Friday Five!

1)  The mortgage company that we did our home loan through has a yearly past client night at the Cardinals game so we are headed there tonight.  Its the last regular series of the season so it'll be fun to close out the year there.  We usually take sandwiches for dinner and there is supposed to be fireworks afterwards.  Can't wait!

2)  I'm hoping Saturday is going to be somewhat of a date day per say.  There's a few things around the 'lou that we haven't had time for this year yet and I want to try to get to at least 1 of them before the weather changes and they close for the year.  Fingers crossed!

3)  Sunday we are headed to a new winery in one of Missouri's wine countries to celebrate my birthday.  We invited a bunch of people (let's see who actually shows), the weather is supposed to be great, we'll see how this all goes!

4)  I cannot believe today is the last day of September.  Where is the year going?!?

5)  We really need to start taking one day a month (gotta start slow) and clean each room of the house.  While they aren't a mess, I know its there and it needs to be done.  Anyone want to get me a maid for my bday? :D

Have a great weekend!

Stuff & Things

1)  I'm giving myself kudos for posting everyday and visiting the blogs I like to read everyday and commenting on them.  Are people visiting me?  It says so but many don't comment.  Oh well!

2)  This past weekend we attempted to go to Eckerts and pick apples.  Dear Eckerts - if you're going to post a sign at your establishment that says "due to rain apples will look like crap" I think you should post it on your website too.  We go in October to get apples and needless to say they looked horrible and we didn't get any but that will be the only time I think I can get Keith to go.  He usually does once a year for me and thanks to Eckerts, it wasn't a great time.

3)  The "friend" I talked about in this post here...supposedly the 2 of them broke up.  We will see how long the break up lasts.

4)  I think this month has been the month of hissy fits for people.  I'm up to 4 people not acting their age, blaming us for issues in their lives and then acting like nothing has happened.  Man!

5)  When we moved we disconnected our DVR (which is via our computer) and once we got settled, it wasn't working right so now I'm having to watch all my shows via streaming.  Which isn't bad but I'm not a fan because I'd rather it record them all for me and I can watch that way instead of having to find all the streams.

6)  The school took my dehumidifier out of my room again...boo!  My sore throat is permanent from the moldy school until I'm done here.  I pray that my next school has better air!

7)  One of the newbie teachers doesn't know a darn thing about classroom management.  I found out yesterday that they now have a hall cop who gives tally marks to kids who aren't quiet in the hall and each tally mark represents 30 seconds off their recess.  Obviously the kiddos don't care because 30 seconds is the time it takes to walk outside.  Aye carumba!

Have a great Thursday!

STL Blues Training Camp 2016

Hockey's baaaaack!!

(well kinda)



On Saturday the Blues had their yearly training camp at Scottrade where their entire roster is invited to participate on Team A or Team B.  They invite the public for free to view the team, see shots being made, and interact with members of the organization.

This year, because we are season ticket holders, we get more access and goodies so they allowed us into the Blue Note Lounge for snacks to grab before heading to watch the scrimmage:

We settled in to watch the action and Keith was back in his happy place:

Its the 50th year of the Blues being in the NHL, it be great if this were the year for Lord Stanley to finally make an appearance.  Fingers crossed!

Let's Go Blues!!

Season Opener is Thursday October 13 - we will be there, will you?

An AMAZING bridal emergency kit!

One of Kristine's friends is a part time wedding coordinator so Kristine and Aaron hired her for those duties, especially for doing the day of stuff.

At the hotel that morning, she handed me a HUGE black bag and told me to put it in my bag, just in case we needed items from it throughout the day.  It was one of the best bridal emergency kits I had ever seen:

You name it, she had it in that bag - I can't even start to list the things she had, she literally thought of everything.  A few things were used, but a lot were not and that will help Kristine out when they go on their honeymoon in November because she won't have to purchase a lot of travel items.

I'm totally keeping this as an idea/gift idea for the future!

Taste of STL day after wedding lunch

To wrap up the wedding festivities, on Sunday, Kristine & Aaron had a "Taste of STL" luncheon at my parents house for family and the wedding party if they wished to come.

The vendors that we had FABULOUS food from were:

Gus' Pretzels

White Castle

Imo's

Old Vienna Hot STL Rippled Chips

Jimmy John's

QT

Ted Drewes

all are places I highly recommend you try if you're ever in the STL area.  After we stuffed ourselves yet again, we gathered in the living room for presents:

They got a lot of great gifts, including this Yeti cooler that all the boys wanted to "borrow" from them.  Many of their gifts were delivered to their house, which helped in the transportation department.

