Notably Positive July and August: Super Best Parts Version

I have started SO many blogs in these last three months but haven't managed to finish any to the posting point. Therefore, I'm doing a BIG, two part notably positive blog and hopefully get back on track.

July was one big heatwave here in St. Louis so we took every chance we could get to cool off. Branden's friend invited us to spend some of the July 4th weekend at his parent's lake house in Illinois. When Branden said lake house I was thinking a house NEAR a lake but this was a house with back steps that lead TO the lake. I put on a bathing suit for the first time in two years and got in the water with everyone else. I rode a jet ski for the first time ever and just enjoyed the cool water. We left before fireworks so we met up with other friends and had a good time watching a show put on by the city of Webster Groves.

With the same friends, Matt, Heather and her daughter Haley, we also took trips to Bonne Terre Mine and the St. Louis Science Center. The mine is an old lead mine that has filled with water and is now a billion gallon underground lake. We took a walking tour and boat ride and just had a great time. The Science Center is always fun- and free except for parking and special exhibits!- and this time we actually took the time to see the planetarium as well.

For those of you who don't know, my mom is the oldest of nine children and her youngest brother, my uncle David, is only 5 years older than I am. He is finishing up his schooling as an orthopedic surgeon and will be completing a fellowship here in St. Louis. So one Sunday in July, Branden and I helped his family move into the house that will be their home for the next year. It's great to have some family around and I love spending time with Aunt Jen and my cousin Annabelle. Annabelle is four months old and I get to hold her and admire her almost every Monday when we get together for baking and crafting.

We finally got the new phones and phone plans that Branden has been wanting for years. We switched to Virgin Mobile and we now pay less money each month ($55 a month for me to have unlimited talk, messaging and data!) and get everything we wanted. I will admit that I was nervous about getting a smart phone, but I am enjoying looking things up on the internet any time I want and not feeling embarrassed to pull out my phone to show off pictures of my nieces and nephews... So send those pictures, guys!

Not really in the positive pile, but still notable, I got my first fillings in July. They had to numb my mouth multiple times before I couldn't feel anything and then I got some painful sores at all of my injection sites but it's over now and I no longer have a hole in my tooth.

In August the heat finally broke. It didn't stay cool for the entire month but not every day was unbearably hot. I got the last of my fillings and both of us got our teeth cleaned. I am all caught up on my dental stuff until my next cleaning in February! The month was fairly quiet for us. Our friends are in a bowling league and the season started again so we spent some time up at the bowling alley with them. I taught Aunt Jen to make creme brulee, cheesecake and focaccia bread. Branden's friend gave us homegrown tomatoes and jalapenos so we made fresh salsa. And we rounded out the month by babysitting sweet Annabelle so Dave and Jen could go to a welcome dinner.

Notably Positive September: Super Best Parts Version

September was a BUSY month for us! We went out every weekend, often multiple times each weekend.

It started with the BEST Labor Day weekend I have ever enjoyed! Branden and I were both off work Sunday and Monday so we crammed as much into those days as possible. We went to a Greek festival at the Greek Orthodox church on Sunday. We ate food, took a church tour, watched some dancing and ate more food. Then we wandered around Laumeier Sculpture Park- a 96 acre outdoor "museum"- to burn off some of the pastries. Monday we headed to Illinois for a Victorian festival and Civil War reenactment! We wandered through booths shopping, toured a Victorian mansion, looked at steam-powered machinery, heard Lincoln give the Gettysburg Address, watched an embalming demonstration, rode on a stage coach, watched the skirmish... Oh, yeah, and ate more food. It was the BEST DAY EVER!... Or at least really close. I even got to get my picture taken with Abraham Lincoln.

The next weekend I went to Hooters for the first time... For a friend's birthday. The food was ok but I was disappointed that the girls were not as cute as I thought they should be. :P Sunday found us at the St. Louis Art Fair. We didn't buy any art- everything was fairly expensive- but we did eat more food! (At the beginning of Muppet's Christmas Carol Gonzo says, "I am here to tell the story." Rizzo the Rat adds in, "And I am here for the food." Well, that is pretty much the theme of all of our outings in the month of September. Just keep that in mind.) After eating lunch there, we went to a mall and wandered around there for a while before getting dinner and going to watch Branden's friends play softball.

Sunday the 18th we headed into downtown St. Louis for the Hispanic Festival. It was pouring rain so a lot of booths weren't open but we still got good food before we wandered around Soldier's Memorial- I won't lie, I cried. Afterward, we headed to Anheuser-Busch Brewery for the Brewery Tour. The brewery has been an important part of St. Louis history and the tour was a lot of fun and quite interesting. I did spend the entire day with wet feet, though. :( I ended up with my first cold in 2 years on Tuesday and I can't say that having cold, wet feet all day Sunday didn't add to my immune susceptibility.

Despite my miserable cold, I was NOT going to miss out on having a great anniversary weekend. I took lots of zinc and vitamin C, slept as much as I could and knocked back shots of Dayquil and Nyquil. By Saturday, I was tired and still sick but functioning fairly well. Saturday night we went to Taste of St. Louis... And ate food. We got to try food from a lot of different restaurants and found a couple that we'd actually like to visit in the future. We took the light-rail downtown so that we wouldn't have to worry about parking. Neither one of us had ever been on a train so it was a first and I have to say I'd do it again.

After a late night out on the town, we got up relatively early, put on costumes and headed to Pirate Fest! Oh, yes, we spent the day with friends, dressed as pirates, eating food, watching pirate-themed entertainment and shopping for pirate items... And we fit right in. Branden has been teaching himself to make leather pouches and he's actually doing pretty well. He made me a leather belt hook for my pewter mug and a couple of pouches to carry everything we needed for the day and I was proud to use all of the things he'd made. We found an awesome necklace for me and a pirate hat for Branden. We had so much fun and I could almost ignore my cold. I was pretty wiped out at the end of the day but it was a good tired. I can't imagine that we could have had a better anniversary and we're already making plans to be back at Pirate Fest next year.

So, those are all the best parts- and a couple of the not as great parts- of the last three months. If you made it this far, congratulations! If not, well, this is more for my own remembering in the long run.