Busy busy busy!

I admit it.
I have sucked at keeping up with blogging the past few weeks, but everything has been happening so fast! And then when I do get a moment of quiet, I want to enjoy it!

But enough is enough. Here is some quality blog:

During college I used to hang out with Maria and Curt all the time and play Wii or board games or just roam around the city, but now they live so far away that I hardly get to see them, let alone just chill with them. Miraculously, I got 3 days off in a row and I went to Jeff City last weekend to visit Maria, Curt & Anna! And I had a BLAST!! Here's the weekend in a nutshell:
-chocolate chip cookies
-spiced wine (de-lish!)
-Mario Wii games
-HUGE scoops of ice cream in the cold of winter
-Trivial pursuit
-Winter Wonderland
-Homemade pizza (also de-lish!)
-An abundance of downtime (ie: napping, sitting, lounging, etc.)
-more wine (yum!)
-Quality time with some of my favorite people :)

I also got to play with Anna who is a very energetic and funny two year old! She also dances adorably in the kitchen. Here is she in her dance attire:

A little bit more on the Winter Wonderland. A man decorates the entire outside of his house, windows and garage with Christmas decorations. Crazy, right? There's a nativity scene, an entire little figurine village (with a train station, air port, post office and city hall) encased in glass, a talking Santa figure, singing angels, a moo'ing cow, and more! You can check out some of the pic I took below.

Gratuitous Amounts of Thanks!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

I've been lacking on the past couple days of thanks, but here's a small list of things for which I am thankful:

-Family
-Friends
-Laughter
-Music
-Good Food
-A Good Education
-Living in the United States of America
-My Health
-Having an income
-Having all 5 senses (especially my hearing) in tact
-Wine

Enjoy your turkey and burn off all those calories when you're shopping tomorrow!!

My Immune System ROCKS!

Oh no! I'm a day behind on giving thanks! But that's ok because I'm extra thankful for my health...

Days 3 & 4 of Thanks: Good Health

[Please insert barfing noise here]

Believe it or not, I'm blessed to be a relatively healthy person. Lots of friends and family of mine get sick fairly often with colds, the flu, extreme fatigue, have asthma and are on medicines for almost every ailment under the sun. The only pills I take every day (if I remember) are vitamin C tablets and a multivitamin. I recover quickly when I can feel sickness coming on and when I get colds and I am ever so thankful for that!

Thank you immune system for working hard for me!!

BFF's

Day 2 of Thanks: My Friends

This blog of thanks is a tribute to all of my friends; new...

...old...

...near...

and far...

I miss you all and am ever so grateful to have you be part of my life!

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."
- Anais Nin [from here]

Thank you friends! :)

Thank Goodness

Thursday is Thanksgiving!!!! Can you believe it?

The holiday season is upon us and the year has flown by! Fortunately, I have my Charlie Brown Christmas Tree all set up in my room and some spiced wine to welcome the jolly season! I've decided that until the holiday of thanks arrives officially, I'm going to blog about things I'm grateful for being in my life.

Day 1 of Thanks: Elphaba Lincoln McGruff III, Esquire.

Yes, my dog. She's a silly little pup with short, stubby legs, but I have learned some lessons from the little rascal. Every morning, she's always very excited to be alive and to go outside and play or bark at chipmunks. She's always happy and is determined to get the people who wouldn't pet her yesterday to pet her today. And when I've had a rough day at work, who is always waiting for me with a wagging tail? Elphie! She reminds me to be hopeful, be silly, bark when the leaves roll by, and enjoy sunbathing. I am ever so thankful for my little pup!

Elphie needs one of these...

Colleen sent me this link and I LOVE it!


see more dog and puppy pictures

Ihasahotdog

For all you dog lovers out there, here's a website, similar to the lolcats but this one if for the dogs!

My favorites so-far:


see more dog and puppy pictures


see more dog and puppy pictures


see more dog and puppy pictures

Happy Friday!

