Whodunnit?

Recently, my parent's took us kids on a family get away to St. Louis. I have been to St. Louis only a handful of times, but it might be one of the most underrated cities ever. The last time we went was almost 3 years ago when I experienced the joy and wonder that is CITY MUSEUM. Little did I know that was just the tip of the St. Louis iceberg.

Before we left for this bustling city to the north east (home of the 1904 World's Fair, no big deal), we asked ourselves the usual: "Well what will we do once we get there?" questions. We were actually floating in the lake discussing this when my mom said: "what about that one place that does those one things....oh you know...murder mystery....and you like go and eat..."  I was shocked. How could a murder mystery dinner theatre be in existence and I didn't know!?

I quickly did some research and found this elusive place that is full of murder....and mystery...and dinner....and discovered it was known as Bissell Mansion Theatre; I immediately called and made reservations.

The woman who took our reservations asked typical questions like 'how many in your party?' and 'what date would you like to attend?' But THEN she asked the best question of all: "Would you like speaking parts for your group?" I practically shouted, YES! You mean, WE get to be a part of the murder mystery?! Sign me up. My enthusiasm was not matched by my family. I'd say they were down right annoyed I said yes without consulting them. Too bad.

We arrived in style, and right on time. There was a big dining room filled with about 40-45 other diners. Appetizers were served as we waited for all the guests to arrive:

I must admit, I did find it a bit odd that Crab Rangoon was one of the appetizers...I thought maybe there would be something a little more mysterious-y. 

The killer is DEFINITELY in this picture....have a guess who?

Soon it was time to start the show, and figure out who killed "Bitsy" the Mardi Gras Queen.

We were introduced to the main characters, given our "names'' and script pages.
It was fairly simple, follow along the script until it's your turn to speak.

I can't work with this! What's my motivation? Where does my passion come from?

This was Christian's role, a detective. He didn't come in until Act III. 

My role was Georgia Peach, and my daddy owns the largest peach farm in all of the South. 

Here I am speaking my lines with grace and one heck of a Southern accent: 

I expect my Tony award in the mail any day now.

Andrew is turned around trying to figure out where the voice of "Harry Conduit, Jr." was coming from. I'll tell you this: Harry was NOT the murderer. 

Christian was obviously in deep thought about what the actor,-er, I mean- John Lafeet,  was explaining to my dad- uh, I mean- Carlos Violincello, the mobster and concert violinist....

I told Christian in all of the pictures I have of him he looks very confused. 

He said: "Well duh, it's a murder mystery....."

Andrew played the Cajun chef....his one and only line was uttered after Chris said: "Whoo-whee! I love me some steak!" Andrew had the tough line of: "I like my steak medium rare!" 

And that was it for those two...they definitely weren't the murderers. 

At one point, accusations were flying, alibis were called into question, and fingers were pointed. 

WHO WAS THE MURDERER?

 I can tell you it was not one of these three people below:

Which only leaves one person as the killer of poor Bitsy, the Mardi Gras Queen.....

CARLOS VIOLINCELLO!!! 

I will tell you Carlos was just as surprised as the rest of us that he was in fact, the murderer. 

It was discovered that when Carlos went to play for Bitsy she told him he had the "smallest fiddle she'd ever seen" and Carlos did not appreciate that one bit! I was sort of hoping Georgia Peach WAS the killer because Bitsy seemed like a real jerk.


Don't worry, dad  Carlos wasn't sent to jail. He was such a superb actor, they didn't want to arrest him....

 ......just his picture. 

I think there might be a new profession for all of us in the near future......

My brush with greatness...

I'm not sure if you guys are aware of this or not, but I'm totally married to someone famous. Remember  this post about Chris being awarded a Star Teacher? Well let me just tell you, he's only going up baby!!

Chris received a random voice mail one Wednesday morning of a women's voice telling him he needed to be in full uniform ready to have his picture taken, and answer a few questions for an interview in the next couple of weeks. Being the naturally skeptical person that he is, and thinking no one would possibly want to interview him, he promptly deleted the message and forgot all about it.

However, as fate would have it, someone DID want an interview with him: Show Me The Ozarks Magazine to be more specific. Turns out they were doing profiles on 10 area coaches and Chris was chosen to be one of them.

Naturally, I assumed it was really a ploy for them to interview ME....I mean....do you even KNOW what it's like to be a coach's wife? I was primed; I was ready; but alas, it seemed the interview was really to get Chris' philosophy on coaching.

Chris met with the writer/photographer, Rose, at the baseball field. In addition to being a super cute writer and photographer, Rose has a blog called The Flying Farmers where she talks about her adventures as a pilot, her gardening, and even her border collie, Pax. To say I was intrigued is putting it lightly, I have since told her she is my new best friend. By the way, what's a restraining order?

