Pardon My French

YES WE DID!!

2008-11-04T22:01:00.004-06:00

We've sent a LOUD and CLEAR message...hope has finally trumped fear...how exciting!!!

An Election Day Request

2008-11-04T21:03:00.006-06:00

I trust that everyone exercised his or her right to vote today???

Well, as I'm sure we are all hyper-aware, this year's political campaign season is about to reach its dramatic climax. While we await the results, I actually have a special Election Day request for one more vote on behalf of my better half. Some of you may know that he has been nominated by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as one of St. Louis' 2008 Top Real Estate Professionals. A win would mean not only the humble reward of recognition, but also $8,000 worth of advertising with the Post! Cool!

If you're someone who Matt has personally assisted with real estate services, or even if you just occasionally stop by his blog and you've ever come away with a nugget of helpful information or interesting gossip and you feel so compelled, please don't hesitate to cast a vote his way!

After a quick and painless registration, you may vote online here, once daily through December 31, 2008. In the upper right hand corner, there's a graphic that says "Does Your Real Estate Agent Rock? Vote for the 2008 Reader's Choice Top Agent." Matt appears on page 2 of the nominees :)

Thanks for indulging some late-season campaigning, and good luck Matt!

Sam Covers The Supremes

2008-10-12T15:39:00.004-05:00

I know...it's been awhile. But I'm confident that all will be forgiven after you watch the following. I give you my nephew, Sam:

Untitled from meghan on Vimeo.

E-Coli, Anyone?!

2008-07-15T22:00:00.000-05:00

Count me in!

That’s right, kids: we’re headed to the Lake of the Ozarks for year trois of our annual summertime debauchery. This year, 13 of us will pile into the 5 bedroom house on the water and boat that we've rented for the weekend. We have packed literal carloads of every type of artery-clogging, terrible-for-you food imaginable. And of course, 15 30-packs of beer. Hopefully it'll be enough.

In addition to beer consumption, there will no doubt be an embarrassing admission or two during multiple rounds of "I've Never...," plus all manner of dreadful behavior meant to secure the Coding Out Award. I won't even try to explain its name...all you need to know is that it is bestowed upon the most ridiculous vacationer of the weekend. There really is a trophy, with an engraved plaque and everything. And I'll be damned if a dude gets it this year. Maybe drinking some lake water would guarantee me the win?

Fug that. Of all the disgraceful conduct in which I may engage this weekend, I hereby solemnly swear that it will not include dipping so much as a pinky toe into that nasty cesspool they're still calling a lake. I’m seriously baffled by the assertion that at 12 times what is considered a "healthy standard," Lake Ozark's e-coli level this year is still within safe swimming parameters! Ummmm - no thanks!

Hope everyone's enjoying a nice, bacteria-free weekend :) Catch you next week...

McSneaky

2008-07-15T20:09:00.000-05:00

It appears that the dogs took advantage of our less than coherent (ok, comatose) state in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

Later that afternoon, after the Advil had started to take effect, we went to kennel the puggles before leaving to run some errands. In Louie’s crate, we discovered the remnants of our midnight McDonald’s feast: a shredded Big Mac box and about 5 ketchup packets. And before anyone scolds us too harshly, I do remember enough to be positive that I polished off that entire Big Mac, thank you very much. Wait, did I seriously just admit that? At any rate, whatever they managed to get away with wasn’t much, and the ketchup packets were luckily unopened.

We’re not sure which one is the culprit or whether they both had a hand-er,paw-in this transgression, since both Louie and Des have a preference for Louie’s crate (we frequently find Desi napping or playing in it instead of his own). However, I personally think that Louie seemed to have the guiltier looking face of the two. You be the judge:

McSneaky from meghan on Vimeo.

Jamba Juice It's Not...

2008-07-14T21:12:00.005-05:00

but my smoothies aren't too shabby, either.

Honestly, my diet has absolutely sucked this summer. With all of the BBQs we've been going to, I've rekindled my love affair with zero nutrition white flour. Forget the burgers, just give me the buns! And who knows what posessed me to buy the stuff, but I did and now I've been eating Hawaiian sweet bread like it's going out of style and my frugal nature has prevented me from just throwing the damn package away.

For the record, I don't adhere by any means to a strict and obsessive diet - I never have and never could. I mostly like and choose healthy foods, but I eat what I want and follow the "everything in moderation" philosophy because I believe strongly in balance. So every now and again, if I eat some potato salad or fast food, I don't beat myself up.

That said, I've been feeling like a bag of crap lately and I know it's in part because I haven't been eating a balanced diet. I usually do a decent job of incorporating fruits and veggies into my meals, but I decided I needed to recommit myself to that as well as getting plenty of fiber.

So, I bought a bunch of fresh and frozen fruit on Saturday including mango, strawberries, peaches, blueberries and raspberries. I cleaned, washed and chopped the fresh stuff and packed it all into the freezer with the intention of making real fruit smoothies for breakfast the next couple of weeks.

As a hangover cure on Sunday, I pureed together:

1/2 c. mangoes

1/2 c. strawberries

1/2 c. blueberries

1/2 c. nonfat vanilla yogurt

I also added crushed ice, but it was unnecessary since the fruit itself was frozen and to be honest kinda effed things up.

It was a little tart, I think because half of the strawberries I bought weren't super ripe, so maybe I'll add a teaspoon of honey or something for next time.

It was good though and a filling way to pack in the recommended fruit servings for the day!

I'm a Bridesmaid!

2008-07-12T21:04:00.000-05:00

Err, matron? How ugly does that sound? Is that what you really have to call a married bridesmaid?

In any case...yay! I can't wait to be a part of this wedding!!

In true Tricia style, she invited her whole side of the wedding party (including her precious flower girl, Madison) to Cyrano's in Webster for "wedding chit chat."

She treated us to dinner, the best bread pudding in the city (mmmmmmm nom nom nom) and presented each of us with a perfectly wrapped box complete with a tag displaying a cute poem asking us to be her bridesmaids! Our gifts were J.Crew grosgrain flip flops in different colors. What a sweet idea! I'm pretty sure I just called my bridesmaids and said something like, "so you wanna?" This was definitely much better :)

Here are all of the girls, minus one of the Emilys:

Thanks Trish! Can't WAIT for 6.20.09!

Seriously?

2008-07-11T19:30:00.000-05:00

So, I’m required to wear suits to work. Really? I mean, most attorneys I know don’t wear suits except to court. I’m not a fan of this policy for obvious reasons, the biggest of which is that I hate buying them. They’re expensive (if you actually want to look put-together), boring and I despise shopping for clothes that can’t “multi-task” if you will. But whatever, c’est la vie.

I happened to be at the mall during my lunch break today and saw that The Limited was having a sale. Normally I don’t shop there because the style isn’t really me, and in my experience their clothes are made for women who tower over the rest of us. However, I am in need of new suits in summer-weight fabrics and decided to give it a try.

I actually hit the jackpot – there were tons of relatively cute suits on sale, in a considerable number of sizes and with pants in the short version, a veritable trophy for a woman of average as opposed to supermodel stature.

I headed to the dressing room with 4 suits in what I assumed was my size. Since I’m not a frequent Limited customer, I knew that I’d probably have some size adjustments to make, but I figured that they’d at least be uniform…like, can I have all of these in a 4 please? How I can fit into a 0, 2, 4 AND 6 in the same store’s clothing is beyond me.

It was enough to frustrate me into leaving with only 2 of my 4 selections. Again...seriously?!

Steak Out

2008-07-11T19:00:00.000-05:00

I came home from grocery shopping a couple of weeks ago ready to load up our (very roomy, I might add) freezer and this is what I found:

Apparently, a door to door meat salesman had stopped by and rendered Matt powerless to resist buying $350 worth of frozen steak.

Filets, t-bones, strips, sirloins, ribeyes, flanks, you name it. Oh and he negotiated a hell of a price for the chicken package, so there are a few of those thrown in as well.

Good god!

Introducing...

2008-07-10T12:00:00.001-05:00

Our new (canine) “niece” - Tricia and Matt are the proud parents of Abby, an approximately 1.5 year old black lab!!

They adopted her from friends of the original owner, who unexpectedly had to move to New York for a job and leave Abby behind.

As it turns out, she is almost certainly the world’s most perfect dog! She is housebroken, walks like a champ on a leash and obeys all of the basic commands. They had considered getting a puppy until they heard about Abby, and I’m actually pretty jealous that their entry into dog ownership has been so smooth while we are STILL dealing with the pee and poo machine that is Desi. Puppies are cute, but not that cute!

Abby had a brief get-together with her cousins a couple of weeks ago and she did everything from fascinate to arouse to terrify Desmond, while Louie tried to keep up but just…couldn’t…as evidenced by the following photos and video.

A particularly large tree branch had fallen in our yard and we hadn’t yet broken it up into pieces to fit into a yard waste bag. Abby just assumed that it was a giant stick :)

Abby's "tree" from meghan on Vimeo.

'Ladyhouse' Rocks

2008-07-09T19:00:00.000-05:00

Our friend and famed actor, Emily (perhaps more familiar to some as Miz Cheezy E?), recently finished a run of the play ‘Ladyhouse Blues’ by Kevin O’Morrison, with ACT Inc. at the Fontbonne University Fine Arts Theatre.

We were lucky enough to see her perform on its last night, and I’m just saying that she absolutely shone as Terry, the revolutionary sister involved in the union movement.

I’d never heard of this drama before and was captivated by its storyline, set in South St. Louis in 1919. I was surprised to learn that the playwright is a man, as the five characters’ voices achieved an authenticity that I usually find (or expect to find?) absent in female characters penned by men. I know I like this guy based on his quote about writing the play in honor of the women in his own family: "This play is entirely about women trying to survive in a world they never made. 'Ladyhouse Blues' is my valentine to the remarkable women who shaped my life." Special.

Ultimately, though, I think the credit for this success goes to the actors and in particular Emily. Congrats!

I’m thrilled to hear that she has another show lined up for March, just before she gears up for her May wedding, because I can’t wait to watch her onstage again!

Here is me and Emily (and her studly fiance Anthony) after some cocktails:

P.S. Gah! I want my long hair back right now!! :(

Happy Birthday, Sister!

2008-07-09T10:15:00.001-05:00

Here's to you, J...

I love so much about you, like what a spectacular mom you are and your witty sense of humor. But what I love most especially is the fact that you're 6 years ahead of me in the aging process :)

Kidding, kidding...Love!

Yankee Doodle Sweethearts...

2008-07-08T20:52:00.014-05:00

The week surrounding July 4th is always a time for celebration in our family. My niece turns 5 today, my nephew turned 2 on June 29th, and their parents celebrated their 11th anniversary on July 5th. So, Matt, Desi, Louie and I hosted a joint birthday party for the little ones on Sunday.

The bash was complete with mountains of food…I think we’ll be eating leftovers for 2 weeks; gifts…Matt said it looked like Christmas on our deck, and he wasn’t kidding; and an octopus sprinkler that only partially inflated! Yeah!!

Lucy, Teddy and their cousins Maddie and Claire having fun with the octopus…

Cupcakes from La Bonne Bouchee!

This was the first time I’ve been here, which is unbelievable since it’s supposed to be the best authentic French patisserie in the area. While I was in line waiting to pick up my order on Sunday morning, the pastries in their front case and the breakfast plates being served were making my stomach growl loudly. The cupcakes themselves were beautiful and delicious – Matt and I aren’t big icing people, and Bonne Bouchee’s is light, fluffy and not too sweet. I would highly recommend them!

Louie got into the spirit:

Teddy kept putting his fingers into his ears in anticipation of fireworks. There weren’t any going off in our backyard or even any that would be occurring within an audible distance from our house, but after a weekend full of fireworks displays, he was prepared…just in case :) I love it! Teddy with his very own Home Depot dump truck and hard hat…the thing even makes a beep noise when it reverses!

So many presents it’s overwhelming…

...Teddy couldn't handle opening the rest and ran off to play instead. His dad asked if he’d come back and let us watch him open some more and Teddy’s response was, “No thank you. But I’ll take my cupcake now.” Awesome.

Here's Tedward with his new Cardinals bat - what a handsome guy he's turning into! I'm totally unbiased.

I can't believe that our sweet, beautiful girl is already 5 years old! I remember being in Barcelona and getting the call from Chicago the day she was born, then celebrating her arrival with tapas and sangria on Las Ramblas :) I love this one of her and Desi:

Just for fun, I scrounged up a picture of Lucy at about 2 months old...isn't she absolutely squeezable?!

Lucy and both of her "cousins": LuLu and LouLou:
The pups were sooooo exhausted after their long day, but we were proud of how perfectly behaved they were!

Us with Lucy Goose:

Happy Birthdays, loves!

Nobody Messes with Louie!

2008-07-08T19:22:00.001-05:00

There have been few times during our relationship when I’ve been more attracted to my husband than I was on Friday.

A bit of background: basically, Louie sometimes barks – he’s a dog, not to mention part beagle, so this kind of comes with the territory. Usually he starts up if he sees a cat on his turf, or dogs and their humans walking on “his” sidewalk. In these situations, he quiets down quickly and on his own.

Since it’s been nice outside this year, though, he has also started barking – seemingly unprovoked – at the two boys next door. We have a chain link fence on that one side of the yard, so as soon as they come out to play (they’re 7 and 8, I think) Louie runs up to it and starts howling away.

