"Love is the Essence of Life"

"Young at Heart Entertainment, LLC"

2011-06-22T22:59:00.006-05:00

Tonight I helped spruce up a little webpage for a dear friend of ours, Anthony. He has a great little party supply and moonwalk rental business, "Young at Heart Entertainment, LLC" and just wanted a quick little make-over to his simple, one-page website: www.young-at-heart-ent.com.

I hope he likes it and finds the nod to a fun, funky, 80's-esque era appropriate.

As Woodstock, Georgia's premier inflatable moonwalk company, "Young at Heart" provides superior service and high quality products. I wish Anthony nothing but the best in his business venture and hope that if you are in the market for a party supply company in the Greater Atlanta area, you'll consider his company.

Ivey Selkirk - Our New Love

2010-05-18T23:11:00.006-05:00

While our house was being rebuilt following the Memorial Day fire of 2008, we were introduced to Ivey Selkirk. For those of you not familiar with Ivey Selkirk, let me introduce you:

Ivey Selkirk is the second oldest auction house in the United States. Family owned and operated, the professional auction house has been a tradition in St. Louis since 1830! Ivey Selkirk holds six internationally recognized auctions annually and advertises local auctions monthly. You can find traditional 18th and 19th century fine art and antiques as well as 20th century modern design works. If that's not enough, they also offer fine jewelry, automobiles, decorative arts and other collectibles.

Twice a year they hold a Modernism auction, which we have now attended for the past 2 years. We've been extremely lucky at times, however, we've made some really stupid mistakes as well. But, we're excited about everything that we've "won" and the pieces we didn't get? Well, there's always next time.

Ivey Selkirk in Clayton

I plan to update my blog with images of our purchases through Ivey Selkirk (and the history behind them) over the next few weeks...

Coming Soon - IRELAND

2010-04-08T01:30:00.006-05:00

I'm desperately behind on this blog! Soon, I will post photos and stories from Ireland. In the meantime, enjoy this little snapshot from Dingle:

Whale's Rib Tavern at The Pilgrim's Inn

2009-09-09T23:49:00.002-05:00

Tonight Josh and I had dinner at the Whale's Rib Tavern at the Pilgrim's Inn, where we are staying. We had made dinner reservations (when we booked our room months ago) out of convenience more than anything. However, after eating in the Tavern tonight, Josh and I immediately made reservations for tomorrow night as well. Without even trying other restaurants on the island, we would be absolutely stupid for NOT having dinner here one more time.

The chef, Kris Burrin, prepared some amazing dishes for us this evening. An Englishman with classical French training, Burrin is definitely one of the most amazing chefs we've had the pleasure of "meeting".

For starters we had a cilantro spiced cornbread, a seasoned olive medley, and a tuna carpaccio salad with almonds, tomatoes and a pesto dressing. All three were absolutely amazing and paired nicely with the Prosecco we were drinking.

The main course for Josh consisted of a rib eye steak, hand cut french fries and green beans. I, however, opted for the special: Chicken Maghai? Ah hell. I can't remember what it was called. But it was an amazing curry dish with a spicy flavor explosion served alongside basamati rice and naan. Hands down my favorite meal of the entire trip!

Unfortunately we were too full for dessert, but will not make that mistake tomrorow night.

The Freedom Trail

2009-09-08T23:14:00.005-05:00

Labor Day (2009) was an intense day for Josh and I. We endured the ENTIRE Freedom Trail in Boston and then some.

While I would like to blog about that now...already a day behind schedule...the blog will have to wait because I am tired from driving ALL day. For now, all I can say is the 90 minute tour promised turned into a 6 hour walk (and sometimes jog) of some fascinating areas of Boston (and momentous periods in US history).

A view from atop the Bunker Hill Memorial...

Paul Revere's House (on the left)...

Copley Square and Harvard Yard - Sunday

2009-09-06T22:31:00.012-05:00

We were supposed to wake up early yesterday to get over to Copley Squar e for service at the world renown Trinity Church designed by Henry Hobson Richardson but instead we slept in. Eventually we got up, grabbed Starbucks and took the T over to Copley Square to hang for a bit. We did, of course, walk around Trinity, but were not able to check out the interior of the church because Sunday service was in session (yeah...the one we should have been in).

Josh and Angela outside Trinity Church in Boston.

Josh riding the hare in Copley Square.

We walked over to McKim, Mead, and White's Boston Public Library where we called our buddy Nick (who now lives in Portland, ME, but was down in Boston furniture shopping) to see about meeting up with him somewhere. I couldn't remember all the details of our 2 minute conversation, but Josh and I decided to head back to the Kendall so I could change, and then head over to Harvard Square to eventually meet up with Nick. So we did.

The Boston Public Library.

Thanks to my iPhone, we found an Adidas Originals store right in the square, and made a beeline for it. Josh found some beautiful new kicks and I got myself a little souvenir (an Adidas/Cambridge hoodie). From there we walked over to Harvard's campus and picked a little area to sit and rest for a second while we tried getting a hold of Nick again. Like I said, I couldn't remember the plan. Were we meeting up for lunch? Or were we having lunch and then meeting?

Before I could even finish the text, a man, who we presumed to be a professor, commented on Josh's STL hat; said he was from St. Louis. So, we start chatting with this ol' fellow and before you know it, he's walking us through Harvard Yard and pointing out a few of the libraries and their historical significance. After awhile, I ask him what he does. He says "Internet Broadcasting". Hmmm...peculiar. Anyways, we sit down and have a chat with him while he grabs some smokes, and he advises us as to where we should stop on our way up to Deer Isle this week. Before you know it, we're buying him a ginger ale at a little restaurant and we're continuing our conversation of Socialism in America, personal arrests in Moscow, the invention of web-based news casting for CNN in London, a meeting with Mr. Saddam Hussein...the list goes on and on.

The Harry Elkin Widener Memorial Library at Harvard

The Wadsworth House at Harvard

I will call the man Mr. Cashew. This of course was NOT his name, but given the amount of government/CIA work the man had done, we're pretty sure the name he gave us was an alias anyways. We got a great laugh out of this man and had a good time trying to meet up with Nick and his friend Michelle who were trying to find parking at Harvard. It felt like "Where's Waldo" or something. Mr. Cashew took us to the boathouse and showed us where the row team practiced. He walked us through more of the campus all the while giving us a history lesson before finally leaving us for the evening.

We got Mr. Cashew to pose for a photo with us, but I have decided to sensor his face so as not to reveal his true identity.

