Weekending - May 17, 2019

Here we are at the beginning of a brand new week and all things are possible!  We had a great weekend and I feel like I'm winning at life right now because my laundry basket is empty, my FitBit is charged and my gas tank is full.  Bring on the week!

The  highlight of the weekend happened on Sunday when my nephew's family grew by one.  One precious little baby boy and we were lucky enough to be able to meet him just a few hours after he was born.  He's perfect is every way and Mom, Dad, Big Brother and Baby are all doing great.

Backing up to Friday, we grabbed dinner with Ian and Kayla then ran home to watch the St. Louis Blues hockey game.  They managed to pull out a win, making the series tied at two games a piece.

Saturday morning Eric had to work, so I took advantage of the alone time by reading my book club selection for this month, Educated.  This book has been sitting in my Kindle since last December and hadn't floated to the top of my reading list until my book club selected it for this month's subject.  Here's the summary from Amazon:

Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

When Eric got home, we ran some errands and then stopped by Weber Grill for an early dinner.  It had been years since we dined at the Weber Grill in Chicago and had never eaten at the one here in St. Louis.  For an appetizer, we selected their skillet cornbread with molasses butter.  YUM!  Eric chose the brisket for his entree and I went with the meatloaf.  Both were good, but neither excited me enough to want to go rushing back.  The St. Louis location does have a Weber Grill Academy that offers cooking classes.  Now that's something I wouldn't mind trying.

Sunday morning we took it easy around the house and was waiting word on the arrival of our new great nephew.  For lunch we whipped up a recipe that used our air fryer.  It was a salmon recipe from SkinnyTaste and it will be making an appearance at our house again in the future!  It was quick and easy and tasted marvelous.  I'll be sharing the recipe later this week, so stay tuned!

Speaking of the air fryer, my copy of The SkinnyTaste Air Fryer Cookbook, was waiting for me when I got home Friday and I read it cover to cover.  There are 75 recipes in this book and I found at least 60 I wanted to try.  I don't think the air fryer will be collecting much dust sitting on a shelf!

The St. Louis Blues were playing again on Sunday and it was a pure joy to watch!  They easily skated past the Sharks in a 5-0 victory and I had to bite none of my fingernails while watching the game.  One more win and we'll be in the finals for the first time in almost 50 years!

As soon as the game was over, we headed to the hospital to meet the newest member of our family.  Guys, he is so darn sweet!  We can't wait to watch him grow and blossom.

And just like that, it's Monday!  I swear Saturday and Sunday have fewer hours than Monday through Friday.  Hope your week is off to a great start and we'll see you back here soon.

Weekending - September 28, 2018

Did you enjoy your last weekend of September?  I know I sure did!  Here's the rewind ~

Friday night I finally got out our fall decorations for the front porch.  For some reason I've really been dragged my feet getting into the autumn mood this year.  Hopefully seeing this fall foliage when I'm coming and going will help with that! 

Eric had to work super early on Saturday morning so I had the house to myself.  I decided it would be the perfect morning to do one of my favorite things - lay in bed reading, answer emails, checking out some blogs.  Best morning ever!!  Just to make me feel like I was doing something, I did throw in a load of laundry and start the self cleaning mode on my oven.  Multitasking at it's best!

I finished the book I had been reading - Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist.  To be honest, I had a little bit of a hard time with this one.  Don't get me wrong, it had some wonderful messages that made me think about how I use my time.  But overall, I'm a yes person and this book leaned more on the "how to say no" side of things.  My belief is more say yes and find the joy in doing the task.  Realizing that not everyone embraces being as busy as I like to be, I would say overall this is a pretty good read.  Here's what Amazon says about it:

In these pages, New York Times bestselling author Shauna Niequist invites you to consider the landscape of your own life, and what it might look like to leave behind the pressure to be perfect and begin the life-changing practice of simply being present, in the middle of the mess and the ordinariness of life.

As she puts it: "A few years ago, I found myself exhausted and isolated, my soul and body sick. I was tired of being tired, burned out on busy. And, it seemed almost everyone I talked with was in the same boat: longing for connection, meaning, depth, but settling for busy.

"I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, neighbor, writer, and I know all too well that settling feeling. But over the course of the last few years, I've learned a way to live, marked by grace, love, rest, and play. And it's changing everything.

