Christmas in a Nutshell

Our Christmas was great!  It was busy, too.  It started on Christmas Eve with Scott and I running some last minute errands in the snow.  Yes, we woke up Christmas Eve to snow coming down and it didn't stop till Christmas day.  I was very pleased to have a white Christmas.  My first one that I can actually remember!  Since there was snow coming down the malls were not too bad at 10AM on Christmas Eve, not good for retailers but great for us.  After our running around Scott remembered that he still had a few other gifts and was off to Best Buy and Target at 1:30, they were busy.  But I stayed home and did laundry and enjoyed not going anywhere.

Once he returned we packed up the car with presents for the Birch's and headed over to their house.  We had heard a rumor that Santa Claus was stopping by around 4 or 4:30, just before his schedule got too busy.  We got down there and helped make chocolate covered pretzels, play with the kids and even shovel some front steps for neighbors.  And in the middle of all our hanging out there was a knock at the door and Mathew was the designated door opener.  He had no clue that the other side of the door was Santa Claus.  Santa brought each kid a gift and wished Scott and I luck in our upcoming marriage and then even went through the Good or Bad list.  Somehow, Scott's name was not on the Good List (not sure how that happened).  And Andrew's name had a question mark next to it, which made all the kids laugh.  Then Santa read the Night Before Christmas and then he was gone.

On Christmas morning we woke up and hurried to get to Scott's parents house in time for breakfast, which was awesome!  After breakfast we opened all of our presents.  I ended up getting Rams vs. 49ers tickets (game on 12-26-10), a basket from Bath & Body Works, Seinfeld Season 5, a photo album of things Scott and I have done, we got a gift card to Niche, and gift card to the movies.  After we opened presents we were off to the movies to see How Do You Know? It wasn't the best chic flick.  The movie was really slow and it wasn't upbeat like a chic flick normally is.  If the editing was done better, I think the movie would have been much better.  Needless to say, 1 of the 4 who went to see it liked it.  After the movies, we had a late lunch/early dinner at Scott's parents house.  I just can't go a Christmas without Christmas ham!  Once we got home and took care of poor Reily, she got a stuffed duck for Christmas, we watched Christmas movies.

The day after Christmas Scott and I went to the Rams game (more on that later) and then we had Christmas dinner number 2 with his sister Michelle.  Since she had to work on Christmas day she invited us over and cooked for us.  She does the best job on cooking things that I would never think I would like and I give them a try and they are amazing!  She made a steak with gravy, creamed spinach, broccoli, corn, focaccia bread, mashed potato and Scott's mom made a chocolate pie.  Afterwards we opened more presents.

It truly was a great Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We met Santa Claus on Christmas Eve!

12-22-10

It's official, we are engaged!  Scott proposed last night right when I walked into the house and totally caught be off guard.  I believe I said "are you kidding me, what are you doing, of course, yes!" It was the perfect proposal!  And the perfect ring (even though I know he had a little help).



Who would have thought that back when we first met when we were 16 that 14 years later we would be getting married?!  Here is a picture from our first group date around New Years 1999, I was visiting St. Louis from San Antonio.



And my how things have changed and we have grown up.  Here we are 11 years later in 2010:



I'm so excited to start this new phase in our lives and start the wedding planning process!

Catherine's Birthday

I finally was able to celebrate Catherine's birthday last night.  It was only 7 months late, but better late than never.  I had intentionally planned on taking her shopping like I did Elizabeth, however we could never find a date that fit with her busy schedule.  She is a very busy 8 year old.  And then the school year started and more soccer games on the weekends and practices during the week.  Then I came up with the idea of taking her to a hockey game since she had never been.  So I needed to find a free Friday or Saturday night to take her.  And then it was Christmas Break.

The plan was to keep her in the dark and not let her know she was going to go until close to the actual game.  Since I told her we were going shopping I went ahead and purchased a Blues shirt and brought it over to the house and told her that I went shopping for her birthday without her and she needed to open the present.  When she opened it and pulled the shirt out, I then informed her that she needed to wear that shirt on Monday night when we went to the Blues vs. Canunks game.  Her eyes got so big, she was pretty excited and pumped to go.



