Travel Tuesday

Okay, I'm going to share some pictures from my trip last week.

1. First stop, Springfield, MO.

Chrissy, my cousin and the purpose of the trip-- me and Janet.

2. Second stop, Rolla, MO.

Their replica of a part of Stonehenge was a bit disappointing. Considering I've been to the real place in England, this is pretty lame. I did not like the manufactured concrete blocks--nothing like the real thing. We had planned to visit the vacuum museum, but it has permanently closed. 

3. Third stop, Salem, MO.

Jennifer and Parvez's farm in beautiful. This view is from Janice's cabin porch.

Janice and Matt.

From left--clockwise: me, Jennifer, Matt, Sharon and Janice.

Janice, Sharon and me.

4. Fourth stop, Defiance, MO.

Jeanne and Jim's house. We spent a lot of time sitting here gabbing. I only got one picture of us, but it wasn't good, so the garden will have to do.

5. Fifth stop was Lake St. Louis, MO.

We went to Matt and Sharon's for dinner and a poker game. We sat on the porch and talked before dinner. Matt got this hand during our poker game--6 of us were playing and it was "5 card draw with jacks or better to open." Quite a feat to get 4 of a kind with that many playing. Oh, and did I mention that I won $21.70?? That's always fun!

6. Sixth stop (after a brief stop at Matt's since we rode together) was Cottleville, MO.

Matt and I were going to our high school reunions--55th for me, 46th for him.

A couple of my really good friends--Chris (what we called her in grade school, but known as "Fig" in highschool) and Jane. More about her a little further down.

I got this picture early on. This is Paul from the neighborhood. Even though he was in my class all through grade school at St. Aloysius and then high school, he was Ronnie's friend. This was the first picture I got.

After the few pictures here, I didn't get many more--too busy talking!

Pam and I were not really close friends, but it turns out we have BOOKS in common. She was a librarian for her whole career. We talked about our favorites and had a fun conversation.

I'm so glad we had name tags. Many of the girls I knew right away, but there were also several I didn't recognize--and a few that I didn't even recognize their names. This is Marilyn. I don't think I knew her well, but she came up to me very enthusiastically, so we had a nice convo. We were not in any classes together.

And now for these girls! On my left is Ellen and my right is Karen.

They are the sisters of Jane above in the pink striped shirt. Jane, my BFF, Reenie and I were really close friends. Here's the story:

On our very first day of school, Freshman year, I approached Jane and asked, "Hey, didn't you play softball for St. Jerome?" She did and we hit it off. I found out many years later--like my 45th reunion--that Jane did not want to go to Rosary. She didn't know anybody and her friends were going to the public school. When I approached her the first day, she said that I invited her to sit with my gang at lunch and she was "in" from then on. I had no idea, but we were really close friends. Reenie and I used to ride our bikes to her house about 2 miles away. The girls above where her younger sisters--5 & 6 at the time. We were 14/15. 

So, at our last reunion, Jane told me that her sisters used to pretend that they were "Reenie and Barb" all the time. She told me that they couldn't wait to see me again. They sought me out and we had so much fun. They were crazy excited and treated me like some sort of celebrity. Karen, said I was her "rebel" hero. Not sure what she really meant except that our school was the Rosary Rebels. Turns out, she was in my brother Matt's class. So now, we were on the hunt to find Matt. She wanted to know if he was still cute and I told her that he is! Go back to the top and see if you don't agree!

My reunion was great fun--we stayed the entire time and another half hour after it was over--4.5 hours! It was soooo hot! Full sun. I was standing on concrete for 2 hours--even though Matt brought us chairs. No one else was sitting, so I didn't either. After the 2 hours, my back was hurting--and I don't even have back problems! I convinced some people to sit down. 

I loved seeing so many old friends. Plus talking to some who I barely knew at all. It wasn't a single bit awkward. Just the situation made it all familiar. 

I have to admit, I was glad to get home on Sunday. I had so much to do to get ready for my scrapbook retreat tomorrow!!!

Monday Mystery

Okay, this is a bit of a lame Monday Mystery. 

While I was out on my walk in the neighborhood I noticed this:

It's pretty obvious that this is a mailbox--it is embossed "US Mail". I don't really think you need anything else--especially since ALL of our boxes in the neighborhood are the same--obviously mailboxes. But this neighbor must have decided that the fact that it is, indeed a mailbox isn't enough. I guess they want to make sure the mailman doesn't put the mail in the newspaper slot below the actual box. 

Or, maybe they just liked the little pop of red as a decor accent. Okay, I can get on board with that. But then, why couldn't they at least put it on straight? Or for that matter, why would you want to call attention to your crappy, rusty mailbox. How about getting a new one?

I have many questions--a mystery for sure!

Something for Sunday

So, I'm on my way home today from St. Louis. Now I have to get myself started on the next thing. That would be leaving on Wednesday morning for our fall scrapbook retreat. I have so much to do! 

Unpack

Do my garden chores

Grocery shop

Get my scrapbook stuff together (pictures, a title and some journaling need to be printed yet) and pack it all up

Play bridge on Monday

Book club Monday night

Lunch with a friend on Tuesday (this will be my day to do all the scrapbook stuff)

Cook for the retreat

Gather all food items

Pack my clothes

Load it all up!

