Looking Foward To {September 2015}

• A (sunny?!) weekend at the lake for Labor Day
• My favorite St. Louis weekend – Loufest – with the headliner being my favorite band – Avett Brothers
• St. Louis Design Week – particularly the morning panels at KDHX, and hopefully the tours of the Arch and the Old Cathedral. Fingers crossed work doesn't get in the way! 
• Speaking of work, the culmination of a couple big projects we've been working on
• A nice, long weekend in Columbia to see Tim Gunn and my favorite festival, Roots n Blues
• More free time for yoga at Southtown
• Planning my late October trip to the Pacific Northwest (finally!)
• And likely the last bit of patio weather before fall hits

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Happy Fourth

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Oh Yeah, I Went To Savannah In April

In April, I visited the lovely, albeit humid, city of Savannah for a girls' weekend with my mom, sister, sister-in-law and niece. It was much too fast, and much too rainy, but a wonderful time.

We walked for coffee, visited the playground at Forsyth Park and sauntered down the tree-lined streets with beers in hand (open containers, for the win!). We walked along the riverfront, and the (slightly terrifying) old steps. We basically had Thanksgiving dinner at Paula Deen's restaurant, except with fried chicken instead of turkey.

We stayed in an airbnb rental right outside City Market, where we lunched, drank peach sangria, listened to live music, visited Wet Willie's (three times...) and ran in the rain with our pizza-to-go from VinnieVanGoGo's.

We drove to Tybee Island and relaxed on the beach, saw the lighthouse (but didn't go in) and feasted on a seafood boil – and my first crab legs! – at The Crab Shack.

Savannah is a lovely old city, and too much to explore / eat / drink in such a short amount of time. Can't wait to get back there someday.

Now taking suggestions for Girls' Weekend 3.0. I'm thinking classic New England (Boston, Baltimore, Connecticut-ish).

Looking Foward To {July 2015}

• A long 4th of July weekend at Tablerock Lake
• Muny Mondays, Softball Tuesdays, Wednesdays at MOBOT and Saturdays at the Tower Grove Farmers' Market
• A wedding at The Sheldon
• My sister, brother-in-law and niece coming in town for a whole week (!!!!)
• Tallest Man on Earth at the Pageant
• Lake weekend with friends

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I Love Weddings (Lesley & Dave Edition)

Lesley & Dave's Same Day Edit from Millennium Productions on Vimeo.

I love weddings. Being in them, going to them, planning showers and bachelorette parties and all of it.

A few weeks ago, I got to stand by one of my oldest friends to watch her marry her high school sweetheart at The Pageant, and it was so fun, and so beautiful. It may be cliche, but #blessed.

Professional Photographer: Kurtis Hall
Photo Booth: Shutter Booth

A Perfect St. Louis Saturday, Summer 2015 Edition

7:30am: Coffee and toast at home while I watch Girl Meets World.

9am: Yoga at the Tower Grove Farmer's Market, follow by shopping for tomoatoes, kale, zuchini, blueberries, Marcoot Creamery Tipsy Cheddar and Companion white bread. Chatting with friends over iced coffee and muffins, standing in the newly filled wading pool, and – because it was the 10th Anniversary market – grabbing a Geilles beer from Urban Chestnut (PS: They should come every week, IMHO).

1pm: Lounging at the newly opened and free pool at Marquette Park. 

4pm: AC and frozen blueberries while I finish bingewatching OITNB.

6pm: BBQ and beer on a friend's patio while watch lightening bugs and discuss our favorite musicals.

Currently

Painting my nails.

Drinking coffee.

Planning a bachelorette party in Nashville in May, a girls' weekend in Savannah in April and a Pacific Northwest road trip in the fall.

Catching up on my overused DVR.

Looking ahead at my calendar filled with fish fries, Schlafly's Stout and Oyster Fest, birthday parties, Avenue Q, UCBC Crawfish Boil, the return of the Tower Grove Farmers' Market and free yoga outside on weekends. I love spring.

