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!!

Martin Sexton

Last night I saw Martin Sexton in concert at the Pageant; what a phenomenal performer and what a slammin' venue!

Until today, I had not been to the Pageant and its such a welcoming venue. Plenty of tables with dimmed lighting for an intimate setting or if you're in the mood to dance, check out the large standing room in front of the stage. I will definitely be going back there for concerts!

The openers were a band called the Ryan Montbleau Band. They played a great range of music between peppy/get-up-and-dance to slower/chill music. The lead singer had a great voice and there was a viola!! If you get a chance to check out their page, listen to the song "How Many Times". You won't regret it!
The Ryan Montbleau Band members came back on stage, dressed in 3-piece suits, with Martin Sexton to play his backup music and sing!! How classy!

Onto the main event: Martin Sexton.

[I was close enough to see sweat drip down his face and see every facial expression he made as he sang!]

I was introduced to his music by my friend Jill about three years ago, and am forever grateful! His music is one of the few I can play over and over and over again not get tired of his sound or voice; it's folky but soulful and Martin's got quite a range. I can't say enough good things about his music so when a friend called me about the concert, I couldn't resist! The crowd roared as he came out to play and after the first few songs, Martin took some requests from the crowd! We got pretty close to the stage and had a great time dancing and singing along with Martin. Remarkable performance!!

I stayed after the concert to meet him and get his autograph. He was very personable, signed my ticket and took a picture with me :)

[Martin Sexton & me after his concert!]

Great show, Martin!

Cuddly

Happiness is a cuddly puppy to snuggle with after a long day of work...

And to take silly pictures with :)