Five on Friday

 

 1.  Happy Friday folks!  Wow, I don't know how it's continually possible, but I am more elated for this Friday than I have been lately.  We have had so much going on, it's been crazy.  This week we had our house inspection, appraisal, radon test, and termite check.  It hasn't been hard for us, but we're still waiting for the all clears, so that's been a tad stressful.  But, we may have some great news...

2.  Instead of going to Korea, there's a chance we will be moving to Okinawa, Japan instead!  Long story short, we had an assignment there back in February for a whole day.  Then, the Air Force switched us to Korea.  Now, the guy they switched us with can't go for whatever reason, so there's a good possibility that we're getting switched back!  Nothing is set in stone, of course, but I much prefer this location over Korea.  I mean, come on...wouldn't you?  Look at it!

3.  Tomorrow, I was invited to spend the day at a co-worker's houseboat on the Lake.  Umm...yes please!  That lovely tan I had while in Mexico is sadly no more, and this pasty girl needs some color!  So, there will definitely be a lot of this going on tomorrow.

4.  Also, next week is my girls' trip to Seattle!  I am so stoked.  I need some girly time away.  And although I'll miss Joel, I'm glad he'll be home to watch the boys.  I hate when we have to kennel the pups, and our normal dog sitter is unavailable due to being 7 months pregnant with twins.  Selfish!!!

5.  I don't really have a five for today.  There's just been so much going on, and so little free time, and now I might be moving sooner than anticipated.  I will greatly miss the St. Louis area, even more so than I thought when I first found out we were moving.  It's getting "real" now that I may never be back here, so I have so much to do to in the next six weeks so I can experience as much of what this great city has to offer as I can.

Weekend Update

I feel like this is becoming quite the Tuesday tradition.  I do have a valid excuse this week, though.  I swear!  Joel and I took the day off yesterday to finish up the house to get ready to put it on the market today.  The realtor will be by after work for us to take pictures and to get everything ready for the listing.  To say I am nervous is an understatement.  The market hasn't really rebounded in this area, and we haven't owned the house long to get much equity into it.  Fingers crossed for a quick sale!

Last week, I forgot to mention that Joel and I say Il Divo in concert.  Don't know who they are?  Well, if you are a lover of musical theater, Google them.  I don't have enough great things to say.  We had total nosebleed seats, but the music was beautiful.  We also stopped by Hard Rock on the way there, and I discover that they had margarita flights.  The food was sub par, but the drinks?  Worth the trip back.

I also had the chance to finally get a picture with an STL Birthday Cake.  There are 250 all around the city, and while I have seen plenty, this is the first one I've snagged a picture with.  How fun!

I also made a fabulous discovery.  Folks, I have found a new favorite beer.  For those outside of the Midwest, you may just have to take my word for it.  I don't know if you could find it far from this area, as it's made at a local Missouri place.  It's called Crown Valley Brewery (they also have a winery), and it's their seasonal ale.  Run, don't walk, to get yourself some.

Other than that, it was a lot of cleaning and reorganizing.  And I finally got a chance to put down our new rug in the dining room!  Ignore the mess behind the table (that's all clean now), but I couldn't be happier with the rug.  We bought it from Rugs USA online, and I was nervous buying it sight unseen.  I'm a pretty picky person, but I am just so in love with it.  I think it really adds a pop of color to the room.  Don't you think?

Weekend Update

Happy Tuesday, friends!  Wow, what wonderful weather we've been having the past few days.  Yesterday it was 79 and sunny, and today it is supposed to get up to 81.  Tomorrow?  Yep, you've guessed it...snow.  It is the Midwest, I suppose...

The weekend was pretty good!  Lots of cuddle time.  And lots of shedding.  Exhibit A from Jaeger...

Yes, that is what I brushed out of him in about five minutes.  There were many more similar piles out of him over the weekend.  Poor guy...

Saturday morning I was tempted into a detox wrap as a half off special at this fabulous little place down the road from me.  The owner is such a doll, and I'd never had one, so I decided to give it a try.  It was very relaxing, but other than that, I'm not sure there were many benefits.  It was pretty inexpensive though, so worth a try.  It was such a gloomy day, too.

Saturday night we went out to Pi in downtown STL.  If you hadn't heard, it's our President's favorite pizza place.  There's even one in D.C. now (the only one out of the STL area), and I must say that it's pretty tasty.  Usually...  This time was a bit of a disappointment.  There was barely any sauce on the pizza, and it especially made the leftovers pretty dry.  We normally have great success there, so I won't let this setback deter me from going.

Then we saw the new 300 movie next door at a place called MX movies.  I've written about them before.  I really love the concept of this place, but the execution is terrible!  It's a full restaurant and bar that you order from electronically from your seat.  The food has been pretty sub par, which is why we ate beforehand, but I love their leather seating and bar.  Who doesn't want a fancy drink with their movie?  We ordered two rum and cokes (simple drinks), and they weren't very busy, but it still took a half an hour to get them.  And they were a bit watered down.  I really want to love this place, but I don't think I'll be going again anytime soon unless they step up their game a bit.

The movie was about what you would expect.  I'm not going to lie, I really missed seeing Gerard Butler in this film.  He was amazing looking in the first movie, and his presence was missed.  It was gory, of course, and had some weird nudity scenes, but it was pretty much just like the first one, with a little different storyline.  It was fun to see on the big screen, though.

