Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

We’ve been very lucky to have a low-key summer around here. Hubs has been off from school, but he’s been working as a research assistant and an admin help around the school, so that hasn’t really meant he’s been any less busy.

There was a trip to DFW back in May and then it’s been kind of quiet, at least, by our standards. We are gearing up for a VERY busy fall around work, but we had two trips in the past two weeks that would just get us geared up for all the craziness to come.

Hubs’ family has a wonderful friendship with another family from when they lived on the same street when Hubs was born. The kids are the same age, and they have been friends ever since. Their only daughter got married at the end of July and we packed up and headed to Columbus, OH, for a celebration at Ohio State. The family drove up on Thursday night so everyone could participate in the pre-wedding activities and I flew in after work on Friday.

Saturday morning, everyone including my nephew, got gussied up for the wedding.

Brother-in-law, nephew and his mama

He will sleep anywhere. And how is this position even comfortable?!

The ceremony was at the family parish in the Columbus suburbs, and it was a beautiful church. The bride was glowing, of course, and they played my favorite song – “How Beautiful” – as the communion meditation song. I cried, of course. ;) We did, however, have an unusual priest. Something about having fun rather than focusing on the solemnity of the occasion just put an odd spin on the whole vow portion of the afternoon.

The food at the Blackwell was wonderful! The couple had an open bar during the cocktail hour and then limited beverages with the drink tickets. It turned out really well and I’m sure saved them some cash! Besides, Hubs and I “borrowed” his parents’ cards and really enjoyed ourselves!

The centerpieces were old lanterns surrounded by oranges and other greenery. Real candle light added a nice touch! The little lantern next to it was our place card and our favor! Great way to do double-duty.

Her colors were pink and orange, which turned out really well. There was nice lighting and the chair ties were a pretty touch. The cake was the centerpiece of the room, as it should be!

A self-portrait. I hate the lighting in receptions for taking pictures, though – they never turn out quite right!

There were desserts galore at the reception! First, cake pops, then wedding cake, and Rita’s Ice afterwards! I was a very happy camper.

See also: photo booth. Very amusing!

There was a lot of dancing at this reception and lots was done by Yours Truly. Husband even came with me on the dance floor for a few of them – and that is quite an unusual occurrence! But we had a blast (could that possibly be due to the open bar and extra drink tickets? Don’t know!). At the end of the night, I caught this adorable picture of my in-laws. They are so truly in love, I had to snap a photo. Aren’t they adorable?

In the end, what’s not to like about weddings? They’re so much fun!

A Sobering PSA

This is a Public Service Announcement… remember my brother’s accident back in March? And when he was a smiling happy kid again, with a skull that got put back together again? Well, my brother is doing really, really great. In May, they did the surgery that added the skull piece back in to cover the hole made in the skull to allow the brain to swell without damaging the tissue. More therapy, more tests, but step by step, he’s getting better. It’s really wonderful and truly a miracle.

So Hubs showed me Facebook the other day and I saw these pictures, well, it brought everything back from that day when I got the phone call. Mom said that she cried when she saw the car in person. I almost burst into tears, too.

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It seems that part of the car is actually missing, it was sheared off.

You can see why his left foot and part of his left backbone was broken, and why the injury was on that side of his head.

This one really got me – you can see the seat and then the side console that came over into his seat. The metal of the door completely buckled. And do you see what’s missing? There’s no steering wheel. It was sheared off and we think went through the windshield.

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The next time you think about getting in a car after drinking one too many at dinner, please think twice. Because one inch either way and my brother would not have walked away from this car. We are incredibly thankful that he actually did.

Kind of a sobering way to spend a Friday night, huh?

Tourist in our Own City–Cahokia Mounds

On Saturday, Hubs and I became a tourist in our city. We had a Groupon to the Cahokia Mounds historical site in Collinsville, IL, so we grabbed a coffee at our favorite French café in the morning and then headed out there to check it out before it got too hot.

There is a really nice museum associated with the site, so we started there. Our Groupon gave us both an audio guide (on an iPod) that had three different walks around the site plus the museum.

The audio guide has 1-3 minute segments that takes you from point A to point B. They describe what you should be seeing, from left to right on the path, with this amazing sound track playing. I’m sure walking around the site would be nice on its own, and there are informational signs along the way, but listening to the sometimes eerie, sometimes poignant music full of wind instruments and chimes, and it really takes you back. 