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Can you believe it's November 5th in St. Louis, MO? Me neither...

The last two weeks of October had dreadful weather, but November is shaping up splendidly.

Despite the alluring weather, don't forget it's Guy Fawkes day!:

Remember, remember the 5th of November, the gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot...

Here's to Alpha Phi Omega...

...Loyal brothers we!

In college, I was very involved in a co-ed service fraternity called Alpha Phi Omega. The organization mostly revolves around service, but also focuses on leadership and friendship. The beginning of each school year was a big recruitment time for the fraternity and those of us on the exec board (I'm kind of a big deal) would sit in the quad in shifts during the day trying to get people to come check us out and hopefully be interested in joining our fraternity. Liz - my friend, roommate, and APO brother - sent me this link today and apparently we're in our college's welcome packet! That's me in the middle and Liz on the left sitting at the recruitment table in the quad. Goes to show that not everything we do goes unnoticed, even if its years after the fact.

"Men of Alpha Phi Omega, may we always be!"

O Canada!

What an adventure that was!

Aaron and I decided to take a trip to Canada during our visit and see what our neighbors up north had to offer. Aside from the signs being bigger because they measure things in kilometers & meters, Canada is a lot like the US of A. We took Aaron's big Dodge Ram truck (very American - it's even red!) and drove into Vancouver. BIG mistake. The lanes are teeny tiny and the parking garages barely have a 6 foot clearance (I don't know how many meters that is...). We definitely stood out like a sore thumb while we were navigating our way through the city. Once we parked, we took a ferry, called the SeaBus, to North Vancouver and were not impressed. It was a quiet part of the city without a lot of anything going on. We walked through a market and looked around a bit, but didn't find much, so we made our way back to the regular Vancouver and had some dinner at the Transcontinental, a former train station. It was pretty nice and instead of saying "eh" after everything our waiter said "cheers" every time he left our table.

Once we finished eating, we decided to get out of the city and find a nice little town to spend the night and we arrived in White Rock. A very cute and quaint tourist town that is a hot spot during the summer and a main player in the transcontinental railroad movement. We visited all two bars that were open and retired for the night at the Oceanside Promenade with an ocean view room. (The hotel was like a little condo, and even had a fireplace!) The next day was Aaron's birthday!!! So we spent it walking around the town and walking out on the bridge to get as close to the ocean as possible. After soaking up the little bit of sunshine that came out that day, we had lunch at an irish restuarant and headed back to the states.

Next time I go Canada, I plan to go to a town called Whistler. Apparently it's where the 2010 Winter Olympics are going to be held and its little tourist town surrounded by mountains with lots of skiing/snowboarding opportunities - heck yes!!



Left: The arch on the USA - Canada border

Right: Me and the Vancouver skyline






Here I am in White Rock, Canada enjoying the partial sunshine near the ocean. And in the background, that land to the right is the United States!










Right: Me expressing my inner photographer

Left: Aaron took and re-took an Asain couple's picture at least 10 times for them so they returned the favor, but we only had them take 3. Silly tourists.




Here are some other interesting facts I learned while visiting our neighbor to the north:

Blinking traffic lights. Definitely caught me off guard. When the light turns green it blinks until it turns yellow, and then red. If it’s a green arrow, there’s usually a solid green light above it and the a green arrow below it that blinks until the light above it turns yellow and then red. Somehow, this is not a hazard. Must be a Canadian thing.

Unpasteurized Milk. Tastes like regular milk but a bit warmer and a bit thicker. Not quite vitamin D thick, but thicker than 2% milk.

Lots of women walking around. Not just the normal amount, but it might have been 10 to every 1 guy walking around the city and a majority of those women were Asain or Native American.

Skytrain and seabus. Not just a plane ride, not just a ferry ride, but cool Canadian public transportation.

Washrooms. Anytime you need to relieve yourself, you use a thing called the washroom; not restroom.

