Fourth of July

Did you miss me?  Even though there's been a lot going on these few weeks I've been MIA let's recap Fourth of July weekend shall we?

Let me start off by saying that this Fourth of July weekend was one of the best ones in recent history.  I think with Fourth of July being on a Friday this year really helped.  I get 'long' weekend every other weekend so the fact I had a three-day weekend didn't mean a whole lot, but the fact everyone else in the world also got that three-day weekend just made it that much better.

Thanks to my work letting me out 59 minutes early (woohoo) I got home a bit early and was able to just chill out.  Around 6:30, Dan and I (along with my cousin Ben) headed up to Stacked to meet Dan's sister, Amanda and her fiance, Lou, for dinner.  Stacked is a delicious burger joint.  We were able to score a table on the patio out front which was amazing since the weather was so freaking beautiful over the weekend.  We had some beers and burgers and enjoyed each other's company.

My burger - this time I got cheddar cheese, grilled pineapple, breaded jalapenos and bbq sauce

After dinner we headed back to our place where Caleb met us.  We hung out on our deck for quite awhile.  The boys lasted longer than I did but overall it was such a nice night.

On Friday I spent a good part of the day just relaxing around the house.  In the morning I ran to the grocery store to make party potatoes for Susan's get together later that evening.  I let Dan sleep in (he normally does NOT sleep in, but he slept until around 10am when I woke him up with breakfast)

That evening I picked up Michelle and we went to Susan's house for a barbecue/party.  It was a lot of fun, and with the weather being so amazing just added to that.  They had a lot of food and drinks.  It was a really nice time.  Their house overlooks New Town in St. Charles and out there everything is legal, so we had a good view of a bunch of people shooting off their own fireworks.  While it was chaotic a bit, it was a really neat experience.  We stayed there until semi-late and then headed back home. 
 

My hair actually looked good curly (natural) I should have gotten a pic with Susan too... hindsight yo!

There was glow sticks!

On Saturday Dan and I did some running around to a few stores.  We also relaxed and then ended up meeting up with his childhood friend, Steven, and his wife, Sara.  We met up at the casino where some of them proceeded to gamble (I had some drinks) and then we headed over to the concert at Riverport (or Verizon if you want to get all technical).    The concert was The Urge and 311.  It was a really nice show and the fact the weather was so amazing just added to the fun.  After the show they did a mini fireworks display which was great too!

I just realized you can see my arm taking the selfie in Dan's glasses.

After the concert we went over to Dave and Busters until they closed down.  It was fun to play some games.  Then Steven and Sara wanted to go back to the casino... so we headed over there... I am not a gambler - so I mostly just sat there, because drinking at that point didn't sound fun either.  After they wasted a fair amount of money, we dropped them off at their hotel and we headed home.  We didn't get home until 2:30-3... which is LATE for this girl.

Sunday was mostly a relaxation day... and felt so good.  Dan and I both took naps... and it was oh so glorious.

Sadly though all that outside time did quite the number on my feet... stupid mosquitos...

Not counting all the things you CAN'T see

Overall it was a wonderful Fourth of July weekend.  I hope everyone also had a great time!

Weekend in Review: Quiet

I am going to get back into at least telling you about my weekends.  Of course I'm back with one of the least eventful weekends in awhile, but whatevs gotta start somewhere.

Now that I'm working every other Friday again half the time my weekend doesn't start on Thursday nights anymore (cue the sad music)... so Friday after work I got home and I was pretty hungry at that point so Dan and I ended up going to a fairly early dinner around 4:30... (too bad they didn't have an early bird special...)  Dan got a gift card to Chili's for his birthday, so that's where we went.  It was a nice casual meal, and it's always nice when you don't end up having to pay!

After that we headed home and it was a very low key night with me cross-stitching and watching Once Upon a Time.

On Saturday Dan picked up some overtime so I had the morning alone.  I slept in a bit and then headed over to hang out with my mom.  She's headed to Alaska (lucky gal) so I wanted to see her before she went.  We went to Target where I got a bunch of random stuff and somehow managed to spend $115...

Then we got a quick snack at Sonic.  Originally I thought we would eat together because I didn't have plans with Dan until 4ish... but he texted me to let me know that plans had moved to 2... so eating something small was a better idea than a full meal.

After that we headed over to Kohl's.  Mom wanted to see if there was anything she could take on her trip.  I ended up looking at jewelry and getting a new necklace for my dragonfly charm.  Dan gave me the charm (from Tiffany's!!) for my birthday last year.  I never had a 'good' necklace for it, but had used a couple of silver chains I had around.  The first one was actually a nice chain that came with a different necklace, but it got caught on my scarf and I ripped it off... whoops...  The second one was a super cheap chain that just ended up breaking.  I'm so happy to have the necklace back and for only $22 bucks.

From today

My mom was also super nice and bought me another necklace.  I thought it was broken when I got home but it was a beyond easy fix so I just fixed it and wore it.

How many selfies are there going to be??  And the reason my hand is like that is because I was showing off the ring... looks so silly now...

Soon after I got back home we headed up to meet Dan's mom and step-dad for lunch at Gamlin Whiskey House in Central West End.  We had gone to breakfast there, but not for regular food.  It was SO delicious and a great time to celebrate.  Dan's mom had her last chemo treatment!!

I had a lunch 'trio' which included a delicious Caesar salad, a half pulled pork sandwich and yummy mashed potatoes.  So good!  Dan and I were going to go to a bar afterwards, but the one he thought about didn't open for another hour so we just went home instead.  Our night was pretty shot after that... I watched some TV in the basement which made me drift to sleep and Dan went to bed early.

On Sunday I didn't do a whole lot either.  Dan went to a drift car race thing at Gateway with a friend while I just hung out at home.  Later Dan and Caleb came over.  They grilled some brats and we had a nice dinner out on the deck.  It's crazy the 70 degree temperatures in June, but I'll take it for however long the weather gods want to give it!

So that was my weekend in a nutshell - told you it was pretty quiet!

Weekend In Review: Beautiful Weather

I'm a little late in getting this up because I started my new job this week - woohoo... maybe more on that another time.

The weather this past weekend was so extremely beautiful it would have been a crime not to spend it outside!

On Friday I hung around the house, did some chores... very exciting stuff.  When Dan got home we got some food.  I rented two movies from Redbox - Wolf of Wall Street and American Hustle.  Some friends of Dan ended up coming over so I watched Wolf of Wall Street which was awesome - I really did enjoy it.

