Two very important updates since the post before the last post. So important they deserve their own post, not just a lump into the "week update" post. . . .
First, last Monday my friend, Kari, from law school just happened to be in St. Louis! It was the weirdest of coincidences since no one I have ever known has even known where St. Louis was on a map, much less had any connection to my new city (though on a side note, I guess I can't call it my "new city" anymore since as of last Wednesday I've lived here 2 years). Anyway, Kari's husband, John, has a sister who lives in St. Louis and just had a baby boy (on another side note, they named him Noah, which after I told Cody he is obsessed with naming our future, not-yet-conceived kid Noah - not after the arc guy, but after the Florida basketball player) so they were up here visiting the new nephew. Even though they were only up here for a short weekend, they were kind enough to take time to have breakfast with me Monday morning (worked great for me since it was only a block from my office). Kari, might I add, is one of the greatest people I've ever come across in my entire life - she's incredibly intelligent, one of the nicest people around, is strong in her convictions, fun, yet pragmatic, and now pregnant! Yup - she and John are having a baby girl! I am so excited for the two of them. They really are going to be wonderful parents! She even looks great pregnant! Anyway, we had a great visit, albeit too short. :( Hopefully we'll be able to keep in better touch (I've been lacking in this category) and be able to hang out again. I can't wait to see pictures of the baby when she finally arrives (August) -hopefully they'll be able to make it up for the wedding with her next year so we can ohh and ahh over her!
On another, totally different, note - we saw They Might be Giants on Saturday. Another weird coincidence, Kari and John had a TMBG song on their wedding CD (Birdhouse in Your Soul - one of my favorite songs of all time). Anyway, they played at The Pageant and were great! They played a lot of the new stuff that I must admit, I was not too familiar with, but they were great nonetheless. I was somewhat disappointed in the crowd, as every other time I've seen them in concert (more then a few times) the crowd has been very excited and energetic and this crowd was more mellow. Maybe it was St. Louis. Maybe it was the fact the band has been around for over 20 years and most of their huge fans are now in their late 20s early 30s now and not teenagers anymore. Maybe every other time I saw them it was a younger town (Tally, G'ville, Tampa, etc.). Who knows, but it was still a great show - I even got John Linnell's set list at the end of the show!!! For those of you who may be interested, they started with the Malcom in the Middle song, played the Sun song, Birdhouse in your Soul, James K. Polk, New York City, Istanbul, Song #3 on the first album, and some other stuff I can't remember because the set list is in Cody's car (also the songs were not in that order). All in all a great concert!
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Week Update
Wow - it's been a while since I last blogged, but I have a good excuse - my mommy has been in town visiting!! We had a great time hanging around St. Louis and working in the yard. The last time she visited she helped me landscape our front yard and this time our goal was the back yard. Well, we didn't get it finished, but at least we got a plan as to how to lay everything out. Here's a quick run-down of our adventures.
Saturday - we picked Mommy up from the airport and headed to Bandana's for lunch. We planned to do a bunch of stuff in the afternoon, but we all ended up falling asleep as soon as we got home. :)
Sunday - We started at a huge book fair in the Famous Barr garage. It was awesome - all the soft cover books were a $1 or less and the hardback books were all under $5. We found at least 20 books, though couldn't find the one I was looking for - Of Mice and Men. Oh well, I'm sure I'll find it used somewhere. Then we headed out to Augusta to the wineries. It stormed on the way there but by the time we got there it had cleared up - it was still a cloudy day so the wineries were pretty empty. We went to Montelle, Mount Pleasant, and Augusta wineries and got to taste all the wine. We had a great time! Sunday night Cody had an indoor soccer game, so we went to watch that and then I made homemade spaghetti and meatballs.
Monday - I went to work but got off early so we could go shopping for Mommy some new clothes for her new job. We found her tons of great skirts and tops at Kohl's and then headed to Target. We had yummy Crazy Bowls and Wraps for dinner.
Tuesday - We played in the yard and made my specialty, enchilladas, for dinner. Cody hates them so we made them while he was at German class. :)
Wednesday - We went back to Kohl's to try to find some matching tops for some of the skirts we got for Mommy's work. Afterwards we went to my friends, Meghan and Danny's house for dinner. I've known Meghan since I was a small kid so she's known my mom the same length of time. I missed her birthday dinner last week so we did a delayed birthday celebration. It was great to see Elizabeth again -she's growing up so fast. She's getting great at sitting up!
Thursday - We worked out in the yard some more and then went to The Loop. We walked the Walk of Fame, ate at Blueberry Hill and then had root beer floats at the Fitz's bottling plant.
Friday - I took off work so Mommy and I could play in the yard all day. :) We dug and planted and dug some more!
Saturday - Not much to report here. We got ready and went to the Airport - of course, even with the utmost planning we still manged to leave half of her new clothes here. :)
All in all, it was a great visit and we can't wait to have her up here again! Now we just have to talk the rest of our family into visiting!!!!
Saturday - we picked Mommy up from the airport and headed to Bandana's for lunch. We planned to do a bunch of stuff in the afternoon, but we all ended up falling asleep as soon as we got home. :)
Sunday - We started at a huge book fair in the Famous Barr garage. It was awesome - all the soft cover books were a $1 or less and the hardback books were all under $5. We found at least 20 books, though couldn't find the one I was looking for - Of Mice and Men. Oh well, I'm sure I'll find it used somewhere. Then we headed out to Augusta to the wineries. It stormed on the way there but by the time we got there it had cleared up - it was still a cloudy day so the wineries were pretty empty. We went to Montelle, Mount Pleasant, and Augusta wineries and got to taste all the wine. We had a great time! Sunday night Cody had an indoor soccer game, so we went to watch that and then I made homemade spaghetti and meatballs.
Monday - I went to work but got off early so we could go shopping for Mommy some new clothes for her new job. We found her tons of great skirts and tops at Kohl's and then headed to Target. We had yummy Crazy Bowls and Wraps for dinner.
Tuesday - We played in the yard and made my specialty, enchilladas, for dinner. Cody hates them so we made them while he was at German class. :)
Wednesday - We went back to Kohl's to try to find some matching tops for some of the skirts we got for Mommy's work. Afterwards we went to my friends, Meghan and Danny's house for dinner. I've known Meghan since I was a small kid so she's known my mom the same length of time. I missed her birthday dinner last week so we did a delayed birthday celebration. It was great to see Elizabeth again -she's growing up so fast. She's getting great at sitting up!
Thursday - We worked out in the yard some more and then went to The Loop. We walked the Walk of Fame, ate at Blueberry Hill and then had root beer floats at the Fitz's bottling plant.
Friday - I took off work so Mommy and I could play in the yard all day. :) We dug and planted and dug some more!
Saturday - Not much to report here. We got ready and went to the Airport - of course, even with the utmost planning we still manged to leave half of her new clothes here. :)
All in all, it was a great visit and we can't wait to have her up here again! Now we just have to talk the rest of our family into visiting!!!!
Friday, April 28, 2006
Finally Friday!!
Geez - I thought this day would never come! Some weeks seem to go fast, some seem about 5 days long, but some, like this one, seem to last at least a month! All week, I've been waiting for Friday and it just seemed to take forever to get here! Yippee - it's finally here! Now what am I going to do with it? For starters I'm going to clean the house before my mom gets here tomorrow from Florida - vacuum and sweep the living room, clean the dining room, pick-up the Boy Room, do laundry and dishes, finish cleaning the kitchen, see if I can get at least one bathroom clean and at least part of upstairs. We'll see. . . . maybe I'll just have a beer and take a nap instead. :)
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Not Quite. . .
One more post. Remember when I said on Monday we had our plane tickets to the World Cup? Turns out we didn't (thanks a bunch you-know-who!). After deciding on dates and specific flights we all argued over whose credit card to put the tickets on - oddly enough we were all arguing to have it put on our own card. That's the beauty of cash/bonus back deals. Cody gets Discover 1% cash back, I get Amazon.com points and Person #3 (who will remain nameless for this post) gets a bit more then 1% cash back, so we all agreed we would be best putting it on his card. So he agreed to get the tickets Monday. But didn't get around to it - figured what's another day when we've waiting this long (not to say I wouldn't have done the same thing but since it wasn't me I have someone to "blame" - the beauty of responsibility). So, as our luck goes, the tickets we were going to get were $200 more on Tuesday. So since then we've been frantically searching every airline, search engine and major airport in Europe for some decently cheap flights. . . and there haven't been any. Cheapest we could find was $1200. We finally found some we had settled on this afternoon - they were $150 more then our original tickets and crappier flighs but they would get us there. But then Cody on a whim decided to check the "Multi-destination flights" - I hadn't even looked at them thinking they would be way more expensive - turns out they were cheaper! So he got me searching those until I found one for $900 (cheaper then our original tickets) that flys into Paris (leaves STL at better times too) and flys out of Brussels (better times). Only one lay-over each way (in Chicago) and no changing airports in NYC (like the old ones)!!! The great thing is now we can fly into Paris, see it, do the World Cup thing, travel some more, and then go to Brussels, see it and fly out of there. No going back to where you started to see a city you've already seen!! PERFECT! Okay, so Person #3's not in so much trouble with me anymore - though I might just give him another bloody nose just for kicks and giggles. :) GERMANY HERE WE COME!!!
Website Update
Okay, I figured that while I already had the ghetto computer open and propped up, I might as well get as much out of it as I could in it's working moments, so I went ahead and updated our lovely website. There's a wedding page update (though if you read the blog you already know the update) and three new event/picture updates - the Half Marathon, Easter and the Water Tower. Nothing momumental but some cool pics nonetheless. Enjoy.
Ghetto Computer
Check out our ghetto comptuer! The stupid hinge broke - not just not working properly, but the top of the computer (where you see the duct tape) physically broke off from the hinge. So, in the interest of saving money (to spend in Germany and on the wedding) and prolonging the life of the computer until we can afford a new one (which could be a very long time), I hot glued the hinge back on the frame and then put enough duct tape on the darn thing to even impress my brothers (Bo made himself a wallet completely out of duct tape and I think David made a pair of shoes out of duct tape - I guess we're a duct tape family). The only problem is that it really doesn't provide enough support to open and close the monitor much or hold the screen up so we have to prop the monitor up when we want to use the computer (Cody uses a big jar to prop it open when it's on the table and I just put a big pillow behind it when I'm sitting down with the comptuer on my lap). Ghetto? No, Ingenuity. So that's why the updates have been sparse lately on the website and the blogs have been fewer - harder to use the ghetto computer (not to mention the constant business and lack of sleep). 
Monday, April 24, 2006
Exciting Developments
Two rather exciting developments today, in no particular order:
First - We finally picked (and bought) our tickets to Germany. We've been debating this for months now -when to leave, how long to take off, what airline to fly, when to best buy tickets for cheap prices. Well, we finally bit the bullet and got the tickets. . . . and boy were they not cheap. Granted, you expect to pay a lot to go to Europe in the summer. . . . but this was just ridiculous. We could fly over there any time last month or this month for about $500, which I consider expensive for the spring since I paid about that for a summer ticket a few years ago. This summer, we can't find anything under $1000. I don't know if it's the economy, the gas prices, general inflation of maybe The World Cup, but that's insane. Most tickets were around $1300, but we managed to get one of the $1000 ones. We fly out of here, into New York LaGuardia, then out of New York JFK (yup, we have to change AIRPORTS in New York - they give us 5 hours to do this though) and into Brussels. At least that's another city we'll get to see. Now we just have to mull over all the possible city options and pick our top few to really concentrate on (top of the list right now are Auschwitz, Krakow, and Prague)- outside of our whirlwind World Cup tour of Germany, of course. Looks like we'll be eating a lot of Ramen Noodles until we leave and a lot of tunafish sandwiches when we get there. :)
Second, we think we finally found a place to have the wedding! I must admit I can't take any credit for this one, considering if it were left to my devices we probably wouldn't have gotten around to picking a venue until sometime in November. We have Cody's mom to thank 100% for this one. She has been an absolute gem with this whole wedding planning process. When I finally realized that I can't do everything and certainly can't do all the planning from 800 miles away and finally got around to asking for (and accepting) help, she has so graciously stepped in and been such a help! She's taken so much of the stress out of this whole ordeal - I'm thankful because I'm not stressing and Cody's happy because he doesn't have to deal with me stressing! She's been on the phone calling the places we were already considering (Armory, Women's Club, Mary Brogan Museum) and even found a new one that we never considered or would have even ever known about - Homewood Suites. I guess it's owned by Hilton and relatively new to Tally (at least it wasn't there when either Cody or I lived there). Anyway, none of the places we had found so far really fit what we were looking for or our budget - until she found this place. It's in hotel so all our friends and family can stay there and be together - a real plus for us with so many people from out of town. They do their own catering, which while it may seem more expensive at first compared to finding your own caterer, everything is included in the price, rather then charging extra for dishes, servers, linens, salt and pepper shakers (no kidding - one of the caterers we found make you rent salt and pepper shakers). The big thing is they let you bring your own alchol and bar!! That saves us a ton of money off paying per drink at the other hotels or reception places! Anyway, his mom and sister went to look at it and took tons of great pictures to really show us what it looked like (I'll put them on the website later for everyone to see). From the photos it looked great and it seems that they liked it so the deposit was placed! The great thing is you can still get your deposit back within 90 days so before that we'll try to make a trip to Tally to check it all out and make final arrangements (not that we forsee having to move it at all)! How exciting!! I really can't explain how grateful we are to them for their help - I keep telling everyone I'm marrying into one of the greatest families ever! Too bad I can't talk them into finding me a wedding dress. . . . I trust their style more then mine any day. :)
First - We finally picked (and bought) our tickets to Germany. We've been debating this for months now -when to leave, how long to take off, what airline to fly, when to best buy tickets for cheap prices. Well, we finally bit the bullet and got the tickets. . . . and boy were they not cheap. Granted, you expect to pay a lot to go to Europe in the summer. . . . but this was just ridiculous. We could fly over there any time last month or this month for about $500, which I consider expensive for the spring since I paid about that for a summer ticket a few years ago. This summer, we can't find anything under $1000. I don't know if it's the economy, the gas prices, general inflation of maybe The World Cup, but that's insane. Most tickets were around $1300, but we managed to get one of the $1000 ones. We fly out of here, into New York LaGuardia, then out of New York JFK (yup, we have to change AIRPORTS in New York - they give us 5 hours to do this though) and into Brussels. At least that's another city we'll get to see. Now we just have to mull over all the possible city options and pick our top few to really concentrate on (top of the list right now are Auschwitz, Krakow, and Prague)- outside of our whirlwind World Cup tour of Germany, of course. Looks like we'll be eating a lot of Ramen Noodles until we leave and a lot of tunafish sandwiches when we get there. :)
Second, we think we finally found a place to have the wedding! I must admit I can't take any credit for this one, considering if it were left to my devices we probably wouldn't have gotten around to picking a venue until sometime in November. We have Cody's mom to thank 100% for this one. She has been an absolute gem with this whole wedding planning process. When I finally realized that I can't do everything and certainly can't do all the planning from 800 miles away and finally got around to asking for (and accepting) help, she has so graciously stepped in and been such a help! She's taken so much of the stress out of this whole ordeal - I'm thankful because I'm not stressing and Cody's happy because he doesn't have to deal with me stressing! She's been on the phone calling the places we were already considering (Armory, Women's Club, Mary Brogan Museum) and even found a new one that we never considered or would have even ever known about - Homewood Suites. I guess it's owned by Hilton and relatively new to Tally (at least it wasn't there when either Cody or I lived there). Anyway, none of the places we had found so far really fit what we were looking for or our budget - until she found this place. It's in hotel so all our friends and family can stay there and be together - a real plus for us with so many people from out of town. They do their own catering, which while it may seem more expensive at first compared to finding your own caterer, everything is included in the price, rather then charging extra for dishes, servers, linens, salt and pepper shakers (no kidding - one of the caterers we found make you rent salt and pepper shakers). The big thing is they let you bring your own alchol and bar!! That saves us a ton of money off paying per drink at the other hotels or reception places! Anyway, his mom and sister went to look at it and took tons of great pictures to really show us what it looked like (I'll put them on the website later for everyone to see). From the photos it looked great and it seems that they liked it so the deposit was placed! The great thing is you can still get your deposit back within 90 days so before that we'll try to make a trip to Tally to check it all out and make final arrangements (not that we forsee having to move it at all)! How exciting!! I really can't explain how grateful we are to them for their help - I keep telling everyone I'm marrying into one of the greatest families ever! Too bad I can't talk them into finding me a wedding dress. . . . I trust their style more then mine any day. :)
Weekend Update
Another fun filled weekend in Missy and Cody Land. Thursday we checked out a Guinness "Legacy Event" thing at Growlers. Cool - if you like Guinness. I think it's the nastiest beer known to man and Harps and Smithwicks are right behind. So, all you can drink free beer - if it's one of those three. The guys made use of the promotion while I had to make a concerted effort to finish one Harps.
