Joly's Wedding

Although Joly (Andy to some), the guy's lacrosse coach, purposefully tries to drive me crazy on a daily basis, I was excited to get to go to his wedding on Saturday night. Tom was an usher, so I went as his date--- I am pretty sure that's the only reason I was invited, but, hey, I'll take it. Everything was beautiful and the evening was fun. I think Tom had more fun than I did reconnecting with some lax guys. Enjoy some pictures from the evening!

Joly and Tom after the reception

Tom and Goudy- a Lax Buddy- Sharing a drink

Me and Tom at the reception

Alexa and Andy on the party bus heading to the reception

Overall it was a great evening. Congratulations, Andy and Alexa!

One Incredible Little Dude!

I haven't blogged near enough about Dane Leroy. He's an incredibly happy and loveable little guy. I am so lucky to be his Godmother and so happy my sister, Stephanie, brings him to St. Louis quite often for me to see him. He just recently turned six months old and Steph asked if I would take Dane's six month pictures for her. It was a blast. He's so smiley so it's easy to capture great pictures of him. Here are my favorites. Enjoy!

My Private Jet

After my weekend in Baltimore it was time for me to head to New York for the wedding of a very dear friend I met while doing mission work in Africa. The wedding was Sunday afternoon so I woke up very early Sunday morning and caught the Super Shuttle to the airport. I got to the airport a bit early and arrived at my empty gate. No other passengers, no crew. Strange. I mean I was an hour early, but there was NO ONE in sight. About 45 minutes before take off this woman walked up to me and said, "Hey! So YOU are the other one?!" She was referring to me as the other passenger. You see we were the only two people on the plane.. Ha. Not a tiny plane, but a real deal legitimate plane. While I didn't find this too bizarre the woman and the crew found it crazy. The pilot came to us while waiting at the gate and gave us all the information so he wouldn't have to come over the speaker. When we boarded the plane he had us both sit in the cockpit and get our picture taken. AND...here's the kicker... when we landed he announced, "Katie and Ellen, we are now beginning our final descent into New York LaGuardia airport". The flight attendants even gave us treat bags to take home. It was quite a little adventure. Ellen was a sweet woman and we both had our own personal flight attendant... what a fun trip :)

One of the many reasons I fly Southwest--- they are so nice

midflight!

Another interesting part of all of this is that I had to fly back through Baltimore to get to St. Louis the next day. That flight was overbooked to the point that I was able to give up my seat for a flight voucher. Apparently people would rather be in Baltimore than New York...even after that terrible Ravens loss.

NO BIG DEAL!!!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the US Lacrosse National Convention for the fourth time. Each year I go and get so much out of it. This year I was able to hear from the UNC, University of New Hampshire, and Northwestern coaches. These are big names in the women's lacrosse world and lots of information was added to my bank. Lou Holtz spoke on Friday night and he was fun to listen to as well. BUT it must be known that my highlight came during the FCA breakfast. I enjoy going to this event each year. However, this year I got a great surprise. Ever since high school I have really loved the band Dispatch. I especially enjoy the Dispatch Zimbabwe cd and even watch the dvd of the concert. They are my favorite. SO you can't imagine my overwhelming elation when I went to the FCA breakfast only to find that Brad Corrigan, a band member of Dispatch, was receiving the Pete Kohn award. It was freakin awesome. I met him, hugged him, and told him how much I love Dispatch. It was pretty fun for me even though I am not really the star struck type. Now I am working on the opportunity to head to Nicaragua with him--- he goes there to teach lacrosse. A week teaching lacrosse with Brad Corrigan wouldn't be too shabby :)

Good Ole Boys Party

Saturday night was Tom's work holiday party. He works with mostly young dudes. They are quite a crew. It was actually a pretty fun night with that crazy crew. Here's a couple pics of me and Tommy from that night.

Also, here's a picture of Tom dancing while his supervisor raps... classic. Pretty typical of the whole evening.

Now this is clever!

Today during my niece's confirmation party there was something like 10 kids at my parent's house. They were running amok and calling the shots as the rest of us sat around watching football and eating. The favorite game of the day included taking orders and serving up plastic food in aprons and chef hats. My personal favorite was when my little buddy, Trey, brought me hot coffee complete with a red pepper!! I asked him what the pepper was in it for and in his four years of wisdom he responded, "It's a pepper to make it hot coffee!"

What a witty little guy!!! I can't make this stuff up people!

Resolutions

It's week 1 of 2010 which means a couple of things:

1. I am still trying REALLY hard to keep my New Year's Resolutions.

2. This is what the gym looks like:

Please take note of the fact that there is not one free machine. I don't love it. In fact, I hate it. And while I should be so encouraging of those who have made commitments to health in the New Year, I am actually annoyed that their new commitment really messes with my current habit. Because of the frigid outdoor temps, however, I continue to begrudgingly go to the gym, run on the track, and take angry pictures to share with my friends. March can't come soon enough.

An Explanation and Good Story

So, I feel like I owe my faithful blog readers an explanation for my blogging hiatus, especially during the most wonderful time of the year when my life should be filled with fun pictures of festivities with family and friends. Here's my two part explanation:

1. My iphoto. I don't know what I did to it. I don't want to go to the genius bar. It won't load my photos correctly. I think it's from when my hard drive was so over ful. I am going to go to the genius bar eventually to figure it out, but part of me just wants a new macbook. That is a purchase for August... SO for now I just wait and try to get as many pictures on my blog as possible.

2. My subject matter. I realized that 90% of my blog is about the adorable small children in my life. Although I love them to peices and know that you probably enjoy their darling pictures, I also think my blog fails to show the fun and exciting things I do with my grown friends. I thought about that for a while and didn't blog, but now I am a bit more committed and will try and share a good combination of those darling little ones and my time with friends.

AND this story:

When I worked at Kirkwood there was a special needs boy who was a sophomore. His name was Chubbs and he was possibly the most likeable kid in the school. Every day when he would come through my lunch line I would yell, "CHHUUUBBSS!!" and he would give me a high five. He was the basketball manager and loved his job. I told him that year that he would be like the kid in New York who hit some threes for the team when his coach put him in the game. To my great delight, the coach put him in the game. Here's the story:

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/bryanburwell/story/85971FDCA335EF3C862576A20018DAB0?OpenDocument

and the Youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqs0SCBCb0o

I love it. And Chubbs CLEARLY loved it! I am sure he will never, ever forget that opportunity.