On Saturday morning Dan worked some overtime at work so I watched American Hustle.  After he got home I made a grocery list and did the shopping.  When I got back we sat outside.  Dan cooked some hot dogs and some friends came over - Caleb, Michelle and later Ben.  We drank some beers and played washers.  I was amazed at how well I did at washers, I even got it in the center!  It was getting dark by the time we played, so I sorta blame my skillz on not really being able to aim well and thus just throwing better in general.

The weather was the perfect bit of warm and our tree has sprouted all it's leaves so it's nice and shady on our deck.  Overall, it was a wonderful Saturday!!

On Sunday I met my mom (and brought breakfast) and we went to the Lindbergh High School Flea Market.  It was fun looking at all the things there, although some things seemed more expensive than we wanted to pay.  She ended up buying some socks (they were brand new don't worry) and I got a cute little wooden reindeer for Christmas decoration for just 50 cents.

After our Flea Market experience we went and got some drinks at Sonic and then went to Home Depot where my mom wanted to get some new plants for her yard.  There are just so many amazing looking plants and flowers that I could want them all (you know if I didn't kill any plants that I try to grow...)

My mom got a bunch of nice things and she was nice enough to buy me 3 small Hostas. 

Next we went to Ace Hardware where she saw some big Hostas she wanted.  She ended up getting me a big Hosta plant too.

I headed home, but Dan was gone.  So I decided to just go for it and plant all my new Hostas and get the bird bath (that I took back from my mom's house) situated.  I wanted to plant them under our big tree in the backyard.  I also added the bird bath and hanging plant that my mom got me for housewarming.  I also used the tools she got me to plant the Hostas.  It turned out SO GOOD in my humble opinion.

A couple of notes about the pictures... one, I need to get the weeds on the outside of the little fenced in area pulled up (there were a bunch in the inside, but  I cleaned those up when I planted)

Also, that lovely dirt area around the tree?  Well, right now we are kind of embracing it because we don't know what else to do.  That area is very shaded most of the day... but also, the dogs will chase each other around the tree like over and over, so even if we found something that would grow in the shade, I'm not sure it would grow with them running over it all the time... so right now it is what it is.

I finished off Sunday by making dinner (a failed recipe sadly, I made beans and cornbread, but I made the beans with bacon instead of ham which I think made a difference... they were overall bland.  I added jalapenos to them which may have been their only redeeming quality... oh well you can't win them all!)

Overall, relaxing weekend where I accomplished some chores and beautiful weather.  Pretty perfect in my book!

Housewarming Party

This post will cover my weekend in review post for this week... mostly because my weekend (and the week proceeding it) was all I thought about and did things for.  I really wanted us to throw a party for our friends and family.  I wanted people to come, eat and have a good time... and I'd say that was pretty darn successful. 

As you do with lots of events that you plan months for (I'd known I wanted to have a big party for quite awhile since moving in, but finally set the date almost two months in advance).  I wanted as many people as could to come to planning ahead I felt was fairly important.

I did a fair amount of planning for the party including all the food.  Since Dan is an expert griller I let him handle the meat and I handled all the other food.  I debated in my head quite a bit about what to have - I could seriously make so many different dishes.  I was really worried we wouldn't have enough food, but we had SO MUCH food.  I guess it's better to have more than not enough.

Here are the things I decided to make including links to the recipes

• Macaroni and Cheese - I made double the recipe, but would have gotten by with just one batch
• Cheesy Party Potatoes - I made double this too... and this all did get eaten (and for the record I used the hash browns that are cut into little cubes, not the ones that are shredded... oh and since I decided last minute to make a double batch I only used sour cream meant for one batch, and used cream of celery soup instead of chicken for my vegetarians)... also this is not the exact recipe I used, but based on memory it's the closest
• Beans - I got two very large cans of beans,  and most of them did not get eaten.  I added BBQ sauce and brown sugar to them... only needed one can, maybe not at all
• Veggie Tray - I was going to actually all the veggies by hand, but went with a store bought one.  I'm glad I did because people didn't eat very healthy at the party if you know what I mean
• Fruit Salad - I tasked this one to my mom - she always does a good job!!
• Potato Salad - My step-mom wanted to bring something and I let her decide and she brought this, it was good and got eaten well
• Two bags of chips - it was the right amount
• Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting - Made out of a box.  I made two boxes which end up being approximately 40 cupcakes. I really should have only made one batch
• Sheet Cake and Donut Holes - my mom and grandma brought these too - the donut holes nearly all got eaten, and about half the cake.  It was very sweet of them to bring extras
• Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries - I found this recipe a long time ago and always wanted to make it but never did.  I decided since Strawberries are in season that now was the time.  I pretty much doubled the recipe.  They took a bit of time, but not as bad as I thought (especially now that I have a table I can sit at)  They were SO GOOD.  I will make them again, although I'd pipe the cheesecake in them a little differently b/c I didn't put it right into the bag.  These all got eaten fast and I had to save a few for some friends I knew were coming later in the day.
• Lemonade - I made a batch of lemonade to put in a dispenser (I also got about 4 2-liters of soda).  I don't think I put the right amount of powder in there though, but oh well
• Alcoholic Punch - I added more vodka than the recipe called for, it was good!
• Caramel Apple Dip - Susan made this, and this stuff is like crack good.  I'm so happy she made it for the party.

I think that's all the food except the meat which we had hot dogs, hamburgers, brats and pork steaks... see what I mean about all that food?

I prepared what I could (mac and cheese, potatoes, cupcakes) the day before so I wouldn't be running around too much the morning of... of course I still was but not nearly as bad.

Wow, that's a lot of information y'all probably don't need or want!

So the actual party... and I'm about to get gushy here folks... was amazing!!  I am overflowing with gratitude for the people who came and had a good time.  You never know who all will show up especially when a Facebook invite is involved, but we had such an amazing turn out.  I really REALLY wish I had taken pictures, but atlas I have like 3 - and one is a strawberry and the others are the fresh flowers I put around the house.  It was so fun to see our deck so full and people enjoying the beautiful weather.