Thinking about cleaning (and decorating) for the annual Easter egg dying party at my house next weekend.

Car shopping.

Feeling like I should take Maverick for a walk. Or take a shower. Or get more coffee. (Or all of the above.)

Buying tickets to Kinky Boots at the Fox for a date night with my BFF when she comes in town later this month.

Wondering if I'm really multitasking or just task-skimming, thanks to an insightful talk on neuroscience at SXSW.

And now feeling guilty for not yet sharing any of these SXSW insights (or pictures). Sorry. It was amazing, and I'll get to it eventually.

Looking Back: Roots N Blues 2014

Just came across this video recap of 2014 Roots N Blues in Columbia, Mo. Last year's festival blew me away, and I can't wait for 2015. I'm curious to see what musicians they book this year, since last year they drew big names like Avett Brothers, Amos Lee, Trampled By Turtles and Lake Street Dive. I can only imagine that this year will be even better.

Early bird tickets – $89 for a 3-day pass – are available now.

Thanksgiving in North Carolina

It's almost Christmas, so it's a little bit late for me to be finally posting about my Thanksgiving trip to North Carolina. Alas... here it is.

The long weekend was mostly spent in the car. Driving to NC. Driving to Will's base. Driving to and from Will and Abby's house to our beachfront condo at Topsail Beach. Driving to Onslow Beach for family photos. Driving to Wilmington. Driving back to Topsail Beach. Driving back to St. Louis.

I don't love cars, and I was sick on the way home, so that sucked.

But beyond that, it was a wonderful weekend spent with family. Playing with my niece, Willa. Watching movies. Cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Visiting the USS North Carolina in Wilmington. Walks on the beach. Bowling, even. And all of the trumps a fever and car sickness.

One morning, I woke up early to go see the sunrise. I've been thinking about sunrises a lot lately. Someone said to me recently that "the best thing about sunsets is that there will be another one tomorrow." It occurred to me the this is the same for sunrises, but that I don't take advantage of it nearly enough. We've all seen a bazillion beautiful sunsets, but how many beautiful sunrises have you seen?

Well, now I can add another to my (short) list. I woke up, walked across the street to Topsail, and took in a lovely, albeit chilly, sunrise. I picked up a few seashells. I even saw dolphins. I kid you not. I have photo evidence. Cheesy as it sounds, it was all pretty magical.

First Snow

Yesterday, St. Louis had it's first snow of the season. It was lovely... but only because I didn't leave my house all day. I snuggled with Maverick and watched TV and decorated my Christmas tree and drank red wine. In fact, these wonderful pictures are from Instagram (stlgasm, copychief and kevinkellyUSA) because there was no way I was going to venture out in the snow. Not ready for that yet.

This morning when I had to scrape the snow/ice off my car... it was not so lovely.

Desk Yoga

I'd love a 15-20 minute yoga refresh class in the afternoon, but these stretches featured on A Cup of Jo will do.

Roots N' Blues N' BBQ 2014

This past weekend, I went to Roots N' Blues for the first time in years and was just totally floored with how awesome the festival was.

Not that I didn't expect that. I just hadn't been to it since it moved down to Stephens Lake. And in that time, had been to my fair share of outdoor festivals to compare. Plus, Avett Brothers was headlining and you know how I feel about Avett.

But still. There were the typical things – awesome food vendors, clean bathrooms (the cleanest I've ever been in), beer + koozie discount special, plenty of shaded areas, chair and aisle lines that festival goers actually respected – but more than that...

It felt local.

There were art installations by local creatives. Someone with the festival came on before each musical act to make announcements and thank the community members who made the weekend possible. Everyone was super friendly. You got the feeling that people would have come out for the festival regardless of who was playing.

And so when you add that with beer, biscuits, amazing weather and great music... it sort of makes for a perfect weekend.

Already counting down til next year. (I just wish someone would make them a better website.)