Vida

I powered through quite a few books this summer.  Two of them particularly stand out:   Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake and  The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing .  Both of them are short story books, which I don't usually go for, but I guess I was just in the mood this summer. Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake - Anna Quindlen This one brought me to tears several times and I shouldn't even be able to relate to it yet.  It's just that good!  It's about growing older, learning and now sharing some lessons learned and advice.   I recommended this book to so many people! The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing - Melissa Bank If I could have every single one of my girlfriends read the last short story, I would.

No, I'm not referring to the elevator pitch.  (I'm definitely not good at talking about myself in 20 seconds.  Nope.) I mean elevator talk.  When you ride the elevator with people from your office who you may only ever talk to on the elevator. So here we go.  I work on the 19th floor and often leave at the same time as people who work on the other side of my floor.  I only see them/interact with them on the elevator...maybe the kitchen sometimes. Here's my guide: Monday : weekend recap talk Tuesday : you may be able to squeeze in the weekend recap, weather  Wednesday : this is the awkward day, it seems to go over well to ask how their week is going Thursday : prep for the weekend Friday : prep for the weekend, we made it through the week, I have found asking, 'How was your week?' is kind-of weird. Any day : weather (always safe) Had a big event?  You can ask about that weeks later .  (Sometimes I'll see people once/month ...

For your weekend viewing pleasure...

If you live anywhere close to St. Louis and can get there by 5:00 on Friday, September 18, go to this concert ...and thank me later. alt-J  Walk the Moon  Matt and Kim  Catfish and the Bottlemen  San Fermin In ONE concert!  Seriously!

I always seem to have a false sense of confidence when it comes to my sister, Karen's, birthday.  Maybe it's because even when I completely mess up my projects, she still keeps them.  Have I mentioned the elephant that I sewed the head on backwards in high school, gave it to her for a gift, and it's still on her bed at our parents?  I feel like that explains my sense of security with her gifts. As her birthday approached this year, I knew what I needed to accomplish: Frame her canvas she screen printed in March and I've had since then saying I would frame it.  Deadline: birthday. Make a friendship bracelet, which I never thought she would want one until recently when she mentioned she would. I started searching for canvas tutorials and settled on this one .  And made a trip to Home Depot, which was quite an experience in itself.  I went on a Wednesday night and was one of the few females in the building, probably the only one alone.  This mean...

Happy Birthday to my dear sister and best friend! My sister, who didn't love me very much when I took away some of her attention when I came home from the hospital.  She quickly took to me and started to look out for me and take care of me.  She still does...28 years later. I give her a dose of reality.  She tells me when the dose is too strong. She cares about everyone.  I tell her when she's caring too much and needs to let someone else care about her. We get together and talk for hours without pauses or connections between thoughts. We know each other's strengths.  For example, that girl can negotiate on the phone, even when people are rude.  Yes, Sirius, you're customer service agents have been rude for at least a year.  And they scare me.  But not Karen. The girl who always over packs, making her suitcase top heavy so it falls over the entire trip.  "I like to have options." We balance each other out and I can't...

Last night as my sister, Karen, and I wrapped up our sister date, we walked outside and it was chilly.  I had to borrow her sweatshirt as we walked around. This morning I walked outside for my run and immediately thought it felt like fall! Fall makes me think of: October Cardinal's baseball a hot cup of comforting coffee flannel (who's ready for my favorite shirt that I wear approx. once a week fall, winter, and spring?) So this morning I fired up my coffee maker.  Yes, it's my grandma's old coffee maker and it has an on/off switch.  And it works JUST FINE!

We're coming up on my 10-year anniversary living in Chicago and I can say I hadn't spent any time in Indiana (aside from driving through).  Last weekend we changed that statement.  Mike & I decided to take a day trip to a couple breweries and we tagged on the Indiana Dunes at the end. We started at 3 Floyds Brewery. We didn't love this one.  Maybe it was our timing.  I don't know. Note 1: If you're planning to eat/drink anything you have to put your name in for a table.  They even seat the spots at the bar, there is no standing room.  They explained it to me as their max capacity is 75 and they have 75 seats.  We put our name in, sat outside for close to an hour before our half hour tour, and after the tour, we had a table. Note 2:  The tour is a half hour and we stood in two spots seeing two spots of the brewery.  I guess it's because it's not a large brewery and they have some construction going on.  Maybe that was it.  ...

Sunday morning as Mike & I walked to  Osmium for some coffee after a particularly rough run. We walked by Sheffield Ave. and Mike said, "Will you go to Kirkwood and watch Nebraska games with me this fall?" Me:  Maybe a couple.  But I won't cheer for them.  I'm a Mizzou fan. Mike: They're not even in the same conference. And then we can go to _____ and watch some Iowa State games. And then we moved into a discussion on how many games I'm willing to watch, how many Cardinals games he watched this season, and he is welcome to watch them alone. Let the negotiations begin... P.S. It's only August. Update: I have been informed college football starts in August.  In my mind no sport starts until November...when baseball ends ;)

Antonetti hadn't said who wanted him. "The Cardinals," he heard. "You kind of get that smile inside," Moss recalled.  "Really? Holy cow.  I wanted to be better (in Cleveland), but if I'm going to go somewhere, could you go anywhere better?  No...it's like winning a lottery."   ( source ) He's definitely trying to win over Cardinals fans...we did trade one of our top pitching prospects for him... I think he's doing a good job of it.   His walk-off on Sunday didn't hurt. Welcome to the Cards, Moss.

I met the two girls who flew in for our weekend getaway in my work lobby Friday afternoon so they could store their bags while I finished up the work day and they explored Chicago.  As I offered to take the bags upstairs one of the girls said she felt bad having me take both.  The other chimed in, "She carried our water."  I responded, "I have street cred." And I felt even more excited about the weekend.  You know those people in your life that you've shared an experience with and you are bonded for life.  That's what this is. All of us lived in Mexico.  In the same house.  Three of them were my roommates.  One lived there the year before me.  We now are spread out in New Jersey, Chicago, San Antonio and Mexico.  Bonded by an extreme, shared experience.  For life. We don't see each other much.  We don't keep in touch very well, but when we see each other, we pick up right where we left off and the conversation flows. ...