"Mr. Cashew", Josh and Angela in Harvard Square.

After parting ways with the mysterious Mr. Cashew, we went over to Charlie's Pub (or something like that) for a couple of pints. They were well needed by this point!

Mr. Cashew had given us strict orders for dinner, but by the time we said goodbye to Nick and Michelle and got ready to go out, we decided to eat across the street from the Kendall at the Legal Sea Food in Kendall Square (as opposed to the one in Harvard Square at the Charles Hotel).

Legal Sea Foods in Kendall Square

Following dinner at the Legal, we opted against going out for drinks and instead went back to the Kendall (a whole 75 feet away) for some relaxation. After Josh had a steak (not very good) and three stuffed shrimp with broccoli and mashed potatoes and I had lobster bisque (yummy) and Arctic Char, polenta and spinach, we were in no mood to consume beverages or hoof it anywhere!

The Kendall by night...was originally a firehouse in Cambridge.

The First Night in Cambridge

2009-09-06T08:27:00.005-05:00

After waking up 2 1/2 hours earlier than usual, yesterday, Josh and I boarded a plane bound for Boston. The flight was nice but the head flight attendant thought she was a comedian and made ridiculous jokes while reviewing the safety procedures. Although she was NOT humorous to neither Josh, myself nor the lady sitting to my right, she somehow managed to receive an applause from half the plane. For 7:00am, it was rather weird and surreal. I did not get it.

So after we landed in Boston, we hopped in a taxi (van) and made our way over to Cambridge. We saw a few rowers practicing on the Charles, but only for a split second. I definitely want to see a bit more of that!

We were lucky in that we were able to check in early at our boutique hotel. So we did and immediately began our trek for food. Eventually we decided on the Cambridge Brewery or Brew House, but there was an Irish Pub that drew us in before we could even get to the microbrewery - Tommy Doyle's Irish Pub. Complete with an Irish bartender, the establishment served your usual Irish influenced pub fare. I think Josh got a burger and I had fish and chips. Nothing crazy. But the Sam Adams Octoberfest on tap was AMAZING!

Josh watching the ever-so-interesting intersection outside...

After lunch, we decided naps were in order, so we convinced ourselves that we were on vacation and were afforded the luxury of midday sleeping. We must have slept long enough to wear off our lunch because shortly after waking up, we found ourselves on the T heading to Harvard Square for some brick-oven pizza from Bertucci's. There was a huge wait, but Josh must have glamoured the hostess because we we seated in less than 2 minutes!

Josh had the Bertucci while I had a spinache and roasted black olive pizza...

We came back to the hotel to regroup and drop off leftovers, etc. before going out for the night. Since we are still trying to figure out what's what and where everything is, my iPhone has been the best tourguide one could ask for. We decided on the Muddle Charles Pub on MIT's campus since it was within walking distance and overlooking the Charles River, however, what Mr. iPhone didn't tell me, was the pub is not open on weekends!

So we decide to get back on the T and head to Central Square this time in search for a dive bar or something! We settle on Tavern in the Square where they are showing multiple college football games on the tele, and have their facade completely open to the outdoors. Again I opt for the Octoberfest but Josh moves on to the hard stuff - Jack and Diane (otherwise known as Jack Daniels and Diet Coke). The weather was amazing and the environment at the bar was enjoyable too. I don't know the smoking policy in Cambridge, but this bar was smoke free!!!

We didn't want to miss the last subway, so we played it safe and came back to the Kendall before midnight. Josh wanted to smoke a stogie, so we walked down to the river and took a little walk along the promonade before heading in for the night.

Our shadows with Back Bay in the distance...

A Greek Feast for Dominique's Birthday

2009-08-12T00:00:00.006-05:00

On the 24th of July, the Friday before Dom's birthday, Josh and I met Ben and Dom at Momos for an absolute pig-out! It's too hard for me to remember what all we ordered, but I remember devouring tzatziki and pita, humus, spanikopita, beef dolmades, saganaki, domatokeftedes, potatoes and who knows what else?!

And if that wasn't enough, our waiter brought Dom a baklava for her birthday, which of course we split just as soon as we all finished eating our delicious carrot cake cupcakes from Cose Dolci (in Ferguson) which I had brought with us!

"D" is for Dom.

We practically had to shuffle our fat, little asses out of Momos once unable to consume any more food. Dominique thought she might like to find a place for after-dinner drinks in the Loop, but after driving down to Skinker and back with NO hope of finding parking and seeing a dude waving a knife around as another guy was holding his cut up hand in the air, we decided to hop on over to Sasha's Wine Bar in DeMun.

A good time was had by all...

The Hicks Brothers (minus Joe)

Ben refusing to take a decent pic.

Schischters.

The "Race for the Cure" - 2009

2009-06-15T13:58:00.014-05:00

This past Saturday 66,136 St. Louisans banded together and "raced" for the cure. Over 3.25 million dollars were raised locally for the St. Louis affliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization. Out of the sixty-six thousand participants, 23 of them included myself and roughly 20 other PGAV employees.

Back Row: Jean, Emily, Frank, Kartono, Brian, Angela, Josh, April, Erin, Jeremy, Carol and Julie. Front Row: Katie, Josh, Rosey, Kelly, Stephanie, Anselmo, and Claudia. Not Pictured: Nick, John and Leticia.

Before the race, the PGAV team met in the "Social Cafe" of the PGAV offices for a light breakfast. Shortly after 8:30, we began our walk TO the race. Once we arrived at Soldier Memorial Park, we immediately wove ourselves into the walk and continued on.

Kelly and Stephanie

Jeremy and Kartono

All in all we walked over 4.5 miles (in a 5K race) including our walk to and from the office. Our walk began at 4th and Olive, continued down Olive to North Compton, South to Market and back to 4th and Olive. Along the walk, one of the best scenes is when you crest the hill around 20th (or thereabouts). Olive is completely packed with walkers as far as the eye can see.

The only thing more amazing than this view is when you turn around and see walkers behind you as far as the eye can see...

The Race for the Cure is truely amazing experience.
Thanks, everyone, for all of your support!!!

Ah...Memorial Day...

2009-05-26T22:54:00.009-05:00

This time last year, Josh and I (along with our families) were rummaging through the remains of our belongings following the Memorial Day Fire of '08. Lighting may have struck our house and burnt her to the ground, but we would be defeated so easily. Josh and I spent the next 6 months stressing ourselves to the max! We had to document everything and rebuild our house (while living in a rental home) while trying to stay focused at our jobs. This proved to be extremely difficult but is all behind us now! Thank the Lord!