It was rainy the day of the interview, so we set up inside the equipment shed, and Rose got to work. Layla was also there to answer any questions if necessary:

 I was surprised when Rose started my interview with questions to Chris asking how long he had been coaching, what his record was, and other various coach questions.

Rose nodded politely when I told her all about what I did while Chris was gone getting the field ready before games, how I make sure Chris is always mentally prepared, my own pre-game ritual, what items are essential to bring as a spectator,etc. I did notice she didn't write any of it down though.....

After Chris told all of his coaching secrets it was time to brave the rain for a quick picture:

"Make sure you get my good side...."

Ummm....Rose? Shouldn't you be pointing the camera elsewhere? More specifically to the lovely lady standing behind you? The one who is having a good hair day and wore a cute outfit!?

After the interview and picture I insisted my new best friend, Rose, and Chris take a picture to commemorate this momentous occasion. It's not everyday I ALMOST got interviewed for a magazine:

I said: "Both of you look like you feel very awkward." To which they both replied: "We DO feel awkward."
I should add that these photos were taken with my phone, and are NOT up to Rose's photography skills....

Chris and I waited with anxious anticipation for my- I mean Chris'- article to make it's way to news stands. Finally it happened, the August edition was out. We turned to page 45 and there he was:

Good picture, honey!

I do have to say, I'm quite proud of him and the coach he's become. Chris works really hard to make sure he's making the best decision, carefully considering all possible angles and weighing his options.

 He's like this when we're trying to choose a restaurant too....it takes forever. 

So even though Rose forgot some of my quotes, and decided to use Chris' picture instead of mine; I understand. My day in the sun will come....

Besides, I think we all REALLY know who the star of this family is:

....and it's this snaggle toothed beatuy!

Here is the magazine if you want to read the article for yourself, and be extremely impressed: 

Show Me the Ozarks Magazine

Encouragement....

I have a dry erase board on my refrigerator. Usually I write my grocery list on it, take a picture then use the picture at the store, like this:

 and like this:

 

I don't always use the board for practical reasons. I consider myself a world-class doodler, sometimes inspiration strikes and I use my dry-erase board to express my emotions. 

For example, here is a picture of our High School mascot with a baseball in his mouth literally "flipping the bird." 

 I made this drawing for Chris when the baseball team was playing a championship game:

 

And once during Fall I drew a picture of Edgar Allen Poe:

 There is a great website called Free Crappy Portraits that creates a unique portrait of you based on fun facts about yourself, and a picture you send in. I felt inspired by this great website and created a dry-erase masterpiece that would show Chris how awesome I thought he was........

A shirtless, rock-star Chris.....riding a unicorn.

He was extremely impressed.

Great Expectations

Stupid Pinterest has given me false expectations in my life. According to my Pinterest boards, I plan on being a master chef and baker as well as a world class dresser who can make hand crafted tables out of pallets found on the side of the road; and sew my own wardrobe and I always know the perfect gift (which I make myself of course). In all honesty, I probably could do most of the things I've pinned, but who really wants to take a Saturday making a wind chime from recycled wine bottles or wainscoting your entire living room?! According to my Pinterest board, I do.

If you've seen my boards, you might notice a theme: a lot food pins (37) and dessert pins (41); but my board for exercise ideas? A whopping 4 pins. Oh, and eating healthy? 3 pins Clearly my priorities are in order!  

Every once in awhile an idea will storm the internet like the beaches of Normandy, and every pinner out there will say: "YES! I can and WILL do this!!" As an example, I give you... The Sock Bun. If you don't know what the sock bun is, and would like the tutorial, click here. 

Basically, you cut off the tip of a sock:

 Roll it up, and slide the sock down a pony tail.

 Throw in a few more steps, and when it is all said and done, it should look like this random citizen's hair:

(the bun kind of reminds me of a sea urchin)

or like this perfection from Lauren Conrad:

L.C. you also give me false expectations in life. 

When Chris and I were in college, he would constantly steal my socks. I'm not sure how or when he would steal them, but I'd open the drawer and BAM, it was empty save for the one or two loner socks without a mate. At one point, I told my dad of this problem; he bought me a 6 six pack of hot pink socks. He literally said: "Now if Chris is out there on the baseball field with hot pink socks on, we'll know whose they really are." I think I wore those hot pink socks once, and yes, he does stretch them out with his man-feet. But guess what? Socks are still stolen from me. Unless they are a girly color, they all end up in Chris' sock drawer. I don't even care anymore. I just steal them back and wear them all stretchy. 

My point of that mini-story is tell you I had NO problem marching over to Chris' sock drawer, selecting a sock and snipping off the toe (it was probably my sock at one point anyway). Even though I felt glee from ruining a sock of his, it was short lived when I actually attempted the Pinterest Popular "Sock Bun.''

 It wasn't  funny or worth talking about, it just looked stupid.

I didn't even take a picture but I felt like these ladies who also experienced a "Sock Bun Fail" :

I feel ya ladies. 

