NFL Week 12 Picks

Thanksgiving days were picked before the games...

New England Patriots vs. Detroit Lions
New Orleans Saints vs. Dallas Cowboys
Cincinnati Bengals vs. New York Jets
Green Bay Packers vs. Atlanta Falcons
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Buffalo Bills
Carolina Panthers vs. Cleveland Browns
Jacksonville Jaguars vs. New York Giants
Minnesota Vikings vs. Washington Redskins
Tennessee Titans vs. Houston Texans
Miami Dolphins vs. Oakland Raiders
Kansas City Chiefs vs. Seattle Seahawks
Philadelphia Eagles vs. Chicago Bears
St. Louis Rams vs. Denver Broncos
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Baltimore Ravens
San Diego Chargers vs. Indianapolis Colts
San Francisco 49ers vs. Arizona Cardinals

Both

I will update sometime tomorrow with our to date scores, we just got back from Virginia and I really don't want to add up the points right now... Just know that Chad is +2 over me...

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving I am spending it away from St. Louis... we are spending it in Virginia with Chad's parents. We've been here since Sunday evening and will stay until sometime next weekend. I've been looking forward to this trip for awhile. A time to get away from everything (especially work) and spend a low key week with family. We also decided to bring the dogs along with us. They did really well in the car for roughly 13 hours and now that we're here they are having the time of their life. They have so many places to run and explore and sniff and pee on (in Rowdy's case.) After our first full day here the dogs were pooped... more worn out than I've ever seen before.

Anyway on this Thanksgiving I wanted to list some things I'm thankful for:

I am thankful to have such a supportive and amazing husband. He makes me laugh and brings such happiness to my life. I am so lucky to have him in my life.

I am thankful to have a wonderful family. Family is extremely important to me and I'm so grateful that I have such an amazing one... especially my mom.

I am thankful to have awesome friends. Sometimes I do wish I had more friends, but the ones I have are truly amazing. They listen to me, laugh with me, comfort me... overall they get me and even if I've felt like I lost my best friend this year, I've been surrounded by fantastic people.

I am thankful to have a job and to have the job that I do. I may complain and there might be some hypocrisies but in the end I love it. I am also thankful Chad is happy working where he is.

I am thankful to have such amazing pets... Pretty Kitty, Stitch, Bozley and Rowdy all bring me happiness with their unique personalities.

I am thankful for all the little things in life that make each day worth living (wow... that's a corny one isn't it??)

I am thankful for all the yummy food I shouldn't be eating but exists to tempt the crap out of me.

I am thankful to live in a city I love.

To wrap up this Thanksgiving day post: What is Chad thankful for?? Socks.

NFL Week 11 Picks

Chicago Bears vs. Miami Dolphins
Buffalo Bills vs. Cincinnati Bengals
Detroit Lions vs. Dallas Cowboys
Washington Redskins vs. Tennessee Titans
Arizona Cardinals vs. Kansas City Chiefs
Green Bay Packers vs. Minnesota Vikings
Houston Texans vs. New York Jets
Oakland Raiders vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
Baltimore Ravens vs. Carolina Panthers
Cleveland Browns vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
Atlanta Falcons vs. St. Louis Rams
Seattle Seahawks vs. New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. San Francisco 49ers
Indianapolis Colts vs. New England Patriots
New York Giants vs. Philadelphia Eagles
Denver Broncos vs. San Diego Chargers

Chad
Jenn
Both

Chad is in the lead again... boo...

Chad: 83 - 63
Jenn: 82 - 64

NFL Week 10 Picks

Baltimore Ravens vs. Atlanta Falcons
Detroit Lions vs. Buffalo Bills
Minnesota Vikings vs. Chicago Bears
New York Jets vs. Cleveland Browns
Cincinnati Bengals vs. Indianapolis Colts
Tennessee Titans vs. Miami Dolphins
Carolina Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Houston Texans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
Kansas City Chiefs vs. Denver Broncos
Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Giants
Seattle Seahawks vs. Arizona Cardinals
St. Louis Rams vs. San Francisco 49ers
New England Patriots vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
Philadelphia Eagles vs. Washington Redskins

Chad
Jenn
Both

We're tied up... this week I went with my heart with the Rams... hopefully they don't break it!!

Chad: 77 - 55
Jenn: 77 - 55

Restaurant Rave/Date Day

Yesterday I had the day off work. And since Chad is working a new schedule, we aren't getting to spend as much time together, but yesterday we got to. It was super exciting to be able to lay in bed together and not have to wake up. Luckily weekends will be this way too :)

Anyway I asked if we could try out a new restaurant, and suggested The Shaved Duck. I've been hearing good things about this place for quite awhile, so I had some pretty high expectations... and this place did not disappoint. I ordered the pulled chicken sandwich with mac and cheese (I've been hearing how amazing their mac and cheese is for awhile and I LOVE mac and cheese so honestly this was one of the main reasons I wanted to try it out) and Chad ordered the pulled pork with mash potatoes with caramelized onions.

