A Beer-filled Weekend

Last weekend, D's dad and step-mom came to visit us from Michigan.  It was the first time they've been down here since D moved here 3 years ago and actually it was their 1st visit to the city ever.  We tried to take advantage of showing them some of our favorite spots and also visit other St. Louis attractions.
They came to town Thursday afternoon and after showing them our place we were off to the historic and haunted Lemp Mansion for an evening tour.
The Lemps were well known for their brewery in the mid 1800s up until Prohibition but unfortunately the family faced a lot of tragedy and ultimately are more known for the Lemp family curse more than anything else.  This intrigued D's dad and step-mom and they wanted us to visit the Mansion with them.

I was stuck at work for most of the day on Friday (a long story for another post) so D played St. Louis Tour Guide until I could finally make my way home.  That evening we went out for pizza and for a few drinks with Andy and Amy before the guys played hockey.  D's dad hasn't seen him play hockey since he moved here so it was a treat for him to back out on the ice and playing on a team with Andy instead of against him like they did when they were kids.  The good news is that TNT shows off their skills that night and posted a huge win for the fans.

On Saturday after a quick stop in to show off the office, we decided to tour the well known St. Louis brewery, the Anheuser Busch Budweiser brewery.  In D's 3 years in St. Louis, he still had never been on a tour and I hadn't been since I was a teenager, so it was the perfect opportunity to visit the St. Louis landmark located only a few short miles from home.

D especially enjoyed the complimentary beer after completing the tour....

...and part of my complimentary beer too!

Sunday morning we had to say goodbye to our guests so they could make the 7 hour drive back home.  We had a blast hanging out with them and were so glad they made the trip down to visit us.
After seeing D's dad and step-mom off in the morning, we waited for my cousin Sam and his girlfriend to make their way downtown for the Rams-Seahawks game.  It was family day at the game for our company and D and I decided that our family football star would have fun getting to take in the game in style in a suite.

Not only that, it ended up being one of the most exciting Rams games I've ever been to and the team pulled off a huge win against the Hawks!

I'm only sad that I didn't pick them in my weekly football picks but I'll take the loss there to see my home team take down the Super Bowl champs!

After a whirlwind weekend, I was hoping the week ahead would be a calm one but soon found out, it would be another week of pure craziness and long hours....more to come on that soon.

Blinded by the Light

A year ago today I was suffering from a really bad GI infection that caused me to be hospitalized and off of work for a week.  I knew going into this week that one year ago I was battling that bad infection and was hoping that I wouldn't have to face something like than again any time soon.  While I am not hospitalized, I was faced with another medical issue this same week, one year later.  It all started yesterday morning, when I woke up I couldn't see out of my left eye.  I quickly tried to splash water into it in hopes that I just was dealing with allergies or maybe a head cold.  As the day progressed, my eye continued to turn more and more red and my eye and eyelid felt on fire, I tried everything possible to make the pain stop -- warm cloth, ice pack, tea bags, a home-made eye patch.  You name it, I tried it.  Nothing helped, so this morning, I decided to call the eye doctor just a few blocks from the office and see if I could get an emergency appointment.  Luckily, I was able to score a 9 am appointment, so I got as much as I could done at work and then headed to my appointment.  Thankfully, my boss gave me the rest of the day off just after looking at my eye when I went to explain that I needed to leave for a bit. Actually she told me, she couldn't even look at me with my horrible looking eye but in the nicest way possible.
Come to find out, I have a severe case of corneal infiltrates caused by my excessive wear of contact lenses.  I was given an antibiotic and told to take the rest of the day off from work by the optometrist. I was also told that I need to come back in tomorrow and Friday and probably also next week for further follow up and I can't wear contacts for at least 2 weeks.  That would be okay but since I always wear my contacts, I don't have a pair of glasses with a current prescription.  My glasses have a prescription from my college days. 

I had been talking to D about getting in to the eye doctor to update my glasses for the past month.  Unfortunately, I didn't get it taken care of before this little issue happened and I could kick myself in the butt for this right now.  I guess the one good thing to come out of this is that this is going to force me to get new glasses as now I have multiple appointments for this problem.
For the time being though, if you see me walking down the street, you may want to point me in the right direction because who knows what I can or can't see.