I'm going to list the people that came, mostly so I can remember since the lack of pictures.  Dan's family came including his parents, sister Amanda, aunt Julie, aunt Michelle  (and her husband and one of her kids), his grandparents.  My family came including my dad and step mom, Grandpa, mom, Grandma, aunt Ruth, and aunt Pat.  My high school friends Amanda (and her husband) and Beth (including her adorable new son).  Friends - Kyle, Randy (Dan's friend), Andy (and Ashley a bit later), Dave (his girlfriend and her friends later in the night), Ben (and his girlfriend Sherelle), Michelle, Susan, Erin and Matt, John and Amanda (and da baby), Charlie, Caleb, and... I hope I'm not forgetting anyone because I would feel bad if I did. 

It was just such an absolutely perfect day.  It meant so much to me to have my friends and family surrounding me having a good time.  I couldn't ask for anything better.  I just love having so many people I care about and love around us together.  It was truly fantastic.

We stayed up pretty late and had a lot of cleaning up the next day - but all so worth it.  Can't say we'll have parties like this very often, but it left me with such a good feeling that I think we'll have to do it again... maybe with not as much food next time :)

Here are the totally lame pictures.  I shouldn't even post them, but I'm going to...

Added some flowers to a planter on our front porch

The strawberries - so amazing!  I really want to make them again like now

All the beer we had left - we're going to have to have another party to get this drank... plus look at the hot dogs we have left too

Fresh Flowers - I arranged them into a couple of little settings - tall shot glasses worked really well for this.  This one was next to the door bell

In the phone holder in the hallway

These flowers are still making me happy every time I go to the bathroom

Like I said, it was a wonderful day filled with family, friends and love.  Thank you everyone who reads this that made it and for those who didn't, you were missed!

Weekend in Review: ZooQuest and Cardinals

I had a full weekend, but it was awesome... truly awesome!

Friday I got the pleasure of waiting at home for the delivery man to show up with my patio furniture.  It was one of those 4 hour windows (11-3) and since it required a signature I had to be there... I really wanted to get in the shower, but I knew as soon as I did they would show up... so I just waited and waited and finally at 2:30 he showed up.

But in the mean time of waiting I got some super big news job related news.  So that was awesome.

When Dan got home we put together the patio furniture.  Of course I started on a chair and he started on the table.  He finished the table and started on a chair and finished that chair before I even finished my first chair... figures.  I let him put together the rest while I organized the rest of the materials and threw things away and stuff like that.  Soon there after (because Dan is an assembly master) our patio furniture was put together!  I am so happy to have it.  My mom gave it to me for my birthday.  I found the set on Walmart.com.  It was the cheapest set I could find, especially for a 7-piece set and luckily I love it!  Patio furniture is too freaking expensive!

 

After that I got ready and we went out with my dad to Granite City Brewery (it's not actually in Granite City).  It was such a nice night of drinking some beers, eating some food and hanging out with my dad and Dan and Janet.

 

On Saturday I got up and got ready to meet my sister.  We decided a couple of weeks ago to participant in the ZooQuest at the St. Louis Zoo (lite version).  We really weren't sure what to expect, but thought we'd have a good time.  Here we are before we started:

 

At first when we got our packet we felt really overwhelmed.  The basic-ness of ZooQuest is it's part trivia part scavenger hunt.  We had four 'quests' and some trivia.  We started walking around with no clear idea what the heck we were doing.  The four quests were 1) word clouds and we had to find the animal that corresponded 2) A logic problem, 3) a crossword puzzle and 4) looking for visual pictures for missing letters.  Once we sat down and really just forced ourselves to start it went much better. 

 

We had a lot of fun, it was a ton of walking, but it was such a beautiful day, so that was nice.  Of course since it was so nice out everyone and their mom was at the zoo... with a stroller.  Even though we didn't place, I would totally do it again, it was a really fun day with my sister.

 

After we finished we headed back home, grabbed mom and got some food.  It was fun connecting with her.  We would have loved for her to attend too, but she had to work... boo

 

After food I finally headed back home and I was TIRED!  When I got to my house Dan had invited some friends and my cousins over.  They were hanging out on our back deck (new patio furniture for the win).  I was planning on showering as soon as I got home, but hung out with them.  It was fun because Dan moved the TV outside.  Gotta love having a hook up out there. 

 

The weather was soo beautiful so it was great just hanging out.  We played a couple of rounds of Cards Against Humanity then watched some TV.

Liked the reflection in my glasses

TV! Outside!

On Sunday my sister came over and we headed down to the Cardinals vs. Cubs game with Liz and Ken.  The seats were pretty high up, but it was a great view.  It started raining and they delayed the game for a bit, but luckily Lindsey was smart enough to bring ponchos for both of us!  After the rain passed we were able to watch all the game and we did well!! Lots of hits so that was exciting.

 

I came home and was tired, but did some laundry and we ordered Chinese for dinner.  Overall it was such an amazing weekend.

On a final note, I planted bulbs this past fall and they survived the winter and bloomed this weekend - so pretty!!

Weekend in Review: Is it finally spring??

One thing I've read a lot of places is people just being all up in arms about the 'crazy' winter we had this year.  And yes, it has been quite the winter(!) but I feel like this is more normal of a winter compared to what we've had in years past.  I think people especially round these parts tend to have weather amnesia year-to-year.  I especially hear that in the summer where people say it's never been this hot, this summer is the hottest ever, and that humidity - terrible.  Um, it's normally that hot round here and that humid... actually for the most part summers have been fairly mild as of recently, which is very nice.  While we got a TON of snow this winter, which hasn't happened recently, and the temperatures were lower than recent years, I'm not sure it's that crazy of a winter?  I'm not sure... either way, I'm happy for the warmer weather, but I didn't absolutely hate the winter we had... and I don't think I've uttered the phrase 'will this winter get over with already' or anything similar to that.

Wow... that was quite the rambly paragraph... but I am looking forward to hanging out on my awesome deck come warmer weather.  And I do hope that spring in the weather sense lasts awhile... better than going straight to hot and humid like we do some years.

Anyway... off the random soapbox and back to the weekend.

On Friday I had a relaxing day... the last few Fridays I've had plans... but this one I didn't and I was so happy.  I got some breakfast and watched recorded TV from the week and lounged around.  I also did laundry.  When Dan got home we hung out and then went over to Fairview Heights because he just had to have some of this limited edition beer... and that's where he knew it was in stock.  We headed over to the Randall's.  He got his beer (along with another bottle of something he wanted to try) and I got a (big) bottle of cherry cider.

