Vacation!

Another busy weekend ahead! We are leaving for Hilton Head in just a few hours! Will's family has been vacationing there for about 30 years, and this is Will's first trip back in a couple years. I am so looking forward to a relaxing beach vacation, even if it is only for a few days. Will is like a little kid, he's so excited to leave. :)

I am flying back to Denver late Wednesday night while Will spends an extra couple days with his family. Meanwhile, my mom will be waiting for me at our apartment here when I get back! She has a conference to attend in Denver next week that ends on Wednesday. So she'll be in a hotel until Wednesday, then she'll head to our apartment and work until I get home. Thursday morning Dad, Andy, Molly, and Ella are all flying in to spend the weekend here. Shaughny is staying behind. He has tickets to see Dave Matthews at Busch Stadium next weekend, plus he's still in his brace so travelling isn't that comfortable for him. I can't really blame him for postponing his visit out here. He's going to try to get out here before the end of the summer after he's free and clear of the brace.

It is going to be so fun to have the family out here! Plus a whole week off work. Ahhhhh.... Can't wait!

Memorial Day Weekend

Good times this weekend! Will and I took off Thursday evening for St. Louis to attend a wedding for one of Will's high school friends. We were scheduled to get in to the Lou around 10 PM, but weather in the Denver area chose not to cooperate so we ended up leaving Denver about 2 hours later than expected (and about 5 beers into the night, thanks to the delay- we made the best of our time at a bar). Will's good friends Colin and Lee were at the airport to pick us up, which was great since we were too late to catch the hotel shuttle.


We stayed in Clayton, which was different for me. Of the 4 years I lived in St. Louis, I can count on one hand the number of times I spent time in the Clayton area. We were pleased to see that there was a bar, CJ Muggs, 2 doors from our hotel, which we took full advantage of for the last hour and a half it was open. Then we continued the party in our suite (which Will insisted we get so that we could have the "party room"). In retrospect we definitely hit the drinks WAY too hard, but we've been looking forward to this trip for a long time- I was pumped to get back to St Louis and Will was excited to see his HS buddies- so we just got a bit ahead of ourselves.


Needless to say, I was NOT feeling well Friday morning. I just can't drink the way I used to! Will and the guys headed to Fitz's for pool and bar food and I headed to lunch with Todd, a college friend/former Fox employee. It was great to see him and catch up. It had been a loonnnggg time since we had hung out. I had been so excited to go to Llywelyn's for lunch...and I'm sure lunch would have been delicious, had I been able to eat it! I was feeling terrible! 2 bites and I was done. My beautiful Llyweln's chicken was tossed. Sad day.


The wedding was for Colin's brother Adam. It was in a pretty church right in the middle of Clayton and the reception was in Forest Park's Visitor Center, a cool venue to have a party.

Saturday morning we had brunch with Colin's family then said our goodbyes to the wedding crew. Lee, Will, and I switched to the Hilton downtown for the night. I made the guys walk around and see SLU's campus and the Central West End. I was really happy to hear that Will was impressed with St. Louis. He always gave me crap about going to school there and such but he had never spent any time there. I love when the Lou makes a good impression on people! We had dinner at Favazza's (quite possibly the best Italian food. In the world.) with my friend Megan from college, then hit up the new casino downtown, The Lumiere. Lee didn't do so hot, but Will and I both came out ahead, which is nice!


Sunday Lee headed back to Nashville and Will and I met up with my family. Mom, Dad, Molly, Ella, and Shaughn all drove down for the day to hang out. First of all, I haven't seen Shaughn since he was in the hospital after his accident. I was SHOCKED by his beard. It is out of control. And red. Wow. He looked like Forrest Gump when he was running cross country.

Ella is just starting to talk so it was fun to watch her interact with everyone- "Mommy, Papa, Sha, Mommy (no word for Grandma yet)". Now that she is putting it all together, I think she just likes to hear herself talk. She is so smart! At lunch (Llywelyn's- round 2. I was NOT leaving St Louis without eating a Steak and Cheese, for real!) she could point out who was who, and she also knows her anatomy really well. She can point to her cheeks, ankles, knees, ears, fingers. Such a smart little girl!