As soon as it happens, we’re on him, scolding him and apologizing profusely to our neighbors, who usually just roll their eyes at us. Now for those of you who know Louie, you know he’s hardly a menace. He has his flaws, but he really is the sweetest and most obedient dog. Yet he continues the uncalled-for barking at these boys on pretty much a daily basis. I’d started to theorize that they must have done something to elicit such behavior from our lovable little pooch, but had yet to witness anything. That is, until Friday.

Matt had made a Lowe’s run and I desperately needed a shower from a full day of landscaping before our July 4th parties that night, so I left both dogs playing in the yard and went upstairs.

I glanced out the bathroom window as I waited for the water to heat up and the puggles were busy gnawing on bones. I heard the neighbor boys come outside and sure enough, within seconds, Louie was howling his head off. Crap.

I craned my neck to see that side of the yard and literally screamed out loud when I saw the older boy shoving a stick through the fence right into Louie’s nose, then putting his own face up to the fence and barking an angry, ferocious bark to which Louie was obviously responding. The kid then started shaking the fence and yelling various taunts at Louie, one that I heard loud and clear: “you stupid animal!”

I about jumped out of my skin trying to decide what to do. I wrapped myself in a towel and flew downstairs, having decided to call the dogs inside to me first, then worry about putting on clothes and giving the brats a piece of my mind.

Matt drove up right then. After quickly relaying what I had seen and heard to him, he said he’d watch from the back door to see if it continued. Unhappily for the little fiends, they kept it up.

Next, I heard our door slam and Matt’s voice telling our 8 year old neighbor that he was “rude” and asking to speak with his dad. Yes!!! Matt explained to the dad that the last thing we want to be is crabby old neighbors. However, we don’t tolerate Louie’s barking and take care to discipline him consistently, which is unfair when their kids are giving him every reason to continue doing it. Not to mention that poking a stick in his face could seriously hurt him.

The neighbor made no excuses and said he'd take care of it, thank goodness...nothing I hate more than people defending (or worse, ignoring) their kids' bad behavior. Oddly, we haven’t seen them since...did they go on vacation or did they move just to avoid us? I don’t really care either way, as long as they leave Louie alone.

I’ve heard a few dumb excuses, like “boys will be boys.” Uh, sorry, no. Or, “they were just teasing him – they didn’t mean any harm.” Well, there are probably some people who’d say that we care too much about our dogs, but I disagree. Now I can appreciate that a two year old pulling on a dog's ears because he doesn't know any better is a different story. But for 7 and 8 year olds to tease an animal, even if they're not physically hurting it, is intentional and mean. If I saw any kid doing this to any dog and not just my own, I would have intervened. You know what they say about people who mistreat animals as kids, right? Exactly – HUGE marker on the psychopath personality profile!!

Matt commented that these boys remind him of Macaulay Culkin in 'The Good Son'. Now that he mentions it, I have to agree that they both bear a striking resemblance. Shudder...

At first I was worried about what the fact that I was a little turned on by hearing my husband yell at kids says about me, but I got over it. Now I'm feeling secure about our future parenting abilities knowing that at least we won't be raising little thugs!

To avoid making a post sans pictures...

See? Now tell me this dog is anything but sweet:

And here's old Lou on July 4th, 2006 - the first day we brought him home as a puppy. Ugh, I can't take it - pardon me while I go kiss him!!

We are so. effing. mean.

2008-07-07T21:00:00.002-05:00

Much to her parents' dismay, Abby the black lab's 4th of July getup didn't fit her, so Louie received his first hand-me-down.

We didn't make him wear it too long - only enough time to snap a couple of pics - but it had a skirt:

We're going to hell...

Helloooooo?

2008-07-07T19:39:00.007-05:00

Anyone out there?

Let me start by saying that I appreciate the concern for my well-being. I have not, in fact, died – but I’m touched that several of you have asked.

To anyone left reading, please accept my sincere apologies for being MIA in the form of the following list, which highlights some of the things that have kept me from spilling my guts via blog for the past month:

- Promotion at work. Not as fun as it sounds.

- Multiple weekends spent assisting the Browers. Every bit as fun as it sounds!

- Constantly cleaning up after my poop-eating puppy and extensively researching the possible causes of such indecorous behavior.

- Planning and executing a kids’ birthday party of epic proportions.

- Landscaping. Landscaping. Landscaping.

- Getting a haircuit that I dubbed “the Minivan,” which made me want to hide for a few weeks until it grew out a little.

- The passing of Matt’s grandmother last week. RIP Rosemary.

I think that pretty much covers the biggies. It’s been all I can do to keep from falling asleep during my commute home lately, much less force myself to squint at a computer screen for any longer than my workday requires! But July promises to be relaxing, relatively speaking…so like it or not, I’m back for awhile :)

Here are a few updated photos of the abovementioned poop-eater and his brother. By the way, the only category he seems to fit into in terms of the reason he’s doing this is "to hide evidence." That’s what the experts say, anyway…

Grateful

2008-06-16T21:05:00.007-05:00

It's a day late, but never too late to post about the most amazing person I know, hands-down!

Everyone who's met my dad, even just for a few minutes, understands why people refer to him as "Saint Art." I've never been able to comprehend how it's possible, but the man goes through life without so much as a shred of the ego and selfishness that the rest of us are prone to. Instead, his brand of humility and kindness is so rare that it's almost unsettling. People like my dad just don't come along every day.

Quite literally, everything has done in his life has been for the good of other people. He spent his entire career as a social worker who chose early on to work with the elderly, and became one of their most devoted advocates. I told you he's super-human.

Since the moment he became a father, his whole life has been about the four of us, and now his three grandchildren. Every day before school (since my mom had to be at work by 6:30), he would try so hard to style mine and my sister's hair into the smooth ponytails we requested. Then he endured our screams and whining about the fact that they had too many "bumps" and started over again until we were satisfied. We gave him so much trouble that a lesser man would have disowned us without thinking twice. But we never heard a single complaint. He made so many sacrifices along the way so that we could go to the best schools and have the most enriching experiences he could give us. Shamefully, all of us had been to Europe multiple times on their dime before he and my mom got to; we finally repaid the favor and sent them two years ago or they still wouldn't have treated themselves.

Every day, he packs my mom's lunch and includes a love note written on a napkin. He finds real joy in the simplest things that life has to offer, like sunsets and playing his guitar. Now that he's semi-retired, he spends most afternoons meeting with grade school kids who have fallen behind in reading to tutor them. Out of 9 children, he is the only one who goes to see his mother at her nursing home every single day without fail, decorates her room with flowers from his own garden and does her laundry.

It's no surprise that every time I run into someone who knows him, I am asked if I know how lucky I am. I do. And if I live a life with even an ounce of the compassion and love that he has, I'll consider myself lucky beyond measure.

To steal one of his signature lines (and one that showed up in every single napkin love note he ever wrote to me, from kindergarten through high school), "I love you best in all the world!"

My Kind of Town, Chicago Is

2008-06-02T21:53:00.012-05:00

My family had an awesome Memorial Day Weekend in the Windy City.

My brother, Craig, and sister-in-law, Amy, have lived in Chicago for almost 9 years, and just bought a new 4 story single family home in Lincoln Park that they share with Lucy, almost 5, and Teddy, almost 2! We decided that it was the best place to get everyone together and celebrate my Mom's milestone birthday this year.

My sister Sar and her boyfriend Jon flew in from San Francisco, my sister Jen, her husband Matt and their baby boy Sam came from Philadelphia, and my parents, Matt and I drove up from...well, the obvious.

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

The courtyard outside of the gorgeous house:

Happy birthday signs made by the grandkids:

Nana, the Birthday Girl:

Lucy stopping to meet Lily the Bullmastiff on Armitage:

Sar and Jon waiting for the show to start at Second City:

Our walking tour of the Chicago lakefront:

A much needed break at the Field Museum after walking nearly 5 miles in slides. Much to the dismay of my feet, I'm just not a sensible shoes kinda gal :)

Lucy and her new bike! She keeps a water bottle and toothbrush in the basket at all times :)

Teddster:

The Bean at Millenium Park:

Sammy:

Lucy in the fountain: My darling godson:

The fam at Buckingham Fountain:

Cutie pie cousins:
Me and my silly girl:

...and hanging around with my boys!

I love this city almost as much as love these people :)

Is it Worth All Its Hype?

2008-06-02T20:33:00.006-05:00

Abso-f*ing-lutely!

Sorry, I’m head over heels for Mr. Big and it’s his most memorable quote, after all.

What can I say, ladies? If you haven’t seen Sex and the City: The Movie yet, I’d suggest throwing on your most fabulous pair of heels and making a mad dash for the nearest cinema. I found myself holding back tears when the title music started playing and the theater erupted in applause and cheers, and it only got better from there!

All in all, it managed to live up to my rather high expectations. I laughed, I cried, I drooled ;) The movie was “heavier” and the characters more serious than the series, but as my friend Kate and I were discussing, that also made it feel truer to real life and it was nice to see the girls in their new life stages.

To me, the foursome has only gotten better with age, and the fashion is even more amped up than it was throughout the series, if that’s possible…it’s eye candy to the Nth degree! Carrie’s bridal shoot for Vogue is particularly spectacular. The lace Oscar de la Renta?!?! Delicious!! Even though the Vivienne Westwood gown she ultimately chooses has been critically panned by more than a few, I liked it. It’s Carrie. And I’ll say it: I even dig the peacock headdress! I may not get it, but I dig it! My husband just returned from the store with a copy of the June Vogue with SJP on the cover and in it is her interview alongside a photo spread of Carrie and Big by Annie Leibovitz. Gorgeous.

I also love, love, love that they worked into the movie the pink tutu dress that Carrie wore during the show’s opening credits. And speaking of eye candy, I was pleased with the guys who made the cut. I was hoping for a clean-cut Aidan cameo, but that really wouldn’t have made sense, he being a Baby Bjorn-wearing dad now and all. And as much as I loved him, he was a smidge too granola for my taste. Big is just so…grand :) I also thought that Jennifer Hudson was endearing as Carrie’s new assistant, Louise from St. Louis. Who knew that the StL would make an appearance? Impressive!

Really, the only negative was that it reminded me of how terribly much I miss this show. I spent last night watching the last two Paris episodes, where Carrie finally rescues herself from the clutches of The Russian (HATED him), and Big shows up in just enough time to kick some ass and then tell her that she’s The One…on a bridge overlooking the Seine. Excuse me for a moment while I faint and collapse...

I guess I’ll just hold my breath and wait for a sequel, and maybe see the movie a few (hundred) more times ;) Matt will go with me!

Ever the dutiful husband, he would have willingly accompanied me the first time (he likes the show), but I had a fairly good idea of what the theaters would be like during opening weekend, and I thought it best not to overexpose him to estrogen-on-roids. Besides, I looked at this movie as an event. And events deserve great outfits, delish nibbles and prettily garnished cocktails enjoyed with one’s best girlfriends. So, 20 or so of us planned a girls’ night out of epic proportions, starting with a matinee of the movie and then moving on to my place.

I did not take a single picture all night; I was having too much fun to remember to! But if you’re interested, you can check out the following blogs for some perspective: Nicole, Nikki

It’s difficult to narrow down my favorite part of the day, but the top 3 would have to include the fact that Kate drove in from Chicago, that Mary happened to be wearing a Diane von Furstenberg halter dress that was actually in the movie!!, and those candy cupcake bite thingies that Sarah made. Oh, and the drinks…the DRINKS!

From what I can remember, the last of the girls left right around 3am, and I have to say that I haven’t slept in until noon – or had as much fun exhausting myself the night before – in a very long time! Thanks, girls :)

The Mighty Maya

2008-05-20T20:01:00.010-05:00

The Mayan ruins at Tulum were without doubt one of the highlights of our trip. I was a little sad to miss out on seeing Chichen Itza, especially since it was named one of the new 7 Wonders of the World last year, but even though it’s hyped in all of the guidebooks covering the Cancun region, it’s not exactly located nearby, at 2.5 hours west into the jungle. The Yucatan peninsula is HUGE! Disappointed though I was, Tulum more than met my expectations. It was awesome and definitely ranks as one of the most impressive things I've ever seen.

Tulum holds distinction as the only walled city and also the only beachfront city ever built by the Maya. Most of the 60 structures still standing today (thought to be only about 10% of the original city) were built between about 1200-1450, although an inscription dated A.D. 564 has been recovered from the site!! It exists today as one of the best-preserved coastal Mayan sites, and is the third most visited archaeological site in Mexico, after Chichen Itza and Teotihuacan. It was an important site for worship of the Diving or Descending God.

We saw a lot of these guys running around. Sure, he looks cute here, but he will later steal a banana from another lizard. The jerk.

The beach and the view of it, especially from the main temple, is breathtaking! All of the postcard views that I pulled up online before the trip didn’t nearly do it justice, and neither do the photos we took ourselves. The water is the clearest cerulean and you can't help but stop in the middle of the tour to enjoy!

We read on one of the placards about how human sacrifice was performed, and how some of the evidence unearthed from a nearby mass grave suggests that men, women and children alike were…um, offered. Yikes, right? I find this ritual fascinating...for the Maya, it served the obviously important purpose of satisfying the gods, but that type of violence is unimaginable!! At this point, I might have been starting to suffer the early symptoms of heat stroke and/or dehydration, and tried to get Matt to laugh by making some off-color jokes about "severed heads". Somewhat unfortunately, they endured throughout the rest of the trip.
Here, Matt had asked me to pose for a nice photo in front of this ancient building, but I couldn’t resist giving it my own creepy twist. And don't worry, I promise I'm wearing shorts:

In all seriousness, it was surreal and a little eerie to be walking in the same sacred place where this people lived centuries ago. Overwhelming!

