Summertime...

Summer seems to be in full force and with that I seem to be super busy.  Last Saturday alone was the start of busy weekends to come.  I started off with yoga in the park with Liz and Theresa.  We got there a few minutes late and missed out of a few downward facing dog and that's alright by me.  Of course afterwards we headed straight to the farmers market and the freshly made crepes.  Who can resist strawberry and chocolate crepes on a Saturday morning?!



I hurried home to get cleaned up for the International Horseradish Festival.  Yes, that's right, International Horseradish Festival.  Scott & I met up with Tom and Kristin and drove over to Collinsville, IL to take in all the fun and excitement that one can experience around the horseradish.  They did have a lot of booths and games, there was a drive the root to win a foursome at a local course and who can throw the horseradish the longest.  Plus many different food booths with dipping sauces to try, even a Bloody Mary competition.  All in all it was a great afternoon.

[caption id="attachment_347" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Tom, Kristin, me, and Scott"][/caption]

We even met some new friends from Collinsville who helped us find the World's Largest Catsup Bottle!  It was worth the drive to find and get some pictures!

[caption id="attachment_348" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Kristin & I"][/caption]

After we returned from Collinsville, Scott and I headed out to Chesterfield to meet up with another couple for dinner at 54th Street Grill.  This was recommended by Boland (Chris) so we'd give it a shot.  The food was great and it was even better to finally get to meet his fiancé, Chrissy.  The only problem Scott & I had was that we had probably eaten too much crappy food all day and the Gringo Sauce did us in.  The rest of the night we kept saying that "Gringo kicked my ass."  The next time we all go out we are showing them the awesomeness of South City and the Hill and Ted Drews!

On Sunday we slept in a little and then it was time to attack the backyard.  Scott did an awesome job and finally clearing out the last section of brush on the hill and now you can see all the tress back there.

[caption id="attachment_350" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Backyard Before"][/caption]

By just finishing that spot the yard looks 120% better.  Reily was able to play fetch and "help" Scott out while he made piles.  Reily is extremely happy with the yard and loves running around.  It's the first thing she wants to do when she walks in the door.

[caption id="attachment_351" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Reily playing"][/caption]

Later Scott's parents came up to install the custom closet shelving into the master bedroom.  It's amazing how much bigger the closet actually looks once that was installed.  It was a busy weekend and seems to be looking like a busy summer.  This weekend, St. Gabe's picnic, can't wait!

Nebraska...the good life...er visit

Memorial day weekend 2010 was spent visiting with family in Lincoln, Nebraska.  One of my younger cousins, Jeff was getting married.  And it was a perfect reason to get the whole Sheldon clan together to visit and meet the newest members.  Besides the beautiful bride, Annie, there were 2 newborns joining the group, Mallory and Christian Penke born about 2 weeks apart.

Scott and I drove up on Saturday and arrived in Lincoln early enough to get some food and a nice swim at our hotel before heading to downtown Lincoln for the rehearsal dinner.  This was Scott's first time meeting my mom's entire side of the family, I'm sure it was pretty overwhelming but he handled it like a champ.  Scott had already met Jeff and Annie so I figured that after meeting the bride and groom everyone else would be easy and it was.

On Sunday, we had our day planned out, we did get up a little earlier than we had planned but we didn't know howmuch time everything would or would not take.

We toured Memorial Stadium, home of the Nebraska Cornhuskers!  This was the first time that I remember being this close to the stadium.  I'm sure if I talked to my parents I've been on campus before.  However there was a self guided tour that we took that we could walk out and over look the field.





Once we finished with the field we were able to see all the bowl trophies that Nebraska has won.  There were a lot!  And then it was on to the Experience Room.  You could fit about 10 to 20 people in there and it was a film about the 3 Heisman Trophy winners and then the game day video.  The Heisman Trophy video was by far the best because after each highlight reel they would turn the wall around and the trophy would pop out.



