Happy Halloween from the Lil' Devil!

Homecoming '09 + Me = 30!

Last weekend we traveled to Columbia for Mizzou's Homecoming and to celebrate my 30th birthday, which happened to fall on game day. All I really wanted to do for my birthday was spend a long weekend in Columbia, hit some favorite local eateries and, of course, go to the football game. We did it all! What fun. Here's the (not-so-quick) rundown:

THURSDAY:
Matt and I picked Lori up in Lebanon. We stopped at the Osage Outlets in Lake of the Ozarks to hit a few stores. Then on to Columbia for a late lunch at The Pasta Factory on Broadway. We all had the Mostaccioli con Salsiccia: "(a Factory favorite), tubular noodles tossed with Italian sausage from The Hill, hot red pepper flakes and a rich creamy tomato sauce, available tossed or baked with mozzarella cheese." (We had it baked.) Definitely not on our good-carb-good-fat-low-cal diet, but it was a special occasion. (It's definitely okay to splurge now and then.) And boy was it delicious. (Side note: This is Matt's favorite dish. His uncle Larry took us to the Pasta Factory one football weekend for dinner, and this is what he recommended. We try to duplicate it at home on occasion, but it's just not the same.) After lunch we checked in the hotel, rested, ran a few errands for Saturday's tailgate and scoped out the University Bookstore for Mizzou apparel (that we would wait until Friday to buy, because it's 25% off all Mizzou apparel the Friday before a home game). We met my parents, Caldwell and Kate at Murry's for dinner. An order of Brock's Green Pepper Rings to start, house salad and the tuna steak, feta and pesto sandwich for my entree. Mmmm.

FRIDAY:
Back to the bookstore to pick up our 25% off merchandise, including a football jersey for Oscar (see below), an official Mizzou plaid scarf for me (see left), plus a copy of Where the Wild Things Are for Matt... because he's never read it! We met Megan, Patrick, Tom and Carol downtown for lunch at Flat Branch. (I told you we ate a lot.) Chokes & Cheese, please! After lunch we loaded in the Mizzou bus and headed for the winery, where we met Billie, Beth, Jordan and Beth's parents, Mike and Adele. It was in the high 40s, completely overcast and super windy. We were the only crazies at the A-frame. Thank goodness for propane heaters (at least one worked), heavy coats, gloves and hats. And wine, of course. From there to Willie's, where Caldwell had reserved a room for us to have a (surprise to me) birthday party! Complete with decorations, hats and cake. From Willie's we walked to Harpo's (a Friday night tradition during Homecoming), where we met Hannah and stayed for the evening. We ended the night with the perfect Columbia nightcap: pokey sticks. If you don't know what those are, it's useless for me to even try to explain. If you do, then you know they're heaven.

SATURDAY:
Game day. Even with a 7:12 p.m. kick-off, we arrived in the parking lot before noon. Saturday was my actual birthday, and the weather was glorious. Sunshine, sunshine, sunshine. Mid to upper 60s. Absolutely gorgeous. A perfect day to be outside and grill. (Yep, more food!) We had sliders (cheeseburgers and turkey burgers), brats, hot dogs, wings with Syberg's. And, we had some excellent side dishes. Beth's homemade pasta salad was so delicious. Whole grain pasta, feta, artichokes, black olives, homemade pesto. Wow. I really need that recipe. Susan's slaw was also very yummy. I had multiple helpings of each. Megan brought some yummy dips, and her cowboy caviar was a hit. Unfortunately, the Tigers did not show up for my birthday, er, I mean, for the game. Despite the loss, it was a fabulous weekend. :)

'germ-a-phobe' (not a fear of German tourists)

Not only am I terrified of spiders (see previous post), but I'm also terrified of germs and (especially now) getting sick. Over the past few years, I have become somewhat of a germaphobe. While the word "germaphobe" isn't in the real dictionary, it is listed in the urban dictionary and means "any person who is obsessed with cleanliness and defeating bacteria. These individuals will turn on faucets with their elbows and hand sanitize on an hourly basis." Funnily enough, it also means "someone who is scared of German tourists." Yeah. That isn't me. I'm just one of the me-likes-super-clean-hands variety. I'd like to think it's a healthy habit, not an obsessive-compulsive one. I don't wash my hands repeatedly under scalding-hot water, but sometimes I do pump the soap more than once.