We took her to the Science Center and the zoo to play. She wasn't that impressed with the Science Center- I think she is not quite old enough to understand that leaving one fun exhibit will lead to another. She was really upset everytime we moved away from whatever it was we were playing with. Of course, one of the first exhibits she made a beeline for was the phone. She just loves phones!

She had a great time at the zoo. We ate some Dippin Dots and then walked through the River's Edge section. Everything she saw was a "puppy". Hippos? "Puppy". Elephants? "Puppy". Cheetahs? "Puppy". All the while she threw in a few roll calls to make sure everyone was accounted for- "Mommy, Papa, Sha,...".

After the zoo Will and I had to take off for the airport. It was so great to catch up with friends and to hang out with my family again in St. Louis. I miss that town!

Monday was Memorial Day, which was great! It is so nice to be able to sleep in a bit when you get back from a long weekend. We had breakfast with Jess and Ryan, some friends who recently moved to Wichita but were back in town for a wedding. Then we went up to Boulder to meet with Paul and Erica, who were also in town for the weekend. They were recently engaged so we talked a lot about their wedding plans. We spent the evening back in Denver, and went to see Baby Mama. I wasn't all that impressed. It's one of those movies where they show all the funny parts in the preview so there wasn't much left to laugh at. I was one tired puppy by the time we finally crashed Monday night.

Go, Who, Go?!

This is a very weird day for me. My mom just called me from the box seats at the Cardinals game claiming that Albert Pujols was standing right next to her, and then he got on the phone to wish me a happy birthday. Now, do I really believe that I just spoke to Albert Pujols? Not really, I mean there is a game going on right now. I doubt he'd be making personal phone calls from the box seats. But that leads into my big OH NO!!! moment...

I was looking on the Cards website and a news story caught my eye..."Cards wishing Edmonds well". Jimmy Edmonds is my favorite player so of course I clicked to read on.

And then, the bombshell, the big one, the story that has rocked my world. Jim Edmonds, my numbero uno man in baseball, has signed on with my arch nemesis. Yes, #15 is now a CUB. What?! NOOOOOO!! It can't be!!!! What am I to do? How can I root for the enemy? How can I not root for the enemy when my favorite player is now in their lineup? Can one person really have an emotional attachment to both teams that are part of the most celebrated rivalry in baseball history? This is the conundrum of all conundrums. Cubbie blue?? He's wearing Cubbie blue now? What about Cardinal Red? It's in his blood. Oh the humanity... but, a girl's gotta root for her boy, so...

I guess there's only one thing left to say. In the immortal words of Steve Goodman, "Go Cubs Go!" (But Go Cardinals, too!).

Birthday Shenanigans

Yesterday I turned the big 2-6. It was a pretty uneventful day, but all around a good one. Remember being younger when birthdays were so exciting? When we were young Mom and Dad used to hang balloons and streamers from our bedroom doors while we slept the night before- that was always fun to wake up to in the morning...and obviously hitting milestone birthdays like 16, 18, and 21 were pretty big deals. 26 though...26 is just another year older.

I must have been feeling older than I really am, though. I emailed my best friend Lisa (who had asked me what my plans were for the evening) and, without realizing it, said that I wouldn't be going out that night because now that I'm 30 I am a loser and would rather stay in and watch tv. She immediately wrote me back and reminded me that I am in fact only 26, not 30! I mean, really? I actually wrote that I was 30?! It is weird that I am now closer to that age than I am to being 20, but still. I'm not quite ready to lose 4 years of my life.

The office took me out to lunch at Red Lobster and embarrassed me with a rather awful rendition of Happy Birthday. It was nice to get out of the office for awhile though. I enjoy being able to socialize with the office people outside of work. The majority of the conversation was spent discussing the various sightings and weird occurrences around the office that have to do with "Bob", the office ghost. (Honest- my bosses Carla and Echo have claimed to see him, and lots of unexplained weird stuff happens around here. Maybe it's true!).

