Weekend in Review: Surprisingly Full

This past weekend started a bit early for me...

I was sitting around work on Thursday hoping the afternoon would go quickly.  I was actually on a conference call and had another one scheduled later in the day when I got a text from my dad...

In case you don't know what the heck the 'game' is (have you been living under a rock??) That would be Game 1 of the NLDS Cardinals vs. Pirates.  After the conference call I went down and talked to my amazing boss and was out of work by 1:30.

I headed home, got Cardinal-fied up and headed down town to meet my dad.  Of course it was crazy downtown and parking was expensive... and I couldn't decide where to park to save my life (I ended up going with where I normally park even though it's further away).  I was headed to meet my parents.

Red Water in Keiner Plaza

We met by the Stan Musiel Statue and Janet even showed me the brick they bought for my Grandparents.  We've tried looking for it before, but there's just so many!! I would have taken a picture but in the excitement of all of this my phone battery didn't have much juice so I saved it for special occasions haha.

We had some pretty great seats in the outfield.

As you can see above we were in the left fiend right next to the Pirates bullpen.

Panoramic

The game was so much fun... my dad and I had quite a few beers... and best of all THEY WON!!  I was joking around that there's some benefits of being the only kid in town :)  We really had a great time together.  There's just nothing quite like post-season Cardinals baseball and I'm so grateful my parents invited me to come!

After the game we headed over to Flying Saucer. We got some food there... they have a pretty good selection of beers on tap, but honestly I had enough at the game that I just drank water.  Really I couldn't tell you how much fun I had.  It was a perfect night!!

On Friday I slept in a bit and then started my running around for the day.  I went to visit my good friend Susan and her brand new baby Logan.  I brought them Psghetti's and cookies and Pumpkin Beer (hey she can drink now!) and visited.  I held Logan for awhile and he's just so dang sweet and small.  It was nice to reconnect and see the baby.  Since she's on  maternity leave I imagine we might connect a lot on upcoming Fridays.

I headed back home and relaxed a bit more before I got ready and met my friend Beth for a drink.  I found out kind of last minute about a surprise party for a friend.  So we met up ahead of time at 54 Street for a drink (and to catch up!) and headed over to the party.  We thought we got there with enough time to make the actual surprise, but the birthday girl was early so we were kind of a secondary surprise haha.

The party was nice and I enjoyed catching up with my high school friends.  Each of our lives have taken such different directions but always nice to catch up.  I can't believe we are all turning 30... ugh!

On Saturday I made some Apple Pie Shots for a party later in the day and then relaxed.  It actually took a couple of trips to find the Everclear I needed for the shots.  Here's the quick recipe I used:
4 quarts Apple Juice
4 quarts Apple Cider (or whatever that normal size of juice is for these two)
Cinnamon sticks (I used all of them in the container and did not need that many... oh well it was spicy)
2 cups of sugar
1/2 quart-ish of Everclear (probably could have added more)

You boil everything but the Everclear together until the cinnamon sticks lose all their flavor and then add in the Everclear and refrigerate.  They were delicious and made the house smell nice.  I put the shots back in the containers for the juice.  It filled one up completely and the other one half way up.

We ended up watching This is the End and then taking naps.  Then we headed over to Abby's 5th birthday party.  The main part of the party was over, but we knew we'd be staying late so we arrived later.  It was fun... nothing too exciting or crazy...

On Sunday I met up with my mom.  We met for lunch first and then went to the craft store (I'll hopefully share what I'm working on soon) and the antique mall.  We also stopped by a couple of other second hand shops before we parted ways.  It was a real nice time hanging out with her, plus the antique mall is fun.  Seriously if you're looking for a free activity just walk around one of those places I guarantee you'll be entertained!

Sunday night ended with television and Chinese food.  All-in-all a full, but amazing weekend!!