Day Trippers

FINALLY!!!! After 9 very long months, Kevin has officially finished his first year of Law School!!!   Except for a paper he is writing to try to get onto law review.  I am so proud of him, and FINALLY, we get to spend some FUN time together. Not that watching him study isn't thrilling, but most people who know me, know I LIVE for good road trips.
Kevin and I are planning a trip to Niagra in 2 weeks, but last week he suggested a spontaneous trip to St. Louis.  How could I say no. I looked at the forecast, and it was supposed to storm most of the weekend, but most thunderstorms occur in the afternoon, so we decided to get up early yesterday and spend the weekend down there. Here is a TON of pictures of our fun road trip.
***Warning: Long Post***

At the base of the "Gateway to the West"

Another must do/see would be a riverboat cruise along the muddy Mississippi, so of course how could we pass that up? We didn't

Mark Twain would've been so proud, we boarded our Riverboat 'Tom Sawyer' and took off to see the sights of St. Louis, on the muggiest day ever!

 

Side view of the riverboat

The scenery from our boat...the only scenic part.  This as a deceptive cruise. St. Louis has a nice downtown...everything else along the water scared the snot out of me.  Itl looks like there could be all sorts of shady activities going on.

This is a picture of what our Riverboat looks like from the back. We had Jazz music blasting, and I felt like I was in the 'Dirty South'

Look at all that muddy water.

It was then time to go up the arch.  We didn't know what to expect or how we would get up there, but we were assigned a boarding pass, and waited to see what was behind door #8.

Then, like magic, a little capsule popped open in front of us.  The doors were 4 feet high, and there was seats for mini butts, mine barely fit in there, so I am not sure if any of those 'southern'girls could squeeze their bam into it.  It was a tight fit, and luckily one of the other guys who was assigned our little capsule with us, chickened out. We would not have fit in there with him.

The view of St. Louis from the top.

Kevy peering through one of the mini windows in a clausterphobics nightmare. While we were up there, a fire alarm went off...can you imagine being trapped 630 feet above the ground in this tiny little arch and it were to burn down.  We were soon reassured that it was someone opening the door to the stairs.

Looking straight down you can see the base on bith sides.

The Arch is 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide

Both of us at the top

A better picture of the capsule

Kevin was summoning the spirits of his ancestors.  Its a good thing, we needed them later. He is something like a 62nd seminole.

If you look really close, you can see the itty bitty windows.

Kevin thought he was Atlas.  It took something like 30 tries to get this right.

We then checked out downtown, and found that the best thing to do as a local is go swimming in the many fountains along these parks, this one had the fewest.

We checked out some of the local art

Kevin was a little disturbed by this one, for good reason.

The view of the arch from an alley.

It was still early when we finished downtown and figured we could see everything we wanted to in 1 day.  After the skies opened, and we were victims of a downpoor that got me wetter than a shower, we decided to continue on our trip. We were off to see some mounds.  As we exited of the road onto the next leg of our trip, we ran across a cute little turtle in the middle of the road.  Kevin stopped and I ran out and rescued our little friend. We then, put him back in the brush. Poor little Speedy.

When we pulled up, you can see, it was still raining, but just this week, Yahoo! had mentioned that it was a place you should take your children before they grow up.  It is the largest archeological site in America, and it is remnants of religious grounds and a civilization from back in the days of earlier native Americans. So, we had to see them rain or shine.

Kevin, earlier in the wig-wam, did a rain dance and summoned the Native spirits of his ancestors.  They listened and the skies parted, and the rain stopped for a few moments. Long enough for us to climb to the top of 'Monk's Mound' and check out the rest of these piles of dirt (did I just stay that?).

From the top of Monk's mound, we could see a few more mounds, but we also got a great view of a very cloudy, rainy, downtown St. Louis.

Yes, you are reading correctly, these natives had their own Woodhenge. Maybe not quite as impressive as Stonehenge, but these wooden poles had the same idea

I am trying to see what astrological info I can find in the middle of Woodhenge.

We then had to stop in Springfield.  Home of our State Capitiol, and Abraham Lincoln. We rushed there and got in while there was still a few moments of light.

They restored the entire block where Lincoln had lived, and all the houses are museums that you can tour. We got there a little late, but we still got to see where his home was.

There is Kevin, Resting on the stoop of Abe's home.

We then, checked out the Presidential Library and Museum, but only from the outside.

Outside the Library. We may have to go back so Kevin can go in. He LOVES presidential libraries.

Outside the old Capitol Building. They were even doing a reinactment of civil war camps on the grounds.

Inside the old capitol building, we got there JUST as they were closing. We got our own private tour.

We even got to go into the Supreme Court room.

And a look at the new capitol building.

It was a busy day. It started at 6am, but we made it home by midnight. Our weekend outting, turned into a day trip. Why not.

Reality Rocks!

I love trashy reality TV.  For some reason I cannot get enough of the drama... and I do like to believe its ALL REAL.  Why else would it be reality TV.  My guiltiest pleasure happens to be starting back up again in 6 days... THE BACHELORETTE
  I have been a huge Bachelor/Bachelorette fan for years.  I have even tried out to be a contestant.  Kevin supports my love for this(he is even a closet fan). He used to send me links to a sports-writers Bachelor blog during Andy's season, He even drove me to my audition for Brad. He enjoys the drama, the more the better, and really loooooves when the men bring on the drama in Bachelorette seasons. 
I have been slightly dissappointed in the most recent seasons, I just have not been falling in love with the Bachelors or Bachelorettes except for Jillian...(Canadian Shout-Out), Kevin, however, thought she looked like the girl from the Family Guy.  I am not a huge Aly fan, but of course, I will watch and I will enjoy it, even without a TV.  Thank goodness for HULU.