On Monday I picked her up and we headed down to the Scottrade Center and met up with Scott.  We got there early enough to get food and get to our seats to watch the Blues come out of the tunnel which was right across from our seats!  Catherine was engrossed in the game from the get go.  Asking questions about the plays and watching everything.  I was happy to finally let her see the plays and hear the player talking to each other live.

[caption id="attachment_930" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Catherine and I at the Blues game"][/caption]

The Blues didn't play their best, they hardly shot the puck but they did score and we only sat 2 sections away from the Towel Guy!  So that was awesome to see up close!  It was a rough game for Catherine to see the Blues take on the chin but she loved watching the hard hitting.  Of course there was some action in the parking lot when we were leaving that was even more exciting than just watching the actual hockey game.  Maybe the next game we go to the Blues will pull out a win.

All in all I think Catherine was very happy with the wait for her 8th birthday present...maybe the Blues will be playing hockey in May this season and we can do this all over again!

Weekend Before Christmas

Twas the weekend before Christmas and we were stuck in St. Louis.  We had planned to go to Chicago but the car accident and then snow in Chicago and rental car's inability to drive through snow scratched that idea.  We found plenty of things to do.  Friday I had lunch with Liz at Latitude 26 in Dogtown.  Since I hadn't seen Liz in a while we had lots to catch up on and had a 3 hour lunch!  It was well worth it!

I then met Scott at Khaldi's for a quick dinner and then headed to Ursuline, my alma mater, for Elizabeth's 7th grade basketball tournament.  She had the privilege of  playing the original UA gym!  So many memories of gym class, high school dances and of course walking in and out for field hockey practices flashed back!  Elizabeth played well, but they just couldn't hang on to win.  We then went over to the Birch house and informed Catherine that she was going to the Blues game with us on Monday night.  It will be her first ever NHL game!  Then we drove around and looked at Christmas lights.

On Saturday, after a quick trip to the gym and a meet up with Ben to get Mathew's Christmas presents safely hidden at our house.  We headed down to Crown Candy for lunch.



After a 30 minute wait outside we finally we able to sit and enjoy our lunch.  Scott was crazy enough to drink 2 chocolate shakes along with his Heart-stopping BLT!  I just managed to drink all of my shake (which rarely ever happens) and my Big Cheese.  Needless to say, we didn't eat dinner!  But it was so good!



After lunch we stopped off at Scott's new office for a quick tour!  Must be nice to view the Arch from your desk every day!  And then it was off to Soulard Market, since it's just up the street from his new office.  We managed to stock up on a few things and hear the Christmas music that was planing live.  Afterwards it was home to relax.

Saturday night we did head back into the City to go see the Fighter at the Chase Park Plaza.  The movie was based on a true story of Micky Ward and was pretty good.  Christian Bale played Dick Eklund's role well, he dropped a lot of weight to play a crack addict.

On Sunday, we watched the Rams blow a promising start to a game they could have won.  And then I baked some banana bread and my mom's no-bake cookies.  The cookies taste awesome and are reminding that it is really starting to feel like Christmas with the sugar cookies and no-bake cookies around.



Although, after all this baking I'm thinking I'm going to have to be a little more serious about keeping up with my gym schedule come first of the year.  I know I'll be there along with everyone else!  Although it's just 5 days till Christmas and I of course still need to shop, nothing like waiting till the last minute!

On a car update, it is repairable.  In fact they are currently waiting on part for my fender and suspension.  They are fixing the tire today.  I should have my car Christmas Eve or by Monday, maybe in time before I go out of town.  The best news is that I don't have to go buy a new car!  Merry Christmas to me!