I began a blog with updates on the Hixey House last year, but upon moving in to our house in December, I kind of just stopped writing. I plan to post before and after pics on that blog:

http://hixeyhouse.blogspot.com/

over the next few days, but in the meantime, please enjoy a little sample of before and afters here!

Okay, so this is more of a during than a "before"...

And this is how she stands now...the yard still needs some help.

Post-fire photo of built-ins and fireplace.

Dog's-eye view of the fireplace as it is today.

I promise to post real before and afters on The Hixey House Chronicles.

Arthur Bryant's

2009-05-17T20:15:00.009-05:00

Thursday, Josh and I left St. Louis around 4pm on our way to Kansas City for a night of Margaritas, friends and fun! We met up with Bailey and her son, Jake, Sara and her fiance Jeff, Marcus and Jason Boone (who unfortunately was in town for a funeral). The drinks were salty and sour, but the chips, salsa, guacamole and tacos were de-lish!

Following dinner and drinks, Jason, Marcus, Josh and I went over to the Peanut for a few beers before calling it a night.

Jason and I at the Peanut - "Cheerleader face!"

Friday morning Josh and I woke up bright and early to continue driving on to Council Bluffs, Iowa, for Rosey and Jeremy's wedding; but that's a whole other post!

Fast forward to Saturday afternoon...Josh and I stopped at Arthur Bryant's for our usual Kansas City lunch. Everytime we're in KC, we stop at Arthur Bryant's before heading back to St. Louis.

Josh just before stuffing himself silly!

While we're eating, Josh says, "Look who's outside." I turn around to have a look (mind you, at any given time there is a line of people out the door waiting to order some bbq). I'm expecting to see Danny, Jason or the Palans, but instead I see the spikey-blonde-do of who else but Richard Blais! Richard was one of my favorite chefs on Bravo's Top Chef (Season 4).

I'm not the usual celebrity groupie type, but I did ask him for a photo after a bit of coaxing by Josh. Richard was extremely humble and quite appreciative of our compliments. What a stud!

Richard Blais and I at Arthur Bryant's on Brooklyn.

Trivia Gone Wild at the St. Louis Zoo

2009-05-04T19:25:00.005-05:00

This past Saturday, Josh and I were privileged to attend the annual Trivia Gone Wild charity event at the St. Louis Zoo. The zoo has been one of PGAV's loyal clients for many years, and we have been patron's of their trivia night benefit for a little while too.

This year's theme, "Go Ape in Vegas," prompted many clever costumes. Christina, dressed as a slot machine, took my vote for best outift!

Christina and Jeremy (newly engaged)

The questions were less "trivia" and more "How many hours are volunteered per year at the St. Louis Zoo?" - I mean, who knows this? Regardless, people had fun; maybe too much fun.

Angela and Josh

The apes are Emily and Angela.

Steve with the nugget ring.

Rosey goin' after that cash!

Kartono and Angela

Lame-ier Sculpture Park

2009-04-14T00:13:00.008-05:00

This past Saturday after breakfast with the Hicks', we decided to drive over to Laumeier Sculpture Park for an afternoon of bird watching. I kid. I kid. It had probably been a good 12 years since I had last been there, and Josh guessed it had been roughly 15 years since he had last visited the park.

I don't know if I was young and dumb or if I had actually like the "art" when I was a teen...but wow! I couldn't believe how uninspiring that junk felt when we revisited the park this past weekend!

My poor parents have some crap-sculpture in their garden that I (quote un-quote) designed 2nd year that is reminiscent of the lifeless hunks of metal these alleged artist have welded together and presumably called "art". However there was one piece that struck me as beautiful, and that was Joseph Havel's "Twins" (as seen behind Josh in the photo below).

I probably thought this particular sculpture was interesting because, in a sense, it reminds me of the "Cow Chair" by Niels van Eijk.

My least favorite work of "art" was the "Eye" by Tony Tasset. What am I saying!? I'd be hard pressed to pick my least favorite! Now, I understand this collection is of a more modern ilk, but what ever happened to the intricacies in the craftsmanship of Gian Lorenzo Bernini or Michelangelo?! I mean, I would have been delighted if there had been a Noguchi in the park; too bad there wasn't.

Regardless, we had a wonderful time walking around discussing different modern day art philosophies...or maybe we had just enjoyed the weather and each others company.

Chim Chim Cher-ee!!!

2009-04-09T12:44:00.006-05:00

I gotta say - I am super excited right now!

For the past two months (at least) I have been anxiously awaiting the pre-sale of tickets for the Broadway production of "Mary Poppins" at The Fabulous Fox. Yesterday I finally received the e-mail announcing the pre-sale, which was to begin this morning at 10am. I set a reminder on my outlook calendar and you'd better believe I got on there promptly at 10:00 this morning with Josh's credit card number.

We now have two of the best seats in the house for the first Saturday evening performance!

I'm usually not that into musicals, but I can still remember the words to "A Spoon Full of Sugar", "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", "Chim Chim Cher-ee" and "Let's Go Fly a Kite", so I'me extremely excited to check out this Broadway Musical!

Now I just have to wait patiently for the actual show which isn't until August 15!

Antique Furniture Cart Rant

2009-04-02T21:06:00.010-05:00

A couple of years back, I saw a photo of this old cart which was used in an upholstery shop and thought it would make a beautiful coffee table. If my memory serves me correctly, it was constructed out of stainless steel and cast iron. So, after our house fire last year (and the subsequent destruction of my coffee table that I designed and built fourth year) I thought, "How great would it be to have one of those carts!?"

(Pre house fire coffee table.)

It took me months and months of constantly researching online, but alas! I found one! Well, it wasn't like the metal one I had seen but it did have the cast iron wheels and instead was constructed of wood. I found it at Wood Stock Supply, Inc. out of South Dakota, where I had seen an advertisement for their excess inventory, to included their antique lumber carts. I didn't waste any time. I immediately ordered two! One of which we are using as a coffee table, and the other of which I plan to hang on the wall above the stairwell.

(Not the greatest photo in the world, but you get the idea.)

Interestingly, just last month I received a catalog from Pottery Barn with this shitteous interpretation of a "salvaged dolly". The resemblance is almost offensive, but hey, I guess you have to get your inspiration from somewhere!

(Wheel Coffee Table by Pottery Barn, $699.00.)

