Travelin' Man

Today is the 14th?? It was a busy weekend! The dates are all kind of jumbled in my head... Thursday I think I went for a run...or maybe it was Friday...in any case, it was a long run. And, sadly, it was my last run, which means that I've been off my game for days on end. Need to fix that this afternoon.

Friday morning I awoke to the startling realization that I had not only double but triple booked myself for the evening. So much for making dinner for Lewis... Kevin & Karen and I spent the afternoon wandering the paths at the Botanical Garden; their "home garden" section is awesome! I recognized so many plants from my dad's yard...and the herbs are wonderful. I wish I had an herb garden... From 5 through almost 1am I catered a wedding, then drove myself over to beebers house to celebrate zinniz's birthday and (belatedly) her engagement with brentmj. There were all sorts of people there - some I knew, some I didn't know, and some I wasn't expecting. Loved the cake, especially the icing part; so sad to hear that it ended up in the floor?? Stopped in with Lewis after.

Oh, god, I just remembered Thursday night! I was out with Kevin and Karen, who is fabulous, and Jason...we must have had a glass of wine at his loft and then we ended up at Just John and met up with Matt & Dave and Scott, but it was karaoke and kind of lame... The party moved to Novak's but I bailed to meet up with Lewis, and then had to drive BACK to Novak's because silly Kevin left his keys in my car! Smoky bars, hate 'em.

Anyway, Saturday morning I cleaned house and then took Kevin & Karen to the market. My zinnias were dead this morning, sadly due to my own negligence - water is required. Perhaps I could have re-vivified them, but instead I tossed them in the can. I got a bunch of vegetables to snack on and some rather pitiful looking Romaine lettuce that has probably already bit the dust. I had to cater a bat mitzvah that evening, but it was not terribly challenging and ended early. Lewis came over; we talked for hours.

For breakfast it was ham & cheese scrambled eggs. I sliced peppers and carrots and broccoli and then concocted what turned into a very nice guacamole - two avocados, three Roma tomatoes, half a red onion, a clove of garlic, the juice from half a lime, just a touch of diced hot pepper, and some salt. It tasted great! The guac (with chips, and hummus and crackers just in case) was my contribution to a BBQ at Dave's; Matt left for Louisiana again yesterday. Scott was there, and Brian, and some others from volleyball. Lewis and I went together. I got kind of moody towards the end :/.

Kevin & Karen were nearby at Joanie's finishing a pizza so I walked down for a beer. We ended up at Clems playing pool with Jason and other random people until almost midnight. Smoke. In my lungs. Second-hand. Ugh. What are the chances that St. Louis will go smoke free any time soon??

Yesterday would have been Monday. I've been seeing a LOT of Kevin & Karen lately - it's so nice to have some other people on holiday to hang out with!! We met up in the afternoon and did an extensive walking tour of downtown. We stopped at Soldier's Memorial, the Fireman's Memorial (who knew?), the Old Court House (tour and shopping), the Arch (photos), the riverfront, Laclede's Landing [blush!], Sundecker's (beer & chili dogs!), the Old Post Office, City Grocers (supplies), UMA (closed), and Boxers.

I met up with Lewis last night; we watched M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening and ate Ben & Jerry's cake batter ice cream. Good movie, good company, good ice cream. He sent me home with chicken & dumplings; I just ate them for lunch, and they were excellent!

Sometimes when I go to journal I find that I've forgotten what I've been up to.

Last Wednesday Dad and his friend Will were passing through, so I met them over at Joanie's and we shared a pizza out on the patio. We talked about our Walk progress and our future as a team. I think that Walk fatigue has definitely set in amongst the core supporters. Maybe next year we should take a break? I don't want to, but we'll see. From there it was over to 1860's for a quick drink. The music was too loud, and I'm just not a fan of cigarettes.

Aaron turned 25 on Thursday. I had a call-out for airport arrivals that ran long, which put me to AOH rehearsal late. Great rehearsal, though. Made the obligatory Pio's stop afterwards.

Friday morning I shopped the market at the request of my aunt and bought Bing cherries for her friend Cathy and grandma. Four pounds for $8! Even though I wasn't buying for myself - I leave Wednesday morning for Nashville and except for a day to turn around will be away though mid-August - I walked the entire market to look things over. During the afternoon I was at Union Station for hotel departures; I guess I'd forgotten, but that Grand Hall is beautiful. Thence immediately to cater for a wedding, which lasted past midnight and made for a long day on my feet. Not tired, though, I went home and showered and then ran over to Novak's for a few hours. Pride this weekend - it was packed!

