WHERE HAVE I BEEN?!?!

Well, this summer flew right by me!  But not because I slept through it, no no.  I have been so incredibly busy and so much to tell!  So what's going on with me? Hmm...lets start back in May *dream sequence starts*

In May, I was preparing for one of the biggest transitions of our lives.  Goose's last day at MS&T was on the 17th and  on the very same day, my job was over.  It was the most bittersweet day I think I've ever had.  I had closed up shop for good around 3 to meet the grillz (oldest's first time making a super long drive, so again...monumental!) and get back in time for all the family coming up for Graduation the next day.  I won't lie...I cried a solid 30 miles after I left the house.  Once I had the grillz with me, we started our summer right then.  Graduation went smoothly, and everyone was so happy!  I don't think anyone was as happy as Goose though...that guy did not just one but TWO cartwheels!  His summer didn't last long though, because he moved by the end of May to start his long awaited career.  From then on, the whole family was back and forth between living in the hotel during the week and the old house on the weekends.  Our hotel room consisted of a tiny kitchenette, our bed, and a pull out couchbed that the grillz slept together on one foot from our bed.  It felt like we were on constant vacation!  Cramped but happy to be in our new city.

In June, I celebrated my sister-from-another-mister's wedding!  The whole weekend was awesome, with a fancy pants old hotel style bridal suite for us girls and getting pampered with hair and makeup the morning of, to the gorgeous ceremony by the Missouri river at Les Bourgeois Winery.  Us cool cats in the wedding party got to celebrate on the limo bus before partying at the reception.  Awesome times!  Again, back at the old house, we packed and twiddled our thumbs.  While at the hotel, we window shopped til we dropped and hung out at the pool like rockstars!  Early in June, this chromebook of mine freaked out on me AGAIN and I shipped it off to get a brand new replacement which took EONS!  Not to mention I didn't exactly have wireless that worked well enough for me to hook up to. BOO HISS.

July came, and I got to see our first fireworks display in our new city and I tell you what...I can't wait for more people to be here to experience it with me next summer!  We got to see the Counting Crows under the arch, with yet another fireworks display, and a couple of ballgames.  Meanwhile back at the old house, I prepared everything for moving.  I had a few DIY projects, had to get all the kinks lined out with moving, transferring utilities, etc.  But by July 30, WE FINALLY CLOSED ON OUR HOUSE.

Now we are here in August, and its been insane still!  We moved in on the 31st of July and jumped right in to hosting people!  We literally moved, unpacked, organized and were ready for visitors in 4 days.  It was a crazy mess of installs, deliveries, service turner-on'ers, and cleaning!  The first full week in our new house we had 2 sets of visitors over and we were on the go for a week solid.  We went to ball games, downtown STL, tours of the new city, etc.  Finally things have settled enough that I can get back into my normal routine again...and that includes keeping up with my blogging.  PHEW!  I cannot believe I wrapped up three months in one post!

Let me channel my inner Fraulein Maria

and sing "These are a few of my favorite THIIIIINGS!  WHEN THE DOG  BI-Bi-bites..."    *shifty eyes* 

Summer is practically here, and that means that there are certain products I need and can't live without during the warm times.  If I lived near the ocean though, these things would be staples.  Okay, this is kind of a girly post so boys...thanks for looking but nothing to see here, move on.  Unless you LIKE girly things and then by all means, stick around!  

I am not going to talk tanning stuff because for me, I haven't found a FAVORITE lotion and to be honest I use whatever my tanning salon gets in that year.  And I use spf 50 on my face and shoulders outside anyway, and I don't think the brand matters so long as you protect your skin.  Get a really good base tan by going slow and using high spf's and by all means, don't get burnt! Use a sunblock until you get your base tan.  Protect your skins, peeps...you only get one epidermis.  That's the end of my PSA.

No, YOU'RE A CHEESE BALL!

The Middle Sister is getting married.  Because I am wise beyond my years and practically the most amazing person I know, she asked me to help her plan the wedding.  I said, "Whatever man," even though she's not really a man.  So I did some checking and found a Bridal Fair in a place NOT HALFWAY between us.   She lives in Oklahoma, and I live in Missouri (for now... *shifty eyes*) so I thought, hey lets meet in Joplin at this one! So we did.  But not before I had a series of events attempt to ruin my day; which HA! events, it didn't work!

First of all, some IDIOT set my alarm for 715 PM instead of AM.  I woke at 830AM when my "check the fire" alarm went off.  When I find that ding dong I will prolly do nothing about it, but I'll threaten to break her arm and hit her with it. Or him.  Secondly, my hair was revolting for waking it up too early on a weekend.   I also have pretty much run out of makeup, which for at home I don't really care.  The tiny humans love me because I am a good dancer, not because I wear lots of makeup.  I finally got out of here and you'd think I was ready to be on my way.  Oh, no!  S.S. Vibe said "You gotta put some gas in me breeze, or I am not taking you ANYWHERE!" Almost two hours after my planned leave time, I left but not before remembering my notebook was on my desk.  *incredibly huge eye roll*

I was super excited for this event because it was at the Downstream Casino and I totally wanted to pretend I was going to play poker.  Or push that button for hours on the slot machines like a crack addict.  But as I met up with Middle Sister, I was reminded that we were not there to gamble, but to look at shiny wedding things. She can be such a downer sometimes.  ; ) I said, "Fine, but I better get snacks."

We let the nice parking lot bus driver take us to the front door, because he looked lonely.  He wanted to make sure we got good and close to the front door, but we swore that even though we were dainty little beings, we could make it the last 3 feet to the door and got out.  I did give him a dollar though because the bus reminded me of Jamaica, the land of tips and long bus rides.  After a bunch of ooohing and ahhing at  the casino, middle sister was able to distract me away from the noise and we found our way to the event.