October

October:

This was a great month! The month I turned TWENTY-THREE! One of my best friends Cindy and I have birthdays a day apart so we have had joint birthdays for the past three years. This year we rented the St. Louis Road Pony Party Bus – a club on wheels. 25 or so friends joined us as we drove around St. Louis, listened to Cindy's gangsta rap, and went to some of our favorite bars (or at least tried to get into some of them).

Here are some pictures from our Road Pony adventure:





October also means HOMECOMING at Mizzou! This has always been around my birthday, which makes it such a fun weekend. But now, as a graduate, it means reunion with everyone from school. This was the first time since graduation that all of the girls got together. 3004 - the group of girls who lived in our two houses on Wilson senior year - took this to an expected extreme with our 3004 Alumni shirts. We spent the weekend remembering old stories, laughing about funny nights from college, and making new memories as adults reliving college. And to top it all off, ESPN College Game Day was at Mizzou, we won the game, and the girls and I grabbed the primo spot in Harpo's and led the entire bar in the Mizzou chant. MIZ-ZOU!!!

Here are some pictures from this amazing weekend:

September

September:

September we all started to finally feel settled in our jobs and in our place in St. Louis. Jeff finally stopped traveling every week (THANK THE LORD), and we settled into our routines. We spent weekends hanging out in St. Louis, visiting our Alma Matter (so weird to say that), and enjoying the company of those that we love in STL.

I was also fortunate enough to spend a weekend with my family at a weekend celebrating my mother: her 50th birthday! Jeff and I flew to Little Rock and we spent a great evening at my godmother Jan's house at a 50th birthday party for Mom.



Here's Mom, Anna-Lee and I that night.



Here's me, my roommate Jenna, Hannah, Bonnie, and Cindy on our weekend adventure to Ol' Mizzou for a Tiger football game.

The last 6 months...

Update on the past SIX months of life in STL:

Okay, so it's been FOREVER since I've blogged. But, i'm currently home from work for a snow day, laying on the couch watching Pawn Stars, and decided it was a great time to update the readers (or one) of my blog on what's been going on.

My last post was on August 13, so i'll update you on all of the other months:

August:

The St. Louis crew gained a new member: Bonnie Joy Thomas! Bon, one of our best friends from college, got a job in St. Louis and moved here from Phoenix, further completing the St. Louis wolf pack. Of course we wanted her to feel at home, so we spent the month of August having girls nights, showing her our new favorite spots, and further exploring our city.



The girls at one of our most favorite spots, and where we pretend we are still in college, even if only for a night: DD's Karaoke Bar.

My Little Sis is All Grown Up...

Today’s post is in honor or my little sis, Anna-Lee. Anna-Lee is now part of the University of Arkansas Class of 2014. Dad took her up to Fayetteville yesterday and moved her into Reid dorm with her best friend Mary Elizabeth Sixbey. Anna-Lee was sweet enough to Skype with me last night for about two hours so I could see the new dorm, help the girls out with what they’re wearing for Rush this week, and just chit chat about what they can look forward to the next four years.


I didn’t think that Anna-Lee going to college would affect me at all. Boy was I wrong. I found myself very teary eyed and sentimental about my first week at college, when Anna-Lee and I were young, and what is to come in the future for us both. It’s weird to think that my little baby sister, my Christmas present, is growing up so fast. She’s supposed to be that adorable little pipsqueak who didn’t want to talk to anyone but Mom, and whose legs couldn’t have been any bigger than a twig. She was so adorable when she was a little kid, and now she’s grown up into this beautiful young woman who I know will do amazing things in her future.

Anna-Lee, I love you and I hope these next four years are all you’ve ever dreamed of. Make of them what you want, and do all the things you’ve ever wanted to. This is your time. I love you and wish you good luck this week. Love your big sis.

A Never Ending Exploration

I’m sitting at work, which probably means I shouldn’t be writing this, but doesn’t writing a blog only foster a better understanding of the English language, and force you to think? I’m sure my eNewsletter I distribute today will be better just because I wrote this blog post.

I hope all of you have something fun to do this weekend. The weatherman is calling for slightly cooler weather. (Anything beats a heat index of 120. Ridiculous.) Tonight, Jeff and I are so excited because we get to baby-sit his one a half-year-old niece Abbie. She is so adorable and we love seeing her because it seems like she’s learned something new since the last time we saw her.

