The Good Stuff

Kenney Chesney has a song about it. Cornbread has a segment on his radio show every week about. It's the Good Stuff. Not the diamond necklaces. Not the Ferrari's. Not the $100 bottle of Scotch.
It's the little things. Finding a 20 dollar bill in your pocket. Having just enough milk left in the carton for your bowl of cereal in the morning. Getting mail that isn't a bill. You know, the good stuff. Here's my good stuff for the day:

Arriving at work to find a present from my boss sitting at my desk.

My boss sending the whole office home at 2:30pm the day before Christmas Eve :o)

Driving home while the sun is out!

[This was not from today's drive...but cows are good too!]

The weather forecast saying we'll have a white Christmas

[Anna getting ready for the snow]

Lot of blankets to snuggle under at night.

My dog actually sleeping next to me, feeling her paws on my back when I roll over in the middle of the night, and her ever faithfully by my side when I wake again in the morning

Dog tricks.

Silly pictures.

Merry Christmas, everyone and enjoy your good stuff this weekend!

A Messy Little Blog Posting

Caution: This post is about dog poop and domestic chores.


After some much needed rest, I awoke this morning to Corgi droppings on my carpeted bedroom floor. The first few thoughts that ran through my head are as follows:

1) How did I not smell that?
2) Why does she not look guilty?
3) Is Elphie sick?
4) Is she going to be pooping all day?
5) I'm never having carpeted floors again.
6) Cleaning this up is going to delay me from reading Postsecret. Dang it!

As I cleaned up the dropping with much pet stain remover and many, many paper towels (sorry Mother Earth!), I decided that I would multi-task and start the dish washer so I had some clean dishes to eat my breakfast off of. Once the droppings were cleaned up, I moved onto sweeping the bathroom, and then the kitchen. As soon as I got to the kitchen, I saw that my sinks were filled with smelly, grey water. I'm pretty thrifty, but I don't know how to fix these kind of things. So what do I do? I turn off the dishwasher, and voilà! The sink drains. Slightly worried and still cautious, I restart the dishwasher and it's been fine since.

All this and it's only noon. Eeek!

Belated Turkey

Happy belated Thanksgiving, everyone!

This holiday weekend has flown by and I can hardly believe Christmas is on it's way! Though the next few weeks will be busy with work, Christmas shopping and Christmas festivities, I'm looking forward to enjoying the little things about the holiday season like being able to decorate my apartment (I'll be putting up my Charlie Brown Christmas Tree tonight!!!), making cookies, hopefully enjoying some winter flurries, and spending time with people I love!
Speaking of which, here are some of the people/things I am thankful for, to name just a few :o)

I'm so thankful for family! All of them :)

Beautiful sunsets...

Good friends, no matter how long you've been apart...

And of course, Cardinals Baseball!

Nut Shell

Dear Blog and Blog Followers,

I know it's a Friday night and I should be out enjoying the night life, but I have a ridiculous week ahead of me, so I'm staying low key. I chatted with my Padre (Happy Birthday, 2 days ago, dear father of mine!), I've had a quiet little dinner and played with my pup. Most likely, I'll be knitting and watching a movie the rest of the evening and hitting the hay early. Oh, and did I mention I'm enjoying a wonderful glass of red wine? MMmmm...

As for life, it's been, busy!

I'm in a musical! The Magdalen Players are putting on their annual show, and this year it's Annie Get Your Gun. And no, I'm not Annie, but our Annie is a fantastic person for the role! I am, however, playing the principle part of Dolly - Frank Butler's assistant. The actors are great and the show will be very entertaining, so if you're in the Lou next weekend looking for something to do, head over to the Msgr. Meyer Youth Center for some good laughs.

I'm still working two jobs. Eh. That's all I've got to say about that.

I sleep!

[shhh! I'm sleeping!]

I've been researching Bridesmaids dresses for Christen's wedding and haven't found anything that impresses me. Who knew finding a deep purple, long dress that can be fitted anywhere in the nation would be so difficult? David's Bridal has been a bust so-far, so if anyone has good ideas, send them my way!

I've been catching up on Glee. The music has been great this season, and don't get me wrong - I love seeing Uncle Jessie dance and sing, but I feel that this season has been more about star cameos than a good plot. Anyone remember Imagine from the Hairography epsiode? I still cry when I watch it. Hopefully, the happy medium will resurface soon.

I went on a trip to Tennessee! (Are you from Tennessee? Cause you're the only Ten-I-See!) I road tripped with Russell, Jim and Laura, stayed in a cabin with some more friends and had a blast! Laura, Danielle, and I even went ziplining one afternoon. It was a very relaxing weekend and our cabin was amazing - 4 floors, a pool table and air hockey, flat screen tv's, 2 hot tubs, and decks for every floor! And all the trees were changing color so it was beautiful, of course!

