A St. Louis Adventure!

This past weekend was my first time exploring St. Louis. My sister came for a visit and her flight arrived in St. Louis late Friday night. We decided instead of driving all the way there and then turning around and driving all the way back and spending 4 hours in the car, that it would be fun to cash in Andy’s hotel rewards points and stay over for the weekend. We planned to fit a lot in just two days.

We left Columbia around 9:00, but first headed over to our friend Monica’s house for the 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee cast Party. We could only stay about 15 minutes and then we hit the road.

This was Lilly’s first time staying in a hotel. She has trouble sleeping when she has to share the room. No let me rephrase, she refuses to fall asleep if others around her are still awake. So we decided the best thing to do would be to let her stay up an hour and half past her bed time and that we would ALL go to bed at 10PM. This way it would be dark and quiet so she could fall asleep. That was the plan.

By the time we got to the airport and got Ilyssa, it was already 11:30 and Lilly was fast asleep in her car seat. She was WIDE AWAKE when we got to the hotel at 12:00 AM. We got to our room and made it in about 3 feet before we noticed only one queen bed and a couch that didn’t open up. Andy went to complain to the front desk. When Andy told him there was only one bed, the man was like “WHAT!? Where could it have gone!?” He came to our room and proceeded to show us the door to the second bedroom. “Sir, you got the suite. It has two rooms.” Oops. That was embarrassing. After apologizing several times for making the guy come all the way to our room to help us find a giant queen sized bed we thought was missing, we set up Lilly’s pack and play and let her run around and get tired again.  

At about 1AM we were all ready for bed. We turned out the light and did our best to ignore Lilly’s whining, which thankfully lasted no more than two minutes before she fell asleep. Andy and I did a silent high five over this toddler bedtime victory, rolled over and promptly fell asleep.

Lilly didn’t wake up until 9:30 the next morning! We got our fabulous continental breakfast which included eggs, sausage, waffles, and yogurt among other things and headed out to the zoo! It was only 10:30 AM and was already HOT. The St. Louis Zoo is special to us because it is where Andy and I got married! After seeing, penguins, a cheetah, a bear, a tiger, pelicans, flamingoes, gorillas and  discovering Lilly is absolutely terrified of anything that is not human, we decided to get some lunch and head back to the hotel for naptime.

First we went to pick up the cake my sister ordered from the bakery that made our wedding cake. It was the same flavors as our wedding and cake tasted delicious!

After nap we headed to pride fest where we heard some great music, had some great drinks, and got like 12 bags of free potato chips! We let Lilly run around the park a little. She found these two guys sitting under a tree, ran over to them, and without hesitation just plopped down in the one guys lap. Luckily he found it just a funny and adorable as we did.

Next it was dinner time. We went to a place called Cheese-Ology where all they have is mac-n-cheese! They have tons of different flavors and everything we got was DELICIOUS! Lilly loved her dinner too and ate with a fork all by herself. She also colored. Directly on the table. So we had to wipe that off...  Thank God for Crayola washable crayons! Cheese-Ology was crowded, so we didn’t stay too long after we finished our meals.

The week before I searched the internet for something we could do on Saturday night that was kid friendly and would be open late so we could stick to our 10PM bed time without having a kid running around a hotel room for two hours first. I found the City Museum which was exactly what I was looking for! It is this amazing hands on museum with all kinds of things the whole family can enjoy and it is open until 1AM on Friday’s and Saturdays! There was a lot there that Lilly couldn’t do, but she had a blast playing in the toddler section, coloring on the giant blackboard wall with chalk, building with sponge blocks (and knocking said buildings over), and just seeing all the new and interesting things and watching the “big kids” play. As an adult, the City Museum was super fun! I might even like to try it without Lilly sometime.

We got back to the hotel at a good time and we all went to bed around 10:30. I had some trouble sleeping though. A storm came through and there were some really loud crashes of thunder. The loudest booming at 2:56 AM when I heard the hum of electricity die out and the hotel lost power. The storm settled down and I assumed the power would probably be back by the time we got up and I fell asleep. I woke up first, around 8:30 AM, and there was still no power. I went down to the front desk to check on the situation. They had no clue when the power would be back. There was no breakfast this morning, and the front desk attendant handed me a flashlight so I could use it to see in the bathroom. She assured me that the water was heated with gas so we could still shower.

