Changed the Look

Tonight I decided to change the look of this ol' blog. I realized it was kind of hard to read with everything being pink... so I decided to change the look a bit... what do you think?? I know I changed it at one point of time and I think my aunt told me she didn't like the change... but I'm kind of digging it...

So opinions??

Getting to Know Us Monday

Chad managed to answer almost every question this week in just one word....

When was the last time you visited a park and what did you do while there?

Jenn: I went to a park with Carrie a week ago Saturday and totally messed up my feet by walking around Creve Coeur Lake (3.7 miles) in flip flops... big mistake!

Chad: Took a walk with Jenn

What is your favorite sport to watch?

Jenn: Well right now it's baseball, but I also enjoy lots of other sports... especially the Olympics

Chad: Baseball

Which sport do you most enjoy actively participating in?

Jenn: That's a tough question... bowling?

Chad: Softball

If you have to dress and leave in a hurry what is the one thing you can easily cut out of your routine?

Jenn: There's one of two things I cut out... either putting in my contacts or straightening all of my hair

Chad: Eating

What was the last item you cooked and ate?

Jenn: Well, I'm baking a dessert right now, but before that I helped with grilled cheese and canned ravioli for dinner last week

Chad: Oatmeal

It's almost been a week

I don't know about you guys, but I am ACHING for the weekend. I've been staring at Memorial Day Weekend on the calendar for at least a month now... I can't wait for the mini-vacation from work it provides. As you probably know, my schedule at work provides me with a day off every other week. In a two week pay period I work eight 9 hour days, one 8 hour day, and have a day off. It's seriously one of the best schedules EVER! I take every other Monday off work as my AWS (off) day. Most people here take a Friday, but since I started I've taken Mondays. It originally had something to do with Chad's work schedule, but since then I've decided it's way better than taking a Friday off. No one seems to agree... but when you're at work on Fridays it's a low-key day... end of the week, a lot of people are gone and long lunches always seem to happen. Monday... Monday is a real work day... everyone is here... so honestly... Monday feels like a real day off, where it's easy to be here on a Friday. Plus, Sunday night is the worst, and when you have Monday off every other week it makes life so much easier. Trust me... Monday off is WAAAAAAAY better.

That is soo not the point of this post... the point of this post is to give a new job update. As you may remember from this post... I recently got a promotion at work. Yes, that last post wasn't the most positive one, it was actually quite stressful. But atlas, here I am in my new position. I've been here for almost a week... and so far so good.

It's weird coming into the same work place and not really knowing how my day is going to flow. It's like going from being the expert to knowing very very little. It kind of sucks, I really like being the go-to person - so it will be awhile before I'm an expert. It took a long time to become an expert in my old position, but still, I could work on auto pilot over there... and here I'm on pins wondering if I'm doing things correctly.

It's hard to tell people who are not familiar with my work or organization what exactly I do, but basically I'm a travel clerk now. I approve travel, book it for some, and do travel related things. I think a lot of my day is going to be cutstomer service. I'm already realizing it's not going to be the face-paced situation I was in with my old position... which probably means I'm going to be bored... but we'll see when I get into the thick of it... I'm a fast worker, so we'll see how that ends up jiving.

I'll knock it out either way... that much I know!

Happy Memorial Day weekend ya'll... I'm counting the minutes until I get to leave... 3 hours 25 minutes and counting!

Getting to Know Us

Well, this is getting posted a little late, mostly b/c I send the questions from work and I forgot to do it last week (I was super busy yo)... but it's still Monday so it still counts!!

How many siblings do you have?

Jenn: I have a brother, Keith (24) and a (half) sister Lindsey (18). I also have 2 step-sisters, Adriane (27) and Rachel (25), and a step-brother Connor (17)

Chad: One half-brother, Ryan, one step-brother, Jim, and a step-sister, Sara. They are all treated, and referred to, as brothers and sister. I don’t feel like they’re step-family.

What is you favorite snack?

Jenn: I'm honestly not a huge snacker - sometimes I wish I snacked more so I didn't eat so much at bigger meals... I like triskets a lot for salty... am also a sucker for Rotel dip

Chad: Depends on mood, but I can always fall back on Cheddar Jalapeno Cheetos.

What is your favorite electronic device?

Jenn: My iphone is my favorite electronic device followed by my laptop and tv

Chad: I love my laptop, and my iPhone.

If you could be any animal which one would you prefer to be and why?

Jenn: I would want to be a monkey... they always look like they are having so much fun swinging around on stuff... or as I was telling Chad, an otter might be cool too

Chad: Probably a Penguin because life seems simple for them. And who doesn’t love an animal in a tuxedo…?

What is your ideal car?

