And now for a New Year....

I hope everyone has had a wonderful new year. Last night John and I decided on a night in. I rented two movies heated up and messed around with some chocolate to try and flavor it (finally had to have John step in when I had two attempts seize up on me due to the water that I was putting in it). We watched "Clerks II" and "the Grimms Brothers." By the time we finished the two films it was exactly thirty seconds before midnight. We watched the countdown and then enjoyed some champagne and -of course- a new years kiss.

My resolutions for this year are as follows...
1. Work on my abdominal strength by doing floor barre once a week (besides in ballet class)
2. Write in this blog at least once a month
3. Try and read at least one book not directly related to classes a month
4. Get the library catalogued and organized (I have LibraryThing to help on the cataloging but the organizing is where things start to break down) and...
5. Get an A average in all of my classes (lol...I'll work towards that but I think I'm going to have to hbope for a B average there).

Gypsies Tramps and Queens (Part two)

After meeting up with Moueska, Tom and Gram we decided to head over to the main area to grab a bite to eat at the main concession area. I had been salivating over the idea of trying mead (a sort of wine made out of honey) and a turkey leg but the desire for a turkey leg dried up after waiting in line for some "healthier" fare (A portabella w/cheese sandwich for John and a BLT double Decker for gram) so I grabbed some chinese (sweet and sour Chicken) then hopped in the line for alcoholic beverages. A sip of mead and I was in heaven. A thickly sweet concoction taking very much like honey but definitely a wine.

While I was waiting in line for my mead and meal after waiting in another line for John and Gram my family watched the show of Nikolai's brother Adonni. It is an offshoot of the Maestro's group which goes for an old song and dance feel. My sister seemed to enjoy it but honestly I wasn't able to see it because of waiting in those lines.

After nibbling all of us wandered together over to a bench where the whole crew relaxed as we had been on out feet nearly the whole day. Up came the beggar-dog and the barber. Covered in blood and carrying eirie oversized scissors he asked the men in the group if they wanted their hair cut. Both Tom and John declined thenhe moved on to the next couple. Gram, Moueska and I all needed to go to the privy so we left the men at the bench while we got into the long line.

After getting in the lines all three of us wandered our way back. We were suprised to hear from John that we had left them there almost an hour (for whatever reason I think he was exagerating ;) ).

Moueska posted about the end of the day so I won't bother with it here but suffice it to say that I had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back next year!

Gypsies, Tramps and Queens (Part one)

Last weekend Moueska, Drac, Gram, John and I went to Kansas City for The Kansas City Renaissance Faire. Moueska and I had been talking about going to see it for a long time after going to the Greater Saint Louis Renaissance Faire with a bunch of our friends.

Last year our brother got a leg up on us. Tarrith was so enthralled with the faire and hearing how much fun one of his KCAI (Kansas City Art Institute) buddies had that he decided that he would try out for it the next year.

So Tarrith became Nicholai Boleyn, Handsomest of the Gypsy Sons and the most sought after by women everywhere. Because of this I felt that a trip to the KC Renaissance Festival was in order for the whole Buritsch/Tonnelicci clan. Unfortunately the weekend my sister and I chose was a weekend that Dad and Kathy were going to Columbia to visit with the counselors there for my stepsister. When Moueska's boyfriend found out that we were going to it he begged and pleaded with me to come until I relented.

It was a major drive for John and I. I told Vickie, Tom and Gram to go ahead of us and get themselves checked in because it would be a total of a 5 and a half hour drive for John and I. We left Cape Girardeau around 4:30pm, grabbed a little something in Wentzville on the go and kept right on going. When we hit KC we hit some major construction meaning that the total drive ended up being about six hours for us, John was exhausted.

After getting to the hotel we found out that I had accidentally booked two hotel rooms as opposed to the one for John and I (Vickie took care of the rooms for her, Gram and Tom). The guy at the desk told us that it was quite commonplace and switched the hotel rooms around so that Moueska and Tom had a smoke free room and got rid of the smoking room they had accidentally reserved (basically getting rid of one room reservation). Right after we got into our hotel rooms John collapsed and slept.