My car

The jist of what happened to my car, we were driving to the Fox and driving on a 4 lane road with speeds that should be 30mph.  We got to a point where the church on the left was having a live Nativity and had animals and a spotlight.  And I noticed the white mini van almost stopped in the lane of traffic.  I was slowed down, even though there was no one else around.  When she started to veer into my lane and I tried to avoid her and then she slammed into my front passenger tire pushed us across the 2 oncoming lanes.

She immediately stopped and was getting out her information and was saying her kids distracted her.  Even when I was trying to write my information down I could see the kids fighting in the backseat of the van.

I've filed a claim with insurance and am waiting on the tow truck to come and get my car because the alignment is seriously out of whack.  The tow truck showed up tonight at 6:15 to take my car to the body shop.  I expect to hear news about what is wrong and estimates starting tomorrow, I  hope!

[caption id="attachment_888" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dent above tire"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_889" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Crack in mirror"][/caption]

Christmas Spirit

The holiday spirit has really started.  It never really feels like Christmas until there are Christmas cookies in the house and so I started making sugar cookies on Thursday and finished up on Friday.  I've been told they are great and they look awesome!

[caption id="attachment_882" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Cookies!"][/caption]

We went to the Gateway Men's Chorus Christmas concert on Friday night to really kick off the season.  Some of the songs were Jewish holiday songs and a few others that I had never heard of and then there were others that they completely changed and made their own and they were great!  I was very entertained by all the songs and everyone who had solo's had great voices!



On Saturday we had a fairly busy day.  In the morning we attended Tom's, brother Mike's memorial service at St. Dominic.  It was a nice mass and I'm happy that Scott and I both were able to go, even if we didn't know Mike it was nice to show support to Tom and his brothers and parents.   Even though I had to leave mass early, Scott stayed till the end and paid our respects.  I had to rush to an open house that was fairly busy for me.  It's nice when those are productive.

After the open house I headed home so we could cook dinner before going to see A Christmas Carol at the Fox Theater.  On our way to the Fox, a woman distracted by her kids ran into my car.  No major visible damage to my car and that's on going and I'll write more later.  We made it down to the Fox to see the show on time!  The show was great and I love that we have made this an annual event to see.

[caption id="attachment_885" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dressed up and off to the Fox"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_883" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Santa at the Fox"][/caption]

We woke Sunday morning to a couple inches of snow!  Reily was not a fan of the early morning surprise.  But since my car was not going to allow me to go anywhere, I was not doing an open house and with the roads being iffy and it being windy, we decided that it was movie/football day.  We caught up on a couple Netflix and some football and made chili in the croc pot.  It was a great lazy, snowy day!

[caption id="attachment_886" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Reily playing in the snow"][/caption]

Christmas Time!

It's official, we have our Chritmas tree up!  It's really starting to feel like Christmas around here.  The house is decorated and I'm listening to the Christmas radio stations a little more, even Pandora's "Rockin' Christmas" station is being played while I'm doing some work!



 

Tree Cutting

We have our Christmas tree!  We drove all the way down to Festus, MO to cut it down at Meert's Christmas Tree farm.  Since we went on a Friday morning and there was no one there we were able to drive our car all the way over to the trees and park.  Normally, you have take a tractor ride over to the trees and wait for them to pick you up.  It was nice to not have to wait and stay a little warmer longer.  Also, we could really look up and down the aisles without any competition.

[caption id="attachment_866" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Our 2010 Christmas Tree"][/caption]

We searched for about 20 minutes or so before we found our tree.  After a few pictures with our tree Scott started sawing away at the tree.



Thankfully it didn't take much to get it down and just like that we were pulling it back to the car.  We stuffed it in the back of my car and I carefully drove us back so they could shake it out and so we could pay.  Then once it was tied up it was time to make the long drive back.

This was the first time I've ever driven with anything on the top of my car and thankfully the tree made it's way back without moving!

Now if we could just finish the decoration.

