'Tis the Season

Happy Christmas to all who celebrate the season! Ours was full of food, drink, family, celebration, travel, more food and some much needed time away from work. We started on December 2nd by decorating the whole house with Christmas details. A week and half later, we hosted a tacky Christmas sweater party and I'm pleased to announce that all who were in attendance were dressed with superb tackiness and that my new recipe for mulled wine was a hit! The next day I was off to Rocheport for a day of wine, Christmas martinis and cookie decorating with the girls - quite a cheer-filled weekend.

We followed traditions 25 years old for Saint Louis celebrations - Christmas Eve with my dad's side, new pajamas from mom afterward, Santa on Christmas morning, family prepared brunch and then festivities at my mom's side. JAM packed. Next stop? Bowling Green, Kentucky. We left the dogs with my mom and dad, who took very good care of them, and went to Kentucky where the pace slowed down a bit. We spent some time with Matt's mom and stepdad, Tony, and his sister, nephew and dad. The pace slowed down, but the food sure didn't! Tony shared a little of his Mexican heritage with us through some of the delicious meals of authentic Chilaquiles and Enchiladas - delicious. On top of this, Matt wanted to hit up all of his old haunts in Bowling Green, which involved more eating that I like to admit. One that I will fess up to and talk about in more detail is our trip the The Loveless Cafe during our day trip into Nashville (about an hour away from Matt's family).

Oh, Loveless Cafe... About a year ago, Matt and I saw the owner of this fine establishment on the Food Network show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay. She's famous for her biscuits and Bobby was there to challenge her. The show served as pretty stellar advertising and while I'm a sucker for a good biscuit, the whole place seemed full of southern charm. We vowed to make a pilgrimage to chow down during one of our trips to Kentucky/Nashville.

We hunted it down on the last day of our trip. After an hour and 15 minute wait, we were seated. Starving, we threw down coats, purses, gloves and tackled the menu. While I was practically salivating over all of the country-style goodness they offer, a man in his late fifties walked by and leaned in to ask, "Are ya comin' or goin'?" When he found out we had just been seated, he asked another question. "Can we join you? We'll buy your lunch!" Well, before I could even say a word, Matt had agreed and Val and Ed Wicker sat down to share a meal with us. At first I was miffed. I thought these two fogies were going to ruin my Loveless experience, but I was wrong. Ed was very confident (arrogant) and VERY used to getting his way, but also charming as all get out. He definitely worked his magic on us as we ordered, talked about where we're from, what we do - they even tried to help us decide on a honeymoon location. I'm intrigued by them and continue to think about their story. From New Orleans, they are well to do Southerners who were engaged only one month after meeting one another. Less than a year after meeting they were married and have been happy every since. She's a 1st grade teacher. He's in financial planning. They have two kids, two grandchildren and a beloved black lab they adopted after Hurricane Katrina. After a delicious free lunch and an hour or so of chatting with these two, I was thoroughly pleased with my Loveless experience and recommend it to all travel through Nashville.

Tacky Christmas - December 11th, 2009.

Handsome - Christmas Eve at Chipley's 2009.

New Pajamas!

Christmas Day at French's.

Loveless Cafe :-)

Thanksgiving Details

Matt and I were fortunate enough to make it to both Saint Peters, MO and Bowling Green, KY for the Thanksgiving Holiday break.  I'm still waiting on Matt to get me some pictures of his side of the family, but here's what I've got about the trip so far. 

It was Turkey Day and the gathering began.  There were smiles all around...

 

and the waving of hands.

                                                   

We got all dressed up...

to say "what's up."

There were daughters and mothers...

 and sisters and brothers.  

We're a family, you know. And that means lending a hand... 

before taking an after dinner nap.  

It means keeping out an eye....

or an ear...

and keeping everybody near.  

Hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving :)

Found a dress, found a dress, found a dress!  Done deal.  Scheduled to be shipped from the manufacturer on March 8th!  And the serendipity involved on the day I ordered it - oh my!