After a walk around campus to see if there was a bookstore open, there wasn't, we walked along O Street.  O Street is the longest main street in America.  Of course on a Sunday morning in Lincoln barely anything was open.  We decided to head down to the Haymarket to try our luck down there.  There were more restaurants and antique shops and the old train station (site of the reception).  We then headed to our final destination of the day, the state capital building.  We had a little time to kill before it opened so we walked around the governor's  mansion and a couple historical.  After going for the "tour" it was the creepiest capital building I've been in and there wasn't much to see.  I'm basing the not much to see on having just seen the capital building in Texas.

The wedding went off without a hitch, minus the pastor not being able to say Nienhueser.  After 3 tries he kinda got it right.  Either way the DJ had trouble announcing them at the reception too.  The reception was a lot of fun.  It's always a great time hanging out with the Sheldon cousins.  Scott and I did a little dancing and talking and catching up with everyone.  We did have time for family photos.  Emily brought her camera so we could get all the cousins together for the first time since 1999.  I'm sure those pictures came out great.  Can't wait to see them.

[caption id="attachment_341" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The family"][/caption]

On Monday, Scott and I left Lincoln and headed to Kansas City.  We were off to see the Royals game.  It was my first time at Kaufman Stadium.  I've been told that they just done some remodeling and it was pretty nice and cheap!  2 hot dogs and 2 sprites $4, same thing at Busch $25.  Our seats were perfect they were close enough but we were not in the sun so we didn't get sun burnt.  It was a hot day and with the remaining 4 hours left to drive I don't think we would have last too long sitting in that sun.  The Royals didn't fair too well but it was nice to check another ballpark off my list of to do.

[caption id="attachment_338" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="View from our seats"][/caption]

Mini Flood

Nothing like coming home to disaster. I came home this morning and found that my shower exploded! The crazy storm that we had caused the sewer to back up and come up through my shower drain and later found out, through the drain in the laundry room next to my bathroom. But it gets so much better! As I started to put more clothes away I walked to my closet to find that the carpet in my closet was completely soaked!

I called my landlord and he was over here fairly fast. After assessing the damage he had a carpet guy come over and suck up 10 gallons of water out of my closet carpet! 10 gallons! After cleaning that up he placed a solvent on there is hopefully prevent the mold from forming. I'm very skeptical of that even working since the carpet still feels very wet. I did get a fan in there to start trying to dry it out. The goal is to let the fan go all night to see what happens tomorrow.

What I think will happen...they will be here tomorrow to start pulling up the carpet and I will have to move somewhere while they do the work. I think there is more than just the carpet needing to be replaced since I can see the water level going up the wall. I have taken pictures today (Thursday) and really hope that it's not much worse tomorrow. But I will not live in a moldy basement. On the bright since, I have not had any damage to my belongings!

Lone Star State

Scott and I took our first vacation together to visit my family and friends in San Antonio.  We had 3 full days to spend there and we were busy.  On Friday we took a day trip to Austin and explored downtown for the afternoon.  We had lunch at Moonshine Bar & Grill and it was wonderful.  Afterwards we cruised 6th Street and viewed the much quieter bar scene on our way to tour the Capital Building.  The Capital Building was very interesting, viewing the art work, the Senate room and the offices.  It was worth the stop.   Even if we couldn't couldn't go into the reception room.  

We did stop across the street from University of Texas and walked along and saw a small street fair with jewelry.  We stopped at a local coffee shop to relax and people watch.  We drove back to San Antonio to meet up with my parents for dinner.  After dinner Scott helped my dad fixed his "computer problems" and we relaxed a bit before heading out to meet Jason, Kendra and Jon at the Flying Saucer.  I'm extremely happy that Scott was able to finally meet Jon & Jason since they have been a big part of my San Antonio life and even more happy to know that Kendra approved!

On Saturday, Scott and I went hiking in Eisenhower park.  It was fun showing Scott Reily and I's hiking route and the faint sound of gun fire from Camp Bullis in the background.  We cleaned up and headed down to the South East side of San Antonio for lunch at Big Lou's.  This was Scott's only requested stop while in San Antonio.  We had seen this place on Man vs. Food and their famous 42" pizza, so we had to try it.  Since my dad had been there a few times for lunch at work he drove us down there.  It was a good 30 minute drive to the pizza place from my parents house into to a iffy neighborhood.  While waiting, and it was a long wait, we met Big Lou and he talked to us about how he uses the best ingredients to make is pizzas and that they are expanding soon.  Big Lou was right, the pizza was amazing!  And completely worth the wait.

