Today I sang Adie Camp’s Sufficient, and while it was far from perfect, I managed to transform it into a much better rendition than the first time I attempted it back at New Harmony in May. [no? Fine.. it was lame, I know.]
We watched Transformers 3 today, in the theater, for almost 3 full hours. I wanted to transform the movie into 90 condensed minutes, and transform us out of the theater.
And yes, I know there’s a B up there. I swear I didn’t do that on purpose; my computer likes to say whatever it wants sometimes, and that’s what it gave me just now. Quirky glitch, that one…. *sigh.
I think I just said most of today up there. After our conversation on Friday at dinner, Pastor Ron convinced me this song would be perfect for the service today, and I couldn’t have been more flattered by the suggestion. If I can use a gift for spreading the message, by all means, I’m all for it. Not to mention, I have a blast when I’m doing it.
And what’s a hot summer day without frozen custard?
Well, I guess it would be a hot summer day without frozen custard. Silly question. BUT, today was fortunate to have us plug in a little cool-down in the middle of another blazing hot day. Jarod rode the bike over to meet us for that, and then the three of us hit the movie theater for a matinee of Transformers 3.
I’m a sucker for Transformers movies. I am not, however, a sucker for sitting there for about 3 hours to watch one. Oh well. It was still decent.
Post movie, it was back home to unwind and settle in for the night. Back to work tomorrow, week 2!
What do you do on a Saturday, in a new city, with no little one?
You explore! Well, we did, at least.
We started off the day by working out. That’s always fun.
After running a couple miles on the base track, Joe and I cleaned up and headed right back to base to try out the Metrolink. For my fellow country bumpkins who have no clue what I just said, the Metrolink is a train-like mode of transportation, in this case routing from Scott AFB all the way to the St. LouisAirport, making stops along the way. Think bus, on rails.
scott afb metrolink
So we finally figured out how to ticket ourselves, which was half the battle starting out. We rode the metro through IL into MO, getting off at the Convention Center in downtown St. Louis. Now, it’s never a real outing unless I’m either forgetting, leaving, losing, or dropping something. This time it was me leaving my cell phone on the Metro. Smooth. In a moment of panic, we attempted to backtrack our steps, until, at the advice of a sweet older woman, we called it. On the second try, a girl answered, and told me my phone was being held in one of the ticket lobbies at the Busch Stadium (St. Louis Cardinals). Hallelujah. I don’t usually get this lucky with my misplaced things, but this time it really was as easy as hopping back on the metro for two stops deeper into the city and finding the right lobby. I never found the girl who’d turned it in instead of stealing it, but I hope she knows she’s appreciated.
the dubliner
Resuming our quest of exploration, we foot-trekked our way out of the gameday crowd and back into the city to pick up where we’d left off a half hour before. We crossed a few city blocks and landed at the Dubliner, a very Irish pub in the middle of the city. We ate there, and decided we’d just play the rest of the day by ear.
The woman at the visitor’s center had told us about the CityMuseum, an obviously popular attraction for both tourists and locals alike. After a few hours of aimless exploration, we located this museum on a map and hiked the city blocks to find it.
I don’t know why I was so blown away by this place. It’s likely because the only thing I’ve seen that would even remotely resemble it is COSI, and even its luster is dulled to a mute point once you turn 10.
city museum cave section
No. This place is pretty much an industrial playground, for adults. I’ve never seen so many structures, holes, ladders, crevices, slides, or caves 1) indoor, under the same roof, or 2) built with the sole purpose of being conquered up, over, around, under, and through, by any able-bodied person, regardless of age.
giant puffer | i'm in love
The city museum is 10 stories tall. It’s an old industrial building that was converted into a jungle-jim on steroids. Not only does it contain a 10-story aluminum spiral slide, but the rooftop is home to a ferris wheel and a school bus suspended out over the roof. There is a floor with nothing but stone caves and waterfalls. Everywhere you go, there is an option to slip into some sort of hole and travel through it to another room. There is also floor after floor of museum: We saw everything from taxidermy exhibits to an antique doorknob gallery; a room with walls made from the aluminum salad bins you see at restaurant buffets to a half-basketball-court-sized foam pit; a ballroom with a grand piano to a room with human-sized hamster wheels. There’s even a circus school on one of the higher floors, and whole floor with an aquarium housing everything from sloths and sugar babies to adult nurse sharks and sea turtles; an alligator and stingrays to a two-headed python and full-grown river catfish.