Canadians used to oppress the Asians too. In the late 1800s, the Aanadians were building a railroad to the west and passed the the Asiatic Exclusion Act to keep jobs in Canada and not have a bunch of immigrants take their jobs. Cool, eh?

I'll be back, Canada - don't you worry. There are more adventures to be had up north! Until next time friends...

Back in the Lou

I have just returned from a trip to the Pacific Northwest! I went to visit Aaron for his birthday and have some wonderful adventures! And I have stories to tell, of course. Unfortunately, the blogs will be terribly out of order, due to my lack of time to blog during the week. I'll start my saga with my not-so-wonderful experience in Kansas City airport on my way back to STL today:

Approximately 7:15pm CST
I HATE Kansas City Airport with an UNDYING passion. UNDYING. Not only do I have the regular hate for it because it requires me to go through security anytime I leave the gate for food, restrooms, or to go to a different gate, but I found a few new reasons to add to my hatred for this wretched airport.

There is not a single place in the Southwest terminal to go where there isn’t someone or some recording SCREAMING over the speaking making it nearly impossible to think, let alone have a conversation with anyone or talk to people in the airport. This means it’s also nearly impossible to walk around people because they can’t hear you say “Excuse me”.

Which brings me to my next point: People move ridiculously slow here. It’s like herding cattle. And it’s near rural Kansas/Missouri - need I say more? (Disclaimer: I don’t think rural Kansas or Missouri people are stupid, but they don’t ever seem to be in a rush.)

My flight was delayed. When I got off my plane the delay was 10 minutes. No big deal. It was already a 2 hour lay-over, so what’s 10 minutes, right? After picking up some magazines, I checked the screen again and what time is my flight leaving? 45 minutes delay. WTF?! I could have rented a car and driven back to St. Louis by the time I even get on my friggin plane.

There’s free internet at the airport, but it won’t let me access my blog. Again, wtf? Before I even get to post this, I will have typed up this blog entry on my computer, flown from KC to STL (God willing), drove 30 minutes to get home, let my dog out to potty and eaten food, and finally posted it on the blog, for you all to read. By then, I’m sure I’ll find a few other things to hold against the Kansas City airport.

If there is any way for you to avoid the Kansas City airport my friends, by all means, DO IT! I wouldn’t wish this kind of torture on any traveler. Safe Travels my friend.

11:06pm CST
Kansas City was not fun, but once we did get on the plane, the ride was VERY short. So short, in fact, that I was back in St. Louis well before 9pm. What was even better was walking down to baggage claim and seeing my bag be the first bag on the conveyor belt. I like St. Louis much better. Until next time...

A note to the big (wo)man upstairs

I've have tried the following:

1) Praying
2) Going to Church
3) Getting away from it all
4) Job hunting for days on end
5) Kicking myself

And have still not gotten any kind of response, answer or enlightenment from the big G-O-D. My last result: Blogging. Maybe God's really hip and has my blogs sent to his/her inbox because s/he has subscribed to my KICKING blog...

Dear God,

Please hand me my dream job on a silver platter. With extra benefits on side, please. And no fries. Thanks!

Love, ME

Think that will get the message to God?
Me neither.

So if you, my fellow friends and bloggers, have any ideas on how to not hate my job and life - not that I HATE my life because I have food in my belly and a roof over my head, but it would be nice to enjoy my life instead of just wanting to sleep it away because I have nothing else better to do with it- PLEASE, by all means, help me out. It seems as though no matter what I try to change, I still end up in my room alone at night with my dog, wishing I was some where else with a real purpose for being alive. My life/situation is turning me into quite the pessimist and I don't like it! Any help to get me back to a happier, life-loving, more optimistic self would be GREATLY appreciated :)

Until next time, my friends...