Since I'm such a pre-planner, I'll get all of this done. I've already grocery shopped for the non-perishables. I've printed pictures and done journaling for many of the layouts I plan to do. Actually, the planning is half the fun of the actual trip. I love every bit of it!

So, today, I'm just going to share a selfie that we took during happy hour prior to my trip through Missouri last week. Our friends, Pete and Susan gave us a gift bag of "goodies" as a thank you for their trip to our condo at the beach. 

We snapped this pictures to show them that we were enjoying the Tanqueray with our gin and tonics. G&T's are our favorite drinks.

Later...

Scrapbook Saturday

These are the title and end pages that I designed for our current AYM (A Year of Memories) album. We're going on our fall retreat on Wednesday. That's when the 

girls will do them.

The corner flowers are made with a hexagon punch and assorted papers. Each hexagon is cut into thirds and then re-assembled to form the boxes--stacked to make the flowers. Super simple. I punched all of the hexagons and cut them for everybody so there wouldn't be any mistakes! Now if I can keep them from obsessing about how to piece them together....

This one is the title page. Super simple. Susan cut the date strip on the left for me from an old Quickutz die. I cut the "memories" and  camera with my Cricut. Everything else was done on the computer and then just printed. Add a little washi tape and a few brads--done! 

Friday Funnies

Ten Things Thursday

How about some beautiful kitchens?

Supposedly, white kitchens are outdated. That doesn't matter to me, It's the while ones that appeal to me most!

This one is my favorite--pure white. I love the decorative accents on the cabinets. And the blue and white porcelain is perfect. 

What I Buy Wednesday

Okay, I cannot help myself. I know you are sick of it, so I'll keep it brief! Plus, I'm still on my trip. I'm in the middle of Missouri visiting the twins in Salem. More on that later. 

So, last week, I had the neighbor girl over--she's 13. While we were in Hawaii, she did all of the watering. 

After we got home, I invited Abigail for tea and to discuss Taylor Swift's wedding plans! I figured she would dread hanging with an old lady so assured her that I wouldn't keep her long--really, just long enough for a brief "get to know her" conversation and to pay her. Instead, she was delightful and stayed an hour until I basically pushed her out--literally standing up with envelope in hand! I really only planned to keep her a half hour, but she stayed and stayed--even when I gave her "easy outs"! We were having a good time! When she left, she asked if she could take some scones home!! And, during our visit, she helped herself to 3 cups of tea. Her mother had told me that she was very shy. She loves tea, Taylor, books and theater. We never even had time to discuss books and barely touched on theater!! Prior to this, I don't think she said two words to me! Such a sweetheart!

She recommended this book and offered to run next door to get hers to "loan" me. Instead, I bought it for myself and sent her a text to let her know.

Basically, it's a beautiful book of all of TS's costumes from the Era's Tour. 

So fun! She really does put on a show for her fans!

Thanks Abigail! Really, we have so much in common--we could have been "besties" if we weren't 60 years apart! 

So the watering cost me a bit more than just the watering! But it was worth it. I have a new friend in a new generation! That's just plain cool!

Travel Tuesday

So today, I am just finishing the first leg of my trip. I flew to St. Louis on Saturday morning. I Lyfted to my sister-in-law, Janet's. She offered to pick me up, but she's about 45 minutes (or more) away from the airport. Plus, since we're heading to Springfield, MO, we'd be going right back in her direction to head south. 

My next stop was my favorite, cousin Chrissy's. She just moved from St. Louis to Springfield in April. Her husband passed away in December so she decided to move where both of her daughters live. I get it, but it makes it much harder for me to see her. 

Anyway, she moved into a 55+ community where she is renting a really nice house. It's fairly new. If I could find something like this in Nashville, I think I could downsize.

She has everything decked out for Fall--her favorite season.

This is her guest room. I had already removed the throw pillows. I don't put my own decorative pillows on every day, so I'm certainly not going to do it on vacation.

I made this layout for Chrissy and framed it for her 70th birthday. 

This pretty much say it all. We have danced through life together!

And now...the closet!!! OMGosh--so incredible!

When I commented on her two sweaters (upper right), she said she has them in another closet! What! This closet is HUGE! Actually I would be surprised if she couldn't fit everything in here. But, maybe she still changes out her clothes per season.  What you can't see are the shoe boxes on the very top shelf. I didn't realize that I missed that in this shot. The little rack is ALL tennis shoes! I thought I had a lot of tennis shoes--probably 6 pairs--which I don't wear often.

And then there's the flip flops! I only have two pairs myself and they are only for walking up to the pool or when I'm getting a pedicure! Not taking any chances there since they are the cause of 95% of all ankle and foot injuries. I'm still trying to be cognizant of my age--or rather the number (and my fused toes) as I certainly don't feel old. Chrissy is a year younger than me, so there's that.

This is the most unusual way I've ever seen pants hung up. 

It's so nice--tons of great storage. I love it. Really, if I could find something this nice, I would definitely be tempted.

We had a fun visit doing what we do best--just sitting around and talking. We did watch a few shows and definitely had some good food! 

Thanks, Chrissy!