Jenn: I've always wanted a VW Beetle... or a Jetta

Chad: My dream car is a Koenigsegg Agera-R.

Wedding Saturday

As I've mentioned in the last few posts, last week was uber busy for me. While I've already blogged about the prison trip, Mother's Day, celebrating Mother's day, Lindsey's award night, and Connor's graduation... there were also some mundane things like namely school work... but Survivor was mixed in there too... so it was quite a full week... hopefully this week will be a lot more quiet. I like being a bit busy, but I enjoy relaxing time in there too.

Anyway, to finish off the busy week I went to a wedding on Saturday. My friend Christina got married. While the weather wasn't the greatest... she had a beautiful wedding. I was a last minute invite, but I can totally understand why... I'm just happy it ended up working that we were able to come. My mom joined me for the ceremony since Chad had to work and I didn't want to go alone. Luckily Chad was able to make it to the reception with me. It was a bit strange going to the wedding for reasons I'd rather not think about anymore... I'm really happy I went. It was good seeing Christina again...

I would have liked to stay longer, but Chad had been up since 3am and was just pooped. His schedule is really difficult on both of us... obviously more so him than me. But I really hope that the schedule will change some day. I can see that the schedule is weighing on him... and frankly we just don't get to see each other that often (like we don't have a day off where we are both off all day). But I digress, I would have liked to dance a bit (since that's my favorite part of weddings!!) but I'm also happy Chad was able to make it that late with me. They had a photo booth at the wedding and here's our photos... we weren't very creative!
Overall we had a very enjoyable night! I love going to weddings.

This wedding just makes me that much more excited for our friends, Sam and Meg's wedding. Chad is in the wedding... it's going to be a lot of fun.

Art Class, Mother's Day Version

For Mother's day this year we decided to attend another Art Class at South Broadway Art Project. I seriously cannot say enough good things about this place. My mom and I have been talking about how much fun it would be to have Lindsey and Keith there... so I gathered the troops for a Mother's Day celebration.

We started off the night by having dinner... we were going to go to 3 Monkeys but they had a wait so we ended up at Tin Can instead. It was a nice dinner... what I love about Tin Can is they have a grilled cheese and tomato bisque plate which is like my favorite meal ever!

Then we headed over to the studio. Tonight's class was Funky Spring Trees. It was a painting class. While I'm not sure how much fun Keith and Lindsey had, it at least appeared like they had fun. Here we are hard at work...
And here we are with our final products. I think we all did a wonderful job!! I seriously love this place. The teacher (Sarah I believe is her name) is really helpful and just kind of lets you do your own thing. The classes are only $25 a piece and I'm serious are totally worth it. If anyone ever wants to take one let me know and I'll go with you. We can even get dinner beforehand... it could be a nice night out :) Oh yeah... the final products...
And while we were these I picked up my pot... here's a picture of it. I'm happy with how it turned out. Sadly we think someone accidentally took mom's platter :( but Sarah hopefully knows the person that may have taken it... so hopefully she gets it back!
We finished the evening by heading to Ted Drewes. It was a yummy way to finish an already wonderful evening! I hope mom, Keith and Lindsey also had a good time... b/c I sure know I did!! Happy Mother's Day mom!!!

Graduation Day

As I stated in the last post I have been very busy!! Two of the nights last week were spent with activities of high school graduation. It's times like these that make you realize how old I'm getting. As I pointed out at these events I graduated high school nearly 10 years ago!!

Last Monday night we went to Lindsey's Senior Awards night. Her councilor at school told her it was very important that she attend. So we started off with dinner at Olive Garden which is so very tasty. I love that place. Then we headed over to the high school.

It's weird being back in the high school I went to so long ago. Some things have changed, but some things never will. I was talking to my mom how this is the last school event she'll go to at Lindbergh... for being a part of that school district since 1989... I bet that feels a little surreal.

Anyway back to the star of the evening... Lindsey ended up getting a scholarship that she applied for!! I believe it was the Don Jones's scholarship. She's probably going to hate me, but here she is with her certificate.
GO LINDSEY!! YOU ROCK!!

On Tuesday night I attended my step-brother Connor's graduation, which funny enough took place in the very place I graduated (Connor doesn't go to the same school as Lindsey). It was interesting to attend a high school graduation... after all it's been 5 years since I went to one (that's when Chad's brother Ryan graduated) It always feels long, especially in the case of Connor's graduation where I only knew him and not any of his friends or past friends (like if I were to attend Lindsey's ceremony.)

But it's always a good feeling around high school graduation... your life is just beginning and it's an exciting exciting time. I am also excited because Connor has decide to follow in my and Keith's footsteps by attending Truman State! Lindsey is staying in St. Louis and attending UMSL. I'm happy for both of them, they have both turned into such great, interesting people. I'm so happy they are both part of my family.