Friday we just hung out - I ran (5.65 miles), Cody changed the oil in the Jeep and the motorcycle, and we worked in the yard. Saturday I went to the Soulard Farmer's Market and cleaned house while Cody helped a friend with his sink. We, of course, ended up going out - to Harry's. Good time though a bit chilly on the patio.
Sunday we had lunch at a cool 50's diner with a friend and then went up in the Water Tower (the old on on Grand for you STL folks). Very cool! I took tons of pictures (shocking, I know) so I'll try to get them on the website as soon as possible. Great views of the city! Afterwards, more cleaning, and then soccer. Won the game 5-1! A great victory - though Dude ended up with a bloody nose - I told him I'm going to spread the word that he got hit by a girl. :)
All in all a good weekend, a nice mix of work, play and relaxation. Next weekend Mommy comes to town to visit so that should be nice to show her around the things we haven't seen yet and hang out.
Friday we just hung out - I ran (5.65 miles), Cody changed the oil in the Jeep and the motorcycle, and we worked in the yard. Saturday I went to the Soulard Farmer's Market and cleaned house while Cody helped a friend with his sink. We, of course, ended up going out - to Harry's. Good time though a bit chilly on the patio.
Sunday we had lunch at a cool 50's diner with a friend and then went up in the Water Tower (the old on on Grand for you STL folks). Very cool! I took tons of pictures (shocking, I know) so I'll try to get them on the website as soon as possible. Great views of the city! Afterwards, more cleaning, and then soccer. Won the game 5-1! A great victory - though Dude ended up with a bloody nose - I told him I'm going to spread the word that he got hit by a girl. :)
All in all a good weekend, a nice mix of work, play and relaxation. Next weekend Mommy comes to town to visit so that should be nice to show her around the things we haven't seen yet and hang out.
Weekend Update
Another fun filled weekend in Missy and Cody Land. Thursday we checked out a Guinness "Legacy Event" thing at Growlers. Cool - if you like Guinness. I think it's the nastiest beer known to man and Harps and Smithwicks are right behind. So, all you can drink free beer - if it's one of those three. The guys made use of the promotion while I had to make a concerted effort to finish one Harps.
Friday we just hung out - I ran (5.65 miles), Cody changed the oil in the Jeep and the motorcycle, and we worked in the yard. Saturday I went to the Soulard Farmer's Market and cleaned house while Cody helped a friend with his sink. We, of course, ended up going out - to Harry's. Good time though a bit chilly on the patio.
Sunday we had lunch at a cool 50's diner with a friend and then went up in the Water Tower (the old on on Grand for you STL folks). Very cool! I took tons of pictures (shocking, I know) so I'll try to get them on the website as soon as possible. Great views of the city! Afterwards, more cleaning, and then soccer. Won the game 5-1! A great victory - though Dude ended up with a bloody nose - I told him I'm going to spread the word that he got hit by a girl. :)
All in all a good weekend, a nice mix of work, play and relaxation. Next weekend Mommy comes to town to visit so that should be nice to show her around the things we haven't seen yet and hang out.
Friday we just hung out - I ran (5.65 miles), Cody changed the oil in the Jeep and the motorcycle, and we worked in the yard. Saturday I went to the Soulard Farmer's Market and cleaned house while Cody helped a friend with his sink. We, of course, ended up going out - to Harry's. Good time though a bit chilly on the patio.
Sunday we had lunch at a cool 50's diner with a friend and then went up in the Water Tower (the old on on Grand for you STL folks). Very cool! I took tons of pictures (shocking, I know) so I'll try to get them on the website as soon as possible. Great views of the city! Afterwards, more cleaning, and then soccer. Won the game 5-1! A great victory - though Dude ended up with a bloody nose - I told him I'm going to spread the word that he got hit by a girl. :)
All in all a good weekend, a nice mix of work, play and relaxation. Next weekend Mommy comes to town to visit so that should be nice to show her around the things we haven't seen yet and hang out.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
The End of an Era
Well, it had to end at some point. As sad as it is, I suppose I must put myself back together and move on. They finally took my ufl.edu email address away. Mind you I last graduated that school in 2003 and you're supposed to lose the address after 6 months, but after begging them not to delete it then, they are finally done hearing my pleas, and have deleted my email address. I first realized it on Saturday when Cody's mom was trying to email me a recipe and it wouldn't show up on in my inbox - nothing would. So I tried WebMail and it said my email wasn't working - mind you, this has happened before and it was just a ufl glitch - so I waited and waited and still this morning I could not get onto my email. I finally emailed them and was informed they have once and for all deleted my address. Problem is, that's the only address anyone I know has ever known. I've had the address since 1997! So, now I have to have it forwarded for a few months until they even delete the forwarding capabilities. On the bright side, that email address was getting about 150 spam messages a day so now at least I can start fresh again. Right now I'm signing up for a alumni.ufl.edu address which will forward to any address I pick so I can change it over time. I think it's going to be missy@alumni.ufl.edu. Anyway, I must go back to my mourning now.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Thankful
Okay, I know it's Easter and not Thanksgiving, but today was one of those days where I realized how lucky I am and how many things I have to be thankful for. First I'm thankful for finally having green leaves and spring. I never realized how great spring is until I lived somewhere with such a miserable winter. It's just amazing watching green leaves pop up on trees and the grass coming back.
I'm thankful I have friends and family to give me recipes and that I have the ability to make the recipes (though maybe not as good as they can make them). I'm thankful to have to ability to make a big dinner and have friends to come over to eat it. I made a huge lunch/dinner this afternoon and we had some folks over to eat - great people, decent food, and good times. I'm so thankful that even though we live over 800 miles from our families we have friends that have become our St. Louis families.
After the meal (and two deserts), Cody and I played a game of chess - I lost again, but I realized that I'm thankful to have such a smart guy and thankful that I can almost hang with him in chess - I haven't beat him yet.
Then I ran around the park and watched the leaves, the ducks, and felt the cool spring breeze -I'm so thankful for all those things and the ability to run. Just being able to be out there and run fast (for me) in the breeze and watch the scenery is amazing.
I'm thankful I have friends and family to give me recipes and that I have the ability to make the recipes (though maybe not as good as they can make them). I'm thankful to have to ability to make a big dinner and have friends to come over to eat it. I made a huge lunch/dinner this afternoon and we had some folks over to eat - great people, decent food, and good times. I'm so thankful that even though we live over 800 miles from our families we have friends that have become our St. Louis families.
After the meal (and two deserts), Cody and I played a game of chess - I lost again, but I realized that I'm thankful to have such a smart guy and thankful that I can almost hang with him in chess - I haven't beat him yet.
Then I ran around the park and watched the leaves, the ducks, and felt the cool spring breeze -I'm so thankful for all those things and the ability to run. Just being able to be out there and run fast (for me) in the breeze and watch the scenery is amazing.
Happy Easter!
Easter morning. I thought I would be spending this time in Tally after looking at wedding reception sites, but my weekend has turned out remarkably different. First, obviously, I didn't go to Tally -for a myriad of reasons, the first being Cody found a nail in my tire when changing my oil Thursday night (he's a oil change Nazi, which in this instance was great since he found the nail). So instead of fretting about the wedding and stressing out, I've put aside the event for the weekend to concentrate on life as it is, now and today. I even managed to ask for help with the planning of said wedding - a hard thing for me to do since I've been a "do by self" person since I was born (that's what I used to say when my mom would try to put on or tie my shoes - hence the reason I wore velcro shoes until quite late because she didn't want to wait around for me to tie my shoes - I was slow). So I asked Cody's family if they could check out some wedding reception sites for us. They are wonderful folks who we know we can count on and I trust them completely. I really couldn't be getting better in-laws. At least we've narrowed it down to 3 or 4 places. :)
As for this weekend - yesterday we got some of our chores done (taxes, laundry, cleaning, etc.), went grocery shopping for Easter lunch/dinner, cooked a great dinner together (pork chops w/ onions and mushrooms, scalloped potatoes and broccoli/cauliflower mix), got the bikes down from the garage and went on a wonderful bike ride in the park and then went out with friends. I really couldn't have asked for a better day - both weather wise and clear-your-head-and-relax wise. The bike was really cool - we just rode around Forest Park checking out new trails and routes - we even found some new things we didn't know where there - even though we live across the street from the park - mind you, it's a few times the size of Central Park in NYC.
Well, back to preparing lunch/dinner - we're having ham, two types of sweet potatoes (w/ marshmallows and w/ nuts), mashed potatoes (because Cody doesn't like sweet potatoes), green beans, asparagus, rolls, deviled eggs, strawberry shortcake and lemon-jello cake. YUMMY!
As for this weekend - yesterday we got some of our chores done (taxes, laundry, cleaning, etc.), went grocery shopping for Easter lunch/dinner, cooked a great dinner together (pork chops w/ onions and mushrooms, scalloped potatoes and broccoli/cauliflower mix), got the bikes down from the garage and went on a wonderful bike ride in the park and then went out with friends. I really couldn't have asked for a better day - both weather wise and clear-your-head-and-relax wise. The bike was really cool - we just rode around Forest Park checking out new trails and routes - we even found some new things we didn't know where there - even though we live across the street from the park - mind you, it's a few times the size of Central Park in NYC.
Well, back to preparing lunch/dinner - we're having ham, two types of sweet potatoes (w/ marshmallows and w/ nuts), mashed potatoes (because Cody doesn't like sweet potatoes), green beans, asparagus, rolls, deviled eggs, strawberry shortcake and lemon-jello cake. YUMMY!
Friday, April 14, 2006
Crazy Person
I think wedding planning makes people crazy. At least it does me. Why can't these things be simple? I have a few comments to illustrate.
First our biggest dilema - the element of ourselves. We want a casual, laid back, fun wedding. Did you get the "laid back" part of that? Because every wedding place in Tallahassee wants to put us in this little box of "semi-formal" - not terribly ritzy but not what we really want either. I'm not a ritzy, fancy, froo froo person - neither is Cody - for God's sake his favorite outfit include an obnoxiously large red animal print pimp-looking hat and velcro shoes! It's literally painful for me to "dress up" for work - I can't wait to get in jeans and a t-shirt. I have no desire to be a "princess" or any of that stuff. Some people love it - but it's not me. I don't want a "semi-formal" wedding - I want our wedding our way but Tallahassee insists on fitting you in this box - the reception places do it, the caterers do it. I don't want an elaborate layout of shrimp and something else I can't prononce - I just want some food that tastes decent. I have a perfect rehersal dinner planned - Sonny's outside (in either a park or backyard), paper plates, a big Moon Walk thing for the kids, a keg and a good time. For the day after since it will be Easter, I would like to do an Easter Brunch in my mom's backyard. But it's the wedding part that's driving me crazy. Agg...
Second, I don't see why everything is (a) so expensive and (b) there are so many hidden charges. One caterer I talked to even charges for salt and pepper shakers. They're like little varmits picking at you everywhere and before you know it a $15 meal is $22 with linens and plates, etc.
Okay, enough of that. Off my soap box. I promise to write more happy stuff about how life is good, rather then about my utter frustrations with the wedding industry! :)
First our biggest dilema - the element of ourselves. We want a casual, laid back, fun wedding. Did you get the "laid back" part of that? Because every wedding place in Tallahassee wants to put us in this little box of "semi-formal" - not terribly ritzy but not what we really want either. I'm not a ritzy, fancy, froo froo person - neither is Cody - for God's sake his favorite outfit include an obnoxiously large red animal print pimp-looking hat and velcro shoes! It's literally painful for me to "dress up" for work - I can't wait to get in jeans and a t-shirt. I have no desire to be a "princess" or any of that stuff. Some people love it - but it's not me. I don't want a "semi-formal" wedding - I want our wedding our way but Tallahassee insists on fitting you in this box - the reception places do it, the caterers do it. I don't want an elaborate layout of shrimp and something else I can't prononce - I just want some food that tastes decent. I have a perfect rehersal dinner planned - Sonny's outside (in either a park or backyard), paper plates, a big Moon Walk thing for the kids, a keg and a good time. For the day after since it will be Easter, I would like to do an Easter Brunch in my mom's backyard. But it's the wedding part that's driving me crazy. Agg...