[The road to the cabin]

[The group minus Jim & Laura who were *scoff* napping. How dare they!]

[Danielle, Laura, and me getting ready to take on the ziplines.]

[Russell and I took our pumpkins to TN and carved them!]

[The view]

I've been researching Grad Schools. I'm looking into pursuing a Master's in Speech Pathology. It's a growing field with plenty of jobs, I'd get to work with youth, and it'd put my brain back to work. Unfortunately, it won't happen unless I get myself a lot of scholarships and teaching/research assistant positions along the way. AND I'd have to take the GRE (commence the nervous breakdowns and shaking in my boots). I'll keep you updated as I go along. I plan on completely diving into my search once the musical is over.

And last but not certainly not least, I've been getting so excited about Thanksgiving already! Weird, right? I have been craving green bean casserole ever since I saw a recipe in Real Simple magazine. And every time I start thinking about the casserole, I think about all the other yummy finger foods, turkey and drinks I'll be having. I am SO very excited!

That's my life in a nutshell, for now. Have a safe a wonderful weekend my friends!

Autumn...is almost here

It's October in Saint Louis...and it's still balls to the wall hot!
(Though I won't complain too much because I will surely miss the warmth once winter is in full swing.)

I will say, however, that it ruined my pumpkin patch experience this fall. Perhaps I am just used to fall in Washington (I miss it SO much!), but I was expecting a bit of a crisp weekend, some roaming around a local farm to find a good pumpkin and a tasty caramel apple...and got NONE of those things. Sunday was in the 80's when we went to Stuckmeyer's Farm, which was waaaay overcrowded with the not-so-classy people of Fenton, MO and their offspring. The pumpkins were not pretty and the patch they grew in was terribly small and to make matters worse, the caramel apples SUCKED!!!! I love a crisp, juicy, granny smith apple covered in caramel and peanuts on a stick to make me a happy girl. Stuckmeyer's Farms used red apples, cut them up (no stick!), scooped them into a bowl and pour some caramel on top. Definitely not what I was expecting.

[Not really enjoying the caramel apples...]

If you have small children, Stuckmeyer's Farm is a great place to spend an afternoon with it's variety of activities for smaller children, but make sure you go when the weather is cooler!

For those of us who do not have small children but still want to visit a pumpkin patch, I recommend Brookdale Farms. Russell, Jacob and I and had a much more pleasant experience without the crowds and screaming kiddos. We got to experience some open air, see some farm animals (even a chicken duck!), and find our way through a corn maze.

[Chicken duck!]

To make it even better, the corn maze had 10 riddles that if we found and solved, we could enter our name to win a prize! Thanks to Brookdale Farms, for saving the day!

[The funniest riddle aka: CORNumdrum of them all]

Hopefully, fall temperatures will begin to creep its way back to St. Louis, but until then, I'll enjoy the sunshine!

[Strolling through the cornfield near the Missouri "mountains"]

Hey you...

...Yeah you!

The Blogger on the couch! And you! The one in the coffee shop!

Go outside and run around in the leaves while you laugh for no reason. It's good for you!

Enjoy this beautiful weather while it lasts!

October Update

Hey everyone!

I've been a terrible blogger lately, so here is a quick update on my life!
-I'm back to working TWO jobs...joy. I'm a server and a receptionist and I continue to wonder why I ever went to college since my degree is doing NOTHING for me.
-I'm in the musical, Annie Get Your Gun, and I have landed the role of Dolly - Hooray!
-Went home last week/weekend and every day was action-packed. I went dress shopping with Christen, chilled with my padre and hermano, visited the piano bar and threw down with some awesome Island Mates (just to name a few activities).

[Elphie was pooped on the drive home from all the excitement that was Ohio]

-Went to my last Cardinals game of the season :(

[Some guy insisted on taking a picture of me with my camera and kept telling me what a "keeper" of a photo it was. Gotta love STL]

-Elphie and I went to the APA's Canine Carnival sponsored by Purina and saw a yellow Poodle (apparently there was a costume contest...)! Elphie did some tricks, got some treats, free food, and a new toy! A fun afternoon, indeed!

That's about all the excitement in my life for the moment. October should be a great month; I hope to go to a pumpkin patch to pick a wonderful pumpkin to carve and take a fun road trip, all the while enjoying the beautiful colors of fall!

Hope you get to enjoy the change of seasons as much as I plan to :)

September!?

Does anyone else know where the summer went? I'm still trying to figure it out...

Well, I figure that since there's only four more months left in the year, I'd better see where I'm at with my resolutions and get caught up!

1) My posture - I was getting a lot better with my posture, and yes the Shape ups did help! But now that I don't have to sit at a desk and am not stressed out about my (former) job, my posture has been just fine!

