a Friday treat, just for you

I'm ready to pay it forward, blog style. I found this on a blog from another friend, and I have such fun playing around on this website where you can play around with letters and create words or even those cute last name plaques for a wedding gift. Here's what I came up with!

Happy Friday!

PG what?!!

Last night was the all-important and fantastic "girls night out." I hit up happy hour for a bit, downed 2 glasses of wine, and then headed to a chick flick. Cute movie, but not quite sure why it was so raunchy. They must have said "cock" about 50 times from start to finish. Somehow I missed this until it was over, but at the other end of our row was a mother and her child- no more than SIX years old. Excuse me?!!!! I think my mom made me cover my eyes for boobs in movies until I was old enough to probably have a pair of my own! I couldn't believe it- we were all baffled! I give this movie 2 out of 5 stars... cute and worth a red box rental, but don't go waste the $8-10 at the theater.

judged

Isn't he just the cutest?! There's Jack, posing in all his glory for the famous 2008 Christmas card. It's like he smiling- creepy or cute, you can decide. Either way, my sweet baby has an ear infection. I've admittedly let it go on for a little too long, mostly because he usually bounces back from that stuff quickly. Something in my gut told me he needed a trip to the vet, so I buckled down, grabbed my checkbook, and headed to see Dr. Julie. But oh no, Dr. Julie is on maternity leave, and in her absence they sent us to the evil spawn of vets, Dr. Catherine. Wow, what a mean lady. She talked to me like I was a child, as if it's directly MY fault that Jack has an ear infection. Was he swimming recently?? Ummm not that I can recall. Was he given a bath recently? Ummm definitely not, have you smelled him?! Has he been rolling around in any water recently?? Ummm not sure? Then she tells me that on a scale of 1-4 his ear infection is a 5+. First off, scale of 1-4??? Perhaps 1-10 would've been more effective Dr. Catherine, but by this point I was so annoyed and defensive that she was yelling at me I was tuning her out. Needless to say, my $120 afternoon left me crabby and ready for a successful Bachelorette finale.

And then Jillian goes and picks ED?!! Ed with the E.D.? Coincidence, I think not. Now that it's the day after and I've had some time to think about it, I'm annoyed with Jillian that she didn't shoot down Reid right away. She had already sent home Kiptyn, told him she was in love with someone else, and then when Reid shows back up, and she's all the sudden "not sure?!" Give me a break ABC. And what was up with the explosive volcano after Jillian and Ed rekindled in the bedroom?! hahaha I almost peed my pants... and rewinded DVR a few times just to laugh again!

Well say a little prayer for sweet Jack. His ears are really red, and he RUNS at the sight of the ear drops. This is gonna be a fun 2 weeks of drops TWICE a day :)

The Dinner Club

You know those people in your life that will always put a smile on your face?? The friend who seems to always bring out the best in you?! Well this week I had the fortune of reuniting with "The Dinner Club"... a grand idea Julie had back in the BWood Forest days to keep us and our neighbor Lisa together once we parted ways from the glorious Melrose Place. Tuesday we caught up over mexican and wine (sounds gross, but was oh so good), and we're set for Monday to get together again over the Bachelorette finale! Here's a little pic to demonstrate just how ridiculous we were circa 2006 (and completely sober):

This is Julie in the costume for an 8 year old boy. I'm fairly certain we peed in our pants laughing!

Christmas in July

Christmas in July is just a funny concept. Last night I saw a party complete with a blow-up snowman in the front yard! I've never attended one of these, but I assume it's just another excuse to throw a party in the glorious summertime. Anyone have a Xmas/July party story to convince me to throw one next year??

What. A. Weekend. I had visitors yet again- Erin and Randy drove through the night from Akron to STL on Friday morning. Erin is a high school friend, and her husband Randy somehow convinced her to join him for the 9 hour trek to pick up a dining room set that's been in the family for generations. It was great to have them around, and even though the complained about their chain-cigar-smoking uncle, it sounded like they enjoyed his company (and trip to the arch!) as well.

The weather here is OUTSTANDING. It feels like fall- so much that I kinda want to make chili in the crock pot and turn on Ohio State football. Alas, it's July 19th... and the 75 degree temps will soon be 95 I just know it. In the meantime I will take advantage of the low humidity by runs with Jack, driving with the sunroof open, and amazing hair days :)

This week should be pretty normal... finally. Joel starts soccer with the Maryville girls in a short 2 weeks, so hopefully we can get in some date nights before he goes on hiatus!

Happy Sunday!

Shopping Spree

This weekend while in Chicago, we stumbled upon the BEST deals at the Armitage boutiques. I decided to share the deals of my favorite...

United Colors of Benetton

Original prices of all clothing AND accessories (such cute scarves and belts!):

$0-50: $20

$50-100: $30

$100+: $40

NO JOKE. We seriously took over that store and ran away with some intense deals!

