My Thanksgiving break

Oh Sunday....the last day of my 4.5 days of Thanksgiving break....the day where I'm supposed to be getting everything organized and prepped for the week ahead.  I'm not sure where my time off went.  When I left work Wednesday afternoon I was super pumped and glad to have the time off wondering how I would spend all of this free time.  Today I'm questioning where all that free time went and I'm officially declaring today my day to chill.

Here's how my Thanksgiving break panned out:
Wednesday afternoon -- made my World Famous (ok, not really, but it is quite tasty!) Pumpkin Mousse Cheesecake for Thanksgiving at Mom's and spent the evening catching up on episodes of Restaurant: Impossible.

Thursday -- a major morning workout followed by two fantastic Thanksgiving dinners, time with my closest family and a lot of fun.  I started Thanksgiving out at my Dad's with him, my Bro, my Aunt and Uncle and 4 cousins and spent nearly every second there laughing at all of my family's antics.  After our Thanksgiving lunch, I made my way across the river to my Mom and Michael's for a abbreviated dinner and dessert.  Mom's definitely got my sweet tooth pegged with her sweet potatoes and lemon meringue pie. (Yum!!)  We played games for the rest of the evening until my brain completely shut down and I decided it was time to get home.

Friday -- I hit the gym extra early to work off all of the fantastically delicious foods I ate the day before.  While there I debated whether or not I would try to pick up a few deals on Black Friday.  Well, we all know I did make my way out to battle the crowds....twice in fact!  But, my Christmas shopping is now underway and I was even able to put my tree up!  My ceramic tree has made its appearance again this year (Don't laugh!).  However, rather than sitting on my end table, it's place nicely on my breakfast bar between my kitchen and living room.  I even have presents under it...albeit not wrapped but hey, you gotta start somewhere!

Saturday -- Yesterday morning I woke up and continued on my staying in shape for the holidays quest and completed day 1 of my weekend warrior workout and decided to hit the mall before getting my oil change in the afternoon.  I'm not sure why I thought the mall would be a good idea because besides picking up my supplements from the vitamin store, I found nothing I needed in regards to Christmas shopping plus people were out and about by the boatloads and none of them appeared to have much common sense about them.  (I'm starting to believe online shopping is the way to go.)
While getting my oil changed, I finished my book (more on that in a second) and planned on settling in for the evening, using up some of the leftovers from Thanksgiving in some recipes I found.  Halfway through a baking experiment, my Aunt called and said she and my Uncle were in the neighborhood and wanted to know if I would like to go out for margaritas with them.  I haven't been able to spend a whole lot of time with my Aunt and Uncle lately and with my Uncle temporarily relocating for another construction management job in the next couple of weeks, I thought going out for drinks would be a great idea.  If there is only one thing that sticks with you from this post, let it be this....someone please remind me the next time I go out, tequila is not my friend.  I had a terrific night out, however 1 frozen margarita did me in.  As a result, I feel like I've been hit by a truck today and day 2 of the weekend warrior workout ended up being suspended.

Sunday -- With no workout and trying to get myself back to a somewhat human state, I've spent most of my morning finishing up my baking and cooking from yesterday, working on laundry and I'm headed to the store for white soda and a few other miscellaneous items for the week ahead.
Once that is complete, I'm headed to the couch for the afternoon to catch some football and continue on my reading extravaganza.  I've jumped on the Fifty Shades bandwagon after being loaned book one from work.  I decided I couldn't just read the first installment and who knows when the girls would finish book two and I had to continue the series ASAP.  I ended up buying the trilogy as my Christmas gift to myself while I was shopping on Friday.  I'm hoping a relaxing afternoon will repair this hangover and get me recharged for the week ahead.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Black Friday

After having 2.5 super busy days at work, a Thanksgiving filled with family, food and fun, I decided after my extended morning workout, why not throw a bit of Black Friday shopping into the mix.....go ahead, confirm my suspicions, I am indeed crazy.  I'm not patient enough to deal with people on a normal shopping day, I'm not sure why I had this great idea this morning to head out and battle the crowds.  Fortunately, I did start my Christmas shopping and actually am making some headway and I did get some awesome deals today.  With that being said, I'm now home, watching Food Network and drinking a glass of wine.  For those of you keeping track, I hardly ever drink anymore but I think today's festivities made me a bit unnerved....just trying to chill now.
Tomorrow I scheduled an oil change for my car and while I'm out by the dealership I've been debating whether or not I should stop at a few more places to continue this Christmas shopping madness.  Not sure I've yet convinced myself that this truly is a good idea.  Guess we'll just have to see where my patience level is tomorrow afternoon before making any half-brained decisions.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

RI: STL style recap

I'm sure you're on pins and needles waiting for my recap of the Restaurant Impossible dinner from Wednesday night, so here it is!

That's Joe waving, I'm on the right taking a pic of the Lexus.

Homemade Dessert?!?  Yes please!!!

The awesome sibling duo

Warning about walking onto a public set!  So exciting!!

The new signage behind the bar.

Robert's Signature Lexus SUV.

