And I Thought I Had Something in Common with The Pussycat Dolls...

I have really been feeling the PCD lately...

I can really connect with their latest song:

"When I grow up I wanna be in movies

Drive nice cars

I wanna have boobies."

I have been singing that song since middle school PE.

My version went like this:

"Dear God, please let me wake up tomorrow and have boobs. PLEASE. I will be a good girl for the rest of my life..."

Turns out the PCD wanna have "groupies" not boobies, which really makes more sense since I feel pretty sure they have all already purchased themselves some boobies.

But I don't have anything in common with them anymore. Although groupies do sound fun...

And they should really work on enunciation...

Have Rollers, Will Travel

Not even Tropical Storm Fay could stop Em's Glorious House O' Hair from traveling up to the big ham for Lindsey's wedding.

It was a wonderful weekend!! Lins was gorgeous, the food was delicious and it was so much fun to visit with friends that I don't see often enough.

And the cakes were magnificent, too. I ate me some cake...and some mini beef wellingtons...

Enjoy the pics.

Rehearsal dinner... Susan, April, Meg and me Pub some number... after rehearsal dinner
Lindsey's glorious bridal hair!!! I think she is my sixth bride... Caroline, Susan and me at the reception
Dee and Robin (Lucy's mom and dad) I'm trying to get in good with the family... Robin has lots of jewels... and nice purses that I am hoping to inherit...
The Juice (who didn't even once complain that I pretty much ditched him the second we got there). Thank you Adam and Daniel for keeping him occupied.
With the brideSinging the AOPi songs (that's Taylor's "asymmetrical" haircut bottom middle...)

Meet Me in St. Louis

We went to St. Louis to visit Kris & Mitch last weekend!!

We made it just in time for their one-year seminary anniversary.

They took us to see the Arch on Friday. I was amazed at how big that thing is because all the pictures I have seen do not do it justice. The engineer in Justin was really impressed, and he kept asking me questions about the welding beads. I hated to tell him that I don't know anything about welding beads or how old they are.
The Museum of Westward Expansion is located underground at the Arch. It's free, so we decided to check it out. There are these little balls that you can get in that go up in the arch. This is what it looks like. When not slouching my head hit the roof, so I decided that I definitely was NOT going to be riding up in there. Can you imagine the 4 of us in that little ball? No thanks.
Justin decided to wear his Cubs shirt. Apparently St. Louis hates the Cubs, and it wasn't in our favor that they were playing each other in Chicago that weekend. This picture was taken right before we were asked to please leave the museum.
Next we went to the Anheuser-Busch brewing factory. We got there just in time for their last (free) tour of the day at 4 p.m. We got to see the Clydesdale horses and all the rooms where the beer is made. I have never seen so many bottles of beer in my life. That is probably a good thing...

At the end of the tour you get to go to the hospitality room where each person gets two free samples of whatever they want. Lucky for the boys, me and Kris aren't really beer drinkers. Needless to say, we had a great time laughing at Mitch and Justin.

"I LOVE this tour!"

That night we went to dinner at 1111 Mississippi. It was phenomenal.

{I should take a moment to say that by this point my "diet" was out the window. It all started on Thursday night at the Houston airport when we only had 10 minutes and 2 choices for dinner... Pizza Hut or Schlotzky's...bring on the Turkey Club. And for lunch on Friday I had a super cheesy chicken sandwich on a kaiser roll with honey mustard and a bite or three of J's buffalo chicken pizza.}

We each ordered something different... duck (me), veal, chicken and rabbit. It was delicious!! And Ju-C and I shared white-chocolate bread pudding and milk chocolate mousse wrapped in dark chocolate for dessert. I was seriously in heaven.

I think I am the most happy when surrounded by good friends and nice food. I know that probably sounds shallow, but it is the truth. I just appreciate a well-prepared meal.On Saturday we went shopping. Kris works at Anthropologie and gets a 40% discount, so I thought for sure I would find something I couldn't live without. I should have known better, because whenever I have money to spend I just can't seem to part with it. It's when I don't have any money that I find things and become obsessed with them.

C'est la vie.

So we left the mall and went to this famous ice cream place on Route 66. It's called Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, and I had never heard of it. I got a little something called a Big Apple Concrete, which is basically a piece of apple pie blended with vanilla ice cream. YUM-O. I sucked it down rather quickly. You would think by this point I would be really worried about the condition of my sinuses, but NO. We went home, got some barbecue and settled in to watch Michael Phelps win his last gold. For dessert? A couple dozen Krispy Kremes, which I washed down with an ice-cold glass of 2% milk.