2) I quit my job! I have a part time serving job now and I've got some interviews for other positions, but I'm optimistic and think things will work themselves out sooner rather than later :)

3) My apartment! I now have a crib of my own (along with my roommate!) It's so wonderful being an adult with a place of my own! Although, once my lease is up, I'm going to have to find a place in a better neighborhood. The glass on the front door of my building was shattered yesterday when I got home....awesome. Generally, the new place has been fabulous and I can hardly believe I've been here for 5 months!

4) Now that I work at a restaurant, I've been around quite a few Spanish speaking people - so that sort of counts as brushing up on my Spanish, right? Si!

Unfortunately, that's about it. I did not get to travel to any new places yet, but I did have the opportunity to go back to the Keys for a much needed trip. I have also not knit any socks, but I have knit a purse and scarf! I will not have the opportunity to snowboard - it's just not in the budget anymore. And I need to volunteer at some point in the next 4 months. While I finish up on my resolutions in 2010, the next four months will be filled with excitement! I'm going to visit my dad and brother at the end of September for an extended weekend, I've got tickets to one more Cardinals game (SCORE!), I'm in the musical Annie Get Your Gun
(and I actually have a speaking role!), and then the holidays will be right around the corner!

I hope you enjoyed your Labor Day weekend!

Snorkel, Snorkel!

As part of our program at Sea Base, we are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to snorkel the 3rd most dived site in the world! How cool! On a given day during program, we load up several crews on our big boat and head out about 5 Miles to Looe Key and let the scouts explore.

My first trip out to Looe Key, I was having a hard time equalizing my ears when I dove down, so I didn't get to see much aside from coral, Yellow tail Snappers and Sergeant Major fish, but it was still beautiful.

[Sergent Majors and Brain Coral]

Luckily, when I went back a second time, I got to see a SLEW of cool stuff! There was a big 'ole Goliath grouper that hung out by our boat, a Sea Turtle that made an appearance, a barracuda and I saw a good sized Hogfish.

[A Sea Turtle decided to swim by]

[A Goliath Grouper that hangs out by our boat]

How picturesque!

[Another beautiful day on the water]

[Fan coral, brain coral and sponges, oh my! Oh yeah, and a Parrot Fish!]

As part of program this year, we also started taking the scouts out on the big boat at night to a reef called Munson Rocks, just south of our island. We hand them dive lights let them explore the reef at night. Due to stormy weather, we were unable to go the first week, but the second week, we had the opportunity to venture out and it was such a contrast from daytime snorkeling! I didn't see a whole lot (but I did see another Hogfish!), but it was so cool to snorkel at night - it's like a whole different world down there!

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm toying with the idea of getting PADI certified so I can SCUBA dive - I can only imagine how beautiful Looe Key and Munson Rocks would be Scuba diving! Does anyone have suggestions for diving stateside, aside from the Florida Keys?

Until next time my friends...

Fishies!!

A few days ago, I went on a fishing trip with some of my fellow staff members. We saw a Bull Shark that scared away the majority of the Yellowtail Snapper we were trying to catch, caught a Nurse Shark, saw a Tuna jump out of the water to chase some bait fish and SLAM into our motor and caught some dinner for the crew. Oh and we saw some Porpoise Dolphin, and I tried to get my camera out to take a picture, but then I dropped my camera in the ocean. CRAP....

...Good thing I work with people who can free drive much deeper than I can, or else I would have never gotten my camera back. One of the guys jumped in, free dove about 47 feet and retrieved my camera from the depths of ocean. HOORAY! That's all the excitement from that fishing trip.

[The Nurse Shark - catch and release, of course!]

Yesterday, I went fishing with my crew of scouts and we caught three Skip jack Tuna; our biggest was 14 pounds. We hooked up a shark on the line but he jumped off once he realized we were trying to reel him onto our boat. After spending most of the day offshore, we headed in to Newfound Harbor to have some lunch :)

(Side note: If you follow the link to Newfound Harbor and scroll down the page a bit, you'll see a picture of the island I work on! It's the big island to the right of Little Palm Island!)

[Showing off the catches of the day]

[Me and the 14 lb. Tuna - soooooo tasty!]

More adventures to come....

Helllo from the Keys!

A week ago, I arrived in the Keys and have quickly started working hard and enjoying every minute of it!

Anyway, I got picked up from Miami and had a wonderful ride through the Keys and stopped to get some sweet shades on the way (as you can see above). The very next day, I picked up a crew and got to work! There has been much Kayaking, Snorkeling (at Looe Key, the 3rd most dived site in the world!), fishing, camping, and sailing. Our Snorkel day was clear and beautiful; many fish and a barracuda even showed up for lunch!