More disturbing than the similarities is how this table sells for seven hundred dollars! Seriously? I bought two antique carts and had them shipped from South Dakota for under three hundred!

So if that wasn't bad enough, last week I received an e-mail from a friend of mine who lives in Kansas City inquiring about my coffee table. As I was responding to her, letting her know who to contact if she wanted one, my "new mail notification" pops up with an e-mail from her with the following link: Furniture Factory Cart. I checked it out and I noticed two things right away.

One - this cart is EXACTLY like the one in my living room.
Two - this cart has a price tag of $910!!!

The amazing thing about this is that Restoration Hardware is selling ANTIQUE carts that have been "restored by a Northern California craftsman". Oh! Now I understand why I would pay 9 times it's value! Don't get me wrong...by no means do I think I'm the first person in history to want to use a lumber cart as an occasional table, but I just find it funny that after a good hundred years, all of the sudden this style is being perceived as "trendy".

Well, it's getting late, so I'll wrap things up. Hats off to Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn for raking their customers over the coals. In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy the carts I bought from Wood Stock Supply, Inc. and hope that interested parties will look to them for their purchase as a means of saving money and supporting ma and pa shops!

Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future

2009-03-29T00:49:00.005-05:00

I met a couple of friends at Kaldi's Coffeehouse this past Saturday morning before heading over to the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum to check out their current exhibit of Eero Saarinen. At Kaldi's I ordered a soy mocha no whip - pretty standard; pretty tasty, and Brian ordered a quiche, hoping it would be a small serving but ending up with a plate full of potatoes, quiche and salad!

After consuming an adequate amount of caffeine, we left the coffee house and made our way over to Wash. U. I had not yet been to "The Milly" (which was designed by Fumihiko Maki, for all you design-heads out there) so the purpose of my trip was twofold.

The building itself was..................nice.
Actually, I quite liked it.

Even against the rain laden sky, the stark exterior felt somehow inviting. I'm a take-it or leave-it kind of modernist but for some reason, with this particular structure, I was on-board. I'm sure many architects and designers would disagree with me, but I kinda liked the innocent nakedness of the museum against the collegiate Gothic structures of the background.

As for the actual exhibit itself which we were there to see, it could have been designed a lot better. Oh well, who cares; the content more than made up for the poorly arranged, arbitrary layout of the space.

Eero was a total stud. Period.

The exhibit, Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future had letters written to and from Eero, paintings of Eero as a little boy, sketches on trace, furniture that he had designed and tons of photographs.

I am such a visual person...I look at the captions written about the different pieces, but get bored after reading about 6 words. On the contrary, I could stare at a chair or a floor plan for hours.

Unfortunately the small gallery showcasing Eero's drawings for the St. Louis Arch was closed for maintenance. And still a bigger disappointment was how we were about 2 weeks too late to see "On the Riverfront: St. Louis and the Gateway Arch" at Steinberg Hall (just across from The Milly). I had really wanted to see this show, as my great great uncle, Louis La Beaume, had been a juror for the competition entries of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. He had also submitted a proposal, and I was hoping to see what his thoughts were for the "arch" grounds.

Anywho, Saarinen's work was quite inspirational to me as a student and it felt good to be in the presence of his masterpieces. I sometimes forget how passionate I am about design, and I often wish that I had more opportunities and/or time to really sit down and put the pencil to the trace. My mind is chock-full of ideas that I am keeping locked-up in captivity and I think it's about time to unleash the beast, dang-it!

NAM

2009-03-25T21:22:00.005-05:00

Not VietNAM...North American Martyrs. My grade school and my family's parish.

Facebook can be a funny thing. For instance, yesterday I received two new friend requests; one was from a valid friend, the other...well, I'm not gonna go there. But I think it's nice to reconnect with old friends and Facebook does make it convenient to keep up with everything that's going on now.

Last night, something told me to look up North American Marytrs on Facebook. I don't know why, but boy am I glad I did! Within seconds I had found a NAM group with discussion boards and photos and was pummeled with memories!

I instantly recognized the names of many alumni, and literally went into hysterics when I saw this picture in the photo album:

Yeah, that's a storm drain. And I spent the better half of my childhood in, on and around it! It looks exactly as I remember it, with the exception of the statue of the Virgin Mary which used to sit proudly on the back of it.

Fun times. Haha!

Four and a Half Years of Hixey Romance

2009-03-23T22:47:00.008-05:00

I was just perusing through old folders on my laptop when I came across some funny pictures of Josh and I from when we first met. I thought about how different we were then and of how far we've come.

This photo was taken on one of our first dates to Seamus McDaniels. We had each been long-time believers of their burgers and felt it would be a great place to start off our relationship. Oddly enough we ended up moving to Dogtown about a year later.

October 23, 2004

This photo was taken a couple of months ago at my office's Christmas Party. We've been married for a year and half now and have grown significantly not only as a couple, but as individuals. We're definitely still as silly, but I'd say we have a much more profound outlook on life.

December 7, 2008

To me it look like a leprechaun to me...

2009-03-16T21:37:00.006-05:00

"Who else seen the leprechaun say 'yeah'..."
Beannacht Lá Fhéile Pádraig!!!

As it Stands Today

2009-03-15T19:05:00.003-05:00

Our yard is a hot mess! Between the fire, torrential rains, trucks driving on the lawn and the jack-hammering and repouring of our porch, walk and driveway our yard looks like a historic marker along the Oregon Trail.

Today we started work on the front yard. There was still a lot of construction debris and broken glass along the front of our house, but we raked out as much as we could and threw it in the trash. We also cleaned up the two flower beds (a bit) and raked up 7 lawn-bags of dead grass and leaves. Our yard still needs a LOT of attention, but it's a start.

Pre Saint Paddy's Day Parade

2009-03-14T15:53:00.007-05:00

Josh and I met up with his parents this morning and drove downtown for the 40th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in St. Louis. We parked in my building and walked two blocks South to Kiener Plaza. We had a pretty good spot from which to watch the parade, but the parade was spaced out more than usual and didn't seem as exciting as in past years. Regardless, we had a great time and even saw Josh's friend Paul (who rode his bike downtown from south city).

We spotted a few guys that we recognized in the parade. Warren, a firefighter friend of Josh and Paul; as well as some kids from Josh's Gaelic Football team, who represented the St. Louis Hurling Club.