7:00am - My mother calls me and tells me she cannot come to Columbia over the weekend to look at the most recent dress I've found......but she can come today if I can do it before 2:00pm because she needs to be back in Saint Peters by 4:00pm.  Can I find a sub for the afternoon?  Sorry.  I work until 2:45.  Can't get off.  Maybe next Tuesday?

7:02am - A substitute walks in my classroom door and tells me there has been a mistake.  She's scheduled for the whole day, but only has to cover sixth hour.  Well I've got something you can do!  Cover my afternoon??

11:25am - Leave school, drive home, call The Villager on the way to make the ONLY appointment they have left all day - 1:00pm.  Just enough time. 

12:00pm - Quick lunch, let Olivia stretch her legs after the drive from Saint Peters.

1:00pm - Appointment with Katie at The Villager.  Try on the dress.  Love the dress all over again.  Mom loves the dress, Claire loves the dress.  Olivia thinks I look funny in my Spanx. 

1:40pm - Should I order it today?  On the cusp of two sizes.  Maybe wait until next month and measure again??  No - better safe than sorry.   I'll order today.  Yay.

1:45pm - Ordering.  Fill out forms.  Double check style number and color.  Manager checks in on Katie.  

1:46pm - Manager recognizes dress style number.  Nonchalantly - "Good thing you came in today.  It's the LAST day to order that dress."  WHAT.  Heart flies out of chest.  

1:47pm - Wait while manager orders dress while right in front of me.  Good, good.  Ordered.  Will be shipped to Columbia on March 8th!  Finally done.  

1:50pm - Celebratory ice cream at Sparky's. 

2:00pm - Send Mom, Claire and Olivia on their way back to Saint Peters.  

What if, what if, what if......

Maids and Venues

I'm a few posts behind - this one and the next few should be backdated by about a week or two! 

It has been just over a month since our engagement and we're definitely in the planning mode for our wedding.  We're keeping up with work and family as best we can, but these days we're lucky if we see one another for dinner more than twice a week.  While we have a lot of ideas and checklists and phone numbers to call we really only have a few things nailed down.  I'm trying not to panic.  Matt is trying to keep me from panicking.  And we've set aside some time tomorrow to sit down and talk about some big decisions - with both of us in the same room.  

What we do have:

A budget

A date

A ceremony site

A reception site

Bridesmaids

Some groomsmen

And a lot of ideas for everything else!

I'd like to start turning some of those ideas into realities, but I've got to remember that I can't plan a whole wedding in one day (although I think I'd like to).  This is difficult for me.

With a wedding only 8 months away, one of my biggest priorities and time suckers is to find a dress. I've looked a lot online and I've gone out twice - neither time a success.  The first, because I didn't find anything I was thrilled about.  The second, because the woman helping was a heinous, rude and unhelpful person.  I DID find a dress I loved, but she neglected to tell me it was discontinued until I was already absolutely sold on that dress.  I'm trying to hold my tongue about her.  Needless to say, I will not be returning to the Gown House in Columbia in future searches.  

I was unable to take pictures when I asked two of the maids to be in my wedding, but Matt was able to snap a few of the sisters as I asked them.  I gave all six a hand-sewn card from my favorite downtown store, Poppy, with a little note, quote  or message from me inside.  At the end, each one said, "Will you be my bridesmaid/maid of honor?"  They were well-received by all.  I'm so glad to have my sisters and oldest friends stand with me on the big day.  

Happiness

Let the Planning Begin

I really have no big news to report today, however, I still feel compelled to write.  I'm at home alone while Matt works at the Rec Center until midnight or later.  I should probably be grading papers, but can't bring myself to do that just yet.  This seems to be pretty standard behavior for me as of last Tuesday.  Matt and I have been engaged for one whole week today and my general state of euphoria does not seem to be waning :-)  

After teaching all four hours of my block class, I cut out and took a half day to view our two choices for our wedding reception.  I know that seems early, given that it's only been seven days since our engagement, but we've been talking about this for much longer than that.  Now that we're "official," it's time to get some things booked and we're running out of time if we're serious about getting something scheduled before next summer's spots fill up.  