Second, I don't see why everything is (a) so expensive and (b) there are so many hidden charges. One caterer I talked to even charges for salt and pepper shakers. They're like little varmits picking at you everywhere and before you know it a $15 meal is $22 with linens and plates, etc.
Okay, enough of that. Off my soap box. I promise to write more happy stuff about how life is good, rather then about my utter frustrations with the wedding industry! :)
Monday, April 10, 2006
Numbers
6 - number of my scarfs found around on the floor (in various rooms) while cleaning
1 - number of scarfs on the coat rack (where they belong)
2 - number of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers I went through wiping our cabinets, walls and stair rails (only where needed)
2 - number of milk cap rings found while sweeping the dining room (where Cody eats cereal every morning)
2 - number of dining room chairs without paper stacked in them, before I started cleaning
0 - number of dining room chairs without paper stacked in them, after I was finished cleaning
2 - cans of wet food I had to give the cats to keep them off the floors I was moping
3 - number of cats that couldn't resist walking on my still wet, cleanly mopped floors
12 - days worth of mail currently stacked on the dining room table
6 - number of tax returns we have to file (one each for federal, state and city) -yes, Florida people, we pay a lot of tax in Missouri
1 - number of tax returns we've finished (my federal)
4 - days until Tax Day
One not number related point of interest:
Air Bear - Cody's name for his new golf club (his 3 wood)
109 - Cody's first golf score last year (on 9 holes)
49 - Cody's goal this year in golf (on 9 holes)
1 - number of scarfs on the coat rack (where they belong)
2 - number of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers I went through wiping our cabinets, walls and stair rails (only where needed)
2 - number of milk cap rings found while sweeping the dining room (where Cody eats cereal every morning)
2 - number of dining room chairs without paper stacked in them, before I started cleaning
0 - number of dining room chairs without paper stacked in them, after I was finished cleaning
2 - cans of wet food I had to give the cats to keep them off the floors I was moping
3 - number of cats that couldn't resist walking on my still wet, cleanly mopped floors
12 - days worth of mail currently stacked on the dining room table
6 - number of tax returns we have to file (one each for federal, state and city) -yes, Florida people, we pay a lot of tax in Missouri
1 - number of tax returns we've finished (my federal)
4 - days until Tax Day
One not number related point of interest:
Air Bear - Cody's name for his new golf club (his 3 wood)
109 - Cody's first golf score last year (on 9 holes)
49 - Cody's goal this year in golf (on 9 holes)
Sunday, April 09, 2006
13.1 in 2:07
I finished. In 2 hours and 7 minutes. In my last post I said I ran a 2:15 last year - I double checked that online and it was actually 2:18, so this year's goal was to simply run 5 minutes faster. I actually ran 11 minutes faster - which, while it's still not incredibly fast (I think it's a 9:45 pace), is almost a minute a mile off of last year's time. That's pretty substantial, especially considering I typically run a very tight 10 minute mile on my training runs. I was pleased, but beat by the end. I don't think I could have run another 2 feet since I really pushed it at the end. Currently I feel like I was run over by a bus - a very large bus full of very heavy people. But it's worth it I suppose. I feel accomplished - now on to the marathon - after I let my sprained ankle and shin splints heal from my current training regime.
A few notes (more for my personal record and log book then reader enjoyment):
It was cold, but once we got downtown (always hotter in the city), in the group of people and in the sun it actually warmed up quite a bit. I ran in lined track pants and I really could have gone for shorts - I didn't necessarily overheat, but I would have been more confortable (and faster) in shorts. I started off with a long sleeve running shirt, a t-shirt and sweater, with gloves - by the time I saw Cody at about the 1/2 mile mark, I handed him the t-shirt, sweater and gloves. After seeing Cody at the 1/2 mile mark, we ran through Soulard, to the Brewery and back - over the bridge on Tucker (bridges not fun = big hills). After being converted to the joys of Gatorade at the race last year, I opted for Gatorade at all the water stops. While it was energizing and refreshing, I think it was the new Gatorade Endurance which is more syrupy then the regular stuff - syrupy not good on tummies (at least not mine since I don't drink soda which I think is syrupy). I ran the first mile in 9 minutes and realized I needed to seriously slow it down if I was going to finish. I was much better at hills this year after training in Forest Park instead of Creve Coeur park - I actually powered up them and passed a lot of people there. After looping the brewery, I passed Cody again at about mile 6.5 near the starting line. It's always encouraging to see people you know - you look forward to it and it really mentally helps you through a while afterwards. After that it was a long stretch out Market Street all the way past the interstate, to Taylor (a few blocks from our house). I swear the entire way out seemed uphill - no joke. Which made the run back easier but really wore me out going out. I was doing pretty good by mile 9, I knew I was going faster then I expected. At mile 10 I started to pick it up a little since my goal was to finish with nothing left. Last year I felt so great when I finished I could have run a few more miles - the goal this year was to give it all and finish with nothing. By the time I hit 11 miles, I was no longer watching the crowd and totally ignoring water stations, I was just concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other - and quickly. About mile 12 a crappy song came on my mp3 player and I didn't even have the energy to lift my arm and hit "next." I was going for all out. Cody met me at mile 13 and run with me as I sprinted towards the finish line. I though I was going to fall down after stopping. I was spent. I got my chip cut off my shoe (instead of just doing the race clock they put a chip on your shoe so your "chip time" doesn't actually start until you cross the starting mats - and since I didn't cross the starting mats until the three minute mark it gives you an accurate time for those not in the front (there are 8000 trying to cross the start line at the same time - I was in the middle of that bunch). I was excited to get my bagel and cookies at the end (they were great last year), but the bagel was hard and the cookies were not present. I, of course, was disappointed since I had just burned approximately 1300 calories and I wanted a cookie! :)
So that's the story of the race. Now it's nap time and then go to Cody's soccer game at 11:20 pm. That's the latest game he has this year - of course it just has to be on the day I run my race.
A few notes (more for my personal record and log book then reader enjoyment):
It was cold, but once we got downtown (always hotter in the city), in the group of people and in the sun it actually warmed up quite a bit. I ran in lined track pants and I really could have gone for shorts - I didn't necessarily overheat, but I would have been more confortable (and faster) in shorts. I started off with a long sleeve running shirt, a t-shirt and sweater, with gloves - by the time I saw Cody at about the 1/2 mile mark, I handed him the t-shirt, sweater and gloves. After seeing Cody at the 1/2 mile mark, we ran through Soulard, to the Brewery and back - over the bridge on Tucker (bridges not fun = big hills). After being converted to the joys of Gatorade at the race last year, I opted for Gatorade at all the water stops. While it was energizing and refreshing, I think it was the new Gatorade Endurance which is more syrupy then the regular stuff - syrupy not good on tummies (at least not mine since I don't drink soda which I think is syrupy). I ran the first mile in 9 minutes and realized I needed to seriously slow it down if I was going to finish. I was much better at hills this year after training in Forest Park instead of Creve Coeur park - I actually powered up them and passed a lot of people there. After looping the brewery, I passed Cody again at about mile 6.5 near the starting line. It's always encouraging to see people you know - you look forward to it and it really mentally helps you through a while afterwards. After that it was a long stretch out Market Street all the way past the interstate, to Taylor (a few blocks from our house). I swear the entire way out seemed uphill - no joke. Which made the run back easier but really wore me out going out. I was doing pretty good by mile 9, I knew I was going faster then I expected. At mile 10 I started to pick it up a little since my goal was to finish with nothing left. Last year I felt so great when I finished I could have run a few more miles - the goal this year was to give it all and finish with nothing. By the time I hit 11 miles, I was no longer watching the crowd and totally ignoring water stations, I was just concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other - and quickly. About mile 12 a crappy song came on my mp3 player and I didn't even have the energy to lift my arm and hit "next." I was going for all out. Cody met me at mile 13 and run with me as I sprinted towards the finish line. I though I was going to fall down after stopping. I was spent. I got my chip cut off my shoe (instead of just doing the race clock they put a chip on your shoe so your "chip time" doesn't actually start until you cross the starting mats - and since I didn't cross the starting mats until the three minute mark it gives you an accurate time for those not in the front (there are 8000 trying to cross the start line at the same time - I was in the middle of that bunch). I was excited to get my bagel and cookies at the end (they were great last year), but the bagel was hard and the cookies were not present. I, of course, was disappointed since I had just burned approximately 1300 calories and I wanted a cookie! :)
So that's the story of the race. Now it's nap time and then go to Cody's soccer game at 11:20 pm. That's the latest game he has this year - of course it just has to be on the day I run my race.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Pre-Race Jitters
Well, it's finally here. The half-marathon is tomorrow morning - and I mean morning. Starting at a bring and early 7am I run 13.1 miles. I don't even wake up at 7am on a work day - much less wake up at 5am, eat breakfast, get dressed and shower to leave by 6am and get to the starting line by 7am!
Not that I'll be at the starting line anyway - in marathons and half-marathons you sort of line up by the time you expect to finish. Since there are so many people (thousands) they don't want the 5 hour marathoners up front slowing the 2:30 hour marathoners down. So I'll be towards the back of the pack because I run slow. They actually have pace teams with signs up so you can run together with a group that expects to finish around the same time. This year they're even starting the walkers after the runners as opposed to last year when the walkers started an hour earlier and we were dodgeing then for the first half of the race - walkers like to walk 6 across and won't move for anyone -so this year they start after the runners to avoid frustration.
So at 7 am I start running 13.1 - I shouldn't even call it a "race" because I'm not racing anyone - I'm just trying to beat last year's time. It's more of just a run then a race. Last year I ran it in around 2 hours 15 minutes. This year's goal is to shave 5 minutes or more off that time. Since last year's goal was only 2.5 hours, I was doing pretty okay by my standards. This year will be much harder though - I'll thank the weather for that.
Last year the entire run was partly sunny with some clouds and in the 60s - I wore a sweatshirt to the race but left it with Cody before the run so I actually only had to run in shorts and a tank top. Perfect weather to run. Tomorrow at 7am the temperature is forecast to be 32 - at 9am around the time I expect to finish the temperature is forecast to be 34. That sucks. That really sucks. All year I haven't run in temperatures that cold. My general rule is not to run outside if it's below 50 degrees - for my long runs if it's cold all weekend I would just leave work early and run on a weekday when it was warmer. Not only do I not like to run in the cold but I really don't know how to well - over dress and you get overheated and sweat and then get really cold - under dress and you're cold and uncomfortable the entire time. I really believe there is no way to be comfortable running in those sorts of temperatures. But I paid for the race, so I'm going to run it - maybe not as well as I'd like but I'll at least try.
Thinking about the run tomorrow has me excited about the marathon this fall. I'm determined I'm going to finally get the training done to run the Chicago Marathon in October. It's one of those "things to do before I die" type of goals so might as well strike while the iron's hot.
Well, off to sleep so I can wake up at FIVE AM and run in the freezing cold. Speaking of, did the weather guy not get the memo that it's APRIL and winter is over. Oh, one more thing, all week the weather has been perfect - low to mid 70s and sunny - all next week we are forecast for the same - it's only today and tomorrow that are forecast to be cold. Go figure.
Not that I'll be at the starting line anyway - in marathons and half-marathons you sort of line up by the time you expect to finish. Since there are so many people (thousands) they don't want the 5 hour marathoners up front slowing the 2:30 hour marathoners down. So I'll be towards the back of the pack because I run slow. They actually have pace teams with signs up so you can run together with a group that expects to finish around the same time. This year they're even starting the walkers after the runners as opposed to last year when the walkers started an hour earlier and we were dodgeing then for the first half of the race - walkers like to walk 6 across and won't move for anyone -so this year they start after the runners to avoid frustration.
So at 7 am I start running 13.1 - I shouldn't even call it a "race" because I'm not racing anyone - I'm just trying to beat last year's time. It's more of just a run then a race. Last year I ran it in around 2 hours 15 minutes. This year's goal is to shave 5 minutes or more off that time. Since last year's goal was only 2.5 hours, I was doing pretty okay by my standards. This year will be much harder though - I'll thank the weather for that.
Last year the entire run was partly sunny with some clouds and in the 60s - I wore a sweatshirt to the race but left it with Cody before the run so I actually only had to run in shorts and a tank top. Perfect weather to run. Tomorrow at 7am the temperature is forecast to be 32 - at 9am around the time I expect to finish the temperature is forecast to be 34. That sucks. That really sucks. All year I haven't run in temperatures that cold. My general rule is not to run outside if it's below 50 degrees - for my long runs if it's cold all weekend I would just leave work early and run on a weekday when it was warmer. Not only do I not like to run in the cold but I really don't know how to well - over dress and you get overheated and sweat and then get really cold - under dress and you're cold and uncomfortable the entire time. I really believe there is no way to be comfortable running in those sorts of temperatures. But I paid for the race, so I'm going to run it - maybe not as well as I'd like but I'll at least try.
Thinking about the run tomorrow has me excited about the marathon this fall. I'm determined I'm going to finally get the training done to run the Chicago Marathon in October. It's one of those "things to do before I die" type of goals so might as well strike while the iron's hot.
Well, off to sleep so I can wake up at FIVE AM and run in the freezing cold. Speaking of, did the weather guy not get the memo that it's APRIL and winter is over. Oh, one more thing, all week the weather has been perfect - low to mid 70s and sunny - all next week we are forecast for the same - it's only today and tomorrow that are forecast to be cold. Go figure.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Quick Pre-Weekend Update
Not too terribly much going on here lately. We started German 2 on Tuesday. Went and saw our Florida friends Meghan and Danny on Wednesday and got to see their absolutely adorable baby girl. She does this cute noise by pursing her lips together and blowing - almost like if you stuck your tongue out and blew but without the tongue. It's funny - I think she knows it's amusing because she giggles when everyone looks at her. Yesterday we did some wedding planning - more discussion then planning, but at least a move forward. I just don't know how poor people have weddings. Everything is so damn expensive - if it's for a wedding it's 50 times the normal price. That's just crazy. We just want something casual, laid back and fun with our friends and family. A casual spring party is our ideal. I don't need a string quartet or a diamond tiara or white fluffy doves or anything remotely fancy. Just a nice gathering of friends and family. I would be happy with Subway or Sonny's catering it but everyone says that people expect more from a wedding - I would think anyone who knows me would know better to expect more but I guess the word 'wedding' just changes everyone's perceptions and expectations. I love my friends and family and want them to have a good time and enjoy themselves but I figured if they love me then they would prefer I not spend $50 per person to feed them and go into debt for years to come and not be able to do other things I love just so I can feed them all one very expensive (and usually not particularly good) meal. Go figure. Enough of my wedding soap box.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Gators are National Champs!