Tree Lighting

We went to the Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony in Francis Park on Sunday night.  It was much warmer than last year and the crowd was bigger.  But the routine was the same.  Everyone gathers at Nottingham and Childress and waits for Santa, Mrs. Claus and Fred Bird to arrive via horse drawn carriage.  Once they arrive and greet the crowd they go through the thank yous and then the countdown begins.  When the tree is lit then everyone gets in line for free carriage rides, Krispy Kreme donuts, candy bars, and of course a chance to talk to Santa.

We headed over to find the Birch's and see what they were up to.  They were in charge of the carriage line and making sure everyone was on safely.  It seemed that Ellen was going to lose some toes before the night was over.  The horses were extremely jumpy.  I did see a few people that I grew up with there and even some from high school.  Scott and I managed to find the pickiest photographer there to take our picture in front of the tree.

Turkey Day Trip to Omaha

It's that time of year again when I head to Omaha to celebrate Thanksgiving!  It was a busy trip this year.  Scott and I decided to leave on Tuesday afternoon and spend the night in Kansas City.  It was a smart idea.  We barely had any traffic and the drive didn't seem so bad.  We woke up early on Wednesday and hit the road and headed to Topeka!  We were off to check another state capital off our list.

[caption id="attachment_836" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sunset in Missouri "][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_837" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Yes, Kansas is that flat"][/caption]

I was pretty impressed with the capital in Topeka.  The state has done a lot to restore it and show all the painted over artwork and remove smoke from the days when you were allowed to smoke in the state senate.  It amazed me with what they discovered during the renovations.

[caption id="attachment_843" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Outside the Kansa capital"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_845" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Top of the dome"][/caption]

After our tour we were on our way to Omaha.  On Wednesday night we headed over to my Aunt Pam's house to our traditional pizza night gathering.  We used to go to Sortino's but it was easier with all the little kids to just hang out at someone's house.  Of course an informal shuffle board tournament happened.  It was nice to catch up with everyone the first night.

On Thanksgiving Scott and I went to Prairie Life with Chris and Debbie for a morning work out, instead of the body freezing 5K that Scott wanted to do.  After the work out and since we were in the car, my uncle took us on a driving tour of Omaha.  It had been a while since I'd seen downtown so it was nice to see all the changes, even the new home to the College World Series.  Once we were home and ready to go we headed to Old Navy to do a little shopping.  I was surprised with how empty it was.  I really thought there would have been more crazy shoppers out trying to get deals on Thanksgiving.  I took Scott by my Grandpa's old house and where my parents got married.  Lots of trips down memory lane for me in Omaha.  It was finally time for Thanksgiving and we headed over to my Aunt Denise's house in Elkhorn.  Everyone had a great time watching football, eating and catching up.  The only family members not present were my parents and brother.  Thankfully we all were just together in May at Jeff and Annie's wedding.  My parents went to Lubbock to visit Andrew.

On Friday, Scott and I did some more shopping.  This time it was for Husker apparel.   Scott desperately needed a Husker shirt of any kind I was looking for a new hoodie.  We found both at Husker Hounds.  But we still had to check out Sheels just to see if they happened to have anything else that we had to get and of course you can't beat $5 shirts!  So I think we are good for now.  I went to lunch with my aunts and cousin Jennifer while Scott stayed with my uncles to watch the beginning of the Huskers/CU game.  NU managed to win the Big 12 North with that game.  It was also fun to get some Nebraska football gossip from my cousin.  Later that night Scott and I went to see Due Date, which was very funny!

[caption id="attachment_838" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Venue for lunch with the Aunts"][/caption]

Saturday we packed it up and headed home...this time we drove through Iowa.  We were stopping in Des Moines to tour the capital building.  The building itself was beautiful, gold dome and 137 step to get to the top (which we climbed).  It was great!  The tour wasn't as fun as Kansas but still very interesting to learn about the building and how it was rebuilt after a fire in 1904.

[caption id="attachment_846" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Iowa Capital Building"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_847" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Inside the Dome"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_834" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Downtown Des Moines from Capital"][/caption]

Law Library

We managed to to see a lot of Iowa, more than we wanted but it was a pretty day and we made great time coming home to see Reily!

