Mynee's Musings

No Doubt

We saw No Doubt at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater with Lisa and Randy last night.  The concert was great and I knew more songs than I thought I would.  Gwen Stefani's voice is amazing and oh my goodness, she's in such great shape.  Not many people could run around the stage for over 90 minutes while singing and then do 10 push-ups; guy push-ups, not girly push-ups. 

Bedouin Soundclash opened the show followed by Paramore.  I had never heard of either one of these groups before.  While I probably wouldn't buy their CD's, they were good, just not my style.  There were a lot of little kids (read 16 and under) who absolutely lost their minds when Paramore took the stage.  Oh my goodness...I felt so old, although the beer guy did card me and didn't card my baby sister!

Busy day tomorrow...St. Louis Bread Company, Fan Fest, City Garden, Blueberry Hill, Muny.  Stay tuned for deets.

Sammy & Sarah

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July.  We went to my sister and brother-in-in law's house for bbq and fireworks; sparklers and snap-n-pops.  We used to light "bigger" fireworks until about 4 years ago when a Wildwood cop decided to drive through the neighborhood.  "Sir with the punk..."  Hee hee hee, that still cracks me up.

We didn't eat at Highland Brewing on Friday as planned. I decided to call them on Friday afternoon just to make sure that they were open.  Someone answered and told me that they were closed all week for construction.  Oh well, we'll have a chance to visit them soon.  We decided to go to Harrah's and eat at Sammy Hagar's Beach Bar & Grill instead.  We've been wanting to try it for some time and just have never gotten around to it until now.  While the menu isn't large, there is a nice variety of dishes.  I had the ahi tuna sandwich which has a honey teriyaki glaze, sesame seeds and scallions on a brioche roll.  It was super yummy.  I chose the sweet potato fries as a side and I loved them.  Bill had the pollo bocadillo which is a chicken breast with carmelized onions, peppers, cheddar, monterey jack cheese, avacado and pico de gallo.  Although somewhat messy to eat, he did enjoy it.      

On a political note, Sarah Palin's resignation makes me sad.  I think she could have a great career in politics and I hope that this doesn't hurt her chances of running for President in 2012.  Of course, as soon as this news broke, a few of the trouble makers over on the CE forum of the stamping site had to start their Sarah-bashing.  These women claim that Sarah Palin has no political future, yet the very mention of her name makes their blood boil.  It makes no sense to me.  If they don't perceive her to be a threat, why do the even waste their time talking about her?  Anyway, we conservatives stood up to these women which made them spitting mad,  One of the biggest trouble makers then took her anger to her blog where she resorted to name calling, making fun of peoples looks and questioning another woman's parenting ability.  This is the woman I've referred to in the past as "Anonymous" since that is the name she chooses when she comments on my blog.  The funny thing is that her anger caused her to be banned from the stamping site.  Good riddance.  

I'm planning to spend some time in the Blue Heart Studio tonight so hopefully I'll have a few new creations to share with you soon.  Happy Sunday!

     

Happy 4th

 

Have a safe and

happy 4th of July

Modesto & Miatas

We ate dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Modesto, last night.  It's a tapas restaurant and, as I've mentioned before, I love tapas.  We sampled a few of our favorites as well as a few new items:

• SOBRASADA - (homemade chorizo spread, piquillo peppers, Mahón cheese) new menu addition, great combination of flavors
• TORTILLA ESPAÑOLA - (Spanish omelet with potato and onion) one of our favorites 
•  ALBÓNDIGAS CASERAS - (veal and pork meatballs with Manchego cheese and tomato sauce) another one of our favorites 
• PATATAS DOS SALSAS - (crispy fingerling potatoes with aioli and tomato sauce) new menu item, crispy oven baked potatoes lightly tossed in a sweet tomato sauce, very large portion 
• SALPICÓN DE MARISCO - (shrimp, calamari and crab in dijon-tarragon vinaigrette) I can't stand calamari so Bill enjoyed this one by himself.   
• BUÑUELOS DE BACALAO - (salt cod fritters with lemon aioli) new menu item, mild salt cod lightly breaded and fried  
• BISTEC A LA CABRALES - (grilled hanger steak with Cabrales cheese and port reduction) Bill's favorite 
• CHURROS Y CHOCOLATE  - (fried doughnuts with warm chocolate sauce) I had to leave room for these!  

