remarkably patient in teaching me the simple things about a video game – how to jump from one rock to another, when there is a little gap. That sounds relatively easy, no? Apparently I don’t have the video game playing gene that my dear brother got.

I finally got that move down and was doing well with the painting and the thinning, trying to move up the levels. I think it will be fun to play again, but I’m not sure I’ll give up scrapbooking to take up playing video games.

But spending time with my husband as he teaches me about something I don’t know anything about? That was a pretty awesome way to spend a Tuesday evening at home.

~~~~

Read more about my 101 in 1001 list here.

1. Finish honeymoon scrapbook – DONE!

It’s official.

I have finished the scrapbook for our 2007 honeymoon.

After three and a half years of working on it, I finally scrapped the last page tonight.

Then I cried! Something seemed so final about it, even though I still have to work on the wedding scrapbook.

Here are the last few pages…

 

This is the Chateau du Roi Rene in Angers, France. Husband studied there in 2004 when he went abroad for a semester, so we had to visit there during our honeymoon. The gardens next to the Chateau were so beautiful. There was a plaque in French that described the history of the place.

 

Nearby Angers was the town of Amboise. We toured the castle there and saw the chapel on the grounds – this is where Da Vinci is buried.

Inside, we saw the castle decorated as it would have been in the medieval ages when it was inhabited by the kings of the region. It was absolutely wonderful! I love that Husband had to sit in this chair and take a picture.  

 

Down the road from the castle at Amboise was Clos Luce, a sort of summer home. This was where Da Vinci lived at the invitation of the king for the last years of his life. The grounds are decorated with replicas of his invitations and is just a beautiful place to visit in the springtime!

 

“After our weekend in Angers, we were back in Paris for our last night in France. We had a reservation at Taillevent – our first five star restaurant. We ate and ate and ate for hours and then had the most amazing desserts of our lives. It was a perfect end to a magical honeymoon.”

 

“Our Honeymoon, April – May, 2007”

Unfortunately, the last page of the scrapbook didn’t quite fit in the book! I was so worried about finishing the last page that I didn’t count ahead to see how many inserts I had empty. But the good news was, there was just one last page that didn’t have a spot – but there was space on the back cover. A little glue fixed it right up!

 

You can see my other scrapbooking pages here.  There’s also a list here about all my 101 in 1001 items that I’m working on too.

The One Where I Finally Meet Her Boyfriend

My best friend and college room, J, has been dating T for like, a year. And I had never met him. Things were always getting in the way of us going out together, and with Husband in MBA and then adding more law school classes over the fall semester, we just never had extra time to get together.

But last week during our women’s group, T came over to J’s house while I was still there and I actually got to meet him! We sat down with our calendars and set up a double date.

And that was last night!

We met up at Katie’s Pizzeria – this adorable little place that you might pass by it if you didn’t know it was there.

But when you get in, there are bunches of big tables that they actually put multiple parties at. If you are only two, you might be at one big table with another couple down the way.

Behind the bar, there’s a projection screen and it was playing Casablanca.

J said this place was known for cocktails, so far be it from me to not try one out! Mine was a fresh apple pie with vanilla vodka, some other alcohol and cinnamon added for good measure. It was so good I had two!

It was so much fun to meet T. He’s pretty awesome.

And J is pretty happy about it. :)

Of course, getting my husband to actually smile for a picture was another highlight of the evening! 

 

The best part? We have butternut squash and four cheese pizza leftover for lunch today.

    

YUM.

Taking a Step I Forgot I wanted to Take

When Husband was on his Hong Kong trip a few weeks ago, I decided to take myself out on a date. It was lovely. :)

On my way to dinner and the movie, I didn’t even realize that I would be completing one item on my 101 in 1001 list!

44. Go to the movies… ALONE!

I have wanted to see The Social Network since they announced its release. Unfortunately, Husband had NO desire to see it –which kind of left me out of luck. Spending money to see an expensive movie in the theatre is not good when one of the couple doesn’t want to see that particular movie!

I thought I’d have to wait until it came out on Netflix, but all the details fell into place when I realized I could take myself on a date. It was wonderful!

As much as I love my husband (and I do! A lot!), taking myself out to dinner and a movie almost made up for being a single lady for two weeks.

He loves Etsy almost as much as I do now

I’ve created a monster.

My husband discovered Etsy.

He found this vintage tie case from seller FunkyQuailVintage.

It’s got places for ties, cufflinks and other various things that gentlemen need in order to be appropriate dressed for a European vacation. Given that he’s also doing a study abroad program in Hong Kong in January that will need lots of professional attire, I figured it was a good thing to get him. :)

And yes, he knows he’s getting it, it’s not a Christmas present, hence me being able to post it here.

Can’t wait for it to get here so we can pack up all his ties for the trips.

This purchase got me one step closer to my 101 goal of purchasing from five new Etsy shops. Yay!

The Cookie Walk Was Sold Out?!

My friend M and I took a field trip this afternoon while our husbands were studying for MBA finals coming up this week. We figured it was a good day to get out of the house.

It’s besides the point that it was 26 degrees and started out the day snowing.

It seemed like a good idea and a great time to try out my new silk long underwear before the London trip!

M had heard there was a Cookie Walk event in a little town south of St. Louis called Kimmswick. This historic town has a lot of charm and is always having various fairs and festivals – this time of year, it’s the Old Fashioned Christmas Festival. The stores are all decorated for Christmas, there’s lot of carolers and Santa and Mrs. Claus make an appearance.  They also had tours of the various historic homes as well.

And this year, there was a cookie walk. You paid $10, got a cookbook and at various merchants got a free cookie when you shopped during the festival!

Well, that is, if you were able to get a ticket. Apparently it was VERY popular this year (first time they’d ever done it) and so when we went this afternoon, they were sold out.

But that didn’t stop M and I from wandering around the town and doing some shopping! :)

Here are some pictures…

 

There were so many neat Christmas decorations, but I fell in love with these trees to tell the street number of this little shop!

Almost of all the stores look like this – adorable names, great Christmas decor and gift ideas. I could have spent SO much more money, but I behaved myself.

Hehe. :)

And then there was this shop. Oh sure, it looks most innocent from the outside! And then you go inside. Not everything was like this, but I had to take a picture of a mug that I’m SURE my husband would want me to buy…

Needless to say, this mug did not come home with me. But I had to take a picture. When I showed Husband the picture, he said he was going to drive back to Kimmswick and find it. ;)

A few hours into shopping, M and I got a bit hungry and she said no trip to Kimmswick is complete without eating at the Blue Owl Restaurant. Well, since it’s the only restaurant in town, I figured we might as well.

I am SO glad we did. Everything in this place is homemade – and tastes amazing. I had roast beef, mashed potatoes and creamy corn hash and it was INCREDIBLE. Just when I thought I couldn’t eat anymore, our wonderfully perky waitress K asked if we wanted dessert.

M gave me a look that said, we HAVE to have some pie. You don’t have to tell me twice! Here’s what we ordered…

Yes. That’s M’s apple pie and my French silk pie.

This is a Blue Owl staple – Levee High Apple pie. I wish I had got a picture of it, but I didn’t have my camera with me in the bakery. They claim this apple pie contains 18 full granny smith apples to make up that amazing desserts.

All I can say is wow. We definitely took home some pie in doggie bags.

  

We saw this sign at the last place we stopped. It just says it all. :)