Not Cool...

...When I let you borrow a book from me, it's not cool when A. you keep it for over 2 months and B. you return it looking like this:

Seriously?

Another Wedding!!!

...this past Saturday, we attended the last wedding of the wedding season. My co-worker Stacey got married! We only attended the reception. She had a gorgeous day for an outdoor wedding but since it was a smaller venue, she didn't invite everyone to the ceremony.

I must admit that I thought I looked pretty cute. First time for me in leggings! Too bad I didn't get a full length photo-sorry! Here I am though with my co-worker Paula (R) and my good friend Stevie (L). I'll be in her wedding next April.

Here's the beautiful bride. Her dress had so much detail on it, it was gorgeous! Yes, we are in the bathroom. This was the only time I ran into her!

Have fun on your honeymoon and see ya when you get back!

World Series Baby!!!

...I am seriously the LUCKIEST girl alive! Not only has my dad taken my sis, H and I to an NLDS game AND a NLCS game BUT last Wednesday, he took us to our first ever WORLD SERIES game!!! It was Game 1 of the Cardinals vs Rangers at Busch Stadium. Thank you Prince Fielder (of the Brewers who we beat in the NLCS playoffs) for giving the National League the home field advantage by hitting a bomb during the All Star Game.

Unlike the first two games we went to, the temperatures were going to be frigid! I had on two pairs of socks, long underwear, jeans, a tshirt, longsleeve shirt, sweatshirt, jacket, stocking cap and when we sat down, I wrapped up in a fleece blanket. This girl was NOT cold! It did drizzle a bit but we hardly noticed with all the layers we had on.

We got to the game and found out we were in section 166-sweet! H and I were pretty excited, "World Series baby!!!"

This is me, my dad and my sis. Photo taken my 7 year old H which explains the angle.

Michelle Obama and Jill Biden came so security was "extra tight." Other than secret service on the roof of the stadium and you couldn't bring in outside drinks (thanks ladies for making me pay $5 for a bottled water), it wasn't tight at all. They must have left about inning 5 or 6 because the men on top of the stadium were gone by then.

We got there early enough so we ventured down to the field and H snapped this pic of me and my sis.

Probably like 100 military men and women came out and presented this HUGE flag for the National Anthem. It was pretty awesome!

Freese on second!

We won!!! H was so excited that she started crying. When we asked her why she said, "This is just SO awesome!" She's so sweet.

3-2 baby!!! Love that I caught this guy on the screen.

Let's go Cards!!! How about 11 in '11???

Goodbye Lola...

...it is with great sadness that I found out fellow blogger, Lola, passed away this week. Almost one year ago, Lola was diagnosed with hypoplastic myelodysplastic sydrome and needed a bone marrow transplant to change save her life. Lola fight hard but in the end, it was her decision to stop the fight. Luckily, I had sent her an email back in August to check in with her and she'd sent me her CaringBridge site to keep tabs on her.

Straight from her father's words on her CaringBridge site: "Many have asked me what they can do to help or honor Laura's memory. I will share with you this fact & you can be guided accordingly. What kept Laura alive during the 8 months before and the 3 months after her bone marrow transplant, was the weekly transfusion of blood and platelets. Those blood products are ONLY available because of the generous & selfless donors who took the time to donate blood. It truly is the gift of life and the most direct way any of us can save another persons life. Please donate when you can."

So please next time you see a blood drive, stop and save three lives and do so in memory of Lola AKA Laura the Strong. Many prayers for her husband, parents and family and thank you Laura for being a part of blog land. Your strong will and fight is an inspiration for all of us.

Monster Munch...

...so at my Game Night, I had high hopes of doing Halloween themed food but then I defaulted back to my usual...meatballs and chips/dip but I DID try to make Monster Munch. Let me tell you that the sauce is AMAZING...chocolate, peanut butter, marshmallows and butter. LOL-what's NOT to love??? Okay on to the recipe:


Ingredients

* 2 bags (3.3 oz each) ACT II® Butter Microwave Popcorn
* 4 cups corn-and-rice cereal
* 2 cups tiny pretzel twists
* 2 cups miniature marshmallows, divided
* 1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
* 1/2 cup Peter Pan® Creamy or Crunchy Peanut Butter
* 1/4 cup Parkay® Original-stick
* 2 cups confectioners' sugar
* 1 cup peanuts, optional

Directions

1. Prepare popcorn according to package directions. Remove all unpopped kernels. Combine popped corn, cereal and pretzels in large bowl.
2. Melt 1 cup of the marshmallows, chocolate morsels, peanut butter and Parkay in medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Drizzle marshmallow mixture evenly over popcorn mixture, tossing to coat.
3. Sprinkle confectioners' sugar over mixture, tossing to coat. Spread mixture in single layer on large piece of waxed paper; cool completely.
4. Toss the remaining 1 cup marshmallows and peanuts, if desired, with popcorn mixture before serving. Store in tightly sealed container.

