Feb 24th, 2010 | Food, Fun, St Louis, Uncategorized, feminism, good deeds | 2 Comments
***Cross-posted at Food Blog Mafia
Recently I joined the new Young Professionals board for Safe Connections. If you aren’t familiar with Safe Connections:
As the oldest and largest locally-founded agency serving abused women and teens in the St. Louis region, Safe Connections is essential core of resources and support for survivors of violence. Safe Connections is the only agency providing integrated services for women who have been victimized by domestic violence, sexual assault, rape and/or childhood sexual abuse. (from Safe Connections’ About Us)
Safe Connections provides vital services for women and teens in the area who are survivors of violence, and their work is an area where the need for help is almost always greater than what they can provide. The Young Professionals is a new group formed by Safe Connections to gain volunteers and supporters in the 21-40 age group who can help Safe Connections expand their mission and services.
We’re hosting a happy hour to raise awareness about and gain membership for Safe Connections and our Young Professionals group. This event will be held at Pi in the Central West End on Wednesday, March 3, from 5-7. Chris Sommers, who owns Pi, is also a member of the Young Professionals group, and Pi will be offering half-price appetizers and drink specials for those in attendance. You should come. You need no reason to go to Pi and have a cocktail on a Wednesday, and this gives you free reign to claim it as your good deed for the day or week should you see fit.
Domestic violence is an issue that does not discriminate based on race, socioeconomic status, political affiliation, or religion. I’d love to see you guys come out, particularly my lady-blogger friends.
Feb 11th, 2010 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
If you are in the St Louis area, please check out Justin’s posts over at the Yellow Tree Farms blog. We are growing plants for sale this year for your herb/veggie garden, and because we have limited space to grow these seedlings with the various projects we’re working on, we’re taking preorders. All the plants are grown using organic methods, and many plants are grown from certified organic or heirloom seeds. I truly believe we’re offering the best variety of plants in the area, especially in terms of tomatoes. If you are interested or have questions, e-mail Justin at justin <at> yellowtreefarm <dot> com.
Feb 4th, 2010 | Food, Garden, St Louis, Uncategorized, education, life, work | 8 Comments
The Bad News (because I’d rather get it out of the way first):
When I left my job helping unqualified people become underwhelming teachers (I KID, at least five of them were competent. Ashley, you’re one of them), I went to work with a friend, helping her with the small business she owned. When I started working with her, we set a three-month trial period, at the end of which either of us could withdraw from the arrangement, no hard feelings. Unfortunately, due to a really crappy economy, she really couldn’t afford to keep me after three and a half months, which I expected. Therefore, as of Friday, I have no substantive incoming coming in regularly.
Which kind of sucks. → continue reading
Dec 18th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Hey all…
It takes an e-mail from BlogHer Ads for me to realize I haven’t posted in two weeks. I’m here; I’m fine. I just haven’t been able to succinctly say…anything, really. I think I burned myself out by spending three solid days writing my case study for class this semester. But I’m not leaving or anything. You can check my pulse over at Twitter. I promise I’ll post for realsies next week.
Until then, you can read my last two Novice Foodie columns to tide you over…
Nov 30th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 7 Comments
It’s back! A&E’s Hoarders is a guilty pleasure. These people are literally consumed by their possessions. I watch a lot of shows about people’s issues. Actually, most reality television is ultimately about people’s issues, but none seem so intimate, so shame-inducing, so hopeless as Hoarders. At least with shows like Intervention, the show offers some type of realistic help (and, with it, hope) to those they profile. With Hoarders, the show’s format (hoarder has a 1-800-GOT-JUNK crew for two days, plus either a therapist or life coach) doesn’t even allow for much help. The hoarder won’t just give up their “stuff” cold turkey.
ANYWAY, onward to our new season. → continue reading
Nov 24th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments
at National Blog Posting Month.
Carry on.
