Mynee's Musings

Little House on the Prairie

We saw Little House on the Prairie at the Fox on Saturday.  It was such a cute show.  Melissa Gilbert played the part of Caroline (Ma) Ingalls and she did a great job.  I didn't know she could sing!  The music was great and the young woman named Kara Lindsay who played Laura has a fantastic voice.  There were a lot of little ones in the audience but I think the adults enjoyed the show just as much if not more than the kids.

After the show, we ate an early dinner at Morgan Street Brewery.  I was hoping that their graham cracker porter would be on tap but it won't be ready for another couple of weeks yet.  I guess we'll have to make a return visit.

Thanksgiving 2009

The turkey is in the oven, the table is set and the sides are either already made or will be soon.  Mom, Dad, Lisa, Randy and the kids will be here in less than 2 hours.  Family and food...I love Thanksgiving. 

Here's the card that I made for my Mom & Dad...

Ingredients:

Ink - Chocolate Chip by @Stampin' Up 

Card stock - Kraft, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla by @Stampin' Up

Images - by @Stampin' Up,  

Accessories- Glitter Border by Crate Paper, Cricut Jasmine cartridge, ribbon and button by @Stampin' Up 

Happy Thanksgiving. 

 

Pioneer Woman & People I'd Like to Meet

I received my Pioneer Woman cookbook from Amazon a few days ago.  I absolutely love her website.  She has a great sense of humor and her recipes are amazing.  Her real name is Ree Drummond and she lives on a ranch with her husband and children.  If you've never visited her website, be sure to click here. 

Pioneer Woman was in St. Louis last week for a book signing.  For the past month or so, I had been thinking about going to the signing but about a week before the signing, they changed the venue from Left Bank Books to Christ Church Cathedral because they were expecting A LOT of people.  I'm not fond of standing in lines, especially long lines, for hours and hours.  The change of venue pretty much sealed the deal for me and I decided not to go.  As much as I would have loved to meet her, I was not willing to wait around for hours.  I'm satisifed with my non-autographed copy.  I figure that any recipe I make will taste the same whether the book is autographed or not...hee hee hee.   

This started me thinking about the people for whom I'd be willing to stand in line for a chance to meet.  When I say "in line" I mean for hours and hours.  OK, here's my list.

1. President Reagan - Yes, I  know he's no longer alive but, if he were, I'd stand in line ALL DAY LONG for a chance to meet him.  I saw him "in person" twice; once right before the 1984 election when he was in St. Louis for a campaign stop under the Arch and once in 1986 when he was in St. Louis for a Republican fund-raiser luncheon.  That one was especially cool because my table was right in front and when he and Nancy walked out to the head table and they were literally only 4 feet from me when they walked by.  Oh my goodness.  OK, I digress, but I think you get the idea.
2. President George W. Bush and/or Laura Bush - No, I didn't agree with everything he did during his presidency, but he still was a great President and I believe that we remained safe because of him.  I shudder to think what shape this country would be in if Gore or Kerry had won and I worry every day about what damage the current administration is doing.  Yikes.  As for Laura, I just think she's a wonderful person and I love her personality and would love to meet her.
3. Sarah Palin - She is amazing.  I voted for McCain specifically because of her.  Well, I guess I would have voted for him any way because there was no way I was going to vote for BHO but McCain wasn't my first choice (I voted for Romney in the primary).  Sarah's beliefs and values are much more in line with mine than McCain's are.  When I voted, I told myself that I was voting for Sarah Palin.  McCain just happened to be on the ticket with her.  I truly believe that she will be on the political scene for many years to come.   
4. Captain & Tennille - I've met them several times before (I've lost count actually), but I'd still stand in line to meet them again.  They are enjoying retired life in Arizona so I'm sure I won't ever have the chance to meet them again but who knows.
5. Fleetwood Mac - I'd love to meet the entire group but I'd specifically like to meet Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.  I've seen them in concert about 15 times (plus Stevie solo about 10 times and Linsdsey solo 3 times) but I'd love to actually meet them.  Yeah, like that's ever going to happen.