She's crafty

I've been feeling quite crafty lately, and it might be due to the onset of autumn. Whatever it may be, it's getting my creative juices going. I've been trying to resist stopping by Hobby Lobby in fear that I'll drop $100 in just a few minutes buying scrapbooking accessories and loading up on yarn. It's addicting, it tell you.
When I get home from work at night, my adrenaline is still going from running around and getting everything done at the clinic, that I need to keep moving for a few hours after I clock out at work. I noticed a recent trend that I drink a glass of wine and facebook till the wee hours of the morning and thats nothing fun or productive, but it does pass the time. My goal for the fall has been to not do more than check email after arriving home and then its craft time. So far I've been knitting a blanket because I get cold very easily (it will look something like this but purple - pictures to come soon) and I have finally gotten pictures printed to continue scrapbooking! I would try my hand at jewelery making but I'm a little clumsy and would be afraid of spilling beads everywhere and them getting eaten by little dogs and children.
Anyway, hooray for fall and craftiness. If there's a craft festival near you, check it out! They're popping up everywhere this time of year so take a stroll and find something nifty to add to your collection!

Labor Day Weekend

Basic summary of Labor Day weekend:

-Swimming in the OCEAN!!!!
-Fishing: I caught 3 Redfish and Aaron caught a Redfish and a seagull.
-Chillaxing
-Catching up on Heroes and Flight of the Conchords
-Going to Mexico (lame)
-Trying a variety of restaurants including Logan's Roadhouse (So awesome!!!), a poorly managed Denny's who's servers didn't know what having hash browns smothered and covered meant, SUSHI, Jason's Deli (very tasty, but still healthy) and getting Alaskan King Crab at the Blue Shell
-Getting a "make your own sushi" kit
-Red, Red Wine. My favorite of the weekend was a Merlot from Chile called Obviously.
-Cheese to accompany all of the above wine. Yum :)
-Aaron J. (last, but certainly NOT least)

Beautiful.

This stupid bird flew by Aaron's line and wasn't caught but got freaked out and kept wrapping himself in the line until the jig stuck him in the wing. Stupid bird. Aaron saved the bird's life by cutting off the barb of his BRAND new jig and pulling it out of the bird's wing. The bird flew away with a mere scratch and a new look on life! (probably not. Seagulls are stupid enough to get caught more than once in their lives...)

Happy to be at the beach

My second of 3 Redfish...had to fight for this bugger

"You boys like Mex-i-co?"

No. It's terrible.

Neither Aaron or myself had been out of the country before today. Since his job has moved him so close to the US/Mexico border, we decided we'd go together while I was visiting this weekend. And it sucked.

The US border patrol laughed at us for not really having a plan as we entered Mexico for the first time, which may have been a bit foolish, but we just wanted to look around for a bit. The second we crossed over to the Mexico border patrol, they had heavily harmed military checking everyone's vehicles. Also, was a huge military transport chilling between the entrance and exit of Mexico with a machine gun and a soldier just staring out at everyone in the streets. Now, I've never been a big gun person, but I understand their purpose and think their appropriate in certain situations, but have never been around so MANY people that would have no problem shooting me if I did something they didn't like. To say the least, I was a bit nervous. Once I got over irrationally fearing for my life, Aaron and parked the car and started walking around Neuvo Progreso and it was more annoying than anything. Every step someone asked if we wanted a purse, or bracelet, or wanted pills from the pharmacy, or asked if we wanted our teeth cleaned at the dentist. FYI: Dentists, Pharmacies, and woven bracelets are a dime a dozen at the Mexico border. A good third of the people offering us things were to lazy to say anything (they were mostly children and old women). They just sat on the ground or held the item for sale above their heads and hardly even looked at us. It's like Chinatown but 10 times worse and in Mexico.

Here's us, not really excited about being in Mexico.

Aaron and I were hardly there for an hour before we felt terribly awkward and verbally accosted so we decided to leave. On the way out, the US border patrol officer kept asking if we had pills. Her end of the conversation went something like this:
"You guys buy alcohol? Cigarettes? Pills?...Where you from?...Where you staying?...You bring any pills with you?...What do you do for a living?...What'd you go to Mexico for?...You have any pills with you?...Well, you're clear to go...Wait!...do you have pills?"