I figure that if I am going to die, I'm going to die happy.

So we had a marvelous time in St. Louis. It was so good to see Kris & Mitch and get to act silly with them for a couple days. They are a lot like us, and we so enjoyed our time together.

Today I am sick. Imagine that. I'm pretty sure I have a sinus infection, and I am going to be so embarrassed when I go to my last post-op visit on Monday. He is not going to be happy with me.

It was worth it.

If you care to see 84 more pictures of the Arch and 438 more pictures of the beer tour click here.

Heeeeey Michael Phelps

I would just like to say that I am obsessed with Michael Phelps, the greatest Olympian of all time.

I think he should move to Fairhope and live in my guest room.

I would gladly cook him fried egg sandwiches, omelets, french toast and chocolate chip pancakes every morning for breakfast...

...if he promised to walk around all day with his shirt off.

He can even bring his cute little dog. I'm sure Ollie would just love it.

Katee is the Woman

We were unanimous in our voting last night at the Chappell household...

We love KATEE!!!

Ollie had a moment of indecision as he agonized over his love of Twitch, but then he decided to go with ability over personality. He was getting kind of tired of that "4 Real" stuff, too.

So it was 4 (actual) votes for Katee, and we hope she wins!!

Here is how I think it will play out:
1. Katee
2. Joshua
3. Courtney
4. Twitch

(If America votes correctly, that is...)

Can't wait until tonight!

Pizza, You are Dead to Me

I am tired of this flippin' diet.

Jonathan and Nicole invited us over for pizza on Saturday night.

I can't eat pizza.

I am also tired of bringing my own food to social gatherings.

So I call my mom and ask her hypothetically what would happen if I ate just one little piece of pizza.

She said that I wouldn't die, and to just try it and see what happened.

So I did.

And let me tell you that I have never tasted anything so delectable in my entire life.

I ate it slowly, experiencing every flavor and texture... the saltiness of the sausage... the sweetness of the crust...the melty goo of cheese... the spices in the sauce...

It was euphoric, people.

Then something happened.

I went berserk and began shoveling pizza in my mouth like a rabid wildebeest.

A stark-raving mad starving rabid wildebeest...

I momentarily forgot that pizza is most probably the worst thing a person with a wheat, milk and egg allergy can eat.

And apparently no one around seemed too concerned as they watched me eat piece after piece after piece.

After piece.

I left very full and quite content.

I went to bed.

I woke up early with a stuffy head.

Then my belly began to gurgle and cramp.

Paralyzing pain, people.

Several trips to the bathroom later, the rumbling subsided.

(TMI??? so sorry...)

And here I am on Wednesday with a weak stomach, a very stuffy head and a runny nose.

BOO.

I think I shall never be able to eat pizza again.

Now join with me in a moment of silence.

(And I'm pretty sure the stomach thing had nothing to do with the food allergy and everything to do with the large amount of fat and grease that I am just not used to.)

SYTYCD

If I had known that so many of you were into SYTYCD I would have been writing about it for weeks!

Thursday night we went to Randy’s for dinner (formerly known as Randy’s & Tammy’s, but something happened to old Tammy…) with our friends Ryan and Adriane.

It was $0.35 wing/oyster night (which used to be $0.25, but you know…the rising cost of gas and all. I’m not too upset about this increase since I eat neither wings nor oysters, but whatever…)

Justin and Ryan are regulars and on a first name basis with the waitress. She even whipped them up some special cocktail sauce stuff for their oysters right there at our table.

I guess that extra $0.10 per oyster pays for that kind of service.

Adriane and I were talking about SYTYCD, and she casually mentioned that she has had to start TiVo’ing it because Ryan had gotten bored and lost interest and didn’t really want to watch it anymore.

After dinner we came back to our house for some dessert and to watch the results show. I was almost feeling sorry for poor Ryan, because nothing is worse than being forced to watch reality TV if you really are over it.

But then Ryan lets it drop how much he has missed Wade Robson choreographing this year.

Really?

Oh Ryan.

Have you been watching the TiVo’d shows over and over while Adriane is at work or something?

Is this what you do on your lunch break??

Because no one who is bored or disinterested would ever notice, much less mention, a missing choreographer.

But just so you know, I miss him too.

Party at my house for the finale! And you are all invited!