...the friends that life makes for us...

Arun's in the tux. Don't know the others, but he wanted them
in the picture!

Friday

Arun Garg is an incredibly talented and hardworking pianist who studies at Peabody Conservatory. A former student of the music school where I teach, we've only recently become friends. He gave a recital at Steinway Piano Gallery tonight, and I figured that it might be one of the last times I could hear him play for free, and I didn't want to miss the chance to cheer him on. The theme was Water Music and my favorite piece of the evening was Debussy's La Cathedrale Engloutie, which he played so beautifully. Arun has a delightful personality, loves to be around people, and has wonderful thoughts about music, piano and teaching. Maybe he'll be a teacher one day...

One of the greatest!

Saturday

Steffani, wonderful, funny, kind Steffani, celebrated her 70th birthday this week. Steffani has an infectious joy that touches everyone she meets. Completely honest, both with herself and others, she always has a smile on her face, even as she faces many hardships. She's such a wonderful human being, and makes each week that much brighter. Steffani is loved by all that know her, and I have the privilege of being her piano teacher. She plays each piece with conviction and care, and has reintroduced me to many pieces that I had long forgotten, or introduced me to pieces that I had never heard.

That smile!

Sunday

Megan texted me on Friday asking if I could hang out with Noa during a few photo sessions at Creve Coeur Lake. Megan is an accomplished and hardworking photographer. (She and her husband, John, run Straw Productions.) I jumped at the chance to spend some time with Ms. Noa, and Megan insisted on paying me back with photography. So Andy and I got all decked out in our best smiles, and then Noa and I spent the morning eating breakfast, taking in a lacrosse game, walking around the lake, making up silly songs, and playing a rousing game of peek-a-boo! It was a great way to start the day!


I have some amazing people surrounding me. People that I might not have chosen as friends if there had been some random friend line up at the beginning of time. And I've been wondering: What if I had chosen any other path? Would I still have met these people? Were we destined to meet, no matter what choices we made?

I never could have guessed that any one of these people would be such a supreme joy in my life. They make my life more interesting, more fun, and so much more wonderful.

Who are the "surprise friends" in your life?

...today in pictures...

QuikTrip opened their 700th store in St. Louis today to much pomp and circumstance, and Andy and I were there to celebrate with them!

Budweiser Clydesdales: absolutely gorgeous creatures!
I kept asking to pet Curly because he was so sweet and soft.

I feel like this picture doesn't do the crowd justice, but it's the only one I took.
We didn't even wait in some lines.

Cute mascots!

Fredbird danced with me to Pharrell's Happy.
(Love the lower lip bite. I was super nervous!)
Fredbird is my favorite St. Louis Cardinal...

Andy's never shy...I think he and Fredbird might be besties now...

Then we headed downtown to get some stl250 cake pics.
The cobblestone streets of Laclede's Landing can take you back in time.
Andy has never been to this historic district, and I think we'll need to go
back to check out the nightlife sometime soon!

Not sure why the cake was in the air, but okay...

Then we walked over to the Gateway Arch...

Then we went on a mad hunt for the Eads Bridge cake.
This one was tricky to find, and we sort of got into an argument over it...

So we took a bite out of it in celebration...

I asked Andy to sit in this pretty spot and he wouldn't, so I did...

....and then he promptly insisted on having his own photo taken!
There were some girls that drove by giggling and gave him a thumbs up.

Some of my most memorable moments this year were made when I chose to go anyway. You know, the kind of adventure that doesn't really seem like an adventure and so you question whether you should even step out of the house or if you should just stay home and watch another episode of that show or read another chapter in that book?

One of the best lessons that I've learned this year is that some adventures will only happen once in my lifetime.

Hope you have big plans for your weekend!

"Adventure is out there!" -- Up

PS. I forgot - one more thing happened today - this popped into my inbox...

San Fran, here I come!

...cakeway to the west...

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of St. Louis, so there are all kinds of fun things going on around my city.

