When blogging falls short...

Obvs I'm referring to when blogging falls short

in comparison to my Instagram obsession...

whew...girlfriend needs a 12 step program!! Yikes!

I haven't even read any blogs, much less attempted to write 

a post in atleast 2 weeks, maybe 3. The last time I sat down to write a post

was the day of the SandyHook massacre. I just sat

there reading posts that people had so eloquently written

and I just couldn't put any words together.

I've always said the blogs I most enjoy and admire are

the blogs that are written with gut-wrenching and

no-holds-barred honesty...but turns out that

reading those blogs and writing one of those blogs are two

totally different things.  For 1 in takes much more thought and 

blatant talent but for 2, you have to consider the fact that

any Yahoo you work with might read your blog and all your

blogging business....not cool.

But anyways, the holidays are over, 

(THANK YOU GOD-I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER)

and I'm ready to get on with the new year.

I was already feeling scrooge-tastic heading into the holiday

season and then Christmas turned into a nightmare.

(oh yes....second year in a row) 

So while I grumble under my breath looking at everyone's

posts with their idyllic Christmas trees and family

festivities I try to remind myself not to compare my

behind the scenes with everyone else's highlight reels...

Words to live by....

I saw that on Instagram, go figure.

So here's my uber lame attempt at catching up...

I'm going to go the route of posting random pictures with 

brief explanations below them.

Bonfires at mom and dad's

Playing with goats at Kelly's

Halloween!

I really don't care much about Halloween, but I 

do love to dress up and I'm down for any opportunity to

wear a wig!!!

Annual Halloween Wig-out at work

Such a great turn-out!!

I attended a co-workers baby shower where we

donned moustaches of course!!!

These make me laugh so hard...

Alicia...your moustache is falling off...

Charlie Chapman??

Welcome James Jr.!!

Thanksgiving was at my sisters house this year....

Roy and I went to his cousins house initially but then I left

and headed to my sisters to spend the rest of the day with 

my mom & dad.  It was just the four of us which seemed

strange, but we made the best of it and managed to

get some family pictures.

Note to future self: do not wear billowy blouse to family photos...

 My favorite shot of the day

I ate pizza with friends....

I've been watching a lot of The Walking Dead lately, and

Alicia frighteningly resembles one of the zombies in this picture...

 Post-work breakfast at McDonalds with Rach

Roy turned 31...

pardon me while I freak out cause I still can't get 

over the fact that he's 31 and I'm 28!!!

I went to first fridays where I found a helpful little

kitten who kindly held my coffee for me...

Roy even said I could keep him,

but alas he was $5 so he got left behind...

sorry kitty!

I celebrated with Alicia for her 30th birthday....

we failed to get a decent picture...Rachael you're reminding

me of a turtle pulling into his shell in this picture...

we sampled the whipped cream off of fancy martinis

I don't even know what was happening here...

but I love it!!!

Alicia the rat

I swear we weren't trashed, don't let the bloodshot 

eyes fool you!

Christmas Shopping at the legends with mom & Kelly

And the few pictures I took at Christmas were from
Christmas Eve at my  Uncles House. I had to work Christmas Eve
so I was dressed in my AMAZING ugly sweater...

what you can't tell from this picture is the fact that it had bells

all over it that jingled when I walked---perfect!!

Kelly & I

Cousins!!

Sarah, Brianna, myself and Kelly

So that was my lame catch-up post.

I'm going to try to do a post revisiting my New Years resolutions from 

last year, however after some examination I'll probably

realize that I fell short of most of my goals...Eeek!

Oh well, theres always 2013!!

28th Birthday Weekend Part 1

I'm officially 28 years old as of Monday.
My upper twenties.

Sheesh.

How did that happen?

I must say that this is probably the first birthday that I've legitimately

felt like I was getting 'old'. I'm sure one day I'll look back

at this sentiment and want to punch my 28 year old self....

But hey, you can't help how ya feel.

I think my feelings are compounded

by the fact that I'm officially reaching a place in my life where 

things that I always thought would be happening by this age,

aren't panning out the way I'd expected...
So is life I suppose...

Nevertheless, despite my geriatric state (haha), 

I still managed to have a pretty great birthday weekend!

Friday I met Alicia for lunch at Poco's before heading

to the West Bottoms for another month of First Fridays.

Our original plan had to been eat at this place called 'Kitty's Cafe'

(it's on our food tour list)

but we chickened out due to the sketch neighborhood and the two

burly guys (ie: Notorious B.I.G. look a-likes)
standing guard by the front door...
we decided we'll just have to try to visit Kitty's
during their busy lunch time hours.

So, we resorted to Plan B which was to try this place called 

'Poco's' (also on our food tour). 

This place was recently remodeled by one of those TV shows

that comes in and revamps struggling family owned restaurants.
I'd heard some DJ's on the radio talking about it and how delicious it was,

 so we thought we'd better check it out.
Overall,

The decor was cute, but the food was just 'ok'. 

I'd give it a C.

The prices were high and they had the nerve

to charge for chips and salsa....

Big no-no in my book.

Trying out the queso. 

Alicia's Enchiladas. 

Decor in Poco's.

My baja fish tacos.

They were a little dry so I had to add some salsa.

These two tacos with rice beans were $13.00!

Yikes!

After we were done eating we headed for First Fridays.

It was a pretty chilly day, 

(a stark contrast to the inferno of heat we had on our last visit)

so we found ourselves seeking out some coffee & hot cider.

We found this place called Jaskii's, which turned out to be

quite the odd little smoke shop/coffee bar...

Hookah anyone??...

Jaskii's had some interesting art...

The title of this piece was 'Lizbionic Barbecue'...

Despite the weird art and the fact that I smelled 

like cigarettes for the rest of the day,

 my coffee was tasty and

Alicia's apple cider was freakin' amazing so I'd

definitely visit Jaskii's again.

Saturday.

My mom and I had purchased tickets for the

annual Hyde Park Homes Tour.

This was our first year going and we weren't sure

what to expect for our $10 tickets.

We were pleasantly surprised! 

There were 9 homes on the tour ranging in size

from mansions to bungalows. The tour had really nice

shuttle buses that took you from house to house and

there were also free refreshments and snacks.

(always a plus for this girl..)

Some of the homes were very modern in style

while other home owners stuck to very

traditional styles of decorating to match the

era the houses were built.

This house was just stunning from the street.

This home (not surprisingly) was built by

a man who owned a brick company and paved

all of the original brick roads in Kansas City.

The home tours were really well organized and

there were tour directors located throughout the homes

to share historical and architectural information.

Afterwards my family had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants,

Macaroni Grill...

I can never get enough of the FREE (ahem...Poco's take note..)

rosemary-garlic bread that they serve.

 All this fun and it wasn't even my actual birthday yet...
maybe turning 28 doesn't suck afterall!!
Eh, who am I kidding...I'm pretty sure it sucks ;)