When my sock bun trial resulted in complete failure, I didn't even care to try again.

I ripped the rolled up sock out of my hair, threw it across the room and went in search of a snack. 

A couple of weeks ago, I was watching t.v. while Chris was folding laundry. I heard him make a perplexed "huh" sound, but continued to ignore him as I was simultaneously pinning more "I'll never really do this" pins to my Pinterest boards. 

About a minute later Chris said to me: "Honey? What happened to this sock? How did the toe cut get off so perfectly?" It was then that I looked at him and saw this: 

He was genuinely confused. 

The poor sock, that was thrown when it failed me miserably, had made it's way into the laundry and now had a new purpose:

A toeless foot warmer.

My favorites:

I L-O-V-E these three:

Since I got Betty in 2006, I've never been able to go to the bathroom without an audience.

Every time you are woken up from thunder and lightning, just know I'm awake too....with a freaked out whiny shaking baby named Layla.

aaaand this guy:

I totally would have had a crush on him if he were my teacher. 

Happy Friday!

#hashtag

A few weeks back Chris, Christian, and I had a lengthy in-depth conversation about twitter, and what the # symbol means. I'm sure you've seen it, you'll be watching your favorite t.v. show when all of a sudden a "#modernfamily" thing will randomly pop up on the screen. If you don't understand what twitter is (hi mom!) or what a # means, don't worry...I'm not going to try to explain it. When I tried to explain it to tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumbass, it was way over their heads: "I still don't get it"   "Yeah, soooo it's a number sign but not for numbers?"  "potato".

The whole point of that story, besides wanting to call Chris and Christian tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumbass, was to say, every Thursday my facebook newsfeed is filled with #TBT,  and an old picture of the person. I finally asked my friend, Mackenzie, what the heck I was missing out on that was making me feel really uncool and old. She explained it meant "Throw Back Thursday" and you post an old pic of yourself or someone else you know from way back when. I got excited because I love to drag out old pictures, and then I got unexcited because I realized I could throw wayyyy back, like 1984 back.

Still I've decided to participate, sibling style, because if you're going to feel old and embarrassed,  why not drag your siblings along with you?

Chris and I before prom, 2002

 Christian, circa 2004. I don't even think he could drive yet, love the metal mouth, and the hair.

 Andrew, 2006. 

Yes, I made him that crown, and insisted he wear it....this was when he was still obliging.
Smooshy face! Take online classes, and move back home!!

 Hey! That #Throw Back Thursday wasn't too bad, you should try it!

 And even though #TBT may not be so kind as you get older, just remember: there is always someone older than you.....

Hey you're a sibling too Sister-in-law!

Chris and his sister, Amanda, 2001.

Meet me in St. Louis

We traveled to St. Louis last weekend. The usual gang went, except we swapped Christian, who was in a wedding, for Andrew! We drove the 3 1/2 hours to St. Louis, and headed straight for the ball field. I have never been to a St. Louis game, and the new stadium is amazing. Look at this view:

 The arch! I have never been inside but my family members have and they said it's worth going in.

Fortunately, we were in the shade and didn't have the sun beating down on us. 

It was one of those "no weather" weather days. Where you're just as comfortable wearing a light jacket or t-shirt without fear of freezing or sweating to death. There is something about a clear blue sky, and 72 degree day that just puts everyone in a good mood (Our humid summers and cold winters are jealous, California!):

 I put this picture on my dad's facebook and titled it: "Dad's favorite child." 

It was not disputed, rude!

The outfield was detailed to perfection to look like the arch:

 Doesn't the infield make you want to run the bases? The grounds crew worked tirelessly before the game, making sure there wasn't a single unwanted bump or speck of dirt out of place.

 We were all super excited for the game to start. 

Have I mentioned Chris and I aren't even Cardinals fans? Washington Nationals, all the way baby!

 

 I always love getting candid shots of these two:

 Sweet beard, Chris! You're very manly.

 In our house 'No shave November' starts at the end of August.

After the game we met up with our friend from College, Nolan, and his girlfriend, Morgan. 

Chris is laughing because Nolan was purposely, and awkwardly, posing with his hand on his leg.

Morgan and I bonded over the fact that we love to run every picture (unapologetically) through the instagram app, giving us cooler looking pictures:

Although now that I'm looking at this, I can't tell if has been instagrammed?

Good pic anyways, Morgan!

 Mom didn't want her picture taken whether it was instagrammed or not.

 

The next day I think we all felt tired, like Andrew:

But my dad gave us a Captain Morgan style wake-up call and we were up and at 'em in no time.

 Considering I ate this beautiful Junk yard dog the night before, at the ball park,  topped onions, relish, ketchup and mustard......

Yes, I LOVE onions and I am unashamed.

 I figured, I should eat a wholesome and healthy breakfast......

 Just kidding. I didn't even eat the omelet:

 Hello chocolate donut.