Monday, June 28, 2010

Smith Bed & Breakfast

Other than the Dixie Chicks/Eagles concert I got to see with Stephanie and her family, I got to hang with my family for a couple days. Got to visit a bit Wed. evening when I got there and then Thursday morning as the day was starting out. I kind of went missing most of Thursday because I had a major case of ants in the pants. The anticipation of the concert was too much for me to just chill, so I went out and about.I started out at Old St. Charles and walked up down the street of little shops, waiting for The Olde Town Spice Shoppe to open. I wanted to get the parents some thank you rib rubs for watching the Sparkster. After that, I bopped back to the house to see what Aunt Joyce and John were up to. I honestly don't remember at this point. I just remember heading out to a mall and coming back mid-afternoon to Uncle Brian and John getting back from the pool. Shortly after, I headed downtown to beat all the rush hour traffic. I enjoyed my gelato and the concert. Surprisingly, my cousin Tom was still up when I got back in the evening, so I got to share some of the concert experience with him.
Friday was all about the chillin' with Joyce, John, and Ben (my older cousin Charlie's 1-year-old). We got a quick Costco trip in before spending most of the day baking/cooking for a event at their church in the evening. After dropping off the food at church, Brian was home from work, so we all went to El Agave for dinner. Gotta love the local Mexican restaurant. Then it was back to the house to fill Brian in on my concert and talk some baseball with John.I headed out Saturday morning... apparently to save Lizzie from Sparky sooner than later. Who would have thought he'd cramp her style? Anyway, it was a super fun visit and great mini vacation.

A Few Photos of Bush Stadium

Tonight I'm doing my best not to scratch the crazy itchy poison ivy dots I have on my legs. I'm also hoping that Sparky didn't pick up anymore itchy oils while when walked though Springdale tonight.

To keep my hands busy, I thought I'd take the opportunity to add a few photos from my Dixie Chicks concert. I got to the stadium quite early, so I got into the gates quicker than most. This is a good hour prior to the main concert starting. Don't forget, you can click on the photo to see it larger.
I wish I had photos of how the field looked after they got done tearing down everything. The base of the stage was up for at least 72 hours... I wonder if the grass got burnt or not?
This photo is as close as my camera could zoom in from the lower deck. Close enough to tell who is who. I'll spare you a couple of the photos I took. One of the port-o-potties lined up along the warning track. One of my car from the second deck of the stadium, I got a primo parking spot. And, be thankful I didn't post my water bottle video... I thought it was cool to see the Jurassic Park effect in my water bottle during the booming bass of the Dixie Chicks playing Landslide.

If you're ever in St. Louis and are in the neck-of-the-woods of The City Museum, you have to stop by the Gelateria for some absolutely delicious gelato (an Italian specialty ice cream).

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Mississippi - Dixie Chicks

I went to see the Dixie Chicks Thursday night at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. I met up with Steph and her husband, and a small gaggle of her aunts and uncles.

I've been trying to figure out how many years it has been since I saw the DXC. I believe Emily, Matt, and I saw them in 2003. They put on a great show with all the bells and whistles. I couldn't wait for them to tour again. Their last tour was after their last album in 2006, which I was supposed to see with Emily in Denver, but after they rearranged tour dates, we weren't able to go. Who reschedules a concert date for Thanksgiving weekend?

Anyway, It's been a good 7 years since I've seen the DXC and 4 since I've heard any new music from them. When I first heard of their tour with The Eagles, I was in! The most I've ever spent on a ticket in my life, but quite the fun experience with such great musicians, singers, and songwriters!

Here's the Dixie Chicks singing one of my favorite songs Sheryl Crow has ever recorded. The song is Mississippi and was written by Bob Dylan. On another note, I wish I had video of the DXC singing Soul Sister by Train... it was such a fun version.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Spring Cleaning One Day Late

I just realized that I'm taking my first vacation days of the year, and my first trip since I got Sparky. I'm so excited about getting out of town, I decided that if I'm going to do this right... I'm going to come home to a pretty clean house. I haven't cleaned all surfaces, but I've cleaned things that I probably haven't touched since my last vacation.

It's nice to feel that I've accomplished some things around the house. Too bad there weren't a few more hours in the day. I would have had the chance to get one step closer to passing a white glove test.

Time to wind down, so I can rest up and kick butt the next two days at work.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Runnin' Behind

Mowing and weed-wacking the lawn has set me behind this evening. Not only did I end up with a green dog, but he also had stripes of brown. Ewwwww. I was not about to let him in the house, so I went inside to grab the doggie shampoo and turned the outside hose on. I totally gave Sparky a bath in the backyard. It was awesome! It was so much more efficient than using the bathtub. No pitchers of water or trying to shove Sparky under the faucet. Wish I had a photo of the outside bath to share.