It was a great 3 days celebrating my sister and new brother in law.

They are going to Punta Cana in November for their honeymoon - needless to say they can't wait!

Cheers to the bride & groom!

Seester's wedding reception

After family pictures, we were ready to head to the reception hall to party!

Kristine and Aaron were determined to cut the cake first, before the food, so people would pay attention and I think they were able to snag that:

After dinner came the toasts.  Dad went first and I was fine until the end and then of course they called me up to do my speech.  Thanks DJ!  Kris had 1 main request, and that I didn't base the speech around Mom so I based it off of Colorado.  I think it went well, everyone complimented me on it so I think it was good.

After the speeches they got out on the dance floor and had their first dance:

Then the daddy daughter dance, mom & son dance then we did a Colorado dance where the bridal party got out on the floor and every time the word Colorado was said by the DJ, we had to run out and grab people to dance until everyone was out on the floor...it worked except for those party poopers who stayed put!

I was running around, talking to people, trying to make sure everything was good, as well as dancing then before I knew it, the dance floor turned into a hora:

and unfortunately that's where my pictures stop because my battery died!  However I can't wait to get the professional pictures because there's a lot of good ones of everything, and a few of Keith and I, it will be neat to go through them.

The reception ended at 11 and we all went each and every way to get some rest for the fun that was to be had the next day.  Once at my parents, I took my hair down and I love after hair because its interesting to see how many bobby pins were needed to keep my mop up (this time, 65) and I love the curls afterwards:

Sunday was the Taste of STL luncheon at my Dad's house - come back on Monday to see all the yummy food we had!

Stuff & Things

~*~ One of my besties Becky hosted a pampered chef party, aka 'ritas and fajitas, last night and it was just the relaxation I needed from a drama filled day:

~*~ My (step) nephew was  born this morning at 7 am.  They named him Jase and he's a few weeks early but he just didn't want to stay put!  Its the 3rd child for my stepsister Amanda and the 1st child for her new husband Joe.  Keith & I now have 10 nieces and nephews and #11 will be making her appearance in April sometime:

~*~ Today is also my Dad's birthday.  We have plans to celebrate with him tomorrow night at his favorite BBQ place.  Can't wait!

~*~ The Blues open their training camp this Saturday and as season ticket holders we've been invited to partake in the festivities, which of course Keith doesn't want to pass up.  I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that we can drive over the river afterwards and go pick apples at Eckerts before you can't anymore and its just pumpkin season.

~*~ I caught a sneak peek of Kristine's professional wedding pictures and I'm very excited to see the rest as this one turned out awesome:

Have a great Thursday!

Seester's wedding ceremony

Saturday came pretty fast but I was happy to see Mr. Sun when I was driving out to the hotel to prep for the day!

We did allow for one boy in the room as my brother came early as his entire family was involved in the wedding.  He was our messenger, going from the girls room to the boys room and taking care of the dogs.

The hair and makeup team arrived at 9 on the dot and got to work on all of us.  I told the lady to do what she thought would be best with my dress and this was my final look:

Before we knew it, it was time to get dresses on and get some pictures of the bride/bridesmaids:

Kristine had arranged for a party bus to take the bridal party and the groom over to the ceremony site and to act as her hideaway from guests in the middle since this all was outside.  Once we all were on the bus, she did a first look with our Dad and luckily the wedding planner sent me the pictures - it was a cry fest, let me tell you!  Finally, it was time to depart:

The party bus dropped the Aaron off at a gazebo so Kristine and he could do a first look.  We all stayed on the bus during this but again the wedding planner rocks and sent me a few pics (and luckily we had 2 main photographers to capture each angle):

Finally we picked them back up and headed down to the ceremony site for before wedding pictures:

...then we all jumped back on the bus to hide the bride & groom for a bit.  Before we knew it, it was ceremony time:

KRISTINE & AARON ARE MARRIED!!

After the ceremony we all gathered around the park to take family pictures, which I don't have any copies of at the moment as it was time for me to put my phone away again.  I went up to some of the guests and greeted them as I was making my way to Keith to grab him for the pictures (he did the videography) and they had nothing but compliments.  The only issue that came up that I'm aware of is the chair company forgot to deliver an extra 30 chairs, so a few guests had to stand, which no one complained (that I know of, ha) and they had to deal with the bride on Monday (she's getting a refund).  After the pictures, we jumped back on the bus for a breather and a ride to the reception hall:

Now its time to PARTY!

Come back on Thursday to see the fun rehearsal!

Seester's wedding rehearsal

We had quite the weekend for a 3 day wedding event!