Tomorrow morning we head off to Augusta, MO. Missouri’s wine country. Jeff got me this trip as part of my amazing graduation present000, but we planned it for this weekend because it’s our one and a half year anniversary. Cheesy I know, but we like to celebrate the halves too. We are going to stay in a cute B&B called the Wine Country Inn. Jeff knows me very well and knows how much I love old buildings and furniture. This place absolutely fits the bill. Then, we are going to spend the day visiting some of Augusta’s beautiful wineries, like the Mount Pleasant Winery. Finally, we will end with dinner at Augusta Brewery Company. I’ve heard great things.

Then, Sunday afternoon we will be meeting friends at a St. Louis staple, Fast Eddie’s in Alton, IL. It’s about 5 minutes over the bridge and is the epitome of a dive bar. Who wouldn’t want $1.99 kabobs? Sign me up.

All in all I think it’s going to be a great weekend of continuing our exploration of St. Louis, even though Jeff is from here. I feel like every time we decide to go out, we’re forcing ourselves to try something new, which is good. We don’t have any place that is a staple for us yet, and I sort of like it that way.

Hope you all have a great weekend, and check back on Monday for pictures from the weekend.

Life in St. Louis

Let me just start off by saying, I LOVE ST. LOUIS! I love absolutely everything about it. So far my roommate Jenna and I have moved into our new apartment, we've both started work, we've had friends and family visit, we've explored the city, and so much more.

Here are a few pictures from our apartment. The apartment is called the Embassy. It was built in 1926 and has been a hotel and an apartment building. We have a workout room, theater and pool room, a dog walking park and a pool. It's so cute and the people are so nice. Funny story from move in day: we were just finishing up moving everything from the U-Haul into the apartment. We'd been moving since 9 o'clock that morning and it was 10 PM. LONG DAY to say the least. Then, all of a sudden the fire alarm in the hallway starts going off. The entire building had to be evacuated and three fire trucks come. We're all standing outside mad that it's going off so late, and worrying about what's going on because there are a ton of fire fighters and they all have axes. They eventually let us in and we don't know what happened. We go to our apartment and start to unpack some boxes. Then, at 11:30, the alarm goes off again. And it seems louder. We all re-evacuate the building, but no fire trucks show up. They think it's a prank and don't think it's important to come, so the alarm goes off for the next 30 minutes. The next morning Jeff and I are moving a few more things from the car, and maintenance man, Joe, comes up to us, and says, “You know that you all set the alarm off last night, right?” Oops!! Apparently we knocked the fire alarm with our couch and it fell off the wall causing the entire buildings alarm system to mess up. OOPS!! Not the best foot to get off on with the management.





Bad move in moment behind us, we've had some fun times in the last two months. There have been three Cardinals games, friends visiting, BBQ's, concerts, and much more. One of the most special moments so far has been the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure weekend. Jeff organized a weekend in Mom's honor and friends from Mizzou and Little Rock all came in. Friday night we had a Pink themed party at Jeff's house and Saturday we did the walk. Over 72,000 people walked and raised over $3 million to end breast cancer.

Here are some pictures from that amazing weekend.





As far as work goes, I LOVE it. I am the Coordinator of Strategic Marketing and Partnerships for the Higher Education Channel (HEC-TV). I handle all of the press releases and media relations, maintain our presence on social networks, design advertisements, distribute an eNewsletter, work on the magazine and other communications work for the station. I love having the ability to try out lots of different things and having the station trust me. The environment is really fun and I'm hoping to learn a lot while working at HEC-TV.

Upcoming adventures include a trip to the Augusta winery, girls nights, lake weekend at Lake of the Ozarks, and more. I am so excited about my choice of cities and am looking forward to what it has in store for me.

Here are some more pictures from this summer. And, I promise i'll be better about updating my blog. Promise.

I PROMISE A NEW POST IS COMING

Hey people who read my blog. Or, in other words, Mom. I promise a new blog post is coming. It's actually in a Word document on my computer at home. And, I have a TON of new pictures: apartment, Race for the Cure, St. Louis. I'm at work right now, probably shouldn't be writing this, and I will do it as soon as I get home. I'm going to Best Buy to get a camera connector right after work and then hunkering down on the couch to update you all on my life.

I hope all is well with everyone. And, to those I haven't seen in a while, I miss ya!