The food was amazing. My chicken was so good and it was really nice to have 3 choices of BBQ sauce. Chad's pulled pork was also too. You could just tell that the meat was quality. The buns the meat was on were perfect. The sides were amazing too. Chad's mashed potatoes had some real onion flavor to them, but they made you want to come back for more. My mac and cheese did NOT disappoint. So yummy and cheese and they put these breadcrumbs on top that add this bit of crunch... SO GREAT.

I believe we had a smaller portions since we went at lunch time (we also had a discounted price, holla!!) But the sizes to me were perfect, enough that I ate everything but didn't feel so full. Chad would have liked a little more food. We wondering if the sizes were indeed smaller at lunch b/c we'd like more food if we were paying full price, but other than that we didn't have any complaints and would totally go back.

After lunch we went over to Chad's friend's automotive shop to get some decals for a motorcycle club that he's trying to join. And the we headed back home, but first stopped and got some Dairy Queen. We ate our ice cream outside on the tailgate of his truck. It was a really nice day. It was fun spending time together outside the house.

Shopping

A few weeks ago I was really eager to start my Christmas shopping. It all stemmed from stumbling across an awesome find at the Tesson Ferry Antique Mall. Suddenly it all made sense to me... start shopping early instead of waiting until the month of December like I normally do. (the fact I had a dream a few weeks ago that it was Christmas morning and I hadn't done any of my Christmas shopping at all.)

So I'm excited to start getting gifts... and that's when it dawns on me - I have absolutely no clue what to buy anyone. Even people I normally have some idea (like my mom) I'm feeling pretty clueless on...

I really don't have a clue what to get Chad. Earlier this week I had a brilliant idea to buy Chad the Kinect... He wasn't putting it on his Christmas list and while he thought it was pretty cool he wasn't acting all that excited about it, but still it would have been perfect, it would be really cool to have in the house and a really nice addition to our Xbox. That's when I realized the Kinect is going to be the hot Christmas item this year. Remember a few years ago when hot item was the Wii... and people were fighting over them in stores? I think that went on for at least 2 Christmas's... anywho... I'm thinking that's going to be the Kinect this year. I mean, have you seen that thing? It's flipping amazing.

But I'm back to a loss as to what to give Chad. Last year the gift I got him was pretty perfect. I got him a cigar humidor (that included a cutter, ashtray, and carrying case) with a cigar sampler. He was really happy with the gift and I've seen him use all of it throughout the year... so how do I live up to that?? I'm going to have to come up with something...

But past that, I have a lot of people on my list that I'm just not sure what to get. I imagine at some point I'll have Christmas lists from some of these people and I'll be able to pick something off of there. I guess I'm feeling like I'm lacking some creativity. Like I should be able to come up with some pretty rocking gifts for some of my list and I'm just not able to concentrate on it.

I especially want to come up with some better gifts for Chad's family... hopefully he'll be able to help me out more this year, or we'll think of a brilliant upon brilliant idea.

What to do?

Just last week Chad got notification at work that he would have to switch schedules. He has been working Friday - Monday from like 5:30am-4:30pm. That schedule brought on it's own challenges... we didn't have any weekend days together and we were working completely opposite schedules. We didn't have any days where we got to wake up together or spend all day together... but on the upside we had every night together... we got to watch TV and eat dinner. We've been making out way through the Lost series and we'd watch a few episodes each night... plus it's always nice sharing our days together.

But he's got to be flexible at work and last week someone quit unexpectedly and that shift needed to be covered and Chad came to the rescue. Now he's working 4:30pm-12:30am. So now we'll have the weekends together, and we'll be able to go out on weekend nights again since he doesn't have to get up at 4:30am anymore. But on the downside we won't see each other during the week... He'll leave for the work before I get home and I'll be in bed by the time he comes home.

It's really going to an adjustment. I'm not worried about getting through it... but really I'm not sure how to spend my evenings. So what should I do? I'll probably watch more TV that Chad normally wouldn't like. I'll probably work on my cross-stitch project... but what else can I do??

I am challenging myself to something. Eat at home every night (unless I have other dinner plans, like tomorrow when I'm going to dinner with my dad and brother.) Tonight I made myself pasta (I usually make myself pasta.) This time I changed it up. I cooked up some ground beef (add some garlic powder), pasta, and tomato sauce. I heated up a piece of garlic bread and prepared a salad. It was a pretty tasty meal.