One of those is a scavenger hunt to some of the oldest and dearest loved haunts around the greater St. Louis are, called the Cakeway to the West. Different artists have designed the 250 cakes and families have the opportunity to go to these well known establishments and "find" them and take a picture. There's even an app for it!

It's actually pretty fun, and it gives you a good idea as to what has made St. Louis "St. Louis" over the centuries. It would be a great guide to people who are new to the area, or tourists who are visiting the area, and are looking to explore the best of what we have to offer.

I've really enjoyed seeing cakes around, but it wasn't until recently that I challenged myself to take a picture with all of them. So, I'm making a few new pages of cakes seen and visited, which you can find by looking to your right under the About Me page.

This is a free fun activity in the St. Louis area, and you will not get to do it again. I would highly encourage you to take part in this silly community activity. You may make a few friends along the way...

If you don't live in the St. Louis area, consider coming to visit us during these celebrations. If you let me know you're in town, I'll treat you to some Ted Drewes! I promise, there is nothing better!

...when the weather makes other plans...

Only a smidgeon of it's beauty...

It was a gloriously steamy day in St. Louis, the kind of day that makes it difficult to breathe in. I headed to Forest Park in hopes of claiming a free seat the MUNY's production of Billy Elliott.

Forest Park is so beautiful, that I made a few stops to take some pictures, but still arrived with enough time to wait in line. People are a funny lot. I was standing between some very strange birds, and their entertaining conversations kept my mind off the summer heat.

Almost as soon as I found a seat, I noticed the sky growing darker. Sitting beside me was an extremely tall and handsome black man from New York. In the distance you could see the bright, white flashes reaching down from heaven to touch the ground. He flirted with me, chatting me up, telling me about his life, until I began to tell him about my husband. It was as if I had a new best friend that suddenly deserted me.

It just kept getting darker...and colder

I didn't mind. I set to reading my book, until the wind began to blow. I desperately tried to keep my skirt around my legs as it flung itself high and low, moving with the wind. Everyone laughed as the wind whipped our hair to and fro, but we didn't move for fear we'd lose our seats. And then the rain came. Big, fat, heavy droplets.

The prepared members of the audience, who had brought their umbrellas, stayed planted in their seats, but the rest of us ran for cover. We all pressed ourselves against the back wall, but we couldn't get away from the wind and rain. One girl even cried tornado, though I don't think there was any truth to it.

Only an hour before...

After waiting for 45 minutes, I decided to head home, not so much out of embarrassment for having flashed the crowd, or because I was soaking wet, but mostly because I was shivering so violently and I didn't see the rain ending any time soon.

I found out later that they ended up canceling the performance due to weather.

I don't regret going. In fact, the rough winds were a welcome change from the heat of the day, and I don't think I've laughed as hard in a while.

The more I venture outside of my comfort zone, the more comfortable I become with these scenarios, because they're much more common than I ever realized. In my mind, they have become their own mini adventures...

...life's little detours...

The entrance to the Butterfly House. Told you it was a pretty day!

I had my heart set on a destination and I was sure I knew the way.

I made the first turn, and was so intent on getting to where I wanted to go that I didn't even notice the "no outlet" sign. It was the wrong turn. I turned around and got back on the road.

Without thinking, I immediately made the second turn. The minute I made the turn I knew it was wrong. I turned around and got back on the road.

In this case, the third time was the charm, and I did finally make it to my destination, after making a few wrong turns along the way. I didn't let it bother me much. It was a pretty day for a drive.

...but I couldn't help but think about all the little detours I have taken throughout my life, and how they have shaped me, and how I'm thankful to be me, here, now...

How do you respond to life's little detours? Are you angry, apathetic, or active in this new direction?

...take me out to the ballgame!...

Adventuring can be costly, so Andy and I are constantly looking for ways to save money through coupons and special deals. With coupons, we purchased half price tickets to tonight's St. Louis Cardinals vs. The New York Mets baseball game, where we sat in the first row along the third base line.