The hot water was non existent. I braved the icy shower with a flashlight just barely providing enough light for me to determine which was the shampoo and which the conditioner. No sooner did I get dressed, but the power came back. Had I waited just 20 minutes I could have taken at least a warm shower!

We packed up the car and decided to skip the pride parade because of the heat (we didn’t want to sit in one place in the sun in that heat) and headed straight (no pun intended) to Six Flags!

Six Flags was fun. We did a couple of rides and purchased the $15 cup that gets you free refills for the day (which proved to be a very good purchase!). We decided pretty early on to walk back to the car, change into swim suits and hit up Hurricane Harbor. We spent most of the time playing in the giant kid’s area. It was so much fun! They had water pouring and spraying out of everywhere! Lilly had a blast! It felt soooo good to cool off! We spent about 3 hours there. By the time we finished it was 4PM and we headed back into six flags for a couple more rides and few last fill ups of that blasted $15 cup (we filled it up 12 times, so totally worth it). 

Lilly slept very well that night. All in in all it was great mini-vacation! Now here are some photos I took with my phone. I'll hopefully add some better ones, as both Andy and Ilyssa were snapping away with nice cameras all weekend.

Above and Below: Lilly watching the penguins from a safe distance so they wouldn't eat her alive.Or so she thought. 

Above: The Weener Mobile out and about in STL

Below: Tower Grove Park where Pridefest was held.

Above: Ilyssa and Andy at Cheese-Ology

Below: Our delicious Mac-N-Cheese meals!

 Below: Lilly enjoying the giant black board at the City Museum

Number 25: Make Pop Rocks Cupcakes

Pop rocks cupcakes are something I’ve wanted to try for a while. I love pop rocks! But I knew that I had to do some research in order to make them work…

I do not know what makes pop rocks tick. I mean, I don’t know what makes them explode in your mouth. Do they explode in heat, on impact or is it moisture? Through my intensive and extensive research I learned it is the moisture that makes pop rocks pop. Of course cupcake batter happens to be very moist, so I can’t just dump a bunch of pop rocks packets into the bowl and call it a day.

Through my research I discovered that if you coat the pop rocks in fat, it preserves the pop until you put those little suckers in you mouth. 

Fat? Ew! Like lard? No. Like butter or peanut butter or one of several interesting combinations I stumbled upon on the interwebs. 

Through my research I also learned a few other interesting things. For instance, pop rocks are gluten free, they are not Kosher, and they were first patented in 1956.


I decided that the cupcakes should also be rainbow, another thing I've always wanted to try and something that looked fairly easy to accomplish. All you do is mix the cupcake batter as directed and then separate into bowls. You add different color food coloring to each bowl and then pour each color into the cake pan (or cupcake pan) one at a time. You can even swirl them together if you want. The batter is thick enough that they don't all run together. 


For the Pop Rocks part, Andy went out and bought me 39 packets of Pop Rocks. I decided to use a recipe I found for the Pop Rocks filling using cashew butter. Since I'd never heard of cashew butter before and the store didn't seem to have it, I ended up with regular peanut butter.


Turns out, the peanut butter worked! I brought the cupcakes over to the Columbia Entertainment Company Theatre before one of their performances of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and allowed the cast and crew to be my unsuspecting taste testers. I had to warn them of the peanut butter in case of any allergies (turns out there was someone allergic to peanuts).


As far as I know they really liked them! They may  have just been nice because I was standing right there. Who knows? The tasters did admit to having an explosion in their mouths upon reaching the creamy center, so the Poping Pop Rocks part was successful! I did what I set out to do and my scientific research was not in vain.  I also brought them Oreo Pops that looked like bumble bees. I got that idea from Bakerella. Bakerella's turned out much nicer than mine, but c'mon, she is Bakerella! 


