Penny's Passion: Festival

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Weekending -- The One Before Halloween

Boy -- this was an action packed weekend and it was a blast! The weather played right into our hands with temperatures in the high 70s/low 80s. It was so nice to have the sun out -- especially considering it's the end of October and you could walk around in short sleeves.

We kicked off the weekend Friday night by seeing the play Dirty Dancing. Now, I usually love a good musical. This one honestly was a bit disappointing. Don't get me wrong, I loved hearing the songs from the original movie and scenes that made me reminisce how cool I thought Patrick Swayze was. But something was just lackluster. Despite the performance, we still walked away at the end of the night with fun memories. Anyone else seen it? What are your thoughts?

Saturday Eric and I decided to grab some lunch at Wasabi Sushi Bar. This place has the freshest sushi around and we love eating there. They have locations in downtown St. Louis, Edwardsville and Fairview Heights.

We swung by the site of the new Home Goods store just to see if they might be open early, but no such luck. I had to wait until Sunday for the doors to be unlocked. So excited to finally have one of these stores close to me!!

Saturday night Sherri, Tracy and I headed to the Central West End for their Halloween party -- and a party it was! We stopped by The Tap House to start the evening. This place has about 480 different beers from at least 25 different countries on hand. Even someone like me who doesn't care for beer was able to find one I liked!

They have an amazing costume contest with the winner taking home $1,000. It was fun to see so much creativity on the costume department. We ran into some pretty cool get ups.

Travelocity Guy was there.

And so was Uncle Eddie

On Sunday, Eric and I headed to Kimmswick, Missouri for their annual Apple Butter Festival. And so did about a million other people. It was CROWDED!! We didn't stay very long. The highlight was the drive down and back. The fall leaves were beautiful and seeing them made the trip worthwhile.

We ended the night with having Ian and Kayla over for dinner. I love seeing these two! Dinner was fun. I finally tried the crack potatoes recipe I had been seeing everywhere. If you haven't tried these yet, you're really missing something. They are G-O-O-D! I'll be sharing the recipe for the salad later this week.

It's hard to believe that this is the last week in October. When I walked in Walmart today I noticed their sign saying there are only 60 days until Christmas. Really?!?! Hope you are able to make the most of your week and enjoy the last week of the month.

Check out the below blogs to see what they were up to this weekend.

Join the Gossip

Champagne and Suburbs

B Loved Boston

I Should Be Mopping the Floor

Life of Meg

More Pieces of Me

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Weekending -- Last in September

My, my, my -- what a weekend this has been! We have had a great weather weekend and made the most of it.

Friday night Eric and I decided to catch a movie. We went to a great theater -- The Edge. We chose seats in the Bistro - big, comfy leather recliners with food service. Unfortunately, the movie we chose was B.A.D. bad - A Walk Among the Tombstones. It had Liam Neeson. My recommendation is don't waste your money. It is definitely one you can rent when nothing else is available and you feel you must watch a movie. Even though the movie was a flop, it was still fun to spend some time with Eric.

Saturday morning I gathered with some friends to go to the Strange Folk Festival. This was the 9th annual Strange Folk Festival in O'fallon, Illinois and it featured 150 indie makers, illustrators, and vintage curators. Fun time. We started the day with scones and mimosas and moved on to the festival. We missed our friend, Tracy; however, we all found a Christmas gift for her so she might be the real winner for not being able to come with us. :)

We drove to mid-Missouri on Sunday to celebrate my dad being 76 years young. What do you get a 76-year-old man to has everything and needs nothing -- a fishing pole lighter, of course. We also got him a garden weasel, but the lighter was a real hit with my nephews.

Later in the day after everyone had left my parents house but me and Eric, we took my parents to Stone Hill Winery in Hermann, Missouri to enjoy the fabulous weather and share a bottle of wine. It was an absolutely beautiful day to be outside. And we may or may not have had a big laugh at the gentleman sitting at the table next to us who fell over backwards off his seat. Happy birthday, Dad!!

View from the winery -- beautiful!

The cherry on top of the great day was the fact that the Cardinals won the Central Division and we're on to the playoffs. October baseball here we come! LET'S GO CARDS!!!!

Headed into Monday, I am refreshed and ready to put in a hard week at work. Hope you had a great weekend and are ready for the week ahead. I can't wait to share with you the fabulous Halloween wreath my friend Carol made for me. You'll have a chance to see it on my Five for Friday this week. Also, don't forget about entering the September giveaway here.