How I spent my New Year's Eve...Eve.

I still had one vacation day left for 2011...so I used it yesterday.  The last possible day to take it.  :)  So what did I do with my day off?  I chose to spend it in St. Louis with mom and Sarah.  We shopped...we ate... we shopped...we ate... we shopped... we ate.  See a pattern?

First stop was P.F. Changs.  Yummm.  This is one of my favorite places to eat.  The first time I ate at one, was only because someone had given me a giftcard for my birthday one year.  I think that was in 2004.  I remember I was still living in Madison, TN...and working at Opry Mills at the time.  My first experience in a Changs was the one in Franklin, TN.  And it was delicious.  :)  I wound up eating there any chance I could (lunches, dinners, lay-off celebrations, new job celebrations, Christmas get-togethers, etc).  Now that I live in IL again...and the closest Changs is 150 miles away...it's really not that fair.  But whenever I make it back to TN, I always make a point to make sure it's on my list of places to go before leaving town.  :)

P.F. Changs at the Galleria in St. Louis (look for the horse!) :)

Crispy green beans....super yummy!

Shrimp fried rice.... One of my faves!

After Changs, we went across the street to the Galleria mall.  Spent some money (one of my favorite things to do, ha ha)...walked off all the food from lunch.  One place that I really liked going in the mall, was a book store.  It's just a local book store...which is so extremely rare to find these days.  Usually you can only shop at Barnes & Noble, or maybe Books-a-Million.  It was refreshing to be able to walk into a small book store with a lot of variety and good prices.

We left the mall and hopped on I-170 North.  Less than a mile later, we exited onto Delmar...and pulled in the parking lot at Jilly's Cupcake Bar & Cafe.  This is the place I blogged about a few weeks ago.  The cupcake place in St. Louis that won an episode of Cupcake Wars.  OMG.  I am still so excited just thinking about this place!  It was super easy to find, and when we got there it wasn't too terribly crowded.  However, after ordering and taking the last empty and clean table...it was as if the entire city had decided they wanted a cupcake at the same time.  We lucked out getting there when we did.  After experiencing this place, I've decided that it will be a new tradition.  Any time we cross the river into the city...we have to go get a cupcake.  ha ha  It was THAT good.

Here it is!

This is the Sugar Berry Princess cupcake at Jilly's.  It's made with a raspberry vanilla cake... blackberry curd stuffing... with purple-tinted strawberry buttercream frosting, white chocolate wings and jelly candy.  Holy cow.  Oh...and it was a rather large cupcake, so there was extra yummy goodness.

But no matter how big it was...I managed to eat it all.  :)

Our next stop of the day was back across the river to IL.  We hit up some stores around St. Clair Mall, then wound up at the mall.  Now...when you are at this particular mall, you cannot leave without eating at Olga's.  It's against the rules.  So for dinner...we ate at Olga's.  I've been eating there since I was a kid, and it's still one of my favorite places.  Unfortunately, the one in Fairview Heights is the only one in the vicinity.  I think they are based out of Michigan...so 99.9% of the chain is up there.  But thankfully, this one has managed to stick around all these years.  :)

The turkey club Olga..mmmmmmm.....

That rounds out my New Year's Eve Eve.  Again...lots of shopping...and lots of eating.  :)  How much more could a girl ask for? 

As for today...New Year's Eve....I've been munching on my souvenir from Jilly's over the course of the day...

And on that note...I think I'll go get another mini-cupcake. 







A Winter Wonderland

I love snow.  Like...REALLY love snow.  Always have, and apparently, always will.  As a kid, waking up to find snow on the ground was one of my most favorite things.  And as an adult, when I wake up to find snow on the ground, I get that same feeling I did as a kid.  Excitement!  There's just something about it.  How quiet the world is when there's a fresh blanket of snow on the ground.  How everything looks like it's covered in cotton.  I love it!

Yesterday morning, I had the extreme pleasure of waking up to a true winter wonderland outside my bedroom window.  If I could have called in to work, I would have.  But not because I didn't want to drive in it.  Nope....I wanted to go drive all over the countryside, taking pictures of it.  Sadly, however, I had to go to work.

Speaking of driving in the snow...that was something I prided myself on when I lived in Tennessee.  Being able to drive on snow.  Or rather, being able to drive on snow and actually get to where I needed to get to.  So many people down there thought they were invincible in any kind of weather...snow and ice were no exception to their personal rules.  And although they'd end up in ditches and such...I highly doubt they ever learned their lessons. 