Mom and Olivia came up to view both Reichmann Pavilion at Stephen's Lake Park and the Orr Street Studios art gallery.  Matt met us for lunch and some wedding talk and Sommer came over to my place after she got off work.  It really meant a lot to me that they came to look with me, and I was sad to see them have to leave at the end of the day.  Today's visits were my second time at both venues, and I thought I'd leave feeling more confident about a choice.  No such luck, because I like them both!  The only problem is that we don't know how many people the art gallery can seat and we aren't sure about how many people from our guest list will actually be in attendance.   Mom liked both places a lot - each for different reasons.  What it will boil down to will be price and even more crucial, the amount of seats each will hold.  

Whatever about all that.  Matt and I will make that decision and won't look back.  Tonight, I'm sitting at home, a little sad that the day is over, but very glad I got to do some wedding talking with Mom and Matt and Sommer and Olivia.  

Perfect Proposal Pancakes

It was 5:33 am - just two minutes before my alarm had been set to go off.   I found myself awake, groggy, not knowing what was going on, thinking Matt was headed back to bed after using the bathroom.  Something about his entering the room woke me up.  It wasn't until much later that his coming back to bed from that direction didn't make sense since we have a master bath and he was coming from the living room. 

Everything was dark except for the small sliver of light coming through the door from the hallway.  There was a smell - familiar, yet elusive so early  and unexpectedly in the morning.  Despite my groaning for just a few more minutes, Matt announced that it was time to wake up because he had made me a pancake breakfast.  A pancake breakfast in bed? I was all for this new treat!  Still moving slowly, Matt coaxed me to put on my glasses (I think I dropped them twice during this process), sit up in bed and focus my eyes.  He actually made quite sure I did all of these things before he pulled the chain on my lamp.  When I was finally able to open my eyes without a wicked squint, he placed the plate of pancakes in front of me on the bed.  In skinny, crispy, burnt little pancake letters, he spelled out "Marry me?" By the time I caught my breath and knew what was happening, he was on one knee and holding out a ring!  I didn't realize it until I tried to speak that I was crying already.  It has only been 36 hours and it's all a blur to me.  The excitement, the fact that it was first thing in the morning, my blinding happiness.... all factor into that blurry, fuzzy, shaky feeling I still have in my chest.  

It was so cute, so heartfelt, so us.  I love his proposal.  I love him.  I'm going to love being his wife. 

50 Years of Marriage Celebrated

Morning prep = garden picking.

   

The "plums."

The talented caterer.

The girl who loved boys.  

On their way to fifty - 27 years down!

The man and woman of the hour.

Just taking a breather after the event. 

Baseball and Balloons

We spent part of our weekend in Saint Louis with the family, and included trips to Busch Stadium for the Cardinals/Cubs game and to Forest Park for our annual Balloon Race picnic.  We made it back by Saturday night in order to spend Sunday "catching up."  Swell weekend.  

    

Matt and Olivia - Sleepy morning fun.  

            

Two sets of sisters :)

        

We love the Forest Park Balloon Races.

Holy Hill

                                               

I spent the whole summer spinning.  The. Whole. Summer.  For the majority of my work hiatus, I was also able to sprinkle in elliptical/treadmill run workouts on my "off" days.  Add in Body Pump class from time to time and maybe one or two Pilates videos at home.  None of this even remotely prepared me for today's Labor Day 5K.  