This is us leaving and pretty excited to go, but still disappointed about the trip.

Defintely NOT the best trip to Mexico. I'm sure if we went somewhere not so close to the border and not so touristy with someone who knows the area better or just even knows Spanish better, we would have had a better time. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and our little thirst for traveling to Mexico has completely dissapated and we've left the country, so I doubt we'll be going back.

The rest of trip has been GREAT and I'll be posting about that later, but until then, be careful in Mexico my friends.

Sock Troubles

Last week, I decided to take some time for myself and hit up a local knitting shop (something I've been dying to do since I got my first paycheck). The closest shop to me is the Kirkwood Knittery, so I grabbed my wallet and drove on over, telling myself that I would only buy yarn for Christmas projects right now. I follow a few knitting blogs and most of those knitters waited until the last minute to get their knitting done last Christmas, so I decided that I would not back myself into that kind of pickle. I went in and only allowed myself to buy 4 skeins of yarn and after a nice conversation with one of the employees, I was invited to come back for their Thursday knitting night from 7-9. I had every intention to go back for the knitting night, but then I ended up falling asleep after dinner, so to make up for it, I knitted for the rest of the night...and got no where.
I had decided to try my hand at making a pair of socks; I've been wanting to since January and just haven't gotten around to it, so last Thursday was my night. I got pretty far and was just about to make the heel of the sock when everything fell apart. I had double pointed needles going every which way, some parts of the sock growing in size when others just stayed the small size they were and then it was over. I set down the failed attempt at a sock and walked away. Now I have to rip it all apart and start over or just leave the ruined project where I left it. But the latter is not me, so I'll be starting that project over again shortly and HOPEFULLY I'll have new socks to show for it sooner than later.

really?

Does it boggle anyone else's mind when people are smoking while they're on a morning walk or jog? Or people who would rather go to court than pay $250 for a service they signed a contract for?

[Find this here]

I think working in customer service is making me find the worst in people...

Things that make me madder than a March Hare.

1.) People with a disposable income who bitch about losing $20 for something STUPID. If you set up an appt. with the doctor, dentist, and most any other place that takes appointments, you get charged for not showing up. The fee is usually no more than $20 or $25 (depending on where you live/go/etc.). So don't pull up in your brand new BMW wearing a Gucci watch and looking like you just got done golfing and bitch to ME about how you don't want to get charged $20. Seriously? Shut up.

2.) Creepy people that don't listen. You know those creepy people that don't take a hint when you don't want them to be around. Why must you be creepy and socially awkward?

3.) Child "harnesses" AKA: leashes. I know it's an easy way to keep your kids in line, in fact it's really not a bad idea. But having the attachment to your child look like a monkey and the leash look like a monkey tail?; there's just something wrong with that.

4.) PETA. I'm all for animals being treated properly (ie: not abused or neglected) but total animal liberation? Give me a break. Animals are NOT people. A dog should sleep on the floor. A cat should catch mice. Animals do not need to be carried around in Prada handbags and get pedicures. Find a more important issue. I dunno, maybe something like, getting medical help for people with AIDS in Africa? Or help build schools in Haiti?

5.) Ticks. You're ugly, you carry Lyme Disease, you hide in pet fur, and you make my skin crawl. Why don't you become distinct already?

6.) Fat people suing fast food restuarants for making them obese. It's your stupid fault for eating their food. They don't force it down your throat; you willingly purchase their discusting food. Take some responsiblity and quit looking for an easy way out.

7.) The Man. He always finds a way to sick it to ya.

8.) The banning of Prop 8. The solution to our economic problem is solved with this simple video (AND it's a musical!!!).

Wedding Season

Hello everyone!

Last weekend I had the privilege of exploring the town of Bakersfield, CA while attending Aaron's brother's wedding. It was a lovely little ceremony and a HOT town. Not "omg, that's so hott," kinda hot; more like "holy sh*t, my clothes are soaking wet and it's only 9am", kinda hot. Even the ice cream INSIDE at Baskin Robbins was melted a little. Yeah. But aside from the intense heat, the weekend was fun and very laid back.

