It's been forever and a day . . .

Wow - it's been forever and a day since I've written! I'm such a bad blogger! My only excuse is it's been insanely crazy busy around here. I haven't gotten home from work and/or errands before 10 pm since November! By the time we got back from Thanksgiving we had to hit the ground running on Christmas stuff and then catch up on all the stuff that got behind over Thanksgiving. I just unpacked our bags from Thanksgiving over this past weekend - only to have to repack them sometime this week - but alas, the laundry from the trip needed to be done first. Then there's holiday parties, holiday happy hours, holiday cards, and of course, holiday presents! Through all of this though, I love Christmas time - it's one of my favorite times of the year (or at least it used to be when I was in Florida and it was warm, now that Christmas = cold, it might fall on my favorite list). For some reason though this year just seems harder then most - maybe it's all the traveling, or all the work, or just the cold - I'm not sure yet, but it seems more insurmountable this year then most. But alas, today around 10:30 am while I was busy at work, it suddenly hit me to get excited about Christmas and get over the stress. So hopefully I am now officially over the stressed part and onto the fun part. :)

A week of firsts . . .

In a world where it sometimes seems day after day life does the same thing over and over again, I thought I'd write about all the things we did this week or things that happened this week for the first. I know I still have to write about Thanksgiving but that post will be soon as will the great pictures on the website.
After our first tornado siren on Sunday, Monday Sabrina and I ran errands for our first celebration of Mike's birthday. We bought him some dishes so he could entertain ladies since he didn't have any, but he wasn't particularly thrilled with them, though they are really nice dishes. They were quite manly and black and we thought it was a nice gesture. Go figure, he's a boy. :)
Tuesday, for the first time in a while we did nothing. We both worked really late, came home, sat around for about an hour and then went to bed.
Wednesday, we went with Mike and Sabrina for their first trip to Fast Eddies (we've been there dozens of times) to celebrate Mike's birthday.
Thursday I went out to Meghan and Danny's house to see their beautiful 10-day old baby girl, Elizabeth, and Ms. Martha (Meghan's mom). Elizabeth is absolutely precious and Meghan and Danny are doing so wonderful with her. It's great that Ms. Martha is able to be there with them right now to help them out with getting used to everything.
Friday I went to a happy hour with the work crew because an associate is leaving and then we went out with friends to bowl at Tropican (first time there) and then the Cheshire (no where near a first).
Saturday we slept in, worked in the house, and I carpet cleaned our spare room for the first time. We also went to a Gator Club friend's holiday party (first for this year). :)
Today we got our first Christmas tree for our new house and as an engaged couple. We went with Sabrina and Dan and drove to what felt like Kansas and cut one down in 22 degree freezing cold. I was, and continue to be, shocked and appauled that they SPRAY PAINT Christmas trees here to make them more green. I have had real trees most years in my life from a variety of tree farms and have never seen a spray painted tree. That was definitely a first! Then we set the tree up -I had to run to the store to get a better stand - and decorated our first tree. We put the traditional German pickle on the tree as well as all these great German traditional ornaments from Cody's sister she got us as an engagement present. It's really a great set of ornaments - I'll have to write later about each ornament and their significance.
Oh, we also got our first Christmas card this week from my Aunt Kay, Uncle Frank and their kids, Fransico and Ignacio.
Well, since we were awakened this morning at 10am (probably a first since weekends we tend to sleep well past noon) it's bed time now to catch up on sleep.

Another Corn Country First

Well, we got back from Tally late last night, only to arrive to a torrential downpour, complete with hail and wind that about knocked me over. Right as we were about to lay down to go to sleep the wind, rain and hail really kicked up and all of a sudden alarms just started going off everywhere. They were incredibly loud and seemed to be coming from every direction. I, being from Florida, had no clue what was going on so Cody clued me in and told me to get to the basement. Apparently a tornado had been sighted so the tornado alarms were going off all over the neighborhood. So we got the cats and the laptop (hoping to get an update on the internet) and headed to the basement to hang out until it was over. Luckily we were only stuck there a few minutes and then a loud voice told us it was over and to tune into the radio for more information. It really reminded me of the drills in elementary school though I never knew I'd actually hear the siren for real. Another corn country first. I'll write about out Thanksgiving whirlwind extravaganza later - too tired now.