GATORS ARE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!! Yep, we did it - we drove back to Indy on Monday for the Championship Game. Yep, we're crazy - especially after I had to be in Columbia at 9 am (and Columbia is 2.5 hours away - to the west). So I woke up early, did my cases in Columbia, drove back to St. Louis, picked up Cody and we were off to Indy for the second time in as many days. But man was it all worth it! The Gators were awesome, the game was awesome, the atmosphere was awesome - it was in a word, awesome. Watching them tear apart UCLA like that and watching the fans just go crazy the bigger the margin got and as more time passed was just amazing. It's Wednesday and our throats are still insanely sore from all the yelling and screaming we did! After the game the confetti came down and they handed out the National Championship trophy - then we got to see the players cut down the net. We're so used to watching all this fanfare on TV it was almost surreal watching it in person. I felt like pinching myself because it was hard to believe we were actually there and actually watched the Gators win the National Championship. After the game, walking the streets of Indy and randomly yelling "Go Gators!" and having everyone cheer and then chanting with hundreds of people you don't know "It's great to be a Florida Gator" is just indescribable. I apologize to all the non-sports folks out there that won't understand a bit of this madness, but the best I can analogize the experience to is watching your favorite band live for the first time (like when Breeze and I skipped out of high school to watch Bad Religion in Jacksonville). It was just such a priceless, wonderful experience. . . . Until we had to drive the four hours home in the middle of the night. :) Luckily Cody was able to take off work on Tuesday and I didn't have any cases set until 10am, but we're still dead tired and catching up on sleep from the festivities. On another note, we had our first German 2 class last night (precluding my plan of coming home after work and going directly to bed). It seems likes it's going to be a really good course. Hopefully we'll learn a lot and have at least some understanding of the language by the time we go over there - I don't believe it's only two months away!!
In closing, it's great to be a Florida Gator (at least in basketball). :)
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Priceless
Well, in case you haven't gleaned by now (either from the news or my prior posts), the Gators made it to the Final Four. Well, Cody and I, being the mildly insance couple we are, decided to drive over to Indianapolis and see if we could find tickets to The Big Dance. Turns out Indy is only 3-4 hours away so it wasn't going to be too bad. So, here's how adventure goes:
Well, I'd better start with Friday. . . . that's when the rest of our friends left to go over there, but we had hockey tickets so we hung around to watch the Blues stive for the worst record in the NHL and #1 draft pick. As usual, they lost - but it was a fun game, nonetheless.
So Saturday morning came (a bit early for Cody who I woke up at 7:30 am - but for a good cause) and we headed off to Indy. A drive across the entire state of Illinois, a quick trip for gas and Arby's and we had arrived. Goal #1: See the games. Goal #2: Do it cheap (we're poor because we're saving for the big Germany trip). Parking was obnoxious around the stadium ($30) so we managed to find a free metered spot a few blocks off. Score 1 for us. We met up with friends at a Gator Gathering hosted by the Alumni Association. Score 2. After that fun, it was off to make posterboard signs for the game. Mine said "I 'heart' Noah" (he's a guy on our team who I fondly refer to as "Fuzzy Head") and Cody's said "Corey Brewer Show" for CBS. Score 3. Then it was off to find tickets. After an incredibly long saga, ending in us buying tickets (which we later realized were not together), then selling those tickets (to a ticket broker who I then got in a rather heated verbal altercation with - he called the cops on me [who sided with me] and then treated to sue me - bring it on buddy), and buying better tickets together (for cheaper since it was close to game time and there were may more sellers then buyers out there) we made it in the game!! What an experience!!!!
There is something to be said about watching your team in a game as important as the Final Four. Something comes over you and it's as if the rest of the world doesn't matter for those few short hours. I was so nervous I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Well, of course the Gators won by a pretty significant margin and are on to the Championship game. We stayed for part of the LSU v. UCLA game but it was such a blow out we decided to leave early to get back on the road. Unfortunately we had a ton of stuff to do today and I have to go to Columbia on Monday for some cases, so we drove back last night - have soccer for Cody and running for me today (and I have to go into work) - then tomorrow Cody's going to work and I'm going to Columbia for my cases - on my way back from Columbia, I'm going to pick up Cody from work and it's back off to Indy for the final game!! After the game, it's back to STL that night for work on Tuesday. Like I said, we're mildly insane. . . . but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Well, I'd better start with Friday. . . . that's when the rest of our friends left to go over there, but we had hockey tickets so we hung around to watch the Blues stive for the worst record in the NHL and #1 draft pick. As usual, they lost - but it was a fun game, nonetheless.
So Saturday morning came (a bit early for Cody who I woke up at 7:30 am - but for a good cause) and we headed off to Indy. A drive across the entire state of Illinois, a quick trip for gas and Arby's and we had arrived. Goal #1: See the games. Goal #2: Do it cheap (we're poor because we're saving for the big Germany trip). Parking was obnoxious around the stadium ($30) so we managed to find a free metered spot a few blocks off. Score 1 for us. We met up with friends at a Gator Gathering hosted by the Alumni Association. Score 2. After that fun, it was off to make posterboard signs for the game. Mine said "I 'heart' Noah" (he's a guy on our team who I fondly refer to as "Fuzzy Head") and Cody's said "Corey Brewer Show" for CBS. Score 3. Then it was off to find tickets. After an incredibly long saga, ending in us buying tickets (which we later realized were not together), then selling those tickets (to a ticket broker who I then got in a rather heated verbal altercation with - he called the cops on me [who sided with me] and then treated to sue me - bring it on buddy), and buying better tickets together (for cheaper since it was close to game time and there were may more sellers then buyers out there) we made it in the game!! What an experience!!!!
There is something to be said about watching your team in a game as important as the Final Four. Something comes over you and it's as if the rest of the world doesn't matter for those few short hours. I was so nervous I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Well, of course the Gators won by a pretty significant margin and are on to the Championship game. We stayed for part of the LSU v. UCLA game but it was such a blow out we decided to leave early to get back on the road. Unfortunately we had a ton of stuff to do today and I have to go to Columbia on Monday for some cases, so we drove back last night - have soccer for Cody and running for me today (and I have to go into work) - then tomorrow Cody's going to work and I'm going to Columbia for my cases - on my way back from Columbia, I'm going to pick up Cody from work and it's back off to Indy for the final game!! After the game, it's back to STL that night for work on Tuesday. Like I said, we're mildly insane. . . . but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Gator Pride
One of my friends (a Mizzou fan I might add - that's the University of Missouri for all you non-Missourians) said a few days ago that all Gators fans think they're better then everyone else. I came home and relayed this to Cody who, after laughing out loud, calming said "That's because we are."
We're heading off to Indy in the morning. Go Gators!
We're heading off to Indy in the morning. Go Gators!
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Gators in the Final Four!!!
Okay, I've been horrible about writing lately - blame it on the computer. Our laptop (pretty much the only computer we use since Cody's computer is seriously old) has a messed up hinge so we've been trying to fix that all week. So how did we finally fix this monsterously expensive piece of high-tech equipment? Call an expert? Take it to a shop? Nope - hot glue! We couldn't figure out what was wrong with the hinge, only that it broke a huge chuck of plastic off the screen so we just hot glued it together. Hopefully that will work for now. Anyway, on to much more important topics....
GATORS ARE IN THE FINAL FOUR!! This is no small feat mind you - we've been the bow-out early, team that gets upset by all the Cinderellas for the past few years, even though we've had favorable seeds. Not this year! No more! We're in the Final Four!! Cody and I are pretty much insane about sports. As most people who know us well can testify, we rarely argue or fight, except during FSU/UF football week - then the gloves come off and it's no holds barred. But during football off season, I'm all Gator (especially since FSU has a pretty non-existant basketball program, sans the once every few years win over Duke [mind you, this is after losing ot the Little Sisters of Charity and the Girl Scouts 65-12]). So we pretty much haven't been able to sleep since the tourney started and it's even worse now that the Gators have made it this far. The Final Four (and Championship Game) are in Indy this year, which I hear is only a 3-4 hour drive from here - we're seriously considering driving over to see if we can get tickets or at least watch it there and party afterwards with fellow Gators. We'll see. . . .
On other notes, Cody got new contacts and I found out I have stress fractures in my tibias from shin splints (running casualty). They hurt but I've been told to do physical therapy and take an atrocious amount of anti-inflamatory medication and I should be okay - if I stop running for a while. But I can't do that - yet - until after the half-marathon in a week and a half. So only a bit more running for me until I take a break, recoup and revive, only to start the marathon training for the fall. It's a 18-22 week program so I don't have too much time off.
Well, off to our last German 1 class (only to start German 2 next week) after a great dinner of CBW (Crazy Bowls and Wraps - they're AWESOME!) . . . . .
GATORS ARE IN THE FINAL FOUR!! This is no small feat mind you - we've been the bow-out early, team that gets upset by all the Cinderellas for the past few years, even though we've had favorable seeds. Not this year! No more! We're in the Final Four!! Cody and I are pretty much insane about sports. As most people who know us well can testify, we rarely argue or fight, except during FSU/UF football week - then the gloves come off and it's no holds barred. But during football off season, I'm all Gator (especially since FSU has a pretty non-existant basketball program, sans the once every few years win over Duke [mind you, this is after losing ot the Little Sisters of Charity and the Girl Scouts 65-12]). So we pretty much haven't been able to sleep since the tourney started and it's even worse now that the Gators have made it this far. The Final Four (and Championship Game) are in Indy this year, which I hear is only a 3-4 hour drive from here - we're seriously considering driving over to see if we can get tickets or at least watch it there and party afterwards with fellow Gators. We'll see. . . .
On other notes, Cody got new contacts and I found out I have stress fractures in my tibias from shin splints (running casualty). They hurt but I've been told to do physical therapy and take an atrocious amount of anti-inflamatory medication and I should be okay - if I stop running for a while. But I can't do that - yet - until after the half-marathon in a week and a half. So only a bit more running for me until I take a break, recoup and revive, only to start the marathon training for the fall. It's a 18-22 week program so I don't have too much time off.
Well, off to our last German 1 class (only to start German 2 next week) after a great dinner of CBW (Crazy Bowls and Wraps - they're AWESOME!) . . . . .
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Website Update
There are updated pictures on the website - St. Patrick's Day this year and some old ones from last year (Cody's Birthday, our runs, Mardi Gras 2005, etc.). Enjoy!
And on and on it goes . . .
Winter, that is. It just won't stop!!! Sorry for two posts in a row about the weather, but I'm just so tired of it. It's cold, dreary, and everything is about as dead can get. I beginning to think I will never see the green again! There are 12 months in the year and four seasons - that would logically mean that each season gets 3 months. Well, winter's three months are offically over! Give it up and turn it over to spring already!!! While I love St. Louis and I love our life here, I told Cody I don't know how many of these winters I can take (and they say this one wasn't that bad). . . .
On other notes, Cody got new contacts today. His left eye got a little worse, but the right stayed the same. Poor kid is blind as a bat. I went to the dentist - no cavities - though that one crazy tooth is still crazy. I also ran a pretty good five miles on the treadmill - 46 minutes and 47 seconds - that's not too shabby (for me) on a treadmill. Well, it's almost ten p.m. and we both got home less then an hour ago and just finished "dinner" (he had left-over chilli with some chips and salsa and I had two bowls of Frosted Shredded Wheats). Time to get ready for bed (my doctor says I don't get enough sleep).
On other notes, Cody got new contacts today. His left eye got a little worse, but the right stayed the same. Poor kid is blind as a bat. I went to the dentist - no cavities - though that one crazy tooth is still crazy. I also ran a pretty good five miles on the treadmill - 46 minutes and 47 seconds - that's not too shabby (for me) on a treadmill. Well, it's almost ten p.m. and we both got home less then an hour ago and just finished "dinner" (he had left-over chilli with some chips and salsa and I had two bowls of Frosted Shredded Wheats). Time to get ready for bed (my doctor says I don't get enough sleep).
Monday, March 20, 2006
Welcome to Spring . . . now get out the snow shovels
So today is the Vernal Equinox, typically my favorite day of the year. It means finally the days have caught up to the nights and they're just getting longer until the Summer Solstice. So typically, a time to celebrate winter's end and spring's joyous arrival. But not in St. Louis. This morning as I left the house for work it was simultaneously raining, snowing, and sleet/hailing. Tonight we're forecasted to get 2-4 inches of snow and another 1-3 inches tomorrow. Fun, huh? Bring on the shorts and tank tops!
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Black Bean and Corn Salsa - and how we plan to make our million
We like salsa, actually we love it (especially Cody). It's the only way I'll ever eat chips (and then only if they're baked), but I love it with pita bread, on chicken, or pretty much any way you can serve it. My favorite is Sam's Choice (Wal-Mart brand) Corn and Black Bean Salsa, while Cody prefers Pace Chunky that he adds tons of hot sauce to. And therein lies the quandry - I like as much healthy stuff as possible and Cody just wants it as hot as possible.
So this weekend he decided to make some homemade salsa. He found a Black Bean and Corn salsa recipe we both could agree on online (though he was disappointed it contained no habenaro peppers) so we decided to give it a shot. Yummy!!! It has black beans, corn (as the name implies), two tomatoes, an onion, red pepper, juice of two limes, fresh cilantro and cumin. He bought some Tostito's with a hint of lime (I was very apprehensive about this at first) and they are awesome with the salsa.
So, we've decided that's how we're going to make our millions (forget this engineering and law thing)! We're going to keep testing out salsa reciepes until we make one of our own we love and then market a healthy version and a hot and spicy version. We'll sell our "local/ homemade/ fresh" salsa at local farmer's markets until the grocery stores will pick it up - then we'll move world wide! Now we just need a catchy name and we'll be off!