Moueska and I decided to try and get out to the Festival about 10:30 at the latest. After not trusting the front desk clerk's directions (turned off an exit too early and had to backtrack to the highway to wait for the next exit) we arrived at the Faire. The night before I had called Nicholai (Tarrith) for directions for us to get in. Because he was an employee for the faire he got all of us free tickets. We were sent to the media entrance off to the side of the "Town Gates" where we were greeted like nobility and made sure we had something to drink (they offered us bottled drinks and such) told to sign in, given a guide to the shows and a program with a map.

Just outside of the media entrance we wandered out to see a great pole topped with ribbons where Queen Elizabeth was hosting a maypole dance for the little ones. Moueska and Gram got caught up in the faire booths almost immediately. John "dragged" me off to take a turn around the Faire town before he would let me wander to booths.

John and I stopped in the Pirate square for "MentalPause," a baudy show about women reaching the "golden years." After that it was close to time to see about meeting up with Tom, Gram and Moueska for lunch. John and I waited by the town fountain when we heard a great sound off in the distance. We look over to see a great processional parade with Nicholai way up high on stilts! By the time I had seen him I only saw his backside (not to mention he was on the wrong side of me). I called out his name but I had seriously doubted he had heard me.

John called my sister up on her cell phone so that we would know where to meet up with her. We told her to follow "The End" of the parade (written on the end of the executioner). John and I caught up with them at the Fairy Commons.

Because this is getting a little long I will post Part two (and probably also going to be a picture intensive post) sometime early next weekend.

Updates

Sorry I haven't updated for a while. I don't know if I have a very good reason other than trying to figure out how I'm going to fit work and college together. I've done that ok in the past but my grades always suffered as a result and I was never 100% at work (although I would never know if I was doing well there anyway).

1) Started classes August 21st. Here's my basic schedule

MW: 8am College Algebra, 9am Environmental Biology, 11am Computer Applications, 1:30pm Public Speaking, and 3pm Ballet III

F: 8am College Algebra, 10am Environmental Biology Lab, 11am Computer Applications, and 1:30pm Public Speaking

College Algebra is a three-time repeat. In my opinion it's make to break with this class.
Environmental Biology is a one-time repeat but this time it's with a different instructor and this seems to be making all the difference in the world for me.

Computer Applications is so boring that I wonder if I'm going to fail the class due to sheer boredom. Currently everything that she is talking about I know how to do. I know that there are some people going back into college after 10 or more years might have problems with computers but everyone in this particular class definitely has had a computer in their home at least for the last four years if not since they were little (like myself). What makes this class even more laughable is that she doesn't even acknowledge that there are other operating systems (like the one used on Macs like the one I'm currently typing this on).

Public Speaking is interesting and I am liking this class.

Ballet III is a fair bit better than I took Ballet II. She's just about as hard as the instructor from the first time I took Ballet II but has a better way about explaining the things we need to work on and applying it to each individual (who all have different body-types and experience levels).

All in all I think it's going to be an interesting semester.

2) I have been considering quitting my job since before I got married. At that time I had been looking for a job to replace Hobby Lobby, but the only one I interviewed for never called me back. I later found out that the person they were interviewing me to replace decided not to quit so they didn't hire anyone for that one. *begin rant* More recently I've been critisized for minor stuff by my head manager. By minor I mean not having the return slip finished by the time he got to my register or not knowing what is on sale. I'm sorry but as it's the first day I worked since the sale began I'm not going to know every single item that is on sale. I do try to check but I can't see everything in one quick glance. Does he want me to move fast or does he want me to be overly cautious causing backups.