Sunday was an amazing day for a totally girly reason.  We went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to look for a new coffeemaker (our Keurig might be biting the dust soon), and we found an over the door boot rack!  I had nowhere to consolidate my boots and have them easy to access and look nice, but that is all over now.  Behold the wonder of the boot rack.

Another Week Has Come...

Happy Monday Tuesday everyone!  Today is pretty much my Monday because Snowmageddon made it's way to St. Louis.

Being an Indiana girl, I was pretty used to lots of snow and cold, but you would have thought that the world was ending around here.  The base was closed on Monday, but it was normal reporting for work today, and people were complaining that the military was putting their / their family's lives at risk.  Were the roads bad?  To be honest they weren't great. But, folks, exercising caution and using your common sense goes a long way.  I am happy to report that at least everyone in my office made it in safe and sound.

Before the snow started, Joel and I were treated to something pretty special.  Ever heard of Schlafly Beer?  It's a local STL brewery that has been around for quite some time.  You can't walk in and ask for a tour of the brewery, nor schedule one, but they often give them away for charities to auction off and such.  One of my co-workers won one of these opportunities, and invited Joel and I along.

I'm not the biggest fan of beer, but I had been to the Schlafly Tap House, and Joel loves free beer, so we went with an open mind.  We learned a little history of the place, about how beer is made, and got to see a little bit of the action.  It was such a neat experience!  They brew certain varieties for different events/places, and we got to try their vanilla milk stout, which is only brewed for one place, straight from the tap.  Even this gal who isn't the biggest beer fan thought it was delicious!  There was also a tasting at the end with five or so different varieties.  Their coffee stout and cider were my faves.

New Year's Eve

So, this NYE may go down as one of the most boring ever for me, but it was still fantastic.  Most of our friends went out of town, and we didn't feel like the bar scene this year, so we kept it pretty quiet.

We started off with dinner reservations at Square One Brewery in the Lafayette Square district of St. Louis.  It was a cute, quirky bistro with incredible service and friendly staff.  Joel got a beer that they made at the Brewery, and he really loved it.  He ordered the fish tacos, and said they were pretty yummy.  I ordered the Fish and Chips, but wouldn't recommend it.  It was way too greasy for my liking.  But, we ordered the pretzel as our appetizer, and the jalapeno cheese sauce was amazing!  So, I'd definitely try it again ordering a different dish for dinner.

After that, we walked a block down and had martinis at Bailey's Chocolate Bar.  They make their own ice cream for their desserts, and the martinis are some of the best I had ever had.  They had a pumpkin martini available as a special in the fall, and I am quite pleased to announce that it now has a permanent spot on the menu.  If you like pumpkin, you will salivate over this martini.  So utterly amazing...  The dessert wasn't bad, either.  The molten lava cake is by far my favorite.

 

After that we headed home to watch scary movies.  This is usually a New Year's Day tradition, but because we were home, we moved it to NYE.  We watched The Purge.  I loved the premise of this movie, and the movie was ok, but they didn't really develop the story line or the characters.  I think the movie was only 1 hour and 20 minutes, so they had plenty of time.  I wish they would have done more, but it was worth the one night rental.

We then gathered the pets and rang in the new year.  We made it to midnight!  We're not that old yet.  It was great, and Pugsley even let us sleep in (he's normally an early riser.  I'm happy to have another year with my old pug.

New Year's Day we had some donuts (which I think we will make a tradition of) and headed to Dillard's because they had a 50% off clearance special.  It was a mad house!  I could barely walk around, and some lady literally took a pair of boots out of my hand.  Crazy!  I managed to find one pair and got a new purse, and Joel got a few pairs of dress shirts.  I am surprised that we made it out alive.  Ladies be shopping!

Weekend Update

Did this weekend go by insanely fast for anyone else?  I feel like I barely had a whole day off.  The two days I had off for Christmas were delightful, and then the weekend came and BAM...it's Monday.

Well, anywho.  I want to have a moment of silence for the destruction of the Miami Dolphin's playoff hopes.  It was a sad game that I actually got to watch due to Direct TV's Sunday Ticket.  I was so disappointed in our boys and especially our QB, who I've never been the biggest fan of.  Oh, and if you're a football fan, I'm trying to get #firejeffireland trending on twitter, just in casies.

Well, on to better weekend things!  Friday night, Joel and I wanted to get out of the house and go see American Hustle.  We went to a theater in downtown St. Louis called MX Movies.  I love the theater itself, which has a full bar and wait staff to feed you during the movie.  The food is less than spectacular, so we usually just go and get appetizers and drinks.  And the bonus?  Comfy leather chairs!  If they happened to recline, I don't think I could see a movie any other way.

There wasn't too much exciting news on Saturday.  The dogs had obedience class, we ran some errands, and napped (oh, glorious naps).  We went out to dinner Friday night to a spot that had seasonal pumpkin pie martinis on their menu, which they actually didn't have.  So I proceeded to pout and not take any pictures.  The food was fine as always, but I was really craving that pumpkin pie drink.

Sunday I cooked a football spread and decked out in Dolphins gear in hopes that the boys could pull one out.  For some reason, all of our pets joined me in the kitchen during this time.  You would have Thought I hadn't fed them in days...

Unfortunately, my heart was broken by their elimination from the playoffs, so in the meantime I will be a temporary Cincinnati Bengals fan.  They did their part to help us get in, and we couldn't muster up a win.  There's always next year, right?  Right???