V-Day recap, Demolition Ball, & that Freaky French Guy

Holy moly! Hard to believe that February is nearly gone! Seriously, last day tomorrow. Its just crazy. It seems like time is flying but Christmas and New Year's seem like they were forever ago. That also means that this post is a little behind schedule. I don't want to brag, that is not my intent here. I just thought Garrett did such a good job for Valentine's Day that I just have to share. He got me a basket of booze. Haha! Yes, booze. Each bottle is for a very specific occasion, so I can't just drink them all as I see fit.  I can't remember them all at this moment, but here are a few: First Holiday Away from Home (Crown Valley Missouri Wine), First House Party in Las Vegas (He thought it was too funny b/c its called House Wine) Post-First Shift at New Hospital Job (Smirnoff Vodka), First Baby (Grape Juice and inevitably this will be in Las Vegas), Second Anniversary, and a few more other than that. He even came up with poems on the little heart labels. He did a fabulous job!! I just wanted to share! LOL!

So anyway, this past weekend was pretty crazy for us and at the same time, it was like the calm before the storm as this marked one of the last weekends in St. Louis that had absolutely no plans ahead of time. Friday night, we went to the Fish Fry at my church with my family. Oh so delicious! Nothing beats this fish fry. If you think you have been to a better one in the St. Louis area, you are dead wrong. They do everything. Hand cut, hand bread, fry! No fake fish here! So ready for this Friday night so we can get more! Lol! Afterwards, we met up with Ted & Sarah, and Ryan & Rachael to play laser tag and demolition ball. Laser tag was awesome, and I totally kicked butt and won! #1 of 9 people! That's right punks!! Don't mess with this! After rubbing it in everyone's faces, yes I had to especially with Garrett the hunter, Ted who shoots for fun, and the ex-Army guy...seriously?! How did I win?! We then played demolition ball. Basically, its bumper cars with those scoop baskets and you drive around and try and get the ball in the basketball net.  Its really fun and really painful the next day from all the bumping. If that wasn't enough fun for one weekend, the next day we went sledding on the ice/snow. This was a dangerous idea! Ted hurt his back and Garrett had to drive the car to the bottom of the hill so we could get him out. Did I mention that was his second time down? Yeah not good. Everyone else fared much better, but by the end my tailbone was hurting from all the bouncing and flying from the sled. 

Then we headed back to the Von Kramp Haus and spent the afternoon with the family. We had a margarita at lunch since we missed National Margarita Day on Friday (Although I thought Cinco de Drinko I mean Mayo was like National Margarita Day!) Later in the evening, we went to Llewellyn's Pub that just opened out by my parents house. We had a good time there. That is until the waitress brought my dad the littlest beer glass ever and then it was even more fun as he immediately turned into the Freaky French Guy. (See video below of Steve Martin and also think Oh ho ho in a French accent) Still don't think that even covers how funny it was. So then the guys spent the rest of the night making comments with similar accents. Good times with my family. Crazies!

 Source 

I have no idea what this one was about. Seriously, ladies and gentlemen, my father! I wish I could remember but I just can't.

The rest of the weekend, Garrett and I spent time together working on various projects. We are slowly starting to get together all of the things that we need to do and getting organized for the big move. Details flying all over the place right now for that but hopefully in the next week or so we get them all settled. I also have two bridal showers to work on as well as the bachelorette party for Lara, which I'm so pumped for b/c she finally gave the go ahead and plan away to me! Heck Yes! And there's Rachel's baby shower in April as well as the Relay Marathon. And packing and finding a house! Madness I tell you! But in the best way!!! 

My plans are to enjoy the next two weekends are they really are the calm before the storm of every weekend between now and the wedding being full!!! Ready.Set.Go!

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love!!

~A

Meeting Hunter "Patch" Adams

This week has been an interesting one for us. I began the week with high hopes for myself, but it go very far. I decided that since my boards were over, it was time to kick my work outs into high gear. I was going to keep the regular morning routine and add a supplemental evening one in. Monday was good and into Tuesday I was just fine, but Tuesday afternoon my legs started to hurt a lot. So I decided I should skip Tuesday night's workout because it wouldn't do to get hurt before the run here in April. Wednesday was more of the same. It seriously felt like I had old lady legs. They were so very achy. Today they are feeling better, but not totally. All I did was one Insanity workout. I did many of them over the summer and didn't have that kind of tightness and aches in my calves, but I also wasn't running in the morning as well. I'm going to give it another go, but its a lot of jump and moving so the calves get tired. (Obviously!) Anyway, I think I'm going to try again tomorrow and I'm thinking I need to do some more extensive stretching afterwards to avoid this happening again. Anyway, this part was just a side note. The real post is about meeting Patch Adams.

On Wednesday night, Patch Adams came to Saint Louis University and we went to see him. What a funny and passionate man! He spent a lot of time talking about different keys points but overall message was healing with love and humor. Some of the things he talked about were a little too 'hippie' for us.  (no communes for us!)   We really enjoyed seeing him and we got his book and had him sign it so that was exciting. And the chicky who took the pictures...did a damn terrible job. This is the only one I'll actually post, because she was just an awful photographer.  If you ever have the opportunity to see him speak, I would suggest that you go. Even if you don't agree with what he says, its really hard to not be affected by someone who is so acutely happy all the time. Its infectious! And its helps that he's quite the clown as well! I would also suggest watching the movie Patch Adams, even though its not a true account of his life, it still, I think, has the same message. And its a beautiful message at that.

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love!!

~A

Mardi Gras

So many things happened this past weekend, that its difficult to figure out how they were all accomplished!!! Friday, I took my boards. My test shut off at the 75 mark, which is the minimum number of questions that you can possibly have. The moment that happened, I felt a huge amount of relief. However, at the same time the smallest bit of doubt overcame me as well. It can shut off at 75 and say you passed or you failed. Luckily, I'm freaking awesome and when I got my unofficial results yesterday, they confirmed my happier side and said PASS! The rest of the Friday was spent in relaxation/party mode.  I got a new pair of running shoes as the ones I have were not cutting it anymore. Then I met Garrett for a celebratory lunch and met the doctor he's been working with for the last few weeks. I went home and watched The Vow (saddest movie I have seen in a long time!) and waited for Garrett to get home. We went out for celebratory dinner with the family and then had some celebratory drinks at Malone's afterwards. 

Saturday we went to Mardi Gras in the evening! We had a lot of fun! We had big drinks, gyros, and even a funnel cake! We then met up with Ted and Sarah at Malone's again since it was getting chilly out down in Soulard. I'm sad that we won't be around for next Mardi Gras. We will just have to come up with something else to do to celebrate Mardi Gras in Vegas next year!! :)

Sunday, we recovered!  I got my unofficial score from my test and we chilled out for the rest of the day. In the afternoon, I went with my mom and my sisters to see Les Miserable. It was really good and I would recommend it to anyone/everyone!  

We had a really fun weekend! And I figured out today that our weekends are rapidly filling up here! We are running out of time in St. Louis even though we still have 3 months before we move! Its crazy to think about but every weekend in April is already full and March is rapidly filling up as well!!! 

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love!!

~A