Sunday, February 26, 2012

Home for Christmas

Laura:
Thankfully we were able to spend a lot of time with our families and friends of over Christmas break. We could probably ramble on and on about all the things we did, but we'll be nice and just post some pics of our favorite moments. Enjoy!

Trivia with friends at Tigin's Irish Pub

Hibachi dinner with more friends at Kitaro

Alex's hand-crafted "The Office" Christmas ornament in honor of his working from home in Rochester.
Complete with Bucky Balls, Clothes Pins, and Express Scripts logo!

Engels at the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, LA to cheer on the Mizzou Tigers!!!

Tigers playing well....

Tigers playing poorly! Lol.

Authentic Korean dinner in honor of Ben's birthday


Soju!

Bean's birthday cake! Also, note in the background our new favorite board games: Ticket to Ride and Pandemic!!!
Alex:
The family getting together
Birthday celebration for Chris
Playing with the kids
The age old saga of Bad Guys vs Good Guys - Battle at The Base
Exhausted from gift opening
 
Cake pops for Foof

Early birthday celebration for Foof

Beer pong at new years
 
First New Years

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Us with the niece and nephew

Walex's Triumphant Return to the Lou

Alex:
Nobody ever said this blog was going to proceed in chronological order, did they?  No?  Good!

So, in October, I traveled back to STL for the first time since moving to ROC.  This was a business trip that I scheduled to extend through a weekend so I could have time to visit all the friends and family back in the Lou.  I arrived on a Wednesday afternoon and went straight to the office, and left right after work on Monday.  So what was I able to do with roughly 5 days and 3.5 work days?

Well, I mentioned I arrived Wednesday?  Of course that was strategically planned for Trivia at Tigin!  We've missed the awesomeness that is Tigin food and Pub Quiz.  We did pretty well that night, and caught some Cardinals playoffs while we were there.  We had a good turnout with L1, Ted, April, Chris & Abby, Val & Ken, Jeff & Kenny (see what I did there?  ha!), and Juicer.  Thanks to all for coming out!










Pic courtesy of Mindy Miller
For the weekend, Ted was able to get tickets for a few of us to go to the 100th anniversary homecoming at Mizzou.  We started by meeting some peeps at Harpos and having a few Hammers, then grabbing some Chipotle and walking to the stadium.






















It was an easy win, and a beautiful day.  I even got a little sunburned.






After heading back to STL, I had to crash in Wentzville.  I had stayed the night over at the Dierks place on Friday, and had to grab some rest after the long day!  Thanks guys for having me over and spending the night.








Yum!
I also want to thank Chris and Abby for letting me stay at their place for most of the nights.  It was good to see everyone again.

When I got home I had a surprise for Foof:  a Harpos cup and some delicious Pi pizza!  I had a lot of fun in STL, but it was nice to be home with my foof too.









Lizards Love ROC

Laura:
Waaaaaaaaaaaay back in October, my Mom and little sister (the Lizards) came to visit while Alex was away in St. Louis on business. Yes, yes.....that was ages ago, but I still want to tell you about how great it was to have visitors and how much fun we had during their time here in ROC! Maybe then you'll want to come visit our lovely apartment in this wonderful city too.

First, let me mention the deluxe accommodations we are able to provide. My mom and sister bunked up for the extended weekend in our guest room/office with their own private half-bath for freshening up and such. For sleeping, my mother selected the very comfy futon with a mountain of blanket and pillows. My sister slept on a cloud of air...literally...we let her have the air mattress. Lol! Everyone was as snug as a bug in a rug!

We did a lot of really fun stuff while the Lizards were in town (even if it was a bit rainy most of the time)! First, we went to Bisque and Brush down in "suburbia" to paint some pottery. I painted a plate, my sister painted a giant mug, and my mom painted a cute triangle-shaped bowl. I wish I could show you pictures, but I don't know how to get them off my phone. You'll just have to trust that everything we painted was incredibly cute!

Later in the weekend, we ventured out to Waterloo, NY to visit the outlet mall! We bought all sorts of cute shoes and outfits. My mom was also nice enough to buy me a new down coat for the coming winter. Thank goodness she did! I wear that coat almost everyday and the fur rimmed hood is really useful on blustery winter days. We also swung by Target and purchased some lovely canisters for my kitchen (for flour and sugar) plus some other cutely housewares. Yea for shopping!!!

Fancy new outfits from the outlet mall

Aside from shopping and  pottery painting, we mostly just hung out and ate at a zillion different restaurants around town. We went to DogTown for hot dogs and Lizard's first garbage plate! Sampled delicious BBQ from Sticky Lips, tasty pizza from Chester Cab, and savory Spanish cuisine at Dorado. And to top it all off, I took the Lizards to the one, the only.....JAMES BROWN'S PLACE!!! This is the best place in ROC to get breakfast, hands down! It's a very homey diner with really tasty food. Seriously....you have to come to Rochester just to have some James Brown. Sample menu items include: Bacon, Apple, Gouda Omelet, Egg Nog French Toast with Delicious Caramel Sugar Glaze, and Epic Biscuits and Gravy.

I think overall the Lizards had a really great time! Even when I was studying they were able to entertain themselves by looking up all the fancy houses for sale in our neighborhood. Maybe they'll move here one day!

It was really nice having some quality time with my family and getting a little bit of a break from the endless studying. I wish they could have stayed longer! Hopefully they will come back again soon!


And seriously....if you ever want to come visit, just drop us a line. We're always willing to host visitors. :0)