The best of luck to both of you, Lindsey and Connor!!

Prison Trip

So I've had like a week of non-stop busy-ness... it's been crazy. I guess at a point life just speeds up... but this past week it's been one thing right after another. I'm looking forward to this next week not being nearly as busy.

The Saturday before last my mom, brother and I went to Jefferson City to take a tour of the old Missouri State Penitentiary. My mom had heard they were giving tours of this place and it sounded interesting to me. So we decided a day trip would be nice and luckily Keith was done with school so he was able to join us.

Now I'm not sure if anyone reading knows the history of this place - I didn't... but it has some serious history. For one, it's dubbed the "Bloodiest 47 acres in America." I guess it was quite the violent place! You always hear about Alcatraz as being a famous prison, but this place was bigger, opener longer, and contains a LOT of history. It opened in 1836 (and finally closed in 2004) and at one point housed over 6,000 prisoners. I mean look at this place... it's pretty epic looking...
The tour was given by a gentleman that was a guard in the prison for 30 years. You could just tell that he was very involved with what he was saying and had so many person stories. He really gave life to the place and if you could hear him talk when he didn't have PG it up, I can't imagine all the stories he has. He said at one point there's not a place in the prison that didn't involve a death of some type... a pretty violent place!

Onto some of my mom's pictures from the day... here's Keith in what I believe they referred to as the privilage cell block (mom or Keith remind me on that one.) What you can't tell is Keith is on the fourth story... heights don't really get to me that often, but something about this place was making my knees wobble... maybe b/c it was a little worn down... But I did walk across the cat walk... I just didn't look down...
And here I am exiting on the the cells. This cell has the only original doorway on it. As you can tell the old doors are very small.
What I didn't have a good picture of, but in this cell block in the basement next to the showers was a dungeon... like a serious dungeon. They would put the misbehavers down there with the lights off... it was so dark, like no light what so ever... I can't imagine what it would be like to be down there for days/week/months/years... and in one guy's case decades...

Here is another cell block... a newer version. It's kind of hard to think that this place only closed 7 years ago... with the peeling paint and such... but it's true.

And finally here's the gas chamber building
And here's Keith and I sitting in the gas chamber... behind those seats on the ground is where the gas was created and those windows are were the witnesses, press, and family would sit to watch the execution. I'm going to say the picture was blurry b/c of the ghosts... but I'd be lying if I said that was the case.
We took the four hour tour and I cannot say enough good things about it. There's also a four hour tour as well as a ghost tour at night. If you are ever in the Jeff City area you really should consider taking the tour. There's so much history right here in our very state. The land the prison sits on is in prime real estate area. I think they are considering tearing this place down. I'm planning on writing a letter to express how awesome I thought the tour was... but be sure to get there and see it for yourself! I bet taking the tour again with a different guide would provide even more interesting information... and there was a lot of places we didn't get to see... I bet they take you to some of those areas on four hour version.

To round out the day in Jeff City we ate at a old diner type of place... Oliver's? And then we got ice cream from none other than Central Dairy. It was great ice cream... just as how I remembered it.

Overall it was a great day trip to Jeff City!! And we had some great weather for it too!

Getting to Know Us Monday

Onto the next five questions!!

What is your favorite color?
Jenn: I love colors, I would probably say my favorite is pink but I love color (as in I own lots of clothes of array of different colors
Chad: Black, obviously, or blue.

Who is your best friend and how did you meet?
Jenn: This is a tough question, b/c I really don't know who my best friend is... I would say Chad and my Mom are my best friends, and it's pretty obvious where I met them.
Chad: Used to be Pat Kuse, and we met in Mrs. Cappizzi’s 3^rd grade class. Nowadays I don’t really have a best friend…

What is your favorite home cooked meal?
Jenn: There are lots of good home cooked meals, my favorite would probably have to be our chili
Chad: Oh so many choices! I love my grandmas fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and gravy.

What is your favorite grab and go meal?
Jenn: I would say those tuna lunch things... they are easy to have around and don't have to be microwaved or refrigerated so it works out nicely.
Chad: Can’t beat a good sammich to go.

Do you prefer to wear pants or shorts/dresses?
Jenn: I love dresses... they are my favorite to wear in summer, I like jeans a lot too
Chad: Pants. Or more specifically, jeans.

Getting to Know Us Monday

We're back for our second installment of 'Getting to Know Us'. Here are today's five random questions and answers... enjoy (and let me know if you are enjoying this or if it's just stupid - I don't know unless you tell me!)