Here's Aaron and I after the wedding. I'd like to point out that I was the ONLY person wearing yellow at the wedding and the reception :)

Here's the couple at the beginning of the wedding. Since Gloria, the bride, is Mexican and Catholic, the wedding had a few interesting differences from the hum-drum typical weddings. Not only do the bride and groom exchange rings, but the bride's parents give coins to groom who takes the coins as a sign of his monetary responsibilities in the marriage. He is to provide for their household and she, in return, accepts the coins and her responsibility to manage the and take care of the household. Then, the bride's grandparents took a rope and lasso'ed it around the bride and groom, displaying how they are "tied together" or connected for life (I think). What eye opening experience.

Here is Aaron's grandma and his Aunt Tammy. Before last weekend, Aaron's grandmother had never painted her fingernails or toenails, she had never had her hair done and she had never had her eyebrows waxed. Well, that all changed last weekend and here is Grandma Betty is all her beauty and glory (Aaron's sister and I did her make-up!) She's a new woman!

Here's a really awesome shot of Phoenix, AZ from the airport. My plane took off an hour late so I got to see a beautiful sunset over the city and got to capture some of it on camera for you.

Oh and by the way, I had a hair catastrophe right before the the wedding. I was attempting to dye my back to its normal color of brown but it turned out red. RED. So, of course, I freaked out and had to go get some profressional help from Salon Dacota and this how my hair turned out :)

All-in-all, it was a good weekend, a good wedding, good people, good times. I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend. To everyone traveling (LUCKY), be safe and take lots of pictures! Until next time...

Grants Farm & Thriathlan-ness

Last weekend was pretty crazy and busy, but it was also a LOT of fun! Maria participated in a Triathlon and did AMAZINGLY well! Here she is a couple hundred yards before the finish line!

While Maria was in town and we had some time to spare, we headed over to Grant's Farm, and it was SO COOL!!! I wasn't expecting much going into it cause I had heard that it's kind of like a zoo, but there were buffalo, mini horses, an elephant and antelope, and this giant guinea pig mixed in with some ducks...

Oh and you could feed the goats there too. Here's Anna and Maria feeding a baby goat.

Ben got to feed the goats too!

And of course Aaron enjoyed his time with the ladies.

If you've got some free time, I recommend going. There's a fun tram ride with fun facts along the way and one cup of free beer for the adults in the food court.

This coming weekend I will be in California for Aaron's brother's wedding, so there will be more posts and pictures to follow. And on the flights there and back I'm going to finish the first Harry Potter book because I've finally given in and decided to give reading the books a try. I'm not a huge fan of the movies, but that may all chance once I read the books.
Enjoy the beautiful weekend because this summer is FLYING by!!!!

Wedding Dance

I've never been much of one to think about or plan out my wedding because I'm just not that kind of person, but my friend Bobby sent me this video and there will definitely be something fun and unexpected like this at my wedding (that is IF I ever get married).

After being wow'ed by this video and dancing along with it in my seat, I read some of the comments in response to the video on the blog it was posted in. I was shocked that some people would be up in arms about doing this at a wedding ceremony. Weddings are for the people being united, not what Aunt Susie and grandma Jean want. I am at the age where all my friends are talking about getting married and the pressures of things they "have" to do because their families want it to be a certain way, which absolutely boggles my mind. I believe that it's the bride and groom's wedding and their day to be happy and no one has the right to ruin that. But I've gathered that a large problem comes from families paying for the wedding. I say, pay for it yourself if you don't want to have your wedding be the way someone else wants it. Otherwise, you're gonna have to listen to family moan and complain about thigns. That's been my plan all along and I'm sticking to it.

For all the brides and grooms to be, Good luck and remember that no one had the right to ruin YOUR day!
For all the family members out there, take a chill pill and let the kids do as they please.
Until next time...