And it was a busy weekend! Saturday morning was the ALS Walk. Our final tally for online and in-hand donations comes to $2408.49!! So we met and exceeded our goal - very exciting! The forecast threatened rain but it turned out to be a beautiful morning, not too hot, not too much sunshine, and just enough breeze to keep our late June Saturday pleasant for exercise. I spent a bit of time walking and talking with Glenn, one of Mom's friends from the support group and one of the two gentlemen that my dad works with every week. At one point, his chair started beeping; there was a group of us in the immediate vicinity but not his wife. Somebody said "oh, the battery must need to be changed", but I was watching his face, and his mouth was moving but no sound was coming out... Somehow, his trache had disconnected (!). So we got him reconnected, but how scary was that? I had a moment, early in the morning before anyone else on our team had arrived, that had my heart in my throat - I think that it was just seeing a chair like Mom used to use in that setting that did it - but it passed quickly. In the end we had 30 walkers, which included probably 6 or 7 from Phoenix and a couple from Boeing plus a bunch of family. I love my grandma, she's such a trooper - she did the entire 3 miles on foot!! [photos forthcoming]

After the walk a few of us went over to Wildflower for lunch. Their Greek chicken wrap is excellent! I had to dine & dash, though, in order to get over to Union Station for the last of the departures. The afternoon rounded out with drinks over at Amanda & Jon's new place. It sounds like there's a lot in the works for the neighborhood! Exciting! beebers had reservations at Franco for Laura's pre-wedding night on the town. We ate for hours; what a meal! My steak was room temperature but had a nice flavor. I wouldn't have complained, but the server specifically asked and I wasn't going to lie. So in addition to an espresso and the Bing cherry and chocolate panna cotta dessert the owner sent in a palate-pleasing port wine to finish the meal. It's kind of nice to be recognized. In any case, dinner was wonderful - lots of stories, lots of laughter. I picked up Kevin and we met the group over at 33 for a few glasses of wine; zinniz and brentmj had already bailed...church in the morning. And then from there I introduced the Richmonder to both Novak's and JJ's. It made for another late night, but wow.

Sunday morning was forfeited to sleep. At noonish it was over to Grand for the parade, which carried on despite sprinkles. We grabbed a late breakfast at City Diner, watched BandTogether, stopped by the MCC & HRC booths to say hello... Something about the event completely destroyed what had been a good mood / fun afternoon, and I just had to get out of there. Rather than mope and nap, though, I went for a really great run all the way down to Arsenal and through the brewery and back, et voila! all was right with the world again. It's amazing what exercise can do for your brain. The balance of the evening was donated to Danny for the move, after which he sprung for dinner. I'm glad we got it all knocked out yesterday. Moving this morning, and just with the three of us (there were 8 last night), and then going to cater would have been murder.

Weekend update:

Friday

• solo dinner @ Thai Country Kitchen. My pad thai was weak.
  
• Brandt's; watched the final set of Javier Mendoza. He was sick; the place was packed. Hoegaarten.
  
• met up with Marella, Steve, & Richard @ 33, where we shared cheese and something Spanish. The house recommendations haven't let us astray yet...
  
• Novak's. Drinking. Dancing? I don't remember.

Saturday

• Dinner w/ Kelly, Amy, and a friend of theirs from work at Charlie Gitto's downtown.
  
• Bowling @ Moolah Lanes...er, no. We got tired of waiting. Call ahead to reserve a lane!
  
• Instead we trooped over to Bastille for a few drinks and then to ... Novak's. Drinking. Dancing. Lots of familiar people. I remember.

Sunday

• Packing.

I told myself that I wasn't going out tonight, neither my liver nor my wallet need it. But I'm bored. I could do my taxes...but I don't want to. Physical tomorrow. Saw the eye doctor Friday and got a clean bill of health. Guess that's it...

Lazy Saturday morning and the house to myself; I've just uploaded the last of my photos from our final Antarctic Peninsula cruise. I guess in four months you're bound to get lucky a few times, but we had some stunning weather - sunset at Port Lockroy, cruising in Andvord Bay. Miss it already! Peru is up next...I think I have +/- 100 photos of Machu Picchu alone.

Thursday afternoon the apartment hunting continued. I looked in Midtown near SLU and then in Downtown. There's a lot out there that would work just fine, and plenty of variety; I guess I'm just not anxious to make a decision. Do I want cheap rent, and basic, or high rent, and all-inclusive? Ugh. With time to kill I stopped by Washington Avenue Post for a raspberry peach smoothie. I'd been in before years ago and remember thinking that they were struggling, but things seem to be going well. There's a new gym right next door; their protein shakes seem to be a big seller.

AOH rehearsal started at 7. I sang. I love it. I miss it, the camaraderie, the musicianship, all of it. There was one moment, one chord in particular (among many!), that just made the room heave with ... perfection? I don't know, maybe the phonics were just so locked that it rang all up and down the audible wavelengths. It was really, really cool. I wish I knew what I was doing with job etc. so I could make a commitment for July. We went to Pio's afterwards and sang tags on the sidewalk until 1:30 I think.

Friday. Friday I woke up at 9 and decided to go visit Lisa & the boys. There were moments of sunshine and blue skies; it was a beautiful drive and a nice, if brief, visit. The twins are beautiful and look less alike than I was expecting. They poop a lot and sleep a lot. I picked up Bread Co. on the way in and we just kind of sat there and caught up on life.

Last night would have been poker night at Joel's, but we ended up drinking and snacking and watching the NCAA Tourney. Ran into a fellow M2 alum, small world. I left at 11:30 maybe and met up with zinniz and the crowd at AMP for a few drinks. They kept trying to hook me up with people...which is flattering and fun and all, but somehow I just wasn't in the mood. I did, however, enjoy the evening. Wandered down to Novak's for a drink and then had to drive the HOUR back out to the provinces. 3am? I have GOT to move.

Tonight it's dinner @ Pat's. I'm taking bread. Looking forward to seeing everyone!