The final straw really had to do with requests off. In general a part-time cashier is always scheduled on Saturday. You can put in a request but if they are either consecutive there is no guarantee that you will get both weekends. My family has been planning on visiting my brother, Tarrith at the Kansas City Renaissance Faire (he's going to be one of the strolling characters) and when we set the date barely a week later I find out that John's high school reunion is the weekend before. I put the request in and this week when I checked the schedule yesterday I found out that he has scheduled me that weekend anyway. I had mentioned that I had given him a note telling him that I wouldn't be available either day and he said to me "it wouldn't be fair to give you two weeks off in a row." I didn't try to make it that way, it just happened that way. I guess I could back out of the family event but I was the one helping to organize this event and it would have been unfair to the rest of the people to back out on them, not to mention I haven't even seen my brother since my marriage (I rarely have the chance to see him and it's going to be even less since he lives in Kansas City now). At that point I let it slip that I was planning on putting my two weeks notice in siting my classes as the reason. After I got of work I was thinking "what have I done?" *end rant*

I already had backup plans. For the longest time I've wanted to volunteer at the new children's museum in town, but haven't been able to because of having to work on Saturdays when they need the help the most.

John doesn't have any problems with me quitting my job as long as I do something with my time. Volunteering at the children's museum would fill that requirement.

Travels, travels, and more travels...

John and I have been in Costa Rica for the last week for our honeymoon. We´ve got another two weeks to go. We´re currently getting ready to head out to La Fortuna and Volcano Arenal. I´m hoping to take a dip in one of the hot springs and maybe even climb through a cave! A couple of days back we visited Drake bay for two and a half days. We hiked through the only National Park in Costa Rica with primary rainforest (meaning the forest hadn´t been cut down for logging, plantations or anything like that). John ended up near heat exhaustion by the hiles end. It was a good thing we needed to hop on a boat to get in and out of Corcovado National Park from Drake Bay. I´ll be sure to set up an account with one of those photo services so that I can show you all the pictures (well, maybe a good deal of them) when I get back.

Running Around Like a Chicken with it's head cut off...

This week is going to be the craziest I've ever head. I need to get all of the house cleaned up and then clear out the garage, drive all around to pick up the last for my wedding outfit and get final number to give to the guys at the Rose Bed Inn. *sigh* This week is goung wayyyyy too fast.

I miss mom...

I'm going to go off of my usual fare of talking about links that I find interesting to mope a bit. Back in December 27, 2001 my mom passed away after a long battle with cancer. I had been working a long hard day at the Science Center and all I had wanted to do was take a nice, long bath and put my feet up. As soon as I got home I had seen the whole family there, including my Aunt susan (who was a nurse and had been in town for my grandma's 80th birthday) and everyone else. My dad took into the living room and pulled out a dining room chair and pulled out another one to sit right across from me. Then he told me. She had died around 10am while I was at work. They had said that they didn't want me to be bothered while there. I called my manager immediately therafter and let her know what happened and that I probably wouldn't be in for a little bit. She had told me to take all the time I needed. At the funeral I saw some old teachers who had been really close to us (one both my brother and I had at one time, she had always been there for our family despite mom's cancer coming about after she had been our teacher) and a few of my colleagues at work. One of them had met my parents before when I had been a volunteer in their gallery and had won an award.

Skipping ahead to this past week, I have been finding that without a mom beside you to help you guide the process of singlehood to marriage is an extremely rocky one. I have been way behind of getting everything together and there have been plenty of times that I wished I could call mom and ask her for some input on bouquets (which I know she could do, she used to work at Nettie's floral shop for a while) or to get her approval about the wedding dress. This mother's day has been the hardest one for me to deal with since my mom passed away. for ra long time it was just another day. This year mother's day is a reminder of just how hard it is not to have her here.

John and I have been discussing what we can do to memorialize her in the service and we have decided that we are going to have a chair marked off with some flowers on it and a note stating "En Memoriam: Jacqueline Bertha McComber-Buritsch" with a good picture of mom (maybe even her wedding picture).

Thought this was interesting...

A couple of days ago I head about a fellow blogger who is in the process of trading a paperclip for a house. The paperclip itself is not all that unique except it is red and was the paperclip he used to hold his resumes together. Among the trades is a clay doorknob with a funky face on it, a Coleman stove (which was later traded for a generator), and a recording contract for a a year in Phoenix (which is the current item to be traded).

The recording contract went to Jody Gnat, who apparently is someone wanting to break into the music scene. If you go to her site you'll have a chance to listen to her stuff. It's sort of like Ani DiFranco, but definitely also something different. She has the sort of voice that you can tell is not played with at all.