Fancy

Kevin and I both enjoy the Shrek movies, so we were watching the new Shrek 4 trailer, it is very funny (see below). We laughed about it and thought it was great... Until recently, when I became the butt of that humor.


So, in the clip, Puss packed on a few pounds. Shrek, astonished by what he sees, tells puss that he looks "fa fa fa fancy".

I had been working, and running around all day in my heels and dress pants,  luckily I was wearing a long lab coat that day because it was a bit chilly. I was organizing the lab area at work and bent over to pick up some lost supplies. As I was squatting down I heard a loud RRRRIP. Eek, Immediately I flipped my head around to see if anyone had heard or seen what had happened. I was safe for now, no one was in earshot, or close enough to notice the brilliant shade of red that my face had become.  My pants had ripped, and I was just starting my day. Luckily, I was able to wear my lab coat for the rest of the day and kept my secret to myself.

After a long day of positioning myself just so, and not bending any more for fear the rip would continue to spread, It was finally time to go home and rescue myself from this embarrassment. I walked in, exhausted and still licking my wounds, and proceeded to tell Kevin, my ultra compassionate husband,  what had happened. He glanced up over his law book and with a look of pure disgust, told me I was fa fa fa fancy. That was not the response I was looking for.
He has been trying to get me to work out with him for a while. I guess I caught the hint. I am dertermined to become un-fancy.  Whatever it takes.


 

TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME

Kevin enjoys a little spousal rivalry, but sometimes he takes it a bit overboard. One of Kevin's favorite pastimes is to create rivalries for us. He enjoys setting up fantasy leagues, college bowl pick 'ems, tourney pick 'ems, and sometimes, he even goes so far as to actually make up rivalries and/or facts.

Since we live in Chicago, there are 2 baseball teams. The traditional and fan favorites; the Cubs, a cute cuddly little bear or, the Sox, a smelly piece of gym wear. The Cubs are synonymous with the the strong sports history of Chicago, they are seen as Chicago's team.  The Sox are the 'South Side' team, that would make it synonymous with crime and Obama. (I will leave interpretation for that up to you).

So, Kevin has decided, since I had been to a Sox game, that I was a fan, and he would be a fan of the Cubs. Well, you have to understand, before January 7th 2010,the days when we still had a TV, (yes, I am still suffering without one. and you wondered why I blog so much these days) I was once, and would still be, a Fox News watcher. Seething hatred for Obama, who does he think he is? Robin Hood? Its bad enough that we live a block and a half from his home, but there is NO WAY we could share a love for the same baseball team. Although, Kevin may have be coming around to the Sox. We did enjoy a lovely day at US Cellular field.

Here is my case for Kevin becoming a Sox fan. You get to be the Judge. Get out your gavel.

Exhibit A: Kevin looks good, and HAPPY in black and white

 

Exhibit B: 'The Chicago Dog' Kevin's new favorite way to eat a hot dog. His first experience with one, was during the Sox game. Good memories for him. I personally think there is WAY too much going on, and the relish has a very radioactive green to it. SCARY! This may go against everything Chicago (but I never claimed to try to fit in), I like ketchup, and ketchup only on my Dogs!

Exhibit C: He got to spend the game with his favorite person...ME!

Final Ruling: Kevin is the Sox fan of the house (or apartment).

1 YEAR!!!

It has been a crazy year, moving, starting a new school, a new job, a new state, a new roomate (sorry, to all my previous ones, but so far, he's the best). Best of all,  We are still happy!!!

Love and Basketball

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go to a few basketball games (as if we haven't had enough with the tournament going on).  By the way, what happened this year? My good friend Yakhouba, who plays for the Miami Heat, was in town.  D Wade is from Chicago, so they got to spend some extra days here, so we were able to benefit.  We got to see Kub a couple times, and he was kind enough to get us tickets to his games.  We got the chance to watch them play the Bulls here in Chicago, then on Friday we took a roadtrip up to Milwaukee to watch him play the Bucks. Great seats both times, and you can't beat free. Thank you again Kub!

We had to walk all over the place just to find this statue and get this "shot" magnificent isn't it.  Did I mention the wind chill was like -50 F eek.

Kevy and MJ

Benny the bull

Thanks for the tickets Kub. We had a great weekend

We're still working on him, He will be a hockey fan someday.

Before we went to the game in Milwaukee we tried to go to a secret restaurant, you had to know the secret password to get passed the secret door. Well... I don't think the place is very secret, if you have to wait 2 hours to get a meal. If I go to Milwaukee again for some reason, I guess I'll make reservations.

At the Bucks game.  This is the quietest stadium I have ever been to, except for Bogut's cheering section.  I would enjoy going to watch try-outs for that.  I can't believe he has to pay for their seats all year, just so SOMEONE will cheer during their games.

Going Green

No, I am not an environmentalist, it was St. Paddy's day! Since we are in Chicago, kev bot and I had to see the famous dying of the river. For all you environmentalists, it is entirely safe and environmentally friendly.