Here's my finished product, not pretty but oh so delicious! And this recipe makes a TON! I had two HUGE bowlfuls. Matt was happy because he got an entire bowl to himself which he deserved because he spent Friday night cleaning the house while I worked. Thank you Pretty!

The only bad thing was that I had powdered sugar EVERYWHERE!!!

It's All Fun & Games House Party!!!

...I won a House Party for a game night that I hosted this past weekend. Who doesn't love game nights? And now I've got 2 new games to add to my collection: "Quelf" and "Logo."

Apparently, "Quelf" is a pretty crazy "sit on your neighbor's lap" kind of game so we opted to play 2 games of Logo. Marcy won the first and Cece won the second. Basically, each round is a brand and asks 4 questions about their marketing. Some were really easy and others, I had no freakin' clue. Jen, of course, was great at this game and it even prompted a YouTube search of Pampers "Poop There It Is." FYI-I HATE that commerical.

Jen with her thinking jacket on:

Luckily, Matt got home in time to eat all the food we were gorging ourselves on and snap this picture.

It was a fun time and now we all have to get together again to play some "Quelf!" Thanks House Party!!!

NLCS Game 3-Go Cards!!!

...my sister, H and I have been VERY lucky ladies when it's come to Cardinals' Playoff games this year. My dad took us to Game 3 of the NLDS a couple weeks ago and last week, he took us to Game 3 of the NLCS. We got there early to check out the rally and so H could get her face painted. Here's H and I outside the Stadium with the Arch in the background:

If you haven't heard of the Rally Squirrel then you're missing out! I love the Rally Squirrel since squirrels are the mascot of my sorority. Here's H and my dad with the famous Jack Buck saying, "Go nuts, folks! Go nuts!" Turns out we couldn't take the signs in because they had advertising on the back-LAME!

Despite a Fredbird freakout (H is TERRIFIED of him!) and having to wait in line FOREVER to get her face painted (like 5 grandmas were in front of her and wanted some big elaborate decorations), I was SUPER excited we made it to the rally. Jack Clark and MIKE MATHENY were there and you could get your picture taken with them. Now let me tell you about Mike Matheny...he was the catcher for the Cardinals before Yadi. At Old Busch, you could hang out where the players parked and after games Matheny was the ONLY big-name player that would stop and talk to fans. And I don't just mean one or two, I mean EVERY game, win or lose, traveling the next day or not, Matheny would get out of his car and take a picture, sign autographs, shake hands with every.single.person. He is what every baseball player should be...loyal to his fans. I have a few pictures with him after games from back in 2003-2004 but, of course, now I can't find them because digital cameras weren't big then.

So we waited in line and finally got up there to take a picture with them. I told my sister before we went up there, "I'm standing next to Matheny!" I shook his hand and freaked out in my head when he put his hand on my back and then as our photo op ended, I knew I HAD to say something. I turned around and blurted out talking quickly, "OMG! I'm such a huge fan! I loved when you played for the Cardinals!" My sister nodded, "She is! She has pictures with you from then." H just stood between us smiling and wondering why we were acting so goofy. Matheny was super nice and laughed and smiled and thanked us. He's a pretty awesome guy in my book! My dad was being all chatty with Jack Clark and I had to tell him to stop talking during the picture. That's why him and Jack look funny.

We got to our seats and some people from Cape were seating just 2 rows behind us! They took this picture of us. Matt and his sister went to the game on Thursday night. My dad was there in the same seats we were in the night before. Turns out, Matt and his sis were in the exact same row just one section over!

The Rally Squirrel telling us to GO NUTS! FYI-last time the Brewers and Cards met in post season play was during the 1982 World Series (I wasn't even born yet!) AND...the Cardinals won!

And we brought home a winner! Cards won and took the lead in the series. Come on Cards-keep it going!!!

Thanks Dad for taking us!!!