Vegas by bike

I wanted to share with you a few pictures of Chris and the guys from his Vegas trip.  This was his official Bachelor Party, even though we aren’t getting married till January.  I was under the impression that "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas," but evidently pictures and video were taken, and at this point I think I have heard everything that happened in Vegas, most of it several times.  However, most of the pictures/video are of golf, which happened 3 or 4 days.

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Will, Norbert, John Mac, Jon R, Chris, Jeff, and Dave.  Also pictured:  Dave’s Vegas Mustache.

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Chris golfing!

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Yes, it’s a slow blog day ;)  But I think those are some nice pictures of the guys (and Dave’s mustache.)  Dave is Chris’s best man, Norbert and John Mac.  Dave’s mustache, sadly, has already left us—but perhaps it will return again some day.

My fun is yet to come:  Next weekend both my sisters are coming to St Louis for the first time!  We are going to have so much fun.  In fact, we will not do ANY golfing, and perhaps won’t even WATCH any golf, or football, or television.  It’ll be CRAZY.  (We may watch Gilmore Girls and Alias…)  There will be lots of eating, baking, cooking, working out, gossiping, and shopping.  Probably lots of coffee as well. 

My father sets out for his bike trip soon.  I don’t know exactly when, but he has created a twitter account to keep us all up to date.  If it’s okay with him I’ll share it, if you are interested in following his progress from South Carolina to St Louis to Phoenix, and (I think) to the Pacific Ocean.  On a bike.  And he doesn’t even get a medal or a belt buckle out of it…I don’t know if he’ll make it to Vegas, but I doubt he’ll have his golf clubs with him either way.  I do like the idea of biking over the Hoover Dam though!

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No room for clubs here.  I suppose my title is misleading.  Sorry!

Ben and Jerry’s for Four

I love Mondays this year. 

The symphony always has Monday off.  It’s their weekend (or at least part of it, occasionally Tuesday or Sunday as well.)

Last year I made the schedule error of working all day on Monday.  This meant I could never stay long at Sunday night symphony gatherings, which made me bitter and cranky.  It also meant that I wasn’t around on Chris’s day off and we were never able to do anything together on those days.

This year I only teach at home Monday, so I can sleep in if needed, go out to lunch, or whatnot.  It’s glorious!

In any case, the weather last night was absolutely glorious, so we decided to grill.  We invited our friends Jon and Laura over for an impromptu barbecue.  (Not barbeque.  Remember, that’s one of my spelling bee words, like separate.)

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No gathering is complete without cheese and crackers.  It’s my biggest weakness, yet the easiest way to make your guests feel fancy.

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While waiting for our guests, we did a little photo shoot.  We tried to remember what we had learned the day before.

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I use a more gentle, ladylike hold on the cat.  I tried to get her to kiss me back but she wasn’t having it.  (Wait, did this turn into a Caturday post?  It’s TUESDAY, not Caturday!)  And please ignore that first picture of me that looks like I have a weird skin disease.  I don’t, I swear, it’s the flash!  That circle on my arm doesn’t exist in real life…

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Okay, ANYWAY. 

I naturally took no more pictures during the course of the meal.  We had burgers, cole slaw, and a garbanzo bean salad Laura brought over. 

And then for dessert they brought over a few brownies, which paired perfectly with what I got at the grocery store.

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When I brought it home from the store, Chris gave me a LOOK.  (We don’t generally purchase ice cream, or junk food, because then we eat it.)  I told him we had two choices, we could serve it to our friends, and since one container serves four (according to the nutrition information) that would be perfect, or we could leave it in the freezer and I would eat it all alone one night, while crying in the dark. 

You can guess what we chose.

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Jon worked really hard to evenly distribute the ice cream.  And by that I mean he TOTALLY gave himself the most and pretended it all looked even.  Which was fine, I didn’t need much anyway, just a taste really.