Father's Day Weekend

First and foremost: I got a job! I am a manager at a fancy place called Massage Envy. I'm still learning the ropes, but so-far it's been loads of fun and everyone there is really nice. AND it's only a 5 minute drive from the house, so I can wake up late and still make it in on time :)

Second: My dad and brother came to visit for the weekend. Unfortunately, I had to work the first 2.5 days of their visit, but the past two days I have been off work and enjoying their company thoroughly. While I was working, they had a chance to get down to Forest Park and visit the Boathouse to kayak and paddle boat around the Post-Dispatch Lake down there. They said they had a great time and my dad got to take a lot of quality pictures, so if you're looking for something fun and scenic, the Boathouse is your spot!

Third: Russell and I saw an awesome band perform an evening packed with cover songs at Mike Duffy's Pub & Grill in Kirkwood, MO. The band is called Square Heads Round Dreads and they are killer musicians. From Wagon Wheel to Johnny B. Good and Feel Like Making Love to What's Up, everything was performed excellently. Great job to you all!

The next day was Father's Day. We went to church on the motorcycles because we like to make a scene. And after going to their respective pews before Mass started, who didn't ask, "God, why can't I be that cool?". I'm pretty sure God got tired of hearing that from so many people right before the service was starting... And that's how we like to think people act when they see us roll up on these bikes.

Posing for a picture after mass (in a very awkward fashion, I might add).

Today was spent enjoying time with my dad and brother before they leave tomorrow. We did a little relaxing, browsed a couple shops at the mall, ate a little ice cream from DQ (The Brownie Batter Blizzard is to DIE for, btw), did a little more relaxing and had a wonderful dinner with the rest of the family. Here we are cramming into my car for some Mexican food.

And, of course, we took some pictures. Here's a nice family portrait.

It's been a good weekend for working hard and playing harder, with a little relaxation on the side. Happy Father's Day to all the father's out there!

Meet Me in St. Louis

Colleen and I survived the road trip of our lives! After a comforting evening in Sioux Falls Best Western hotel, delivery from Ruby Tuesdays and Titanic on the television, Colleen and I slumbered a wonderful slumber only to be reminded when we woke up that we still have another day of driving left. Thankfully, it was our last day of driving! We woke up for a breakfast from the hotel, expecting a nice calm breakfast like the morning before in Billings, MT. Nope. That did not happen. This first thing I saw once I hopped in line for some coffee was a man in his bare feet. That sickening and horrible sight was followed by 20-30 large, awkward-looking people, pushing and shoving their way around a room that shouldn't have more than 15 people there at a time. I got bumped many times just trying to get coffee and cereal; not a wonderful experience to encounter first thing in the morning. My only solace in this situation was that I was going to be back in St. Louis by evening and would not have to shoved around by these crazy people with no shoes. Needless to say, we were excited to get back on the road after breakfast.

The weather served us well through the rest of South Dakota but once we hit Iowa there was nothing but construction zones and rain showers with vision no more than 10 feet ahead of you. Le suck. Though we thought the Iowa troubles were going to slow us down, but thankfully didn't hurt our travel time at all. After traveling many, many miles, we finally entered MISSOURI!!!! Hooray! I've missed te plentiful trees and shrubs along the small hills of this gentle, midwestern state.

We stopped in St. Joseph, MO at Subway for lunch and got back on the road as soon as possible. We also filled up our gasoline and that one tank got us from St. Joseph to St. Louis, so that was our last stop before we got home. Elphie was not impressed by Missouri and slept through most of it.

After what seemed like many grueling hours, we arrived! We got really excited when we crossed over the bridge in St. Charles over the Missouri River (that river has been following us for two days!) and were even more excited to be out of the car for more than a half hour. Day Four: Complete. Total Milage: 2,142.

And after driving through crap for countless hours, this is what God had waiting for me when I got back to Missouri :)

For more details, check out Colleen's Blog !