I have to pull off some random photos from the phone and camera, but may not get to until the weekend. Time to get some things done around the house now.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Keep on Movin'

I didn't do any walking over the weekend because of the on and off rainy weather we had. I can't say that the weather has changed lately, but I had more motivation and took advantage of some of the windows of sunshine and have made it out to Springdale the last couple of nights with the Sparkster. Tonight was kind of odd because I saw only one other person and just one car while walking. I guess the rain scared everyone else away.

Definitely been keeping busy with work lately. It's gotten pretty overwhelming and today it turned me slap-happy-silly. Hopefully I'll be able to focus more tomorrow.

I'm already looking forward to the weekend. I'm thinking about going to the Chiefs game Friday night, but not sure if I can find anyone to go with me. They're giving away t-shirts to the first 1,500 people. I guess we'll see how the week goes.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Whitney's Walk For Life 2010

Last year I caught up with my favorite teacher growing up during an art show at the Luthy Botanical Garden. I now have a piece of her artwork in my living room, in exchange for a donation to Whitney's Walk For Life, which raises money for the Mental Health Association of Illinois Valley. My donation was in memory of her daughter, Lynn Pastucha, who was a class and teammate of mine growing up.

I'm glad to have reconnected because I was asked to join her team this year. I'm going to participate in the walk on Saturday, July 31st. I've chipped in an $25 beyond my entry fee and I'm daring my friends and family to match my donation. If you've got the time, I'd love to have you walking with us!

This event is hitting home for me, as I've continued to deal with my anxiety issues this year. I can't imagine how I would have coped with something like this or depression at a younger age. If you don't know what to do in celebration of my 30th birthday on July 28th, then think about opening your pocketbook for a good cause.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Not so exhuberant

I mowed the grass this evening and I don't think Sparky rolled once. He seemed to have more fun chasing me around the yard. His feet did turn green, but my handy-dandy pet wipes seem to have taken care of that.

Today was a beautiful day and I'm kind of bummed that I have a job that forces me to be inside sitting behind a desk. If only I didn't have to go back to work after lunch time... that would have been awesome.

I put some beer in containers out in the front flowerbeds last night. Luckily all I caught was about 12 slugs. I hope to get some more tonight. My hostas have gotten quite holey.

Got an email tonight about Kathy Griffin playing in Bloomington in late July. I really think this may be the best birthday week ever... we shall see.

I've been watching Last Comic Standing tonight and the female judges laugh is quite grating. I'm not quite sure who she is, never seen her before. I think it'll be a good season, but they just need to turn down her mic a bit.

Hope it doesn't rain too much tomorrow. Sparky and I should be headed down to the ballpark with Tom. I'm guessing it will be an adventure for all.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

First Cornbelters Game

Tom suggested we go to the Cornbelters second ever game last night. Surprisingly, every Wednesday is Dog Day at the ball park... but we decided to leave Sparky at home for this trip.





Some areas of the parking lot were still under construction so we parked at Heartland Community College and walked over. As we walked in the ballpark through the outfield entrance, the first thing we saw was corn in the outfield. So cool.

I didn't have a chance to check out the team's website before going, so I assumed they had a big ole ear of corn as a mascot. I was wrong... they have one of the fun goofy mascots like the Phillie Fanatic, only his name is Corny.





Tom mentioned that an article he read in the paper noted that the ballpark, Corn Crib, has the best women's restroom in almost all of baseball. I can't say that I would argue with that one bit. Although, if you're going to go all out in the stall like that, you might as well increase your toilet paper budget and buy some plush toilet paper.






It's not often that I'm in a fancy bathroom, so I was kind of amazed to see this type of faucet. Being able to see the water flow out of the faucet. Pretty neat. I'd be curious to see if they still use the super thick paper towels come the end of the season or next year. Quite nice.

Aside from the grotesque 50's couch in the basement bathroom at my office. I can't recall seeing furniture in a bathroom not in a mall. Not sure I'd want to relax in a bathroom, even though the atmosphere was so beautiful.




So, where did we sit you ask? Tom and I went all out and splurged on some seats that allowed us to "Come Rock with the Cornbelters". We sat behind homeplate on the concourse in a couple rocking chairs, with an end table to set our food on. How cool is that! Extremely comfy and spacious!






It was also Family Fun Fest at the game, but I didn't get outside to the front of the stadium until a couple innings in and most of the booths were closed up. Gosh darn it, I could have had my very own baseball card!

There was a small traveling baseball museum still set up, so I took a quick walk through it. It had little pieces of some of the best baseball movies ever made including my favorite, A League of Their Own. They also had a bat from The Natural.

Here's a shot so you can see a good portion of the Corn Crib. No upper deck, but the had suites at the top of the first and third base sides and the "offices" for the media were near the home plate area on the concourse. No reason the Chiefs couldn't have gotten away with a setup like this for a low-A ballclub. About half the cost and holds about 6,000.

There also isn't much need for a big ground crew. Everything but the warning track and bases on the field was that new turf material. Apparently they still need someone on staff to roll the field into a pattern and level out the "rubber pieces" within the turf.

What did the view from our rocking chairs look like? Take a look-see for yourself. Here's my video of a Cornbelter hitting a single.