It's Almost November

Last weekend was crazy. To be more specific, Saturday was crazy. It all started when someone asked me to be on the planning committee for the United Way's St. Louis Servathon. The Servathon is a large event volunteering at the same time in one specific area. With October 24th being 'Make a Difference Day,' we thought it would be perfect. After lots of pre-work, I arrived at the Regional Arts Commission at 7 am. We arranged, coordinated, and prepped the volunteers as they arrived and sent them off to change the world. I was in charge of the housing projects. Ten elderly and disabled U City residents applied to the city to get some light yardwork, etc done. I had a group of 30 volunteers helping out. My morning was spent checking on the volunteers at each house and directing them on to other projects if they were finished. It wasn't hard work, just a little chaotic. When everyone finished, we headed back to RAC and ate lunch. As expected, lunch didn't show up on time (well, not all of it, just some of it, which I don't know if that was better or worse). Luckily, volunteers tend to be very patient people. I also stalled by offering them pieces of cake with icing flowers. I didn't think that would work after you are nine, but I was wrong. As a thank you for helping out, the planning committee each received the President's Award for Volunteer Service, complete with a letter from the President. It was cool, I am very proud of it.

After clean-up, I ran downtown to Sage to pick up soup (Butternut Squash Bisque, the best in the city) and host a dinner party for 11. I had done as much of the prep work as possible before Saturday, but of course there is always plenty to do. It will be a long time until I host another dinner party for 11. It's soooo much more prep than just having people over: drinks, courses, desserts, the logistics of entertaining, cooking a full meal, and serving it all warm. I did plan ahead. My wonderful cousin Sarah came over to help. After 6 that evening, she did it all. I just enjoyed myself. I am so lucky to have such generous people in my life. The evening went very smoothly and I couldn't have asked for anything better. A hectic day, but a good day.

Have you all taken a look at the fall leaves this year? Wow, they are all extreme in color. I don't know if it's the rain, but it is impressive. Now, just to rake them up...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I admit it. I am a Christmasholic. About this time every year I get antsy for Christmas. I do love fall, but fall just reminds me of what is coming next...Christmas (then I block everything out because January is too hard to think about). I made a deal with myself a couple of years ago. I let myself listen to Christmas music after my mom's birthday (October 15th). This week has just been easier with a festive soundtrack. Work is a little tense right now and we are all still waiting (another three weeks they say) to see if we will have jobs at the end of the year. I have found Christmas music to be the sole source of my calm. I have also converted some co-workers who are now listening to Christmas music and I am happy to report the Store Design department is much more mellow this week.

I have always leaned on the tunes of the Yule. In college I relied heavily on Bing to get me through a paper. Don't under estimate the power of Christmas music.

Here are some of my favorites (off the top of my head):

Mariah Carey: "All I Want For Christmas is You." LOVE IT!

Michael W. Smith: both of his Christmas albums are amazing.

Steve Tyrell and The Carpenters: good classic albums

My favorite Christmas songs are: Baby, it's cold outside, What are you doing new year's eve?, and Christmas all over (Tim Petty)

Of course I love the standards Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Rosemary Clooney, Johnny Mathis, etc.

What are your favorite Christmas songs?

I am in charge of the animal skulls

Last Saturday I volunteered with the Girl Scouts. They had a large one day of activity, learning, and enjoying the outdoors. It was at Camp Tuckaho out in Troy, MO. I love the Girl Scouts and I do regret not taking scouting further into my life. Here was my opportunity to make up for time lost.

I filled out the application a few months ago and explained that my hobbies were "crafting, interior design, and the environment." I also mentioned that I was very allergic to animals so please, no horses, goats or farm animals.

I showed up on Saturday happy to see the sun and eager to work. I ignore all the stupid mom leaders that have no comprehension that others are in the world but them (not spoiled mothers; busy mothers that have been doing nothing BUT mothering for the last 10 years and can't function in the real world anymore. They can't say bathroom. They say potty, even to 32 year old adults and their 9 year old children who have grown out of the phrase, I could go on, but I know you all know what I mean and will you NEVER turn into those mothers).

The volunteer coordinator informs me that I am at the Nature Center. I meet 4 other women working there, all with former girl scout daughters who are now in their 20's. These women are experts, they know what they are doing, they have got this down. They know their skits/lesson/activity. Another woman shows up with three large duffel bags. We start unloading. They are full of animal skins, skulls, and footprints. They are not just skins, but the whole epidermis of the animal: eye holes, claws, noses. etc. We pair the skull, skin and tracks up and lay them out on the table. The women in charge looks at me (the one with no part) and says, "are you ok, handling this?" Afraid they kick out sissies in the Girl Scouts I confidently say, "yes, whatever you need me to do."

The day was a plethora of over 100 activities to choose from: trails, archery, rock-climbing, making slime, yoga, Pilate's, anything you can think of and Tuckaho is large, so it was more about pick an area and see what there is to do there rather than cherry-picking activities because you would spend all day walking. Over 3500 girls from the St. Louis area were there, including Grace (my niece) and her troop.

