Apple Butter Festival

Scott, Zipf and I decided to head down to Kimmswick to check out the Apple Butter Festival.  After a short drive and a whole lot of traffic we arrived.  We took a shuttle bus over to the booths and away we went.



There were plenty of vendors that had things that I would never need; hats and t-shirts mainly.  But then there were plenty of dips to try and to buy.  We found a few things that we all liked.  Some potpourri, a purse, wreaths, and a great welcome sign for the front door.



It was a great afternoon of being outside and seeing a lot of fun craft items.  I can't wait to go back next year!

Game 7

All day on Friday, October 27, I could not work.  Nor could any of my co-workers.  It was a wasted day being at work.  Why?  Because the Cardinals played in an epic game the night before and forced a Game 7 in the World Series.  All we could talk about was where we were going to watch the game and how amazing the end to game 6 was.  When 5 o'clock rolled around we couldn't move faster to get out.

I had been talking with Zipf and Scott about where to go watch the game and what our plans would be.  Scott volunteered to run to Sybergs on Market street early to get us a table.  He ended up getting us the last table available.  I hurried home, changed, let Reily out and left to meet Zipf.  Once we left my car at Steak 'n Shake we were on our way down to meet Scott.  We arrived in plenty of time to chat before the game started.

[caption id="attachment_1583" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Go Cards!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1584" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Me and Zipf"][/caption]

Once Fox started the broadcast everyone in the restaurant was nervously watching.  Soon, the national anthem started to play, the entire restaurant was silent.  It was amazing to watch everyone be quiet the entire song.  Then the game started.

The Rangers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning.  Then the Cardinals came back with hit after hit and amanzing pitching by Carpenter.  It was an exciting game to watch.  We had our cheers going at the restaurant that helped keep us all in tuned with the game.  We even did the wave a few times.  Then it was the top of the 9th, and everyone just stared at the TV's looking like "wow this could happen."  Then Motte threw the last pitch, a routine pop up to Matt Holliday to end the game.  The Cardinals did the impossible, coming from 10.5 games back to winning it all!

The restaurant errupted in cheers and yells and song.  We quickly grabbed our stuff and headed down 15 blocks to join in the celebration outside the stadium.  By the time we started our walk the police were in full force to make sure nothing bad happened, nothing bad ever did happen.  Cars filled the streets with fans hanging out windows, honking horns and loud music.  It was a crazy scene down at Busch Stadium.  We walked up to the bridge across the street from the stadium and just looked at all the people.  We took some pictures and headed down to join the crowd.

[caption id="attachment_1569" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Crowds around Busch"][/caption]

We somehow managed to walk all the way to Paddy O's, but couldn't get in due to the crowds.  We then walked back over to the stadium to see if we could use the bathrooms inside.  And the gates were open.  We wandered up to the bathroom and saw that the players were running around the field.  We were able to get to the lower level seats, behind the green seats, and just took everything in.  We took a lot of pictures and watched David Freese, World Series MVP, give an interview.

[caption id="attachment_1570" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="World Series Champs!"][/caption]

We left the stadium and walked through Mike Shannon's and then walked back to our cars.  It was a crazy night but loved every minute of it!

Great Fall Weekend

What a great weekend!  It all started with us going down to the Mack to watch the Cards game on Friday night.  We met up with Zipf and ran into a few other people who I knew while watching the Cards beat Milwaukee to gain the lead in the NLDS.

We woke up to a very busy day on Saturday.  We met Zipf and went down to Soulard for some shopping.  Stocked up on some great fruit and veggies so dinner this coming week.  After a quick shopping trip, Zipf and I volunteered for the GO! St. Louis 10k packet pick up.  We were the greeters and showed people where to go to get their bibs.  The race pick up was held in the Muny's rehearsal room.  It was rather difficult to find and the park was a mess, but we finished up by 2:30.

[caption id="attachment_1545" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Apple picking"][/caption]

Then it was off to Belleville to go apple picking.  We got to Eckerts by 4:30 and after waiting for a while we were off on the tractor to pick some apples.  After gathering enough apples we stopped at the Pumpkin Patch.  We managed to find a couple good pumpkins.



[caption id="attachment_1546" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pumpkin Patch"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1547" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Our goodies"][/caption]

We stopped for dinner at Garvey's in SoCo.  I finally had trashed buffalo wings!  They were great!  I think that will be the only way I'll eat wings again!

Sunday was another busy day.  We did a little yard work to get the yard ready for the winter and pick up a bunch of leaves.  Then we headed over to St. Mary's to visit my great-aunt, who is recovering from knee surgery.  After visiting with family, we headed home and made a couple dips to take to Zipf's to watch the Cardinals clinch the NLCS! I loved watching the Brewers fans and their beast mode come to an end!

What a great weekend!  I'm now ready to go to Pierre Marquette to see if we can get some good fall pictures!

World Series Bound

The St. Louis Cardinals have done the unthinkable.  They went from being 10.5 games out of the wild card to 4 games away from another World Series Championship!

[caption id="attachment_1541" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="See yea Phillies"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1542" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Suds Series part 2"][/caption]

After the Atlanta Braves monumental collapse, the Cardinals have gone on to beat the Phillies and Brewers.  In both series, the Cardinals faced amazing pitching and tough hitters.  But in the end they have prevailed and are the NL champions.