There you have it.  If you're not on the list, I'm not going to stand in line to meet you...hee hee hee. 

Eclipse and Christmas Lights

We ate dinner at Eclipse on Friday.  It's in the Moonrise Hotel in the Delmar Loop  in University City.  It's a boutique hotel owned by Joe Edwards (bleeding heart who wants to rename Delmar Blvd Barrack Obama Blvd, but I digress).  I started with spinach and cheese toasted ravioli and Bill had the calamari.  For the main course, I had the Pasta Pesto E Pomodoro and Bill had the Gilled Duck Breast (yeah, he's a little more adventurous than I) and we each had a Charleville Tornado Alley Amber Ale.

October was cold and rainy but November has been warmer than usual.  It was sunny and warm today, so much so that I drove with the top down when I ran some errands.  Since it was warm, we decided to hang the outside lights.  We usually wait until after Thanksgiving but, as long as we don't turn them on, what's the difference.  Our neighbor turned on his outside lights yesterday.  Oh my goodness; that's like wearing white after labor day.  Seriously.  It's a decoration faux pas...hee hee hee.  Anyway, here's a picture of Bill relaxing on the roof after he finished hanging the lights.  Doesn't he look like he's having fun?

I spent some time in my Blue Heart Studio (hee hee hee) this weekend.  I'll share my creations soon.

 

New Sizzix Die

I bought a new Sizzix die over the weekend.  It was on sale for 40% off so I just couldn't pass it up (wink, wink).  I bought some glue too but that's not as fun as a new die...hee hee hee.

Ingredients:

Ink - Chocolate Chip by @Stampin' Up 

Card stock - Kraft, Old Olive and Very Vanilla by @Stampin' Up

Images - Weathered by @Stampin' Up, sentiment by Hero Arts 

Accessories- Branch die by Sizzix, Swarovski crystals from Art Beads.

Happy Tuesday. 

In The Heights

The Fox Theater Broadway Series opened this week with In The Heights.  It's a musical about life in Washington Heights in New York which I guess is a section of Manhattan heavily populated by people of Puerto Rican descent.  I absolutely loved the music and the dancing.  It won the 2008 Tony Award for Best Musical.  The next show in the series is White Christmas but we traded the tickets for Little House on the Prairie.  We saw White Christmas at the Muny before it was even on Broadway.  How cool is that?  Anyway, I really wanted to see Little House since I used to watch it when I was a kid.  Besides that, Melissa Gilbert plays Ma.  I'm not sure Bill is really looking forward to it though...hee hee hee.

We ate dinner at Clark Street Grill after the show.  We first ate there back in August during Restaurant Week and thoroughly enjoyed it.  They gave us a coupon for a free bottle of house wine last time if we dined with them again by the end of the year so we decided to take advantage of it.  We arrived before our reservations so we enjoyed a Clark Street Pale Ale in their bar before dinner.  For the appetizer, we had the southwest spring rolls that came with a yummy roasted salsa on the side.  Bill had the strip steak and garlic mashed potatoes and I had the sesame tuna and blue cheese augratin potatoes.  Neither one of us could finish our dinner so we had enough for lunch yesterday.

I had a chance to use my new Cuttlebug folders that I mentioned in my last post.  I can't share my creations yet though.  You'll just have to wait until closer to Christmas.  :)

New Cricut Cartridge

Woohoo.  I mentioned that I bought a new Cricut cartridge last week.  It's called Very Merry Tags and it's super cute!  I love tags.  I don't know why but I just do.  I especially love tags made with the Cricut because I can make them any size I want.  Too cool.  Anyway, here are a few of the tags that I've made so far...

 
I bought a few new Cuttlebug embossing folders too.  I haven't had time to play with them yet though but I'll be sure to post my creations soon.