Then we went to dinner at Show-Mes.  I let Dan pick and since the one close to us closed it's where he really wanted to go.  According to him they have better wings than Hooters.  We each had a Blue Moon and enjoyed the ambiance (that's a joke).  When we got back home we watched Anchorman 2 (ok well I did Dan went to bed at like 8:30... in his defense he had to work the next morning at 6am)

On Saturday Dan was at work in the morning.  I made myself breakfast and lounged around.  I really wanted to get a couple of things done during the weekend because we are having a party in a couple of weeks and I've got plans for both Saturday and Sunday next weekend and I'll be out of town the following weekend so needed to get some of the major things done this weekend. 

I decided to clean out the storage closet (which is also where the cat's stuff is.  That closet had just kind of ended up as a catch all for boxes of stuff we didn't know what to do with - which is what I storage closet should be... however we had just thrown things in there without any real order or identification of what was in the boxes.  Worse, I hadn't been able to move the Christmas items back into that closet - so they were just sitting out in the open of the main downstairs part.

So I began to pull out all the boxes and see what the heck was in all of them... that part wasn't the most fun - especially when I encountered a spider that was frighteningly close to my hand... but since I hadn't let the close get too out of control, it wasn't that bad either.

The boxes all pulled out - not even all of them as they stretch to the left too - including all that Christmas stuff I referenced earlier... And Stitch in the foreground... if I'm down there she HAS to be on my lap...

Some of them were mine and others were Dan's.  While Dan refused to get rid of anything... I was able to get rid of some random stuff.  And at the very least was able to condense Dan's boxes down and label them better.

The really fun part was I went through some of my childhood boxes... so it was fun to have a short walk down memory lane.
 

The Beanie Baby collection - weren't these supposed to make me money someday?

The kinda funny thing is the dogs (mostly Bella) use Beanie Babies as toys.  We had a few accidents with them getting holes (at Dan's apartment) but mostly they hold up well and Bella likes carrying them around.  Although I don't think I'll let her have my random stash... a lot of these were given to me by my Uncle Steve, so they have a special place in my heart.

I have the regular and teenie beanie baby - that's gotta be worth something right?

I also found where I kept all my baby teeth (in this creepy cat dish no less)... I ended up finding quite a few more at the bottom of the bin where they had fallen out of creepy cat dish.

Wasn't the tooth fairy suppose to keep these?

Either way I got all the boxes condensed, organized and put back into the storage closet in a way that made sense.  Now here's where I show you the after picture!  But I totally forgot to take one, so you'll just have to believe me.  It felt really good to get that done! 

While I was finishing that up - Dan came back home and had brought BBQ supplies with him.  Caleb also came over and we spent a lot of time outside.  It was so nice to sit in the sun and just relax.  It was one of those days where sitting in the sun feels good but the shade is too cold... we won't have very many of those left, but it was nice to enjoy while we could.

Dan made chicken and shrimp kabobs.  He marinated the meat in a jerk seasoning first and then added them to sticks with pineapple.  It was SO DELICIOUS!  The grilled pineapple was so yummy.  I'm really lucky to have a boyfriend who can grill well!

Dan and Caleb also made some veggies in a pan on the grill (with olive oil and seasoning), jalapeno dogs (I bought some earlier in the week and since the grill was going might as well throw them on there) and the boys also made some steaks.

After we ate we went over to Lou and Amanda's house to hang out with them for awhile.  I'm really liking how often we see them - it's really nice living so close.  They had a fire going so we sat around the fire and chatted for a bit.  The best part of this time of year is the lack of bugs - I know they will be out soon and I'll not like outside as much, so enjoying it while I can.

We hung out there for a few hours and then went over to Dave's place.  He had recently bought a fire pit, so we hung out outside there for a couple of hours too.  I liked hanging out with some of them, but there were some girls there that were pretty annoying... but what can you do?  Once Dave ran out of wood to burn we headed back to our house and called it a night.

On Sunday we considered going to the Queeny Park Art Fair, but then decided not to.  I did what I had already planned on doing on Sunday - which was raking the leaves.  Before I started I thought it wouldn't be that big of a job... and I was wrong, there were WAY more leaves in the yard than I realized... and more dog poop because someone hadn't been cleaning up after them...

Either way, I got all the leaves raked up into piles and Dan headed to the hardware store to get yard waste bags and some over random stuff... It felt good to get all the leaves into piles and hopefully Daniel will pick them all up sometime the week.

The rest of the day was fairly leisurely... I made chili...

Overall I had a good weekend and thought it was productive which is good.  How was yours?

Weekend in Review: Divergent and Anniversary

I had quite a full weekend! 

My mom recently bought some Groupon deals for a trolley tour around St. Louis, so my mom, me, Lindsey and Grandma took the tour.  The tour starts out at Lumiere Casino downtown and takes you to a lot of different sites around St. Louis.  While I knew a lot of things on the tour, he still managed to teach me a few things.  While it's not the greatest tour for those that know and love the Lou, it would be great for out-of-towners.  We enjoyed getting driven around the city and talking to each other.  The trolley driver was a crazy driver though... cutting people off several times, turning through a red light... that sort of thing, but he was nice and informative.

(I would insert pictures of the ride here, but someone hasn't posted them to FB which probably means they really aren't worth posting anyway)

After our trolley ride we got Grandma loaded up in the wheelchair and headed over to Old Spaghetti Factory in Laclede's Landing.  Now you know that Laclede's Landing isn't really meant for wheelchairs, but mom is pretty impressive and navigated with relative ease.  We had a lovely lunch at Spaghetti Factory and headed back home.

That night I met up with Susan and Lindsey to see Divergent!!  We saw it at the same theater we saw Catching Fire late last year.  We weren't in a theater with the reclining seats (boo), but it was still really nice.  The only weird thing that happened - we were sitting in our seats and sadly I bought them too late to all sit together - instead we had 2 seats on one side of the aisle and one on the other.  This dad and daughter came up and started looking at their tickets and our seats a bunch and then went back down the steps.  Soon a theater person came up and asked to see our tickets - and we showed them.  They seemed pretty confused but ended up leaving with the dad and daughter.  I guess they somehow double booked our seats (they have reserved seats there).  I'm not sure if they gave them their money back or something, but they ended up getting seated on the main level - so it all worked out, but kind of strange!

I thought the movie was pretty great.  I'd even say I liked it better than the Hunger Games.  I highly recommend seeing it AND reading the books!