NFL Week 9 Picks

This looks to be an interesting week with 3 differences

Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Atlanta Falcons
Chicago Bears vs. Buffalo Bills
New England Patriots vs. Cleveland Browns
New York Jets vs. Detroit Lions
Arizona Cardinals vs. Minnesota Vikings
New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina Panthers
Miami Dolphins vs. Baltimore Ravens
San Diego Chargers vs. Houston Texans
New York Giants vs. Seattle Seahawks
Kansas City Chiefs vs. Oakland Raiders
Indianapolis Colts vs. Philadelphia Eagles
Dallas Cowboys vs. Green Bay Packers
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cincinnati Bengals

Chad
Jenn
Both

Our record stands:

Chad: 69 - 49
Jenn: 68 - 50

On Days like today...

... I feel old.

Today, my little sister... almost 9 years younger than me... turns 18!! I can't believe it, I can remember the day she was born.

But before that, I can remember when my mom told us she was pregnant... I remember coming up with a long list of names... not sure why I remember that, but I do...

Today, 18 years ago, my brother and I didn't have school for whatever reason and we were at my grandparents house. She wasn't suppose to be born for another month, so you can imagine the surprise when my Grandma told us that my mom would be having her that day. I remember visiting her and my mom in the hospital...

And today she is 18... she's "legal," she can vote and buy lottery tickets... get piercings and tattoos... buy cigarettes and porn... oh the things you can do when you turn 18. I'm proud of her and I'm lucky to have her as my little sister. She's funny and interesting and adorable. She's got attitude, but if she didn't she wouldn't be Lindsey.

Lindsey, I love you... the happiest birthday to you.

On my college graduation day
In Prague
The family on wedding rehearsal day
My beautiful sister on my wedding day
On Thanksgiving Last year
And finally her senior picture

So what's been going on with me?

I realized recently that I've done a pretty craptastic job of posting what I've been up to in the last month... and I've done some really interesting things... so here's what I've been up to, in no particular order:

• A few weeks ago my mom bought the Groupon for the Gateway Arch Riverboats. Her and I took my Grandma for a boat trip. The weather was super nice and the boat ride was quite fun and interesting. I think Grandma enjoyed it.
• 

• After our lovely boat ride we visited another St. Louis classic spot... Crown Candy Kitchen. You may recall this place was featured on Man vs. Food. I love this place and just don't get to visit it like I'd like. I had a chili dog and it was quite tasty... my mom and I split a Strawberry shake for dessert while Grandma tried to tackle the banana split. To our surprise Chad showed up and joined us (I think this picture is funny... I made him hold the shake)
  

• Speaking of Chad... he's on a new schedule now working Friday - Monday. So we are on a completely opposite schedule. We're still learning to adjust and now weekend nights are super early for me... but it's nice we can eat dinner together every night.
• I went to Washington, DC for a conference a couple of weeks back. It was nice b/c I got to meet up with my in-laws and have dinner. We went to an awesome Mexican place called Rosa Mexicano. It's always nice getting to see them. Also while in DC, my coworker and I had an afternoon off and we visited Old Town in Alexandria, VA. Here we visited a Christmas store (talk about fueling my Christmas fever), the Torpedo Factory (where I found a bunch of things I loved but could never ever afford), and had a lovely dinner at The Fish House.
• Last week I had sushi for the first time... I was surprised how much I enjoyed it... and I'd be willing to go away... plus the dessert was A-MAZE-ING
• Me, my mom, sister Lindsey and brother Keith visited the pumpkin patch. In St. Louis there's two big pumpkin patches, Eckert's and Rombach's. In our family Rombach's is the place. I have a lot of family memories of this place... and I was excited to have our little family together again at the pumpkin patch. This is one of the traditions I'm excited to share with a baby... someday... no day soon.
• I saw The Social Network with a couple of friends... I enjoyed it.
• I bought my first Christmas present at the Tesson Ferry Antique Mall... I'm really excited about giving it. On a side note that Antique Mall is a lot of fun... it's really big and a lot of fun to look around in. The prices are reasonable, there's some really expensive things and some really cheap items. There's a good mixture... there's a couple of things I have my eyes on.
• Last weekend I saw Secretariat with my mom and grandma. I thought it was pretty funny after the movie I told Chad that I saw Secretariat and he responded "what's that" so I said "it's a movie about Secretariat... the horse... the last winner of the triple crown"... I guess he didn't know about Secretariat at all... which I thought was crazy. The movie was pretty feel good, I enjoyed it.
• My mom, sister and I tried a new restaurant - Three Monkeys. It was really tasty, I'm excited to go back.

Well, I think that's it for now, I'm sure I'm missing stuff... so I'll update if I think of anything else.