Chef Robert Irvine Taping the RI close for the episode

Overall the night was A-MAZING!  I wasn't sure what to expect besides dinner but by having an early reservation we actually got to be a part of the taping that they show when the restaurant re-opens.  The cafe only has about 20-25 tables so this was extremely exciting.  The camera crews were interviewing all of us and getting shots of our meals and pretty much putting the finishing touches on the normal clips that are aired with each episode.
I was star-struck seeing the chef in action along with Lynn the designer and Tom the re-modeler.  I spent most of my night with my head on a swivel trying to catch all of the action.  Sure, I watch them on tv nearly every week but seeing them live and in a local establishment was unbelievable. 
The actual meal  was absolutely fantastic.  We all ordered something different so we could try as much of the new menu as possible and then topped off the evening with dessert.  You only live once, right?!? 
This cafe is definitely a place I'm planning on revisiting because the food alone is magnificent and I truly hope they stick with Chef Robert's new menu.
Most of all, the night was an opportunity to enjoy time with Dad, Ryan and Joe and experience the live version of a show we all love.  As Dad put it the other night, "Who would have thought in 2012 we'd all be watching Food Network and found a show that we all enjoyed and then got to live it?"
Personally, I'm still pinching myself.....I could only imagine being a part of an experience like this!  And of course, wow we're all super pumped to watch the episode when it airs in late January, early February.

Another bucket list experience

Tonight I get a once in a lifetime opportunity.  It all started on Friday night when I got home from work and checked my Facebook news feed.  Usually I just scroll thru to see if anything exciting happened throughout the day.  Friday night I was checking in and saw a post that looked extremely intriguing.
One of my favorite chefs from Food Network is bringing his show to the area to revitalize a struggling restaurant.  You may have heard of the show...

Source

The post said Chef Irvine was coming to town for the Grand Reopening and that there were limited reservations available by calling the cafe.  I played the scenario in my head multiple times, sent a quick message to my Bro and then decided to give the cafe a call.  My name was put on a list and within a few hours, the new chef called me back and confirmed my reservation for a 4 top!  I'm so super excited and I can't believe that after watching every episode I finally can be a part of the RI experience!!
What's even cooler is that last Wednesday night, my Bro came to visit me and have dinner after work and we spent the rest of the evening watching a mini-marathon of RI on Food Network, while talking about how cool it would be to meet Chef Robert in person.
I'm definitely on cloud 9 right now!  I'll recap our dinner when I have a chance!

Sixteen years ago...

Sixteen years ago the most precious little girl came into the world and since that first day she's been the apple not only of my eye but our entire family.  She was the first and only cousin I had on my Dad's side (until my Aunt remarried a few years ago) and while we're nearly 14 years apart in age, she has always been like my little sister.
For the first 6 years of her life, I took non-stop pictures with my 35 mm camera, capturing as many of her milestones as I could.  Unfortunately, I haven't gotten those pics converted to digital yet, but I still decided to do a photo dump of some of the pictures I've taken since then.

Happy Birthday to my favorite girlie Nicole!!

Sixteen years ago we were on pins and needles waiting for your entrance into the world and now we're watching you grow into a mature, confident, smart young lady.

An election season promise

Seems like I've talked more about politics this election season that any other time in the past.  Hopefully this will be the last post about anything political.  Mostly, this is a post about common sense more than anything but I am making a promise to the Missouri Republican State Committee right now that I will not vote for Bill Otto in this election.
I got this in my mail today:

The blacked out part of this flyer is my full name and entire address.  In fact, it is my new address pre-printed on this piece of propaganda.  My new address in a different state!  I may not always be the brightest and most intelligent individual but shouldn't someone fact check addresses before mailing certain campaign pamphlets?  Wouldn't it be more appropriate to send this sort of mailing to someone who actually lives in the State of Missouri?
I think this is hilarious considering I forfeited my right to vote in Missouri the minute I moved and updated all of my records and registered to vote in the State of Illinois.

Sure looks like the Missouri Republican State Committee spent their advertising funds wisely for this election.  And don't worry Missouri, I'm helping protect and create jobs in your communities this election.  :)

In other news, this morning I had an appointment to get my haircut and colored.  After growing and growing and growing some more for the last year or two, I decided to get 5 inches cut off and darkened my hair a smidge for fall.
The result:

Feelin' super sexy!  (Ok, that's probably a little extreme, but I do love the new cut and color!)

I just might qualify

I know the countdown is on and in less than 3 months I turn 30 but I thought I was still in the prime of my life at this age.
I guess the canvasser than brought this by and hooked it to my front door knob thought differently.

Does 30 start to qualify you for senior discounts?  I wonder if I should call and get signed up for this Senior Final Expense Program asap?? 
They'll pay up to $25,000 for my funeral expenses even if I have a health condition!!!  Can't pass up a deal like that!


Yeah, this door notice ended up exactly where it belonged in the first place....after taking a pic for the blog, it's in the kitchen garbage can. 

I'm gonna try to retain my "youth" for a little bit longer.