While sangria is their signature drink, neither one of us are big fans of sangria so we enjoyed a couple New Belgium brews (Skinny Dip and 1554 Black Ale) with dinner instead.  Just like I don't like fruit floating in my beer, I don't like it floating in my wine either...hee hee hee.  Anyway, I think we ordered way too much as I couldn't even finish all of the potatoes and salt cod.  I had to leave foom for the churros!           

Bill and I are both off work today for the 4th of July holiday.  We're having the outside of our house power-washed as I type this.  We've lived in our house for almost 14 years now and have never had to have it power-washed but, this spring, I noticed that there is green mold growing on the east side of the house, presumably because that side gets the least amount of sun and we had a fairly rainy spring.  Anyway, my car is currently at the dealer for an oil change and state inspection since my plates expire this month.  We're in the market for a new car (or should I saw that I'm in the market for a new car...wink, wink) so maybe I can convince Bill that we need to take a test drive.  I'm planning on buying a new Miata to replace my 2001 Miata although I think that I want to wait for the 2010 model.  I don't think I'll ever drive anything other than a two-seater convertible again.  It's just too much fun!

We're going to eat dinner at Highland Brewing (fka Alandale Brewing) tonight.  I can't wait to taste their new brews, especially the dry hopped rye APA, porter and the IPA.  I'm taking a blog break tomorrow for the 4th of July holiday but I'll be sure to let you know all about our visit to Highland in my Sunday post.

I hope you all have a great 4th of July! 

    

Manoose

There have been quite a few celebrity deaths lately; David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Fred Travalena and Gale Storm.  I probably should also mention Mickey Carroll, a St. Louis native and life-long resident who played one of the Munchkins in Wizard of Oz.  

I have a funny story to share about Gale Storm and her TV show "My Little Margie."  When I was little, probably around 2, reruns of "My Little Margie" aired on TV.  This show originally ran from 1952 to 1955 and began as a summer replacement for "I Love Lucy" which happens to be one of my all-time favorite shows.  Anyway, whenever "My Little Margie" came on TV, I would jump up and down and shout, "Manoose."  Hee hee hee...I guess I was trying to say My Little Margie.  I would sit for the entire 30 minutes and watch the show.  I'm not sure what a 2 year old would find fascinating about it but, then again, I guess I was a silly kid.

Annie

We saw Annie at The Muny last night.  We've seen it twice before, once in 1999 and again in 2004.  Although it's not my favorite "kid" show (Wizard of Oz holds that distinction) it is cute and I love the songs The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow, Maybe and Hard Knock Life.  Bill and I agree that this was the best production of Annie to date.  The casting of Miss Hannigan, Annie and Daddy Warbucks was perfect.  Daddy Warbucks was played by John Schuck who, for those of you old enough to remember McMillan & Wife, played Sgt. Charles Enright, partner of Commissioner McMillan. 

It was 94 degrees yesterday with a heat index of 101.  Although that is pretty hot, we've definitely been at Muny performers when it's been even hotter.  We had our water mist bottles with the fan and  our little mini fans so that definitely helped.  It would have been miserable without them.  Because it was so hot, we decided not to have a picnic dinner in the park.  We ate dinner at Houlihan's in Chesterfield Mall since it is on the way to the Muny and I figured it wouldn't be too crowded.  After we ate, we stopped by Archiver's which is right across from Houlihan's (wow, I wonder if I had that in mind when I made the suggestion of where to eat...hee hee hee).  I wanted to stay inside as long as possible before sitting in the heat for 3 hours so a quick browse through Archiver's seemed to be the perfect solution. 

There is no Muny performance next week due to the July 4th holiday.  The next performance is Meet Me In St. Louis on July 10.  Stay tuned...

Father's Day

I hope everyone had a nice Father's Day yesterday.  We had a Father's Day BBQ; chicken, potato salad, slaw, tomato salad, lemonade ice cream pie, etc.  Yum.  Here's the card I made for my dad.

Ingredients:

Ink - Dark Chocolate by Papertrey Ink 

Card stock - Dark Chocolate by Papertrey Ink, Certainly Celery, Whisper White and Kraft by @Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper - by Papertrey Ink

Images - Trendy Trees by @Stampin' Up, sentiment by savvystamps.com

Accessories- spiral punch, linen thread and brad by @Stampin' Up, button and ribbon by Papertrey Ink 

It's extremely hot here and will be all week.  Temperatures are expected to be in the high 90's with a heat index of 110.  Yikes. 