On Saturday after Dan got up with did our now weekly trip to Home Depot.  Then we got some food and headed home.  I laid around for part of the day and then worked on a project I'll share in a minute.

On Saturday night Dan and I went out for our anniversary.  We've been together two years believe it or not!  We went to Sanctuaria in The Grove.  It was so very yummy!!  They are known for their cocktails (although their winter cocktails weren't that appealing to me).  I had White Sangria and a Margarita - both of them where great.  Dan had a scotch drink, a tequila drink (one of their winter ones that was actually good), and a beer.  For food we had

• Jalapeno Cornbread: delicious moist cornbread studded with jalapenos; served with honey butter and topped with pickled jalapenos - SO DELICIOUS!
• Chicken Skewers:  drizzled in cuba libre glaze; served with aji coconut dipping sauce - Very good, although we were surprised they didn't come out with actual skewers...
• Frita Sliders:  Traditional Cuban pork and chorizo sliders topped with monterey jack cheese and crispy yukon potatoes; served on a cuban sweet roll and garnished with chimichurri - These were excellent!  Dan was leery at first when I suggested them b/c of the chorizo, but this was the waitress' first suggestion to us, so happy we got them because it was my favorite
• Chips:  Assorted chips dusted with lime salt; served with bleu cheese dipping sauce - the chips were good, but I'm not a bleu cheese fan (Dan is)
• Beggars Purse:  Crispy phyllo dough filled with seasoned pork and monterey jack cheese; served with local tomato puree scented with chipotle. - I picked this and it was pretty good but by this time I was getting real full!

Finally for dessert we got their Havana Bread on a recommendation from a friend (Made in-house.  Spiced Caribbean cake baked in a vanilla custard topped with Meyer's dark rum raisin sauce).  It was like a bread pudding, however I'm usually not a bread pudding fan - this was excellent!  It is cooked in a mini cast iron dish (the cornbread is too) which gives the edges crisp... I was so full but kept eating.  Overall it was a delicious anniversary dinner and a fun way to celebrate.

Sunday we went and got some food at Steak n Shake (we ate out too much this weekend!) and then did grocery shopping together.  It went fast which isn't always the case when we both go.

The rest of Sunday we did our own things.  My project (which I worked on most of Saturday) included slowly but surely organizing our extra room in the basement.  I decided to buy something to organize my craft supplies.  After debating how I wanted to organized them (shelf, although bookcase) I decided I liked the idea of drawers best.  I ended up getting this set from Target.  It came pretty fast and I was able to put it together myself without any issues. 

I was weirdly excited about getting to organize my stuff.  Slowly put surely I got everything loaded into this little guy and it was just big enough.  Then I was able to go through a big box of stuff my mom brought over for me (free floss!).  Some things just did not fit into the drawers which is currently just sitting on top (an embroidery hoop, batting, my wreath project, that fell apart and a paper cutter.  I also had some books and a scrapbook paper book that I have sitting on on the board game shelf.

Looking much better!  Although if I get anymore craft stuff I'll need a second one

And since I was standing in the room I did a panoramic picture.  I know this is very useful to you, but at least now there's nothing sitting in the middle of the room...  Still a long ways to go as you can see...

I also took the time to organize my decorative items that haven't made it onto the walls yet.  All in time...

Stitch makes an appearance

It really felt good to get some things knocked out in this room.  While I was cleaning up this room Daniel was cleaning up the laundry room - so that's like two for the price of one or something.  Still need more shelves, but I'm not really sure what I want to do yet, so stay tuned... I think the next thing I'm going to tackle is the 'cat closet' where the cats stuff is but is also a storage closet... then maybe moving some of the stuff from this room to that room... we shall see.

That was my weekend - probably could have broken that into a couple of different posts - I forgot how many big things happened!

Weekend in Review: Saturday BBQ

Another weekend has come and gone.

Dan started to work second shift, so he's not home in the evenings - it's been quite the change.

Friday we did get to see each other a bit.  I decided to make a nice breakfast... mostly because I wanted it, but I thought Dan would appreciate it too.  I made bacon (in the oven, that's seriously the way to cook bacon!), eggs with cheese to make croissant sandwiches.  I made some hash browns and cut up a few strawberries - it was delicious!

The rest of the day was pretty much a ME day, it was nice because I had a sorta rough week and a lingering cold.  I rented Catching Fire from Redbox and made a spring wreath for the front door.  I was in the mood to make something.

Not the greatest picture, but whatevs

I did one of those yarn wrapped wreaths.  I had googled around for ideas and kind of combined a couple I had seen.  I went to the craft store and looked at flowers first.  I settled on these mini daffodils in orange and white.  Then I went back to the yarn and picked out a color.  I originally thought a light blue would look nice, but that just felt like a lot of colors going on with yellow/orange flowers, blue wreath and red door so I went with gray yarn.

It was pretty easy to do and took me about 1.5 hours to complete including gluing on the flowers.  I did burn myself pretty good once (sticking your finger in freshly hot glue will do that) it startled me and I screamed, but I was the only one home so at least I didn't scare anyone.  I'm not sure if I love it or not.  I think it's nice enough, but I'm not sure I love the flower area.  The flowers looked way more fake when I separated them from the plastic stem and I'm not sure if I should add more? Of if it's the right amount - thoughts??

On Saturday Dan and I did some running around.  First we ate at Waffle House.  I hadn't been there in quite awhile, but it's pretty delicious.  Then we went over to Shoe Carnival because Dan really needed some new shoes.  I took a look at their clearance rack and ended up getting a pair myself.  They are cute - white and silver in the Jesus sandal type.  They were only $14 seemed like a good enough deal to me.

After shoe shopping we went over to Home Depot where I followed Dan wander aimlessly around the store.  Do guys not know how to do things in order?  It's like walking from one end back to the other and back again....

We finally escaped that store and headed home.  Dan did some things while I cross-stitched.  At some point we decided to have a BBQ that night.  We invited a bunch of people over.  It was a lot of fun.  We made hamburgers and hot dogs.  We also made corn on the cob.  I made some brownies and Caleb helped me with the mac and cheese (It involved a roux and those things scare me... when it didn't look right after my try I threw it out and waited for Chef Caleb to come over and we did it together and by together I mean he did it while I stood next to him and got ingredients ready.  The mac and cheese was delicious!!  It's Pioneer Woman's recipe - I actually had my roux right, but just didn't trust myself enough.  Oh well - I will make this again!