Once the parade was nearing the end, we decided to beat the crowd and hit the road. We tried to hit up Crown Candy Kitchen for lunch but they were packed as usual. Instead, we went over to Chuck-A-Burger on the Rock Road. This was Carol and Darrel's first visit to the landmark, so we treated them to lunch for their anniversary (which is this Monday, the 16th).

Monk Seals in Action!

2009-03-13T12:35:00.002-05:00

Not that kind of action!

As I mentioned in a post waaaay back when we were in Kauai, Josh got some great footage of 2 monk seals as they approached the shore from the water and made their way up on to the beach. I finally edited out most of the excess junk; i.e. dumb lady within 3 feet of the seals and Josh's extreme zoom shots.

Have a look!

Martha Stewart as a Model?

2009-03-12T23:18:00.013-05:00

Yes! I had never heard that Martha Stewart had once been a model until today. As I was checking out Annie Kevans paintings online, I came across a gallery of "Beauty Queens" and saw this:

The caption read: Martha Stewart modeling as Veronica Lake

Surely this isn't the Martha Stewart...

But it was! As a teenager, Martha had modeled for several publications and department stores, and had even starred in a television commercial for Life Buoy Soap.

What else has Martha done that I am not aware of??? I discovered that she had won a partial scholarship to study art and architectural history at Barnard College in New York City; that she began her career as a stockbroker; and in 1961 Glamour Magazine named her as one of America's "Best Dressed College Girls".

Slowly, I am finding Martha to be more and more badass. You may disagree with me if you want, but she's hardcore, knows how to cook, and has 2 French Bulldogs.

Kitay and Turtles...

2009-03-12T00:28:00.006-05:00

...what more could you ask for?

I quickly threw together a little footage from our snorkeling adventures in Kauai. I've dropped some David Kitay in for audio relief but otherwise I've let the turtles command the stage.

A tidbit on Kitay. Josh and I fell in love with his score for "Art School Confidential". In fact we loved it so much that when we discovered there would not be a soundtrack for the film, we wrote David personally expressing to him how amazing his work was. We told him how we wished we could have used one of the pieces for our wedding but without the soundtrack, we were going to be Kitayless on our special day. Months later, we got a burned cd in the mail from David's manager with a thank you note for the inspiring words.

I walked down the aisle to one of the tracks and shortly thereafter, we received another letter in the mail thanking us; this time from David Kitay himself.

palm prē

2009-03-10T22:44:00.010-05:00

I was at the Hart's First Annual Trivia Night this past Saturday when I first learned of the new Palm Pre due out soon! One of my table-mates was talking about how much he loves his iPhone when I felt obliged to stand up for my Windows-based HTC Touch. I love my phone. Don't get me wrong, the iPhones are pretty flippin' killer, but I'm get annoyed with all the pompous antics from the iPhone cult.

Jeff mentioned that Palm was getting ready to launch their new internet-connected multimedia smartphone which uses the proprietary palm web0S Linus -based operating system and has a physical qwerty keyboard that discreetly slides open.

I guess it was Sunday night when I remembered to research this new phone, and as quick as the browser opened palm's homepage I was in love with the palm prē. Luckily for me, Sprint will be carrying this phone and I have an inside source at the company who is going to notify me as soon as they hit the shelves. I don't usually dork out on new technologies or cd's releases, but I really want this phone!

La Moustache

2009-03-09T19:56:00.014-05:00

Released in 2005, this film by French director, Emmanuel Carrère, is quite the mind-boggler. On the surface, we see Marc (Vincent Lindon) fall victim to what he thinks is a practical joke being played by his wife, friends and co-workers. After Marc shaved off his mustache, none of them noticed and led him to believe he hadn't ever worn one.

But upon digging deeper, we find that the story has more to do with perception and normalcy than it does the mustache.

I found the film to be thought evoking and extremely well produced. The piece by Philip Glass (Violin Concerto) perfectly complimented every scene and the acting performances by Lindon and Emmanuelle Devos are convincing as a tightly wound, passionate couple.

Millions

2009-03-06T00:08:00.007-06:00

Tonight Josh and I finally got around to watching "Millions" which came in from Netflix almost two weeks ago. This film is a must see directed by Danny Boyle. For those of you living under a rock, Boyle was the recipient of oh...let's just say a couple-few Oscars for his amazingly beautiful film "Slumdog Millionaire".

Millions. Slumdog Millionaire. What's next? The Millionth Hour?

Anyways, "Millions" was shot well and had a great message concerning ethics. In a nutshell, the film is about a widowed father and his two young sons who (literally) have a duffel bag full of money land in their laps. The boys decide to keep this a secret from the father and ultimately have different ideas for how the money should be spent.

I feel I could watch it again and again and get more out of it each time.

Onesto - I Almost Forgot!

2009-03-04T23:36:00.006-06:00

I fancy myself a pretty big pizza snob. And whether you agree or not, St. Louis has a fabulous selection of good pizza. Not just good pizza, great pizza! This is something I feel passionate about and will argue anyday!

Tonight I helped a friend of mine, Rosey, with her wedding invitations. We decided to order pizza for dinner to help "motivate" us before starting, but when she mentioned Bellacino's I about crapped my pants (pardon the dirty word). That is certainly not one of the finer choices in pies around here, but I'll admit it's a step above Pizza Hut (granted a small step). I quickly begged her to reconsider and so she looked online for a pizza place near her house; something more like a mom and pop shop.

Well, she found just that: Onesto Pizza & Trattoria

It may be owned by the Racanelli's, but it's a far cry from that lazy New York pizza you get slapped onto a paper plate for you in the Loop. This little place had charm out the wazoo and the pie itself was pretty decent. If you're in South City and need a bite to eat, definitely cruise over to Princeton Heights and get you some family style food at Onesto!

Posting: Our Final Days in Kauai

2009-03-04T21:53:00.009-06:00

We've been back in "the Lou" for about four days now and things are back to normal. Work is work, which is great, but I miss the sun and sand already. Before we left the island, we spent our last day down on the South shore, back at Lawai Beach. My mom and I went out for one last snorkel and saw two different sea turtles from before, a crazy-looking eel and tons and tons of fish. We also shared the beach with one of the two monk seals which was still sunning from last Wednesday when he first sailed onto shore. Unfortunately, we also shared a good 15 minutes of our last day with a crazy woman who alleged that everyone at the beach was too close to the seal, thus violating him, and wished that we'all go to hell. This of course ruined my day and I threw a fit. Thank God for the great time we had the night before when my parents treated us to a luau at the Smith Family Plantation or else I would have had horrible memories of Kauai forever! Okay, I'm being a little dramatic...