I love sports, not because I like sports at all, but because I love how happy they make Andy. It's so fun to see him giddy when his team does well (and kind of hilarious to see him grumpy when his team does not do well.) When David Freese hit that home run, we jumped up and down around the living room together, not because I had been watching the game, or even cared what had happened, but because Andy went from glum to gleeful in a matter of moments.

I love it when he's happy.

Mostly, I'm indifferent toward most sports because I don't understand the rules, I rarely know what's going on, and half the time, I root for the wrong team ("But last time you said that our team was the team wearing white." "They only where white when it's a home game, babe.") (I can appreciate the need for an outfit change.)

Sitting in the front row, it's much easier to grasp what's going on. Of course, there's something magical about sitting in the nose bleeds. Like the wave! They had an incredible wave going on up in the bleachers, but it was cut short by a play on the field, as everyone stopped to cheer. (I hate it when the game interrupts the wave.)

Here are a few pictures from our amazing evening:

My view of the game

It's Fredbird! He's my fav Cards player!

Andy laughed at me bc I was so excited when he came out.

Aww...look, my hair's brown again!

We took Andy's dad as a Father's day and birthday present.

Rocking out outside the stadium. They were great!

If you are ever interested in doing this with us, let us know next February as that is when you need to buy tickets. There are stipulations, of course, (it has to be a Tuesday evening game) and you have to work around their availability, but it is completely worth it!

And the best part? We won the game! Yeehaw! Go Cards!

For more information on the St. Louis Cardinals, click here.

For more information on the New York Mets...

...dancing thru life...

I went on the most amazing adventure today!

Growing up, we didn't have much, but I never would have known. My parents gave us more love in our short growing up years than I think most people receive in a lifetime. I think my upbringing has encouraged me become such a lover and encourager of people as an adult.

Still, one thing that I did miss out on was the opportunity to take dance classes.

After graduating and moving to St. Louis, I found an adult ballet class in town. I loved the class, but within a month, the class was cancelled due to lack of student enrollment. Though they invited me to take private lessons, I just couldn't afford it at the time.

Dancing Thru Life is an all adult dance studio in West County St. Louis. I found them online last summer, but was unable to enroll due to schedule conflicts. I received an email last week with this summer's schedule, and I nervously approached Andy about taking a tap class. He's such a sweet man, he rarely refuses me. Timid, and unsure if I wanted to stretch myself in this direction, I waited until the last minute to sign up.

I arrived extra, extra early this morning, sitting in my car and baking in the hot, St. Louis summer sun as I waited for other classes to finish. I was sweating before I even walked through the doors, maybe from the heat, maybe from my fear.

Ladies of all ages, shapes and sizes filled the tiny waiting area, smiling up at me, and asking me a few polite questions before we crowded into the studio. Laura and I, the only two newbies in a group numbering over 20, managed to find each other. It could have been the deer-in-headlights look in our eyes.

Annie walked right up and introduced herself. Sue told us how much fun we would have, but that it was going to be intense. She talked about the recital and needing to have extra lessons as it got closer. Then, she unexpectedly wrapped me up in a great big momma bear hug. It was an unexpected and completely welcome surprise! (Note to self: Always hug the new person.)

Our teacher, Ms. Christine, was spunky, funny and fast. She is also a fantastic teacher. She was patient with us, while still demanding a high standard. And she had a great knack for making the dance moves understandable to first-timers.

So, I basically smiled the whole time, or laughed at myself and my inability to perform a simple routine. (I learned the steps quickly - trying to remember the order of said steps threw me.) I had such an amazingly fun time! We didn't take ourselves too seriously. We giggled together, counted together, and bonded over flaps and step ball changes.

Did I mention there's a recital at the end of the year? I'm hopeful that this adventure will lead me to my first ever dance recital! I'm laughing just thinking about it.

Next adventure: buying tap shoes!

I think the most encouraging and inspiring aspect of this adventure and this studio in general, is that passion, joy and learning new tricks does not have an age limit. I was the youngest in age, but I'm not sure I was the youngest in spirit.

I'm going to love learning from these ladies!

For more information on Dancing Thru Life, click here.