Once we’d taken in about as much ancient Mayan culture as we could for one day, we headed back to the resort for some afternoon R&R. However, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to first try a local delicacy...milk straight out of a coconut!

They refrigerate the coconuts, then use a machete to hack off the tops (did I insert a severed head comment upon seeing this? You bet I did!):
Then, just add straws and voila!

Dream Vacation

2008-05-14T21:31:00.011-05:00

Well, we’re home…and what the hell kind of a greeting is this? 60 degrees and rainy? Psssh! While I’m trying to assimilate back into this gringo climate of ours, I’m going to do so slowing by reminiscing via blog for the next few posts. I hope you don’t mind :)

This first one is for anyone who’s curious about/considering (or actually even going…ahem, Mindy!) to Tulum in the near future…yes, there will be photos!

All in all, our trip was wonderful…glorious…spectacular! At the outset of this experience, we were both all-inclusive virgins. Keeping in mind that this was only our first time, we both agree that we are probably not the types for whom an all-inclusive is fundamentally designed. That said, here is my review of Dreams Tulum…

First, here’s what we really enjoyed:

Food and beverages at Dreams were covered in our package, and it was fantastic not having to worry about paying for anything, aside from tips (which we gladly gave, especially since the service was always excellent).

We only spent about $350 USD total during our time in Mexico, and that includes our car rental, gas, tips for resort staff, admission fees for the places we visited, wine (beyond the gratis house selections), and other food/incidentals at airports, etc. That’s less than we would have spent at home during the same amount of time!

There are 7 restaurants/cuisines from which to choose: Mexican, French, Italian, Pan-Asian, Sushi, seafood grill, and World Café (buffet/cafeteria). We also took advantage of 24-hour room service on (way) more than one occasion! There are also 4 bars, including a premium bar, located throughout the property.

There is an itinerary each day of programs to suit every age, from yoga on the beach (which I promised myself I’d do at least once, but always slept through it L) to Spanish lessons to SCUBA and snorkeling training. There is also the Explorer’s Club for kids that people said was great. They offer excursions for which you could pay extra to see nearby ruins, swim with dolphins, go deep sea fishing, etc. Each night, there is an event usually starting around 9p.m. Some of these included a beach party complete with BBQ and limbo, stargazing on the beach with live music and a show performed by Mayan dancers (our favorite):

There is also a spa onsite that was offering all kinds of specials for Mother’s Day weekend. I didn’t venture there myself, but I guess I should have because I overheard another woman say that it is hands down the best spa she’s ever been to. Here are some massage tables on the beach...mmmm:

Overall, Dreams is an upscale resort that caters to couples and families. Things were pretty quiet…no spring breakers here. There is also a disco, but we didn’t go.

The resort itself is only about 7-8 years old and is beautiful; the grounds are impeccably kept. The views of the ocean from the restaurants, pools and beach are jaw-droppingly gorgeous:

Our room, a Dreams Junior Garden Suite (just below the deluxe Ocean Suite), was perfect. It was spotless, roomy, well air-conditioned, and the bathroom featuring a Jacuzzi was particularly nice:

We stayed in the new section of the resort, which was just completed last year. The service was consistently superb, whether it was offering us champagne upon our arrival, getting our car for us multiple times a day, or bringing us drinks on the beach. Every time we passed one of the hundreds of staff members, he or she would always acknowledge us with a friendly “hola”.

The location of the resort (a 1.5-2 hour drive from the Cancun airport, depending on traffic) was actually a positive for us. You can see that Tulum is beginning to undergo the level of development that the rest of Riviera Maya has already experienced, but it still maintains a more off-the-beaten-path feel compared to more commercial areas like Cancun or Playa del Carmen. The center of the “town” of Tulum is quaint and authentic, with nothing bigger than a bank and a pharmacy/grocery store in it. This was refreshing after having driven past the Maya Shopping Center, boasting a Sam’s Club, outside of Playa del Carmen. I would definitely recommend renting a car to anyone thinking about it – we were a little wary, but ended up so glad that we went for it. Our car got great mileage, gas was incredibly cheap, and the main road is in surprisingly good shape. Going southbound, it had been freshly paved.

Tulum itself is also a great locale for eco-friendly activities of all kinds. Highlights for us were the Mayan ruins at Tulum (a 5 minute drive from the resort) and swimming in a freshwater cenote just off the main road outside of town. We also took a long drive through a relatively closeby biosphere reserve and saw kilometers of beautiful beaches, and lots of interesting flora and fauna.

Now for the minor downsides:

Quality of food was one of the concerns and stereotypes that we had about all-inclusives, and in this case we were unfortunately spot on. Having our meals and drinks covered was offset somewhat by the fact that…well, it wasn’t very good. Generally speaking, we like good food, but we’re no snobs. Our palates aren’t so sophisticated that we’re incapable of liking a simple cheeseburger or fast food, believe me!

The range of choices available was appreciated, and while nothing was inedible, most of what we ate was just extremely bland or overcooked. The few exceptions were the guacamole (which I ate more of than I’d like to admit, thank you), the spring roll appetizer and coconut red snapper that I had for our anniversary dinner at the Asian restaurant, Himitsu:

and the sushi at Gohan:

And even these weren’t terrific; they were simply not bad.

In fairness, I will say that we never ate at Bordeaux or Portofino, the French and Italian restaurants, which we read in reviews were the best. The reason for this brings me to another negative about our stay: the dress code. This wouldn’t have been such a big deal, had we been aware of it prior to our check-in. Some of the outdoor beachside restaurants are ok with shorts, cover-ups and flip flops, although none will allow only swimwear, which is fine. The others range from allowing Bermuda-length shorts and sandals with collared shirts to requiring long pants and dress shoes for men and long skirts/dresses for women. Bordeaux and Portofino are both formal, and neither of us were prepared with what we had packed. For Matt, the idea of long pants and dress shoes in 98 degree weather was ludicrous (and I have to say that I agree with him), and the only long “dress” I had brought along was basically a beach cover-up. I understand that this type of a resort would have a certain standard of dress for one or two of the restaurants, but formal on a beach seemed a little over-the-top for me. And again, had we simply known beforehand, it wouldn’t have been an issue.

The drinks were overall ok. We were always able to ask the bartenders to make ours a little stronger, and there was a premium bar available at an extra cost, if we’d wanted it. I had one great margarita at El Patio, the Mexican restaurant, but otherwise they were pretty intolerable. We stuck mostly with Corona and pina coladas:

We also had mojitos that weren’t too bad. Basically, it was nice not to give a second thought to paying for our food and drinks, but we also would have gladly shelled out a few pesos for some authentic and flavorful fare from local restaurants.

As I mentioned, the programs available are wide-ranging and some, like the Mayan dancers, we really enjoyed. However, the ones like “Dreams does American Idol”, in which resort guests basically sang karaoke in front of the gathered audience, were lame. I probably could have done without seeing a semi-drunk guy from Alabama who thought pretty highly of himself belting out a Creed song (shudder), but I suppose it did make for a memorable anniversary night :) I made the assumption that most of our fellow travelers were American (and they were), but on the Mayan night they polled the audience and there were indeed guests from all over Europe, the U.S., Canada, and Central and South America. Even so, it felt very homogenous, IMO.

The other snag about the resort is that the beach itself is great for laying around, but swimming is practically impossible except in a tiny area, which is usually crowded. This stretch of ocean is full of coral, which makes it good for snorkeling, but bad for swimming. It’s extremely rocky and seaweed-y. Luckily, there are plenty of other great beaches with public access and the one at the Tulum ruins is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Just below the main temple is a crystal-clear beach and the views from it are spectacular. They’ve made stairs that are kind of cumbersome and steep, so be careful…but it’s so worth going to the ruins just for this beach!! And parking + admission is only about $8 total!

Ok, so here’s the take-home message: Dreams Tulum is an excellent value for an upscale resort with the service to match, and it’s in a beautiful part of the world. For us, the structure and homogeny that an all-inclusive offers – when there are such cool things to see and do and people to meet off the resort – is unnecessary.

But this was exactly why we rented a car, and it’s not like you’re forced to participate in the activities that the resort offers…they’re simply there if you choose to. We also fully realize that there are plenty of vacationers who just want to lay at the beach, who look at sightseeing as exhausting and who are content to never leave the resort…and that’s cool, too. Different strokes, right?!

We had a fabulous time at Dreams :)

Feliz Primer Aniversario...a Nosotros!

2008-05-12T02:00:00.008-05:00

Hola de Mexico! (I apologize for any butchering of the language I might have done...quite obviously, I've never studied Spanish)

Just teasing, actually…I recently discovered the feature on Blogger that allows one to manipulate the date and time of a post. Since I knew that we would be busy enjoying the Mexican surf and sun today and would hence be unable to post, I set one up in advance. I couldn’t let our first anniversary go by without a mention!

So, to my husband of one year: thank you for loving me so exceptionally, even and most especially on my worst days, for nurturing my dreams, and for being the one person who knows me so completely that you can anticipate my deepest wishes before I realize them for myself. I don’t know where the year went, but I wouldn’t have wanted to share it with anyone else in the world. I can’t wait for the next 50 or so anniversaries to come (unless, of course, we meet our untimely demise in a freak SCUBA diving accident – really, what are we thinking sometimes??) I love you!

Now then. To avoid this post being completely cheesy, I am including some fun things. Well, I think they’re fun. Understandably, you may not :)

First, let’s take a little stroll down memory lane with some wedding day photos, shall we? Now I could feature the ones where we all look our best, hair perfectly coiffed and smiles just right...but what fun would that be?

Huh? Here, I’m probably reacting to something hilarious Lajuanna was saying to help calm my nerves…as soon as the girls left me, I lost it a little. But seriously, what is WITH my facial expressions? I looked like I was suffering from a stroke for most of the day!

Throughout our courtship, Matt liked to annoy me by asking what I would do if he wore Nikes to our wedding, and then later actually threatening to. Luckily, this is all he got away with…the punk:
The 4-year-old flower girl, who was understandably traumatized by the wacko trolley driver’s decision to ring the bell right into her ear without warning:

My sisters/co-MOHs looking just thrilled about their impending walk down the aisle. Nice, guys:

Pucker up, Lou! Don't be difficult today!

Ok, he looks high and I've either just heard something hilarious, or I'm hissing...either way, scary!

Browers going above (below?) the call of duty:

"Messing up my hair right now would pretty much be cause enough for me to disown you"...the faces here are priceless!

For those of you still with me, here is the slideshow to our first dance and second choice for first dance songs, by the famed Browers duo :) This still makes me sniffle!

Thanks for indulging my sentimental side and for reliving the day with me. Hopefully, I’m off to enjoy another cocktail with my hubby right now. I think you should as well, in the name of first anniversaries and second honeymoons!

Second Honeymoon

2008-05-08T22:44:00.000-05:00

We are T minus 7 hours from our Mexican getaway and not even my stupid cold is enough to stifle my excitement!

As of around noon tomorrow, this will be our digs for a glorious 5 days and 4 nights:

We’ve delivered the puggles to their grandparents’ and I’m trying to ignore the teensy bit of guilt I feel about it by busying myself with my specialty: last-minute packing before a 6:15 a.m. departure:

I’m notorious for excess packing (what red-blooded American girl isn’t, I ask you?), but I had genuinely tried to keep things under control for this trip. After all, the only clothing I really need in Mexico is a few bikinis and a cover-up, right? With that in mind, I limited myself to one small suitcase and a monogrammed tote, an awesome shower gift from our friend Tricia.

Ok, plus my (massive) purse. But whatever. Matt will use another small suitcase and carry on his laptop. It was going to be a squeeze, but I think things would have been fine and dandy had my super fantastic mother-in-law not decided to invite me for a J.Crew shopping spree as my birthday gift last evening. I was powerless to resist picking up the following selections...

This cute tangerine-hued jersey miniskirt:These kelly green 3-inch shorts:A fabulously skinny gold belt:And this mini, except in white with horizontal gold stripes that I guess is not available online. It's sassy:So much for traveling light…

Other than packing our bags, I’ve left copies of our itinerary and passports with both sets of parents, stored all of our reservations and travel documents in a zipped folder for my carry-on, and stockpiled a complete arsenal of sun and skincare products! Although you’d never guess it by the skin I’m sporting (a truly hideous shade of paste peppered with random bruises), I am R-E-A-D-Y to be on a beach!

Now, I’ve just touched up my manicure using OPI’s ‘Second Honeymoon’ (cute, right?)…

…and I am officially counting down the minutes!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! I hereby promise to return with as many pictures as my memory card will allow :)

Dog Day Afternoon

2008-05-06T20:06:00.001-05:00

As promised, here is the video that I took on Sunday of these two bozos:

Untitled from meghan graves on Vimeo.

Worm To Your Mother

2008-05-05T22:46:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I said that.

So, Matt took Desmond for his first vet appointment this morning and worms galore basically sums up his fecal test. Delicious, isn’t it? I’ll spare you the trauma I suffered when I Wiki'ed ‘hookworms’. I don’t care that Gordon had them too and that vet after vet keeps assuring us that this is extremely common in puppies…it’s still absolutely gross.

As if my gag reflex hadn't been tested enough for one morning, I had to hear that the worms were just the tip of the iceberg...homeboy also has a PARASITE! Are you kidding me?! Mr. Roly Poly weighed in at a staggering 10.2 lbs at the tender age of 13 weeks…I can’t even imagine how fat he’d be if he didn’t have a foreign body leeching nutrients from him!!

The treatment is a banana flavored dewormer that he loves (surprise, surprise), so I guess things could be worse. Luckily, thanks to almighty Heartgard, Louie shouldn’t be affected.