Put on by Creve Coeur's Jewish Community Center, it was the hilliest course I have ever seen.  Halfway through the race, I started planning this blog post.  I knew my chance at a respectable time was long lost, and was thinking of anything that would keep my mind off of my burning lungs.  During this blog thought storm, I planned to air all of my grievances about the race starting with whichever evil mastermind concocted the race blueprint.  If I could get him/her in a room alone you can bet that I'd give them a strongly worded, fist-poundin', finger-pointin' talking to.  

The course did give me a tour of parts of the Creve Coeur community that I'd never had the chance to see - mostly of its high-priced condominium/retirement villas.  They were beautifully nestled in what seems to be an area that only a topographer would enjoy.  I had visions of snow covered mornings and residents sliding down these monsters.   And now as I reflect, I recall seeing a number of automobiles with four-wheel drive capabilities...

A strong hill can thwart any best laid plans to keep a positive attitude and it was all I could do to walk some of these.  Feeling ashamed and looking for a scapegoat, I noticed that many of the runners around me would do the same - run down, walk up.  The thing is, there weren't as many downs as there were ups.  I don't even understand how that's possible (only an evil mastermind would know), but it happened.  You would run or trudge or ooze your way to the top of a hill thinking, rightfully so, about how sweet the downward slope was going to be, only to find yourself directed to turn at the cross street which was again sloping upward!  I'm not even sure what my elevation was at the end of the race.  Fourteen steep hills above where I started.  I do know that. 

                                            

Griping and feelings of failure aside, I had a good time.  Matt, Dad, Audrey and Claire also ran the race and were waiting for me by the time I made it to the end.  Mom and Olivia were there as our cheerleader/media squad.  Today marked Matt and Claire's debut at the race scene and I hope they had as much fun as I had at my first race.  I was only fifteen - just two years older than Claire is now.  The atmosphere was dewey silence.  I was surrounded by animal-like athletes who were two, three, four times my age.  Jack Farkenstein, the 70 year old seasoned racer was there - never lifting his feet more than two or three inches off the ground.   I was shocked to see him again today.  These days I'm not sure his feet do much more than scrape the pavement, but 11 years later he still shuffles in - sometimes before the last place runner - to a round of applause by those who know his history.  

Matt has already talked about his running goals for the near and far future.  I think the bug got him and I'm glad.  I don't know if it was the long line of tables with bananas, bagels and vitamin water that got him, or if it was the complimentary soft tissue work done by the Logan Chiropractic Firm that did the trick.  Either way he's hooked.  I have lost my addiction to these races and it will be good to have just one more reason to hit the pavement once more.                                                                             

Glass Half Empty - Amendments

My attitude about the beginning of the year has somewhat shifted since yesterday's post.  I will still continue to work on it, but it should be noted that I already read yesterday's writing with a bit of regret.  

I met my fresh crop of malleable brains today.  While I'm exhausted, I am pleased to say that day one went well.  My block classes are large but funny, and as we work on community building I can see that we are going to have a good year.  I hold hope for my single section and will continue to keep my fingers crossed that we'll have a better year than last year's seventh hour.  We shall see.  

There are a couple of reasons for my snark cloud lifting.  

First, I am always crabby when I'm anxious and yesterday, anxious I was.  Now that I've worked my way through that first day, the knot in my chest has loosened a bit.  

Second, I work with darn good people - better people than I, for they approached this morning with a lot more gusto than I had in me.  One of those people is my fantastic and incredibly dedicated teaching partner.  Without his instant injection of enthusiasm and genuine excitement to meet these 140 or so young people I would simply stew in my own puddle of doubt.  Thanks to him, I am instantly more enthused and ready to let go and join in the fun.   

This week is my favorite week of teaching because of the endless possibilities that each school year holds.  We have no bad habits, because habits have not yet been formed. We have no animosity, because we are all new to this game.  We talk about learning and throw around all of the idealist philosophy we've got.  And then we try.  And each year seems to get a little better.  A little more successful.  No matter what, I believe that there will be no backslide - at least not on my part.   We asked our students today what motivates them.  My answer was previous success.  Well, today was a success so I'll head toward HHS tomorrow with a little bit less of a chip on my shoulder.  