Lovely As A Tree

I have loved the Lovely as a Tree set for a long time and finally purchased it a few months ago.  It's very versatile and is especially good for making "manly" cards...hee hee hee.  Anyway, I've used it a few times and really love it.  I should have bought it years ago.  Anyway, here's my latest creation.

Ingredients:

Ink - Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and Summer Sun by @Stampin' Up 

Card stock - Pumpkin Pie and Very Vanilla by @Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper - by @Stampin' Up 

Images - Lovely as a Tree by @Stampin' Up

Accessories- Hodgepodge Hardware and ribbon by Stampin' Up

I bought a new Cricut cartridge last week.  Stay tuned. 

LoRusso's, Lubeley's and Lunch

We ate dinner at LoRusso's on Friday.  It had been quite a while since we'd eaten there so I was especially looking forward to it.  It was great, as usual.  We had the fried artichokes and I had the spinach salad (spinach, dried cherries, candied walnuts, carrots and gorgonzola) and the fettucini pollo asiago.  Bill had the Osso Buco.  We don't usually eat dessert but we couldn't pass up the flourless chocolate cake.  Everything was so good and we'll definitely have to make sure we eat there more often.

Yesterday, we stopped by Lubeley's Bakery to pick up some crumb cake.  Oh my goodness, this is the best crumb cake in the world.  I've eaten it since I was a little kid.  You haven't eaten crumb cake until you've eaten a Lubeley's crumb cake.  The layer of crumbs is as thick as the cake underneath.  Some of the crumbs are huge and I always pull them off the cake and eat them last.  Yum.  Guess what!  Lubeley's now ships their baked goods.  If you are reading this and you want to try one of their crumb cakes but don't live in St. Louis, visit their website and give them a call.  You seriously will not be disappointed.  Oh, and the good thing is, the crumb cake can be frozen so that you can keep several on hand to enjoy later.  We currently have two in the freezer and one in the kitchen...hee hee hee.

After our errands, we stopped by St. Louis Bread Company to pick up lunch to eat with my mom and dad.  Super yummy soup, sandwiches, and salad.  My mom and dad had gotten a sugar-free cherry pie for dessert.  You wouldn't even guess that it was sugar free.  It was delicious. 

The weather has been great this weekend.  It was in the upper 70's yesterday and we're headed for the same today.  I washed my car so now it's all nice and shiny again.  We're going to grill marinated flank steak tonight.  Even though it gets dark early, we can't pass up the opportunity to be outside in this gorgeous weather.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Halloween and a Concert

We saw Rob Thomas in concert at the Fox on Halloween.  The entire band wore costumes; the guitar player was dressed as Slash, the drummer word a blond wig (not sure who he was supposed to be), the keyboard player was a surgeon, the two backup singers were a German barmaid and a cat, the bass player was a viking (complete with the helmut with the horns) and the other guitar player was a farmer.  Rob was dressed as a Thriller era Michael Jackson.  He wore a wig and THE red jacket, and a sparkly glove and socks.  Too funny.  During the 3rd or 4th song, Rob stopped singing and had some guy removed.  He apparently didn't like Rob's costume.  I'm not a fan of Michael Jackson the person, however, you can't deny that he was a talented musician. 

Anyway, here are the cards I made for Halloween (in order listed: Josh, Amanda, Sarah, Mom & Dad and Lisa & Randy):

  
  
  

Ingredients:

Ink - by @Stampin' Up 

Card stock - by @Stampin' Up

Images - by @Stampin' Up

Accessories- Top Note die and silver cord by Stampin' Up, rhinestones by Papertrey Ink, Cricut Cartridge 

In other news, I changed my mind and am rooting for the Phillies to win the World Series.  Well, not really but I figured that since every team I've rooted for during this series has lost, I'll root for the Phillies to ensure a Yankee victory...hee hee hee.  It seems to be working!