So this weekend he decided to make some homemade salsa. He found a Black Bean and Corn salsa recipe we both could agree on online (though he was disappointed it contained no habenaro peppers) so we decided to give it a shot. Yummy!!! It has black beans, corn (as the name implies), two tomatoes, an onion, red pepper, juice of two limes, fresh cilantro and cumin. He bought some Tostito's with a hint of lime (I was very apprehensive about this at first) and they are awesome with the salsa.
So, we've decided that's how we're going to make our millions (forget this engineering and law thing)! We're going to keep testing out salsa reciepes until we make one of our own we love and then market a healthy version and a hot and spicy version. We'll sell our "local/ homemade/ fresh" salsa at local farmer's markets until the grocery stores will pick it up - then we'll move world wide! Now we just need a catchy name and we'll be off!
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Happy Halloween from the USPS
As a lot of people know, I love mailing stuff - for some reason I really enjoy writing out letters, putting stamps on them (along with an enormous amount of stickers), and dropping them in the blue box in hopes that the United States Postal Service will deliver my letter to its proper locale. Turns out this is more hoping then you would imagine. My letters have a tendency not to arrive timely or sometimes not at all. For instance, I sent Cody's mom a thank you card once and it took 11 days to get to Tallahassee. Another time I sent Cody's sister and her family a letter with the correct address including the +4 zip code, only to have it returned as "undeliverable." I then put the "undeliverable" card in an envelope addressed identical to the first and it made it there just fine. The most recent example was a Halloween card I sent my mom.
It all started when Cody's mom had this great idea to make scrapbook-type birthday cards for Cody and I last year. They were the greatest things you could imagine - it was a long accordion fold-up card that she put pictures from different birthdays on in scrapbook style. I still have them sitting out and show them to just about anyone who will look at them. Anyway, as I was organizing some old pictures, I came across some from various old Halloween photos and thought I would put them into one of those mini-scrapbook cards for my mom. So I spent quite some time getting everything together (Cody even helped) and finally made a card that I thought was really special and meaningful. I mailed it off on October 24th and even made sure to take it to the Post Office to ensure I had enough extra postage on it.
Well, Halloween came and went and everyone else got their Halloween cards, except my mom. I filled out a lost mail form at the Post Office and nothing turned up. Months and months went by and it really irked me that of all the mail I send, this one card really meant a lot to me and had some really old pictures on it and this is the piece they lost. I filled out more lost mail forms and again nothing came up. Well, Friday night when Cody and I were out celebrating St. Patrick's Day my mom called. And guess what - of all things, she finally got the card in the mail!! FIVE MONTHS after I mailed it, my Halloween card finally arrived!! She said it was in good shape, didn't look beat up or anything, and was even postmarked 10/24/05. On one hand I can't believe it took them FIVE MONTHS to deliver the card, but on the other, I'm just so very thankful it was finally delivered at all. So, Happy Halloween Mom, from the USPS!
It all started when Cody's mom had this great idea to make scrapbook-type birthday cards for Cody and I last year. They were the greatest things you could imagine - it was a long accordion fold-up card that she put pictures from different birthdays on in scrapbook style. I still have them sitting out and show them to just about anyone who will look at them. Anyway, as I was organizing some old pictures, I came across some from various old Halloween photos and thought I would put them into one of those mini-scrapbook cards for my mom. So I spent quite some time getting everything together (Cody even helped) and finally made a card that I thought was really special and meaningful. I mailed it off on October 24th and even made sure to take it to the Post Office to ensure I had enough extra postage on it.
Well, Halloween came and went and everyone else got their Halloween cards, except my mom. I filled out a lost mail form at the Post Office and nothing turned up. Months and months went by and it really irked me that of all the mail I send, this one card really meant a lot to me and had some really old pictures on it and this is the piece they lost. I filled out more lost mail forms and again nothing came up. Well, Friday night when Cody and I were out celebrating St. Patrick's Day my mom called. And guess what - of all things, she finally got the card in the mail!! FIVE MONTHS after I mailed it, my Halloween card finally arrived!! She said it was in good shape, didn't look beat up or anything, and was even postmarked 10/24/05. On one hand I can't believe it took them FIVE MONTHS to deliver the card, but on the other, I'm just so very thankful it was finally delivered at all. So, Happy Halloween Mom, from the USPS!
Thursday, March 16, 2006
A Great 5.65
Today I planned to go to the gym and work-out on the eliptical machine since I ran yesterday (I'm trying to run a lot, but not too much before the 1/2 marathon since I've had wicked painful shin splints for a few weeks now). But Cody called and felt like running - not just his normal quick one mile speed run, but felt like running an endurance run - around Forest Park - and I just couldn't resist this rarity. The big loop around Forest Park is one of my favorite runs in St. Louis - it's a pretty easy 5.65 miles with some great scenery along the way. I try to run it at least once or twice a week. So today I ran with a partner for only the second time in a year (the first time was with Marissa in the 5 mile St. Pat's race on Saturday) and for the first time with Cody. While Cody and I are both relatively physically active, our abilities do not match up well -he likes fast short runs and I like long slower ones - as you can imagine, this doesn't lend itself to working out together often - or ever, as the case may be.
So we set out to run together. I honestly thought I was going to kick his butt since I'm the endurance champ and he's only got speed, or so I thought. He really impressed me - we ran a pretty quick 5.65 miles and he had energy to sprint the last 1/2 mile! I had such a blast running with him too! First, I figured out I psyche myself out too much when I run distances so I don't run fast enough to hit my peak performance out of fear of not finishing (or having to walk some of it). Cody really had me keeping a good pace the whole run. Second I realized how bored I can get and how fun it was to have someone to chit chat with along the way. Not that I want to always run and chit chat, I enjoy the solidarity of the sport and the time of reflection, but it was a nice change. Of course, since he's used to running less then 10 minutes at a time, Cody thought it was boring to run that long. I've got to think of something to barter with him so I can talk him into running around the park with me once a week or every other week. . . . either that or find someone who wants to run 5.65 miles at a 9:30 pace with me - what do you think, Marissa? :)
On another note, the Tourney started today! As a result, I got nothing done at work as I hit "refresh" on my computer for hours to watch the scores. At the risk of discussing work on a blog (something I avoid like pickled beets), I've just got to tell this story. Our computers are equipped with a program called "Websense" that restricts our use of certain websites. We are allowed 60 minutes of Quota Time per day (which must be used in 10 minute increments) to view these "restricted" pages falling into categories such as "Travel," "Society/Lifestyles," "Entertainment," "Financial Institutions," and of course, "Sports." Of course things like "Weapons," "Pornography" and "Illegal" are totally restricted and you cannot use those even if you wanted to use your Quota Time.
So basically the theory is they don't want you messing around on the computer all day searching for tickets for your next trip, reading about Jessica Simpson's new boyfriend, or balancing your checkbook. . . . you can still do those things, but only on your Quota Time. Aside from the fact that I think this is ridculous as a professional to have Quota Time (after all I still have to bill my required time whether or not I chose to spend an extra two hours at work reading about the Ides of March), I swear we spend more of our time figuring out how to get around these blocks then we would if we just had free access to the sites to begin with. For instance, the Tourney started at 11:30 and the Gator's started play around 2:15 - obviously, I could not sit and hit "refresh" on ESPN Scoreboard for that length of time or I would run out of Quota Time before the Gator's started play. So I spent a great deal of time figuring out if I could find a site that had scores that wouldn't charge me Quota Time. No, I didn't want to sit there for hours on end and simply watch the scores change, but I did want to periodically look up from my work and see what was going on - and I would have run out of Quota Time after only 6 bouts of looking up as long as they were 10 minutes apart. Anyway, we did eventually find a way to watch the scores without using Quota Time, but he moral is I really would have spent less time periodically looking up the scores to see what was going on then I did searching for a way around the dumb blocks. After all, since I have to bill X number of hours a month, I think I should be free to sit on the internet all day as long as those hours get billed. More power to me if I manage to read about Brittany Spear's baby and get the hours billed too.
So we set out to run together. I honestly thought I was going to kick his butt since I'm the endurance champ and he's only got speed, or so I thought. He really impressed me - we ran a pretty quick 5.65 miles and he had energy to sprint the last 1/2 mile! I had such a blast running with him too! First, I figured out I psyche myself out too much when I run distances so I don't run fast enough to hit my peak performance out of fear of not finishing (or having to walk some of it). Cody really had me keeping a good pace the whole run. Second I realized how bored I can get and how fun it was to have someone to chit chat with along the way. Not that I want to always run and chit chat, I enjoy the solidarity of the sport and the time of reflection, but it was a nice change. Of course, since he's used to running less then 10 minutes at a time, Cody thought it was boring to run that long. I've got to think of something to barter with him so I can talk him into running around the park with me once a week or every other week. . . . either that or find someone who wants to run 5.65 miles at a 9:30 pace with me - what do you think, Marissa? :)
On another note, the Tourney started today! As a result, I got nothing done at work as I hit "refresh" on my computer for hours to watch the scores. At the risk of discussing work on a blog (something I avoid like pickled beets), I've just got to tell this story. Our computers are equipped with a program called "Websense" that restricts our use of certain websites. We are allowed 60 minutes of Quota Time per day (which must be used in 10 minute increments) to view these "restricted" pages falling into categories such as "Travel," "Society/Lifestyles," "Entertainment," "Financial Institutions," and of course, "Sports." Of course things like "Weapons," "Pornography" and "Illegal" are totally restricted and you cannot use those even if you wanted to use your Quota Time.
So basically the theory is they don't want you messing around on the computer all day searching for tickets for your next trip, reading about Jessica Simpson's new boyfriend, or balancing your checkbook. . . . you can still do those things, but only on your Quota Time. Aside from the fact that I think this is ridculous as a professional to have Quota Time (after all I still have to bill my required time whether or not I chose to spend an extra two hours at work reading about the Ides of March), I swear we spend more of our time figuring out how to get around these blocks then we would if we just had free access to the sites to begin with. For instance, the Tourney started at 11:30 and the Gator's started play around 2:15 - obviously, I could not sit and hit "refresh" on ESPN Scoreboard for that length of time or I would run out of Quota Time before the Gator's started play. So I spent a great deal of time figuring out if I could find a site that had scores that wouldn't charge me Quota Time. No, I didn't want to sit there for hours on end and simply watch the scores change, but I did want to periodically look up from my work and see what was going on - and I would have run out of Quota Time after only 6 bouts of looking up as long as they were 10 minutes apart. Anyway, we did eventually find a way to watch the scores without using Quota Time, but he moral is I really would have spent less time periodically looking up the scores to see what was going on then I did searching for a way around the dumb blocks. After all, since I have to bill X number of hours a month, I think I should be free to sit on the internet all day as long as those hours get billed. More power to me if I manage to read about Brittany Spear's baby and get the hours billed too.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Ides of March, Part II
So, we were discussing the Ides at work today and low and behold, a colleague, who just happens to have the same and middle name as I do (wonderfully popular name in the 70's I guess), also wrote on her blog about the Ides! Luckily she is much smarter then I am and had much more information then I did. Apparently the significance is that Caesar was killed on this day in 44 B.C., hense the phrase in Caesar (the play), "Beware the Ides of March." Anyway, I stole this link from Melissa's blog for anyone interested in further information on the Ides of March - who knew I'd learn so much in one little day!! Maybe tomorrow I'll learn about the 16th of March!
On another notes:
I ran five miles on the treadmill at the gym today in 46:53 - no it's not incredibly fast, but for a treadmill it's not terrible (I run much faster outside on the ground then I do on a treadmill). Only a little over three more weeks until the half marathon! I have three more long runs of 8, 9, and 10 miles and then April 9th is the big 13.1! My goal this year is to run it in 2 hours, 10 minutes or less. We'll see . . .
I finally broke down today and bought the blazer I've been eyeing up for weeks at Old Navy - I have been wavering on whether or not I liked it enough to buy it but then it went on sale for $25 so I broke down. It should work great as a spring jacket/blazer that I can wear with a ton of stuff. We'll have to see. . . .
Cody and I figured out our brackets for the NCAA tourney today. They're due tomorrow for our respective pools. I have U Conn picked to win it - much to Cody's chagrin, I didn't pick Florida. :) I have a classic 5-12 upset (Texas A&M over Syracuse - no matter how "on fire" everyones says Syracuse is), but otherwise nothing ground shattering. I have Iowa doing well but Villanova loseing to Ohio State - we'll see.
Oh, and I actually cooked dinner tonight - first time in a while. My specialty - frozen veggies, terriaki chicken and brown rice. But thanks to the Girl Scouts of America, we had a special dessert tonight of Thin Mints and Samoas. :) Nothing additional to see here I guess. :)
On another notes:
I ran five miles on the treadmill at the gym today in 46:53 - no it's not incredibly fast, but for a treadmill it's not terrible (I run much faster outside on the ground then I do on a treadmill). Only a little over three more weeks until the half marathon! I have three more long runs of 8, 9, and 10 miles and then April 9th is the big 13.1! My goal this year is to run it in 2 hours, 10 minutes or less. We'll see . . .
I finally broke down today and bought the blazer I've been eyeing up for weeks at Old Navy - I have been wavering on whether or not I liked it enough to buy it but then it went on sale for $25 so I broke down. It should work great as a spring jacket/blazer that I can wear with a ton of stuff. We'll have to see. . . .
Cody and I figured out our brackets for the NCAA tourney today. They're due tomorrow for our respective pools. I have U Conn picked to win it - much to Cody's chagrin, I didn't pick Florida. :) I have a classic 5-12 upset (Texas A&M over Syracuse - no matter how "on fire" everyones says Syracuse is), but otherwise nothing ground shattering. I have Iowa doing well but Villanova loseing to Ohio State - we'll see.
Oh, and I actually cooked dinner tonight - first time in a while. My specialty - frozen veggies, terriaki chicken and brown rice. But thanks to the Girl Scouts of America, we had a special dessert tonight of Thin Mints and Samoas. :) Nothing additional to see here I guess. :)
Happy Ides of March
As yesterday was a reference for all the math people, today's reference is more for the Latin folk (the dead language, not the nationality). I'm not sure what the Ides of March has to do with Latin, but that's where I learned about it so that's what I associate it with. I think it had to do something with the Romans and something they did on March 15th. . . probably some festival or something.