Back From Nashville

We drove to Nashville on Thursday specifically to hear some wonderful music.  No, not country music.  Neither one of us likes country, especially the twangy stuff.  We actually went to see a Fleetwood Mac concert.  We left Thursday morning at about 8:00 and arrived in Nashville at 1:30.  Not bad considering we stopped twice for a bathroom break and a soda. 

We stayed at the Marriot Renaissance Hotel.  We checked in and then headed to Big River Grill & Brewing for a light lunch.  We had the asiago artichoke crab dip and crab cakes.  We also had a few brews.  Bill had the nut brown and the pilsner and I had the red ale and the maibock.  We then walked around and checked out the shops.  We headed back to the hotel to relax for an hour or so and then we drove to Blackstone Brewing.  I had the cajun pasta which was wonderful and Bill had the ribs which he said were the best he has had in a long time.  I had the IPA, Bill had the nut brown and then we both had a St. Charles Porter for dessert.  We then drove back to the hotel and walked to Big River again for an Iron Horse Stout which we enjoyed while sitting on their covered outdoor patio.  It was a little warm but there were ceiling fans plus a little bit of a breeze so it was very nice.

Yesterday morning, we ate breakfast at our hotel and then drove to the Grand Ole Opry.  As I mentioned, we are not fans of country music but I figured that since we were in Nashville, we had to visit the Grand Ole Opry.  We really enjoyed it.  We learned a lot about the history of the Opry and we were able to go backstage to see the dressing rooms as well as stand on the stage itself.  After the tour, we went to the Opryland Hotel to eat lunch at Cascades, a wonderful seafood restaurant.  We had the crab soup which was absolutely yummy.  I then had the blackened grouper sandwich with a wonderful Cajun roumalade with capers and roasted corn and Bill had the turkey club.  After lunch, we walked around and visited all of the little shops, stopping for ice cream at one point.  After shopping, we drove back to the hotel and relaxed in the hotel bar for about an hour, enjoying a local brew by Yazoo Brewing.  We then headed to Big River Grill & Brewing for dinner.  Since we had eaten a late lunch, we weren't extremely hungry so we ordered the Southwest Egg Rolls and salads; Bill had the Caesar and I had the Cobb...yummy!  I had a red ale and a nut brown and Bill had a nut brown ale.  We then walked to the Sommet Center for the concert.  Yes, it was the same concert that we saw here in St. Louis and then in Kansas City three days later.  My oldest niece said, "That's just silly."  Hee hee hee...yeah, I guess it is silly but it was a great concert and we really enjoyed it.  Afterward, we walked back to Big River for a final Iron Horse Stout.  

We were on the road this morning by about 7:45 am and we arrived home at 1:00 pm.  We had a great time but it's always nice to be back home.

 

42nd Street

The 91st season of the Muny opened last night with 42nd Street.  Yes, we still have our Friday night tickets, however, we traded in our tickets for this weeks performance because we have a previous engagement this Friday.  Anyway, the show was great.  We had seen 42nd Street in 2004 and it immediately became one of my favorites.  The songs are great (We're in the Money, I Only Have Eyes For You and 42nd Street just to name a few).  I loved all of the tap dancing.  Tap dancing always fascinates me.  Just a perfect show to open the season!

It rained heavily most of the day yesterday but it cleared up during the late afternoon and there wasn't a drop of rain during the performance and the temperature was perfect.  We had planned to have a picnic dinner in the park but, since the ground was too wet, we ate at Big Bear Grill instead.

I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of the shows this season.

  

23 Years

OMG.  Has it really been 23 years?  Yes, Bill and I were married 23 years ago today.  That's almost half of my life time ago!  Yikes.

Here's the card I made for him.  Being the avid Captain & Tennille fan that I am, I love the "love will keep us together" sentiment and I use it whenever I can...

 

Ingredients:

Ink - Dark Chocolate by Papertrey Ink 

Card stock - Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy, Kraft and Vintage Cream by Papertrey Ink 

Patterned Paper - by @Stampin' Up    

Images - Itty Bitty Buds by @Stampin' Up, sentiment by Papertrey Ink 

Accessories- buttons by Papertrey Ink, Top Note die and linen thread by @Stampin' Up, ribbon by Michaels

The Muny season opens tomorrow with 42nd Street.  Stay tuned for details...