Now they take of the Texas Rangers for the World Series.  Again, they are the underdogs and should not win in the minds of sports writers.  However, St. Louis has World Series fever and I'm so happy that I'm here for this one, after missing out on '04 and '06.

It's time to win our 11th Champhionship in 2011!  Go Redbirds!

Oktoberfest and Columbus Day

On Saturday evening I volunteered to work the entrance to Oktobertfest.  I have never attended St. Louis Oktobertfest so I didn't know what I was really in for.  But wow, it was an event.  The whole night I never really made it in past the gates since we had lines of people constantly coming by and they had waited over an hour and a half.

Our job for the night was to take the admissions from everyone, give them a bracelet and offer them a beer stein to buy.  We were told that press might stop by and to get ready to give them a VIP Pass.  That happened once.  Then we ran out of change and beer steins.  For some reason no one took us serious when we said we needed change so we closed our line.  I ran to get help and steins while the money never came.  We had to ask security to only let people with exact change in our entrance.

Somehow we survived the night with no breaks and stayed an extra hour longer.  We did end up making some cash on the night's events as well.  I got home with a horrible headache and passed out from exhaustion.

Sunday was a whole other story.  We decided to head down to The Hill for the Columbus Day Parade.  We got to my cousin's restaurant and set up our chairs for a front row seat.  We got some good candy and I got another Vitale's Bakery t-shirt to add to my collection.





[caption id="attachment_1536" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="What's a parade without Shriner's?"][/caption]

After the parade we met up with Zipf and tried to find some food in the park but the lines were too long and it was a mess to get anywhere.  We decided that it was time to get some real food and headed back to Debbie's restaurant.  Great Columbus Day!

Birds!

It's official Cardinal fever is everywhere in St. Louis!  Thanks to the Rally Squirrel for getting the Birds past the pesky Phillies and on into the NLCS. 

 



 

Lasagna

It's official, my cooking skills are coming together.  We have been wanting to make lasagna for a while now and had planned to cook it over the weekend.  But when weekend's events too long we pushed it off till Monday.  We had all the ingredients ready to go for Monday nights cooking.  The last time we made lasagna it took a couple of hours to make everything, so I was ready for a long night. 

Scott was working late, so once I got home at 6 I started cooking.  I started with the meat, then the veggies and then the sausage.  Then made my way on to the cheeses and then the noodles.  Scott got home around 7:30 and I was just a layer into it.  Once I got going it was all good.  I stuck it in the over and made a very quick cheese lasagna with the leftovers.

After a long 40 minute wait the lasagna was done and I have a little more confidence in the kitchen.  Scott loved it and I'm hoping to get more than one meal and a few lunches out of it.

Missouri's Best

We headed out to the Missouri Botanical Gardens on Saturday.  It was a beautiful day to be out and enjoying the weather and Scott being off!  This weekend the Garden was hosting Missouri's Best, a weekend full of showing off food, clothing, wine, some flowers, found in Missouri.

[caption id="attachment_1531" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hanging out at MoBot"][/caption]

We picked up Zipf and then met up with Kristin and her mom at the Garden and then dove in to the first of four tents.  When we got there we were all a little hungry and thought we would need to stop somewhere for food.  But little did we know that all the free samples of food would be a great lunch.  There was sausages, dips, salsas, pickles, fudge, wines, pasties, and more for us to try.

Scott found a place that uses wood from old barns and farm buildings and then creates furniture.  They put the history of the building on the side of the piece and then there is a metal engraving with the date of the building as well.  It was very cool and I saw a few pieces I wouldn't mind getting.

We only bought a candle but did walk away with a lot of business cards.  Kristin and Zipf walked away with a few new dips and wines.  It was a sucessful day.

Ankle Update

About two weeks ago my work was having some construction done outside our main entrance door.  On that Friday afternoon, they tore up the sidewalk and yellow taped off the stairs up to our cars.   When it came time for lunch I decided that I was not going to walk all the way around and walked up the flower beds to my car successfully.  An hour later I came back and decided to walk down the same flower beds.  Step one, done.  Step two, pop and falling backwards.

I sat there for a moment thinking I wasn't going to be able to walk.  I was getting light-headed and sick to my stomach.  I mustered up the strength to walk in the office and to my desk.  I calmly said to my co-worker that I just sprained my ankle and that I was sick to my stomach.  I just sat with my head down.  The pain slowly passed and I was able to walk with a limp the rest of the day.  I got home and elevated my foot and stayed off it all night. 

Saturday was the balloon race and my foot was really sore and swollen, but I could still walk.  Over the last two weeks my ankle has been sore to touch and it won't completely bend.  I've been wrapping it for extra support but that hasn't helped much either.  I've sucked it up and finally went to the doctor.



Both the doctor and the physician's assistant could see the swelling and were concerned about a possible break.  I was sent for x-rays of my foot and ankle to assess the damage.  The x-rays came back negative, thankfully.  I'm now wearing an air cast and tennis shoes to help out and I need to be icing my foot night.  The icing my foot hasn't happened as much as it should but I'm working on it. 

Hopefully, I'll be able to fully rotate my foot again.