I wonder, were we the first people to ever put a pint of Ben and Jerry’s into four bowls for four people to split?  Does that happen often?  It’s gotta be pretty rare.  That’s healthy living, people.  Splitting a pint of Ben and Jerry’s amongst four of you.  You heard it here first.

Super Romantic

Even though we’ve been engaged since February, we just had our engagement photos taken last night.  I don’t know if people ordinarily get them taken earlier (I think so) but we are not most people.  Since we are getting married in January, I wanted to do an outdoor photo session while the weather is nice.  And BOY was the weather nice last night!

We met our photographer, Sarah Crowder, at the Grand Basin in Forest Park.  Shortly after we moved to St Louis, I played a wedding at the Grand Basin.  I thought it was one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen, and even thought to myself that I would get married there.  Of course, I would never have an outdoor wedding, but I COULD have an outdoor engagement session there!

I had the afternoon off and my shoulders were too sore to practice so I was (naturally) messing around online.  Sarah and I are both twitter addicts so we were having a little fun.

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I was especially amused to have ANOTHER photo shoot on a Sunday.  That’s two Sundays in a row for putting on ridiculous amounts of eye makeup…but the results are worth it.

Anyway, we met up around 6:00 and she took a ton of pictures in various places around the Grand Basin and then near the World’s Fair Pavilion.  Some were more posed, some were less so.  We ended up having a really good time and Chris really relaxed into the shoot.  We shot photos until the light ran out, close to 7:45.  It was GREAT.

I can’t wait to see the results!  Sarah put up one on facebook (even though Chris doesn’t like himself in it, it’s all we’ve got so far…and I think he looks good).

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Guess I’m a runner

Today I definitely feel like a runner.  Why?  Well firstly, I went for a run this morning, the first one in two weeks.  But also because I MISSED it so much…I was getting really cranky, and now I feel like myself.  Running makes me feel like myself.  Ergo, I’m a runner.

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Look at us!  This was afterwards, hence the ridiculous smiles.  Six miles around Forest Park (well, almost 6)…easy peasy.  I’m ready to start running longer.  Seriously, I feel so ALIVE right now.  I suppose that’s the infamous “runner’s high” talking.

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The “runner’s high” is slightly different.

Last night Chris and I went to Vin de Set for appetizers and then met Melissa at Trattoria Marcella.  We had a great time, and had some FANTASTIC food.  I surprised myself by ordering the “Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad” and it was delicious!

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I think Chris and I have some room for improvement in our picture posing.  (Tonight, engagement photo session!)

Oh, and my Las Vegas souvenir:  a new “Gun Store” t-shirt.

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I must have been tired, I don’t see any bulging muscles?

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Oh yeah!

You know what else is making today awesome?

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This weather couldn’t be more fantastic right now.  I am feeling great, and I am ready to continue my half marathon training.

Saturday link randomness

Today’s blog post is dedicated to some fun/interesting stuff I’ve read or seen on the internet recently. 

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Cute Japanese Cat Doughnuts

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Bacon Truck! 

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Bacon Jam!

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Fashion and Classical Music:  Should Classical Musicians be judged by their attire?

Digital Media and Classical Music

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Preschool:  The Best Job-Training Program (funny, people keep getting surprised by how much young children learn!)

Make your own "Cliff Bars"

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That’s it for Saturday Link Randomness.  Enjoy the beautiful weather (if you are having beautiful weather like we are).

Why didn’t we do this earlier?

Meaning, register for wedding gifts!  The doorbell rings, the FedEx or UPS man is there with a box.  He refuses to look you in the eye ever since that one time you answered the door wearing a terrycloth robe (fully covered!).  It’s also awkward because one time he was on the bluetooth and you thought he was talking to you. He never laughs at your jokes, and when you tried to tell him once you were getting married and would be getting lots of deliveries he was nonplussed because he assumed you already were (judging!).  Oh well.  PRESENTS!  WHEEEEEE!

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Complete with creepy expression!!

I’m playing for an anime convention in Collinsville tonight.  Wish me luck.

thoughts about violin, teaching, running, life.