Nature

The Great Balloon Race

St. Louis hosts a "Great Balloon Race" every September. George, Tanya, and I raced after the balloons. Tanya drove, George navigated, and I hung out the back window taking pictures.

Artistic

"RearView"

This is a picture I made for my living room. The pictures are all from Chicago.

Halloween

My super cute "lion" nephew.

The Stern kids all decked out for Halloween.

Missing Tanya and Killing Poopstain

Tanya's gone this week. It wasn't a big deal until I purchased a book shelf yesterday. It was one of those ones that comes in pieces in a box. It weighed 73 pounds and was almost as tall as I am. It is one of those purchases that drives the cart guys at Target crazy because they have to help the women who are dumb enough to buy something that heavy, but not bring along some man (or woman) who can help her carry it. My cart guy, Joel, was incredibly nice. And he put the box in my car all by himself. After work, I was chomping at the bit to get the shelf put together so that I could get rid of the dorm-roomesque wire crates that are always falling over. I hoisted the box out of my car and began my climb up the sidewalk stairs. About the time I reached the front door of my building, I realized just how much I missed Tanya. By the time I got to my apartment door (on the second floor), I couldn't take it anymore. I opened the door, let the box fall inside...and flopped myself onto the futon until I recovered.

Speaking of this whole shelf-building process, my shelf looks really nice. In fact, my whole bedroom is better because of it. However, there was death in the process of putting it together. My beloved Poopstain, the Virginian bobblehead pig that Trish, Anna, and Bucky (Dorice) purchased for me 6 years ago, took a spill. His body broke into about 6 pieces, but somehow the head stayed completely in tact.

Favorite song of the day: "You Send Me" of off Rod Stewart's Latest Jazz Album

Quote of the day: Brandon and I tried to come up with another fun quote, but it just isn't jiving today.

Maven

My nephew is the cutest kid in the world! These pictures are a couple of months old, but still show just how cute he is!

Quote of the Day

Brandon : You think that that would be ideal.
Amanda: Ideally it WOULD be ideal.

hot drinks, sweaters, garbage disposals, and Jamie Cullum

What a weekend! Saturday night, Tanya and I threw a hot drink and cheesy sweater party. There were a lot of hot drinks, but the favorite was clearly Neil's homemade chai. We had a moment of elation on Sunday afternoon as we discovered how little of the assorted hot chocolates were used. More for us-woo-hoo!!

The sweaters at our party were hilarious! Cliff sported a grey with hot pink zig-zags straight from 80s. Jeremy raided his mother-in-law's closet and came out with a white sweater complete with pink flowers. Add to that the fact Jeremy is bigger than his mother-in-law! (I know, pictures are coming soon.) Kim wore a hot pink sweater that fell below the knees. At the bottom stood two Christmas trees, each with cat wearing a santa hat below it. Jessica, a teacher, found herself wearing exactly what she said she would never wear-a Christmas "teacher" sweater with bells!!

As is the trend in our apartment, we had yet another thing "break." The roller coaster toilet, the closet doors, the shower, the kitchen cabinets, etc. This time the garbage disposal decided to throw up....continuously. Repeatedly. We couldn't use the kitchen sink. The only solution we could think of was to plunge it while calling all of the men we know (that would know something about it). In the end, we left a message for our landlord...mysteriously it worked when we returned home from work the next day.

Neil got me the new Jamie Cullum CD for my birthday. It rocks my face off!! If you don't know Jamie, you need to. Especially the song, Twentysomething, off of the Twentysomething album. Jamie has a very witty way of describing those of us twenty-somethings that feel like we are wondering aimlessly through life. Maybe too many options? OR is it a lack of options?

Tonight I had a really fun birthday dinner with Tanya, Jesse, and George. We went to my favorite Mexican restaurant in St. Louis. They make their own chips and salsa! Muy Bueno!! Tanya and I had a very memorable night. George made me a CD which Tanya and I spent the evening listening to and psycho-analyzing and interrpreting through dance. I had an out of body experience (picturing myself doing the dance) which sent me into a fit of uncontrollable laughter which lasted for at least 8 minutes. Tears and all! And for those of you who know my laugh...you understand just how intense that can be!

Thanks to all for a wonderful birthday...my fam, Jen (who decorated my car...yes, I drove around the city with all sorts of stuff written on my windows), Neil, George, Jesse, Christin, J Lo, the mystery person at work who stole my G207, Bec for bringing me a birthday cookie cake, Trish, and last, but certainly not least, my goofy roommate who just laughs at all of the stupid stuff I do.