Surge!!!

We are lucky enough to have a really cool and delicious donut shop about 20 minutes away from us.  They opened about a year ago and have what seems like a cult following of fans.  These are no ordinary donuts though...they are creative, tasty and sometimes a bit strange.  Our first visit to Strange Donuts was back in April when Ashley and Kalvin came to see us.  We stood out in the long line waiting for our turn to pick out the perfect dozen.  We've made a handful of trips over the last few months, sometimes getting our donuts and sometimes turning around and coming back home without anything because the line is far too long to stand in. 
This past weekend, Strange Donuts promoted "the Surge Done" after they purchased the newly re-released Surge soda. 

D was super excited for "the Surge Done" and since we had some free time before hockey on Friday night, we made the effort to get to the store well ahead of time in order to stand in line for the dones.  For the weekend crowd, Strange Donuts opens up at 9 pm.  At 8:15 pm on Friday, we were parked in front of the store and in line waiting and we were 4th.  Promptly at 9 pm, the doors unlocked and we went in to place our order.  A dozen dones later, including 5 Surge Dones, we were off to hockey.  However, the first donut was gone even before we got back on the road....
Don't worry though, the 4 others we bought are staying safe in our freezer so they can be eaten at a later date.  Since it took 20 years for Surge to be re-released, I don't think D is going to be too quick to scarf down the others.

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500th post and an overdue update

So what should have been a short break of a couple of weeks turned into a 3 month hiatus for me in this blog....so, so sorry.  There are good reasons for my absence though.  First, this is my 500th post and I had envisioned writing something exciting and entertaining for this milestone and I figured after going public at work, the next adventure that I wanted to document was our planned week-long vacation to the Upper Peninsula during 4th of July.  It was a perfect topic for my 500th post; however, shortly before we left for our trip, one of the other Sales Accountants turned in her notice and ended up leaving the same day as our last day of work before vacation.  When we got back to work 7 days later, I was already a week behind at work with my own facility and terminal and also left trying to clean up everything for the other facility and help train the new person who started on my first day back after vacation.  Since we've been back, neither D nor I have worked nothing less than 55 hours a week, him working even more than that with all of his weekend calls and emails and then we've had to somehow be normal responsible adults during our home time or we already had other obligations.  In the end, this has left me with very little time for narrating the first real vacation I've had in 5 years.

Here's a mini photo recap of all of our vacation fun though:

Welcome to the UP!

The cabin's backyard

4th of July Pure Michigan Style!

My first trip to Canada!

At Tahquamenon Falls

Waiting for freighters

 

Kinny was on vacation at the cabin too!

 After vacation, we worked, worked and worked some more; attended a graduation party; cooked ribs at Ribfest in Chicago at D's aunt and uncle's annual celebration; hosted my cousins for a weekend and took them to the One Republic/The Script concert; rafted down one of Missouri's rivers to celebrate my Mom's 60th birthday; bartended with my aunt and uncle at the annual church picnic; spent Labor Day smokin' some pork and wings and celebrated my triplet cousins' 17th birthday; enjoyed dinner and drinks with our good friends Andy and Amy (finally, it's was far too long!); and, crossed an item off of my mom and step-dad's bucket list by taking them to a teppanyaki dinner at Kobe Steakhouse of Japan last night.

Inspecting our ribs

Cousins weekend!

Celebrating Mom on the river

Bartender extraordinaire

Smokin' some meat

Happy Birthday Zach, Em & Sam!

I started this blog back in 2005 and while I've tried to keep up with it on a semi-regular basis, it's become harder and harder as my priorities and responsibilities have changed but I enjoy my occasional check-in and nothing is better than a trip down memory lane as I go back and re-read my earlier posts.  Here's to another 500+ posts!!

F Everything, Let's Party....or better known as my strategy for investing

Today was momentous day at work, our company went public in spite of volatile market for the industry.  While exciting, it still was a long day considering I had to complete another close for the IPO.  Ahhh, the life of a Sales Accountant!  Two closes in one month is definitely not my favorite thing to do but somehow despite having 2 companies to complete today, I still managed to finish all of my accruals and reports and still had time to take care of other things needed throughout the day.  Some days I amaze myself, other days I appear to be the biggest idiot in the department.  And some will probably confirm that yesterday was an idiot day for me especially considering the looks I got when I went to explain a sales invoice at 7:30 am but somehow I persevered.