Even though I didn’t get to go along, I know we both feel a lot more comfortable back in the care of the Humane Society. Matt told the Gordon story to the vet they saw today and she did suggest that he probably should never have been neutered as young as he was, but who knows. Matt also explained that since we’re still a little leery, we’d really like to see the same vet each time we visit. She was extremely nice and understanding, gave him her card and said that when it's time for Desi's snip job, they'll take extra special care of him. And she also has a puggle herself (and a beagle and a poodle mix)! Hooray!

The only problem left is that I'm just not so sure about letting this dude sleep in my bed until he's free and clear of creepy crawlies:

I have a feeling this is a battle I'm going to lose...

"In Honor of Cinco de Mayo..."

2008-05-05T22:35:00.000-05:00

This was a phrase made popular during my sophomore year of college. I forget now how it started, but on that particular May 5th, we decided to use the Mexican holiday as an excuse to pretty much do (or to avoid doing) whatever the hell we wanted. Go out for a lavish lunch on a college student’s budget? Si! Skip class? Si! All of them? Si! Go shopping and drink margaritas all afternoon and night instead? Si, si, SI! We found the phrase so marvelous that we used it consistently for months.

We tried to celebrate by grabbing Nachomama's for dinner, but the Hacienda traffic was insane (seriously...how early do you have to get there to get a spot in the actual parking lot?!), so we're postponing the celebration until Friday night, which will be better anyway since we'll actually be on a Mexican beach!

So, how did you finish this sentence today?

The Weekend (yep, can't think of a better title!)

2008-05-05T22:30:00.000-05:00

Another painfully short weekend…another beautiful wedding! I know I’m doing something I love when hearing Trumpet Voluntary for the thirty-ninth time still gives me goosebumps, and I tear up myself every single time I look through the zoomed lens to see the groom’s face when the doors open and the bride appears. I love weddings!

Starting with Friday evening first…I boldly continued a solid week of gluttony, gorging on Qdoba and Skinny Cows (yes, plural) during the course of our movie selections: Awake and Things We Lost in the Fire. The first featured a laughable script that was terribly acted (Jessica Alba stars – enough said), but managed to hold our attention with a rather juicy and suspenseful plot. Things, on the other hand, was extremely slow, not to mention depressing, but the cast was super. I still liked it, and it marked the first time I’ve ever been fond of a character played by Benicio del Toro.

Saturday was another big wedding day with the Browers, and it was amazing, of course. Not only was it Michael’s birthday (which no one told me until halfway through the day – I felt like a giant ass!) but he was also sick as a dog. Would I have had any clue if he hadn’t told me? Not a chance, and no one else would have, either. These people astound me! Amy was beautiful and probably the calmest bride I’ve ever seen – nothing like yours truly here J I’ll let the Browers’ images speak for themselves, but I will say that I’ve never had so much fun being chased out of abandoned buildings by a homeless person threatening to beat us down before! Congratulations, Amy and Blake…all of your hard work and planning made for a gorgeous day!

Sunday was meant for cleaning up around the house, but that quickly gave way to hanging outside with the pups as soon as I caught a glimpse of this little scene from the back door:

I loved this so much, in fact, that I took a couple minutes of video just to see if anything cool happened. Nothing really did, but it’s still cute. Unfortunately, it's taking an eon to download, so I'll have to make a separate post...

From there, I didn’t put down the camera for about 2 hours. Working with the Browers has inspired me, but it’s also made me look on our little Canon point-and-shoot with even more disdain than it usually garners. For the time being, though, it’s the only camera I’ve got. So, I decided to make nice and actually give it a chance to flex its (puny) muscles.

I started out with my favorite subjects, of course:

Then I started exploring the most intricate details of my surroundings with the digital macro setting for the next hour:

I started to have a hard time finding things to shoot, so I moved inside, where the offerings weren’t a whole lot better…

I realized that I’ve never ever EVER been able to take a decent photo of my rings and I’ve always been inspired by Lajuanna’s talent for extremely cool ones, so I turned my attention to my diamonds:

Could be worse, right? Maybe?

I’m still dying for a “real” camera, but I’m going to at least do what I can to play around with this guy until an upgrade is an option.

After my little photo session, we celebrated our best friend Matt’s birthday – unfortunately, since I’d spent all afternoon taking pictures and neglected to recharge the camera battery (Browers would be horrified at my lack of preparedness!), I don’t have any pictures aside from this crappy one of the delicious cake. First was dinner al fresco at Massa’s in Kirkwood (a perfect night for it!) followed by ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. The gluttony continues…

We ended the weekend on a kind of sour note by watching Cloverfield. Worst. Movie. Ever. I mean seriously. I wasn’t the least bit surprised as the credits began to roll to see J.J. Abrams’ name listed as one of the screenwriters, since he’s the same idiot ruining Lost. Do yourself a favor and skip this piece of rubbish!

What a weekend! I’m spent :) And now it’s Monday :(

They Say It's Your Birthday...It's My Birthday Too!

2008-04-30T22:47:00.000-05:00

First of all, thanks to everybody for the birthday wishes today…I feel loved :)

All things considered, officially transitioning to my “late twenties” has been fairly painless.

For one thing, I started out having an excellent hair day...I think we can all appreciate how awesome those are.

My 18 month old nephew, Sam, broke up my work day by calling to wish me his version of "happy birthday". While he had me on the horn, he also informed me that a stop sign has 8 sides. He's full of good information like that.

I returned home from work to a lovely surprise from my sweet friend Kate: a nice card and a copy of this book of poetry that she knows I've been wanting for some time. Thanks, Kate!!

Matt knocked it out of the park by presenting me with Dave Matthews Band concert tickets. It will be the inaugural concert at the new Busch Stadium in June. As a practically lifelong DMB fan, I couldn't be more excited! I also got an incredibly comprehensive gardening book and the promise to help me plot out some space for one in our yard, as well as a framed photo of our boys :)

My parents treated us to dinner at a place I adore, yet is so inconspicuous that I always forget about it. I highly recommend Café Provencal in Kirkwood to anyone who enjoys scrumptious French cuisine along with an extensive wine list in a cozy, authentic setting, all at a reasonable price!

I had an hors d'oeuvre of eggplant caviar with a type of soft cheese (I forget its name) and crostini. Ummm, delicious. I had the Poulet de Bergerac (chicken breast with mushrooms, onions and cheeses wrapped in puff pastry and served over a white wine cream sauce) as my entree, and it was the first time in a long while that I cleaned my entire plate. And god help me, I couldn't pass up the vanilla creme brulee. It was all to die for and I couldn't wait to get home to change into my roomiest fat pants :)

As if all of this wasn’t enough to amount to a great day, probably the biggest highlight was the voicemail left for me by my mother in law. In it, she sings Happy Birthday and then, to “funk things up”, her own version of Birthday by the Beatles. Unfortunately, I can’t figure out how to upload the audio in a format that I can post here. You'll just have to take my word for it: it’s spectacular! Gotta love her :)

Now, I'm finally about to end my day surrounded by 3 loudly snoring boys who are stealing all of my covers, and I couldn't feel luckier!

Just Skidding Headfirst Towards 30...

2008-04-30T01:04:00.000-05:00

Am I seriously 27 years old? What the hell? I demand to speak to the person responsible for this!

It's depressing that as an unenlightened college freshman, I considered people of advanced age such as myself to be "old". I'm not old; I'm sophisticated...wise...wordly...experienced.

Oh god...I am old!!!

I think that my feelings at this moment are best summed up by a scene from the truly brilliant movie Knocked Up. Warning: this clip features repeated use of the f word...

So, I just talked to my sister who reminded me that my being 27 makes her almost 33, and I can't tell you how much better I feel about life :)

On that note, it's getting to be way past my bedtime...

"We get it...you like to color!"

2008-04-28T21:12:00.000-05:00

Um, I just saw my first trailer for the Sex and the City movie. It's the one where the girls are at lunch. They're speaking about the deed in code because Charlotte's daughter is at the table, and Samantha is going on and on about how much she loves to "color", and would like to have every crayon in her box if she could...God, I love this show :)

I wasn't super excited about this movie until I dusted off my series DVDs last week and watched a few episodes. Now that I've seen this commercial, I can barely stand the suspense!

My college pals, with whom I used to watch faithfully every Sunday night are far away in California, so who wants to go see this with me? I know Matt would offer, but it won't be the same as seeing it with girls!

Home is Where the Heart is...Part II

2008-04-28T18:44:00.000-05:00

Here is a little more background on our house. It was built in 1931, making it 77 years old this year. We both grew up in and favor older homes. I have no pictures of it in its original state, but it used to be REALLY teensy. After the addition of the kitchen by the previous owner, it is now approximately 1500 square feet. We bought it in November of 2006.

And a little background on us: we really suck at remembering to take "before" pictures! I’ll have to do my best to describe what the second floor looked like when we moved in instead of posting images…bear with me!

The second floor features all 3 bedrooms and the only full bath in the house. When we bought it, it was obvious that all of the extensive work done by the previous owner had been concentrated on the first floor and deck. To start, the staircase and entire second floor were covered with beige berber carpet. Although my preference is hardwood, this didn’t bother me too much. To Matt, however, living with carpeting was adding insult to the injury of having been “forced” to move to the County from South City...

So, the first order of business was to rip up every square inch of carpet, and the thousands of staples it left behind. Worst. Project. Ever. We had the newly exposed pine floors stained a honey color and topped with a high-gloss finish. A word to the wise regarding high-gloss finish: never let an un-housebroken puppy near it…wiz takes the finish right off if you don’t catch it fast enough!

Here is a view from the bottom of the staircase up to the landing. Incidentally, the hall color is my favorite in the house. Unfortunately, we both forget its name at the time being:

And from the landing into the hallway. These are not the best pics...I seriously need a new camera! The door to the left is the bathroom, straight ahead left is the guest room and ahead right is our bedroom. To the right is Matt's office, but we'll get to it!

We set up our bedroom in the biggest room, added a ceiling fan, and painted it a grayed-down blue (Behr’s Lost Atlantis). We're getting tired of it but hate the thought of painting again so it'll probably stay for awhile:

I also just have to highlight this thingy. It's a piece of a wrought iron fence that we picked up at Gringo Jones Imports. We spray painted it white and thought it looked cool above our bed. I love it, but the thing easily weighs 50 lbs., and I'm starting to rethink it in light of the recent earthquakes!

We use the second, slightly smaller bedroom as the guest room/dog room, where their crates are housed. This is its current color, Behr’s Provence Cream, which followed two previous paint selection disasters by moi:

Matt bought this chest of drawers with mirror for me for $125 after I had been drooling over it at an antique shop…I love it!!

We transformed the tiny third bedroom into Matt’s office and painted it Chocolate Sparkle, again by Behr:
Next, we removed all 10 old bedroom, bathroom and closet doors and replaced them with new, 6-paneled oak ones. They’ve been installed for almost a year and have all been primered, but are still waiting to be painted. Painting doors is a bigger PITA than I realized, and it turns out that neither one of us really feels like finding the time to do it!

The built-in shelves in the hallway were previously stained a dark wood, which stuck out among the rest of the white trim, so Matt repainted them white and cut new shelves to make a space for our (his) massive DVD collection. We’re still thinking about adding doors to it for a more custom look:

We also removed the yellowing canvas accordion-style blinds throughout the second floor and replaced them with white faux-wood plantation style blinds.

Finally, we added crown molding throughout the hallway and all 3 bedrooms, and I was under the impression that we were finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel:

Silly me! The final project, I was to find out, would be the bathroom. The full bath was a nice size, but that’s where the positives ended for Matt. And just for the record, he’s only this picky because of his own rehabbing and real estate experience – he is always looking for ways to beautify, and to his credit, he is always right on target!

I, on the other hand, actually liked the old school black and white floor tile, even though it was cracked in places (character!) I also thought that the baby blue walls looked ok with the contrasting white wainscoting. I could have done without the pastel tiles painted with turtles and fish in the shower (eek—the mark of kids!!) and the outdated sconces flanking the mirror, but other than that, it felt very European to me and I was fine with it.

Looking back, I’m so glad that we splurged...here are the results!

New sink, toilet and sconces:

Travertine floor tile: New (still unpainted) closet door with cute Anthropologie hooks from Matt’s mom, ceramic tiles and new shower door:

So that's it...the rest of our pad!

I can safely say that I won’t be interested in any form of serious home improvement for a nice long while. As for Matt, I’m happy to report that he is now about 90% content with his surroundings, with the exception of our unfinished basement, which will be transformed into a proper man space the minute our budget will allow it. In the meantime, though, he has even learned to love calling the dreadful County his new home :)

Home is Where the Heart is...

2008-04-28T00:38:00.000-05:00

I'm a homebody. Not in an agoraphobic sense...I just love being at home and taking time to make our surroundings here cozy and pretty. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I am in love with our current residence...which is a great thing, since we will probably live out our lives here unless the real estate market takes an incredible turn anytime soon!