Will tried to send me flowers but the order didn't make it due to the florist being behind schedule with overdue Mothers' Day orders. He sent me a picture of them, though- they would have been very pretty. :) More importantly, though, he got us tickets to see The Beatles' Love when we go to Vegas next month! I have been dying to see the show since I found out they were doing a Cirque de Soleil to Beatles' music. It is going to be so awesome. I wish we were going this weekend!

As sad as it sounds, I wanted to stay in last night. I have been hooked on this season's The Bachelor (I just love the Brit Matt- he is so funny...even Will enjoyed watching it with me) and the finale was last night. I had to see who won! So after we worked out, we got take-out sushi and some wine and had a quiet night in.

And that's the big day! Low-key, but nice. If only I had been in Decatur for "The Informant" filming festivities. It sounded like Mom and Pam and everyone else there were having a great time being "reporters" and drinking margaritas! Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes and lovely "Happy Birthday" singing!

New blog friends! And sushi!

Yay! Just found out that my old friend from high school, Becky, and an old grade school friend, Katie, are both bloggers as well! Thanks, Leslie, for getting me hooked! Such a great way to get caught up with everyone...

For those concerned- my pink eye is MUCH better (though I still have to wear the stupid glasses). My goal is to be able to wear my contacts to my b-day dinner on Saturday night. We made reservations for Sushi Sasa- I'm so excited! Sushi, sake, friends, and a birthday! Should be a great night!

On another great note- one of my candidates got a job offer today! And I think he's actually going to take it, too, which is a plus. We've had several people get job offers, but have yet to actually place a candidate. I should get my bonus check just in time for Vegas. Ahhh-summ!!

And the Cards are up 2-0 in the series against the Rockies! Since I can't actually go to the games I've been sporting my Cardinals hats this week. If I can't support at the game, I'll just have to appear supportive.

My not-so-great start to the week is getting better!! :)

Pink eye... :(

That's what I was diagnosed with this afternoon. I woke up yesterday morning with a very red, watery left eye, which I figured were my allergies kicking in. I have had really bad allergies out here in Denver. I took a Clariton D, then headed out to the mountains to do some biking with Will, Lisa, and Andrew. (Side note- I wiped out big time on my bike- my legs have big dark bruises all over them, but it was so fun!) My eye felt OK during the ride, but by the late afternoon it was watering really badly and was extremely sensitive to light. I couldn't open my eyes without feeling strain. We took a trip to Walgreens and talked to the pharmacist, who suggested I try putting an antihistamine drop right into my eye, which didn't help. I also bought an eye patch to try to keep that eye covered and out of the light. Will thought that was pretty funny. His nickname for me is "panda"- now, he calls me "pirate panda." Has quite a ring to it, right? Headed to bed early but didn't sleep much at all.

My eye felt much better today (I could actually open it with light around) but was still watering and red, so I decided to head to the doctor. She said that while it could just be a really bad allergic reaction, she was going to go ahead and treat it like pink eye. Boo. So now I have eyedrops to put in the infected eye, and at least a week without my contacts. Perfect timing- the Cardinals are in town this week so I'm going to miss going to the game, and I won't be up for much birthday celebrating this weekend. Double boo.

Back-blogging

I just found out that you can change the dates of your posts, so I am adding my journal entries from Ireland to my blog. I'm really excited about it! Now I can add pictures to match up to the journal entries. It might not be the most exciting thing for everyone else to read, but there are a couple comical anecdotes, and it's a great way to backup my journal in case something happens to the paper copy . It's going to take awhile to post them all, but I'll get them up as quickly as possible!

Oh...and another thing. It's May 1st and DUMPING snow outside. 80 degrees yesterday and a winter wonderland today. The snowflakes are so huge that it looks like we're in a snowglobe. The weather here is just unbelievable!