"Present Over Perfect is an invitation to this journey that changed my life. I’ll walk this path with you, a path away from frantic pushing and proving, and toward your essential self, the one you were created to be before you began proving and earning for your worth."

Written in Shauna's warm and vulnerable style, this collection of essays focuses on the most important transformation in her life, and maybe yours too: leaving behind busyness and frantic living and rediscovering the person you were made to be. Present Over Perfect is a hand reaching out, pulling you free from the constant pressure to perform faster, push harder, and produce more, all while maintaining an exhausting image of perfection.

Shauna offers an honest account of what led her to begin this journey, and a compelling vision for an entirely new way to live: soaked in grace, rest, silence, simplicity, prayer, and connection with the people that matter most to us.

If it sounds like a book you could benefit from, click HERE to check it out.

When I finished reading the book, I picked up one of my monthly magazines and read it cover to cover.  Family Circle has been showing up at my house longer than I can remember.  Every month I find several articles that fascinate and teach me things.  This month was no exception - how to get the most out of your bras, a TED talk I must listen to, how to request free credit reports and a vacation spot I want to check out.  Some of the cool things I read about will be showing up on my Five on Friday so don't miss it!  A yearly subscription to Family Circle is only $5.00 on Amazon making it one heck of a deal!  

I did manage to get showered and dressed before Eric came home.  We spent the afternoon together running errands and catching up on some of our taped shows.

Then it was on to Sunday Funday - it was a family fishing day!  My younger nephews and niece are growing up way too fast so days like these are precious.  The weather cooperated and the kids only got soaking wet a couple of times!   I mean, come on, walking along the edge of the water was more fun when you did it in ankle deep water.  

Even I caught a fish!!

Some people liked holding a sucker in their hands a little more than holding a fishing pole!

Overall it was a great day spent with family.  One we will all remember for a long time!  

Now here we are -- Monday.  The first of October!  I need to get my head wrapped around what's going on this month.  Hope your week is off to a great start!  See you back soon.

Weekending - February 9, 2018

I swear there are fewer hours in a day on Saturday and Sunday.  This weekend was way too short and we managed to do as much as possible!  Here's how it went down.

Weeks ago I was contacted to see if I would be interested in helping with the decorations for a Kate Spade themed bridal shower.  Heck yes I was interested!!  The shower was Saturday, so Friday night I finished up a few details before heading to the shower location to get things set up.  It was so fun working with the hostesses for this event.  I'm planning to do an entire post on the shower, but here are a few sneak peek photos ~

After the set up of the shower, we watched our taped version of the Olympics Opening Ceremony.  Gosh, I love the Olympics.  The whole thing with the drones was super cool.  I think even more than the sports, I love hearing the human interest stories.



Saturday morning we ran back over to the shower location to finish up a few last minute things.  Everything was well in hand there, so we scooted off to have lunch with Kayla and Ian.  Our day kind of fell apart from there.  We went by the movie theater after lunch and the show we were hoping to see was sold out, so home we went to watch more of the Olympics.

As the afternoon progressed, the weather forecast started sounding more and more ominous.  We were supposed to travel about 40 miles west to a Sweetheart Soiree.  A Soiree we had been looking forward to for months mind you!  Just about the time we were planning to leave, a light mist started falling and the prediction of freezing rain looked like a real possibility.  We made the hard call to not go to the party.  And I was a total grump for the rest of the evening.  Darn winter!  And poor Eric.  I was not great to be around!

Sunday morning we woke to our subdivision roads covered in ice, but the main roads were okay.  We headed to church and then high-tailed it to my home town to celebrate my niece and great nephew's second birthday.  It was a fun afternoon spent chasing toddlers around trying to take their picture.

Wrapping presents is one of my favorite things to do.  I matched the Disney theme and personalized both their gifts.  Thank you Silhouette for making this job so easy!

My sister-in-law and niece had the cutest decorations!

One of the kids liked the cupcakes more than the other one did.  Can you guess which one loved them?!?

My niece make the birthday kiddos shirts.  They were absolutely adorable!

Somebody has Uncle Eric wrapped around her little finger.