Delirium

I went home early from work yesterday puking my guts out. After sleeping on the hallway floor just inches away from the toliet for several hours, I managed to pull myself into my bedroom where I drifted in and out of sleep. I spent a few hours in the foggy state...you know the stage where you trip and fall. AT one point I heard screaming all around me, shouting, running in the leaves. My mind raced...a massive game of tag? No, it's too late. World War III? Am I dreaming? Is this real? When I finally convinced my eyes to open, my bedroom was dancing with blue and red lights. The screams that I heard were real, only now could I tell that there were people running all over the yard outside...the leaves krinkling beneath every not-so-delicate step. There was crying, shouting, sirens blaring in the night.

I made my way carefully (as I did not want to puke anymore) to Tanya's room. "Tanya? What's going on?" "I don't know," she answered. Her sleep induced state had prevented her from even hearing the chaos outside. From her window we watched as firemen and policemen ran quickly around the street. Fire trucks and police cars were parked in every spot they could fit in. The kids from the street ran around yelling. There were some ladies crying. The building across the street was on fire. Smoke billowed from every opening. Four families watched as their lives went up in flames.

Strange how something so catistrophic can happen and yet the street be so serene the next morning. I walked to the car this morning as usual. Birds chirrping. Throwing my arm in the air in attempted waves at passing neighbors. Had I not seen for myself what had taken place the night before, I never would have known. I would have walked to my car in the brisk morning air oblivious to the boarded windows of the apartment building.

It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.
Frederick Douglass

God must read blogs

I think God read my last entry...we may have had tornados last night, but the temperature has dropped to the 30s and the wind is howling outside. As look at the weather forcast, the coldest day is supposed to be next Monday with a high of 28 degrees. What a great birthday present.

I have more to say, but my bed is beckoning me. I shall write later.

Holidays...ugh is all I have to say...ugh because the weather in St. Louis is the worst holiday weather EVER! It's November 23rd and 60 degrees outside! I want there to be snow on the ground, fires in the place, my cheeks frozen just walking the ten steps from the car to my front door. I want to have to grumble as I get up every morning 10 minutes earlier just to defrost my car. Tanya, who hails from South Dakota, and I were lamenting about this last night as we tried to get into the Christmas spirit. Impossible without the cold!

However, I do like the holidays. Thanksgiving is especially fun with my family. We always eat a big meal (called dinner where I'm from) mid-day. Play cards, during which my grandpa ALWAYS gets accused of cheating. Anyone who is brave enough to be on his team also gets multiple fingers pointed at them. That is usually me. Then we eat turkey sandwiches and ruffles potato chips, and lay around for a while! Of course, we manage to watch a little football, especially if the Huskers are playing. (however they haven't been good enough to get a Turkey day spot for a long time!)

The Friday after t-day is fun as we put our Christmas tree up, celebrate my upcoming birthday, and watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (a tradition started in the recent years by me) The birthday celebration is always an interesting one as my grandpa is usually in charge of the cake. We have this ongoing fight in our family...when making angel food cake, the men prefer to have pink frosting on it. The women prefer it plan. WHAT DO YOU THINK? One year, Grandpa asked me what kind of cake I wanted. I told him nothing with pink frosting. He made a cake, frosted it with chocolate frosting, but put a pink face with tears running down it's cheek on the top of it! I couldn't believe it! Ornery ole man, he is! Last year was a yellow cake with chocolate frosting (my favorite) and a pink blob of frosting right in the middle. Yes, Blob is the correct description.

So my prayer as I travel to small town Missouri is for colder weather (perhaps some snow), and a non-pink birthday cake. Oh, and maybe a Husker victory on Friday.

Nothing to say

People have been complaining that I haven't written anything on here for a while. The truth? I had so little to say that I almost forgot that I had a blog! Crazy, I know! I am now doing a temporary job in West County at a place with name of Fish...can you believe that?! In fact, I answer the phones....but I don't tell them my last name for fear of people thinking its one of those prank answers and hanging up. I'm sure my new boss would love that! So for now, I've joined the traffic jams on the highway and the life of keeping a time sheet. As much as I thought I would dread it, I really don't. The people are fun, the actual work is stuff I'm good at, and really the commute isn't the most horrible thing in the world (as long as you stay away fromthe bad spots).

So for now that is all I have to say. However, there is a poem below. (the darn program wouldn't let me format the poem the correct way) It looks prettier on paper.


earthquakes. tsunamis. hurricanes.
mountains are crumbling.
cities destroyed.
floodwaters rising.
houses flattened.
thousands of lives
gone.
Is the river still bringing joy?
OR is it raging it's wrath upon nations
forsaken
people bowing down before
money.
pride.
fame.
lust.
superficial satisfaction.
all they had to do was wade in that sweet water.
the river
strength.
security.
promise.
redemption.
forgiveness.
grace and mercy.
rest.
be still. be silent. rest in the waters. be renewed.