:: Brrrr!

i've always wanted some of these, but could never justify buying them, because why would you REALLY need flannel lined jeans if you live in the south? well, i can now justify the purchase! (although, of course, now that i need them, they don't come in maternity sizes...haha!) yesterday, matt and i were out doing a little christmas shopping, and holy moly! it didn't get above 27 all day...but it felt like -27! haha! it pretty much felt like i wasn't even wearing any jeans! just cut right through! haha! and right now, it's a balmy 16! holy majoly!
well, this was a random post...but at least it's a post! something i tend to forget to do! right, rita? haha!

:: Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

okay, so i've kinda gotten behind again on blogging...i think that is how it's just going to have to be...haha!

we had a great thanksgiving and i hope you did too! stephen, holly, kaylee and sunny were all here...and boy, did we have a good time! we didn't do the turkey thing...holly and i were kinda scared of that madness. but we had a roasted chicken, stove top® stuffing, cranberry sauce, yams (matt's request), sweet potato soufflé (sent by my mommer), rice, gravy...and i think that's about it. oh, and i made 2 pies...a pumpkin pie and another pie that pretty much tasted like a big ol' block of baker's chocolate because i ran out of whipped cream to mix with it...so it was a little on the strong side...haha! but we had a great time, and it was fun even though our meal wasn't like mom's...haha!

stephen and holly were here for a week, and that was nice! matt had to work most of the time, so i showed them around st louey the best i could...i'm not great with directions, but i must say we got around pretty good even though i had to be the navigator. haha! friday, after thanksgiving, is one of the craziest days at the store...since all those crazy shoppers like chicken so much. so i went in for a few hours to help out. i washed dishes and made lemonade. oh the joys! haha!

here are some pics of our fun week!

poor matt...even had to work on thanksgiving! he had to make a few runs to get fries to be ready for the next day of craziness! he was only gone a few hours in the morning, though...just in time for our scrumptious spread! haha! here he is on the phone with the family!


here's our holiday spread of food! haha! look at matt's face..i think he is snorting at holly or something...haha!


sunny and kaylee at the kiddee table...haha!


we had Christmas together (on Thanksgiving...haha) since we won't be able to go home for Christmas. here's Sunny opening her little strawberry shortcake art set.


...and kaylee got a bead making kit.


sunny, the artist...


and kaylee, the fashion queen! she made those herself! well, with a little help from me and holly...but it was her "vision"...we just helped...haha!



all bundled up...ready to go look at the christmas lights!


anheuser busch was pretty much the only place that had their lights up early! boy, was it gorgeous! here are the stables where they keep the traveling hitch of horses. so pretty!


saturday, we went downtown to take in the arch. on the way we swung by busch stadium. they are in the process of tearing it down, as you probably know, if you follow baseball at all. they were taking out another section while we were down there...there were a lot of people hanging around to watch the ball swing.


we went up in the arch. sunny didn't really like the ride up...it was too loud for her, i think. but once we got up there, they loved looking out the windows! here's a shot looking down at the city. you can see the stadiums...the old one on the right, the new one on the left.


there's the happy family! see 'em? over on the right...real tiny! haha!


kaylee and sunny posing by the mississippi...


this is kinda random, but i FINALLY got a picture of this massive Amoco sign. it's on the way out of downtown. it's so funny...i just laugh every time i see it, but i never have my camera! so i was glad to finally get a picture! haha! what's even more funny, is that it's not even an Amoco...it's a BP...haha!


the last night they were here, we went to clayton to eat some of the best pizza ever! here's sunny peeking in one of the store windows...soooo cute!


i love sunny's face in this picture! that's her "i'm freezing my hiney off" face! HAHA!


this isn't the best picture of us, but i haven't posted one of us in a while, so here it is...as good as it gets...haha!

:: GO TIGERS!!

Whoohooooooey!!!
Clemson beat USC yesterday! 13-9
I wish we could have seen the game. The Midwest doesn't believe in broadcasting the best games of the season though, for some dumb reason! Haha!


Well, we are so excited because Holly, Stephen and the girls are coming on Tuesday and staying for a week! So we won't be "family-less" for Thanksgiving! YAY!


