My Birthday

1. I spent the morning at my daughter's school because it was her birthday star day
2. On the night of my actual birthday, I went to dinner at El Maguey and a 31 party with Missy
3. My birthday is less important because the next day is my daughter's birthday, and we had a amazingly fun, but exhausting day of celebrating her.
4. We celebrated my birthday on Friday night with our friends Josh & Missy and Rick & Lauren.
5. We started the evening with drinks at BrickTop's- I had a blood orange martini that was so good
6. Dinner at Paul Manno's is always a special treat. I had a few bites of Lauren's fried eggplant caprese salad and a vodka cream sauce penne dish that was a rich and delicious.
7. I was gifted a necklace from Anthropologie from my big sister, a shopping trip a couple weeks ago with my parents, and a coat from my husband. And a stack of homemade cards from my children.

10 Things (On My Birthday, But Not At All Related To My Birthday)

1. Potty-training day 2 was such a disaster that I am not even attempting a day 3. Or a day 4 or 5. I might pick it back up on day 6 when it is the weekend.
2. Right now, the kids are playing...W hides a play-food carrot and R pretends he's a dog and tries to find it.
3. I tried watching both Smash and Awake, but neither of them are holding my attention.
4. I've been a little emotionally overwhelmed by a friend's blog post and the loss of a sweet little girl in Conway. Life sucks really bad sometimes.
5. I think that the LouFest lineup this year sounds promising.
6. My little sister left me the most painfully awkward, yet gloriously hilarious voicemail yesterday. Saving it forever.
7. I could really go for some of those Trader Joes Cat Cookies and a glass of dark chocolate almond milk right now.
8. I'm really excited to be spending a few days at my aunt and uncle's house in Willow Springs at the end of the month.
9. I couldn't be happier with these unusually early warm temperatures.
10. Buying things for and assembling Easter baskets for W and R gives me great joy.

Today's To-Do List

1. Run one mile
2. Finish hanging summer clothes
3. Switch out winter and summer shoes
4. Bake cookies with the kids
5. Buy W's school birthday snack
6. Clean the floors
7. Haircut at 7:00
8. Shop for the kids' Easter baskets

I'm A Sucker For...

1. Historical documentaries, ones about WWII, the wild West, the Civil War...I like them all
2. Fruity desserts
3. Clothing with the word "boyfriend" in it
4. Fried pickles
5. A good red lipstick
6. Veggie sandwiches and sweet potato fries at restaurants
7. Snakeskin (preferably faux)
8. Legally Blond on TV
9. A twirly skirt
10. Pie
11. A water park
12. My son saying, "Plllleeeaassee!"

Books My Dad Loaned Me

1. The Big Sky- A.B. Guthrie, Jr.
2. Jubal Sackett- Louis L'Amour
3. Sons of Texas- Elmer Kelton
4. Sin Killer- Larry McMurtry
5. Beyond The Stars- David William Ross

My Favorite Places In St. Louis

1. The St. Louis Art Museum
2. Bowood Gardens
3. The Penguin and Puffin Coast at the zoo
4. Government Hill area of Forest Park
5. Fitz's
6. Demun
7. The Kemper Home Gardening building in the Botanical Gardens
8. The City Museum
9. The patio at McGurk's
10. Outside at Rosalita's
11. ArtMart
12. Downtown Clayton

What I Need For A Good Road Trip

1. DVD player for the kids
2. Travel-perfect snacks (nuts, squeezies, cheese sticks, cereal bars, fruit, carrot sticks)
3. A clean and organized car
4. Fun bags for the kids (coloring books, tablets, stickers, markers, LeapFrogs, Hot Wheels, books, flash cards, etc)
5. Good music, podcasts, sermons, and earbuds for me
6. Spaced-out pit stops
7. Sunglasses
8. Pack of wipes and tissues
9. Sonic cherry-vanilla-Dr. Pepper
10. Cozy clothes
11. A loose schedule (i.e.- naps, movie, snacks, fun bags, movie, lunch) If you don't have one, you cram everything at the beginning and have a long time of nothing to look forward to