[caption id="attachment_833" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Windmill Farm in Iowa"][/caption]

John & Cindy take STL

My parents came for a visit, finally!  My dad had to do some work up here and it was a good excuse for my mom to take a fall trip to St. Louis to see where I've moved to and get a much needed Italian food fix.

My dad got in on Tuesday afternoon and quickly started visiting people.  He headed down to South County while I showed a house and then he came over to the house and surprised Reily.  That dog didn't know who he was at first but soon realized he was the guy who gave her lots of attention.  But he took Scott and I out to dinner at Pujols 5.  Then  on Wednesday my dad had a few calls and then I went to dinner with him and his co-worker at Gian-Tony's.  My mom arrived late Wednesday night.

Thursday morning I woke up and met my mom at the hotel and we quickly headed to my office so I could signed up for a conference room for later that day.  My mom was able to meet a few people that I work with and then it was off to Break Co. for some much needed breakfast.  We did a couple drive by's of places that my mom hadn't seen in years and of course stopped at Sign of the Arrow.  Then Thursday night we all had dinner at Favazza's on the Hill.  By all, I mean, my parents, Scott's parents and Scott and myself.   It was a successful dinner minus the loud music and the chilly atmosphere, we sat on the in closed patio and was heated by a fire.

Friday was another busy day of meeting my parents at Tim's house for lunch and catching up with him for a while and then Scott and I went to Milo's to celebrate Zipf's birthday.  It was a good night out.



On Saturday I did some Hill shopping with my parents.  It concluded with lunch at my cousin's restaurant.  I just can never get enough of her pizza!  After shopping we watched a little football and took some naps and then it was time to get ready for dinner at Zia's and then it was off to our first Blues game of the season!  We managed to see a great game between the New Jersey Devils and the Blues!  Thankfully the Blues squeaked out a 3-2 victory for the sellout crowd.

[caption id="attachment_841" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Blues salute the crowd"][/caption]

My parents left early Sunday morning.  It was a busy, busy few days with them in town.  Now just counting down until they move back!

Happy 90th Birthday Stan the Man

I'm stealing this from the Post Dispatch today...90 things about Stan

http://bit.ly/av5CAL

Happy Birthday Stan!

Royal Engagement

It would seem fitting that I should write a little something about the big engagement announcement  this week between Prince William and Kate Middleton.  Every time they come on the news I watch it or if there is a news article online I'm reading it so why not talk about it a little more.

They have been dating for 8 years with a break around year 5 and part of the reason they got back together was, supposedly, with a promise that he would marry her...That kinda seems far fetched but it's the royal family and anything is possible especially after waiting 5 years.

Also, after 8 years of dating Prince William seems to have made sure that he wants his marriage to last unlike his parents marriage.  After all my reading, he seems to be modeling his marriage after his grandparents who are still together (after 60 plus years).   William does not want to give the press more ammo than they will already have and therefore, he will continue to strive for a squeaky clean image.  He can leave the partying image to his brother.

But it does seem like the world will be watching them closely and Kate will be hounded just as much as Diana was, if not more so.  But to keep Diana in the loop, William did give Kate Diana's engagement ring, which is now the most sought after ring.



Not too bad looking, but I don't think I could handle the pressure of wearing Diana's ring if I was Kate.  Nice little manicure that Kate had done before the big announcement!

St. Louis Fall

The fall colors have really been coming through lately!  I love seeing the trees changing, but hate the aftermath of raking.  I saw this the other day while looking at a listing...

Sara Bareilles

I went to the Sara Bareilles concert on Saturday night at the Touhill Auditorium.  I hadn't planned on going but Kristen texted me Saturday afternoon informing me that she had a couple extra tickets for the concert that night.  I've heard a few of her songs on the radio but wasn't overly familiar with many of her songs but I was pleasantly surprised.

The opening act was Augustana and we did miss their performance due to a delay (multiple drinks) at Cork.  Cork is a wine bar and restaurant off Florissant Road in Ferguson - an area that I never go to.  But my bowl of french onion soup was amanzing and the wine list was pretty good.

