O Christmas Tree, O Nine

When we got married, we were given a charming little (apartment-sized) Christmas tree. We were also both given our childhood ornaments by our families. We were also given about a bajillion "Our First Christmas" ornaments.



Please excuse our old wood paneling. It is not there by choice. Oh, the joys of renting...



There's a lot of "love" on our tree.



There are also a lot of commemorative ornaments.



There's also a sneaky, ornery, little beast who won't stop pulling down ornaments.

Oh, and a tree skirt that I feel captures the essence of me in some inexplicable way.



Given the eclectic nature of our ornament collection (and the decor of our home in general) I wanted a little tree bling that pulled it all together. I found some sparkly, colorful fruit that did just that.

None of it really matches, but somehow it all works. We dig it.

This Thanksgiving, I...

Took pictures of Ellie...



and her Uncle Starbuck...



Ate a lot of food at Aunt T's house...



Fell in love with a spaniel named Jersey...



Admired Aunt T's centerpiece...



Ogled a delicious man...




Listened to Brousin (that's brother/cousin) Tyler and Kyle chat about Cardinals baseball...



Ate Momma's good cookin'...



And, in general, had a wonderful time with family and friends. Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving!

Mama Bass

This is my mother in law, Mama Bass (not to be confused with Mama Cass). She knew I was snapping her picture, and wouldn't hold still for a good one. She's feisty like that. She makes her own kind of music.



This is Mama Bass's table. It's one of those new-fangled, "bar height" tables. I want to put my sweaty drink glass on it so it will leave a ring and she won't like it anymore and then give it to me. I don't think that will happen anytime soon. A. Mama Bass loves that table. B. Mama Bass would never let me put a drink down without a coaster.



These are Mama Bass's beautiful red dishes. She uses them every day. They're very versatile.



This is Mama Bass's "Chicken and Dressing Casserole." Let's all pause for a moment of silence... The very mention of this exquisite dish is enough to make me salivate. I've tried to make it just like her, but it just isn't the same.



I guess I'll just have to keep going back to her house and sitting at her new-fangled "bar height" table and using her red dishes and eating her casserole. I hope she doesn't mind.

I have to go wipe the drool off my face now.

What day is this?

When one thinks about living in the Midwest, the concept, "diversity," doesn't typically come to mind. If, however, you could have seen the live feed on my facebook page this morning, you might have disagreed. Of course, there was the typical "I hate my life because I'm a student" whining, the "Look at my awesome drunken pics from last night" silliness, and the weekly "TGIF- gimme a beer" anticipation.

Added to this mixture this morning was a sweet, savory blend of "Sittin' in a deer stand/1st shotgun season/Be vewy vewy quiet..." and "OMGGGGG Newwww Moooonnnnn!!! :)))"

These come from, typically, two very different crowds. I love 'em both.

Should make for an interesting weekend as more people get the see New Moon and post their reaction, and more people upload smiling pictures of themselves holding a dead deer. Happy 1st shotgun season/New Moon day to all!

St. Louis and Meeting The Pioneer Woman

My alarm sounded at 5:15am, but I was already awake. It was like Christmas morning, except that even Santa doesn't excite me that much. We hit the road around 7:30am and it rained all the way to the city.

We started at Saint Louis University, where Kyle and I met with people from the law school and the speech language pathology programs, respectively. Oh, my word was it fun! I found out some really unique opportunities I would have at SLU that aren't available at some other schools.

We then joined Aunt T, Uncle D, and Cousin Steph at the beautiful Four Seasons hotel where they were staying and had lunch. What a gorgeous place it was! It may have been the swankiest hotel I've ever seen.

After lunch everyone wanted to do a little shopping (I had a small chunk of change in gift cards to spend at Anthropologie) so we parted ways. Anthropologie brought their A-game. The store was decked for the holidays, but in a very subtle, Anthro way. Everything was beautiful. For the first time, I actually allowed myself to look seriously at their clothes. Never before had I done this for one simple reason: clothes from Anthro ain't cheap! Since I wasn't technically spending my own money, I went for it, and oh, what fun it was! I tried on many lovely things and had a difficult time choosing what I wanted. I walked away with two beautiful shirts that I hope to use and wear for a long time. I exclaimed to Kyle, "I feel so special!"

We headed back downtown to Christ Church Cathedral where Ree was speaking at 7pm. We got there three hours early.



We had second row seats, so it was worth it! We took pictures of everything while we waited.







Then Marlboro Man (aka Ladd, her husband) and her two youngest punks, Bryce and Todd, came storming in the room. They were as cute and wild as I imagined.



Right before it was time for her to speak, Cousin Steph went to the ladies room and on her way out ran into P-Dub! Oh, I was so jealous. Lucky.

But before long, Ree was standing in front of me. I mean, right in front of me. She was beautiful and tall and thin. Ignore all her "chubby" jokes. They're lies.



The evening began with question and answer, so I said, "Hi, Ree. Will you pretty please do your Ethel Merman for us?" People cheered. She blushed. Then she did it.



Then her boys tugged at her jacket, her hair, her microphone, and climbed the podium. It was awesome. They clearly adore her.



Then, quite sadly, the Q&A was over and it was time to get my book signed.



We stepped up, made some sweet small-talk, posed for a picture (taken by my sweet, ever-patient, ultimate trooper hubs) and I felt complete.



Marlboro Man gave us free t-shirts and sent us packing.



We said our goodbyes and started our drive home. Then we stopped at Chili's for dinner (not-so-exciting, but we had a gift card). Chili's is the place to do business, as in, the business of fawning over your husband and thanking him for joining you on this day that was, more or less, all about you.



As we were pulling in the driveway at home, Cousin Steph called and said, "You'll never believe who we just saw in the hotel gift shop!" It was Marlboro Man and the punks. They were staying at the Four Seasons. Lucky.

It was, without a doubt, one of the most fun days I've had in a long time!