Transportation Museum

The other day I woke up with the feeling that it would be a perfect day to take my family to the transportation museum (the actual name is the museum of transportation) in St. Louis. Vincent has been obsessed with trains and even though we took him last year he said he didn't remember. So I called my mom and she and her husband, Gary, Vin and I were off to the musum.


I was right. It was a perfect day. The trains are really cool. There are also antique cars, a boat, and an airplane. You can take a trolly, tram and train ride. We were planning on taking the train ride since we didn't last time and we thought Vin would like it. Paying admission and train fees separately would have cost us more than buying a membership. So, we are now proud Museum of Transportation members. We don't get free train rides all the time, but we do get free admission, and we definitely plan on going back.


One cool part is all the information and history provided, not that I got to read very much of it. The other really cool thing, is that you can go inside some of the trains and see what they were like.

Here are a few photos.



These are from my mom's camera and she is the world's worst picture taker. Not the trash can in the boat picture... eh, well, you get what you can.

The Resort

Gary's parents have a membership to Lost Valley Lake Resort. To go there, you have to be an owner or an "associate owner." I'm not sure how it is now, but when they bought their membership, it was good for three generations, which means G and I are associate owners. We only have to pay $25 a year to go there. There's a petting zoo, several lakes for fishing, swimming, paddleboating, canoing, etc., sand beaches, teepees, tents, cabins, RV's for rent, movies, a bazillion activities, an outdoor pool, two indoor (heated) pools, three hot tubs, some saunas, a little cafe and store... just about everything you can think of. The lodge recently burned down, but they have a new one being built. Everyone who has ever been there says it's not as nice as when they had the first lodge (two have burned down), but I never saw the first one, so I don't know any different.

Anyways, G's parents get angry if we don't use the membership because they have to pay yearly dues. We used to go all the time, but kind of fell out of it after Vin was born. He's still never been camping, but we've been making the 1/2 hour trek to use the awesome facility.

Here are a few recent photos.

I've been trying to pick a date when I could have a girls weekend there (I can bring guests), but none have worked out because of my hectic work schedule.

I accidentally lined these up on the left instead of center, but I don't feel like fixing it.

Photos are: Here is Vincent with a goat. He's feeding it a leaf.

Then, Gary gets a kiss from a horse. Did I mention that there was horseback riding?

Pool.

funny photo.

and me with a llama. Cute, aren't we?

Something Sweet

The other day I got an e-mail from an old teacher of mine. I had her for fundamentals of reporting at Webster, one of my first college journalism classes. She works at a large paper in St. Louis. I'm not oging to be too specific because I don't like using people's names without asking them. Anyways, here is a small part of what she wrote, congratulating me on my job.

"I'm thrilled to hear about your new job, and I'm so glad they recognized that you're a good hire. I'll be eager to hear how it's going for you, and I hope you'll send me links to stories you're proud of. I mentioned you to an editor today, in fact. I told him that I planned to keep track of my best students in the event of possible openings down the road. Papers have taken a bad hit, but things seem to have stabilized here for the moment. I'm awfully glad I didn't scare you away from the field with my too-honest, doom-and-gloom reports! I know you're going to be great at this stuff."

Her little letter made me feel great. She was one of my favorite teachers at Webster and I'm glad she remembers me too.

Box of Books!

The other day, G's mom insisted I walk down to the middle school with her-- because-- in the teacher's lounge, was a large box of books that was headed for the dumpster...

I wasn't quite sure if a bunch of teachers would throw away books, but I went down there anyway.

Sure enough, in the lounge was not one, but several boxes of books marked FREE and a sign about how they were going to be thrown away the next day.

I couldn't just let perfectly good (some look brand new) books be thrown away. Even though most of them weren't really titles I would normally pick out, I chose several (read: a ton) to take home and read. G's mom said the books had been there forever and that they had already been picked through. Since they were garbage-destined within hours I didn't feel bad taking them.

Now, it will take me longer to tackle my Goodreads list, but I will eventually get there. And I have a bunch of new books!

