Monday, January 30, 2012

one more birthday post

Thanks to Deb for Mark's pretty ice cream cake
Jude says "more cake"
Deb, the birthday boy, and Winnie
the necklace looks good on you Deb :)

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

what a day

Since Mark's birthday was on a Monday this year we decided to celebrate it on Saturday. Saturday was a busy day. First there was lunch at Schlafly's Tap Room (where they have the best beer cheese soup ever). Next, a Monet Exhibit at the St. Louis Art Museum ("Agapanthus"...three huge panels in a rainbow of colors inspired by a pond in Monet 's garden at his home in Giverny, France). Then, a quick coffee stop and trip back home to care for the critters. After that, back to St. Louis for a pre-dinner drink at 4 Hands Brewing (a new craft brewery located between Busch Stadium and the Anheuser-Busch brewery). Time to eat again with a birthday dinner at Ricardo's in Lafayette Square (Mark loves Ricardo's). Followed by a drive to the Loop to see an Allman Brothers tribute band perform at the Pageant (where I cheerfully and stoically "took one for the team"). And, finally, to conclude the long yet fun-filled day (and in answer to Mark's request for just one more stop before going home), a death stare, from me, and words to the effect of "No Mark we HAVE to go home now", also from me. Give the birthday boy an inch and he'll take a mile, every time. :)

where's my beer cheese soup?
St. Louis Art Museum (a very cool place)
Monet Monet
where there's a craft brewery, there's Mark
Ricardo's
almost got him to wear this
beautiful Pageant lights
beatle bob lookalike (bottom left) tried to steal my coat
Danny Liston of Mama's Pride on right
Mark took this cool pic with his iPhone which
shows even the young love Allman Bros music
Check 'em out:
‘THE BROTHERS’ - A TRIBUTE TO THE ALLMAN BROTHERS
Performing ‘THE ALLMAN BROTHERS LIVE AT FILLMORE EAST’ in its entirety & more featuring the updated lineup of DANNY LISTON (MAMA’S PRIDE), DAVE KALZ, STEVE PECARO, DICKIE STELTENPOHL (MAMA’S PRIDE), HAROLD DRAPER, MARK KERSTEN & STEVE BUNCK...
and occasionally standing in on harmonica, Danny Liston's Pastor
and friend, JEFF PERRY of St. Louis Family Church.

Links:
http://schlafly.com/breweries/taproom/ (I want their BCS recipe)
http://www.slam.org/ (St. Louis Art Museum)
http://www.thecoffeecartel.com/ (for coffee lovers, open 24/7)
http://4handsbrewery.com/ (for beer lovers)
http://ricardositaliancafe.com/ (good spiedini and other stuff)

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

here we go!

Goal: Brighten up living/dining room and hall (aka no more man cave)

decisions decisions...who knew it would be
so difficult picking a lighter paint color?
I know I know all my samples look the same. [heavy sigh]
it's always fun to paint in your jammies

looks like Mark's doing all the work...not so, not so.
He does have the hardest part though...the dreaded ceiling.

well at least the door looks nice

the nicest thing about painting is getting to
write whatever you want on the wall

Status: First coat of Olympic One Parchment Paint 3/4 done (ok ok, a little over 1/2 done). Still to come...second (and hopefully last) coat of Olympic One "color yet to be determined" paint on walls and sprucing up doors, frames, and trim. Oh my.

Fear:  Possibly liking the old paint color better than the new. :*(

To be continued...

Monday, January 23, 2012

Happy Birthday Birthday Boy!

Today is Mark's 53rd ahem 49th Birthday! Happy Birthday Mark!!!

Now for some of my favorite pics...

oh what a beautiful baby...
You just kept getting cuter...
Still cute but not sure about those yellow curtains...
I remember this hair :-)
Love the stache ;-)
You were sooo 80's
hubba hubba...

Like a fine wine you get better with age! muah!
Love, Nancy

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Beautiful January day

On some days there's a certain time of day where the lighting is just right. I believe it's called the golden hour. The golden hour is the hour before sunset and after sunrise, the first and last hour of sunlight in the day. Pictures taken during this time have a lovely ambience about them, a kind of magical glow making skin tones look nicer, scenery brighter, and just everything in general more interesting.

These pictures were taken on January 6th of this new year, on a day that must have set some sort of record temp in the area. 70 degrees on a golden January day? Now that's a beautiful day.