Anyways, at the luau, we took a little train ride through their gardens; it was unbelievable! I take that back. We took a little "trolley" ride through their gardens. Whatever you want to call it, the ride afforded us beautiful vistas through tree branches looking back towards the mountains.

After our little tour, we walked around the gardens before sitting down for dinner. My dad and my husband even played a little game of coconutball (it's like football, but with an unshucked coconut).

Once it was time to eat, we grabbed a table and waited for our turn to raid the buffet. Anyone who knows me knows that I loathe buffets, but this one was actually really good. Oh, and I hate pork, so pleasing me at a kalua pork buffet was pretty impressive. I loaded my plate and just about ate everything on it, save for some beans.

After "pigging" out (get it?) we were treated to a rather entertaining performance by some local kids. My little Canon didn't take very great pics without the flash, but my mom got some pretty neat shots with her monster of a Canon. Check out her blog for some bad-ass eye candy at http://travelingwithsue.blogspot.com/.

The plane ride home was uneventful, but long. I get extremely bored on planes and can't sleep well, if at all, so I was really relieved once we landed in St. Louis Sunday afternoon. Josh's parents picked us up from the airport and brought us home. Since we were exhausted, we really didn't get to visit with them much, but we'll see them this weekend at Josh's brother's birthday dinner and we'll be able to catch up.

Photoshop Wars

2009-03-04T12:55:00.008-06:00

For fun, I thought I'd post some of the recent casulties of Kartono's and my Photoshop Wars:

Seven Days of Vacation Wiped-Out by Six Hours of Work

2009-03-02T22:20:00.003-06:00

Well, today was work as usual. I can't even begin to explain how ridiculous my day was, so I won't.

Anywho, I'm over at my parents right now hanging out with Roxy the dog for a bit. I haven't edited any video yet and have not gone through the photos from our last couple of nights of vacation. As soon as I have, I'll get them up!

Josh is working on our taxes tonight, which is not fun. There are a lot of deductions we think we should get, but don't know if we should, and do we have the paperwork if we can deduct it!?! It's quite the way to relax after a stress-filled first day back to work...let me tell ya!

When I get back home, I think I'll read some of my book "The Hour I First Believed" by Wally Lamb (read a review of it here) which, unfortunately, I didn't get to read much of on vacation. I was a huge fan of Lamb's first two books and have not been let down by this one yet.

Last Day in Kauai - Booo

2009-02-28T15:02:00.003-06:00

Well, we scrambled to to get all packed this morning, because I thought we had until 10:30 before we needed to check-out, but we really had to be out by 10:00. However, it wasn't hard to wake up this morning what with pee-wee football practice going on in the unit above us. I decided to wash our clothes today, but they weren't completely dry by 10:00, so we packed them anyways, brought them to my parents condo, and threw them in their dryer.

So, here we are...our last day. I think we're going to go back down to the South Shore for one last snorkel. I didn't get around to blogging last night, but I figure I have all night on the plane to wrap up the details from this trip and then I'll post on Sunday.

Until then!!!

Today We had a Whale of a Time!

2009-02-27T01:42:00.004-06:00

Well, we survived our journey out into the Pacific and I'm alive to tell the story (I'm a bit woozy, but otherwise okay). The four of us had booked a boat tour of the Na Pali Coast after our timeshare meeting Tuesday, and that cruise departed this afternoon. We left from Port Allen on the South Shore and were supposed to head to the Na Pali Coast, but due to high winds and swells, we didn't. Instead we all got soaked and sick on the boat in an effort to make it there. I may be exaggerating a bit, but there were some pukers and definitely some wet cats. I did not lose my stomach, but my stomach was NOT happy.

The views of the island were amazing from the boat, and we saw multiple rainbows, turtles and whales.

The whales were really active and were a hoot to watch. After tooling around for 4 hours, the sun began to set and we were heading back to the dock. I couldn't get off the boat quick enough, but I think we all had a great time seeing nature in that habitat.

Earlier in the day, on our way there, we stopped at some of my dad's hot-spots. One of them being the infamous overlook that my grandpa insisted on stepping over the safety fence so that he could take a photo of the canyon beyond from the edge of the roadside cliff.

Another of them being an old pedestrian suspension bridge in Hanapepe. It looks creepy, but a closer look reveals the whole structure having a massive support system.

I can't wait for tomorrow. We hope to just take it easy at our resort like we did this morning and enjoy our beach and pool. I want to get some reading in, and Josh is already planning a nice, long nap on the beach. Tomorrow evening, we have reservations at Smith's Luau.

Ash Wednesday Continued...

2009-02-26T14:53:00.006-06:00

So, my parents met up with us on Lawai Beach. Josh and I hung back and continued our leisurely activities of reading and listening to music while my parents went out for a snorkel. I guess this was my dad's first time out in the water since we've been here. When my dad decided to come in, Josh and I went back out to meet up with my mom to see if we could find any fish we hadn't seen yet. I don't know the names of all these little guys, but we definitely saw a ton of really cool tropical fish, and some of which we hadn't seen already.

Josh didn't stay out long this time, and so my mom and I went exploring as he went back to shore. We must have been out for another 20 minutes before I decided it was time to get out. As we were making our way back to the beach, I looked up and saw Josh videoing. I thought, alright, he's getting some footage here; we don't have any yet. But then when I looked up again, about 25 feet from the shore, and saw my dad taking pictures with my mom's professional Canon, I thought...hmmm.....what's going on here?!

I started to realize there were a lot more people on the beach by where we were settled than there had been and then it hit me - there were 2 seals lying on the shore not 15 feet in front of my dad and Josh! I immediately got my mom's attention and we swam back to shore as fast as we could. I have posted Josh's video on You Tube: Monk Seals

Eventually the monk seal rescue team showed up and roped off the mammals. You'd be suprised how stupid people are. With and without the rope, people were trying to walk up next to the seals. And we left my parents behind so we could go get some lunch.

After eating some burgers at Po'ipu Tropical Burgers, we headed back to Kapa'a so we could get ready for church. The little Lutheran Church we went to on Sunday was having an Ash Wednesday mass, and we wanted to begin our Lenten journey with the Hawaiians there! This was actually Josh's first experience with such a service. As was par for the course, the mass was phenominal!

After mass we just chilled out and watched the Top Chef finale. Much to my dismay, my girl Carla did not win...but at least the jack-ass from Finland/Germany didn't either!