Some of the new titles include:

Love me, by Garrison Keillor





http://www.amazon.com/Love-Me-Garrison-Keillor/dp/0670032468

December Heat, by Luiz Alfredo Garca-Ruiz



http://www.amazon.com/December-Heat-Inspector-Espinosa-Mysteries/dp/0312423438



Drop Dead Gorgeous, by Linda Howard



http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30067.Drop_Dead_Gorgeous



And, All Night Long, by Jayne Ann Krentz




http://www.amazon.com/All-Night-Long-Krentz-Jayne/dp/B002YNS49U

Again, not exactly my style, but they were in great shape and maybe I'll like them.

Wedding Days...

I wouldn't normally post about something as mundane as how my hair was styled a certain day, but for this particular purpose I feel like it deserves a mention.

As you know from my previous post, one of my closest friends got married over the weekend, Saturday, August 28. We went to Hair Engineers West for our hair and makeup and everyone looked beautiful.

Let me mention that my hair is decently long, with almost too much to do anything with. It touches my bra strap and although it's not incredibly thick, it's heavy, which made it difficult to work with. But the girls at the salon did a wonderful job! I looked exactly like Taylor Swift! Just joking, but my hair was very similar to the picture of her I brought in and it was absolutely beautiful! I loved it. And I loved my makeup. It stayed on all day and didn't smudge or smear off from the August heat.

I felt bad because my hair took forever to fix. Eventually, they had to switch girls because the first one had a bride coming in. The second girl had a wonderful personality and didn't mind adding the finishing touches.

I was actually happier with this hairstyle than I have ever been with a paid-for updo. Not that I didn't like the others, I just really felt amazing with this style. Props to the girls at Hair Engineers West. Man, I love that place. I used to go there all the time, but had to stop to save money. Now, I'm definitely thinking about a nice haircut with girl #2. I'm going to call today to be reminded of her name. It'll be worth it I'm sure.

Front

Maybe not the best picture...I wish I had one of the other side. But what do you do?

And Back

A Night to Remember...

...was my best friend's wedding, Aug. 28, 2010. It doesn't seem like 1 year ago when Abby called me (while still at dinner!) to tell me her boyfriend had proposed.

The first few months went by with very little planning, but the past several months has been crazy, with her planning flowers, food, venues, entertainment, dresses and everything else a bride worries about on that special day -- Not to mention that at the same time she was planning all of this she was studying for board exams she has to take to become a doctor.

I was busy as well. I was finishing up school, working a new job and had more responsibilities than ever. But despite that, I think I managed to plan (with the help of the other maids) a wonderful shower and a bachelorette party we're sure not to forget. That last part was more to the credit of Kristen, Abby's chiropractic study buddy and close friend. She was a reader at the wedding, but more than happy to chip in and help with the bachelorette party.

Everyone looked beautiful, especially Abby. The ladies at Hair Engineers West did a great job. We had a rehearsal dinner Thursday evening with dinner at Joe Boccardi's in Eureka. It was delicious as always. Abby and I got our nails done on Friday afternoon. They looked really good and it was nice to have a pedicure on a Friday after working all day.

David is so lucky to have Abby (I think he knows :D). She is lucky to have him too, of course. Looking at their faces it was easy to see that these two were meant to be together.

All the stress and hard work of planning the wedding paid off 100 times the moment the two were united at the alter for their vows.

Mr. and Mrs. David Painter left this morning for a honeymoon in Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic, which David planned by himself and told Abby about in the surprise limousine he had waiting for her at the church after their ceremony.

I can't wait to see the professional pictures, but here are a few I had or someone else took on my camera.

Congratulations Abby and David! I wish you nothing but the best!

My best dancing photo

Bride and groom acting silly.

My sweeties.


Me and the beautiful bride!

What Would You Do?

Since I've heard about this story, I've been asking people what they would do if they were in this situation. It's hard to say. This girl did what seems to be the right thing, because no one got hurt. But it could have easily went a totally different direction.
http://www.emissourian.com/news/washington_news/article_b2e960ae-8511...
Please try to use your imagination when actually reading about what happened. It was the absolute best I, or my editors could explain it, and Channel 4 didn't do any better. It's just difficult to imagine.
What would you do?
On a side note: Usually with these kinds of stories, I hear from the person (or people) I've interviewed, and I haven't yet -- makes me a little nervous :s