Adrenaline Overload

Wow - what a three days I've had! First was the ring on Saturday, then the football game on Sunday (not near as exciting at the other two but it still sorta fits), and then a baby on Monday! No, not my baby - Meghan finally had her baby! My friend Meghan who I've known since I was a wee little 2 year old midget, just happens to also live in St. Louis - strangely enough her husband got a job up here not too long before Cody did - totally unrelated twist of fate. Anyway, they have been expecting their first child who was due on November 24th or December 1st (depending on who you ask). Well, about 12:30 am yesterday, I got a call saying her water had broke and they were heading up to the hospital, so I headed up there to help in any way I could. To make a very long story short (every baby birth story from what I can tell is a very long tale), she had an absolutely gorgeous 7lb 10oz baby girl at 11:39 am. We went up to see them last night and she really is an amazingly perfect looking baby. All three of them (mom, dad and baby) seemed to be doing very well and all were very thrilled. I really am so happy for them to be starting their family. I can't wait to see what great things she does with her life.
Which brings me into my next thoughts - other kids I can't wait to see what great things they do - our three nieces and one nephew in Tally Town who will we be visiting very soon! Tomorrow morning we are leaving bright and early to drive the 12-13 hour drive to see the family in Tallahassee, Florida! I can't wait to see everyone and eat turkey and share the exciting news!

Almost Forgot about the Rams . . .

Wow - with all the excitement of yesterday and the pondering of what to write about the engagement, I almost forgot to write about today!!! My mind really is going these days! Anyway, today we went to our first St. Louis Rams game - I had really been looking forward to it, but after yesterday it was rather anti-climatic. It was still a really great game, even though the stupid Rams lost. They play in a domed stadium - so it was the complete opposite of our Green Bay experience last year in 10 degree cold, wind, and snow. They played the Arizona Cardinals - so it was pretty much two of the worst teams in the NFL going at it. Kurt Warner (the QB for the Rams when they won their Super Bowl) is now with the Cardinal's so that added a bit of excitement and twist to the game. Even though it was a great game and a fun experience, I don't think anything will be able to compare to yesterday for quite some time.

Happiest Day of My Life - Thus Far

It's been over 24 hours since the happiest moment of my life but I've held off writing because I just couldn't figure out how to put the enormity of my emotions into words. I've since realized there is no way to express the occassion in mere words, but here's a shot.
Well, yesterday it was actually over 50 degrees (a small miracle these days), so Cody and I being the outdoor souls we are, decided to ride our bikes over to Forest Park (a huge park - 3 times Central Park - across the interstate from our city home) and hang out. Of course, I had two shirts, a hoody, and gloves on while riding the bike, but it was a nice ride (my ear muffs were in my backpack just in case). We had never been paddleboating at the Boat House so we decided to check it out. We paid our $15, got in our paddleboat and paddled our way around this intricite lake system they've made in the middle of the park. It was a beautiful sunny day with just a bit of chilly wind to remind you that it was November, but all in all a great day to be out on the lake. I, being the camera freak I am, took a million pictures of the cute bridges and the views from the lake of the Art Museum and we just had a great time laughing and hanging out. Well, on our way back to the Boat House, Cody leaned over and said "I have a question to ask you" while he was reaching in his pocket. At first I thought he was just teasing me and was going to ask me to pass the water bottle or something, but when I realized he was serious I freaked out! I was crying and screaming and saying "Oh my God" over and over again (probably at least 100 times). So he asked me if I would marry him and at first I said I would have to check with Mr. Pickles (aka Nala the cat) to tease him but did finally say yes. My hands were shaking so bad it took me a good five minutes to just put on the ring. It was gorgeous - I couldn't stop looking at it. Poor Cody had to paddle all the way back to the Boat House by himself because my legs felt like jello. Once we got out of the boats I about fell down and had to go sit down so I could catch my breath - I was so overwhelmed - I never thought I would be that emotional about the whole thing but I guess I was. The rest of the day was sort of a blur - riding the bikes home (my legs barely made it home I was still shaking), calling family, eating lunch at Subway (one of our faves), and going out with friends to McGurk's to celebrate.
Wow - I'm still so overwhelmed. I keep looking at my hand and can still barely believe it. I'm still trying to soak everything in - Cody's doing much better then me since I guess he had the whole thing planned and thought out. :) I'm including one of the pictures he took after I got the ring when I was freaking out. The rest are on the website. I can't wait to get to Tally next week to show my family and spread the good news! There is no way I'm going to be able to concentrate at work tomorrow - that's a given. :) It really was the most perfect engagement for the two of us - it incorporated so much about us into the whole thing - outside, on the water, fun, relaxed and laid back - it seemed so perfectly Cody and I.

Flowers

On the ground floor of our building there is a great flower shop - they "donate" an arrangement each week to our security desk and at the end of the week they draw a name for the flowers. This week the arrangement was great - so I put my name in. Well I didn't win but a friend at work won, so he "donated" the flowers to me. I thought they were pretty so here's a photo. Lilies are as big as my hand. The cats found the flowers quite intriguing.