[This a parrotfish at Looe Key]

On fishing day, the wind changed direction, so not much was caught by any of the boats on the water. We were lucky enough to catch a Mackerel and a few Yellowtail Snappers. Fortunately, I'll be going fishing later today and I'm hoping for some better luck on the water.

Sailing day was also a rough one. The sailing itself was great because we had a strong wind, but there was a tropical depression that formed over the Keys so there was a lot of rain. And when I say a lot of rain, I mean a TON of rain. We could hardly see anything not only because of the storm cloud but also because the rain was so heavy. Thankfully the tropical depression dissipated and the weather has been back to heat and sunshine ever since!

[The better part of weather on sailing day. Yuck]

[Bridge fishing at sunset]

Speaking of sunshine, some of my coworkers and I hopped on board of a snorkel/sunset cruise in Key West yesterday and enjoyed an evening of laughter and beauty. Also, lots drunk people enjoying a booze cruise, for example: A college girl asked one of my coworkers if he was Guy Harvey (a famous artist in the Keys known for his drawings and paintings of fish and Florida wildlife). Oh Key West, how I've missed you :)

[Kayaking in the rain]

OK - So I wrote this post in two parts, and I just got back from fishing, and the weather was AWESOME!!! I'll write another post about the adventure after I get some work done! Until next time, friends...

Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

My roommate, pup, and I took a lovely walk in Forest Park today! Just a few fluffy clouds in the sky, a very slight breeze, and plenty of sunshine made for a wonderful stroll in the America's largest municipal park.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

:)

In a week and a half I get to....

Stand at the bow of boat again...

catch fishies like this one...

Spend some time at the office...

And see sunsets like this one...

I'm sooooo excited that I can hardly contain myself!!!!

You can’t run from the wind. You have to face the music, trim your sails and keep going.

-White squall

Happy birthday America!

Who doesn't love a good afternoon at the ballpark?

I went to beautiful Busch Stadium and saw my Cardinals get creamed (12 - 5) by the Brewers on Saturday :( But the weather was wonderful; hot, but not humid and sunny with a very slight breeze.

It was a great day at the ballpark and I got some pretty cool shots with the sun setting over the stadium

And of course I got one of me in front of the field. It's hard to beat a care-free Saturday at the ballpark!


Updates of the Elphster

She sheds constantly. I can't even keep up anymore. I can brush her for a half hour and accumulate a fur ball like the one in the picture above and she'll STILL shed like I didn't even brush her. Sometimes you have to know when to pick your battles.

Also, I took her to the dog park in St. Charles last week. A friend from work takes her dog there and I had some time to kill a few nights ago so Elphie and I hopped in the car and ventured off to the dog park. She's been to a dog park one other time when we lived in Washington but got really scared because it was a small dog area and there were already lots of dogs who were suddenly bombarding her with attention. Mind you, Elphie loves attention, but when she's in a place new to her and is the smallest dog in the bunch, she gets freaked out very easily (which I feel is natural for most animals and occasionally for humans). Needless to say, there was much cowering, snarling and peeing. Since then I haven't really had the chance or need to take her to a park until I've recently moved to an area without a big and safe enough yard to run around off leash.

This time I was determined to make this experience a better one. I packed up a bowl, extra water, a ball, some poop bags and headed to the park. When we got there I noticed this park was much bigger than the one in Washington with ample room to run from overbearing dogs with ridiculous amounts of energy. Elphie did great and ran around for a bit with some of the other dogs. But then a group of pit bulls showed up. Now don't get me wrong, pit bulls are wonderful dogs, but they have SO much energy! And Elphie got circled by the pit bull gang. Freaked out, she ran to me and and didn't leave my side the rest of our time at the park. What a weenie. But I don't think she piddled everywhere this time and she seemed to enjoy herself more than she did a year ago at the dog park. I hope to make this a more regular outing (hopefully at a dog park closer than St. Chuck) so she doesn't chicken out on me again.

Hope every one is having a wonderful holiday weekend! Until next time...

Camping

Hello fellow bloggers! I know it has been quite a while since my last blog, but here's an update! This past weekend I went CAMPING! Woohoo! The Sides clan and I stayed at Meramec State Park for the weekend and had a great time in the outdoors! We took a float trip on the river, cooked some great meals on a campfire, roasted some marshmallows and even went on a tour of Fisher Cave! Thankfully we had great weather for our float and enjoyed the beauty of the outdoors :)


Just chillen on the river...

The hottest raft on the river!

Mmmm....foil dinners!

We had a few showers this weekend accompanied by blue skies and sweet clouds like the one below:

Here I am in Fisher Cave. Since it was so humid at the camp, it was nice to go into the cool cave for a while.

Though short and sweet, that's my weekend in a nutshell! What a better way to unwind than in the outdoors :) Thanks for a great weekend Meramec State Park and Sides family!!