Best of luck and happy shopping! Find yourself a store here:

Benetton Website

I'm an All-Star

St. Louis is the best. Well known as a "baseball town" and immersed in all things sports, the 2009 All-Star game is in this great city. I was gone in Chicago this weekend, but returned just in time for the Summer classic. Yesterday was the HomeRun Derby, and after debating big time about forking over the cash for a ticket, Kacey and I sucked it up and scored some of the last remaining tickets released by the Cardinals website. At 1pm we bought the tickets, and picked them up at 4pm. Some sightings include:

Nelly driving to his own concert in his Escalade
Run DMC performing at Lumen
David Cook
Derek Jeter
Whitey Herzog
The Clydesdales :)

I'm so glad we decided to do it. Who knows when I'll get a chance like this again, especially in my own hometown!! I'm struggling today though because I have so much work to catch up on, so I'm not sure I'll have the opportunity to get back downtown to watch the All-Star game... but then again, I woke up yesterday and didn't know I was going to the Derby, so never say never.

Chicago!!!

Ahhh, roadtrips are the best. Much better when they are with someone else, but I'll suffice with my new mix cd for the 5 hr trip up highway 55 to the great city of Chicago!! I'm going to visit some friends from way back when I lived in Ohio (and we all lived 10 minutes from each other)... Christina, who lives in Cincy and is in Chicago this week for work, and Colleen, the mid-twenties girl rocking the Chicago lifestyle most of us only wish we had the guts to do.

Now, I'm sure from previous posts you can gather I'm a big St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan. Well this weekend in Chicago they are playing their arch-rivals, THE CUBS. And yet this trip was planned long before I put these facts together, so there will be no Wrigley for us. Instead, we are packed full of runs along the lake, mani/pedi's, a trip to a purse-making place?!, and an outdoor concert (with 40% chance of rain). Cross your fingers people, I think I'm gonna need a little help to get through this jam packed weekend!

Hope everyone enjoys the All-Star festivities here in STL, I'll be back Sunday and plan on keeping the party going!

Summa Time

I looooooooooove Summer! There's something about the smell of a bbq, the feel of a Cardinals baseball game, and the sun setting way past 9pm that makes me all giddy inside! Here's some pics from my recent Summer adventures:

Thursday night Dee arrived into town and we headed straight to the Cards game to meet up with Keri and Brian! Awesome FREE seats :)


Until recently I had NEVER been on a Budweiser Brewery Tour. 9 years in the City of Beer, and no tour?! Kacey and I took some visitors, and I have to admit... the tour is pretty darn good! I learned a ton- did you know the beer served during Prohibition was called Bevo?! Also, I had no idea AB owned Bacardi??? Did you?!

It was so great to have Dee in town. I alluded to this in the previous post, but it's so great to have "forever friends." Here's a great pic of us from this weekend:

I'm leaving this weekend for an undoubtedly amazing time in a city I love... CHICAGO! Colleen recently moved into a new pimp pad on Lakeshore Drive, and Christina will be joining us too. Colleen already emailed an itinerary, it sounds like we're full of great activities- mani/pedi's, Toro sushi :), concert, and of course hours of girl talk. Ahhh... can't wait!

Mother Freedom vs. Mother Nature

It hasn't rained in almost 3 weeks in St. Louis. And then, on my absolute favorite day of the year, Mother Nature decides to give a dose of reality to Mother Freedom. It is pouring buckets right now, the bbq planned for today is postponed until tonight, and the highly anticipated fireworks show out at Joel's family's house is CANCELLED until next weekend- and I'll be in Chicago. Damn you Mother Nature.

Oh well, I did get to see fireworks last night. They were short though- most municipalities are waiting for tonight to show off the good stuff... we'll see if that happens though... again, annoyed.

In good, no GREAT news... Deanna is here this weekend visiting! It was a last minute planned trip, and it's been the best and most relaxing time. It's so great to see her, and of course reinforces just how blessed I am to have such great friends. We can go for so long without seeing one another and it feels like we just "pick up" right away. Dee is in the picture from my last post of all the girls posing on stairs. She's in the bottom right in a white sweather, except now picture her with much shorter (and blonder!) hair.

Just to leave you all with a good laugh, check out Brian's outfit from 7/4/2008:

Happy 4th of July!!

Carly & Evan +1!!!

Holy crap. Last night I commented on life being messy and really despising adulthood. And then God sure did slap me in the face with a check of reality on how GREAT it is to be an adult. The pic above is of my best friends from high school. It's amazing really just how close we still are- these girls will always be there for me. This pic is from a few years ago, but now that we're old and have other obligations (like jobs- yuck, and living in different states- even bigger yuck) it's tough for all of us to get together. Usually it's over the holidays (note the beautiful garland of the Hart household in the above pic) with just a short brunch to catch up... but this year we are taking it to a new level with a whole weekend in Cincinnati in August. I get giddy just thinking about it. So, now onto the news.

Carly is on the left in the pic above in the white sweater, sitting just to my right. She married Evan Chu in May 2007, and I was so proud to be one of her bridesmaids! Here's a little glimpse back... the first of Carly & Evan at Jenni's wedding in May '08, and the 2nd pic is of the ladies dancing at their wedding!

Well last night Carly sent out an email about the upcoming trip to Cincy to see her and the highly anticipated reunion. She also slipped something in at the end... she's pregnant!! I just finally got used to the idea of bridal showers, but a baby shower?! For a girl my age??? I mean I'm 26, it's not the craziest thing ever, but I guess I'm still in shock. This will be "our first baby" and holy cow will baby Chu get spoiled! They will make the most perfect parents, and I can't wait to be an auntie!

CONGRATS CARLY & EVAN!!!