As most people do, I always use a part of my weekend for household chores. Yesterday, however, I spent a whopping 8 hours giving some serious TLC to and connecting intimately with my home - we're talking mopping, waxing and polishing hardwood floors. I don't know what came over me, but for the 5 minutes that it stood in its pristine state (before I allowed the dogs back inside), I was reminded of why I fell in love with this space at first sight. In honor of its potential, and because I know that at least someone (cough, Kristal, cough) has commented about seeing more, I'm dedicating this post to my house...well, the first floor of it, at least. Other than some painting, we really haven't done too much on this floor. The next house post will focus on the second floor and will feature some of our projects :)

First things first: the front of the house. I have no idea how this is possible, but we don't have a single pic of it before we re-landscaped last spring. This is the photo from the MLS listing. I know it's small, but notice the overgrown plantings on either side of the house and massive thatch of ivy covering the ground around the tree at left:

This is a picture from last summer. I took one yesterday, but the hostas and other plants haven't completely grown in yet, so this gives a better idea of how it looks when everything is at its best. Anyway, we ripped out all of that ivy and dug out a bed all along the front sidewalk that Matt outlined with stone pavers:
Next up we have the living room, which I know I've posted about before. The fact that there is no transitional space like a foyer or entryway is one minor thing that I would change about our house. The front door opens right into this room:

Here is a view from the halfway up the staircase at the far end of the room:

Looking into the dining room:

It's not a formal dining room, and opens right onto the deck. While I like the very open floor plan of our house, I personally prefer actual dining rooms...I like entertaining :) We've talked about putting French doors in the archway between the living room and this room, but the price tag associated with custom French doors is a little too much to handle these days. Oh well:

Moving on...the kitchen, a.k.a. my true love!

This is the room that sold the house for me. It's a galley-style, but most I've seen are extremely narrow. This kitchen was built as an addition by the previous owner, and is huge! There's a large breakfast bar, but there is even room to add an island in the middle for additional storage and seating. I am obsessed with the Brazilian cherry wood floors...

...the double sink and concrete countertops (although they stain easily)...

and the custom cabinetry, stainless range hood and slate backplash:

When it's perfectly clean, I could spend all day in the kitchen. However, now that it's nice out and we do have a cool deck, that is a fun place, too! Door leading out from the dining room:

Good view of our awesome patio furniture, which was a wedding gift from my in-laws:

This part of the deck wraps around the side of the house:

Finally, I'm including some backyard landscaping pictures. These first two are from last spring. Previously, there was this stone walkway up to the deck and the area along the fence was covered in more ivy and literally hundreds of bulb-based weeds. We dug all of it up, and started from scratch:

After: this is late summer, but you can see the newly-stained fence, all of the new plants that we added to the empty beds, and the wall of stone pavers that Matt painstakingly installed:

Where the stone walkway was, we took them up and evened out the surface with sand and gravel, added a bed of river rock and outlined the area with more pavers before replacing the stepping stones. Sorry that I didn't remove the dogs' blue poo bucket before taking this...too lazy :)

And here is a view of the deck and back of the house from the yard:

Now, as I started this post by saying, I love my house. However, I was driving around the neighborhood this weekend and found one that I've never noticed before. And ohhh how I want it!! Naturally, I immediately came home and asked Matt to look it up for me on the MLS. If I can ever afford the $1.2 million-ish price tag, $11k a year in taxes, and heating/cooling a 4500 square foot house, it's sayonara to my current casa and this baby is MINE:

Happy Birthday, Louie!

2008-04-25T00:19:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that our puppy/baby is 2 years old today! I'll admit that I got a little excited and spoiled him rotten all evening long.

This began with about 5 new toys, including his birthday bear that was torn to shreds roughly 2 minutes after this photo was snapped:

Then it was time for a family photo...no need to remind me what complete dorks we are; I already know. I'm also aware that our dogs are aliens in disguise, at least judging by their eyes:

Not surprisingly, we couldn't get both boys to sit still and look at the camera in unison. Louie is embarrassed that we are taking yet another photo of him in this ridiculous hat:

Finally, it was time for a bedtime snack:

Louie enjoying his treat...

...while Desmond looks on, dejected. I didn't think it would be a great idea to introduce doggy ice cream into his developing digestive system. And fine, I've also decided that we've cleaned up enough of his diarrhea for one week (he keeps sneaking Louie's food). Call me selfish!
Both dogs are now passed out in their respective beds, and I just put the finishing touches on these lovelies, now chilling in my fridge. Some of you will get to sink your teeth into them tomorrow, unless I eat every last bite before then (this is sadly more likely than you might think...ask Matt. I think my sugar comsumption abilities scare him).

Happy Birthday, Lou Lou, and Happy Friday to all!

A Decent Proposal

2008-04-15T22:33:00.000-05:00

Two of our best friends got engaged over the weekend! Yeah!

Matt was the Best Man at our wedding...

...and Tricia was our Honorary Dog Handler. She lobbied quite aggressively for mention in the program, as well as a mesh dog stroller resembling a suitcase that she found in SkyMall, in order to better perform her duties. Despite having both ideas shot down, she still very graciously transported Louie to and from Tower Grove Park for pictures after our ceremony...doesn't she look so serious? She's like the Secret Service of dog sitters:

These two are one of the most fun and lovely couples I know, and I couldn't be more excited for them! Don't you want to hang out with them just based on this picture?

It doesn’t hurt that this is sure to be one HELL of a wedding, too...I was talking to her dad on Sunday and I told him to make sure his check-signing hand is ready. I think he appreciated my honesty :)

We’ve all been waiting for this day with great anticipation, as they’ve been together for coming up on 5 years. Matt has been to our jeweler several times over the past few months looking at diamonds, but it was only last Thursday that he found the perfect one. The ring is a gorgeous round-cut solitaire that positively shines, and it’s exactly what Tricia wanted. He met her dad right away to ask for his blessing, and the two of them hatched a plan that involved the whole family, although none of them – not even Tricia’s mom or sister – knew!

Matt has known for years that he wanted to propose at the Grand Basin at the base of Art Hill in Forest Park. Picturesque, n’est-ce pas?

Tricia’s dad told the whole family that everyone was getting together to celebrate her grandfather’s birthday at the Boat House in Forest Park. So on Sunday, Matt told Tricia that he would have to meet her there because he’d promised to do some work with his dad earlier that afternoon.

She drove with her parents to the park and as they approached the Grand Basin, her dad slowed to a stop. “Speed bump?” she wondered. Suddenly, she noticed Matt standing there in front of the fountain in a suit, holding an umbrella and flowers. All her poor dad could manage to get out at that point was, “Tricia, get out of the car.” Awesome!

After they met their immediate families for a toast at the Boat House, they hosted everyone including us and 10 more friends at Massa's, their favorite Italian restaurant in Kirkwood:

Matt gave a sweet speech about how happy he was and can’t wait for the next year…precious…

As for Tricia, you couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face with a towel!

We decided that she should probably walk around like this for a few weeks, just to make sure that everyone is sure to see her gleaming rock! Just kidding, this is actually an inside joke…our guys have this friend from high school who got engaged awhile back. The first time we all ran into him and his new fiancée post-engagement, she literally thrust her left hand into our faces every 2 minutes. Calm down! Whenever her name comes up, we do this pose.

Congrats, guys!! Love!
Aww…and to think that it all began over penny pitchers at Humphrey’s :)

A Splash of Color!

2008-04-15T21:44:00.000-05:00

I've been lazy and haven't followed up on any ideas from my post about updating the house to reflect a springier feel. That is, until today!

Here's the living room before (in the fall, with blue wall and unpainted closet door):

Here it is now:

I freshened things up (hopefully) with a bold floral patterned area rug from World Market, some bright yellow striped throw pillows from Pottery Barn, and a rectangular vase full of branches loaded with faux yellow buds from Hobby Lobby. I've never been a fan of silk florals, but I like these a lot. I tried using real branches from our forsythia bushes, and they were shriveled up with in 4 hours. Zero maintenance works much better for me!

I still need to add a few more new throw pillows, but I'm trying to do a little at a time since just a couple measly fabric covers with inserts from Pottery Barn pretty much broke the bank. Hmph.

So does it at least look a little brighter? What about these colors?

Deadbeat Blogger

2008-04-15T21:39:00.000-05:00

I know, I know. It's been over a week since my last post...I'm a total lowlife. However, it's not entirely my fault that I've been away for so long.

After all, I do have a rambunctious new puppy to chase around, one who needs to be taught things, such as the invaluable lesson that we do not pee on slate tile, which stains quite easily...

What's that, momma?

...and that he had better learn to use his inside voice...

Say what?

...and that we do NOT help ourselves to human food, even if it is bacon!

Aw, come on!

I may have gotten one or two or six dozen requests for more Desmond pictures, so I figured I'd go one better and add some video that I took on Saturday. Des learned to climb the stairs fairly easily, but had refused to come down by himself until I decided that enough was enough. Here is me forcing him to do it all by himself...and, uh, pardon my obnoxious baby talk:

http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=899886&server=www.vimeo.com&fullscreen=1&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color="> http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=899886&server=www.vimeo.com&fullscreen=1&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=" />
Desmond from meghan graves on Vimeo.

And just for posterity, in case Louie should ever read this blog and feel slighted, I'm also including the following pictures. You'll always be my first love, Lou!

Meet Desmond

2008-04-06T21:23:00.000-05:00

Desmond Beauregard, the newest member of our family, to be more specific:

After seeing these photos, it should go without saying that he was an easy choice :)

He's happy, healthy and Louie loves him!

I'm hemorrhaging...

2008-04-04T15:28:00.000-05:00

...money, that is. I just spent $45.16 filling my car's gas tank. Some of you may be wondering where I found such a bargain. Well, I drive a Mini frigging Cooper. I guess this should make me glad for once that I live in the Midwest.

It's not that I don't love my car - I do. It's adorable and European and fun to drive. However, I would also love to be independent of it. It wouldn't bother me one bit not to have a car payment, not to spend all of my "fun money" on gas, not to contribute as much in terms of pollution, and to even be able to incorporate some, I don't know, good old-fashioned WALKING, into my daily routine.

That might be possible if I had another option available to me, but it's not likely to happen in St. Louis anytime soon. This is still a long way from becoming reality in my opinion, but even if our downtown had the infrastructure in place so that a girl such as myself could walk anywhere she needed to go, living there would still present a problem if you're like me and can't afford to send any hypothetical offspring to private schools (city schools being out of the question for obvious reasons). There is truly nowhere in St. Louis - city or county - where one can realistically live car-free.

And since neither moving to New York, telecommuting, or walking 20 miles a day roundtrip for work are options in my immediate future, I have no choice but to keep shelling out for gas. Which brings me to my point: someone needs to stop the madness immediately!

Sens. Clinton, McCain and Obama, please take note: the one of you who personally addresses this issue for me will have my vote in November.

Thank you.

I Could Have Danced All Night...

2008-03-31T15:05:00.000-05:00

...but I didn't, I worked my ARSE off instead! Let me apologize in advance that this post about a day spent taking photographs has none in it. On the other hand, I could write a book about all of the details from my 8:00am - 12:00am workday with team Browers on Saturday, but I'll see if I can sum it up for you:

-I look tres chic in all black.
-I drove a truck for the first (and second and third) time. I'd say I parallel parked it too, but that was really more of an attempt.
-I'm sore in places I never knew existed on my body.
-PSA to all future brides: Budget plenty of time for yourself to get dressed on your wedding day!
-Arriving at your church with 5 minutes to spare before the start of your wedding ceremony is stress-inducing, for you and for your photographers!
-You can coordinate 50 formal family shots in 15 minutes AND make them look damn good if you know what you're doing.
-GPS is a glorious invention.
-Ted Drewes offers free custard to bridal parties!
-I don't completely suck at taking pictures when armed with a mack daddy camera!
-Bee Tree Park is so far away that I'd have sworn we had driven to Arkansas.
-P'Sghetti's sandwiches are delicious - what have I been missing all my life?!
-The bathrooms at the Ritz-Carlton are more beautiful and smell better than anyplace on earth.
-I take back my stance on wedding videography (it's actually kinda cool!)
-I feel cool carrying around photography equipment, even if I don't know how to use any of it!
-If you use a video light, you can get amazing pictures through the back window of a Rolls Royce.
-The Ritz serves truly amazing raspberry creme brulee.
-Congratulations Bridget & Carl!

I seriously had a ball and am now even more impressed with Michael and Lajuanna after watching them from the other side of the camera. They are absolute work horses, and are so genuinely concerned about making the day perfect that you'd think each wedding they shoot was their own. All I can tell you is that if you're planning a wedding, book them. Book them now. If you've already done so, you probably already know this, but you are in for an amazing day!

I also have to give a ton of credit to a couple of the other vendors, some of whom I had the pleasure of spending 15+ hours with:

Joe and Jeff from Switzer Films are amazing at what they do and hysterical.

Mighty Big Band - this was the first time I'd heard (or even heard of) them, and while it pains me to say this because I've always been partial to our wedding band, Galaxy, I think these guys (and girl) might be the best I've heard. Galaxy is still phenomenal too, though!

All in all, I learned a great deal even with limited training time, and Michael even encouraged me to play with their Canon 1D Mark II (forgive me, but I don't even remember what lens I was using)! I'm fairly confident that Michael will want to feature each and every shot of mine on his blog , so watch out for those :)

Bitch is the New Black?

2008-03-27T11:44:00.000-05:00

Oh, why not...let's ruffle a few feathers!

Recently, Tina Fey appeared on SNL with the following commentary:

Without delving too deeply for the purpose of this blog into my own political views, I will simply say that I have always identified most strongly, in most areas, with the Democratic party.

I must say that the strong pro-Obama bias that's been evident since the beginning of this campaign is somewhat disconcerting to me. His linguistic skills are indisputable, yes. I also believe that what he has to say is extremely important for our country to hear. What I mean to say is that I am not anti-Obama; I am just more inclusively pro-Democrat.

