A Night at the Ballpark

So as part of my bucket list, I decided that I was going to plan actual date nights for Justin and I each month.  This past Saturday was our first official date night, "A Night at the Ballpark." {yes, I gave all the dates I planned a goofy name, it makes it more fun} I put together all our stuff for our date night (tickets, menus, etc.) in an envelope and gave it to my hubby.

Our evening started at a local brewery turned restaurant, Trailhead Brewing Co.  It's a cute little restaurant nestled in the historic part of downtown St. Charles.

The view outside the restaurant

Justin loves to try new beers, so a brewery was the perfect location!  The brewery crafts five different beers regularly and then also has a seasonal option.  The hubs opted for the beer sampler, of course.

And I chose a delicious bottle of beer...

Root beer that is!

The root beer is brewed in house as well.  I did try one of Justin's beers and it was okay. {I don't drink beer; I think it's gross, so "okay" is a high rating for me} He absolutely loved them all.  We also ordered dinner.  I got a burger on a pretzel bun... it was SO good!  The hubs got a sausage platter.  I, of course, took several bites off of his meal as well.  The sausage was cooked perfectly and was so flavorful!  Being the bad blogger that I am, I didn't get any pictures of our food.

After dinner, the hubby and I headed out to catch a baseball game. {obviously, hence the title of the date} But this wasn't your typical MLB game.  No... instead we headed to see the River City Rascals, who are part of the Frontier League.

I would put this on a similar level as minor league baseball.  It's a much more family friendly place and much more budget conscious than heading to see a MLB game.  The game started a little late, {because the umps weren't there on time} but once it started we had a lot of fun!

We did end up ending the evening a little earlier than planned.  The weather just wasn't in our favor. {it's been in the 100s all month and it definitely was taking a toll on us}

Besides... we were exhausted from the long day we had before the date night... but that's another story!

Catholic Girl at Heart

I was born and raised a Catholic.  I went to Catholic school from kindergarten all the way through high school.  I attended mass religiously every Sunday throughout my childhood.  During the school year, I attended mass every Friday.  I had religion class every day.  When I got to high school, I joined a Catholic youth group.  I happily went to youth group on Tuesdays and Sundays after mass.  I went on retreats.  I was full blown Catholic and I had very little knowledge of any other religions.

Towards the end of my high school years, I started to fall away from the church.  I moved away from home after finishing high school to go to college.  There was a Catholic Campus Ministry at my college, but I wasn't too interested in going.  I felt like religion had been shoved down my throat my entire life and this was finally my chance to explore.  I took several religion classes and learned more about other religions.  I still believed in my Catholic faith, but I had no desire to attend mass regularly.  There were several things that the church teaches that I don't agree with, but I still believe in the basics of the religion.

Its been about ten years since I've regularly attended mass.  I've always attended on the "big" religious days... Christmas and Easter... and whenever my parents asked me to go with them.  I know that I've missed going to church and I've always felt like I needed to get back to church, but I just wasn't ready.

Recently, I realized that I may never be "ready" to go back to church, I just need to go.  So, as part of my bucket list for the year, I've committed to going to mass at least two times each month.  I'm in my second week of my first month and I know that I will be out of town next weekend and may not be able to make it to mass.  I didn't go last weekend because I was moving and just didn't make it.  So Saturday night, it occurred to me that in order to stick with my goal, I had to go to mass on Sunday.  I looked up mass times and found a church to attend.  Sunday morning, when I woke up, I thought about just backing out.  I wasn't ready... but I may never be, so I got dressed and headed to St. John Bosco Catholic Church.

I'm not going to lie... it felt weird.  I felt out of place, yet I felt at home.  It was an awkward feeling.  I'm still not sure how I feel about it.  Last year, the Catholic church changed some of the wording at the regular mass.  It was a huge change.  I've said the same wording every Sunday for my whole childhood.  So to show up at mass and have the words changed felt... well, weird.  I'm sure I will get used to it and it will become ingrained in my mind just like the old wording.

The mass wasn't that great.  There was a priest visiting from India who did the homily.  For those that don't know, the homily is a time for the priest to relate the gospel reading for the day to our everyday lives.  Instead, this visiting priest took that time to basically beg for money for all the poor people in India.  I have no problem with helping the poor, I just didn't like the approach.  But the music at the mass brought me right back home.  The music has always made me feel at home.  Its always been my connection to the church.