Matt is having to work out at the store today and catch up on some cleaning...so I am trying to catch up on some freelance work before next week hits. But tonight, we are going to see Walk the Line and we can't wait! YAY! I've heard nothing but good things about it, so that makes it even more exciting. Unlike Jarhead, that we wasted $16 on last weekend to see. Just heed my warning...don't waste your money. I'm not going to start a rant about it, because I will never stop, and then I won't get my work done. So, just take my word for it. Haha!

:: fall is definitely and FINALLY here!

here are a few pics of some pretty trees here in our backyard/parking lot...haha!


this is the view looking out my office window...that tree is soooo perty! :)


well, clemson plays duke today. i sure do hope they win! they've been quite on a losing streak here lately...but were all really close games which makes the loss even tougher, to me. well, if they don't beat duke, they might as well turn in their uniforms...haha!


matt and i will be getting on a plane today at 1:20CT and flying to greenville on CFA business. i will be able to share more when we return. but we're SO stoked about going home! YAY! especially matt, since he hasn't been back since we moved. i got to go back for my 10 yr high school reunion...WHICH btw, i still haven't posted pics of...still to come! we'll return on tuesday night. :( but we'll take what we can get! haha!

oh, and here's something funny...matt went to take his rental car back to AVIS yesterday for some servicing...instead of changing the oil and all that stuff, they just gave him a different car...a pimp daddy ride! LOL!

:: happy birthday, gateway arch!

Today is the 40th birthday of the Gateway Arch! There are lots of festivities going on downtown, so maybe we can make it down there at some point...I hope they are giving away some cool arch foam-hats...haha!

My camera has died or I either have forgotten it on the occasions that we've been down to visit the arch. But here are a few pics someone else took, and some random ARCH facts. One thing that isn't mentioned is that it is as wide as it is tall...630 ft!




The St. Louis Gateway Arch is an elegant monument to westward expansion in the USA. Located on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri, the 630-foot tall stainless steel arch rises above the city skyline. The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial consists of the Gateway Arch, the Museum of Westward Expansion, and St. Louis' Old Courthouse.

How the design was chosen: There was a nationwide competition in 1947-1948 to design a monument in St. Louis honoring western pioneers. The architect Eero Saarinen (August 20, 1910 - September 1, 1961) won the contest with his sleek arch.

Construction: Construction of the arch began on February 12, 1963, and was finished on October 28, 1965. It was opened to the public on July 24, 1967. (after one of the trams was completed). It cost about 13 million dollars to build. The two bases are equilateral triangles (triangles with three 54 foot-long sides). At the top of the arch, the triangle is only 17 feet long on each side. Visitors enter the arch from an underground visitors center and can travel to the observation deck at the top in a 40-passenger tram that runs inside the arch.

The arch has 60-foot deep foundations. The arch is very stable and was built to withstand high winds and earthquakes. The structure sways about one inch in a 20 mph wind; it is designed to sway up to 18 inches in 150 mile per hour winds.

The Arch: The St. Louis Gateway Arch is in the form of an inverted catenary, which is a very stable structure that is often used in bridges, domes, and arches.

A catenary is the shape that a chain or necklace forms when held by the two ends. The Dutch mathematician Christiaan Huygens named this curve from the Latin word catenarius, which means "related to a chain."

:: tune in tomorrow!

tomorrow on ellen...


derek and ginger!! you go guys!!

derek is one of my peeps at work. they just had twin boys, Kade and Kyle...miracle babies! and they have a 2 year old, Kendall...she is precious! ginger entered a drawing for a lifetime supply of ALL laundry detergent and won the preliminaries! so they were whisked off to LA yesterday for the filming and the grand prize drawing! the show will air tomorrow...in greenville WYFF (ch 4) at 4:00pm. most peeps will be tuning in from around there...just check your local listings if you're tuning in from somewhere else.

good luck y'all!!! i hope you win! i'll send my laundry over if you do! :)

:: more backtrackin'

pooooo! i was just about finished with this entry and lost it all! WAAAAH!!
i'll recap real quick...there's been a bit more that has happened since that last date on the last post...so here goes!

i'll start by showing you our lovely apartment...haha! here's the den and the dining area...that's all that was clean when i took these pictures! haha!



here we are in downtown clayton. clayton is about 10 min east of here...it's a cute little artsy town. you can kinda see the "attack o' the hives on my arm"...haha!


we went to the zoo one sunday after church. it was SO hot! most of the animals were in hiding, but we did manage to snag a few pictures of some!



i think the zebras and horses were mixed together in the same cages and produces this offspring! how weird! haha!