Foreign Flicks and Scrapbook Fun

I totally forgot to write about the cool foreign flick we went to see on Monday at the St. Louis International Film Festival - who would have thought St. Louis would have such a cultural thing? Even more surprising was that it was all Cody's idea - he actually came up with the idea and everything to go see a movie that he had to read! For those of you who don't know, Cody hates to read as much as I hate not to be able to read. Anyway, it was a Bosnian film with English subtitles, titled Fuse (Gori Vatra). Quite an interesting little flick. We're hoping to be able to make it to two others tomorrow and Friday - one in English and the other Japanese (more reading for Cody). I'll let you know how those go.
As for the scrapbooking part of the message, my friend Sabrina and I finally got to take an evening to work on our scrapbooks tonight. She's working on her wedding album (her one year anniversary is next week) and I worked on the pages for our trip to Wisconsin last year for Cody's cousin's wedding. I can't wait until this thing is done -but there are always new pages to make.

p.s. It's getting terribly cold here already - low tonight is around 20 degrees - that's insane cold!

EVIL EVIL POST OFFICE!!!

A quick rant before I go make lasagna for dinner and do laundry . . .
(1) They lost my mom's Halloween letter/package that I spent hours putting together. While I have not given up hope yet that it may be found or delivered, the chances are getting slimmer.
(2) They are raising the cost of postage to 39 cents! While that may not seem like a lot to the average American, if you send as much mail as I do, it's a tragedy. Also, what in the world do I do with all the 37 cent stamps I have hanging around that I've collected? I have Happy Birthday, Jim Henson and The Muppets, Constellations, Clouds, Tropical Rainforest, Dr. Seuss, Northeast Deciduous Forest, Commemorative Sports Cars, Antique Toys, Spring Flowers, and Airplanes. Yes, I'm obsessed with mailing things and stamps - I just love it.

Thanksgiving

Finally! I believe we have finally decided what we're going to do for Thanksgiving - for Cody and I it seems making decisions can be right up there with waxing your eyebrows - it needs to be done but we put it off until the absoutely last minute. Anyway, for those curious folk out there, I think we're going to leave STL on either the 22nd or 23rd, drive to Tally, eat a lot, possibly go to the FSU v. UF game, and then drive back on Sunday.
Going to Florida for Thanksgiving means we'll have to take a shorter Christmas vacation, but we figure two shorter trips would be better then one longer one anyway. For Christmas we'll probably leave on the 22nd or 23rd, drive down (lots of driving in one month - it will be about 3200 miles on the Jeep I believe - wow, that's 1/3 of what some people drive in a year!) and then come back the Tuesday after Christmas (assuming I can even get those days off work). Then I'll have to come back to work for a few days but we'll at least get to enjoy New Year's here and hopefully get some work done around the house and just relax together. Most of our vacation time is spent traveling and running around so it will be nice to get to hang around the house together for a long weekend (we both have off January 2nd) and just relax. We're hoping to plan a trip to Florida sometime in the spring to see everyone without the stress of the holidays - plus it's no fun seeing everyone twice within a month and then not again for another 11 months.
Ahhh. . . . the trials and tribulations of being the only kids in the family away from home. :) We love our life in St. Louis but also miss our family and friends back in Florida. I guess that's what life's all about though.

Picture Update

The Botanical Garden pictures from yesterday are up now. There are some great ones of the fall colours. I learned a new mode on my camera (close up mode) so there are some neat close-ups of pretty flowers too.