Anyway, today I learned something new about the Ides - I thought Ides pretty much meant 15th, but as my dictionary.com Word of the Day informed me, Ides refers to the 15th day of the month only in March, May, June and October and the 13th in other months. Who would have known? Well, to answer that, actually my brother would have known since I emailed him this tidbit of information and his response was "Cmon, you forgot the rhyme? March, July, October, May: that's when the Ides are on the 15th day." I guess I must have been sleeping in class that day. Maybe he can tell us what the Ides stands for in the first place. :) Thanks Bo!!
Anyway, today I learned something new about the Ides - I thought Ides pretty much meant 15th, but as my dictionary.com Word of the Day informed me, Ides refers to the 15th day of the month only in March, May, June and October and the 13th in other months. Who would have known? Well, to answer that, actually my brother would have known since I emailed him this tidbit of information and his response was "Cmon, you forgot the rhyme? March, July, October, May: that's when the Ides are on the 15th day." I guess I must have been sleeping in class that day. Maybe he can tell us what the Ides stands for in the first place. :) Thanks Bo!!
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Happy Pi Day
For the math geek in all of us, I wish everyone a Happy Pi Day. Today is 3-14, for those who might not get the reference. Someone I used to know in high school (though I can't recall now who exactly it was -probably my brother) memorized Pi out to some obnoxious number of digits. Here's the first nine: 3.14159265. So enjoy your day of Pi.
p.s. This is my 50th post!
p.s. This is my 50th post!
Monday, March 13, 2006
And the madness begins
Summer in St. Louis (and possibly the entire northern half of the U.S.) is insane. All this pent up energy from sitting inside all winter, watching TV, and eating and eating and eating, tends to cause one to go insane with activity during the summer months. I am no exception to this madness. As of the first sign of spring, the calendars begin to fill up. All winter, weeks can go by without any festivals, events, get-togethers, parties, or even simple happy hours. . . no one has any desire to go anywhere but work (and I wouldn't call going to work a desire, but more of a necessity) and then home to curl up with a warm blanket, the TV, and of course, food (hence the reason I've gained so much weight this winter). It's just miserable outside - the wind, the snow, and worst is the ice. Trips are made to the grocery store only when there absolutely nothing left in the house to eat and then only after 12 layers of clothing and almost as much griping. Low gas lights go ignored with the hopes that there will be one day of respite in the frigid air in which one can fill their gas tank without getting hypothermia. And then just as you think you can't take another day of the weather, the emails begin: Party, May 13th, Happy Hour, April 27th, Bowling Gathering June 24th, Float Trip July 15th. And the madness has begun. Let's call it another form of March Madness, this one not involving endless combinations and permutations (props to the math geeks who know what that stuff means) of brackets, but visions of springtime and an eventual warm up into summer and the madness to get one's calendar filled with fun social events to defrost the bones and provide happy memories for when next winter hits. I swear this is the only coping mechanism to make it through the winter - fill up the summer calendars with all possible forms of fun so when the winter hits one can just sit back and enjoy the memories . . . under the blanket, in front of the TV, and eating, of course.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Kiss Me. . . .I'm Irish
Maybe I am, maybe I'm not, but either way I love St. Patrick's Day. What a holiday - dress up in green (does anyone ever really look good in St. Pat's green?), drink green beer and just have general good cheer. This St. Pat's (observed in STL), was no exception. First let me explain that while I am well aware St. Patrick's Day is actually on Friday, St. Louis always does their annual celebration the Saturday before St. Pat's so that was this weekend. And what a weekend it was - typically our weather this time of year is highs in the 50s (or 40s) and lows in the 30s and 40s - but we had this crazy front system this weekend providing a brief, though welcome, oasis of warm weather - we actually got into the 70s!!! For a short period I actually forgot I lived in the artic Midwest (okay, so it's not exactly artic, but to my Florida senses it sure feels like it). Anyway, the day started bright and early with the Michelob Ultra St. Patrick's Day 5 Mile Run. Cody doesn't like to run anything over a 5k, but it's a great pretty easy distance for me. I ran with my friend Marissa and while the course was quite hilly and it was actually pretty warm, we ran a good race. . . . no, we didn't win, but we did well. :) I still find it odd that a race, something put on to promote fitness, is sponsored by a BEER - no matter how they spin the darn beer, it's still beer and it's not healthy! Afterwards we walked with the Hurling Club in yet another parade - that's our second parade in two months- that we were in! Again, thanks to Dude for hooking it up (yes, "Dude" is an actual person - and yes, he has a real name, but no one uses it). And what a day to be in a parade - I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day and there were absolutely huge crowds! I'll post pictues on the website as soon as Dude emails me the pictures he took so I can upload them all together. :) Afterwards we met up with a bunch of friends and hung out. . . . more fun was had by all. Now I just have to make it through to week to Friday for another celebration - boy do I love being Irish, or not, but everyone's Irish for St. Pat's Day. :)
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Dressed Up Kitty Style
Okay, so this weekend Cody and decided to run some errands on Sunday. Original destinations: Crazy Bowls and Wraps (this great "fast food" place that serves "health food" - I love the teriaki bowl w/ brown rice) and Wal-Mart. But then we negotiated an additional compromise. I would take him to Goodwill (his new favorite store after finding the 3 foot gator a while ago) and he would go to Trader Joe's (a health food store) with me. So we went to Goodwill. . . . and of course we found more crap to buy. My find was two books and Cody found a "stadium blanket" (blanket that folds up for easy carrying), a pet brush mit and the below shown cat dress. It's actually a small dog outfit but it fits great on the cats! Check out the website for additional kitties in dresses photos. Tuppis just ran away when we put it on her and Wiggles just sat on the floor and refused to move. We haven't yet managed to get the dress on Mr. Pickles. :) 
Monday, February 27, 2006
King and I
No, I'm not talking about Cody and I - it's a Thai restaurant, Cody's favorite restaurant actually. They serve obnoxiously hot (spicy, not temperature) food for Cody and some really good healthy type food for me - so it's really a great place for us - except every time we try to go there they're CLOSED! Seriously - I'm not kidding - there's been at least four times that I can think of right off where we've loaded up in the car, headed to South Grand, and driven by only to find them closed. I think two of those times we tried to go for a late lunch/early dinner on a weekend around 3 or 4 pm and come to find out they're closed from around 2 to 5pm - no clue why, but they are. Well, today Cody and I decided to go out to eat so we could relax and discuss his crazy job situation and when we drove by, low and behold, they were closed. Why? But of course, it's Monday - stupid stupid stupid places closing on Monday. I still eat on Monday. I especially like to go OUT to eat on Mondays. I hate cooking on Mondays - though to be fair I hate doing just about anything on Mondays, but especially cooking so it's a great day to go out to eat and spend some quality time together. But they were closed, as it seems they are every time we try to go there. So we ended up at some half-ass Applebees in South City. Neither of us are big chain food people so we usually avoid those types of places, but they usually have decent food at Applebees - I especially like a chicken teriaki bowl they have - lots of yummy veggies and rice and some chicken. So after waiting forever for a waitress, I order the chicken bowl, with no crispy rice noodles (fried = bad). After waiting an eternity for the food, I get my chicken bowl with tons of rice noodles, but no RICE. AGGGGG!!!! So I explained the difference to our waitress with about as many brain cells as Tuppis (the fat cat who likes to smell other cat butts) and she took my bowl of veggies and chicken back to the back. Mistake #22 for me. . . . when they mess up your food, never let them take it back to add something (here, rice) - you never know what they'll come back with. I should have just asked for her to bring me some rice to add to it. So we ate Cody's food and about the time we were done she comes back with my bowl, with mostly rice and somehow most of my veggies and yummy chicken had disappeared - and they added about three cups of very sugary teriaki stuff. Usually I love that stuff but this was overkill. So after simply requesting rice (which should have been there to begin with) I end up with a mean 20 minutes later I couldn't even eat. Should have just eaten frozen pizza at home. :) Next time we go to King and I (if we can ever manage to make it there when they're open), we're leaving a comment card that says "please stay open more then 2 hours per day."
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Mardi Gras!
Too tired for a long post so I'll try to post full details tomorrow, but FYI the Mardi Gras pictures are up on the website. It was an absolute blast!!! We had such a great time - it's hard to even describe in a blog (but I'll try - later - not today). There are less pictures then last year since it was colder and it was much more difficult to take pictures with gloves. :) In case it wasn't clear by the pictures we were in the parade as part of the COPS float (the theme this year was Soulard and the small screen, aka TV shows) - Cody and I both dressed up as cops and amazing as it sounds were not overly harassed by cops for our costumes. :) We had a blast throwing beads on the parade route and of course, partying in Soulard afterward. Now we're just worn out, tired and our legs are crazy sore.
Friday, February 24, 2006
Website Update
Mr. Pickle's page on the website finally has some pictures. Check it out for some obnoxiously cute pictures of the cats - and proof Cody doesn't want them all dead all the time. :) Hopefully I'll have some great Mardi Gras pictures to share tomorrow! Cop costumes are finished and ready to go!! So excited . . . .
So busy rambling I forgot my point. . .
Okay, so in last night's blog I rambled on and on about sugar, ultimately culminating in a profession of my love for Cadbury Creme Eggs and their reappearance on the store shelves. My whole point to that blog however, was that Cody had to go to Wal-Mart yesterday to finish gathering the pieces for his COPS costume for tomorrow's Mardi Gras parade (more on that later) and brought me home a four-pack of Creme Eggs. I thought that was sweet and really showed how well he knows me. That was the whole point of the blog - but I forgot to ever get to it. So, in another corny closing, Nobunny Knows Missy like Cody. :)
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Nobunny Knows Easter Better
I swear the world is out to get me - or at least the sugar industry is. If there is one vice I have above all others, it's sugar. I absolutely can not live without it. I seriously can't. If it's around I have to eat it. I can't resist. I used to be absolutely addicted to Mountain Dew - to the tune of 5-6 a day, but I managed to give up not only caffeine but all soda about 10 years ago, in exchange for sugar. I told myself that I just couldn't keep drinking all that soda and eating all the sugar I like and still stay healthy/weigh a reasonable amount. So I gave up soda - it was hard, incredibly hard, but it was worth it so I could keep sugar.
Even so, every now and then I try to reduce my sugar intake, for health's sake. But the sugar industry just seems dead set on shoving it down my throat. There's candy at Halloween, pies at Thanksgiving, everything at Christmas, sweets at Valentine's, cake in June (for my birthday), Memorial Day and Labor Day cupcakes, 4th of July goodies, and then there's Groundhog Day, President's Day, MLK Birthday, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick's Day and Friendship Day (okay, maybe the last bit of those I only use as excuses). And then there's Easter - second only to Halloween in encouraging candy consumption - and at least in my book, miles above it for one reason - Cadbury Cream Eggs. Whoever thought of those yummy delights certainly didn't care about my waistband. At 170 calories and 25 g of sugar in EACH egg, they are calorie and sugar havens and I love them. I got the biggest joy last Sunday when I was reading the Sunday ads and Walgreen's ad listed a sale on Cadbury Eggs - not that I need to get them on sale, they're only about 50 cents not on sale, but it was the fact that it was that time of year again. After all, Nobunny Knows Easter Better than Cadbury!
Even so, every now and then I try to reduce my sugar intake, for health's sake. But the sugar industry just seems dead set on shoving it down my throat. There's candy at Halloween, pies at Thanksgiving, everything at Christmas, sweets at Valentine's, cake in June (for my birthday), Memorial Day and Labor Day cupcakes, 4th of July goodies, and then there's Groundhog Day, President's Day, MLK Birthday, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick's Day and Friendship Day (okay, maybe the last bit of those I only use as excuses). And then there's Easter - second only to Halloween in encouraging candy consumption - and at least in my book, miles above it for one reason - Cadbury Cream Eggs. Whoever thought of those yummy delights certainly didn't care about my waistband. At 170 calories and 25 g of sugar in EACH egg, they are calorie and sugar havens and I love them. I got the biggest joy last Sunday when I was reading the Sunday ads and Walgreen's ad listed a sale on Cadbury Eggs - not that I need to get them on sale, they're only about 50 cents not on sale, but it was the fact that it was that time of year again. After all, Nobunny Knows Easter Better than Cadbury!
Toilet Paper
Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Ich learne Deutch.
Yet another day of German. Very cool class. Today we learned out to tell time and how to change money while "in country." I'm really getting excited about the trip. Cody and I even dragged out the old TCC (that's Tallahassee Community College for all you non-Tally natives) Western Civilization book last night so we could catch up on our European history. Learned a lot of interesting stuff we didn't bother to pay attention to at 19 years old. . . . wish we would have paid attention then when we had it right in front of us instead of having to go back and learn it now. But I guess that's the problem with the American education system - you get shoved through 13 years of education and then forced to go right into four plus more years of education. You hit college (at least most of us do) at an age when you care least about learning and most about everything but. Then years and many thousands of dollars in debt later you realize what an opportunity you had with that expensive education and regret that you didn't make more out of it and you rush to read the books you avoided most to learn that which you realize now you need most. I like what some other countries, namely Australia, do in creating a rite of passage of sorts after high school graduation. The kids graduate and then travel the world for a year or so to sort of learn the world. I think they have a better grasp on the "real world" and what really matters and return to their education with a newfound appreciation for the quest for knowledge and its usefullness. A personal example is that I took off some time between undergrad and law school to work in this "real world." And I quickly learned that with a math degree and no real focus or drive the "real world" sucked. Working sucked. And in order to make it not suck (at least not as much) I needed to better my education and find a path I could really take hold of and appreciate. That led me to law school. So at a time where many of my colleges were still living off mom and dad, right out of undergrad and having never worked an honest job in their life, I entered law school with an appreciation for what this degree really could do for me and what I needed to do to make the most of it. I understood how much the real world could suck and how I really needed to do a good job and learn a lot in order to make a life for myself that didn't suck. Profound, huh? :) Enough of that I suppose.