As the guide puts it, “allow yourself to become unstuck in time.”

This is Monk’s Mound, looking out from the path near the museum. It’s over 100 feet tall and took over 22 million cubic feet of earth to build. The workers dug pits and hauled that dirt in about a cubic foot section in a basket on their back, sometimes a good long way, in order to build up this monument over a few hundred years.

There are many, many mounds that are part of the site. Some would have had houses of the wealthy citizens built on them, some were part of the burial ritual.

Walking through the site, it’s amazing to think that there were people who could build these mounds living a half hour away from my city over 1300 years ago. They say this site would have started around 700 AD and come into its zenith around 1200-1300 AD.

The audio guide reminded us that many of these mounds were sacred, and are burial grounds. We weren’t allowed to go climbing (not that I would – those things are kind of steep!) on them either.

This was the Grand Plaza. The market place, the gathering area, the arena for games, the center of the community. It was huge. We walked from here over to Monk’s Mound (the big one in the distance) and it was a looooong walk. It really gave us a perspective of how big the site is.

And then we climbed it. Oh my. There were a LOT of steps.

Did I mention there were a LOT of steps?

But we made it!

We could even see the Arch and downtown St. Louis in the distance.

 

While I don’t recommend exploring this site on a hot day like we chose, I think this is an amazing gem that most people in St. Louis don’t know about. Some of them might go on a school field trip at some point, but for those of us who missed that day in school or moved here as an adult, it’s something that many might skip. Don’t do it! Seeing this remnant of a civilization long gone is very humbling. And it’s free! What could be better than that?

It's a Whole New World...

Last night, some friends and I went to see some Disney magic at a local theatre – it was a production of Aladdin and I was really excited, not only because it was a Disney show. The Muny holds a dear place in my heart. It’s where I fell in love with the theatre.

When I was four years old, we lived in St. Louis and my mom received tickets for an upcoming production at the outdoor theatre in Forest Park for a showing of Peter Pan. I don’t think I had ever been to a live theatrical show, but my mom thought it was the right time for me to experience a play first-hand.

I can remember bits and pieces of the night, and every time I go back to see a show there, it makes me smile. I remember being very close to the stage (my mom tells me later that the tickets came from a boss or something, someone who had very good seats, so we were relatively close). I remember the actors being almost on top of me, they were so close. I remember Cathy Rigby (at the time, I had no idea who she was) FLYING OVER MY HEAD during one of the scenes. Could Peter Pan really fly? She did it. She flew over my head, right out over the audience, and sprinkled pixie dust on me.

I can only imagine how wide my eyes must have been, taking in the scene.

Is it any wonder that I turned to my mother at that point, and said, “Mom, I wanna do that!”

Later on, the experience stuck with me and I wanted to start acting. I was on stage in middle school and never looked back.

It makes me kind of sad that I’ve been on a theatre sabbatical for the past few years. But with so many work and social obligations, there aren’t enough hours in the day for me to fit in rehearsals and productions. I don’t know if my schedule will allow me to get back on stage but I hope so. It’s so much fun. It’s been a part of my life for so long and it feels strange not to have a rehearsal to rush off to.

But I love that I can experience a similar feeling every week during the summer at the Muny with my season tickets in section C. It may not be Cathy Rigby flying over my head, but I know that there are so many little girls in the audience that are experiencing their first Muny show – and they might be grow up to be actors. 

And that’s kind of cool.

I Will Retire In Another Lifetime... LITERALLY.

Every few months, I will do something that makes me pause, because I really feel like an adult when it happens.

Signing up for life insurance. Breaking up with your current car insurance agent. Filling out your tax return. Creating a “in case of death” file and putting your affairs in order. Now we can add saving for retirement to that adult-list.

I’m not entirely sure why it’s taken me almost five years of employment at my current job to suck it up and start a 403B retirement account (same thing as a 401K but for non-profit employers), but it is finally the time to do it. Looking back, I probably should have done this when the economy was a bit better and there was a matching program in place, but oh well!

I guess I can look at the bright side – I didn’t lose anything in the recession, right?

Since we’re opening up an account with this particular company, we can also look at other investment vehicles that are probably a good idea to start now. We have a long way to go before retirement (try at least another 27 years!) but it’s nice to know that our little nest egg is set up all official-like. I’m looking forward to watching it grow!

Do you have a retirement plan set up?