Plus there are about 4 restaurants throughout this place, and there’s a full bar on rooftop.
Did I also mention there’s a full-sized circus arena up there, too?
10-story industrial slide!
I could go on.
It was by far one of the most bizarre, far-out places I’ve seen in St. Louis, and it sits right in the middle of downtown.
I would suggest you visit, if you haven’t yet.
Plus it’s open on Saturdays until .
What we thought would be a 1-2 hour visit quickly morphed into almost 5 hours, and we still didn’t see it all. If you ever come and visit us, we’ll be taking you there J. It was a long day, but definitely worth it. We even managed to make it back home via metro without me leaving anything behind.
SCORE! I survived my first week at my new office. It’s beyond different, still, but I think I’ll start meshing a little better when I’m not faced with 50 different things in a shortened workweek.
Anywhooooo. Sydni’s been gone [not gone, but on vacation, rather] at Nana & Pappy’s [aka, my parents’] since the beginning of this week when we left after the holiday weekend. It’s been eerily quiet around here, and I caught myself once this week feeling a bit useless not having the same recurring pile of stuff to clean up.
That’s why tonight we readily agreed to watch Tessa [Kyle & Amy’s] for the night while they headed out for a date night. I was pretty excited. Tessa is one of the cutest kids I’ve ever seen, and she’s funny, too.
I came home from work to find Tessa perched on our couch, tennis ball raised above her head, squealing at our dog, who was more than ready to play fetch with her in the living room. She thought it was the funniest thing. She helped me fix dinner, and told me all about how she helps her mommy out at home making dinner, too. She colored some pictures and ate dinner in Sydni’s high chair, because, well, she insisted on sitting there as opposed to a normal chair. Well ok, then.
tessa bean!
We took a trip to the park, where Tessa was very quick to make some new friends. I realized that Sydni does the same exact thing, and I had to stop for a minute and just appreciate the simplicity of children playing together. There’re no social borders, no status lines, and no inherited grudges to take into consideration. It’s just them, a playground, and all the free time they can handle until it’s time to go home. I love it. Tessa loved it, too, but was completely okay to head back to our house, get cleaned up for bed, and even fall asleep before Kyle & Amy came by to get her.
This is our first time babysitting another little one together: we didn’t do half bad! We still have one full week without our little one. I’m already starting to miss her, but I know we’ll find some way to fill the time.
One of my favorite things to do is explore new places. If I live or work there, it also kind of becomes a necessity; otherwise I’m perpetually lost each time I get in the car. I had caught a grapevine drift of a music/records/cd dig called, Slacker’s. I had put it on my to-find list, but hadn’t gotten around to finding it.
slackers | glen carbon, il
Until today.
I work across the street from Slacker’s.
Sweet.
castaway | tom hanks
Let me rewind to Father’s Day, when I gave Joe a checklist of every movie in which his actor-crush, Tom Hanks, has starred. I also included three of his movies. Today on lunch, I swung by and snagged another T.H. flick, which I would’ve bought the first time had I known we didn’t already own it.
mini greenies
My second stop on lunch was at Old Navy, where I’m finding I enjoy their kids’ section far more than their adult section. I still remember those logo T-shirts that for some reason wallpapered all the hallways in my high school for a whole one year when I was a sophomore. Weird.
Anyway, grabbed those little cuties, which are even cuter in person because their size makes them that much more adorable. Armed with my movie and my shoes [let me make note here that neither of these were actually for me; hooray for disciplined shopping!], I headed back to work, then back to my house to watch the new movie with my husband and watch our daughter parade around in her new shoes. That worked out well.
