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!

Winery Trip

It was another very busy weekend.  Saturday started with a little volleyball in Clayton.  Nothing like watching 7th grade volleyball.  Although I didn't get to watch too much of the game as I was entertaining a 4 year old and signing up Scott for the Go St. Louis Halloween 10K.  But Elizabeth's team won their first match of the season Saturday morning so it was a big deal!  Mathew and I managed to get some soccer practice in as well.

I did sign Scott up for the Halloween 10K that was Sunday morning.  After the volleyball game I ran the kids back to their house and they were off to the zoo and I was off to the Augusta wineries for a 30th birthday party bash for people I've never met before.

I met up with Kristin and we then met up with the group and hopped on the party bus and drank and ate and drove out to Augusta.  The drive wasn't that bad, especially since we didn't have to worry about anything.  We stopped at 2 different, Mount Pleasant and Sugar Creek.  Both wineries were packed.  It was a beautiful day in St. Louis and everyone is taking advantage of being outside.  So our hour at each place went super fast.  We even stopped at the biker bar on our drive back.  It was a great way to spend the afternoon...much better than watching Nebraska lose to unranked Texas.



Sunday was race day.  I got up to cheer on Scott and Ellen while they ran the 10K.  Elizabeth and I were able to watch the start of the race and see all the costumes go by and then get a perfect spot for the finish line.  We saw the winner finish the 10K in under 31 minutes!  Here is Ellen about to cross the finish.  We completely missed Scott running past us.

[caption id="attachment_769" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Ellen in pink "][/caption]

Here are a couple good pictures of the costumes:

Real Estate Business

It's official, I'm a REALTOR^®!  After many frustrating tries at the National and Missouri Real Estate tests, I've passed and have sent all my information into the the Missouri Real Estate Commission (MREC).

I've started training with my brokerage firm.  I'm back on a schedule.  Monday's are contract training, Tuesday's are office meetings and caravan, Wednesday - Friday is training with our broker-owner and then making calls or meetings.

It is very exciting starting a new career with many possibilities.  I'm starting as a Buyer's Agent with an established agent.  I have so much to learn from her that I'm looking forward to any feedback that I get from her on any project that she has me doing.

Summer in October

This weekend felt like summer.  It was back in the mid 80s Saturday and Sunday and for a while it felt like a San Antonio fall day.  Something that I didn't really care too much about.  However, my weekend really started on Thursday with me finally passing my Missouri Real Estate exam.  This means I am finally done with testing and am almost a licensed Realtor!

I celebrated by meeting up with the Birch's at Benton's soccer game, my second game of the week.  Both games were very intense and close.  One went into OT and then PK's, Crossroads won that game but on Thursday the other team scored late to break the tie and won the game.  Afterwards, I took Mathew to Kindermusik class and Elizabeth tagged along to get some homework done.  After Mathew's music class we went back to the Birch house to watch the Nebraska game!  It was a great win and an even more fun night to watch the game with the kids, even though they are Mizzou fans!



Friday I dropped off my paperwork at the office and was told that my application to get my real estate license was going to be overnighted!  Very exciting news!  I then had the day to enjoy the fact that I didn't have to study any more!  Friday night we BBQ'ed and cooked at home and then went out to see  The Town.  Not a bad little Ben Affleck movie.  I'm always surprised with his directing abilities.

Saturday was another busy day.  Reily and I took a walk at Creve Cour park.  It seems the only time we make it out there is when there is an event going on at the same time.  This past Saturday there was a walk for Diabetes, too bad we showed up a little too late to sign up.  It was already in the mid 70s but 10:30 Saturday morning.  Reily was really wanting to jump in the lake but she settled for getting her paws wet.



After cleaning up we headed to Millstadt, Illinois for some apple picking at Eckerts.  Thankfully we might have missed the rush at Eckerts by going a little later.  Although we did have to wait a while for the tractors to take us out to the apples but it wasn't too bad.  We did have to get some water to stay cool!  We picked some Golden Delicious and Fiji's and now have plenty of apples for pies, cobblers and sauces that I need to make!  After getting our apples we headed to the pumpkin patch.  We then walked around a bit to find the perfect pumpkin out of thousands!  Grabbed our pumpkin and then headed back to the tractor for our ride back to the main farm.  We bought about 15lbs of apples and a 17lb pumpkin while we were there.  Going to Eckerts, any location is a must St. Louis Fall activity.  I remember doing that when I was 3 with my grandma, although it was much cooler when we went.







Sunday was the Columbus Day parade on The Hill.  We decided to get there a little early to get a good seat on the parade route.  Last year we just went to the festivities in Berra Park and missed the parade.  This year we were going to see the parade and skip the park.  I think we made the better decision this year.  We grabbed a bench in front of my cousin's restaurant, Rizzo's Station Pizzeria and waited.  For a while it looked like Debbie, my cousin, wasn't going to be able to open and Scott volunteered to be a waiter if she really needed him.  But her help arrived just in time for the parade to start.  Watching the parade was a lot of fun.  Lots of candy came flying our way and even ran into a friend who I've known since I was 3!





After the parade we headed to the Highlander to watch the Rams game...hoping they were putting up a fight by the time we got there.  However, they looked horrible.  It was an embarrassing loss.  Thankfully there were about 10 other games going on at the same time to distract me from watching the horrible Rams.

It was another great busy weekend and now time for a busy week to start.  Happy Columbus Day!

Let's Go Blues!

It's officially hockey season and I cannot be happier!  It's a great time of year, hockey started, football is in full swing, and it's almost World Series time.

The Blues had their home opener on Saturday night against the Philadelphia Flyers and after leading most of the game the Flyers tied the game to cause OT.   However, Carlo Colaiacovo came through and won the game!  The only down side to this game was the injury to Cam Janssen.  He received a concussion and will be out for 2 weeks.

The second game was on Columbus Day.  The Blues killed the Ducks!  The game was hard hitting and very exciting.  Ryan Reaves was brought up to fill in for Janssen and filled his spot well.  He played hard and even gave the crowd the fight they deserved.  Overall, the Blues played with power and I can't wait to keep watching!

Let's Go Blues!