Levee High Apple Pie

I am happy to announce that, yet again, I am updating my blog from the beauty of my back porch.  It's a 10 x 10 slice of heaven on earth that I am finding ways to enjoy multiple times a week.  This time, Leonard is out here as well. I dug out his old collar (with my phone number on it) and a bag of treats to jiggle at him in case he decides to escape the confines of the deck itself. I'm hoping he doesn't, as having him with me out here makes it that much more enjoyable.  So much for him to explore, it's adorable.  Aw, he just sneezed. Cat sneezes are cute.

Last weekend my dad came to visit us.  As it was Memorial Day weekend, we had 3 days to fill with as many tourist-y things as possible (well, as many as my newly-broken toe allowed). He got to see the zoo, the art museum, much of Forest Park, the Arch, Lone Elk Park, the World Bird Sanctuary, and try a few of our favorite restaurants.  We then ended the weekend with a little cookout using a new grill some friends gave us.

Since this post is pretty scatter-brained, this is as good a time as any to bring up this subject: I am hopelessly hooked on Downton Abbey.  My goodness, that show is good.  I'm almost done with season 3, so I'm hoping that when season 4 airs I'll have a group of girls to come over and watch it live with me...maybe even bringing snacks and "having tea" while watching it like they did on HIMYM. Funny, but sometimes Ted, Marshall, and Lily have some great ideas.

Yesterday was June 1, a day that is very special to both me and Darren.  June 1, 2006 was the day that Darren asked me to be his girlfriend (after watching the Mavs win their playoff game...since he decided he would only ask me if they won ;)).  Now that we have a wedding anniversary, most would say that our dating anniversary doesn't really count anymore, but as you've gathered by now, I like to have things to celebrate.  Plus, we have made June 1 special for so many years, it seemed wrong not to do it now.

So, we celebrated our day by going to the annual Strawberry Festival in Kimmswick, MO.  This is a cute little town about 30 minutes away in South STL.  I found out about the festival by searching for summer events in STL, and it looked like a fun way to spend the day.  As many of you know, STL had some harsh weather on Friday night, so we weren't sure with all the tornadoes and flooding whether or not the festival would still go on.. but it did! Vendors lined the streets around the existing shops and restaurants, and there were even street performers.  We saw family bands, a musician, lots of livestock for a petting zoo, and all that comes with your typical festival.  We enjoyed meandering through the little town, stopping in to explore all the little shops and street vendors.

This goat is standing on that turtle. 

Didn't know Santa was into St. Patrick's Day that much..that's my kind of Santa!

I took a picture of this because I like it and want to make it so I can have it for free.  There were tons of adorable homemade crafts like this all over the place... of course I just kept thinking to myself that I could make it and not buy it, but we'll see if I ever get around to it.

We thought this lamp was cool.  We're not really into sports-themed decor apart from Aggie gear, but for the die-hard fan this is an awesome lamp.

I took this because I've seen fairy garden things on Pinterest, but didn't realize people actually sold fairy garden pieces and sets like this. Funny.. weird..

This is the sneaky picture of the magician that I took.

Then we decided to eat at Kimmswick's famous restaurant: The Blue Owl (home of the Levee high apple pie: http://www.theblueowl.com/).  Apparently Oprah, Food Network, and the Travel Channel had featured this place, so we knew it was something we wanted to try. I got the strawberry salad (in keeping with the festival theme) while Darren tried a roast beef sandwich.  The food was fine, but it was the atmosphere that gave the restaurant distinction.  It's built in an older house, one with wooden floors that creak and give way with your steps. Upon entering the waiting area, you can't help but notice the framed quilt on the wall with a square for every worker at the restaurant.  Then you notice what the servers looked like: all older ladies with large frilly blue aprons that look like they're grandmothers from a storybook.  And that's pretty much how I would describe the rest of the experience: like you're going to grandma's house.  The setting was blue and white china, complete with doilies and fake flower baskets.  There are blue owls everywhere: the curtains, framed artwork, porcelain statues. They certainly knew their theme and stuck to it...and it works! They were very busy, and seemed to run an extremely successful business.  We were glad we stepped in and enjoyed a little taste of this small Missouri town.

Love the roses.

Place setting and menu: see the Levee High Apple Pie? The irony is, we didn't actually order any dessert.

After the festival, we decided to follow signs to a Mastodon state park. Sounds interesting, right? Unfortunately, it costs $4 per admission, and we're pretty frugal and weren't sure we would get $4 worth of interest and information out of it... but it was located in a very pretty area of the forest and looked like it had some walking trails that we may return to in the future. Here's as close as we got to seeing a Mastodon:

Later in the afternoon, we took a trip to Home Depot to acquire more flowers for my garden (this is rather addicting to be honest).  It was fun to get a little dirt under our nails as we worked together to add to our garden.  I am now the proud owner of another hibiscus (Henrietta Biscuit from college lives with my mom in Dallas) and some rhododendrons that should bloom soon. I am slowly but surely making my garden and back patio as awesome as I want them to be.

New hydrangea by the door! Name suggestions are welcome..

Our new grill and one of the flower pots

Here's the other one.  Patio rug to come, haven't decided what I want yet.

Yesterday evening we decided to finally use the gift card a friend gave us for Christmas and go to Ruth's Chris (a very nice steakhouse)... my mouth is watering just thinking about it.  I ordered an amazing filet mignon and Darren chose the ribeye. Put together with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus, it was the perfect meal.  The restaurant also surprised us with rose petals and a free carrot cake cupcake complete with a lit candle to celebrate. It was seriously the nicest dinner we've ever gone to on a date, and it was very romantic.

Thanks to everyone who called/texted/FB'd to make sure we were safe on Friday.  It's a blessing to have a basement, and it's an even bigger blessing to have people who care enough to check in on us during bad weather.  Fortunately, our neighborhood wasn't even touched by any of the tornadoes or damaging winds.  There are still a lot of people without power and the flood waters are extremely high in a lot of areas.  Please keep everyone affected by all of these recent storms (both here in STL and Moore, OK) in your prayers. Thanks!

One of the many areas of flooding we saw while driving around yesterday.