Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Back from a Break
I had a blow-out birthday weekend in Missouri, and I'm just now getting my head above water. Starting Friday, my travelling buddy Chris and I rolled out of Nashville headed north in 105 degree heat. Ouch! We met my parents for lunch in the University City Loop in St. Louis at Blueberry Hill. We stopped in at the Craft Alliance gallery there and a couple of other places before heading to Trader Joe's where we stocked up for Kenny Chesney tailgating.
Here's what we got a Trader Joe's:
Strawberry lemonade
Low-fat awesome cheese
Blue corn tortilla chips and salsa for Shona
$2 riesling wine for our float trip the next day
Figments dark chocolate covered figs
Awesome guacamole
Tortilla chips
Tuscan artisan bread
Sparkling French lemonade
And it was so cheap! All that stuff up there was $30 total. Man, I love that place.
Anyway, we stopped off at H&M for Chris's enjoyment before we went on to tailgating at the K-Chez concert. Notice the police busting some underage drinkers. Apparently, you're not allowed to drink in the parking lot. Lame! My sister Lauren and her friend Eric joined up with us and we had a delicious, if alcohol-free picnic. (Okay, so Chris and I slipped a little Jack into our cokes, well, Chris slipped a lot, but I made nice with the golf-cart police)
We love us some K-Chez. And Sugarland opened for him. I almost liked Sugarland better than Kenny!
The next day, 4 hours after we got to bed, we rolled out of bed and headed to the Niangua River in the Missouri Ozarks. I've been on this river several times, but I realized never on a Saturday. Talk about the Redneck Riviera! We got hosed with water cannons, and we saw more than our share of beer bongs. I tried really hard to just paddle past and not get pissed. We couldn't even drink the wine we poured into plastic water bottles. We didn't want to blend in with the rednecks. So we paddled on, and it was lovely.
To carry out my Redneck birthday dreams, we ate dinner at the lake and played 10ยข skee ball by the dam there. My only requirements for dinner were that I wanted to sit by the water and eat something out of a basket. So after that was accomplished, we went home for a deep sleep.
My favorite birthday gift? A Cuisinart frozen treat maker. Oh yeah. I made home-grown canteloupe sorbet just last night. Wowie, wow. wow. It's the most amazing thing!
My last print-making class was last night. Here's my final project. More on the total list of projects later in the week. They all have to dry, ya know!
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THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
I don't know anything about Sugarland's music, but the local NPR station did a great story on their remarkable rise after getting away from a major label- I love stories like theirs. And I see that the waterways are still not safe for people who actually want to canoe + not have a party barge. I guess I'll have to hold off for another summer in hopes that the coppers will step-it-up.
OH, I forgot to say: great image for your final project! It seems that you are really honing your skills, despite the oppressive heat.
Did you make any of these in a Medium? I would love to get one for my husband! I even already got his thumbs up which is amazing - he's really picky!
Okay, I just love floating down the Niangua River and counting turtles along the way. (Not the snakes, though, I can do without those, thank you very much!)
And love the 10 cent skee ball too.
What fun! Happy Birthday!