Glass Half Empty

What happened to the girl who loved to buy a box of unsharpened pencils only to spend countless hours writing her initials with a black sharpie on each one?  The girl who liked the smell of a new textbook?  Who looked forward to paper bag lunches - balanced of course with a sandwich, a fruit and a snack?  She's gone.  I don't know where she went, but she's not here any more. 

In twenty-four hours I will be teaching third hour.  A fresh group of juniors will be about halfway through their first day of the school year.  And before I even know what has happened to me, summer will be gone.  The weather seems to have decided that it would stick it to me one more time with a beautiful and unseasonably cool weekend.  You would think this would be a good thing.  Not so.  I don't get to spend it outside at the park like I would do in an ideal world.  Instead, I'm stuck inside planning for a first week of school that I'm not thrilled about in the first place.  With an attitude that is at best....snarky....I approach this new school year.   I am working on changing this attitude, but even as I start a new year with a clean slate, I can't help but start counting down to June 9 when school lets out for another summer.  

  

Visit to Wine Country

Our decision to go on vacation 45 minutes from home was one of the best we've ever made. Not only was our four day trip the least expensive vacation I've ever been on, but it also ranks among some of the most entertaining trips I've taken. We spent a few days sampling wine in and around Hermann at six wineries - Bias, Robller, Hermanoff, Adam Puchta, Stone Hill and Oak Glenn. For two days we took our own personal tour sampling the wine and the bbq offered by the "Berry and BBQ Wine Trail" festival and pretty much everything else we could get our hands on. We are food people and after a while, the whole trip started to feel like a "food vacation!" But what's a pie-loving girl to do when there is a shop strictly for enjoying homemade pie and playing checkers? And what's a guy to do when someone tells him that their little sandwich shop is famous for their Reuben (his favorite sandwich)? And when the lady at the chocolate shop tells you that the carrot cake truffle is to die for? You eat! Oh, and eat we did.

Quite possibly the best part of the whole trip was the bed and breakfast we stayed in on the second night. Sadly, due to lack of vacancy and a willingness to save money, we only stayed in the Alpenhorn Gasthaus B&B for one of the nights we were in Hermann. Next time, it is the only place we will stay! We absolutely loved it. Like small children on Christmas morning, we toured the grounds with Adriane, the Swiss who runs the place with his wife Kate. When he escorted us to our room, and we had a moment alone, we practically squealed with excitement over the swiss chocolates and chilled water in our room, the robes for our use, the slippers (flip flops) there for us to take home, the bathroom, the king-sized bed, etc., etc.



We ventured out for one more visit to the pie shop - just for coffee and checkers this time! When we returned it was time for our Midnight Chocolate Rendezvous consisting of candles, homemade gourmet chocolate, and port wine sampling in the wine cellar. So worth it! We spent and hour in the candlelight and soft music talking with Adriane and eating Kate's chocolate while he served us three varieties of ruby port and one tawny port. Love.

I can't say enough about this bed and breakfast without gushing, but let it be known that Kate is one hell of a cook. For breakfast we were served mimosas and coffee, the most delicious french toast, creamed eggs, and swiss sausage. While this slowed the pace of our morning bike ride on the Katy Trail a little, it was very impressive. We sat with a couple who were guests in one of the cabins detached from the main builidng. While this was the part of the trip that I was anxious about - eating a meal with perfect strangers - Tammy and Harry were so very nice. She is a nurse and he is on the maintenance staff at Missouri State University. I left thinking we should have exchanged email addresses or phone numbers so we could talk more about wine and food and the places we've been. Good food, good people, great experience.

The final leg of the trip was a night in Saint Peters to visit my family and see the first game of the Cardinals/Dodgers series. We had perfect weather, good seats, Matt Holliday's debut as a Cardnial and a 6 to 1 win!