I plan to continue going to church.  I want to be able to baptize my children (once I have children) and I think its important to be practicing my faith before baptizing my children into the faith.  Don't worry... this isn't going to become some religious blog.  I just wanted to share this with you... something that has always been, and will always be, part of my life.




Yesterday, after church, I went home and spent some time with my hubby.  The weather here in St. Louis has been a little ridiculously hot, so we headed to the 7-11 down the street from our new place and picked up a nice cold Slurpee.

It definitely hit the spot.  And at the end of the night, the rain swept through and the temperatures in the area finally started dropping.  Thank goodness!

Until next time... keep it cool :)

12. Spending Time with Family

I feel so embarrassed lucky to have the family that I have.  They are absolutely amazing!  As part of my bucket list for the year, I told myself that I would spend more time with my family.  So far, I haven't had any issues with this!  In the past week, I have spend time with my family on four different days.

I moved last weekend and my sucker very sweet, older brother volunteered to come help us out.  We did have hired movers, but it was really nice to have someone around to help move furniture around until he ripped a hole in my brand new carpet .  But seriously, it really was great to have the help!  The day after the move, my parents invited my husband and I over for dinner.  We had some amazing BBQ pork steaks for dinner and enjoyed the free meal after the long move.

This past Friday was my youngest sister, Stephanie's, birthday.  She's finally 13!

Before she headed the the Cardinal's birthday game, the family got together and had dinner and cake to celebrate...

Mom, Dad, Me, Steph, and Devin

Steph got a new iTouch, so she is super excited to start texting iMessaging with her friends.  I got her a fun case for her iTouch perfect for a new teenager.  After dinner, my dad took Stephanie and my other younger siblings to the Cardinal's baseball game and I stuck around to hang out with my mom.  We had a good time just enjoying the quiet and playing a few board games.

Last night, my mom's side of the family had a party at a local dive bar, The Corner Bar.  We got together with the aunts, uncles, and cousins for some wholesome family fun.  My aunts and uncle rented out the basement of the bar which has a two lane bowling alley... but this was a special bowling alley. The alley was set up for 3-pin bowling.  It is actually the only 3-pin bowling alley in the United States.  Imagine regular 10-pin bowling... but you only have the three corner pins of the triangle.  The balls are actually pretty small (under 5 pounds).  Each person gets three rolls to knock down all three pins.  We really didn't know how to keep score, so we just made it up.  We also had a "pin monkey" who's job was to set up the pins after we rolled (I felt bad for that poor kid... it wasn't exactly cool at that end of the basement).

Midway through the evening, a couple of girls showed up handing out free beer... and who doesn't turn down free beer?!  (Oh yeah... that'd be me... I'm not much of a beer girl)  The girls were Kraftig girls.  Kraftig is the new beer being produced by the Busch family (part of the founding family of Anheuser Busch, which was sold to InBev).  My family all said it was pretty good.

Between the free beer and 3-pin bowling, we all had a great time laughing and enjoying each other's company.  By the end of the evening, we were all pretty worn out.

So far, this bucket list is working out pretty well for me.  I'm starting to check off items off my list and I'm really looking forward to the next adventure!

Happy Birthday to Me...

Today is my birthday.


I am 28 years old.


This year, as a present to myself, I decided to make a list of 28 things to do when I am 28. I picked all kinds of things… spiritual, emotional, and physical. It’s kind of a mish-mosh of all kinds of ideas that have been floating in my head. It’s kind of crazy up there, but I’m going to let you take a peek into my brain. I made sure that everything that I picked was totally achievable and able to be done over the next year. This isn’t a list of things I wish I could do or crazy out-there ideas. These are things that I actually want to do to help make my life better. So here it is… my list of 28 things to do when I’m 28.


1. Attend mass twice each month.
I really want to get back into the habit of going to church each week. I want to have a relationship with God and I think this will be a good start.

2. Volunteer at least twice.
I used to be part of a service sorority, Gamma Sigma Sigma. I would do volunteer work several times each month. I haven’t done any real volunteer work since leaving college. I love the feeling I get when I volunteer and I miss it.

3. Blog every week.
Obviously, I’ve been slacking on this whole blogging thing. Hopefully, with this list, it will help give me something to blog about each week. And if not, you get to hear about my boring life.

4. Read six books.
Haven’t read a book in quite some time. I actually enjoy reading, but I always tell myself that I just don’t have time. This year, I’m going to make time.