Well, I'm burnin' daylight now, so I better get off this machine. Thanks for reading and I'll be back at it tonight.

Incomplete Wednesday Update

2009-02-25T22:16:00.006-06:00

This morning Josh and I slept in until about 9:00am (by far the latest we've snoozed yet). I made us some coffee and he poured us each bowls of cereal. It was requested we be out of the condo between 10:00am and noon so they could spray for bugs - not just our unit, the whole building. So as soon as we finished eating, we got dressed and cruised on down to Lawai again.

The ride down to the South Shore is really pretty, but then again, I'd be hard pressed to find a stretch of Kauai that wasn't.

Right away we geared up and started snorkeling. The tide was low, so we were expecting the waves to be gentle on us...but they weren't. We both had problems with our snorkel chimneys; water kept coming down the flues! After a little while we swam back to shore and hung out on the beach. Josh listened to his iPod and I finally got to read a little bit of my book: The Hour I First Believed. Just a few minutes after we started relaxing, my parents arrived at Lawai too. But the amazing thing that happened next will have to wait until tomorrow - I'm too tired to write anymore tonight.

Until then!

Mardi Gras 2009

2009-02-24T23:05:00.007-06:00

Today I established a new rule. Every time my dad mentions "nude beach" "naked" "unclothed" or any variation thereof, he has to pay my mom $5.00. This money will of course be used to buy jewelry, and she is a big fan of the local jeweler Na Hoku (http://www.nahoku.com/NaHoku/page.aspx). With as many times as we've heard these terms already, my mom should be well on her way to a new pair of earrings.

Speaking of shopping, we stopped at a little strip mall this morning to get some traditional Portuguese donuts, or masaladas, which were being made on the spot by some local women, to kick off Fat Tuesday. My dad was telling us that these deep fried pastries are made on Fat Tuesaday as a means to rid your pantry of lard and sugar, lest you be tempted to indulge yourself during Lent. Hmmm...

Unfortunately, before we were even able to enjoy our morning, we sat through a timeshare sales presentation at our resort. My parents listened too, and in the endwe of course declined. However, we graciously accepted the major discounts they had offered us for a sunset catamaran trip!

Anyways, once that fun little waste of time was over, we changed into swimwear and left for the North Shore. My dad was the official tour guide/driver and my mom assisted by shooting some video for us from the front seat, since Josh and I were packed into the back of the Escape.

Along the way we stopped at a few scenic overlooks. We took some pictures, bartered with old hippies over bamboo flutes, and fed cheese to chickens.

The views were breathtaking (to sound cliche).

When we got up to the North Shore, we stole glances of Princeville, but really nothing more. We also looked into the wet and dry caves as we drove past, but didn't stop to spelunk. Our goal was to get to Tunnels, a beach up North with tunnel-like caverns between coral reefs. The plan was to do a little snorkeling, but upon our arrival, we found "No Swimming" signs posted on the beach due to the high waves (not seen in the photo below).

We waded just the same, but unfortunately, weren't able to partake in any underwater sightseeing. So, after braving the mildly cold water and the rip currents, we sat on the shore for a bit and just screwed around.

Once we tired of Josh's "dancing" we drove to the end of the highway, turned around and scoped out the next place of interest. That place ended up being "Banana Joe's" where we stopped for smoothies. You don't get to request a flavor here; you get what you get. And what we got was good!

Our last stop before heading back to Kapa'a was 'Anini. There we were able to snorkel, but aside from the coral reefs just a foot underwater, there wasn't much to see. My mom and I kept swimming out farther and farther in hopes of seeing more fish, but we eventually came to a massive drop off in the seafloor which was enough to spook me back to shore!

Josh and I got in the hot tub for a bit when we got back to our resort and chatted with two older women from Rhode Island and a young unmarried "Morman" couple from Salt Lake City. The ladies were absolute dolls; however, the couple, total freakers. We were literally saved by the Grace of God from these weirdos when He Divinly interevened by pouring rain on us just as they were cornering us. I don't know what their intentions were, but they were honestly just slowly pinning us up against the side of the pool like zombies. Eek!

Well, I think it's about time for bed. Tonight we stuffed ourselves silly at a local joint with fish, chicken and steak and I just don't think I have the mental capacity to sum up any more thoughts from today.

"$63.78? Okay, thanks!"

2009-02-24T01:38:00.007-06:00

We decided to have pizza for dinner tonight, so we ordered 2 large 2 toppings from Brick Oven Pizza here in Kapa'a. It was $63.78...for two pizzas...with two toppings...That's $31.89 a piece and $3.99 per slice. Delivery was NOT included; my dad and Josh picked them up. However, the pizza was pretty damn tasty and in reality, we would've paid way more than that for a sit down dinner anywhere. And boy were we hungry! We had worked up one heck of an appetite with all the snorkeling and hippy shopping we did today.

My dad drove us down to the Spouting Horn on the South Shore where we watched water shoot up through a hole in the rocks. While there we spotted a couple of whales off in the distance and saw a sea turtle swimming near the surface of the water near the rock's edge.

We had sandwiches for lunch from Brennecke's before rushing over to the Sunshine Market in Kaloa. This was a local farmers market where vendors sold fresh fruit and flowers out of their trucks. We got some fresh cut tropical flowers and a bag full of fruit. We had a hard time trying to figure out what to put the flowers in since our condo is ilequipped for accomodating fresh flowers, but we made do.

After we spent 15 minutes or so getting run over by old hippy women making mad dashes for the different products, we drove to Lawai Beach. There we snorkeled for quite some time seeing tons of fish.

My mom and I swam through some rather large waves, past surfers and around a rocky bend in search for sea turtles. Much to my pleasure, God answered my prayers and showed us two sea angels gliding underwater.

We left Lawai after a couple of hours and went to Poipu where we saw whales breeching just as we were stepping foot in the water. It was honestly one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I did not get a photo of mama and baby whale, but I did get a fabulous shot of mr. chicken:

Aside from the chickens, whales and turtles we saw a couple of eels. My goggles kept fogging up and filling with water, so I didn't stay out there too long. Josh broke the clip to his snorkel, so he came in just before I did.

At about this time we all decided that we'd head back to the East Coast . There was some traffic heading home, but the scenery more than makes up for the inconvenience.

Once we got back, Josh made us drinks and we went down to the pool. My mom and I tried ordering pina coladas, but apparently the bar was out of colada mix so we settled on mango daiquiris. After swimming and hottubbing is when we ordered the pizza.