He even lets us, the readers, have input on what he decides he will pick...if he picks any of the options.

Go check it out it's interesting to say the least. I wonder how many people who are taking economics classes are discussing it. I know I hated my economics class but if we had had a case example like this I think it would have made for a more interesting class.

What Book are you?

No this is not some sort of online quiz. A couple of days ago I was watching "Farenheit 451" on the TCI channel and I got to thinking about the book people. They memorized and literally became the book. I tried to imagine what book in my library would I be so desperate about saving that I would search out these book people and become that book.

So I have a question to put to everyone, what book would you become?

Some Articles to consider and respond to..

It's been waaaay too long since I've updated this blog so I figured I'd post a few links to articles to consider.

Fly me to the moon...

This first is in regards to the space shuttles and their possible end. For many of the that don't know the shuttle was designed by Rockwell (a now defunct company which was bought out by Boeing Corp.) and the building of it was sub-contracted out to a number of companies from Boeing, the then McDonnell-Douglas (now a division of Boeing), and Lockheed Martin. This consortium is also the group that helps maintain the vehicles.

Because of this and contests such as The X-Prize there has been a number of various upstarts to try and upset the Big Two (since that seems to be all that is left of the flight companies that were competing for contests. One of these young rascals is Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (also known as Space X) However they are not welcomed into the spaceflight community with completely open arms it seems.

Where is the "upbeat generation?"

From reading this article it seems that all of the progress of the 60's seemed to have disappeared. What do you guys think?

Copyright issues

The final article has to do with Google's plan to scan all of the contents of the books that they find in libraries so that they can be searchable. This has caused a huge uproar in the publishing world for fairly good reasons. I'll try to keep posted on this.

Just a bit of "Dr. Who" Rambling

I have gotten hooked on a show that doesn't even show in the US. For those that have been in contact with me you know what I'm talking about. Thank the universe for Bittorrents. I would never have the opportunity to see Dr. Who at all except for the old series and while I liked what I saw of them (John downloaded some of them for me to see so that I could have some background info, I felt like I needed it) they can't hold a candle to the new series and Christopher Eccleston as The Doctor and Billie Piper as "Rose Tyler" his companion through the whole series. I am not looking forward to when The Doctor regenerates and David Tennant takes over. I guess I'll have to continue my fantasy in fan fics.

John recently called me obsessed about it. I can't help it. I hope to see Christopher Eccleston in more shows or movies.

It's lonely up here...

According to an article by the Chicago Tribune I'm one of a lessening few that have been able to crest "the Mt.Everest of thinness." The article itself hits on some important points but misses a few others. I remember in junior high being asked if I was anorexic. I was just athletically fit from my dancing as well as going through one of those throwth spurts where my arms and shoulders were almost bony. I guess a lot of people didn't put two and two together when they knew I danced. After I came home from my frst year of college to begin my multi-year hiatus, I didn't drive so my lifestyle kept me at that point. I walked and when I couldn't walk I rode the bus or my bicycle. For the last month before I moved to CapeGirardeau I was riding my bicycle about 170 miles a week (about the distance from work and back).

After I moved down to Cape Girardeau I let my lifestyle slip. I began driving and while I would leave my truck on campus once a week and walk downtown and back (about 2 miles or so), it was not enough. I began gaining and finally hit my "target weight of 115 lb. average (so that I can give blood). Unlike many people up one "Thin Everest" I am not one of them wanting to lose weight. I rode my bicycle to save money for various items of pleasure. I just kept my pre-college weight because I ignored driving in favor of other lifestyle choices.

You can do the same by switching to a bicycle. I know some of the few people can't cut out the whole time spent driving due to being so close to the highway so I would only reccommend partial driving in those cases. Start small. If you hve a bicycle, throw it in the back of your vehicle or onto you bike rack and drive until you are about a quarter of the way to work. Park in a good spot (obviously one you remember) and then bike the rest of the way. Once you feel comfortable, start parking further back until you are riding the whole distance (or as close tothe whole way as possible. Another option is to try the trip on your day off to your destination. Then have someone meet you there and drive you back (with your bike of course). If you don't ride your bicycle regularly it's going to be hard or hte first week or so you are bicycling the whole distance. After that it gets into a rhythm.