5. Knit or crochet two blankets.
I enjoy knitting and I just learned to crochet. It’s a great way to spend some time and relax. So far, I’ve only made blankets for other people. I want at least one for myself.

6. Knit a pair of socks.
Like I said, I love knitting. I have yet to venture into the area of socks. I recently purchased a book. Now I just need to try it.

7. Scrapbook our wedding and honeymoon.
I don’t want it to be years from now before I get these pictures in an album. My friend is always asking me to do some scrapbooking with her. This year, I’ll take her up on the offer.

8. Run two 5Ks.
In the last couple years, I’ve told people I was going to run a 5k. I even paid for and signed up for one. Yet, here I am at 28, still not completing a 5k. This year, I’m doing two.

9. Workout twice each week.
This shouldn’t be too hard, since this is something I do regularly, but I want to make sure that I actually keep up with it.

10. Lose ten pounds (and maintain).
In the past few months, I’ve gained a few pounds. Now it’s time to get it back off. I know this is something I can do once I set my mind to it… well, my mind is set.

11. Get together with a friend each month.
Each month, I go to a Girls’ Night In. I’m hoping to continue that throughout this year. But even if GNI gets cancelled, I need to make sure I make time to see my friends.

12. Spend time with a family member each month.
Family is so important to me. It doesn’t have to be every single family member each month, but I want to spend time with someone in my family each month, whether it’s a sibling, parent, niece, cousin, aunt, uncle, grandparent, or in-laws.

13. Go to a Blues hockey game.
I’ve only been to one Blues hockey game in my life. My husband has only been to one also. It wasn’t with each other. This year, we’re going to make sure to go together.

14. Go to a Cardinals baseball game.
This is a yearly pastime for me. But I couldn’t leave it off my list. I love the Cardinals!

15. Plan a vacation.
I think vacations are important. Everyone needs time away. Justin and I are going to enjoy planning our second big vacation together.

16. Plan two day trips.
Day trips can be so much fun, yet Justin and I never plan them. This year, we’re going to plan at least two. I’ve got some great ideas, but we’ll see what we come up with.

17. Go camping.
I was in scouts until I was 18. My husband grew up in small town Missouri, spending weekends camping in the wilderness. We’ve never been camping together. Not sure what kind of camping it will be (Justin is convinced it’s not camping if you have running water), but we will be camping!

18. Take photos at each new event.
The past year, I just don’t have that many pictures. And that makes me sad. I want to make sure I take lots of pictures this year so I can look back at all the fun things we’ve done.

19. Plan a date every month.
Justin and I have never been very good about going on actual dates. This year, we’re going to take turns planning dates for ourselves and spending some quality time together.

20. Go on a walk with Justin each week.
This goes hand-in-hand with #19. A weekly walk will give us time to spend together and talk about life.

21. Cook one new dinner idea each month.
I tend to eat rotate the same few dinner ideas every couple weeks. It gets boring for Justin who is much more adventurous in eating. I want to be more adventurous in eating, so this is my start.

22. Attend a cooking class.
And to help with those new dinner ideas, I’ve decided to take a cooking class. How am I supposed to know how to cook all these new foods without someone to teach me?

23. Grow some type of veggie or fruit.
I’ve never grown my own food before. I know I don’t like many vegetables, but I really thought it would be fun to try and grow my own strawberries, tomatoes, or herbs.

24. Clean the house each month.
Now I’m not saying my house never gets cleaned now, but nowhere near as much as it needs to be. I plan to divide the house into four areas and each week, I’ll tackle an area.

25. Purchase my first car.
I’m 28 and I’ve never purchased my own car. Yes I have a car that is mine, but it was gifted to me. I know it’s a financial burden, but it will be pretty cool to be able to say I bought my own car.

26. Save $10,000.
There are a lot of things that Justin and I want to do in the future. Let’s be honest, most of those things take money. I’m hoping to have this much in savings, even after our big vacation and putting down money on my new car.

27.                                                              .

28.                                                              . 


Some things I just am not going to share. The last two items are a little more personal to me, so I won’t be sharing them on this blog. Just know, there are 28 items on my list and I will be working to complete them all.

When I realized that I was going to be turning 28, I actually started to worry. 28 seems so much older than 27. But now, I’m actually really excited about this next year! Here's to me and my bucket list!