More weekend fun

Wow - it's been a few days since I posted on my bloggy thing and I actually missed it. Gasp! Anyway, some quick updates - Thursday I had a Young Lawyer's Division Happy Hour at a bar downtown - bar was cute -happy hour was okay. Lawyer's just freak me out. Sabrina and I had sushi for dinner since we were out without our men and they hate it and we love it. :)
Friday I had a Girl's Night out - we went to the Melting Pot (my 1st time) - pricey for what you get but sort of fun - definitely cool for a girl's night but if Cody and I had gone it would have been way too much money. The best part is the chocolate fondue at the end - I think next time I'm just going for dessert. Friday night Cody had Boy's Poker Night at the Dude's house - Dude won $10 off of him. :( There goes our carpet money. :)
Saturday was a sad, sad day for Missy and Cody land. FSU lost to Clemson (yes, that's the THIRD unranked team they've lost to this year) and UF lost to a surprisingly respectable South Carolina team (also unranked but led by the old ball coach, Spurier). So we were both pretty devastated - yes, it's pathetic we can get devastated by football, but that's what being raised in the south will do to you. :) Then we went shopping for Cody some jeans which was way more difficult then it should have been. We found some fits he really likes and that looked good on him, got them at Dillard's, only to find them $10 cheaper at Famous Barr and have to go return the Dillard's ones (this process is an entire essay in incompetence in itself -yes, I can claim they were morons because I worked retail for many many years). What an ordeal. Upon coming home a girlfriend was having a boy crisis so I went to help her (complete with the requiste Ted Drewes that will soothe any girl's heart) and Cody hung around until I got back and we went out with the boys to Johnie Gittos - south city, enough said (for those of you who don't understand south city, it's an essay for a later time). We ended up not getting home until after 4 am since the guys insisted on going to Del Taco after going out (that's a Taco Bell rip-off for folks not from St. Louis - and since I'm not boycotting them we can go there).
Sunday, Cody woke up at 3 PM - yep, that's three hours after noon, a few hours before most folks eat dinner - go Cody!!! We went to the Botanical Gardens, which is really a wondeful place. Cody even enjoyed it - he figured it would just be a bunch of flowers but it is really a nicely landscaped park of sorts. We pretty much just saw the Climatron (aka feels like Florida - my fave place in STL), the Japaneese Garden (mondo big fish), and the maze (very cool maze built in bushes). I'll post pictures on the website either today or tomorrow. Then Jon and Lori came over with Michael, now a cute as a button 6 months old. Cody is so great with kids and we had a fun time playing with him. Then it was dinner and cleaning only to wake up and go again today.
Yippee!!! Tonight we're off to see a movie at the St. Louis International Film Festival - I'll let everyone know how it goes.

p.s. Tuppis, the fat cat has just now managed to get herself stuck in the entertainment center in the slot with the Playstation. It's hillarious watching her try to figure out how to back herself up to get out. . . this could take a while. :)

Random thoughts (1) and (2)

(1) I was thinking about glaciers. And to my limited understanding of such things, glaciers are located in the middle of oceans. So are glaciers made of salt water? If I broke off a piece of a glacier and ate it would it be salty?

(2) Ever flip through the radio and find two stations with the same song on? That disturbs me. In my mind there are so many songs out there to play that there should be no way to have two stations in the same city playing the same song. But, I guess that's why radio is no good these days - they have a play list of 40 new songs and that's all they play and only randomly throw in any good old stuff.

The joys of homeownership (did I say "joys"?)

Ahhh... you hear about the joys of homeownership. While, yes, a house may be a metaphorical piggy bank where you deposit money dutifully every month (after interest eats half of your payment of course) that goes into this abstract "equity" which you may or may not be able to get to one day (depending on the housing market), it can be a big pain sometimes too. First all this money that you've "saved" seems to get eaten up in a million tiny things that houses need - window blinds, for instance - which makes you think in the end if you're really even saving money. And then it's the never ending chores - not that I'm complaining because I LOVE our house, it's just a lot of work, after being at work all day anyway. And since we bought a house older then my grandma I think it's even more work. Yesterday I came home, worked on unpacking some boxes in the spare room, cleaned the living room, hooked up my stereo so I could listen to my record player downstairs (yes, I love my records - I got this stereo for my 12th birthday and it still works and when it dies I will cry because I'll have to find out where in the US I can buy a record player cheap), did 4 loads of laundry (how two people can amass such dirty laundry is an entire essay in itself), worked through some boxes in the dining room (looking for the records), and then scrubbed (really really scrubbed, hands and knees scrubbed) the kitchen floor because while I can't wait to replace it I have to live with it now and it was dirty dirty. Then today it's back to painting the spare room trim and seeing if I can ever get that room done.
Remind me again why buying a house is a good idea . . . Just kidding :)

Sunday Sunday Sunday

Today I was bound and determined to finish our upstairs spare room. Cody's folks came up the week of July 4th and were nice enough to paint the entire wall space of the room - ceiling and walls - so all I've had to do since then (in the past FOUR months) is paint the stupid trim. Well, I can't think of any good excuse why it hasn't gotten done yet except that we just haven't gotten around to it. So for the past month I've been trying to do a little here and a little there and slowly but surely it's coming along. I must at least note there was a lot more to do then just paint the trim since we had to take out one of the windows to get my bed upstairs so in addition to simply painting we had to insulate the window we took out, nail all the trim back on, caulk around all the trim and THEN paint. So this weekend I painted the second coat on one window, painted the first on the other window and did both coats on the last remaining door. So all I have left is one coat on one window!!! Yippee! This week I want to go through all the boxes in the spare room and find everything a home (it's mostly my craft stuff) and then we have two rooms done (in over 5 months). :)