We had a lot of people over - it ended up being Andy, Matt, Dave, Megan, Caleb, Liz, Ken, Amanda, Lou, Erin, Ashley, and me and Dan.  It was a lot of fun and such a nice night to spend out on our amazing deck.

On Sunday we mostly hung around the house.  We were suppose to go out for our anniversary, but decided to wait until next Saturday - which is way more appealing to me since I won't have to go to work the next day.

I can't wait for the weather to be nice all the time instead of that random little bit of snow we got on Sunday.

Weekend in Review: Valentines/Presidents Day

I had a nice long four day weekend... and it was awesome.  Not only that I actually left a little early on Thursday to go to the doctor.

Thursday night was a low key night - I ate chili, made a dish for breakfast the next day and watched TV.  Dan was out for awhile with his future brother-in-law so I enjoyed having a house to myself.

Friday was Valentine's Day.  I decided to make a fancy breakfast for Dan and me.  I scrambled eggs, fried bacon and made a French Toast Casserole (details to come).  I also bought champagne and we had mimosas.  It was a great start to the day.

Yum can I eat it again?

The rest of Valentines we mostly just hung around the house.  Dan made a yummy dinner of cheeseburgers (my request) and mashed potatoes - yum yum!

I also made Dan a small gift.  He likes to collect six-pack holders so I thought this would be fun.  One of his favorite beers.  And let me tell you spray adhesive is amazing!  (I got the idea and the print out from this website)

Beery - not berry

On Saturday I spent the day away from the house.  I went over to my mom's house and we headed up to gather my aunt Ruth.  We had a fun day of thrift store shopping.  I got an ashtray for outside (I have to get a picture of it - it's so ugly and I love it) and some baking dishes (from Crate and Barrel).  The one store we stopped at they asked if they could take our picture for their Facebook page - so of course we said yes

We went to a bunch of different thrift shops and then had lunch.  It was awesome to spend some good quality time with my mom and aunt Ruth.

After that I headed up to my dad's house.  He helped me do my taxes which was very generous of him.  Both of my parents are awesome - I got Valentine Day treats from both of them.  I'm so loved :)  We did my taxes (woohoo for getting a return) and started to think about a trip to visit my brother in DC in April.

Saturday night I was pretty tired by that point and we decided to stay in and I went to bed early and it was awesome.

Sunday I don't think I did much of anything.  Oh - this happened.  We finally got moving and I said I wanted to go out to dinner.  So we got ready and headed out to O'Charlies.  We got there around 4:30 and didn't expect it to be too crowded - but it randomly was.  We got sat right away but it took FOREVER for them to come get our drink order.  We waited FOREVER for our drinks to come... finally we just bailed.  I don't know what time we got there, but we waited far longer than we should have.  I hate walking out like that, but seriously?  Instead Daniel cooked us some dinner - so alls well that ends well.  He also made a cocktail with freshly squeezed lemonade and vodka - yum!!

On Monday (holiday woohoo) We decided to go ice skating and Dan found a time at Kirkwood.  So we headed over there and when we got there it was kid city.  Obviously all the parents brought them on the holiday.  I made Dan decide if he wanted to stay, but we ended up bailing.  It was kids that age where you knew it would just be annoying ice skating with them - plus the place was packed.

We decided to head over to Kirkwood Station Brewery (formerly a bunch of other names).  We had a couple of drinks and some fried pickles that were good.  I had the Blackberry Wheat which was delicious.  The really great thing is randomly on Mondays and Tuesdays there they have $3 drafts - holla!  Dan got the call that he would be starting work the next day (Tuesday) so we stayed and had another and then headed home.

Beer

Overall it was a wonderful weekend!

Weekend in Review: First Part of February

I've managed to get behind again... here's what's been going on the past two weekends.

On Thursday, January 30th I took the afternoon off because I had to attend a wake.  My step-mom's mom (step-grandma if you want to get all technical) passed away.  She had been sick for awhile although that certainly doesn't make it any easier.  My brother came into town and so I was tasked to pick him up from the airport.  Since he was flying through Atlanta and the winter storm wreaked havoc down there his flight ended up being delayed a couple of hours.  Luckily I knew this information before I left the house so my waiting was in my cozy home instead of in the cell phone lot at Lambert.  Before all of that though, I decided to make some cookies to have at the funeral home to snack on.  I decided to make these again... and they turned out just as good as the first time.

Anyway I picked up my brother (finally) and headed up to the funeral home which was in BFE.  We stayed there until the end and headed back home.  It was super nice to have him in the car with me - made all the driving not nearly as bad.

On Friday we headed back up to the funeral home for the service.  Afterwards we had lunch together at a hotel in Westport Plaza.  It was nice and the food was good (especially the desserts).  We went back to my dad's house and hung out as a family for awhile.  Since not everyone could come in for Christmas it was the first time the whole family has been together in awhile (remember I'm the only kid still in town).  Keith and I stayed over there for awhile and then we headed back home.

That night Dan and I had dinner plans with Liz and Ken.  We went to 54 Street and it was a really nice time of connecting and talking.

I don't recall doing anything interesting on Saturday - I made some chili and some cookie bars - I suppose I'll post about that, but don't expect pictures.

On Sunday we went over to Zoa and Steven's house to watch the Super Bowl with Kyle.  It was fun, although we mostly talked and didn't pay too much attention to things.  Zoa made a taco bar which was delicious!  I brought the cookie bars from the previous day.

The following weekend - last weekend - On Thursday I just made dinner and watched TV.

On Friday we went to the bird store... I got to hold one of these adorable guys (yes, throwing the picture in so there's at least one picture in here)

We also tried a restaurant near our house.  Then the rest of the day I didn't do much of anything.  Dan went out with some friends and I enjoyed having a house to myself by eating Subway and watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies (crazy night haha)

On Saturday we stayed in most of the day, except a trip to the Container Store.  That night we went over and hung out with Kyle.  We got some Mexican food and hung out watching Netflix at his place.

Sunday I was productive in the morning - getting grocery shopping done.  Then I met up with my mom and we went to some thrift stores together.  I found one additional chair (up to 5 woohoo).  I also bought some brand new sheets (in the package still) from a thrift store for like $20/set.  I got an extra set for each bed since we only have the set on the beds... I thought it would be a good idea to have extra ones just in case something happens (namely an animal).