Friday started off with rain and thunder/lightning...and it did it all day and all night.  I started getting nervous for my sister but luckily there was a break in the weather for just a bit:

We all gathered at the venue for the rehearsal as soon as the traffic would allow us to get there (STL rain and traffic is not a good mix) and because of all the rain, we couldn't walk in the grass (which was the original plan).  So to practice, we walked on the gravel and prayed that the grass would be dried by the next day.

Once on the stage, the rehearsal went pretty fast as the weather was cooling off and it started to sprinkle a bit more.  If you notice, I'm wearing tennis shoes.  While people made fun of me for wearing them with the dress, I was the only one with dry feet so they didn't laugh too long (don't worry, I changed for the dinner).

After the rehearsal we all headed over to Spazio's Westport for the dinner.  The groom's family went all out for this dinner and it was served family style, which was much more enjoyable as you got to serve what you wanted and how much you wanted.  It was italian themed so instead of cake we got cannollis and other fun desserts to wrap up the meal.

It was still raining when we left the rehearsal so everyone started praying to the rain gods to have it stop by tomorrow morning for the actual wedding.  Come back tomorrow to see if our prayers were answered!

My little seester is married!

My little seester is married!

It will take me a few days to get back into the swing of things as the wedding was a 3 day event so I will post about it all sometime this week!

I hope you had a great weekend like we did! :)

Friday Five - seester's wedding edition!

 

1. Let the wedding weekend begin!  Tonight we will practice getting married at their venue then we will go celebrate the practice with food & drink at this fun establishment!
2. I'm in charge of getting something sweet for the hotel shenanigans on Saturday so I'm thinking that's something that Grandma's Cookies can solve (or Sam's, just depends)!
3. I have to be at the hotel by 10 to get that party started.  I'm only getting my hair done and I'm still not 100% sure on what I want to do.
4. Keith is their videographer and he doesn't have to be in the area until 230-3 so he'll have an easy morning then he'll have to have his smile on for pictures.  Fingers crossed that he charges the battery!
5. I have heard that the reception venue has my favorite drink, Malibu.  Its going to be a fun night people!

Have a great weekend lovelies!

 

Stuff & Things - teacher edition!

Let me just start by saying I'm excited that S&T is back on Thursdays!

 

• school has almost been in session for 1 month.  Its been a crazy month, let me tell you!
• I am tired!!!  I need more sleep...or I need to go buy a multivitamin because I forgot and that's what gives me energy!
• I am currently long term teaching for the new tech teacher until November sometime.  Each building got a tech teacher due to a proposition passing last April.  Not going to lie, I believe this was just their way of having a glorified testing proctor because that's all I've been doing.

• Keith is a cpu tech for a different district and man does this district need to take some notes from them.  Nothing gets fixed here, and the techie seriously is an idiot and doesn't know what he's talking about.  First day of school we found out one of our chromebooks had sticky keys (and not the ones you can turn off)...yeah they took it and it hasn't returned yet.  I found a laptop in the building they were going to fix up for me...yeah it hasn't come back yet either.  This classroom doesn't have a smart board, we have to use a mimio...yeah its still sitting in the box.  But I found out the tech guy's wife is an assistant principal so I'm about 99.9% sure that's why he gets away with what he does :/

• This building I'm in hired 7 new teachers and passed me over.  Yes, I'm very irritated with them and I've been hearing that the district has 2 lists - the long term sub list and the hirable list.  My guess is they don't want to lose a great long term sub, which stinks big time for me.
• One of the new teachers is a young frat boy straight out of college.  He's friends with the principal's son and I guess her son encouraged her to hire him and she couldn't say no.  Here's the thing - he stinks at being a teacher!  You talk to anyone in the school and they know he only got the job because of being male and having the principal connection.  He's got no control over the class and the boys they gave him know that they can control the teacher.  His mentor literally rolls her eyes at him and they all ask how come I didn't get the position.  Great question!
• Let's talk outfits because I tell you, if I wore what some of these ladies are wearing, I'd be a) cold and b) probably asked to go home and change.  Its just not the same.  I know I have work clothes and non-work clothes.  Some ladies do not!

• After this long term is over, I'll have 2-3 weeks off before I start another long term, in the tech position, but at another school until spring break in March.  So at least I'll know what I'm doing!
• Mid-quarter grades are next week and as of right now I am not doing grades for computer class.  We don't have anything to grade them on, it be a performance grade, so if they come to me last minute about needing to complete them, I'll just give everyone 3's.  All 480 kiddos!!
• The computers we use are chromebooks.  Not a fan, I'm learning along with the kiddos.  I do like google chrome on my regular laptop so that's good!

Have a great Thursday!