Nov 22nd, 2009 | St Louis, Uncategorized, health care, politics | 7 Comments
I have disengaged somewhat from politics since the end of the election season because I was both burned out and just wanted to sit back and see what happened post-election. As predicted, the GOP, particularly the far right, has collectively lost its shit and *gone rogue* in the most hilarious, yet frightening, way possible. This makes me sad, because, while I love schadenfreude with my all of heart and soul, I also love intelligent discourse, and that seems to have gone out the window. This is what happens when people’s entire rhetorical strategy is to talk the loudest. I can imagine how frustrating it might be to be a conservative who actually wants to talk about policy and issues, not hyperbole and misconceptions. → continue reading
Nov 20th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 4 Comments
…to inform you that I went into the bathroom this morning to take a shower, and there, on the bathmath, was a FUCKING DEAD MOUSE.
Yeah, I know. I screamed, too.
No, I didn’t take a picture of it. I was too busy trying to calculate my next move.
Let me preface this by saying that I hate, hate, HATE rodents of all types. Their fur is dirty and gross, their beady eyes are menacing, and they clearly have ulterior motives. Last summer I got up to pee in the middle of the night while on family vacation in Minnesota and came face to face with a small brown mouse. As it was 2AM, I tried not to scream, just peed while holding my feet as far off the ground as possible without sacrificing fighting position, then ran and jumped back into bed and told Chris about it. I spent the rest of the vacation terrified that this same brown mouse would run over my face at night, gnaw my eyes out, and infect me with rabies while doing so.
Also, I hate bunnies.
You can imagine what it was like when I spied a possum on my back porch one night last year. I screamed, then locked myself in our bedroom until Chris came home and could declare an all-clear. Have you seen a possum’s nose? Or their long tail? Disgusting.
Here’s the thing. I know rodents are smaller than me and *allegedly* more frightened of me than vice versa. Bullshit. Those things resent being lower on the food chain and the target of cartoon ridicule, and they’ll mercilessly spread disease and pestilence until they feel they have compensated the memory of their forefathers.
So, yeah. I’m not trying to have a faceoff with a mouse, rat, squirrel, possum, feral hamster or guinea pig, or any of their disgusting ilk. Or rabbits. So I picked that motherfucker up with a broom and a dustpan and threw it in the yard and am TRYING to get on with my day. I just thought you should know that no matter what Walt Disney tries to brainwash you into thinking, you CANNOT trust a rodent. Even a dead one.
Nov 13th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
It’s actually almost 1 here in Asheville. We got served by a 1 1/2 hour detour only about an hour outside of Asheville. Didn’t get here until about 12:30 after eating, so I’m technically good for Friday by seven minutes, MO time. Will document more of our adventure tomorrow.
Nov 10th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 3 Comments
First off, as promised, check out my take on an underground supper club here in St Louis in this week’s Novice Foodie. I can’t say enough good things about my meal and the entire experience.
Chris and I up and decided to take an impromptu road trip this weekend. We have a long tradition of road trippin’ that we started the summer between us getting engaged and getting married, when we spent almost a month on the road driving out to and up the West Coast. Almost every summer, we’ve done some long trip together, except last summer, when I was working. These trips are an adventure and help us recharge ourselves and our relationship. It’s been a while since we had that feeling of adventure, so we decided that Chris would take a day off and we’d just drive with only the skeleton of a plan. We have great conversation and communication when we’re in the car for long periods of time. We take turns picking music, get shitty gas station snacks like beef jerky and slushies, take pictures, and watch the landscape change. It is extremely therapeutic.
We decided to drive out to Charlotte, North Carolina. Our friends Josh and Michelle and their daughter, Ansley, moved out there a while ago, and we miss hanging out with them immensely. Josh and Michelle were not going to come home for the holidays this year, so we decided to go see them so we can talk about pop culture, listen to music, and get insanely competitive in board games. Tentatively we’re going to drive halfway Friday, stay in Nashville, drive the rest of the way Saturday, stay with Josh and Michelle on Saturday night. Leave Sunday afternoon, drive to Louisville, stay the night, drive back Monday. This is all up for debate though. Any of y’all have suggestions on (especially) dining or things to see/do in any of those towns or in those general areas, leave a comment, please. We are flexible about everything except the final destination being Charlotte.