Usually, when I’m feeling that sense of being stressed out start to creep over me, it doesn’t take long for God to step in and alleviate those tingling worries. This is my second day of work at the new Express office, and already I’m feeling quite overwhelmed by the fact that literally every little detail of processing daily operations is performed differently here, and not necessarily in a way with which I agree.
The downside of being trained by a developer is that now I have ridiculously high standards for others who probably aren’t following protocol.
Soooo, with that being said, I also met another enemy [for now, at least] today:
nasty coworker.
Meet the Avaya phone system. This little jerk invention here would be fine functioning in a household, but not in a business – at least not the model & setup we have. His name is Avaya 5410, and as of today, we are not coexisting well. Rumor has it, he’s made enemies with most of the other staff here, too. Well then.
Anyway, with work frying my brain to near crispy, I went home and joined the husband and we headed across the backyard to church for our first dose of Wednesday evening church service here at Towerview.
Pastor Ron did a great job. His message this upcoming Sunday is going to be based around the song I presented to him last night at dinner. It’s very flattering to have that kind of recognition, and apparently I’m in line to sing this Sunday. Talk about a welcome!
Guess it’s time to dig out that accompaniment track…
One of the best farewell parties I’ve ever had came from my Express friends back in Cincinnati before I left. My experience with the company up to this point has been nothing but positive, and I see honest opportunity for growth both individually within this company, and as a whole.
So, today I stepped into a different Express office for my first day as a “transfer.” It’s always interesting being the new kid in the office, but it’s even more challenging when the new kid has actually been in the game longer than the majority of the class. I’ve transferred from an office in which the newest staff had been there no less than 3 years, to an office where the senior staff [owners not included] are just approaching their 1-year mark. Hmmmm.
Let’s just say, it’s different here.There is a copious amount of room for growth here, and I’m confident I can relay some of the things I learned coming from the office of an area developer. Fingers crossed.
With day 1 out of the way, I was ready for some relaxation and good company. Good thing, because Joe and I met up with our new church’s pastor and his wife [Ron & Debbie]. They had invited us to dinner to get to know us a little better, and I couldn’t be happier that we went. It is because of them that Joe and I discovered Eckert’s, which is a farmer’s market/orchard/country restaurant. It’s pretty amazing. They’ve got deep fried biscuits, which I’ve never seen or tasted, but in their defense, I’m glad I did. Not the healthiest thing I’ve ever eaten, but de-licious.
eckert's | fried biscuits
We had a great evening with Pastor Ron & Debbie; we spent nearly four hours sitting, eating, and talking. We are so very fortunate to have so quickly found such an energetic, passionate church with equally enthusiastic leaders. While I truly miss our home church family in Cincinnati [New Harmony!!], I am excited and eager to get involved here.
Oh, and high five for a four-day work week. J Back to it tomorrow!
To sum it up, we spent the majority of today driving. After an[other] incredible breakfast whipped up by my mother, we loaded up everything except for Sydni’s gear and prepared to reluctantly head back to Illinois.
Sydni spending a full week with my parents at least every 4-6 weeks had become a habit, but with the distance between increasing by about 5 hours, we all agreed that two weeks would be a better arrangement, both for my parents as well as for us traveling back again to get her. It’s going to be very different sans baby for two whole weeks; I’m not sure I’ll know what to do with myself. Not to mention, I’m going to miss her much more than I’m going to let on. [There, I said it.] So she’s there, and we are now here, back in Illinois.
fireworks
We parked outside our place after the grueling commute back, and were greeted by all sorts of fireworks: large, brilliant displays off in the distant, and tiny, homemade shows that popped up in various spots around our neighborhood. I’m not sure what it was, but those little flashes of color seemed to dull the exhaustion of driving and even calm our nerves about leaving Sydni for two weeks.
Oh, and did I mention I go back to work tomorrow? J
Express Edwardsville, let’s do this….
I’m a sucker for Transformers movies. I am not, however, a sucker for sitting there for about 3 hours to watch one. Oh well. It was still decent. 