I am curious as to the reason behind the intense hatred that plainly exists for Hillary. I mean...what did she do? Maybe it's my gender affiliation that compels me to defend Sen. Clinton. I mean I suppose I get that she doesn't exude an overly warm and fuzzy presence, but do we expect that of our male leaders? Someone please cite for me a claim that Abraham Lincoln was ever warm and/or fuzzy. Even beloved Barack, while affable, is not quite what I would label sensitive.

I don't mean to come off as an embittered misandrist, but I really do feel that there are still different expectations of women in politics (and everywhere...different post)...the glass ceiling remains. For instance (not that we should pay any attention to attempts to distract focus from real issues), is it just me who feels like Sen. Obama's recent adversities, such as the surfacing of the Rev. White videos, have created far fewer reverberations than any Sen. Clinton has sustained? Indeed, they have provided him with opportunities to emerge even stronger...yet I'm not convinced that this necessarily makes him the better candidate. Meanwhile, she lied about arriving amidst gunfire 13 years ago (when in fact video footage showed her de-planing rather peacefully) and she is torn to shreds. I just find it interesting that Sen. Obama emerges a hero and Sen. Clinton is painted as a lying shrew.

Maybe I'm simplifying things too much by boiling them down to gender...maybe it's an issue that, as has been suggested about the discussion of race, we need to just "get over".

I do know that ultimately, what we need is someone who can mend deep and badly frayed divisions. If Sen. Obama is that person, then he has my full support and attention. I just wish that Sen. Clinton, the first woman with a real shot at the White House, didn't have to be cast as a treacherous villain in the process. I believe that right along with Barack, she has our country's best interests at heart.

That's all. No more political blogging for awhile. Oh, and Tina Fey is hilarious :)

An Answer to a Prayer...

2008-03-26T14:52:00.000-05:00

Last week, I had e-mailed the woman who runs the rural Missouri rescue facility from which we adopted Gordon. I know that she takes an active interest in where and how her dogs end up, so I wanted to let her know about everything. I hadn't heard anything back right away.

Over the weekend, on a whim, I decided to check Petfinder.com to see if maybe - just maybe - one of the two female pups that were left of the litter when we adopted Gordon were still in need of a home.

I was surprised to find that there was a new listing at the same rescue for a puggle litter of 4 males and 3 females, born on Feb. 3. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but they are such a rarity to find in rescues, especially at this one in the middle of nowhere. Just the idea that these could possibly be Gordon's siblings was enough to pull me out of the sadness of the first few days.

I finally heard from the rescue owner yesterday, who was of course very sorry to hear about what had happened. She has been in contact with the owners of the other pups from his litter and all of them are excellent. She went on to tell me about the new litter. While they have a different pug dad, they are indeed from Gordon's mom!!

We had wanted to wait awhile to recover, but we both agree that Louie needs a companion sooner rather than later. Moreover, if we were to add another member to the family eventually, we would definitely want it to be from a rescue. Finally, Gordon is absolutely irreplaceable, but if given the choice, wouldn't we rather have a pup related to him than any other?

As these puppies are only 7 or so weeks old, and our schedules are too busy right now to consider throwing a puppy who needs 24/7 care into the mix, we'll take some time to make a decision and then go see them maybe by next weekend. In the meantime, she will be holding at least one of the males for us until we can make it out there :)

I'll keep you all posted...

Gordon is in good company...

2008-03-25T20:46:00.000-05:00

I read yesterday that Oprah's beloved Sophie, her 13 year old cocker spaniel, has passed away due to kidney failure.

Poor Oprah...I know how she feels :(

Gordon, can you please make friends so I can say I have a connection? Thanks buddy!

Go, Matt!

2008-03-25T14:53:00.000-05:00

I just have to brag a little bit about my husband's big debut in St. Louis Magazine!! He was named, based on client satisfaction ratings, one of St. Louis's Best Real Estate Agents for 2007, and you can find the article listing the winners in the April edition!

This is the second major recognition he's received this year, the first being Keller Williams' 2007 Rookie of the Year Award, which is presented for outstanding service and sales volume.

Anyone who knows Matt knows what a well-deserved honor this is, so congratulations! I couldn't be more proud and I know that this is only the second of many awards to come :)

Good Grief

2008-03-24T18:35:00.000-05:00

Long post alert, sorry!

So...the survival mode we were in following the first 72 hours after the initial news about Gordon has slowly given way to the acceptance that life has to go on, which is obviously not to say that it's been painless. Gordon's absence is a staggering one, felt by everyone from my dad who's not really a dog person, to neighbors we barely know.

For now, it's good to have each other. As hard as it is to see how sad Louie is, I don't know what we'd do without him, and we're squeezing him extra tight and letting him kiss us like there's no tomorrow...he's eager to do it, so it works well for everyone.

This has probably hit him the hardest, and I suspect that he has developed some separation anxiety issues as a result. I don't blame him one bit: one day, his best friend disappears with no explanation...what's to stop the same thing from happening to one of us? He was absolutely ecstatic when I returned home to him Thursday night after just a few hours, but not in his usual, happy way. It was more like he was saying "I-was-so-afraid-you-were-never-coming-back!" We've been arranging our schedules so that he is left alone as little as possible and to allow him as much playtime with familiar friends.

As for us, I have to say that the way everyone has been there for us this past week has really reopened my eyes to how awesome our friends and families are, even though some are far away. We even received beautiful flowers from Stacey & Chris in NYC:

and from Sar & Jon out in CA:

How can you help but smile when you walk past these cheery colors? Gordon would have loved to chew them up!

The weekend was packed, and it's the first time in awhile that I've been glad for that. Here's a rundown of how we've been staying busy:

I finally decided to take the plunge and get my hair hacked. I decided that there was no better time to make a fresh change, and that maybe it would make me feel better. I was all set to walk out of there looking like Katie Holmes, but a wise friend cautioned that in my fragile emotional state, going too extreme might be a mistake. So true. My 'do is far more boring, but I still had 4.5 inches cut off!!

Here's me before (about a month ago):

Here's me now (apologies for the weird staring off into space look):I like it, even though when I walked out of the salon in my head-to-toe J.Crew ensemble, complete with sweater vest, I felt like I'd officially assumed the role of suburban wife. My mother in law promises that's not how I look, and I can usually count on her to shoot straight. In any case, the cut itself is pretty versatile, giving me plenty of ways to funk it up a little when I want to.

On Friday evening, after dropping Louie off at Matt's parents' (for play therapy with his doggie cousins), we first met friends for cocktails at D's Place in Soulard. The highlight for me was the pair of fluffy little dogs of one of the patrons who walked around like they owned the place. I made my embarrassed husband snap pictures of me talking to and babying them:

Then we met my parents for dinner in celebration of my Dad's birthday at Revival, which opened last fall in the space that used to house King Louie's (one of our favorites).

My food was just ok (I chose the stewed-rabbit ravioli with spinach and sheep's milk cheese - I know, I was asking for it by ordering rabbit two days before Easter), but I devoured it nonetheless. I must say that grief is excellent on the figure. Once I had really taken time to consider it, the only "food" I had consumed since Tuesday afternoon was half of a vanilla shake (and you KNOW there's a problem when I can't take down a shake), and a wheat bagel with cream cheese. Not once during that entire time did I experience even the slightest pang of hunger. I'm joking of course about using bereavement as a dieting tool, and was actually really glad that my appetite returned with a vengeance on Friday. That was the first step back to normal.

Back to our experience at Revival, everyone else really loved their meals (my mom had the grilled trout, my dad went for the seared scallops with parsnips, and Matt enjoyed his beef tenderloin). Personally, I don't think I'd go back for awhile. It appeared to me that they were still working out the kinks as far as service went...or maybe it was just our waiter, even though as a dead ringer for Ryan Gosling, he wasn't hard on the eyes. I was most disappointed with the fact that the reason we decided to try Revival in the first place was that Erin Bode was scheduled to perform and never did! Not only that, there was no live music at all. Luckily the conversation was just as good, my dad enjoyed himself, and it was an escape from the trauma of our past week.

We spent Saturday trying to keep ourselves and Louie occupied. Matt finally took Gordon's crate to store in the basement, and poor Louie followed him and then sat in it. That night, our best friends showed up with drinks and dinner to take our minds off of life and keep us company while we watched basketball. Thank god for them! I was dreading that night, since weekends had recently become lots of fun with the dogs. Gordon seemed to have kicked his bed-wetting habit once and for all, so we would all sleep together the whole night (as opposed to crating him and then bringing him to our bed after he went out to potty around 5:30 or so). He was just starting to sleep through the night, and was quite the snuggler. Last Saturday, I woke up to Matt laughing because Gordon had affixed himself to my face and was snoring comfortably there :)

We made it through that by watching Knocked Up for the 20th time, and then spent a busy Easter yesterday with my parents and aunt for brunch, Matt's extended family for a late lunch, and then finished off the day at my in-laws' with just the immediate family (plus dogs, of course) for dinner.

We played Apples to Apples, which I thought was a kids' game but turns out gets pretty hilarious after sucking down a few Captain + Diet Dr. Peppers :)

Matt's mom informed us that at the suggestion of Bobby Flay, she had hard-cooked the eggs this year instead of hard boiling them. To hard cook, you bring the water to a simmer, add the eggs and immediately turn off the heat, and allow them to cook for 15 minutes. In case you were wondering, the verdict was that the yolks were more moist, but the eggs themselves were possibly harder to peel. We took turns showing off our egg-peeling skills: Louie's cousins Ernie...
...and Violet

All in all, Louie was kept as distracted as possible from missing his buddy all weekend, and we had a lot of people taking it upon themselves to make sure that we were, too.

I really only have one complaint: SNOW on Easter? Really?

Goodbye, Gordon (you and your smelly little nose)....

2008-03-19T15:43:00.001-05:00

After we received the news that Gordon's seizures were increasing both in number and severity this morning, it was obvious that his condition was not going to improve and although we were reassured he was in no pain and had no conscious idea what was happening to him, we wanted nothing more than to stop his suffering as soon as possible.

We also wanted to be there, so we arranged to come in at noon. Since the doctor performing the procedure was going to be awhile, we were asked if we wanted to visit with Gordon privately beforehand, and we agreed. Unfortunately, I hadn't adequately prepared myself. The tech brought him in, wrapped in a blanket and a pad, because he'd been incontinent for awhile. The tube had been removed from his throat, and he was barking - involuntarily, spastically, loudly, and constantly. His whole little body thrashed each time and it is a vision that I am sure will be in my nightmares for a long time to come. I tried to hold him, but he was stiff and his yelping got worse, so we just stroked his fur and whispered into his ear that we were there and that it was almost over. He still wagged his little tail so I hope that he knew on some level that we were with him. This was obviously difficult to see, but I'm glad that we did, because I knew beyond a doubt that we were doing the right thing for him. I had such an immense feeling of relief when he finally did fall silent, which is not to say that I felt good.

I realize that Gordon was with us for a short time - just under 2 months. Even so, I really cannot remember life without him. The irony of the fact that we were unsure about keeping him those first few days is not lost on me, either. But for a tiny puppy, he developed SUCH a big and fun personality. He quickly burrowed into our hearts and lives, and we never looked back. He was such a part of our family's routine and my thoughts throughout the day, that he might as well have been with us our whole lives. I never thought I'd have a reason to regret complaining about waking up in the middle of the night to take him out, or being annoyed when he licked my face too much...

I am sitting here in disbelief at what a difference a day makes...that things could be so different now. I don't often get too philosophical or spiritual, but I've had nothing but time to think today and I can't help but want to make sense of this. What lesson is this experience trying to teach me?

The only thing I can come up with is that Gordon got to be a part of our lives to change us for the better. He pulled Matt and me out of our own little worlds at a time when I can see that we had gotten just a little too preoccupied, complacent and maybe self-absorbed with mostly unimportant things. He challenged us to pay more attention, to go out of our way to care for him and teach him, and to open our hearts enough to let him make us really, really happy :) Louie was against the idea of a brother at first, too...but it was so sweet to watch the change in him as he fell just as in love with Gordon as we did. I am hoping that all he knew and felt was love in his short life, too.

I keep feeling silly for mourning the loss of a pet I've had for less time than I've had the jar of pickles that's chilling in my fridge door. I think of people who have lost parents, or my parents, who have lost children, and it makes me feel like I need to just snap out of it. But as many people have told me today, no one's loss is more or less significant than another's...Gordon was so loved, it's impossible not to acknowledge the void that his loss is leaving in its wake.

I am comforted knowing that he's got a bunch of friends to welcome him: Teddy (Matt's Golden Retriever), Jaxx (Meg's Golden), Baron (Kate's family's dog), Muffin (my overweight childhood cat), and many, many others. I know that he is somewhere where he will be a funny little puppy forever, and where he knows how much we love him.

Something told me on Monday night to make time to take some pictures of the boys (since we don't have nearly enough of those), even though I was tired. These are really painful to look through right now, but I'm glad that I have them and hopefully someday soon I'll be able to look at them without crying:

Bye, Gordy...we all love you and miss you!

The sun just came out...I'd like to think that it's Gordon's little way of showing us he heard me and he's ok :)

An Update

2008-03-19T09:02:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry that this isn't a good one.

Our visit with Gordon last night was pretty horrific. He had just had a small seizure before we saw him, so they had given him Valium to stabilize him. I had convinced myself that seeing him one more time was better than not, regardless, but now I have to wonder if having my last memory of him laying there with a tube down his throat and his tongue hanging out is really better in any way. The vet basically couldn't tell us anything other than what we had heard before, which was that it could go either way, but things didn't look good.