Other then fun with paint, Cody had the playoffs for his soccer team today. They won the first game at 1pm and then had to play a second game right after at 2pm. Unfortunately they didn't manage to win the championship game, though they only lost 4-3. I'd like to add Cody played goalie (or I suppose they're called "keepers" in soccer) in the second half and had a complete shutout! Way to go Giraffe Keeper!!! Anyway they did a great job and still won $25 at Krieger's to celebrate (which split between everyone ended up being $2.50 each - not even enough for a beer). Now that it's getting cold, it's on to indoor soccer and for me running on a treadmill. :)

Then there were of course the mandatory Sunday errands - fun fun. Off to work tomorrow - at least I get to drive to Columbia so I won't be trapped in the office all day.

Weekend Fun . . .

Last night (Friday) we went to City Museum (www.citymuseum.org), which is by far my favorite place in STL, with our friends Marissa (new to STL - a fellow attorney who moved here for her engineer boyfriend) and Cassidy (the engineer boyfriend - works with Cody). I absolutely LOVE that place - it's like a big playground for adults - it involves a lot of crawling around. I think even if I had kids I wouldn't let them play there until they were at least 8 or 9 out of fear that they would get hurt there because they didn't recognize their limits (the possiblities of hurting yourself are plenty there). There is so much to climb around on and slide on - there are three story slides that are amazing - I would love the meet the dude or dudete who designed that place. Anyway, it was a great time for me (because I swear the place was made for me) and I think everyone else had a good time too. :)

Today (Saturday) we ran errands in the morning - me to Wal-Mart, Target, Schnucks and Michaels while Cody worked on the cars - and then went to Meghan and Danny's to watch the FSU v. NC State game (much to my dismay, FSU lost yet again to an unranked team). They are due with their first kid (Elizabeth Lynn is the name so far) at the end of the month. Meghan is looking absolutely great for being so far along and seems to be doing really well with the pregnancy and the idea of having a baby (whereas I would be freaking out daily at this point - especially since Cody and I can barely care for the cats, fish and turtles we have now, much less a kid!). I'm so excited for the two of them and so happy they're starting a family together. The baby's room is looking great and they seem all ready and set for her to be here - even Danny is really excited about her arriving and helping with taking care of her (what a guy!). :)

After hanging out with them for a while we went to Sabrina's 3oth birthday party. It was quite a good time. As people arrived we put together this sort of picture guest book/scrapbook for the party which I think turned out all right - I was really excited about it and spent a ton of time gathering the supplies for it so I was happy she seemed to enjoy it. I got a scrapbook and Cody cut black sheets of paper for the pages and as people arrived I took their picture with a Polaroid Izone and glued them to a sheet of paper and had them write messages - then she has a memory book of the party. Anyway, all in all the party turned out good and a good time was had by all. I was thrilled her mom and stepdad were able to make it because they're just great people and she's really close to them so I'm sure it meant a lot to her. Well, so far that's our weekend - I can't believe it's only Saturday night and it seems we've done enough to fill an entire week. :)

Have a good night!

Inspired

Hi Everyone!!!

I was inspired today by one of the new associates at work (for her anominity I won't mention her name but as a clue it's very very close to mine . . . but we have different last names). She has a great blog set up for her family here in St. Louis for her family and friends away to check out . . . so I've finally gotten off my behind (a small miracle in itself) and at least made an attempt to do the same here. I'm going to try to put up links to our website we're setting up webpages.charter.net/cody-missy and put up pictures and stuff. Yippee! Hooray for getting stuff done! :)

As for getting stuff done, I went shopping for my friend Sabrina's birthday today and then worked out - but not as long as I wanted because they cancelled the one show I like to watch each week and instead had stupid Blues hockey on.

Well, spent too much time playing with the webpage so off to get ready for an early day tomorrow - have to get in early to decorate Sabrina's office (I'm of course banking on her not reading this tonight) for her birthday. :)

P.S.

Check out the new fish in the picture too.

Finally. . . .

Okay, so we've lived here almost four months and maybe I have looked at almost every rug company online and almost every store in St. Louis (and there are a lot of them) and maybe I have debated and proed and coned until I (and Cody) was blue in the face, but we finally found a rug we connected with. . . . and some couch covers we liked too - and they were all on sale!!!! This is by far our favorite room of the house now. Check out where the TV should go on the entertainment center - board games!!! 

Huh?

What in the world are these things and what do they do? Can anyone see this? What if I say something dumb? Hmmmmmm.......