We could not have timed our arrival to the concert any better.  The opening act had just finished and we were able to grab a drink and get to our seats before Sara Bareilles came on stage.  She put on a great show.  Even from our seats in the back she kept us all involved in the show and I ended up knowing more songs than I thought I would.  She did actually make me want to buy her new album as well.

Da Blues

So the St. Louis Blues have started the season off to one of the bests starts in franchise history.  Last night they were trying for the best start with win number 8 in a row, on the road in Columbus.  It didn't happen.  The injury riddle team finally lost, and lost bad, 8-1.  And to top it off suffered another injury to a top player.  TJ Oshie broke his ankle!

Even though this was just one game and it was the last of a 3 game road trip, it's hard to say when the injuries will catch up.  But the good news is that hopefully those who are out should be coming back soon.  The team still looks good with the guys are much more determined this year!

Our goalie, Halak has been solid in net!  I'm not sure what Davis Payne or Doug Armstrong said during the off season to get the young guys ready but it's working and it has made them fun to watch.

I love that they have been ranked number 1 in the ESPN polls for 3 weeks in a row!  I just wish that rest of the hockey world would take them seriously and start noticing them.  They still haven't received much TV air time on Sportscenter or even news headlines, besides St. Louis.  Even St. Louis, non-hockey, fans aren't paying attention.  Maybe that will change once football season dies down.

But for now Let's Go Blues!

November Lameness

November hasn't really been too busy for me or that exciting just yet.  I have been getting some real estate things in order and that's just about it.  In other news I have watched a few of Benton's district soccer games. Sadly, they lost the championship game last week.  But they played well all season and Monday was his 15th birthday!  He can now get his driver's permit!  Scary that I was 15 when he was born!

In hockey news, the Blues are off to one the best starts in franchise history!  They just keep winning even with a lot of the starters out injured!  We just bought tickets to our first game on the 2oth vs. the NJ Devils!

My parents will be visiting us in a week!  That should make for some exciting news!  And then it's off to Omaha for Thanksgiving!

Halloween 2010

Halloween is always a fun time for me to relive my childhood.  I loved going around the neighborhood with my neighbors and friends and telling jokes and seeing how much candy I could get.  And then as I got older tping kids in my class's house or having shaving cream fights in the streets.

This year Scott, Reily and I headed over to the Birch's house to celebrate.  The kids were still getting ready and Ellen was still getting food ready for us and her parents so I'll helped get Mathew's costume on.  Mathew was Batman, Catherine was a bag of Skittles, and Elizabeth was purple grapes.  Benton is officially too old for Halloween, being that he is a freshman in high school and 15 in a week!

This year the trick or treaters started a little earlier than we had hoped so Scott maned the table while we got dressed and then Mathew and I came out to listen to a few jokes while everyone else ate dinner.  Mathew soon bailed on us and we were left listening to jokes and giving out candy.  I have to say that I didn't hear that many really good jokes compared to last year but the best costumes were a refrigerator and Flo from the Progressive commercials.  Reily, of course had her scary skeleton costume on and I was the green M&M again.  It was a great night.

License to Sell

It's official, I finally have my Real Estate License and am able to take buyers out.  It's been a long time coming but it's finally happening.  This past weekend I was able to go out with my boss with 3 different buyers to look at 2 different properties (we looked at one twice).  Overall it was great to listen to her interact with the buyers and give her feedback on what she could work on so I know what areas I will need to focus on in the future.

Today we met up with a potential buyer who gave us a verbal offer on a house and my boss presented the offer to the seller and they will entertain the offer if the buyer puts it in writing.  I'm now on the verge of possibly having a contract to write on a house or have buyers to work with if this house is what they are really looking for.

All in all a huge sigh of relief is felt since I now know that I am legal and can really start talking to buyers.  My first open house will be this weekend...Halloween.  Not too sure if that's good or bad but I'll take it!