As for the people with average weight living longer tha people that are thin I have two bones to pick with the writer about this. One-are they talking about hte average now or the fifty years ago. Assuming the average height has not changed overly in the last fifty years then the average weight should be the same. If they are talking about the average weight now, I'm pretty sure it has gone up immensly in that time (probably faster than the difference in height). Two-it doesn't say this in the article either but are they including anorexics and bulimics in the statement that people that are thin are more likely than the average person to die earlier. They don't go into too much detail (and they don't talk about anorexics or bulimics at all) but I'm betting those statistics include that group as well as the "lifestyle fit" people.

Happy Mother's Day to all my mothers...

Everyone has at least one mom. There is your mom who gave you birth. Then there is those "moms" who have had a major influence in your life. Very rarely are they related to you. Often they are your friend's moms, but commonly they are a mentor or teacher who guided you to a certain path.

I write this in honor of all of them.

To my Birth mom, Jacqueline Buritsch(may she rest in peace). Of course she was a guiding force. I see that I am a lot like her. I never really told her I loved her before she died.

To Christine Wilkes. She was my fifth grade teacher and later became my brother's fourth grade teacher. When I was in her class she was out for a while during the time she was recuperating from a form of cancer and was right by our family's side and actually came to Tarrith's hospital room to deliver his work directly to him when he was suffering from a form of pneumonia (they thought). She kept in touch with our family and was right there during my mom's cancer.

To Susan Hull. She was a Gallery assistant at the SLSC and is now the Gallery Leader of the Discovery Room there. She was like a mom to me when I volunteered and later worked at the SC. She liked to tease that I had been at the SC since I was in diapers.

To Grandma Alice (may she rest). The only memory that stuck out in my mind in regards to her was about a week before she passed away. I had just gotten my first pair of pointe shoes. I found out from mom that she used to toe dance so I brought my first pair of toe shoues to her and I sat down next to here and learned how to sew the laces in (since the toe shoes do not come with the laces already on).

To Aunt Helen. Technically she is my great-aunt but after her sister and my grandma Alice passed away she was like a grandma to me.

To Gram Buritsch. We have had a lot of fun times. She and gramp bought a summer cabin when I was on my way to give us kids a place to relax. I remember of number of videos that grandpa had taped of us raking leaves up and jumping into them. Gram recently quit driving (in part in reaction to an accident she had over a year ago) and probably will be selling the cabin since our family does not really use it at all since dad remarried.

To Kathy Buritsch. My dad recently married in early August of last year. I cannot say that I feel like she is a "mom" in the sense that my mother, Mrs. Hull, or Mrs. Wilkes are, but she is, by definition, a (step)mom.

To the other Mrs. B's. Both Mrs. Breihan and Mrs. Barnes were mom's to a degree. After mom passed away I saw talked and learned from them to a degree.

To Mrs. Taylor. Rhema's mom may have been one busy mom, but both her and Mr. Taylor were pretty close to our family.

In closing I'm wishing a Happy Mother's Day to one mom that has not been a "mom" as much as a "sister." LarLar is the mom to Brooke, her little daughter.

What will you do to survive after oil?

After reading this, I decided to contemplate this question. I've decided to do a survey of the few loyal readers. Imagine that tomorrow the cost for gas goes back to $5.50 a gallon (it is the price of gas during the oil crisis of the 1970s after adjusting for inflation). What will you do? Would you go out and get solar panels to power your basics, would you uy a bicycle or some other vehicle to get around? Would you move closer to school? Work? recreation? Would you plant yourself a garden so that you could afford more gas while replacing the garden foods you buy at the store?

And Now for something completely different...

I am going to try something new on this blog since I don't seem to have a lot of time to write entries much like the last one. I'm going to call it "The webpage of the month."

I'll post it and talk a little about it. I hope to make it in regards to current events. I have been reading a lot in regards to the Amtrak crisis. Apparently Bush has cut off the "National Passenger Rail Line" in his 2006 budget. I think he hopes that the states will pick up the slack. In the meantime it looks like most of that money would instead be going to fix the crumbling bridges. Online groups such as The Friends of Amtrak have been fighting since 1995 or so when the push to cut off Amtrak began (I may be off on the actual date but that's not odd considering Clinton was intent on balancingthe budget).

