I mentioned in my last post about last Friday night - it bears some explaining and there are some fun pictures to go along with it...If you have been keeping up here in Xanga-land you know that I have been living with the most incredible woman for the last year.  God brought Tina into my life last year when I was trying to figure out where I was going to live for my last year of school after Jeff and Wendy moved.  It was a pretty tough time, my dear friend was moving, and quite honestly I didn't really want to live with anyone else....

Fortunately for me, God knew better and through an amazing sequence of events introduced me to Tina.  She opened her beautiful home to me and it has been so good being here with her.  I look back and see God all over both of our lives in the orchestration of us being in the same place at the same time.  It is cool, and I am more grateful than I can say.

So I moved in last August - fast forward to December and Tina's daughter Andrea came home from school for a semester...I was a little nervous at first (Would she be okay with me being here?  Would it be awkward for either of us?  Etc...), but all of those fears proved to be totally unfounded.  Andrea is one of the coolest girls I know and it has been so much fun to have her here to hang out with.  I have enjoyed this last seven months with her SO.MUCH.

Anyway - Andrea turned 21 on Monday, and a few weeks ago Tina decided to do a surprise party for her - the plan was for me to take her to an undisclosed location on Friday night where Tina would be waiting with the rest of the people invited to the party.  The plan was to go to the Chocolate Bar first and after that, to move to the St Louis City Museum.

The plan went off without a hitch.  I have talked about the Chocolate Bar before (the inside of the place smells like what I imagine Hershey, Pennsylvania smells like - YUM).  GREAT place for a birthday celebration.  Andrea was totally surprised.  We walked in and it took a second to register that all of those people were there to celebrate her and her birthday.  Teehee.  It was great.  Tina had gotten a polaroid camera and lots of film for it to document the fun of the night...it was hysterical...apparently the people at Polaroid have quite the sense of humor because they now make the instant cameras shaped like HUGE versions of older style point and click cameras.  Here is a picture of Andrea with it...

So funny - the picture doesn't do it justice - it really is pretty much as big as her head.

After eating yummy desserts at the Chocolate Bar, we headed off for the City Museum.   They just opened the rooftop up with a ferris wheel and lots of other things to do.  It cost extra to get to the top, but was totally worth it.  Unfortunately it was 11 stories up, and the elevator was not operating which meant a climb up the stairs.  I had NO IDEA what 11 flights of stairs was going to feel like by the end.  Before we started I was totally thinking 'Oh 11 flights isn't bad at all!'...but by the sixth floor I was seriously wondering if I was going to make it all the way up.  By the 8th floor everyone in our group was ahead of me.  By the 10th floor I wanted to cry over how obviously out of shape I have gotten, and by the time I got to the top I thought I may just pass out.  Not my finest hour, but seriously motivating to get back into shape.

The view of the city from the rooftop was incredible - especially at night.  I tried to get pictures, but they turned out crappy...I did however get a shot of the ferris wheel.

I have never considered myself afraid of heights - but I will admit that being on top of the roof, on the very top of the ferris wheel, with very little between me and the ground 11 stories below made my belly hurt a little bit.  Still an experience worth having, but scarier than I originally thought it would be.

Andrea's sister Michelle and her husband on the Kyle on the ferris wheel.

I tried to get a picture of Andrea and her boyfriend Erik on the ferris wheel as well, but alas, no such luck.  So here is a cute picture of them together instead.  They are a ridiculously good looking couple!

Other favorite pictures from the night - Tina, Andrea and I.

Tina and Michelle being gangster.  Funny.

Tina and I on the rooftop (you can see a bit of the city lights behind us).

Michelle and Andrea - awwww - what would we do without sisters?  They are the best!

This praying mantis was at the very tippity top of the roof on a platform that had a slide swooping down to the rest of the rooftop - Kyle thought (and rightly so!) that it would be funny to strike the same post as the praying mantis.  I have to say, it is a scary good likeness!