So anyway, getting back to the IPO, we all took a short break to watch the first trade early this morning, which was quite interesting since I've never personally known anyone who has actually been on the trading room floor before and today a handful of our executives were actually there.  And in-between all of my work today and mostly because it was pulled up on my second computer screen, I found a few opportunities to check in to see how the first day on the exchange went.....it was up, it was down, it was up again, then down again and finally it finished $1.00 down from the target price.  I was hoping for much better but I'll be patient and see what happens beyond day 1, month 1 or even year 1 for that matter.  Since I have invested my own money in this, you can be sure I'll be keeping my eye on how things are going for the long haul.  Let's hope there are future gains as we are the lowest cost and highest margin producer in our industry in all of the U.S.
Tomorrow morning is another big day for our company as our primary owner will be ringing the bell at the exchange.  It is also my Friday, which makes it even better because after another close, I'm more than beat!

By the way, you may think that the title of this post is a bit misleading....don't worry, I'm not that crazy.  It just so happens that the NYSE listing is also an Urban Dictionary acronym and an outrageous one at that.

Update:  In case you really want to watch it, click this link see the opening bell this morning.

Mexico City Recap

Nearly 3 weeks ago we left for our whirlwind weekend in Mexico City and while it was a huge culture shock (if you bet on me not remembering my Spanish from high school, you would have been correct!), we had a great time celebrating the wedding of D's friend and old roommate and catching up with some of his friends and former co-workers from Michigan.
We couldn't understand more than a few words at the wedding and reception (yes, nearly the entire thing was in Spanish, minus M's vows which were clearly the only part of the wedding I understood), I'm glad we were able to make the trip and experience the city and the wedding.  Since we didn't have much time while in Mexico, we spent our Saturday walking around the Polanco District and visiting the Farmer's Market before a quick nap and then the wedding and reception.  The nap was necessary since the reception lasted from 8 pm until 3:30 in the morning.  And we made the most of the reception celebration....dancing, throwing celebration streamers and wearing all of the fun accessories such as flashing crowns, cowboy hats and glasses.  It was definitely hard to get up the next morning, pack up our bags and head back home as early as we did but I was happy to be heading back to the States to see my precious little Kinny who was patiently awaiting our return.  Luckily my parents came to visit her over the course of those 3 days and emailed pics to us regularly.  Yes, I may in fact be one of those crazy kitty moms....she's like my baby.  :)

Anyway as promised, here's my photo dump....

Customs Line -- Welcome to Mexico

It's almost like home!

Exploring the city

Found some ice cream!!

Heading to the wedding

Nothing says party like mariachis

We may or may not be taking a selfie.

And this pretty girl was excited to see us come home!

Three Day weekend!!

By the time you all read this, we'll be on our way to Mexico. (Fingers crossed the forecast was wrong and it's actually warm and sunny instead of cool and rainy as predicted!)

No, we're not headed to one of the beautiful Mexican coast lines for a vacay, but instead we're going to Mexico City for a wedding.  One of D's former roommates is getting married and we've decided to make the trip this Memorial Day weekend.
Growing up we took family vacations to both Cancun and Puerto Vallarta and I loved the Mexican culture.  I'm not sure what to expect going to the Federal District but I am excited for this adventure.  I'm sure I'll have a photo dump for you once we get home, get back to the real work and get through month-end close.  Right now I'm just hoping I remember even a teeny bit of my 4.5 years of junior high and high school Spanish....with being out of high school 13 years I'm sure my memory is lacking a bit.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

What we've been up to....a cooking update

With work being insane the last few months and really, me just trying to enjoy a bit of sanity both in the evenings and on the weekends, D and I have been spending a few nights in the week in the kitchen. 
As with any couple, we have talked about our future, hopes and dreams.  I told him about my dream to someday own a cafe and all of the prior research and planning I did a few years ago. As I shed some light on my grand plans, I also told him about all the pictures I used to take of all of my culinary creations, either for my own recipe collections or to post on here.  He was fully on board with taking pics of anything that was really delicious or something different we've cooked up.
Since I haven't posted many pics of what I've been cooking lately, I thought I'd share some of our meals.