On another rambling subject, I hate drama. Most people who currently know me know this about me. At least now. I must admit in the past I was a full-fledged Drama Queen. I thrived on it. I loved it. I created and encouraged it. Even when things were seemingly nice and normal, I would find drama in some shape or form or just create it - I for some wacky reason needed it. And then I grew up. Not sure exactly when this occurred, but when I was deciding to move up to St. Louis to be with Cody and the weekend I was here his ex-girlfriend kept calling, I distinctly remember telling him, "I don't do drama anymore" (unfortunately he was the brunt of a lot of my previous drama when we were younger). At some point (prior to this visit with Cody) I just decided that I didn't want that for my life or the people in my life. And since I moved up here Cody and I have truely lived with very very minimal drama. We don't argue or yell or pitch fits - we have honestly managed to deal with issues as they arise and deal with them as sane adults. We talk things out - we understand each other and how to push each other's buttons - and avoid doing those things. It's one of the many reasons I think he and I are so wonderful together. While it still rears its ugly head now and then, I truely do attempt to avoid conflict or drama if at all possible and I'm certainly not going to go create it. Well, it's reared it's ugly head in my life lately (not with Cody - it's a friendship situation) - long story, not apropriate for the blog, but I couldn't help but mention it since this blog is about my life. Anyway, it just makes me thankful for all the drama I normally don't have. Hopefully the situation will resolve itself one way or the other at some point, preferably in the near future, but as long as the drama ceases. Most people know I'm training again for a half marathon in April, so I've been running lately - a lot. Well last night after running I was so tired of drama I even went to a Pilates class at the gym just so someone could tell me when to exhale and inhale for an hour. When I get stressed I tend not to breathe well, so it was so nice to have a whole hour of someone telling me to breathe - though I did realize my abs and arms are pathetically out of shape. Time to do push-ups and sit-ups every night. While running will give you great calves and hamstrings it leaves you with weak quads, shins and abs - gotta even yourself out.
Okay, that was WAY too long -sorry for the rambling but I had to babble for a while. :) Take care!
On another rambling subject, I hate drama. Most people who currently know me know this about me. At least now. I must admit in the past I was a full-fledged Drama Queen. I thrived on it. I loved it. I created and encouraged it. Even when things were seemingly nice and normal, I would find drama in some shape or form or just create it - I for some wacky reason needed it. And then I grew up. Not sure exactly when this occurred, but when I was deciding to move up to St. Louis to be with Cody and the weekend I was here his ex-girlfriend kept calling, I distinctly remember telling him, "I don't do drama anymore" (unfortunately he was the brunt of a lot of my previous drama when we were younger). At some point (prior to this visit with Cody) I just decided that I didn't want that for my life or the people in my life. And since I moved up here Cody and I have truely lived with very very minimal drama. We don't argue or yell or pitch fits - we have honestly managed to deal with issues as they arise and deal with them as sane adults. We talk things out - we understand each other and how to push each other's buttons - and avoid doing those things. It's one of the many reasons I think he and I are so wonderful together. While it still rears its ugly head now and then, I truely do attempt to avoid conflict or drama if at all possible and I'm certainly not going to go create it. Well, it's reared it's ugly head in my life lately (not with Cody - it's a friendship situation) - long story, not apropriate for the blog, but I couldn't help but mention it since this blog is about my life. Anyway, it just makes me thankful for all the drama I normally don't have. Hopefully the situation will resolve itself one way or the other at some point, preferably in the near future, but as long as the drama ceases. Most people know I'm training again for a half marathon in April, so I've been running lately - a lot. Well last night after running I was so tired of drama I even went to a Pilates class at the gym just so someone could tell me when to exhale and inhale for an hour. When I get stressed I tend not to breathe well, so it was so nice to have a whole hour of someone telling me to breathe - though I did realize my abs and arms are pathetically out of shape. Time to do push-ups and sit-ups every night. While running will give you great calves and hamstrings it leaves you with weak quads, shins and abs - gotta even yourself out.
Okay, that was WAY too long -sorry for the rambling but I had to babble for a while. :) Take care!
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Uncle Bob and Elizabeth get passports to see the Titanic
This weekend was low key. We needed a nice low key weekend. Cody's been ill lately and even missed work on Thursday and Friday (it takes a lot for Cody to miss work) so we wanted to just lay low and relax this weekend. Sometimes you just need that. And I must admit it was great.
Saturday we got up early (by "early" I mean by our standards - none of this 7 a.m. stuf or anything, but I think we were up and moving before noon which is a rarity). We went to the Post Office and got everything turned in for Cody's passport. It should be here 4-6 weeks, so plenty of time for the Germany trip. :) Then Cody's Uncle Bob from Wisconsin called as he was passing through St. Louis so we got to have a great lunch with him and catch up on everything with the family. One thing I just can't say enough is how great I think Cody's family is. They really are some of the nicest people you'll ever come across. Uncle Bob is a great example of this.
After lunch, Meghan and Danny came over with their adorable 3 month-old, Elizabeth, so we could all go to the Science Center to see the new Titanic exhibit. Though it's only about a block from our house, Meghan and I got the guys to drop us off with Elizabeth and then find parking so we didn't have to walk in the 8 degree weather. The exhibit was great, but even better was spending time with Elizabeth. She is absolutely beautiful and Meghan and Danny are just wonderful parents. She was a little fussy at the beginning of the exhibit (it interferred with her eating time) so I got to hold her through most of the exhibit to try to calm her . . . . totally made my day. By the end I could feel it in my arms, but I didn't even care. She was just so cute . . . she was totally fine as long as I was moving or dancing around with her but she didn't like it when I would just stand still!!! But I must say, as much as I adore her and want kids one day, this is in no way an indication that we are having kids anytime soon. As all of my friends have heard me say a dozen times, we can barely take care of ourselves and the turtles, much less a kid. :)
Today we went shopping with the guys - not often you would hear me say that! :) Anyway, we're in the Mardi Gras parade next weekend and needed our costumes. The float theme is the TV show "Cops," so everyone needs to dress like a criminal, convict, cop, or what-have-you. So we wandered around town trying to figure something out. . . some progress but not complete yet. Any ideas? Send them along!
Saturday we got up early (by "early" I mean by our standards - none of this 7 a.m. stuf or anything, but I think we were up and moving before noon which is a rarity). We went to the Post Office and got everything turned in for Cody's passport. It should be here 4-6 weeks, so plenty of time for the Germany trip. :) Then Cody's Uncle Bob from Wisconsin called as he was passing through St. Louis so we got to have a great lunch with him and catch up on everything with the family. One thing I just can't say enough is how great I think Cody's family is. They really are some of the nicest people you'll ever come across. Uncle Bob is a great example of this.
After lunch, Meghan and Danny came over with their adorable 3 month-old, Elizabeth, so we could all go to the Science Center to see the new Titanic exhibit. Though it's only about a block from our house, Meghan and I got the guys to drop us off with Elizabeth and then find parking so we didn't have to walk in the 8 degree weather. The exhibit was great, but even better was spending time with Elizabeth. She is absolutely beautiful and Meghan and Danny are just wonderful parents. She was a little fussy at the beginning of the exhibit (it interferred with her eating time) so I got to hold her through most of the exhibit to try to calm her . . . . totally made my day. By the end I could feel it in my arms, but I didn't even care. She was just so cute . . . she was totally fine as long as I was moving or dancing around with her but she didn't like it when I would just stand still!!! But I must say, as much as I adore her and want kids one day, this is in no way an indication that we are having kids anytime soon. As all of my friends have heard me say a dozen times, we can barely take care of ourselves and the turtles, much less a kid. :)
Today we went shopping with the guys - not often you would hear me say that! :) Anyway, we're in the Mardi Gras parade next weekend and needed our costumes. The float theme is the TV show "Cops," so everyone needs to dress like a criminal, convict, cop, or what-have-you. So we wandered around town trying to figure something out. . . some progress but not complete yet. Any ideas? Send them along!
Cody the Psychologist
This afternoon while driving back from our afternoon outing with the guys to search for Mardi Gras costumes, I was whining about how dark and dreary St. Louis was this time of year. All the trees and grass are dead - absolutely no green, no leaves, just a lot of twigs sticking up from the ground. So I made some comment about how dark and dreary this was. Cody's sarcasic respondse was: "Cheer up. Happiness is in the heart." Yes, he was trying to be cheesy and stupid and mock my complaints about the winter, but it was thought-provocing nonetheless. Good thing my heart is happy - it's about the only way I could survive temperatures in the single digits. . . . BRRRRR!
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Happy Valentine's Day . . . late
I swear these days everything I can't seem to do anything "on time." I have full intentions to get birthday, anniversary and even Valentine's Day cards sent off on time. I have grand hopes of having presents bought and shipped days before a birthday or event. I really care about getting those things done, I honestly do, but sometimes I swear there just aren't enough hours in the day. So for all my family who might read this and wonder why I didn't send you a Valentine's Day card - I did, but it was sent late and with the state of the St. Louis mail it might not get there until Easter, but know that I was thinking of you anyway. :)
As for our Valentine's, Cody and I have never been very good traditionalists. We don't like big fancy dinners (I like cheap Southern BBQ and he likes a good pizza or wings) nor do we typically enjoy spending lots of money on useless or fleating objects (exception: my engagement ring which I will forever cherish and treasure). (I think this is one of the reasons we're having so much trouble planning a wedding - that and see Part I again.) We sort of do things our way. So first, we did Valentine's on Monday because Tuesday we had German class and listening to a class full of American's try to make the guteral German sounds just isn't romantic (myself included). So we left work early (Cody because he had to - they were moving his group to a new building - and me because I like any excuse to leave work early) and made dinner together. I love shrimp, he hates them. He likes steak, I'm not a red meat fan. So we made shrimp for me, steak for him, shells and white cheddar (a mac and cheese knock off, just change the cheddar to white), salad, and leftover mashed potatoes. It was nice. It was simple. And it was us. And I guess that's what I like most about us, we don't try to be anything else but just us.
Yesterday we had another German class. I'm really glad we're taking this class because I think we'll be able to experience the culture so much more if we can at least understand some of what's going on. I'm so excited - this is going to be an amazing trip!
As for our Valentine's, Cody and I have never been very good traditionalists. We don't like big fancy dinners (I like cheap Southern BBQ and he likes a good pizza or wings) nor do we typically enjoy spending lots of money on useless or fleating objects (exception: my engagement ring which I will forever cherish and treasure). (I think this is one of the reasons we're having so much trouble planning a wedding - that and see Part I again.) We sort of do things our way. So first, we did Valentine's on Monday because Tuesday we had German class and listening to a class full of American's try to make the guteral German sounds just isn't romantic (myself included). So we left work early (Cody because he had to - they were moving his group to a new building - and me because I like any excuse to leave work early) and made dinner together. I love shrimp, he hates them. He likes steak, I'm not a red meat fan. So we made shrimp for me, steak for him, shells and white cheddar (a mac and cheese knock off, just change the cheddar to white), salad, and leftover mashed potatoes. It was nice. It was simple. And it was us. And I guess that's what I like most about us, we don't try to be anything else but just us.
Yesterday we had another German class. I'm really glad we're taking this class because I think we'll be able to experience the culture so much more if we can at least understand some of what's going on. I'm so excited - this is going to be an amazing trip!
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Lebowski goes to Germany?
Wow - it's been a while since I last blogged - big news since then! We found out today we have World Cup tickets!!! Not just one game either - we have tickets to FOUR games! The lottery for tickets closed in mid-January and they drew names for who got to buy tickets on January 31st - since then I've been on pins and needles dying to find out if we got tickets. Well, we found out today we're going to four real life, acutal World Cup games - Game 10 on June 12 in Gelsenkirchen between USA and Czech Republic, Game 11 on June 13 in Berlin between Brazil and Croatia, Game 16 on June 14 in Munich between Tunisia and Saudia Arabia and Game 18 on June 15 between Ecuador and Costa Rica! Yes, you read that correct - that's four games in four days in four cities nowhere near each other - there will be a lot overnight train riding. I absolutely cannot wait and am bouncing off the wall with excitement!! Now we have to figure out plane tickets, agenda, etc. - fun fun fun (sounds like all the planning we need to do for the wedding that we haven't done yet). :)
As for other news, we went to the First Annual St. Louis Big Lebowski Festival at the Moolah last Thursday. I thought it would be sort of a strange event (who wouldn't?) but it was really quite a good time. There was free beer, free bowling, free t-shirt, and a free showing of the movie at midnight. I realized I need to do more things every now and then out of my proverbial box. . . . find more out of the ordinary events in St. Louis and try them out.
WE'RE GOING TO GERMANY!!!! YIPEE!!!
As for other news, we went to the First Annual St. Louis Big Lebowski Festival at the Moolah last Thursday. I thought it would be sort of a strange event (who wouldn't?) but it was really quite a good time. There was free beer, free bowling, free t-shirt, and a free showing of the movie at midnight. I realized I need to do more things every now and then out of my proverbial box. . . . find more out of the ordinary events in St. Louis and try them out.
WE'RE GOING TO GERMANY!!!! YIPEE!!!
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Owwie
What's worse then having a root canal? Having two root canals - on the same tooth. I had a root canal at some quack dentist in Gainesville while I was still in law school - he was cheap, I was poor. He sucked at root canals - he even said that he hadn't done one in a while, but I trusted him - how can you screw something so easy up? Anyway, of course he managed to screw it up and since I've been dealing with this never-healing tooth. So I finally ran out of other options and today I had another root canal on the same tooth. Owwie - boy does it hurt! It "technically" shouldn't (or so I was told) because all the nerves are either gone or dead (that's the point of a root canal apparently), but it can't help but hurt after this guy pushed and pulled and yanked at the tooth for a good hour and a half. I thought he was going to yank it out of my head for a while now - and now it feels like it's about to fall out of my head. Well, that's my sob story for the day - enough complaining. Time to go to sleep soon, though I'll only sleep in 3 hour blocks until the Advil starts to wear off. Owwie!
p.s. This root canal cost 4 times what the other one did.
p.s. This root canal cost 4 times what the other one did.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Birthday Weekend
Well, these past few days have been Cody's "Birthday Weekend." Some of you may ask, "Birthday Weekend? I thought your birthday was just one day." Well, not in St. Louis and not with Cody's friends. They have "Birthday Weekends" and even "Birthday Weeks" - quite the celebratory crowd, I assure you (more to do with finding any excuse to go out and drink then celebrating one's birth, I'm sure).
Cody's Birthday Weekend began with his day off on Friday. He worked too many hours this past week and since they no longer have overtime, he went ahead and took Friday off. Being the great guy he is, he took it upon himself to get a ton of our "chores" done Friday while I was working -helped out a lot to clear up the weekend. :) We started the celebrating with a not-so-birthday related celebration - a going-away happy hour for two of our great associates at work. Most would think happy hours last from about 5-7pm, maybe even 8pm, well, not this crowd - at 10pm most were still alive and kicking. We had a blast with everyone and it was a great kick-off for Birthday Weekend!
