Aug 31st, 2010 | Food, Fun, St Louis, life | No Comments
This weekend was a damn fine weekend to live in St Louis. Chris had his fake football draft all day Saturday. I was going to work in the garden because it is a hot mess that I have a lot of shame over, but then I succumbed to peer pressure, as I so often do, and headed to LouFest.
LouFest is an unfortunately-named first-year music festival held in St Louis’s crown jewel, Forest Park, where Chris and I got married. The lineup was impressive (She&Him, Broken Social Scene, Lucero, Built to Spill, Jeff Tweedy), but not packed with bands we actively follow and love. Normally, we would have totally been down for going both days, but we ultimately decided not to spend the money on two-day passes for both of us. It seemed like my entire Twitter feed was going, though, and Friday I just decided to go for it and told my boy Mike D. that I was going to join him on Saturday. → continue reading
Aug 27th, 2010 | Food, Fun, St Louis, life, work | 4 Comments
I started a new part-time gig at a local kitchen shop that also offers cooking classes. All I do is prep the kitchens for classes, assist chefs who are teaching, and clean up during and after the classes. It’s a sweet gig for several reasons: → continue reading
Aug 10th, 2010 | Fun, MamaPop, bloggety stuff, life | 10 Comments
My trip to New York was a whirlwind of awesome. That pretty much sums it up.
There are fewer things better for the mind and soul than having high hopes that people you admire will like you back should you meet them and those hopes coming true. I think many of us still hold on to feelings of rejection from middle school or high school, and those can resurface at events like BlogHer. And when people aren’t snobs, and instead embrace you willingly, with arms oustretched, and shower you with positive thoughts, well, it’s nice. It’s better than nice. It’s fan-fucking-tastic. I finally met so many awesome, amazing people I’ve been sharing my life with online, and they were smarter, and funnier, and more intelligent and fun than I thought possible. And when I met these people, they gave me giant, genuine, real hugs. The level of positivity and emotional generosity is unlike anything I’ve experienced.
The highlights: → continue reading
Aug 4th, 2010 | Fun, family, life, photos | 1 Comment
We just spent a few days up at Clear Lake in northern Iowa with my family.We rented a house on the lake, just like we did in Blackduck, Minnesota two years ago, and cruised around on a pontoon while drinking beer and making pathetic attempts at catching fish (except for my dad; he caught fish). We didn’t get to town until almost midnight on Friday, as Chris had a workshop all day and we got caught in some crazy rainstorms that send many a less-fearless driver to the shoulder. Of course, we pull up, and Big Ed is waiting in the street to direct us in, despite the fact that I had received no less than three texts from my sister-in-law about Ed falling asleep in his camp chair. Midnight is really past Big Ed’s bedtime, for reals, but his love for directing parking is limitless. → continue reading
Jul 16th, 2010 | Fun, MamaPop, Uncategorized, bloggety stuff, education, family, life | No Comments
Sunday I turned 30. Truth be told, I have relatively little anxiety about it. I was too damn stressed last Thursday and Friday, what with the complete failure of my hard drive on Thursday and (delayed) travel to school on Friday. I have a lot of friends who are older than me, which must be because I’m so mature I pronounce it matoor, so it just wasn’t that big of a deal. I’m lucky to have the life that I have; it’s a damn good one. And, I lost 15 pounds in the last three months. → continue reading
Jun 28th, 2010 | Fun, family, life | 3 Comments
This dang pup is killing me.
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Jun 21st, 2010 | Fun, family, life | 6 Comments
So we agreed to dog sit for our friends Christine and Joe. They have two chill, agreeable dogs named Sunny and Sid, and even though we have a tiny house, we thought three dogs and a cat for one week is not a big deal in the scheme of favors to do for your friends. Asher would enjoy the company of his pals.
On Friday night, after having Sid and Sunny for about not even one day, Chris said, “You know, it’s not so bad with three dogs in here. We should get another dog” to which I said, “True. No.” → continue reading
Jun 15th, 2010 | Fun, Sporty | 4 Comments
I really, really love the World Cup. Of course, I love soccer. Duh. I love that it gets showcased on a global level, I love the excitement and fervor surrounding it. I love picking teams to cheer for. I love the spectacle. I love the fans and, critics be damned, I even love the vuvuzelas. I love being in a bar surrounded by people cheering for the United States. I love going to bars in the middle of the day. Wait, I mean, I love going to bars in the middle of the day when lots of people are doing the same. Most of all, I love soccer on the television for eight hours a day a for a few weeks. It’s like March Madness for the rest of the world.
But, damn it, every four years, the World Cup’s emergence onto the American cultural radar means I get annoyed by the following things: → continue reading
Jun 7th, 2010 | Fun, Uncategorized, family, life | 2 Comments
I’ve been off the grid, taking a much-needed road trip down South. Chris’s sister moved to Florida, so we drove the U-Haul down to Orlando, then rented a car and spent some time on the coast. It was wonderful and I’m still mentally recovering and trying to catch up in St Louis. Check out a few cool things we saw during our trip.
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Apr 27th, 2010 | Fun, Sporty, life | 1 Comment
I made a return to Kirksville for our annual Truman Soccer alumni weekend. During this weekend, former players and hanger-ons get together, scrimmage the current varsity team, drink beer, and make fun of how old we are. It is always a good time.
This year we had a record turnout of almost 50 women alums. We also had SIX All-Americans back in town. These two things combine to mean two important things: one, the old ladies won the game for the first time since ’05; two, there were so many damn young ‘uns and all-out ballers that I felt no need to even step foot on the field. I deemed myself Chief Shit Talker and Unflattering Photographer and parked my expanded-since-’01 ass on the bench with my old teammates, some of which I hadn’t seen in years and years. Apparently the cool thing to do is to continue to work out and play soccer after you graduate, even nine years after the end of your career. I vow as soon as I turn 30 and can be in masters’ leagues, I will embark on a second career the likes of which has never been seen in former Iowan/Div II players who insist on only playing half-field. But seriously, some ladies had babies and were looking fierce on the pitch. I will say, however, that my shit-talking hasn’t really lost its game. Sorry, current squad, but you just lost to people with 401ks and visible panty lines. Better step up the off-season training. → continue reading