The first troop came and I let them guess the different animals (they look different when they are flat) and touch them. I showed them how a beaver jaw and a squirrel jaw look very similar even though they are different in size. I was amazed at my expertise compared to an 8 year old. I could easily impress them with my "facts." A little National Geographic Channel goes a long way.

The day went on and I got into my groove, while personally being a little grossed out, I knew how important it was to get over it. At the end of the day I could properly identify the coats and skulls of a beaver, squirrel, rabbit, otter, raccoon, skunk, possum, deer, coyote, bobcat, & fox.

I was happy that I did get challenged out of my comfort zone and I am thankful they didn't have me in charge of any live animals, that wouldn't have been a little much. Saturday ended up to be a gorgeous fall day and I loved that I got to spend the whole day outside. Around 3:30, the sun sank beneath trees and it got cold quickly. I was grateful to be at the nature center because we has access to an indoor (heated) facility with a real bathroom and hot coffee in the kitchen. The volunteer coordinators broke me in softly and now have me hooked. I would do it again, animal skulls and all.

In the nature center I saw this quote: In the end, we will only conserve what we love. We only love what we understand, and we only understand what we are taught.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I LOVE fall. I love back to school. I was always ready to get back to a new year in school. The weather turns crisp and warm, but the nights are cool enough to have fires and snuggle up in coats. Everyone starts to talk of holidays and the associated festivities. It just makes me soooo giddy. (Let's let leaves out of the equation for now, I am moving into a house with 6 oak trees. I despise oak trees).

One of the best parts about this time of year is that there is so much to do. Clayton Art Fair, Schlafly Art Fair, Balloon Glow, Balloon Race, Oktoberfests, lots of birthdays to celebrate over long dinners on patios, etc, etc. Yipeee!

On another note, I am 90% moved. Celeste is coming over tonight to continue the motivate me in the last of the little things and help clean up. It's amazing what you can get done when you are fighting jet lag.

Once I have all my pictures sorted and together, I will finally post them. It was a great vacation with lots of things to do, but at a leisurely pace for the most part. All I can say is charming, charming, charming. The low countries are just quaint. I got the posted picture off the Internet, but I took the same picture in Damme, Belgium.

Greetings from Europe

Not that I need to tell you all...but Europe rocks. We have been to Amsterdam, Brussels, and Bruges. Tonight we are back in the 'dam and are heading to Delft, the Hague, Haarlem, and Edam over the next couple of days. Bruges is definitely one of the most charming and quaint cities I have ever seen. We stayed at an amazing b&b. We are now staying in another b&b at the 'dam. This is the way to go. Wonderful homes, lovely breakfasts and they are soooo clean. I almost thought about not using my sleeping bag (but I didn't). I can't speak of U.S. b&b's, but this is definitely the way to travel in Europe.
I would post pictures, but that is a lot of work that I just can't handle right now (converters, adapters, camera's, ipods, and this teeny tiny computer that my parents lent us that is great, but no memory to hold a pic). Besides the fact that I am old and my tech skills are embarassing. I will post when I get home to convince you all to head to the Low Countries.
Interesting things about Europe: capri's and fanny packs are very cool for men/teenage boys. I have seen a lot of mullets (we have pictures). These people have cat-like reflexes to bike, walk and drive here, I am in awe. I have found my food soulmate in Belgium: beer, waffles, and mussels.
I am so sad to come home on Saturday.

Nothing

Nothing to post. Life is packing the house, packing the suitcase, unpacking at Chuck's. Do I have the converter? Do we have tickets for ___? Where is the dutch phrase book? (in a box in storage). Nothing but small details that annoy you in your own life, so I am not going to bore you anymore with them.
See you on the 5th.

SF & BF

I have one small piece of advice: never go to a good St. Louis restaurant after you have just gotten back from food heaven.

San Fran was great. As I have eluded, the food was phenomenal. Too many fish options to count, salads, salads, salads, and hardly a fried option in the bunch. It was refreshing, not to have to search for decent food. Saturday we went sailing in the bay, which rocked. Definitely an experience to remember. The rest of the time, Sarah and I just walked around. I broke in the new shoes for Europe (see photo...and they are environmentally sound). The conference was fab. I learned lots and lots that I won't bore you with except for a 2 things. One is a video from World Wildlife Federation about changing the way you think: http://www.worldwildlife.org/ted/latteflash.html

The water footprint site (did you know it takes 50 gallons of water to make a latte?!): http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/home

This leads me to last night. I returned from SF on Wednesday night and had Bodily Fluids last night. We went to Jimmy's. Yes, Jimmy's, one of my top 10 restaurants. This is why my new rule is in effect. I felt like Monica in the wedding dress episode (on Friends). She had experienced the ultimate and now nothing could compare. I had a very good dinner. Delish, the caprese salad was tasty, but none of the fish on the menu was sustainable. I found myseld continuously comparing the experience to SF. It was unfair to me and Jimmy's. It was great conversation though. The last few dinners in SF were business small talk so I welcomed conversations among friends again. BF Becky showed up and I avoided her as much as possible. At the end of the dinner I did hear the words "poop," "placenta," and "my breast milk smelled like gin," come out of her mouth. Ugh, seriously, she has issues with personal boundaries. Doesn't she EVER stop?! We will see next month.