In closing I have one other page to add. The Christian Science Monitor added a really good multimedia presentation back in 2002 which is worth looking at.

A little sidenote that has to do with Amtrak but more in terms of family history than anything else: When my brother was in Boy Scouts he and his fellow troop members going on this trip rode the Amtrak. I don't know if it was a good experience or not. I know that my brother's train coming back was delayed a total of about 10 hours (my memory may be wrong, you may need to ask him to know for sure) due to the fact that the long-distance trains have to run on the frieght-trains' lines who havethe right-of way.

Music and Memories

I remember hearing my dad play his guitar he liked to call Manuel. He would be sitting on his and mom's bed piddling with the strings, making sure they were in tune and strumming when it fit the moment. All five of us, dad sitting on one side, mom on the other with us three kids piled down on the other end. Sometimes he'd do little riffs, kind of classical and spanish in nature all at once. Other times is be boistrous strumming. Many years later my sister was given a chance to learn the basics from dad as well as my brother. My sister began learning, but seemed to give it up once Tarrith started learning it. I remember taking another guitar that was a pre-cursor to Manuel that my dad took with him when he went on a mission trip to South America with some people in his church away with me to college, but I never learned how to use it and when I was going to start I found out that the lathe was warped and it would have cost more than the guitar was worth to fix. I am sorry I never got it fixed so that I could learn to play as well as dad played Manuel.

Many years ago, long before any of us Solon kids were a twinkle in dad's eye and before he met mom, my dad was in the Navy servicing the early F series fighter planes on the USS Independence. On one of his many stops in that venerable ship, it stopped in Cordoba (correction from dad, the Isle was actually Majorca) off the coast of Spain. There is where my father found and bought Manuel. I used to imagine my dad negotiating with the sales clerk in spanish. Many years later when my dad was helping me with my Spanish in high school I found out that the clerk was English, but it never detracted from my idealist view of the shop and of the guitar that my father enjoyed playing.

I don't know if Manuel gets that much of a workout anymore. I hope my dad sometime takes it out on a lazy evening when Kathy is home to serenade her, or to just listen and remember.

Dino Tissue!!

I just noticed this article and I think it's very important to Paleontology. Just imagine what we might be able to find out if they're able to identify the DNA proteins.

Begin WWAP rant....

This week isn't the best of weeks so far. It isn't too bad, in general and I may be making a mountain out of a mole hill but I need to say it. John and I lost two our our five places to eat out in Cape. On Sunday I found out that Bella Italia was in a fire on Saturday night. That day John felt like eating out. First I felt like driving past Bella to see what the fire looked like then we decided to head over to Shangrila (an Indian food restrant in the mall here) since we knew that two of our other fave places were closed on Sundays. When we got there however the lights were dark so we ended up going home. Today I found out why. Apparently it's closed down so that it can be turned into a mexican restrant. No offense to them but I think that there's already too many mexican restrants around here and we don't need another one. This has made both my weekend and my week really down and has overshadowed the weekend before.

In other news, congratulations to Von and Drew on their wedding. May they have many happy years together. I wasn't invited so I don't know how it went but I assume it was wonderful.

Trips and Things

For years I have gone on trips to various places with family and school. Seeing a map of where I have been and I realize that I've only scratched the surface.


create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourFlorida travel guide

I guess it's time that I take a few road trips. I guess it's time for me to look up what is in those various areas to visit. Any takers? I know I can't afford to go to Hawaii or Alaska, but I may be able to go to the continental US.