Saturday we took our first day in forever (literally) to just hang out and relax and veg - we did absolutely no work. We rented Cinderella Man and watched that and went to dinner at one of Cody's favorite restaurants - King and I. It's a Thai place in the city and they'll make stuff as hot as you want. Cody was quite impressed with the degree of hottest prepared for his birthday - he drank at least a gallon of water just trying to eat his meal - I have no idea how he can stand that stuff. :) We had his "cake" after dinner - though Cody doesn't eat cake and isn't a particular fan of sweets at all, he really likes the Jell-o No Bake Cheesecakes with Cherries for his birthday - his mom would always make them for him but since our families are so far away these days I've kept up the tradition for him. They're really yummy pies and take about five minutes to make. Then of course we went out - first to Tejas (bar in Clayton with $1 drafts, though the selection on draft is quite limited) and then Columbo's (south city bar near our house, open until 3am). Quite a fun time - though Kyle fell asleep on the bar at Tejas well before 10pm (I've got pictures I'll post later).
Today we concluded "Birthday Weekend" with a paddle boat ride in Forrest Park, a walk around the lake and then some light errands (for chili making supplies so Cody can cook his famous chilli tomorrow). Overall, I'd say it was a nice, relaxing, laid back Birthday Weekend.
p.s. I have just been informed Cody put the treadmill back together and now it won't work again. Some connector is all screwy so we might have to cut it off the circuit board and solder it directly to the board - sounds fun, eh?
Cody's Birthday Weekend began with his day off on Friday. He worked too many hours this past week and since they no longer have overtime, he went ahead and took Friday off. Being the great guy he is, he took it upon himself to get a ton of our "chores" done Friday while I was working -helped out a lot to clear up the weekend. :) We started the celebrating with a not-so-birthday related celebration - a going-away happy hour for two of our great associates at work. Most would think happy hours last from about 5-7pm, maybe even 8pm, well, not this crowd - at 10pm most were still alive and kicking. We had a blast with everyone and it was a great kick-off for Birthday Weekend!
Saturday we took our first day in forever (literally) to just hang out and relax and veg - we did absolutely no work. We rented Cinderella Man and watched that and went to dinner at one of Cody's favorite restaurants - King and I. It's a Thai place in the city and they'll make stuff as hot as you want. Cody was quite impressed with the degree of hottest prepared for his birthday - he drank at least a gallon of water just trying to eat his meal - I have no idea how he can stand that stuff. :) We had his "cake" after dinner - though Cody doesn't eat cake and isn't a particular fan of sweets at all, he really likes the Jell-o No Bake Cheesecakes with Cherries for his birthday - his mom would always make them for him but since our families are so far away these days I've kept up the tradition for him. They're really yummy pies and take about five minutes to make. Then of course we went out - first to Tejas (bar in Clayton with $1 drafts, though the selection on draft is quite limited) and then Columbo's (south city bar near our house, open until 3am). Quite a fun time - though Kyle fell asleep on the bar at Tejas well before 10pm (I've got pictures I'll post later).
Today we concluded "Birthday Weekend" with a paddle boat ride in Forrest Park, a walk around the lake and then some light errands (for chili making supplies so Cody can cook his famous chilli tomorrow). Overall, I'd say it was a nice, relaxing, laid back Birthday Weekend.
p.s. I have just been informed Cody put the treadmill back together and now it won't work again. Some connector is all screwy so we might have to cut it off the circuit board and solder it directly to the board - sounds fun, eh?
It's Alive!
The treadmill is alive!!! It broke sometime last week and Cody has worked his vodoo electrical engineering magic to make it work again!! While we got it for free so didn't have much economically invested in it, the prospect of having to buy a new one isn't exactly feasible at the time being with our tight budgeting (blame it on the World Cup, property tax increase, income taxes, wedding, etc.). Anyway, I need the treadmill because I can't yet run outside after work (still too dark too early) and I need to run (see above list for reasoning - property tax increase, etc.). I'm training for another half-marathon in April (the Spirit of St. Louis again) and then plan to run a marathon in the fall (either the St. Charles in September or the Chicago in October) so in order to make this plan work, I need to run - a lot - and the only way to do that is to join a gym (minimun $30 a month) or use my free treadmill. I prefer the free treadmill option and now that has again become a viable option as Cody is the most wonderful, smartest person on this earth and has fixed the machine! And yes, he's the most wonderful, smartest person on the earth for more reasons then just fixing the treadmill. So, folks, back to my training because my treadmill is again alive!
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Christmas in February?
As many of you may have heard my tirade in December, we got our first live Christmas tree in St. Louis this year and I was shocked to get to the tree farm and find spray painted trees! I had never heard of such a crazy practice! Anyway, we ended up cutting down our painted live tree and decorating it in the house. We took the tree out of the water right after Christmas and put it in our compost/log pile in the backyard to later cut it up for firewood for the fire pit. Today I let the cats out to play outside and they decided to go play around the tree. I went outside to watch them and was quite disturbed that the tree is STILL bright green! It's been dead now for over two months and is still errily bright green! I'm thinking that we can probably use it again next year if the spray paint doens't wash off - we should probably just put it in the basement for storage and then we won't have to bother with cutting down another tree next year. The Midwest is a strange strange place! Welcome to Corn Cold County!
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Addendum
Just to clarify, I'm not saying ordinary is necessarily bad. Ordinary can be very good, especially in the at-times hectic life Cody and I tend to live where there always seems to be something going on or something to do. Ordinary can be very refreshing. It can be a break from the whirlwind of our normal running here and there lives. Some days I pine for an ordinary day where I can come home, do chores and otherwise basically relax and not think about my calendar or "to do" list. Ordinary can be bad though as well, at least for my high-energy, high-paced self, where I live off the energy and hecticness of life. So that's it, ordinary just is.
p.s. Cody is in the background yelling "Du bist blogging" to impress me with his quality German skills. :)
p.s. Cody is in the background yelling "Du bist blogging" to impress me with his quality German skills. :)
What to blog about when there's nothing to blog about?
Today was ordinary. Obnoxiously ordinary. Woke up. Went to work. Worked all day. Went to the denstist (I went to get a crown but they weren't able to do it because the root canal I had two years ago still hasn't "healed" so now I have to go to a root canal specialist - sounds fun, huh?). Went to the grocery store (been out of milk for 5 days now - a tragedy in Cody World). Came home. Did laundry. Did the dishes. Did more laundry. Did more dishes. Did more laundry. Did more laundry (a total of four loads). Cody came home. Ate dinner (Mac & Cheese). Hung out a bit. Now should start getting ready for bed to sleep and wake up and do it all over again tomorrow. This weekend is Cody's birthday so that should be fun. Guten Nacht!
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Sprechen sie Deutsh?
Wow - what a class! We had our first German class in preparation for our hopeful trip to Germany this summer to see the World Cup. It's a good thing Dude is in the class with us so he can answer all my crazy questions! I think the class is going to be really good for all of us - though it's way below Dude at this point. The teacher does a lot of talking in German to get us used to the language but also makes us do a lot of speaking as well. Just in our first class we learned over 10 verbs (and how to conjugate "sein" the word for "to be"), more then a dozen nouns, a bunch of random words (which I'm not sure what part of speech they fall into) and a ton of phrases (over 50 useful phrases). I'm already back in school mode (you miss it when it's gone) rewriting all my notes and organizing everything. I'm pretty excited because I did pretty horrible at foreign language in all of my former attempts (basically failed 2 years of Latin in high school along with one year of German and then another three semesters of Latin in college) but I figure now that I'm older I might have something I was missing before that will allow me to pick it up (like paying attention in class and some common sense). Well, off to finish up around the house before bedtime. Auf Wiedersehen! Guten Nacht!
German class
We're about to go to our first German class! We've enrolled in a German for Traveler's course with the local community college so we can at least somewhat understand what's going on when we go over there for the World Cup this summer (provided, of course, we get tickets). How fun . . . .except I'm the worst person in the world at foreign languages. We'll see . . .
p.s. The treadmill still doesn't work - though we now have a schematic for the entire electrical system of the machine.
p.s. The treadmill still doesn't work - though we now have a schematic for the entire electrical system of the machine.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Treadmill
I love my treadmill. Cody got it for free on the Boeing Classifieds when we first moved into the house and it's perfect for running when I can't run outside (i.e. all winter since it's dark by the time I get off work). Today I worked late (after 7pm) and just wanted to come home and run to let off some steam, except the treadmill went nuts on me. The belt would turn but the display that tells me how fast I'm going (or not going as the case may be) and how long I've run, just wouldn't work. So when Cody got home from work (even after I did), he went to work on it. I helped get the cover off (I am a master of the power drill), but once he got started messing with electronic stuff, I was useless (except to hold the flashlight). So now I'm writing about his mission while he has my treadmill pulled apart all over the floor. I hope it survives. Good luck 'ole pal (the treadmill, not Cody).
By the way, Wiggles (the co-dependent kitty) squeaks every time I pick her up - I hope she didn't eat a squeaky toy (or someone didn't feed her one at the party).
I should probably go do something productive now while Cody operates.
By the way, Wiggles (the co-dependent kitty) squeaks every time I pick her up - I hope she didn't eat a squeaky toy (or someone didn't feed her one at the party).
I should probably go do something productive now while Cody operates.
Party Time!
Well, we finally did it! Cody and I finally had our house party! We've been intending to have this party for months now, but first it was summer activities and then it was football season and then the holidays - but we finally picked a date, told everyone to show up, bought the keg and had our party. And in my humble opinion, I think it turned out great! We staged it so our friends with kids could come earlier in the evening to hang out before the not-so-tame crowd showed up later that night. All in all it was a success! We had a great time meeting and hanging out with our friends' kids - they were so cute and wonderful - and then an equally good time draining the keg with everyone else. We even got in a few rounds of flip cup! I'm so happy that so many people were able to make it - quite a great crowd! I've put the pictures on the website if anyone wants to check them out. :) Thanks to everyone who showed up!!!
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Party Planning a Precursor for Wedding Planning???
Okay, we've been in our house over 7 months now and are just getting around to having our first party. It's actually turned into a house warming/ engagement/ Cody's birthday party - all rolled into one. So you would think we just pick the house up a bit and tell people to come over, right? That's what we thought. But gosh there is so much more to it - who to invite, what to serve for food (chips and salsa or something more), what to serve for beverages (just a keg, keg and mixed drinks, etc.), what times to have people show up and what times for different people. So much to think about and ponder - and this is only a party!!! I can't even believe the decisions and preparations we'll have for the wedding!
But before we can even have people over, we first must get our house "picked up a bit" - this is not an easy task - we're constantly in the middle of some project or another so it is always torn up to some degree. On top of that we haven't finished unpacking from the move. So this past weekend we went to town unpacking and "picking up." We had high goals - of which we did not reach, mostly because we woke up around 4:30 pm on Sunday and then went back to bed at 1am, having only been awake about 8.5 hours total, none of which we spent cleaning the house. So this week, the house has been divided into parts with a part to be done each day. Yesterday was Boy Room and Kitchen. Probably one of the things I love best about Cody and I is the way we work as a team. Though we were both dead tired yesterday, we attacked our rooms with a determination and teamwork unmatched by many. While I cleaned and picked up, Cody handled the "decoration" in the "Boy Room" - he hung up all his beer signage, Gator stuff, etc. Then while he cleaned the kitchen I handled the decorating and picky cleaning stuff (cleaning extra paint of the counters). Both rooms look great and we're on our way to being prepared for the party. Tonight is Dining Room and Living Room.
At least the wedding won't be at our house so that's one saving grace there.
But before we can even have people over, we first must get our house "picked up a bit" - this is not an easy task - we're constantly in the middle of some project or another so it is always torn up to some degree. On top of that we haven't finished unpacking from the move. So this past weekend we went to town unpacking and "picking up." We had high goals - of which we did not reach, mostly because we woke up around 4:30 pm on Sunday and then went back to bed at 1am, having only been awake about 8.5 hours total, none of which we spent cleaning the house. So this week, the house has been divided into parts with a part to be done each day. Yesterday was Boy Room and Kitchen. Probably one of the things I love best about Cody and I is the way we work as a team. Though we were both dead tired yesterday, we attacked our rooms with a determination and teamwork unmatched by many. While I cleaned and picked up, Cody handled the "decoration" in the "Boy Room" - he hung up all his beer signage, Gator stuff, etc. Then while he cleaned the kitchen I handled the decorating and picky cleaning stuff (cleaning extra paint of the counters). Both rooms look great and we're on our way to being prepared for the party. Tonight is Dining Room and Living Room.
At least the wedding won't be at our house so that's one saving grace there.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Monday, January 09, 2006
Progress! Finally, some progress!
Cody and I closed on our house on June 10th. I started painting the living room right away and then moved onto the kitchen. I put up blue painting tape all over the kitchen sometime around June 15th. And then stopped. Cody's parents were gracious enough to come help us paint the first of July and totally painted our upstairs spare room since it was a more immediate concern. Cody and I had high hopes of finishing up the rest of the house shortly thereafter. But then there was summer and bike rides and float trips and general outdoor/summer fun. So time passed and passed and before we knew it fall was upon us, then Christmas and now the New Year. All this time the blue tape adorned our kitchen - like when you fall asleep with a face mask on - for 7 months! So since we got back from Tally, I've been on a mission - finish the kitchen and get that ugly blue tape off our walls! Well, last night around 11pm, we pulled off the last of the blue tape in the kitchen!! It's finally painted!!! I still have to put on one or two socket covers and paint the trim and picture indow sills, but the walls are at least done and we have no more blue tape - we've made progress!!! This is big for us. Now it's on to finishing trim and moving on to the dining room. But for right now we're basking in our progress. . .
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
New Website!
I know I've been bad about blogging but I have a good excuse - our new webpage!! My brother Bo got me a webpage for Christmas - www.cody-missy.com. So instead of blogging I've been working to get it going. I want it to look nice since it our site instead of some stupid thing through Charter. Hopefully I can get it FTP'ed to the internet before the end of the game tonight - gotta get back to my web development!
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
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. :)
Sunday, December 04, 2005
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.
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.
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