We went home pretty upset and tried to keep our minds on anything else, which didn't work so well. Especially since Louie finally started acting weird...he went and sniffed around Gordon's crate and then looked at me, like "where is he?" He also brought Gordon's favorite toy to bed and slept with it all night...God, dog...way to break my heart! :(

After clearing it with one of our best friends who happens to be a pharmacist (I NEVER take pills - not even Tylenol for a fever), I popped two Benadryl to help me sleep and luckily they worked like a charm. Otherwise I wouldn't have gotten a wink.

The latest is that I spoke to one of the doctors this morning right before I left for work, and he had more doom and gloom. He said that Gordon had a rough night and sustained several more seizures. They had him stabilized for now, but I could tell from his tone that he wasn't optimistic...at all. He did say that he's seen these things go either way, and he could still make it...but it would be pretty close to a miracle at this point.

I asked point blank if we were at a decision-making point, and his answer was not yet, but that by this afternoon, if the seizures continue and nothing has changed, we will need to decide how much more to put him through. So we're both preparing ourselves to have to say goodbye later today, and I can't think of a worse feeling.

Thanks again to everyone who is thinking of us...I know a lot of you are as upset as we are :(

"I just didn't want to live without my balls!"

2008-03-18T17:12:00.000-05:00

*UPDATE*

Thanks everyone for the thoughts and concern you've been sending our way, and please keep it coming. Things do not look good...not good at all.

We've just spoken to the vet again and Gordon is still breathing and his heart is still pumping. The positives pretty much end there. He is in a comatose state, and she fully expects for him to remain that way for at least the next 24-48 hours, if not longer (possibly even MUCH longer or permanently).

There is a very real chance of him suffering a seizure right now, and the chances of a puppy of his age and size making a full, 100% recovery from a trauma such as this are extremely slim. But, she's "seen it happen." She would also not be surprised if he did not make it through tonight.

She said that she is not ready to give up on him yet if we're not, which did not make me feel good at all. How long is long enough to wait for our puppy to regain consciousness? If the odds are that even if he does wake up, he will not be loveable, happy little Gordon but a dog with no quality of life, what does that mean? I hope and pray that this does not come down to a decision on my part and that whatever is going to happen does so naturally...

She encouraged us to come up to visit with him, which sounds both like a good idea (I want to see him one more time if this is it), and a really, really bad one. I don't know how I'm supposed to function normally not knowing what the outcome of this is going to be.

Sorry for the Debbie Downer post...I was really hoping to be able to say he's fine and they're just keeping him overnight as a precaution, but who knows. Something could still change and Gordon is quite a special little dog...he may just be able to pull this off :)

Keep us in your thoughts if you could...thanks.
--------------------------------------------------------------

It may be too early to joke about this, but it's the only thing making me not fall apart entirely...

Matt called me at work around 3:30 to see if I could come home, because there had been a complication with Gordon's surgery. Needless to say, I freaked, made an ass of myself in front of relatively new co-workers (not that I care one bit), and tried to rush home, although the excessive rain made for a particularly agonizing drive.

Apparently, the little guy had been fine during the surgical procedure itself, but stopped breathing just as they started to transport him to recovery. Luckily, they caught it right away and put him immediately on full life support. They were warning us at that point that even if he did pull out of this alive, he could very likely be blind, or have suffered brain damage...

For a gut-wrenching hour and a half, we waited helplessly until we got the call 30 minutes or so ago that Gordon had started breathing on his own. While he was still unconscious, at least he was not in need of assistance of any kind, which was a check in the positive column. We are expecting another update soon, but the game plan for now is to get him to ICU, keep him intubated and closely monitored in the event that he should have more problems.

They will definitely keep him overnight, but I don't know yet whether we'll be able to go visit, or they'll keep him sedated, or what. So we're not out of the woods just yet, but this is so much better than the initial prognosis.

One thing the last 2 hours have taught me? I'm not ready to be a "real" parent in any way, shape, or form for a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time, if ever.

Excuse me while I go start breathing again...

Gordy's Bits and Pieces

2008-03-18T11:12:00.000-05:00

The little guy's day of reckoning is here :( Poor Gordon was in the vet's care as of 8 a.m. to prep for his neuter surgery and to have his umbilical hernia fixed.

Not only did he not want to be awake in the first place, but to add insult to injury, he didn't even get breakfast! Man, if he only knew that's going to be the best part of his day...

I know that these are completely routine procedures, and that he should be fine and ready to come home by 4 p.m. Still, a mom can't help but worry!

Weddings and Birthdays and Crepes, Oh My!

2008-03-17T10:06:00.000-05:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I had myself quite an interesting weekend, one that left me mostly nauseated :) I'm sticking with the argument that since I have to work (the audacity!) and will miss out on today's celebration with the rest of the family in Dogtown, I earned the right to live it up over the weekend instead.

On Saturday, we watched friends exchange vows at St. Francis Xavier and then partied amidst a St. Patrick's-themed reception at the Franklin Room in Soulard. They made the best of a fairly yucky early spring day, looked fabulous, and are such a sweet couple! Congratulations! I know that most of the people who read this blog are into weddings, and I regret to tell you that I don't have a single picture of the bride and groom, flowers, decor, etc. Nope, but we did manage to snap more than a few of yours truly and her drunk companions...stay tuned for those...

We rounded out the night with an appearance at a St. Pat's party hosted by some friends, and let's just say that their offerings of particularly strong lime jello shots, while delicious, did not exactly complement the bottles of wine plus 10 or so cocktails I had already imbibed over the course of the afternoon/evening. Praisefully, all photo documentation ended around 10pm, before things got too compromising. Nevertheless, you might get an inkling from the following photos about where the night was headed:

Oh sure, things look ok right now...

Harmlessly silly...
Oh, dear...

I'd better stop right there with the pictures. I do have one other thing to get off my chest, though: my damn dress! This is only the second time I've worn this number, yet it's also the second time I've had MAJOR zipper issues. Of course, I had no plan B and was forced to attend the wedding ceremony wearing my coat to cover the fact that my dress was only halfway zipped! Luckily there was plenty of time before the reception for one of my friends to sew me into the thing, but come on, J. Crew!

Moving along to the birthday behind the title of this post, yesterday was that of a dear friend, so since I can't be in California to do so in person, I'm sending a shout-out her way: Happy Birthday, Meg! Hope you found some green beer to drink :)

I, on the other hand, avoided even thinking about alcohol on Sunday. Before my hangover had taken complete hold of me, I naively agreed to meet my friend Lindsey, who recently moved back from Phoenix, for crepes in the CWE and then for a quick walk around Forest Park with the dogs (my 2 puggles and her German Shepherd mix). After about an hour of back and forth about whether or not to bring additional canines into the mix (specifically, her parents' mutt and 6 month old Lab puppy), it came down to the fact that neither one of us is capable of saying no to our four-legged counterparts and that everyone should get to enjoy the park.

Let me just give you a mental picture of the scene that I arrived upon while parking near the Art Museum to meet our companions. There was Lindsey, barely visible among three of the largest, furriest dogs I have ever seen stuffed into her...wait for it...VW Beetle.

To her credit, Linds is a badass trainer and she had those dogs wrapped around her finger. Pretty soon, she was walking a mile a minute with all 3 under control, calm as can be. Meanwhile, Louie (all 30 lbs of him) was pulling me so hard that my hand had started to cramp, and Gordon managed to wrangle himself out of his collar and bolt. I carried his ass for the rest of the walk, and the little punk was still exhausted afterwards!

I'm not proud to say it, but my dogs are awful walkers. It's gotten embarrassing. It has been recommended to me that the pronged collars which I think look like torture devices are actually both humane and quite effective, so the boys will definitely be fitted for those before their next visit to the park.

We decided that crepes would have to wait for another day, which was painful considering that I've been trying to make it to Crepes Etc. for weeks now and because I was convinced that a nutella and banana (my favorite) would have promptly settled my stomach. Instead, we picked up bagels and then headed back to our house so that the dogs could run around and play freely for awhile.

One thing's for sure - our backyard is much smaller with 5 dogs in it...

The whole gang (Please excuse the hideous yard...not much can be done in the winter, unfortunately!)

Mom, I'm a little tired...

You and me both, buddy...you and me both!

Time to lighten up for spring...

2008-03-13T22:19:00.000-05:00

Forgive me for what will likely be a boring-ass post, but I need help! Go ahead and skip it if talk of fabrics and paint colors puts you to sleep...

It's spring, and I want to get my house up to speed. To that end, I want new throw pillows for the living room, but because I hate Crate and Barrel's fabrics this season, and because Pottery Barn's covers do not fit the Crate and Barrel-sized pillows I currently own, I've decided to enlist good old Mom's help with sewing some instead. I've found several fabrics that I love, but I can't decide.

Ooh, quick aside on the living room: Matt recently re-painted the "focus wall," as the previous owners dubbed it. Focus wall? I'd say so. It's a massive surface, and the first thing you see when you walk through the front door. After several major faux pas on my part in the area of paint color selection, I no longer have the privilege. I always have the best of intentions, but they never quite translate from my mind to the wall. In any case, he chose the perfect shade: Behr's Herbal Garden. It's a vibrant green and I'm shocked that we lived in relative contentment with the indigo monstrosity that it replaced for as long as we did. Here's the color chip:

And here we have photos to show you before and after two coats of the stuff...

Before: Do you feel like you're submerged in an ocean? That's the effect it often had on me. Sorry for the angle of this one...I was being art-y...or maybe just having a seizure:

After: vast improvement, n'est-ce pas? Nice that in both pictures, taken months apart, I still have all of the pillows piled onto the same chair. I do this since they wrinkle easily and then look like crap. I put them out for show of course, but god forbid someone actually use them...

So now, instead of having to decorate around an inky blue when the range of colors at my disposal is at its peak, I can base my palette on a springy green! It's thrilling stuff, isn't it?

Anyway, here are some of the loverly patterns I've found:

Grass Trellis by Serena & Lily: possibly my favorite so far, but is it too plain? Too much green?

Chippendale Fretwork in Kiwi by Waverly: another favorite, but I'm having the same issue with the greeniosity:

Dandy Damask in Avocado by Michael Miller: Ok, I like green. I also love damask and its heaviness is lightened up by the bright color used in this pattern, but I'm not sure it goes well with the style of the living room, which is decidedly contemporary. Do you think it even matters?

Amsterdam Olive/White : I think I like this one better than the damask:

Lime Finery from Freespirit Fabrics' Freshcut Collection: See, I do like more than green! This is so pretty and I think yellow accents might be the perfect way to go in this room. Then again, these particular hues still have a lot of green in them...dammit!:

Mingei Floral in Pumpkin: I love the corals and pinks. It's feminine without being overly so, I think...I need to consider these things as I am outnumbered 3-1 by males in my own home, you know:

Pottery Barn does sell (at an outrageous price) fabrics by the yard, so a PB pattern may be a possibility after all. I love this one, "Nora":

Hot Pink Paisley by Doodlefish: Um, I don't even think it requires stating that this would be instantly vetoed:

Groovy Petals from Freespirit Fabrics' Freshcut collection: Hmm. I like this one in general, but it might be too vintage looking, and the pretty cream background somehow just looks dingy to me. Maybe for a girl's bedroom or something other than the living room?

I'm also thinking that in addition to patterns, I could do a few solids to break things up. For those, I am loving the idea of some butter-colored matelasse, kinda like the fabric of the bottom coverlet from Neiman's:

Aside from pillow covers, I might spruce things up by actually making use of the centerpiece glassware that I was thankfully too lazy to sell after using at our wedding reception. I love these simple redbud branch designs:

I realize that you can barely see the branch centerpiece in this photo, but don't you also love the chairs? They make me want to hit up the nearest antique shop for something cool to paint and reupholster!

Just thinking about all of the bright, fresh changes makes me happy!!

What do you do to ring in spring? And do you have any budget-friendly ideas that I can steal? :)

You're a hot mess tranny...and not in a good way

2008-03-13T22:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry about another cop-out video post, but I'm performing a public service here, people.

This one is brought to you courtesy of my little sister Sar, and it features Amy Poehler from SNL as Christian, winner of this season's Project Runway:

Spectacular! I think Amy Poehler's Christian is even more accurate than Christian's, if that's in any way possible. This woman is hilarious, doubly so because she's married to Will Arnett. There's another couple that Mr. and Mrs. Pardon My French could get down with:

Thanks, Sar...you hot mess!

Le printemps!!

2008-03-12T20:23:00.000-05:00

C'est vrai: my favorite season, not to be confused with the jaw-droppingly fabulous store Au Printemps, is almost upon us!!

Will you just LOOK at what is popping up all throughout the beds in front of our house?!

A sure sign that warm weather is on its way for good? HOSTAS!!!

In other spring-related news, my mesclun, basil, cilantro and rosemary seeds have all sprouted and are well on their way to establishing sturdy root systems in their little "greenhouse". I think I still have time, so I may just go completely wild and add some oregano and chives into the mix! Maybe even some dill weed and mint? The possibilities are endless!

I know, I know...BOOOOOOORING...but I'm pretty damn excited about not having to buy lettuce or fresh herbs all summer long:

Can I get a woot woot for Mama Nature?!

12-hour Workdays are Miserable

2008-03-11T22:15:00.000-05:00

I'm exhausted, so I'm letting someone else do the heavy lifting for tonight's post.

I don't know about you, but I find Sarah Silverman to be hilarious. It seems that either you love her or you hate her, and I'm not ashamed to admit that her crass, immature humor appeals to me on some level. She's offbeat and smart. And harsh? I'm sorry to be a pill, but if you're Britney Spears and out of your frigging mind, and choose to present yourself to the world in nothing but underwear at a major awards show, then comedians somehow don't have the right to make fun of you? Come on!