Running a cash register (especially in the summertime) means my hands are constantly touching money (and a lot of credit/debit cards). Ew. If I even let my brain wander to where that money (and those cards) have been... ewwwww. Have you ever seen me try to eat lunch on a busy Saturday in the summertime? It's comical. I take a bite. I help a customer. I wash my hands. I take a bite. I help a customer. I wash my hands. I take a bite... you see where this is going.

The result? Matt and I are rarely (if ever) sick. I can't remember the last time I had a common cold. I don't mean to brag. (And I certainly don't want to jinx us.) But, it's true. We wash our hands constantly. We carry antibacterial wipes in the car and use them every time we get in the car (we even wipe down the steering wheel with them). And, I carry them in my purse. Washing your hands: A simple concept. But, it works.

Disclaimer: Washing our hands probably isn't the only reason we stay generally healthy. We aren't around a lot of people during the cold and flu season. We don't intentionally live like hermits, but this time of year the dock traffic is minimal, so we aren't in contact with very many folks. Secondly, we don't have children. I know kids are more susceptible to getting sick, and they invariably bring germs home from school, and often the whole family ends up sick. One of these days we might have little rugrats running around, and perhaps then we'll be sneezing and coughing like the rest of the population. For now we'll keep washing our hands and using our wipes, and hopefully we'll stay well this terrible flu season. I hope you and yours do, too. :)

The Itsy Bitsy...

Last night the weirdest and creepiest thing happened... Matt says I was dreaming... I say it really happened. What do you think?

I was lying in bed and opened my eyes to see a spider floating down from the ceiling. It was right above my face when my eyes opened, and I FREAKED out! I started flailing my arms around, and I threw back the covers as fast as I could. I jumped out of bed in a flash and proceeded to shriek and flail some more. I'm not certain of Matt's initial reaction, exactly, as it was dark in the room. I managed to find and turn on the lamp. He (and the two dogs) were staring at me in disbelief. My first thought was: "Where the hell did the spider go?" At the same time, Matt tried to tell me it was just a dream. No, it wasn't! It was real. And I was going to prove it. I tore the blankets off the bed and threw the pillows around. I shook out my pajamas, expecting the eight-legged thing to fall out from somewhere. The dogs were still dazed and confused. Matt was starting to get annoyed. But, I wasn't about to get back in bed until I found it.

I didn't find it.

Matt finally convinced me to lie back down. But, even after I did I couldn't sleep. I kept imagining the spider was in the bed, and I swear I could feel it crawling on me. (I realize this might make me sound a bit crazy.)

I really, really hate spiders. Call me crazy, but I'd rather find a snake in my bed than a spider. Yes, my aversion to spiders is that bad.

Memphis with the Wade Girls

This past weekend I traveled to Memphis with the Wade Girls; i.e. Matt's aunts and cousins and my sister-in-law, Lindsey. Matt's aunt Jane planned the trip way back in early summer. She bought tickets for all of us to see Beth Moore speak at the FedEx Forum downtown. For more about Beth, click here. The seminar was Friday night and Saturday morning until noon.

On Saturday we had lunch at Neely's BBQ, as in "Down Home With the Neely's" on the Food Network. I love Gina and Pat, a.k.a. "The Neely's" - they are really fun to watch on FN. And, I love BBQ. So, it was a win-win sitch for me. The food was awesome. We had a sausage and cheese platter to start - it consisted of cheese cubes, sliced sausage and dill pickle spears sprinkled with some kind of dry rub. I don't know how they cooked it, but that was some of the best sausage I have ever had. Then I had a pulled pork sandwich with spicy coleslaw on top, and beans (of course). Delish.

