Vida

Yesterday, December 30, Mike & I decided we would have Black-eyed Pea and Quinoa Croquettes with Mushroom Sauce from “ Vegan with a Vengeance ” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz for dinner.  (It's one of my favorite cookbooks and super delicious.  Do not skip on the sauce, it makes the whole dish.)  We were out running errands and stopped at our first grocery store to find them sold out of black eyed peas.  We both thought it was odd until we remembered some people eat them on New Year's Day for good luck.  Apparently there are many stories behind this tradition: feel free to read some here . We found some at the next grocery store, but there were quite a few people grabbing them and I had to sneak in and grab a can before heading to the register.   We ate them last night, hopefully it's close enough to count for 2018!

Decorating a new to me space was overwhelming when I thought of the big picture and much more achievable when I focused on one room at a time.  For me, I picked the next room based on when I was inspired for the space.  Say what you will, but that's my process. Step 1 that made me feel incredibly better.  Filling in holes with putty and painting over it.  WOW!  The biggest wow for me was this little space in our kitchen (which I think is meant for a TV - we will not be putting a TV there - how many TVs do people expect you to have!).  After I filled in the massive holes there and painted over them I couldn't stop looking at it and smiling.  I did not take a before and after picture because I had no idea how happy it would make me.  Here's the after though! Note: we were very lucky and the previous owner left behind gallons of paint, which isn't too old to still use.  Hooray! I can't even tell you how great it made me feel.   I filled in the hole in the bat

Do you feel like we have too many big life changes in the last 4 months to follow along?  I'm not going to disagree.  It's been a bit of a whirlwind to say the least. Remember we started looking at houses in June and made several trips to St. Louis during the summer to see what was available.  We kept looking and looking. Until Friday the 13th.  Yep.  We met our realtor in the morning to look at a few houses that caught our eye and revisit one we were still considering (this is after yet another one of our offers was not chosen earlier that week).  We were still looking in 4 different neighborhoods of St. Louis: Shaw (ultimately we decided this may be where we want to be with the next house, but it's a bit slow for us right now), Tower Grove South (my favorite), Tower Grove East (my second favorite), The Grove (Mike's favorite and spoiler: where we ended up buying).  Side story.  When we first started looking at houses and we were doing lots of walking around differ

I just got back from spending a few days back in Chicago and I'm ready to share a quick post on my initial comparisons of Chicago and St. Louis. St. Louisans seem to grow up faster.  Luckily, Mike & I look young since so many St. Louisans our age are at a different stage in their lives.  In Chicago we fit right in with our peers. Oh how I miss the liberal bubble of Chicago.  I went to my favorite gym class Wednesday morning before I left town and we all celebrated the Doug Jones Alabama win together, including our instructor on the microphone.  That would not happen in St. Louis.   I do not miss traffic.  I do not miss it at all.   I do miss the bus.  I still need to learn St. Louis public transportation options.  Yes, Mike & I plan to use it.   I MISS STANLEY'S!  Stanley's, come to St. Louis please.  I purchase a bag of groceries every time on my way out of town.  Yes.  For a 5 hour drive. I left Chicago today when it was 30 degrees.  I got to St. Louis