I finished Sunday by cooking dinner and watching TV.

Weekend in Review: Family and Hockey

On Thursday night I was suppose to go to a late night happy hour with a couple of friends... but then the bad weather moved in... and we decided to postpone.  It made me sad I wouldn't be gobbling up food and sucking down beers with good friends... but I was happy to stay in on a snowy night and watch The Song of Music Live on NBC.  I love musicals and the Sound of Music is one of the best.  It's awesome when you know all the songs and it's just a big sing-a-long with myself... that would last for days let me tell you.  I'm still breaking out My Favorite Things from time-to-time.  Was the acting great? Not really... Did Carrie Underwood live up to Julie Andrews?  Absolutely not - but who in their right might thought that would happen?  It's Julie Andrews for crying out loud... let's set reasonable expectations here.  My expectation was I would enjoy it for what it was - and that's exactly what I got... well, I actually enjoyed it MORE than I expected... so bam!  And now I'll step off my soapbox...

On Friday, I decided to go ahead and brave the weather to take my grandma pajama shopping.  I'm not sure if I've talked about this before but ever since I was 16 I have taken my Grandma shopping to buy all the kids pajamas for Christmas (yes, I'm still a kid, I don't think I'll ever outgrow the getting PJs from Grandma thing).  It's our little tradition and I really do enjoy it... although Grandma has become less decisive over the years and I do try to force her to make decisions for the kids haha.

This year since the weather was more crappy and Grandma doesn't get around as good as she used to, I asked my sister to come along to help out.  She thankfully agreed and I have to say it was so much easier having her there.

We went to lunch first and then went over to Target and got all the PJs we needed.  Lindsey, Grandma and I had a lot of fun - I do enjoy spending time with Grandma and my mom told me later that Grandma really enjoyed her day with us too - so that meant a lot to me.

Friday night we stayed in... Dan actually grilled burgers (with bacon) (in the snow) and make mashed potatoes with Bearnaise (not Burmese) sauce.  It was awesome.  He's a great cook!!

Saturday was one of those days where it feels like nothing is really planned and then I suddenly have stuff to do all day.  My day started out with some cleaned and general chores.  Then I finally started my Christmas shopping.  It was fun to start purchasing all the things I've thought about getting.

After that I got ready and my dad picked me up.  He wanted help putting up their Christmas tree.  He was already in the neighborhood to pick up my Grandpa who would be staying with him.  So we headed up to my dad's and put the tree up while he stressed out over the Mizzou game on TV.

Around six my dad took me downtown to meet Dan, Kyle and Michelle for the Blues game that we bought tickets to earlier that day.  We got a fairly good deal and it was fun - especially to take Michelle to her first game... sadly the Blues lost... although we did get to see them score - so yay for that.

Sunday was a totally easy day... just lounged around the house.  I did some cross-stitching, grocery shopped and make Italian Beef.  I also made cookie dough (finally baked them last night, I'll be back to share about that).  I finished off the day by watching the Amazing Race finale.

Overall it was a wonderful weekend!!

Weekend in Review: Dan's Sister's Wedding

Before we get to what the title of the post clearly spoils... let's start at the beginning...

Thursday night we hung around the house and watched two new episodes (finally) of Parks and Rec.  Then I watched Project Runway All-Stars - a nice relaxing night of TV.

On Friday I met Susan at the mall for some shopping.  I wanted to get a dress for Dan's sister, Amy's, wedding the next day.  Right before I left I tried on a dress in my closet that I've had for maybe about five years that I've never worn (that's how I roll)



So we shopped around although it was nice that I had a fall back just in case.  I did find a dress that I really liked (this one in case you're interested) and one I wanted to buy but knew I shouldn't spend the money (I was going to link to it but I can't find it - it was black with silver and gold sequins in like arch-y patterns - so cute!)

 

I didn't buy the one I liked just because seemed on the expensive side and we walked around the mall... along the way I was convinced I should just wear the dress I had at home... so we went into Payless looking for some shoes.

 

I ended up getting these booties - I used to be pretty against the trend, but I love it now, and seemed the like a nice thing to do - especially with a fall wedding.  They were actually pretty comfortable too!!

We stopped off at Charming Charlie and I got some jewelry too (Susan is much better at the accessories than I am!)

I ended up getting this bracelet (loved how it sparkled!!)

And earrings that aren't located online... think that gunmetal color but big earrings... I also got some fun Christmas earrings that I can't wait to wear!

We finished off our shopping trip with lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.  Luckily Susan and I both like the same pizza there - yay!!  It was a lot of fun shopping with her!!

 

I went home and had a bit of a sinus headache (darn thing would follow me around all weekend... boo) so I laid down for awhile.  Dan and I spent the night in with pizza.  It was nice.

 

Saturday was the wedding.  We had to be at the church at 1:45 for pictures (well, not me but Dan did haha).  I spent the morning relaxing and then getting ready... here are a couple of selfies I took...

More full body

And close up on the hair (and you can see the bracelet woohoo)

That second picture gives you a better idea of what color the dress is as the other pictures (in the spare bedroom) make it look more nude color.  My awesome sister let me try out her Magic Wand hair curler... it worked out pretty well and I loved how my hair looked.  I totally added it to my Christmas wish list... which is just becoming too long at this point...

We headed off to the wedding and let me tell you - we had a wonderful time.  There was eating, talking, drinking, laughing, and even dancing.  That's right my friends - Dan danced with me... slow and fast.  I did a fair amount of dancing without him too.  I really just can't express enough how much fun we had.

Escort Cards - made from maps

Dan's friend Kyle was the photographer  - so we got to hang out with him as well.  He did a great job... seriously if you're looking for a photographer he's wonderful - https://www.facebook.com/#!/BraunMultimedia

He was even nice enough to get a photo of us - probably our best one yet!!

Overall we had a great time at the wedding... so great in fact we spent much of Sunday laying around the house doing next to nothing (ok ok I baked some cookies I'll share with you tomorrow)

PS:  Amanda - I know you read this blog and wanted to tell you that Dan has two sisters - Amy and Amanda... how weird is that?!?

Weekend in Review: Hodge Podge

Another weekend come and gone...

This weekend was a longer since I called in sick on Thursday.  I had just been feeling off for a week and combined with some other stuff I just felt like a day off might be what I needed to snap me out of the funk I was so obviously in.  Reporting to you on Wednesday (nearly a week later) I am feeling much more myself!

