E-Coli, Anyone?!

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...

I'm a Bridesmaid!

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!

Introducing...

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

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!! :(

A Decent Proposal

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 :)

Weddings and Birthdays and Crepes, Oh My!

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!