Birthday and other Stuff

Well I had a great birthday this past weekend. Most of you reading this are like, isn't your birthday on February 28th? Yeah it is, but since this is the first year I haven't been near may family on my birthday, I decided to take a trip up to St. Louis (actually it was a birthday gift from John) to have dinner at Mai Lee. When I was calling everyone to let them know about it and what time, I found out that a few of my friends were going to be out bridesmaid shoe shopping for Von's wedding coming up, so that meant a little shuffling around and trying to figure out directions to the place from where they were at. Since I hadn't really ever drove around St. Louis when I lived there, I was at a loss as to the directions so I ended up trying to relay the directions. Bad idea. They got lost and I ended up handing the cell over to dad so that he could get them there. In the meantime, we decided to go ahead and order because both John and I knew that we would have more than enough food to go around. After they got there they had just about a little of everything left on the table (which was all right considering all fo the food we had remaining).

After dinner John and I took T back to her house and then headed over to the Cheshire Lodge. If you've never stayed there, it's definitely worth staying there at some point in time, even if it's not one of the suites. A warning though, they have a quiet time since the room walls are so thin (and it's sometimes more "sorrid" past). It's inside is the same style of theming as the outside. It's supposed to look like an old English lodge. I've never been in an English Lodge but it definitely evokes that feel. I have fallen in love with the place and may think about possibly opening a much smaller type of place (maybe will all suites, I don't know). Unfortunately John and I did not really bother with the pool since I felt like we would be rushing if we did. So it was time to check out and head over to Einstein Bagels just down the street for breakfast(since they don't have a continental breakfast on the weekends).

From there I called my Aunt Helen to see if we could stop by to say hi. After that call we had a little time to head over to Both Whole Foods and REI to get lunch snacks since we had time before going to Aunt Helen's and didn't have much time before the play at the History Museum. At REI I bought a book called "Vegetarian Backpackin' Snackin' ." Before I had headed over there I had told John that I was just going to browse so when he go back he gave me a little flack until I pulled it out. "Awww..you got it for me," he said. I figured it was much cheaper to make the meals in the book when we start going hiking/backpacking than it would be to buy those premade packets that people usually get (considering that we would either have to pay for gas to get up to St. Louis or pay for the shipping on the packets).

After that we went over to my great aunt Helen's to visit her since I haven't seen her since dad's wedding and she had broken her right upper arm a little after Christmas. She wasn't in a sling, but was still swollen so she wasn't taking any chances. She told me that my Aunt Beverly had stayed there one time so long ago and after the second day staying there she asked Aunt Helen if she could stay at her place because apparently there were a lot of people partying in the room and since there wasn't any sound-proofed walls in the place she couldn't stand it. I will have to say that it was much quieter when John and I stayed there than that story.

From there we went over to the History Museum to get tickets to "Dancing on Air: Katherine Dunham". It was amazing. She got her degree in Anthropology and studied the cultures on the island of Haiti. When she moved to back to the US created her own dance troope. The play itself had excerpts from some of her dances which I found fascinating. For those of you that don't know, Katherine Dunham makes her home in East St. Louis and is still going strong at 95 years old!

After we were done there, John and I headed over to Westport Plaza for dinner at the Drunken Fish before heading back to Cape Girardeau. The restaurant really wasn't John's style but the food was really good in my opinion. I had this philly roll that was fried in tempura and something else (I don't remember off hand what t was) that was brought out in a martini glass and was garnished with apple slices. For dessert I had this truffle-like dessert that was a rice patty filled with chocolate ice cream and good syrup formed in the shape of a tree.

My birthday proper was actually kind of anticlimactic. I went to school, came home for lunch where John surprised me with a DVD and poster from The Mates of State; the first band we went to see together and the band in which we went to see when we picked things back up after splitting (don't ever want that to happen again), and a sampler box of cheesecake from a really good cheesecake bakery down here called "My Daddy's Cheesecake." I have actually asked them once if they would be able to do a vegan version of it but like all of the other bakeries down here, they shut me out and gave my a nondescript answer (basically a way to say "No" without answering, it's one of my pet-peeves).

That evening it was off to work to be trained in the fabrics department. for those of you who don't know, I have been feeling kind of not really into my job and have decided that the only job that I would work at where money would not be the issue would be one where I love more job. I am taking it opportunity because moving to a department is a big step and not only more responsibilities but hopefully more future benefits. We'll see though. One big perk is that I have every other Saturday off so John and I may be able to go up to St. Genevieve or St. Louis or wherever we decide for the weekend. I'm looking forward to it.