I did not taste one of my Pop Rocks cakes. I think I'm a little scared. I promise I will today as soon as I get home. Now here are some photos!

Above: 39 packets of Pop Rocks!

Below: Making the cupcakes rainbow...

Above: Rainbow cupcake before peanut butter and chocolate Pop Rocks Filling is added

Below: Rainbow Pop Rocks Cupcakes all iced, garnished and ready to go!

Above: Bee Oreo Pops

Below: Oreo Balls with the left over stuff from Bee pops

Below: Dirt and Worm cups I made yesterday for Father's Day (Just wanted to add this in there. Be impressed.)

So if you're interested in seeing the amazing play The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, please click HERE for more info. This week (June 23rd through 26th) are their last performances and you don't want to miss out! The cast is FABULOUS and so talented and the show is HILARIOUS! Check it out!

The Bee, My Awesome Hubby, & Upcoming Goals

Oooh I am in such a bloggy mood right now. Let me tell you a little bit about why my husband is super awesome…

So ya know that play I auditioned for, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, as one of my goals?  Well, Andy and I have been helping out. I am the Props Mistress (I love that title) and Andy is doing video. We also both acted as volunteer audience spellers for the dress rehearsals. It was SO much fun! I was an audience volunteer for both nights of dress rehearsal. The first night I got the word “Jihad” as my first word to spell. Although I can’t recall seeing the word spelled out on paper and had an intense internal struggle over whether is began with a “G” or a “J”, I spelled it correctly. I got out on the next word which was Gnocchi. I actually know how to spell that one, but had never heard it pronounced so I was confused. The definition confused me as well as apparently it’s actually an Italian dish made with potato, but I have all these years confused it with ganache and thought that it was a desert. So I idiotically spelled it “Nyioki”.

Anyway, when you get out, the whole cast sings this good bye song to you, the character of William Barfee (pronounced Bar-fay) literally kicks you off stage and Mitch, the comfort counselor, hands you a juice box. On the second night I got out on my first word. I spelled it horrendously incorrectly and cannot even remember what it was, as it was a word I’ve never heard before. As I made my way off stage Mitch handed me a little purple pouch and said “Here, Instead of juice box”. For a moment I thought it was a little pouch of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavoured Beans (the jelly beans made famous from the Harry Potter books). But then I read the words written in gold and it said “Disney Couture”. Andy had gotten me this gorgeous Snow White themed necklace I have been dying for! Snow White is my favorite Disney movie. She is also my favorite princess and the first movie I ever saw back in 1987 at the age of 3 when they brought it back into theaters for it’s 50^th anniversary. It was such an amazing surprise!

Next, since neither of us had eaten Andy took me out for a late dinner and then to see Bridesmaids, which makes him a very good husband indeed. After that he took me to the store and had me pick out a tie dye kit so I can accomplish goal number twenty-four: Tye Dye Some Stuff. He also told me we will be taking a Yoga class this afternoon so I will also accomplish goal number one: Take A Yoga Class At The Gym. I will tell you how it goes since I know you are just dying to know.

If you live in the Columbia, Missouri area and are interested in seeing the 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, click here for more info on dates and times. It’s a fabulous show! Very funny. The cast is incredible! It opens tomorrow night (Thursday, June 9^th) and I’ll be in the audience with my whole family!

Above: Andy (#14) on stage as an audience volunteer during The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Below: My new Disney Couture Snow White Necklace. For info on the necklace click here.

We have been together six years this month! 

Number 9: Audition For A Musical

(I thought I should fill you in on the goals I accomplished before I started this blog. I am going to begin with Number 9)...

I am a theater geek. Well in high school I was. I was a member of our Thespian troupe. In order to be inducted you need 100 hours of theater service both on and off stage. I worked very hard painting sets months before our shows opened and backstage during performances. Wait, did I say worked really hard? I think I might have meant goofed off for 92 hours with about 8 hours of actual hard work. Yup, I am pretty sure that is what I meant. I am sure Audrey Miller, the set painting club supervisor and awesome-est art teacher I never actually had as a teacher, would agree. Ahhhh, high school theater. The glory days. I was stage manager for “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying”, co-directed “Free To Be You And Me” with my friend Tracy, and all around had a blast. Some of us would go every weekend to get rush tickets for the Rocky Horror Show on Broadway (Oh yeah I am from New York for anyone who doesn’t know me reading this). These were some of the best times I’ve had in my life and I knew it then.