Sunday Morning Breakfast - Belgian Waffles & Raspberries

Buffalo Chicken & Chicken Bacon Ranch Tostadas

Hawaiian Pork Loin

Tres de Mayo Nachos

Queso Taco Bake

Buffalo Chicken Burgers

Lately we've used a lot of green onions, mostly because D is obsessed with them and has requested them on nearly everything I've made.  And we've been eating a lot of buffalo chicken and Mexican dishes; I think we just have gotten into the phase of buying an ingredient and making sure we use it up or we're craving it again after just having something similar.
Who knows if we'll ever own a cafe one day but it definitely has been fun testing out new recipes and spending some time in the kitchen.

Lazy day

Thank goodness we're off for Good Friday because after staying up and watching the exciting 3 OT Blues-Blackhawks playoff game last night, I'm not moving all that fast today.

D's car is at the dealership right now getting some routine maintenance done so we'll have to pick it up later this afternoon but besides that and possibly going shopping for some new summer clothes for each of us and a dress for me to wear to a wedding next month, we're keeping it pretty low key today.
It's nice to finally have a day like this and we're planning on enjoying it to the fullest!

Hockey foes

Most days we're friends, more than friends actually...he's my better half, the PB to my jelly, the cheese to my mac, but today, we're hockey foes.

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You will find us at today's Blues-Red Wings game, sitting in the lower bowl of the Scottrade Center, him wearing a Probert Red Wings jersey, me in my no-named Blues jersey, rooting for our respective teams.  Yes, I still love him to pieces but I have to question his hockey allegiance.
I'm still trying to convince him that he can wear his new Blues #39 jersey t-shirt.  Afterall, another MSU grad will be sporting that number today.  :)

Let's Go Blues!!

A visit to the 'Lou

Gosh, where do I begin?  I'm not even sure where I left off on this blog and honestly, I'm not sure where the past month has gone but I can say we've had some fun.
A little more than a week ago, we had threats of tornadoes and were forced to the basement twice in one day (5 am and 8 pm).  The morning was a bit blurry because we were woken up to iPhone alerts; we made the most of it that night though when D's sister and brother-in-law came to visit us from Michigan and right after our quick hellos, we went to sit in D's car in our underground parking lot.  What a way to say "Welcome to your Missouri vacation!"

The weekend was a great way for me to rediscover the city I've lived in my entire life.  I forgot how much there is to do in St. Louis and we've already started planning Ash & Kalvin's next trip down to see us to visit all the places we couldn't fit in this time.  We ended up having a fabulous 5 days with them, most of it chronicled on Facebook, but I will include a photo dump for your viewing pleasure....

Friday night dinner at Highway 61 Roadhouse

Dessert from Strange Donuts - yes, we got a dozen!

Saturday - walking around Kimmswick, MO

Lunch and Dessert at The Blue Owl

A trip to the wineries - Ste. Gen

Sunday with my dude!

Sunday lunch at Fitz's - U. City Loop

Found Nelly's Star!

Late Sunday night hockey

Lots of Kinny spoiling!

Another adult milestone

Even though I graduated a semester early and saved myself nearly $10K in tuition, it still took me 9.5 years to make that final student loan payment. The monthly payment isn't horrible but it had gotten down far enough that I figured it was smart to save myself the little bit of interest and just call the lender to pay it off. Today was that fateful day.  Felt good to finally say sayonara to my student loans.
Oddly enough, I had been considering going back to school....definitely not for Accounting though!  No, I think that ship has sailed. I just wasn't entirely thrilled with the idea of working full time and trying to take evening classes, especially working the nutty hours that I have been.

Thank goodness, I decided to hold off on that and settled on a more sane activity like cuddling with this cutie.

I may or may not be spending some of the money I used to put towards my loans on cat treats and toys now.
Come on wouldn't you, especially if you got to see this adorable face every day?