What is your strongest talent?
Jenn: I'm going to say my positive attitiude or giving advice to my friends
Chad: Pleasing people.

Do you play a musical instrument, if so which one(s)?
Jenn: I don't play any musical instrument - all of the music ability went to my brother and sister
Chad: Saxophone in school – nothing now.

What do you usually do when you have leisure time on your hands?
Jenn: I usually watch tv or do crafty things like cross-stitching. I also like to read.
Chad: Play XBOX, ride my motorcycle, work on computer stuff.

What is your favorite season and why?
Jenn: Either Spring or Fall... I love the cooler weather that's still mostly warm, it's the perfect time to sit outside
Chad: Summer – best weather to ride.

If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?
Jenn: There are a ton of places I want to go... Australia, Greece, all over Europe including Italy, France, Great Britian, Ireland, maybe Spain. Tropical places like the Dominican and Puerto Rico would be amazing too... gosh I'm really dying for an actual vacation!!
Chad: For vacation, someplace tropic. To live, Canada.

Happy Mother's Day

I am truly blessed to have a lot of mother's in my life... I've got Janet, my wonderful step-mom and I've got Chris my fantastic mother-in-law (I totally lucked out) just to name a couple.

But I'm truly, truly blessed to have my own mother in my life. She is amazing, and my very best friend. I really do believe she's one of the greatest mom's in the world. I share just about everything with her and she always gives me the very best advise. She helps guide me in the direction I want to go. I have so much fun spending time with her, and while Chad's been working this weekend schedule I've been spending quite a lot of time with her!

Someday if/when I become a mom I hope that I can be as amazing as she was for me. I have a great example in her - so hopefully it won't be too difficult :)

Mom, I love you so much, thanks for always being there for me - you mean everything to me, you helped me become the person I am. You did a great job!

Winery "trip"

For the last couple of years we've been making a yearly trip to the winery - Villa Antonio Winery. Here's where I blogged about the trip two years ago... I guess I didn't write an entry last year. Either way... it's been a yearly thing since 2009.

As I remembered from that blog entry, two years ago is was SO SO hot... we went in late June and it was pretty miserable. Last year we went in May... and this year we planned for April 30th. I was hoping for some pretty perfect weather, sitting outside, chatting, snacking and most importantly - drinking wine!!

St. Louis has been under nearly constant (okay, probably not constant, but man, it sure feels that way) rain/storm/generally craptastic weather. While I don't hate storms, they don't pair well with a winery trip. So we were eye-balling the weather like crazy once April 30th came into the forcast... and guess what? They forcasted rain... go figure.

We held out until Thursday to decide what to do... we didn't have a huge group together. We ended up deciding not to go ot the winery, but I offered to have everyone over at my place. That way if the weather ended up being nice we could still sit outside and if not, well, I had an inside area too.

So we did just that... I had Erica, Carrie, Jen, and Carrie's friend Lauren over. It was the perfect small group. Everyone brought tasty food to snack on, and yummy wine. I broke out my Mikasa wine glasses we got for our wedding. The weather ended up being perfect (figures again) but we got to enjoy it on our patio - and we had the convenience of the bathroom and kitchen close by. So in the end it may have worked out even better than going to the actual winery.

I love relaxed girls day... and I never drink during the day, so that was fun too. I had a great time and I hope the girls did too. We talked about doing a girls trip somewhere and I think that sounds like an amazing idea... I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it actually happens.

Getting to Know Us Monday

For a long time now I've wanted to start a weekly blog series. I have been trying to come up with a good idea now for quite awhile and nothing was sounding good. That's when I got an idea of answering some random questions. But that didn't seem quite interesting enough. So I kindly asked my awesome husband (here he is)

...if he would also answer the questions... and amazingly enough he agreed. So here's the first installment of getting to know us.

What is your favorite childhood book?
Jenn: I would have to say either Goodnight Moon or Green Eggs and Ham. I love all Dr. Seuss books.
Chad: My favorite childhood book would have to be Chicken Little.

What was your favorite subject in school?
Jenn: I would say I most enjoyed art classes, however I was probably best at science.
Chad: Probably chemistry - got to blow shit up and light things on fire.

What is your favorite flavor of jelly beans?
Jenn: My all time favorite is Juicy Pear, I also like watermelon
Chad: Strawberry Cheesecake

What flavor of ice cream do you prefer?
Jenn: My favorite is vanilla with hot fudge... mmmm
Chad: I would say chocolate chip cookie dough

What do you think is your very best feature or characteristic?
Jenn: I think my best feature is my positive, upbeat attitude. I've always been happy and positive.
Chad: That's an extremely broad question - I'm extremely patient is one of them, the only one I can think of offhand.