After we were done playing on the rooftop, we had the option of climbing back down the stairs or taking the TEN STORY SLIDE to the bottom.  Yep - you read that right.  Think about the spiral slides found at most playgrounds, and multiply that times about 20, and that is what this slide is like.  All closed in and dark and FAST.  It was so FUN.  Here is a shot of me acting all scared by the sign...(I wasn't really scared of the slide - the picture is more for dramatic effect.  Did it work? 

Anyway.  If you ever come visit me in St Louis, or have the opportunity to come through, the City Museum is definitely a stop that you want to make.  It will put you on sensory overload, but it is so cool - like a museum/art show/adult playground all rolled into one.  There isn't anywhere you can't go in the place and nothing you can't touch.  Everywhere you go there are tunnels to climb through and things to play on and touch and look at.  I can't even do it justice with a description.  It is one of those things that must be experienced.  I am a big fan, can you tell? 

Here are a couple more shots - this one is of Andrea's friend (and Erik's sister) Anika and Andrea in the mirror tunnel - very cool picture!

And here is a fun shot of most of our group.  Please forgive the picture quality - it was almost 1am at this point and things were getting fuzzy! 

What a blast. 

This turned out a lot longer than I expected for it to be...if you are still reading - YAY!    My entries are not in vain...

There is so much to recap that I am not able to do it right now - so here is the shortened version.

Friday I worked and then helped with a surprise birthday party for Andrea (Tina's daughter and my new friend - she and I have spent many nights chilling out after long days in front of the tv - I love having her around!) at the Chocolate Bar followed by the City Museum.

Saturday the 4th I had taken the day off work, and spent the morning piddling around working on projects and cleaning/organizing that I have been doing in my room for the last couple of weeks.  Late afternoon my friend Flo came over and we left for my brother Caleb's house for a BBQ and his own fireworks show.  SO.MANY details and some pictures to share - hopefully that will be forthcoming.

I worked on Sunday - rough night at work I am getting super restless being at the store.  Trying to maintain an attitude of gratefulness that I have a job in the midst of being SO.DONE. with being there.  Hah - some days I do better than others.  Some days I don't do well at all and am just plain crabby.  I don't like that.  More musing about that at a later date as well perhaps.

Today has been a beautiful day off.  Tina left this morning for two weeks with the military...I just about cried saying goodbye.  I cannot think about the day that I have to move out - ugh.  I get so attached to people so fast.  It would be so much easier to not - but I imagine that I would miss out on quite a lot if I didn't...

I digress.  So Tina left this morning and I left not long after - the afternoon was spent at my sisters house watching the last couple of weeks of SYTYCD (thank heavens for tivo!) since I have had to work and have missed it...then the kids woke up from nap time, and we played outside for quite a while.  I love those kids.  There really are no words for how much.

I left Hannah's house after dinner (yum), and came to spend the rest of the evening with my family.  Such sweet times with them lately.  I have been making a conscious effort to delight in every moment with my family.  The knowledge that I am leaving them in the near future has helped me to take full advantage of the time that I have with them.  And it has been so good.  As I write this it is in the wee hours of the morning - the DVD of Stargate: Atlantis (season 5) that my siblings put in - only to all fall asleep strewn about the living room.  Sam, Jannah and Jordan sound asleep on the floor, and Jesse on the sofa across the way.  Two of them are snoring...   It's a slumber party, and I love it.

I am one blessed girl.

Regardless, I am not there again - YET.  No giving up here.  I am convinced that even if no one else reads this, I will appreciate the fact that I did it later in my life and I also hope that the more that I write, the better I will get at expressing the things that I want to say.  I have always wanted to write well.  I have always done well in school, but the writing that I have always done seems flat somehow.  My hope is that perhaps if I continue to dabble in writing, even if just in blog form, that perhaps I will learn to say things the way that I love to read them from other people.  Which sounds funny I realize, but I would love to be able to translate the FUNNY stuff that occurs on a daily basis in life and have it come across as funny.  Same thing for learning to express my heart - it feels that so often I dance around saying what is inside, and never can quite figure out how to express what is really there - the CORE of things, you know?

See how wordy I am?  Sheesh.  If I could just pare that down and still communicate - I would be golden.