Well, whatever your feelings about Sarah, you cannot in good conscience lie and tell me that you don't find this piece of work, in honor of boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel's 5th anniversary show, downright hilarious. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past month, you've probably seen it, but you know it's worth watching again!

I love it! Hearing the f word come out of Matt Damon's wholesome mouth makes me cackle. By the by, does anyone else love the fact that he found himself a nice, non-famous woman to settle down and start having babies with? Because I do. I love it a lot.

Jimmy Kimmel decided to up the ante with this retort. Oh, you have time!

While I have to give him points for having more star cameos than an Austin Powers movie, hers was funnier.

One thing's for sure: they make a funny pair. Can you imagine the things you'd see and hear if you spent a night out with these clowns?!

I've been tagged...

2008-03-10T20:09:00.000-05:00

...by the lovely Mary, so here are my 7 weird/random facts, in no particular order:

1) I have done some psychotic things to my hair. We're talking everything from blonde to pixie short (Remember the Gwyneth Paltrow cut from when she was engaged to Brad Pitt, anyone? Awful.), and I even had a short bob 4 years before Posh and Robot Holmes-Cruise made it cool! Looking back at photographic evidence of some of my more unfortunate choices has scarred me into boredom. My color is now completely natural and I'm afraid to get any of my length cut! P.S. - I still love you, Gwyneth!

2) I've run 3 half marathons: one in St. Louis, one in San Francisco, and one in Memphis. To be honest, the St. Louis route was infinitely harder than the San Francisco hills. I clocked my best time in Memphis and was feeling great, only to return to our car and find that it had been broken into and all of our belongings stolen. We spent the rest of the day at the police station. I haven't run a race since...you suck, Memphis!

3) I hung out a few times with Chelsea Clinton's ex-boyfriend from her Stanford days. He and his friend, who lived in our apartment complex my junior year of college, were members of the Olympic swim team (I'm pretty sure they won bronze and gold medals, respectively, at the '99 summer games) and practiced at the training facility in Santa Clara. I cannot for the life of me remember a) how exactly we met or b) why I stopped talking to him.

4) I have a severe phobia of public toilets and...well...#2 in public. I simply can't do either, and it horrifies me to know when anyone else does. I have been known to make myself quite ill because of it. For instance, I used to wait until 4am in college to quietly sneak my way down the hall to the communal bathroom (I still praise whatever god is responsible for granting me a private bathroom sophomore year!!!), I hold it during 10 hour transatlantic flights, and I hate outdoor events like Mardi Gras because of the Johnnies.

5) I was prom queen. Shut up.

6) I have a tattoo, which comes as a shock to most. I'm not disclosing what it is or its location, but I will say that you can't see it unless I want you to. For those interested, there is a picture on file at Marks of Art in San Jose. I am also a huge hypocrite, because I don't care for visible ones, and unlike many tattoo wearers, I have zero desire to get another.

7) I was randomly assigned a roommate my freshman year of college: a girl from Jersey who also happened to be named Meghan (with the h!), was also one of 4 kids, and was also left-handed. We declared the same major and took a lot of the same classes, and even professors started referencing us collectively as "The Meghans". We also befriended and eventually ended up living with another Meghan (h included), who had at one time nicknamed herself BMC (Big Meg on Campus). The three of us were soon known as Big Meg, Middle/Medium Meg and Little Meg, labeled by height. At 5'6", I am Middle Meg.

Well, that wasn't so bad. I tag (Little) Meg, since she's new to blogging, Jess, because I just learned of her sweet blog, and Kate. I'm interested to see how many of the 7 things I already know!

My Hubs

2008-03-08T18:18:00.000-06:00

I just want to give a shout out to my better half, who has been painstakingly working on a new real estate inspired blog of his own (doesn't the green background look GREAT, everyone?!).

He has personally bought, sold, rehabbed and invested in properties all over St. Louis, and it has made him incredibly knowledgeable about the entire "game". Trust me, I never would have survived the home buying process without him! He's an agent with Keller Williams and won their Rookie of the Year Award for 2007...it's enough to make a wife beam with pride, I tell you. The blog is going to be awesome: it'll be loaded with tons of info about the STL market, special listings, financing advice, remodeling how-tos, and whatever else his overactive brain cooks up!

He rocks, so I know his blog will too. I say this strictly as an unbiased client :)

Reason #6,932 why I wish my dogs could talk

2008-03-08T17:00:00.001-06:00

Because they have some explaining to do.

Earlier today, after a lengthy mid-morning romp in the backyard, the puggles bounded inside and from across the room I commented that Gordon looked dirty (not really worth commenting on, since it's characteristic of him). On closer inspection, I came to the stomach-turning realization that it wasn't dirt. Nope, try blood. Lots and lots of blood.

Given my previous history of working in a pediatric hospital, one might assume that I should be able to keep my shit together when it comes to gruesome situations. That's partially true. Level I traumas? No sweat. Looking at the x-ray of a kid who had severed his urethra in an ATV accident? Didn't even flinch! Witnessing a 2 year old undergoing a spinal tap? I barely broke a sweat. The morgue? Ok, scratch that one...that experience was faint-worthy. But seriously, I'm no pansy about this sort of thing...as long as we're dealing with a human patient.
Somehow, seeing my 3 1/2 month old puppy covered in blood, I couldn't keep myself from jumping around like a child and letting out screams that sent Matt flying in from the other room.

Gordon's right eye was swimming in blood - we're talking no visible sclera. The fur on his chest, right side, front legs, and right ear was saturated. We scooped him up and started frantically scouring every inch of his wriggling little body to find the source.

Twenty minutes later, we hadn't found so much as a scratch. Once it was wiped out, his eye was completely clear. After he was cleaned up, he was as good as new. Thinking that he had killed an animal, we decided to investigate the crime scene. There were traces of blood on the deck and on the siding, but no remains.

Louie had a small smear of blood on his front left paw, so our attention turned to him: "What did you DO?! He's your BROTHER!" He apparently didn't like that line of questioning and went to lie down for a nap.

They're both still acting highly suspicious, but no one's talking.

You be the judge - is this a guilty looking pair or what?

Oh, Mexico

2008-02-26T19:03:00.000-06:00

As if I wasn't excited enough about our first anniversary trip, I stumbled upon our exact destination listed as one of MSNBC's "Top 10 Beaches We Love". Fabulous! Here's what they have to say about it:

10. Tulum Beach

The increasingly popular Mayan Riviera destination of Tulum, 80 miles southeast of Cancun, couldn’t be more unlike its northern resort sibling. With a beach presided over by Mexico’s only waterfront Mayan ruins, the unspoiled white sands that hug the Caribbean here offer visitors the chance to get in touch with their inner chi — not the excuse to party. Indeed, what few beachfront resorts exist here tend to host yoga centers, not all-inclusive nightclubs, along the sand. Meanwhile, on the beach below Tulum’s cliff-top castle, you can bask and swim where the Maya once came ashore, in superb waters protected by the world’s second-longest barrier reef, the Great Maya Reef, which provides countless underwater pleasures among shallow coral reefs, coast-hugging sand banks, and offshore atolls.

Apart from its status as a Top 10 beach, here are my own reasons for being piss-my-pants (pardon my French!) excited about Tulum:

1) Despite the fact that I spent 4 years of my life in California, mere hours from the Mexico border, the closest that I've come is a second-hand account of a Memorial Day weekend that included a foam party in Tijuana. Tijuana, people.

2) We're vacationing on someone else's dime; I won the trip for reaching a sales goal at work! There was just one caveat: in order to make the most of the deal, it only made sense to go the all-inclusive route, which has never appealed to us. That said, as the MSNBC description suggests, this will not be a club-til-you-drop, drink-as-many-watered-down-cocktails-as-possible type of resort. We'll also be renting a car so that we'll be able to explore authentic Mexican life when our fellow resort-bound Americans get to be too obnoxious!

3) We just had 10 more inches of snow dumped on us this week, and I am so desperate for warm weather that I could literally hurt someone. People who claim that they like the winter, for instance...if you're one of those, just keep your mouth shut! Dreaming about a beach vacation is like chicken soup for my winter-weary soul right now, and it's about the only thing getting me out of bed.

4) I've been wanting to make a big fuss over our first anniversary. The past year has gone by so fast, and we've both been so busy and stressed out that we really wanted a special way to take time out to celebrate, just the two of us. I'm thinking that 5 days on a beach, away from normal life and responsibilities should do the trick!

Shockingly, I haven't always been into the tropical scene. In fact, I used to bristle at the very idea of beach vacations, having decided that there were simply too many more "important" travel destinations to blow precious vacation time sweating away in the sand.

I blame this unfortunate stereotype on all of the cool kids in high school (a.k.a. my husband)who returned from their spring breaks in Cancun, in all of their tanned, beaded-haired glory, narrating ad nauseum their tales of blacking out and wet t-shirt contests. Not my thing. Ok, fine, maybe I was just a teensy bit jealous too!

Of course, I'd relent and give up a few hours to hang out at the beach while touring Barcelona. I even enjoyed myself (minus the second degree sunburn I sustained) in Cinque Terre, when we were forced to spend nearly 8 hours literally roasting in the Mediterranean because it was the height of the tourist season and the only hostel with any vacancy wouldn't allow us to check in until 5:30p.m, and it was way too hot to do much else!

In fact, I've always loved everything about the ocean. Living in California as a transplant from the Midwest, the coast was always a thrilling novelty, and I never missed a chance to explore a new stretch of beach. That is, if I was lucky enough to succeed in persuading one of my friends to take me after a lot of groaning. Native-born Californians have no CLUE how lucky they are! So, as you see, it's not a matter of disliking the ocean or tropical destinations as a rule, I was simply under the impression that "real" traveling involved museums, sightseeing and jam-packed itineraries.

Our honeymoon changed all of that for good! Each day in St. Barths consisted of lounging on one beach or another, or in our villa's pool with a view of a beach. I wasn't simply content, I was perfectly HAPPY with this situation! Why hadn't anyone let me in on this secret sooner?! I realistically spent half of that week trying to come up with a viable way for us to sell our home and belongings and move to the island...we're not talking just daydreaming here. Sadly, I haven't yet gotten creative enough to come up with a workable plan, so frequent trips to sunny places will have to do for now.

So take it from me: frowning on sultry destinations in favor of hectic tours of every historic monument in the entire city is dumb :) Sometimes, it's ok to just relax. Bring on the Margaritas!

Sunday Brunch

2008-02-25T00:00:00.000-06:00

We made a desperate run for groceries yesterday for the first time in over a month. Actually, make that TWO grocery runs (why oh why can't a single store carry our entire list?). Before we ventured out, an inventory of our pantry had revealed a sad state of affairs: several cans of tuna, a jar of salsa and some packets of hot chocolate. Apparently, we had been relying on the we're-recovering-from-the-flu-and-taking-care-of-a-new-puppy excuse to avoid grocery shopping just as we'd been using it to justify our willful neglect of laundry, bathroom cleaning, and snow shoveling for weeks on end. Something finally had to give, though, because our lack of a properly stocked kitchen was threatening to sideline, yet again, a major household event.

You'll be happy to know that the crisis was averted, and thank god for that, since today's brunch was extra special. We dusted off the twice-used power juicer that we purchased several years ago after the infomercial had us positively convinced that living without fresh-squeezed juice is worse than not living at all, and when we had money to burn on frivolous kitchen appliances. I digress...

First up: the peels of no less than 36 oranges filling our sink. My husband would say I have an issue with exaggeration, but we seriously used two entire bags of oranges on this little endeavor:

Said oranges, waiting to be squeezed into a pitcher of liquid crack, er, sunshine:

Say hello to my husband and his buddy, Jack LaLanne...

I see a few drops! Good to know that 36 oranges yields at least a shot glass of juice.

Now we're cooking. Screwdrivers, anyone? No? More for me! Don't look at me like that...it's almost noon!

Hello, delicious! A little thick and syrupy for my taste, but it's nothing a little H2O (or vodka)won't fix.

Fresh-squeezed orange juice is nice and all, but the greatness of the Sunday brunch staple that is banana pancakes should not be underestimated:

Cue the stomach growls! Meanwhile, Gordon tries to distract himself from the smell of bacon permeating the entire house by trying to figure out what to do with his first rawhide bone, unaware of the puppy-sized pancake that is being made just for him. Though there's not a photo to show it, Louie prefers to man the kitchen, keeping a hawk-eye on that aforementioned bacon:

Finally, just to prove that while this vignette demonstrates how highly cultivated we are, having brunch and everything (do I hear someone laughing out there?), we still know how to keep it real:

Maybe it's just me, but enjoying my freshly squeezed O.J. from a Biggie glass makes it that much sweeter!

La vie en rose

2008-02-24T22:02:00.000-06:00

It's fitting that my first post follows Marion Cotillard winning this year's Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Edith Piaf. Leave it to a French actress to exclaim, "thank you life...thank you love!" as part of her impassioned acceptance speech. It sums up fairly well everything that I adore about French culture.

Pardon My French refers to my at times obnoxious love affair with all things French :) It started when I first set foot in Paris as a sixteen year old, it's what first spurred the utter obsession I have for exploring new places, it has absolutely guided all of my major life decisions and shaped my perspective on pretty much everything.

So that covers my title and a bit about me. I have no idea what the blog itself will be...probably just me rambling from time to time about some aspect of my life with my new husband and dogs. Sounds enthralling, I know :) Thanks for indulging me!

Back to the awards...I'll have another post shortly!