I was so exhausted by the time I finished eating my dinner that I could have fallen asleep, but stayed awake for a little while visiting with my parents. I wanted to go to bed when they left, but Josh was wide awake and it was only 7:45. I talked him into smoking a cigar while sharing the hammock with me.

We stayed long enough for him to smoke most of the cigar before turning in. We have to be up bright and early tomorrow to listen to the sales pitch for the resort...but Josh is excited about busting the salesman's chops and getting a two for one cattamaran ride for later this week.

For now I must close this laptop; I am pretty much delerious and need to get some sleep.

What's with all the hitchhikers?!

2009-02-23T03:33:00.006-06:00

Sunday morning I woke up just after 7am. I watched a sheet of rain pass over the coastline and listened to the chickens crow for a bit before deciding to wake up Josh. I was excited to walk down to the beach (something we had yet to do) and check out the rest of the resort. It took some coaxing, but I finally got Mr. Sleepyhead up and at 'em. While I was brewing a pot of coffee, Josh "read the Sunday paper", albeit online, so he could check up on the Cardinals and the Mizzou Tigers.

We split a pot of "chocolate caramel macadamia" Kona coffee, and had some cereal before exploring "The Beach Boy @ Coconut Beach". After returning to our room, we got ready for church. I had looked up a Lutheran church online before our trip, and as it turned out, Lihu'e Lutheran Church is the oldest Lutheran church on all of the islands of Hawaii.

Parking for the church was virtually non-existent, but as we were parking along the side of the road, a woman in another vehicle was trying to figure out where she'd park too. She ended up parking in front of us, and we talked to her as we walked up to the beautiful little building. Maryann who was originally from Estonia, had moved to the United States in 1956 and lived with a host family in East Alton, Illinois before moving to Kauai!

The place was packed! And after having only the members of the church stand, we discovered that nearly 80% of the congregation were visitors. The pastor was lovingly hilarious and extremely passionate. The service was inspiring and unforgettable; there was even a baby's baptism. The kids of the parish were who were trying to raise money to go to New Orleans were selling homemade beignets (french pastries) and gumbo. Both were delicious!

My mom had called while we were in mass to let us know she had hopped on an earlier flight. We arrived at the airport just as she had, and we zipped off to find something to eat. She had suggested a restaurant, but when we pulled into the parking lot, we saw signs posted everywhere for "Sunday Buffet - $24.95". Um...no. We turned around and stopped at Macy's; I still had to find a swimsuit!

We decided to try out this little Taqueria in Kapa'a. The good news: It was all very yummy. The bad news: They only served us one basket of chips. Josh and I ordered a pina coloda for my mom, and she happily drank it!

After lunch we grabbed some snorkles and went to Lydegate, a public beach with a nice little manmade cove for swimming and snorkling. There were quite a few colorful fish out there, but the water was a bit murky due to the higher waves crashing over the rock seawall. The water was a bit cold and the wind was a tad chilly, but nonetheless we had a great time.

My dad was going to be arriving on the island sometime around 8:00, so we still had time to kill. Since we were already in swimsuits, we went back to our resort and hopped in the heated pool with beers in hand. That proved to be too chilly for me, so we squeezed our way into the hottub and claimed a corner for ourselves. The other tub-goers were drunk and talkative. One man with really bad tattoes owned a mechanical subcontracting business. Another man with leathery skin owned 6,600 acres of land in Wyoming and claims to have the third most complete triceritops in the world! His website: www.paleopark.com did not have any photos of said dynosaur, but to his credit, probably wouldn't until the unveling in 2010.

My mom wanted to hit up Safeway before picking up my dad, so Josh and I decided to stock up on soy sauce, since here in Kaua'i 1 gallon tanks are readily available.

Once my dad landed, we took my parents over to their condo and came back to ours. We snacked on chips and cookies for dinner and got to bed sometime before midnight.

Now it's Monday and we're heading back to my parent's condo so we can take them to pick up their rental car. And I had better quit typing since I promised my mom I'd be there at a quarter til 10.

Warning! A Full Day of Flying May Result in Paradise.

2009-02-22T01:40:00.013-06:00

Josh and I awoke to the annoying sound of our alarm this morning at 5:45. Within 10 minutes, we had dressed, finished packing and were out the door. Okay, that might be a stretch, but, my dad was there within minutes of our waking and so we finished getting ready and made our way over to the airport to begin the long and grueling process of flying to Kaua'i.

We first had to fly into Phoenix before making our connecting flight to Lihue (la-hoo-ie; not lye-hoo).

This flight was supposed to be 3 hours, but by the time they de-iced the plane and applied an anti-freeze solution to the exterior, we had sat on the mat an extra 45 minutes. The flight wasn't so bad, but upon arriving in Phoenix, we got stuck sitting on the runway for a good 20 minutes while waiting for our gate to clear up. I began to get nervous, as we had a connecting flight to make and didn't want us or our luggage to miss that plane! Eventually they pulled us into a new gate and we had just enough time to scarf down some fries and Starbucks before boarding the plane to "Paradise".

We totally lucked out on this flight. The man occupying the third seat in our row moved to a different seat as soon as our plane reached the maximum altitude, leaving the whole row to ourselves for the 7+ hour flight. I will not bore with the details of the flight, but it wasn't so bad. After flying over the Pacific for hours and hours, we finally, we saw some land; Oahu.

A short while later, we were touching down in Kaua'i and it was amazing!

After obtaining our rental car (a Chrysler Sebring convertible) and checking into our resort, Josh and I went to Wal-Mart and Safeway to load up on eats and treats. We had passed what looked to be a nice little seafood restaurant on our to the condo, so after unloading the groceries, we went back out to see if it was any good. It was! Josh got a 12 ounce New York Strip Steak with asparagus and macadamia nut, garlic mashed potatoes. I ordered the Sea Bass which came served over the same macadamia nut, garlic mashers, spinach and a mushroom/pesto sauce. Whatever is was, we loved our meal.

However, there was something strange about this Wahoo place; there was a donkey roaming around outside! Kids were petting it, then eating their dinners and no one seemed alarmed at this!

Well, now i think it's time to get a wee-little sleep. It has been one very long day, and I'm already looking forward to whatever events tomorrow may bring.

Just Because

2009-02-20T00:11:00.004-06:00

I've decided to start a blog about...us! Not just about our house this time; I intend to post good ol' fashion ridiculousness and absolute absurdity.

Okay, and I suppose I might blog about things of a serious nature too...