The only time that snow almost beat me, was Christmas of 2003 (I think).  Either 2003 or 2004, I believe.  I don't know why I can't ever remember what year it was.  Anyway...Middle Tennessee had a snowstorm... a real and true snowstorm.  Everything shut down (but it usually did that with just a threat of one snowflake).  However with this particular storm, it happened so fast that people were stranded on the interstates.  Then it was Christmas Eve (so the storm must have come through on the 23rd, I think)...and I was supposed to drive home to IL.  And of course I was bound and determined to get there.  So I set out on Christmas Eve morning....and drove no faster than 40mph, on packed ice and snow the whole 200 miles.  Seven hours later, I pulled into the driveway at home.  The highlight of the trip had been in Kentucky...where in the median, there had been lots of snowmen.  I suppose people who had been stranded the day before, had made them while they waited to be able to keep going.  That was a rough trip that year...but I'd do it again.  :)

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live somewhere that I'd have snow all year round...or at least a good portion of the year.  But then I also wonder, would I appreciate and love it as much if I had it all the time?  I'd like to say yes...but who knows.

Me in 1978...I totally remember this snow, too.  I remember Dad clearing a path from the garage side door out to the shop.  Due to the snow drifts, I could walk down the path, and be completely hidden by the snow walls on each side of me.  It was AWESOME!

This is probably 1990 or 91-ish.

My view out the back door yesterday morning.

My view out the front door yesterday morning.

Happy Christmas Eve 2011!

The Oaks have a song on their first Christmas album, titled "Happy Christmas Eve".  It's one of my favorites, and everyone should listen to it.  Right now.  NOW!  ha ha...  Okay...you don't have to right at this very moment, I guess.

So.  I've been cleaning and cleaning and cleaning all day.  It feels like it should already be 7pm...but thankfully it's just shy of 2:30pm (at the time I am typing this, anyway).  Unfortunately, that's still not enough time to make any cookies...mom has had the kitchen all day, while dad and I have been cleaning.  He pulls things away from the wall or turns the chairs upside down...and then I vacuum those spots.  I also spent a couple of hours scrubbing the bathroom.  This is not exactly how I would have liked to have spent the first half of my Christmas Eve...but none the less, it's the way it went.  Oh well.  Maybe I'll remember this for next year, and get started a week ahead of time on the cleaning.  ha ha...  After all the cleaning, we'll have family and friends over for our Christmas Eve traditions of sandwiches and finger foods, visiting, and then opening presents.

In the spirit of Christmas Eve....I found some old Christmas pictures last night.  I would like to share them with you all...  :)  But before I do that, I'd like to wish everyone a most wonderful and happy Christmas Eve.  I hope you all have a joyous time today and are able to spend your time with those you love and those who make you happy.   

1973 -- Mom and Dad

1976 -- My first Christmas

1977

 

1979 -- I LOVED this dress!

1983 -- Preston's first Christmas

1983

Possibly 1989

1979 -- Pop and Grandma

1978 -- with Pop and Grandma

1985 or 1986 -- Dad and Preston

early 1990's

1982 -- Grandma Trill and grandchildren

Amanda's Cookie Extravaganza and More...

Several years ago, I began hosting Christmas parties for my friends.  I honestly don't even remember when the first one was...so if anyone does happen to remember (Stacey?), please tell me.  I can't even remember which apartment I was living in during the first one (maybe Madison?).  ha ha.  But no matter... it was a while ago.  Over the years, the guests may have changed...but one thing remained constant.  The Cookies. 

When I had my own place, I was a cookie baking fool for the whole month of December.  Stacey renamed my Christmas party, "Amanda's Cookie Extraganza and More" one year.  I liked that.  :)  So much so, that the following year, that is what went out on the invitations!  However, since I moved home to IL, I have hardly baked anything at all.  I am not sure what happened.  I miss baking all those crazy cookies...and I miss sharing them with everyone in the world that I know.  But I just can't seem to get motivated to bake.  :(  It makes me sad.  I'm hoping that maybe...just maybe...this blog will inspire me to run to the kitchen and start baking something.  :)  That would be awesome.

The last party that I had, was in 2009....TWO YEARS AGO!  I am making the decision right now....RIGHT NOW....there WILL be an Amanda's Cookie Extravaganza and More in December of 2012.  I need to get back to hosting.  I miss it.  My favorite part is sharing all the cookies and seeing everyone go back for another one.  :)  I also miss having all my friends in one place together for a few hours, visiting and eating delicious finger-foods and desserts.  There are a lot of wonderful memories from those get-togethers.

I found some pictures from the last few years of parties...and I will post them now.  This is just a smidgen of the fun that we have. 



from 2007:

The Pulte Girls

The old Shepherd Hills crew

The Girls

from 2008:

The. Cookies.

Cole

This is what always happens when Preston is in charge of taking a few pictures.

Old friends are the best.

Making the boys pose

And it's inevitable that this (or some form of it) happens every year.

2009:  In 2009, after I'd moved back to IL...Brad and Stacey were kind enough to co-host the Christmas gathering at their house back in TN...

The 2009 Cookies

Me and my Stacey-friend

And then I had a party in IL in 2009, as well...

The IL Cookie table



Mr. Snider and 3 of his former 5th grade students

That concludes my trip down Cookie Extravaganza lane...  Stay tuned next year for updated party pics!  Maybe we can do something in TN again...anyone game?