I didn't do a whole lot on Thursday and I told myself that was ok... that I was home just to relax... so that's what I did.

Fridays have seemed to turn into a sister day of sorts.  You might remember that a couple of weeks ago Lindsey and I went thrift store shopping.  On Friday this time we went to lunch at one of our favorite Thai places - King and I.  It was great because they have a lunch special we didn't even know about which made things even better!

After lunch we ended up going to Michaels together.  I was going to go there after I dropped her back off at the house, but turns out she needed to go there as well.  So craft store we went!  She had to get some picture frames for some paintings the apes did for her at the zoo.  I needed to go to get supplies to complete the baby book I made for Susan.  It was fun hanging out - as always!!

That afternoon I went back to my house and cleaned.  I also started to work on the baby book.  I made her a baby book the last time she was pregnant. (As a side note I totally looking for that entry so I could remember some about how I did it last time and of course I couldn't find it!!  Now I located the entry, and it did have some valuable information in there I would have appreciated... like using glue squares instead of a glue stick... that would have made things soooo much easier!!)  It worked pretty well - it's nice the PowerPoint file was already complete so I just had to do some tweaking and print it out.  I ended up completing the book by Sunday evening.  I forgot to take a picture, but maybe Susan will... if not, it looks pretty much like the one in the link above.  I gave it to her yesterday and she loved it :).  She requested me to make one (before she knew I made the baby blanket) and since it's so easy and meant so much I of course said yes :)

Anyway... back to the weekend... On Friday night Dan and I went over to Dave's house.  This seems to be becoming a bit of a weekly thing.  It was fun... we played a little poker... good times.

On Saturday I hung out with my mom and sister most of the day.  We first went to Vintage Market Days.  I had bought a LivingSocial deal for it - but didn't really know what it was.  It ended up being like a bunch of different antique mall booths... kinda... there was also some crafts.  There was a lot of furniture... furniture I really liked but just is out of my price range at the moment... plus not really having a way of hauling the furniture... but it was fun to look! 

We then headed out to visit my grandma and aunt.  We went to lunch and then impromptu-ly went second hand shop browsing.  You can read about things I got in my last post.  I really enjoyed spending the time with the girls.

After our adventure I came home and there were people at my house.  Dan was making ribs and they were delicious.  We hung out at the house for awhile, but ended up going over to Andy's for a bit.  I headed home on the early side, but whatever.

On Sunday it was a relaxing day.  I made some chili and went grocery shopping.  Mostly I just relaxed though and worked on the baby book.  Sunday night we rented a Redbox movie - Identity Thief (it was ok) and went to bed.  Nice weekend indeed.

Weekend in Review - All Moved In

Friday morning I treated myself to some Steak n Shake breakfast.  I've really been trying to cut down on eating out (I was getting fast food breakfast about 2-4 times a week...) so I've been doing real good about not eating out in the morning I went and got the best fast food breakfast.  And it was delicious.

I spent the first part of Friday just relaxing... and it was so nice.  That afternoon I went over to my mom's house to finish cleaning up over there.  I had some stuff that didn't fit in the first trip and some clothes still in my closest.  I also had WAY more under my bed than I thought.  I wanted to get everything swept up and looking better.  Luckily it didn't take too long and I thought I had left way more than I thought.

I took my stuff back over to my house and unpacked everything.  Then I waited around until Dan came home.  I made him run some errands with me.  First we went to Target.  He needed a new pair of shorts since his last pair had ripped.  We also got a hose and nozzle on clearance.  Woohoo totally needed that for the house! 

Our next stop was Home Depot.  We needed to get a door knob for the new door that Dan put up to help keep the cats in the basement.  We also picked up some other random odd and ends including a seal for the bottom of the door and a magnet to help keep one of our cabinet shut (it creeps back open if you don't make sure to get it shut all the way.  The previous owners had Velcro there, but the magnet should work better).

Our final stop was Petco to get new supplies for the cats.  It was like buying all the stuff you have to buy when you first get a pet... so that was somewhat expensive.  I had to get two litter boxes, litter, litter catching mat, food and a litter genie.  This is something I saw a TV commercial for awhile back and researched online.  It got a lot of good reviews.  It's basically something that you keep near the litter boxes for easy waste disposal.  The system keeps all those nasty smells locked inside.  Makes it easier to clean to boxes each day.  I've been using it a couple of days now and I'm pretty happy with it.

After we got home with all the purchases we got ready and went over to my cousin Dave's house.  Andy, Dave, and Caleb were already there.  Caleb made some amazing cheeseburgers (with bacon and Gouda) and we had some hot dogs.  It was a pretty relaxing night.

Saturday morning I got up and started to set up the cats items downstairs.  I originally thought I would put them in the bathroom.  But it just didn't feel right.  I then moved them over to the laundry room... which also didn't feel right.  So they ended up in the storage closet.  I'm happy with this set up, although I need to organize that room and make it more plush for the kitties.

After setting all that up I headed over to meet my dad for breakfast at Bread Company.  Then we headed out to pick up my grandpa.  It was a nice drive out chatting with my dad.  My grandpa gave me a coffee table and a painting.  I'm happy with them and I know that he liked helping me out a bit.

We drove back and got that all unloaded at my place and then I spent some time unpacking some bins and taking a nap... Then we met up with the whole family.  My grandpa wanted to take everyone out to dinner at Cusenelli's.  We had a group of about 15 people.  So it was pretty crazy (and somewhat slow) but nice to spend time with the family.

After dinner we went over to Andy's house to have some drinks and chill out.  It was just what I needed.  I've been in a somewhat cranky mood and just relaxing with a drink really helped mellow me. 

Sunday morning I went and got the cats.  Moving the cats was the final thing I had to do to get all my 'stuff' there.  It felt great.  The cats seem to be adjusting pretty well.  They were pretty scared at first being in such a new setting with noises they didn't understand.  But they seem to be getting braver all the time.  Although Stitch keeps hiding under the couch... so I need to figure out how to get her to stop doing that (it's more like she is inside the couch and it's a reclining couch, so it's just a dangerous place for her to be).

I went grocery shopping and that was it for my Sunday.  Overall it was a nice weekend.  I'm bad and didn't get any pictures - hopefully next week (I sound like a broken record).