doug, a fellow upward employee and milwaukee boy, was in town one week and hooked us up with some cardinals tickets! it has been so hard to get tickets since this is their last season at busch stadium...well, and since they were in the playoffs. this game was on sept 28, so it was pre-playoffs, but it was still packed! cardinal fans are NUTZ about their team! we've gotten sucked into it a bit since we've been here...haha!

here's where we sat..they were GREAT seats! doug is da man! haha!


me and doug...the hook-up KING!


me and matty! bye bye busch stadium!! it meets it's demise on Thanksgiving Day! so sad!


i'll do more backtrackin' later...

today is thursday and i am so glad! whee! matt gets off at 4:00 today!!! something that doesn't happen very often, so we try to do something fun...although, he may just want to rest which is fine with me too! haha! i helped him last night with paying the bills and counting the money...i'm in training...haha!

lots of work to do today, so i must close this out...

:) carla

:: NO KETCHUP

okay, it's obvious that i am NEVER going to catch up on my blog, so i'm gonna just have to start with the present...

well, lemme just see if i can bring all of this up to speed real quick...let me just do a little timeline here to bring some sense to the matter since i'm so far behind...


Just incase you haven't been in on all the happenings, here's a little run-down...

July 10 - I left for New York City with Upward to help with some basketball camps there in the Bronx. (see previous blog entry)

July 11 - Matt calls me in NYC to deliver the news that we may be moving to St Louis for 6 months as he takes an interim manager job at the Chesterfield Mall. Upward is very gracious and will allow me to go and work from home in St Louis.

July 14 - It's official. We'll be off to St Louis. One minor kicker...Matt will need to go on ahead...he will move in less than 2 weeks. I will move in one month.

July 16 - I return from NYC.

July 19 - Matt and I leave for western NC for a few days of rest and relaxation before the move.
Here we are at the North Lodge Bed and Breakfast that we stayed at one night. It was SO nice and SO relaxing!


Here we are leaving North Lodge. :(


At our last stop was at Uncle Mike's...Turkey Creek Campground - Almond, NC.


July 26 - Matt leaves for St Louis. :(

July 30-August 19 - I, with the gracious help of wonderful friends and family, pack up the house and move everything into storage...except for a few essentials that will accompany us to St Louis.
Here's Russ and Dad loading up the fridge...


Joel and Jared are seen here doing the muscle work while Dad is the "steering" committee...haha!


And here's Mom getting those last few dust bunnies...


I don't have any pics of Ralph and Regina (Matt's mom and dad), or Angela or Amy getting in on the moving action...but let me just say, they were such a huge help!! everyone was! thank you all soooo much for everything!! :)

August 7 - I break out with hives. Not sure what they are from...perhaps, pregnancy related.


August 20 - Matt flies home. :)

August 22 - Matt and I head out with the Element packed to the gills.
I don't have any pics of us heading out, but here's a cute one of Sunny and Matt a few minutes before we left.


August 23 - We arrive in St Louey!! (can you spot the ARCH? well, some of it...haha)



So that's the run-down. Things are going well here! I am missing all my peeps at work, but I must say that working from home is wonderful!! Especially during this awkward pregnancy time when nothing seems to fit me! Haha! I am just now starting to wear a majority of my maternity clothes, so it's nice to be able to button my pants and not have to worry about popping out of my old clothes! Haha!

Matt has had a hmmmmmm...I guess the best way to describe it would be "growing experience"...haha...here at the Chick-fil-A. Everything that has hit the fan, has hit it full force...no fault of his own...just a bunch of hooey from employees and things beyond his control. But things are definitely looking up now! All of the "problem" employees have quit, so that has been a HUGE blessing...as they were 99% of the headache for him. He is having to work some crazy hours...6 days a week...and his days range anywhere from 10-17 hrs. So needless to say, he is exhausted. I, on the other hand, am very rested! Haha! I'm going to start helping him out at the store with his books...oh law...watch out...me and math can be very dangerous! Haha! He did have me being the "fry girl" the other night. That was interesting...I was a bit slow and was terrified that I was going to forget to salt them! Haha!

Well, I'm going to promise again to keep up with my blog. I am very inspired by Rita.

Click for Rita's Xanga

I'm going to learn from her and am going to write at least something everyday no matter what it is...Rita, you have mastered this! And I am inspired! Haha!

Peace out...