Four concerts in four weeks...

I already posted about the Oaks' Christmas show last month...but I have now been to three other shows since then.  It's been a long time since I've had that much live music so close together.  I wish it could be like that all the time!  I am in my element at live shows.  There's something about the big picture for me...the lights, the dry ice machines, the noise, the crowd, all the people who are so happy to be seeing their favorite artists in person...oh, and the MUSIC.  :)  I love to just stand back and watch it all unfold before me.  This is one reason why I don't like to be too close to the stage.  When you're too close, you can't see everything that's going on.  I like to watch everything.

November 30th... found me in Nashville.  Glen Campbell was playing at the Ryman.  I love the Ryman.  Always have.  It's small enough, that no matter where you sit, you don't miss anything.  Well, there was one time my seat was behind a post.  ha ha.  But I managed just fine.  Anyway...this was part of Glen's final tour, after announcing being diagnosed with alzheimers.  Because of this, I wasn't sure what to expect.  Could he remember the words of the songs?  Would he be able to play guitar?  There was an opening act (that I hadn't really expected), called Instant People.  They were more on the Pop side of music...and they were very good.  Their sound was different from what I'm used to hearing, and it kinda reminded me a little of 80's Pop.  I wound up really enjoying them.  It turned out that three of the kids in the group were Glen's children... and then turned around and played as Glen's band, too. 

No, Glen did not remember the words to his songs...but thanks to technology, he had three small screens set up on the front of the stage, feeding him the words.  They also gave him the key each song was going to be played in...and who the songwriters were.  Sometimes, he'd comment on the writer, "Oh, I didn't know that's who wrote this song.  Really?  It was him?  I love that guy!"  He joked a lot about his health... "Have you ever gone into the kitchen to get something...and get in there and can't remember what you went for?"

This was the first time I'd ever seen Glen do an actual show.  I remember back in the day, when I was working for Bryan's fan club...and I'd spend a lot of time in his management office (which happened to be the same management for Glen Campbell).  Any time Glen was scheduled to come to town, nobody else mattered.  NOBODY.  ha ha.  The office would be chaotic, trying to make sure everything was perfect and in place or set up for Glen.  I am sure I rolled my eyes a lot about it...but it makes for a fun memory.  :)

(Glen and his daughter Ashley)

December 11th... This was my first trip to Murray KY.  I've driven past the exit my entire life...but had never had a reason to take it before this night.  This night was for Lady Antebellum.  The first time I saw this group perform, I was completely blown away.  That was in 2007, and a week before they were offered a record deal.  I barely got in on what would become the next great group of country music.  They opened for Tyler Hilton that night (he's another great artist that I would highly recommend!).  Since that first time, I've seen them a handful of times.  Each time does not disappoint.  If you have not seen them in a live concert setting, you absolutely MUST.  These kids (I can say that, since they are all younger than me, ha ha) have true talent, across the board.  They are impressive, they are humble (every time I've been around any of them, they are insanely nice), and they have everything that it takes to have a life-long career making music.  I pray that the industry allows talent to win this time.



December 16th...  Evansville, IN...Vince Gill and Amy Grant's Christmas tour.  I had seen Vince before.  He played at SIU around 1995 or so, with Patty Loveless.  Plus, he was always dropping by the campus of Belmont when I was there around that same time.  He's always been a huge supporter of the Arts at Belmont.  Every year (I assume they still do it, anyway), he hosted a celebrity basketball game in the gym.  I went a few times to that...and it was always so much fun!  After the game, they'd set up a small stage on one end of the floor and the artists who stuck around, would get up and perform with Vince.  I need to look into it and see if they still do those...it would be fun to go to one again!  Of course since I left school, they tore down that old gym and built a huge new center...with a parking garage (the first in Belmont's history).  Anyone want to go with me??  :)

I have always enjoyed Amy Grant's music, but I had not seen her before this Christmas show.  She was amazing!  I had friends in college that were huge fans of Amy's and new her personally.  They always had nothing but wonderful things to say about her.  This Christmas who was absolutely wonderful, though.  They took turns singing...then every now and then would sing something as a duet, of sorts.  Amy had all of her costume changes...but changing it up a little made it even more fun to watch.  They also did an inside version of a snowball fight.  I am not sure what the "snowballs" were made of....but everyone looked to be having a LOT of fun throwing them at others on the stage.  Everyone on stage was involved...Vince, Amy, the band, backup singers...and sometimes they'd come from the side of the stage, behind the curtain...so the crew was involved, too.  ha ha.

If you have not seen Vince and Amy's Christmas tour...you really should!  I'm already hoping they come somewhere nearby again next Christmas...because I would love to see it again!

Now comes the lull for me...no concerts in sight until the middle of April.  ha ha.  But you never know... one could pop up out of nowhere...  :)