On the way home, we stopped in a Marcus Theater and saw The Post.  Both of us truly enjoyed the movie.  Added bonus - one more Best Picture film crossed off the list!  Six down, three to go on my quest to see all the Best Picture nominated films.

The rest of the evening was spent engulfed in the Olympic coverage.  Did you watch any of it over the weekend?  What were your favorite moments?

Hope your weekend was fantastic and your week is off to a good start.  I'll be back to share more details of the Kate Spade themed shower later this week.  See you soon!

Check out what others were up to this weekend.

B Loved Boston

Over the Moon

Hello Monday

Weekending - September 15, 2017

This blog post looks a lot different than I thought it would.  Friday morning I was downright giddy about the epic weekend we had in store!  My friend Linda was coming in from Kansas City and we were headed to the U2 concert on Saturday night.  Then on Sunday night Eric and I were joining our friends Larry and Debbie for the Ed Sheehan concert.  Neither of these concerts happened.

You see, Friday morning the verdict from the Anthony Lamar Smith case was delivered and found the police officer innocent of the murder charges brought against him.  Protesting ensued, followed by agitators reeking havoc on our city causing the cancellation of many events happening in St. Louis this weekend.  It's all so sad.

As much as I love living in a country where we can feel free to express our opinions openly by protesting, I'm equally embarrassed by the individuals who take it way too far and destroy personal property and businesses.  Hence, the term "agitators" has been added to our vocabulary over the weekend.

Let me get off my soapbox and tell you what I did do this weekend ~

My friend Carol popped in my house this week and decorated it for Fall.  I had been slow to jump on the fact that Summer was winding down and Carol saved the day by working her magic at my house. Her work is always exquisite and now I'm totally embracing Fall!

Friday night Linda rolled into town just in time for us go to dinner.  We picked someplace close to my house.  Peel was our choice and it was delicious!  We enjoyed an appetizer, salad, wings and pizza before topping it off with ice cream from Dairy Queen and calling it a night.

We were up before the sun on Saturday with a single purpose on our minds - the Joya Popup Sale in the Central West End!  The first 25 people in line were going to be rewarded with a free goody bag and we were not going to miss out on that action.  You are looking at numbers 1, 2, and 3 in line right here.

After our retail therapy (and getting some GREAT deals), we headed to the theater to see Home Again with Reese Witherspoon.  Now, by this time we had learned that U2 was cancelled so my view on the movie might be reflected in my review, but all three of us agreed that this movie never really took off.  It's a cute little film that I would rate 3.5 out of 5.  You can definitely wait to see this after it comes out on video.  When you truly have nothing else to do.

Ian met us for lunch at Club Taco, where we could drown our sorrows about the concert.  But in reality, there wasn't enough alcohol in St. Louis to take away the sting of us not seeing U2!  Thanks, Club Taco, for at least having great margaritas.  Linda went with mango and I stuck with my favorite watermelon basil.

We parted ways with Ian and Kayla and decided we needed some more retail therapy.  So to the outlet malls we went!  We shopped for a bit and each now have more pairs of shoes to load into our closets.  Thank goodness we had to leave to pick up my friends Sherri and John from the airport or the shopping frenzy could have gotten ugly!

Since we were supposed to be listening to live music on Saturday night, we thought it only appropriate to still so do.  There's a winery in Belleville (The Weingarten) that had live music so we hung out there for a bit.  

Linda headed back to KC around noon on Sunday and we left the house around the same time.  My nephew, Liam, was celebrating his 2nd birthday on Sunday and we didn't want to miss his Paw Prints birthday party!

Seeing Liam and my other nephews and niece always makes things right in the world and puts a smile on my face.

The weekend was capped off with a little craft project.  A friend of mine from work said the words I love to hear - Can you please help me with something? and of course the answer was YES!!  She had done all the cutting, but needed some help putting cupcake toppers together for her daughter's 1st birthday party.  I  think they turned out pretty darn cute.

As disappointed as I was about my weekend plans totally changing, I'm even more sad for the innocent store owners who are having to replace their windows and remove the graffiti left behind by the agitators.  Please say a little prayer for them that this behavior stops and our city can recover.

Check out what others were up to this weekend.

B Loved Boston

Over the Moon

Hello Monday