Then the shopping began. Memphis has a Pottery Barn outlet, Williams Sonoma outlet and West Elm outlet - all three connected. It's so cool. I will definitely be going back there someday when I'm really in the market for home stuff. After that Emily took Lindsey and me clothes shopping. Em is 7 months pregnant, and since she wasn't really clothes shopping for herself, she was happy to act as our personal shopper, picking out items we wouldn't normally pick for ourselves, and throwing us into dressing rooms to try them on. I ended up making some great purchases I wouldn't have gotten without my personal shopper. So, thanks Em! Let's do it again sometime.

We didn't spend any time on Beale Street, except to cross over it on our way to and from the FedEx Forum. I've never been on Beale Street, so I'd like to go back; and, I liked what I saw in other parts of Memphis - e.g. Germantown, where our hotel was located. So, I see another trip to Memphis in our near future. It's an easy 4-hour drive from Pontiac. Compared to our recent 44+ hours in the car last month, 4 hours is nothin'.

P90X - Day 10

Matt and I started P90X about a week and a half ago. For those of you who don't know what that is, P90X is an *extreme* home fitness program. According to the website, we're supposed to "Get Absolutely Ripped in 90 Days." I'm not sure if that'll actually happen - my goal is just to be stronger and fitter at the end of 90 days. Matt's goal is to shed a few pounds from his mid-section and really get toned from the waist up.

We exercise 6 days a week (Sunday through Friday), and each day is a different workout, depending on what week it is. (There are 12 different workouts, and the guide lets us know what we should be doing each day/week. The first three weeks are the same, then it changes.) This is what Weeks 1, 2 and 3 look like:

Day 1: Chest and Back (lots of push-ups, pull-ups and chin-ups) + Ab Ripper*
Day 2: Plyometrics (hard core cardio workout - lots of jumping around!)
Day 3: Arms and Shoulders (weight-lifting focusing on the "glamour muscles" - i.e. what people see when you're shirtless) + Ab Ripper*
Day 4: Yoga (this is the longest workout in the bunch - 90 minutes)
Day 5: Legs and Back (squats, lunges and a few pull-ups thrown in to give your legs a rest) + Ab Ripper*
Day 6: Kenpo (kicking, punching... this is fun!)

*Ab Ripper is a 15-minute ab workout we do three days a week. Tough, tough, TOUGH. There are 11 different exercises, and we do 25 reps for each one. Well, we try to do 25 reps. Did I mention this is really hard?

We did stray a bit in Week 1 - Matt cut out of yoga early, because he just didn't like it. Then we substituted the Cardio X workout (a supplemental workout) on Day 5 for Legs and Back because our legs were so sore from plyometrics on Monday that we knew we couldn't hack the leg workout that week. To be honest, Week 1 was brutal. By Wednesday we were so sore we could barely walk. It hurt to sneeze or laugh! I'm not kidding. I think we both had our doubts about the program... as in, maybe we were out of our league. But, we survived the first week, and so far, Week 2 is going much, much better. I already feel a little stronger, and I'm not half as sore as I was last week. We've been getting up early each morning and exercising before work, which is going really well.

Tomorrow is our first go-round with Legs and Back. Wish us luck. (I think we're going to need it.)

New Favorite Chewing Gum

This stuff is awesome! Sugarless, sweet and tangy, bubble-blowing goodness.

Our 2,700-mile road trip

Matt and I drove to the Florida Keys and back last month. It took us about 22 hours to get there - we drove 15 hours the first day, spent the night in Lake City, Fla., then drove another 7 hours the second day and arrived in Islamorada that afternoon. In an effort to minimize our stops and eat as little fast food as possible, we packed our own snacks and drinks. During our 44 hours in the car (counting both down and back), we ate our weight in popcorn, peanuts, trail mix, peanut butter-filled pretzels and snack bars. Then when we got there, we ate REAL food; i.e. conch chowder (four bowls each); fresh, sushi grade yellow fin tuna; lots o' blackened dolphin and some cracked conch. In addition to all the good eats, we mainly just took it very easy...

We laid by the pool...




















We rode bikes...




















We rented a boat to go fishing...




















We went to the beach...




















And... here are the rest of the pics. Enjoy!