After lunch we we and walked around downtown San Antonio and enjoyed being tourist for the afternoon.  It was a great afternoon.

[caption id="attachment_311" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Scott & I at the Alamo"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_313" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Me & Scott on the Riverwalk"][/caption]

After our tourist afternoon we tried to head back to my parents house but on our way back to the highway we were stuck behind the Immigration Reform parade.  The parade lasted about 10 minutes and it was the most unorganized parade I've ever watched.   We made it out to Niki & Chris's baby shower.  I was happy for Scott to meet more friends, April and Niki & Chris.  I finally met Josh, April's boyfriend.  All in all it was a fun event.  I had an even bigger surprise that afternoon and found out that Cody was in town.  After a quick Rudy's run, Scott and I headed over to Oak Hills Tavern...the old Frostie hang out for a few drinks and laughs.

[caption id="attachment_314" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Scott & I at Oak Hills"][/caption]

On Sunday we visited with Kelly, Ken, Katie and Allie.  The girls just keep getting bigger and they are so much fun.  After hanging out with the girls we went down to Alamo Cafe for a quick lunch.  We then drove up to Gruene, Texas to check out the town.

[caption id="attachment_315" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Me & Scott in Gruene, Texas"][/caption]

We did the old time pictures and then went down to Gruene Hall, the oldest Dance Hall in Texas.  Gruene was the perfect day, we saw Robyn Ludwick and Guy Forsythe there.   We then came back home and had my dad's birthday/mother's day dinner with my parents and then spent a relaxing night at my parents house.

It was a great trip down to San Antonio and Scott survived my parents, even though he thought my dad was going to kill him.  ;-)

Easter Weekend

[caption id="attachment_295" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Scott & I at Castlewood Park"][/caption]

Scott had Good Friday off so we decided to take advantage of the great weather.  First we went to breakfast at Chris's pancake house and stopped to get cookies for Easter lunch at Missouri Bakery.  And on our way to the park we stopped to check in with Zia Julie.  This was Scott's first visit with Zia.  She seems to be doing well after her short hospital visit.

After a quick change of clothes we were off to Castlewood Park in West county.  We hiked up to the top of the bluff and overlooked the Meremac River.  It was a great view.  We managed to hike for a couple hours.

Friday night we tried a Greek restaurant in Clayton that we will definitely go back to and caught Hot Tub Time Machine.  Truly a funny 80s movie.

On Saturday, Scott did a little shopping to update his wardrobe at Old Navy.  And then we headed down to his parents house so that he could help his mom with some work.  Scott's dad and I watch basketball while they worked.

On Easter, we went to Scott's parent's house for a late lunch.  Scott's sister made a few dishes that were great!  After an afternoon walk we relaxed and watched movies.  All in all it was a great weekend.  The weather was perfect too.  Can't wait for this weekend.  It's finally the 1/2 marathon!

Week 3

It's been a couple weeks since I've been laid off and honestly I'm still enjoying my mini vacation.  I obviously really needed a break.  I'm sure it will hit me soon that I am short on funds but right now I'm ok with staying home during the day and not going out much.  I have picked up the pace on sending out resumes and trying to make contacts.

Today I was lucky to make a contact courtesy of my dad.  He has a college friend that has business contacts in St. Louis and he is going to pass my resume along to them.  It is still a waiting game to see if I am qualified for any open positions with their company's.  I, also, applied for a few government jobs and a marketing job that I found.  Maybe this week I get a call back.

Starting a new business

For some people who are laid off the thought of running your own business might cross their mind.  You think you can run a business better than you last boss.  You wouldn't have let the company get to a point where it has to let employees go.  Or have you ever just always wanted to be your own boss but not sure where to start?  I'm currently stuck on the latter.

I feel that there are a bunch of ideas out there that I want to do.  I would be a great boss but where do I start?  Do I go the consulting route?  Public Relations?  Event Planning?  Trade Shows?  So many ideas but so little of understanding where to start.

Suggestions?