What I really wanted was to be in the musicals. I auditioned for one musical and didn’t make it. Just one. My dream was, and is to this day, to be in a musical. But just because high school is long over doesn’t mean I can’t still make this happen right? And just because I am not really a strong singer or dancer or actress doesn’t mean I couldn’t be, right?

My friend, Monica, is really involved in the Columbia Entertainment Company (our local theater group). She let me know back in November that she would be directing “The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” and that I should audition. I immediately agreed.

Suddenly I got this image in my head of myself on stage with the lights shining in my eyes and the silhouettes of my family in the audience. I had a vision of typing up the Facebook status, “I’m in a musical!” and all the congratulatory comments that would follow. And so goal number 9: Audition For A Musical (and the idea for this entire list) was born.

Then I came down from my cloud and remembered how I kinda suck at singing and dancing. Well, I’m not that bad. I have just never had any kind of training in either. Kindergarten ballet and those three months I was in chorus in sixth grade do not count. So I downloaded part of the soundtrack from Spelling Bee off of iTunes. I did some research on the internet and read (and memorized) some of the audition sides. I watched some Youtube videos of the characters. I decided I would be best for the role of Logaine SchwartzandGrubeniere. I learned her song “Woe Is Me” and decided, even though it is not traditional to sing a song from the show you are auditioning for, to do just that. I practiced from about January to April about 1-2 times per week for about an hour each time.

Ok, I sound crazy, right? But you can tell just how badly I wanted this. A few days before the audition I began having second thoughts, but I pushed them out of my head. I was going to do this no matter what.

The day of the audition came and I was pretty nervous. Then I arrived at the Church where the audition was to be held and my nervousness turned to excitement. I am really going to do this!” I thought. I was so happy when I was called up third, because I don’t think I could have sat still much longer.

I got up there and I ROCKED it! I had little moves that went along with it and I belted it out, which I have NEVER been able to do before when singing in front of people. The character I auditioned for has a lisp and I had that lisp down PERFECTLY. Judging by the other auditions I could tell that I shouldn’t count myself out yet. They weren’t bad, I just meant I was just as good as they were. And I wasn’t delusional this time either!

I got a callback! I could not believe it. I had never in my life gotten called back for anything. I continued to practice. When I arrived back at the church, I knew I was out of my league. Way out of my league. This other girl there, Jordan, was up for the same part I was. She was AMAZING. I had seen her in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar just a couple of months earlier so I already knew she was going to be good. She had experience and charisma and I’d like to say moxy. I’m probably right about that, but I have no idea what moxy is. I guess I should have just Googled it instead of letting you all think I’m an idiot.  Anyway when I saw her I knew I didn’t have this part. As if my inability to sing along with accompaniment and my completely moronic dance audition weren’t already tell tale signs. When it was all over and I found out the next day that I didn’t have the part, I didn’t feel at all disappointed. Monica obviously saw something in me that was enough to put me up against these other girls with experience and amazing natural talent. I didn’t feel like I belonged there, but I felt honored that I was good enough to be up against those girls.

I really feel like I accomplished something. I will audition for musicals in the future. I think I might find a pianist to help me work on singing with accompaniment and maybe take an aerobics class or two at the gym to help me to learn how to catch on to dance moves quickly and keep up with everyone. For now I will concentrate on some of my other goals. I will be revisiting this one, however.

By the way, Monica asked me to be the props mistress for the show and I am beyond thrilled. I am so excited to be involved and to meet all these new people! I’d like to thank everyone in that audition and especially at the callback for not laughing at me. Thanks guys!

Above: Some us Thespians being Thespians

Below: Me with one of my besties, Mary Orzano, when I stage managed How To Succeed... and she was the leading lady, Rosemary.