Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Dry Town

After dinner tonight we decided to go get a drink... this is what happened... enjoy!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Shaker Showdown: The Big Muddy

Hi Everyone- We arrived in Vicksburg Sunday evening, and have been enjoying a grand time staying with Sarah J and the other Jersey Girls, Daisy & Madison. We went to El Ranchero for dinner on Sunday so we didn't need any pepper, so no GTA news there. On Monday Sarah J went to work, and Nikki and I slept in then ventured out to explore Vicksburg a bit. We followed the "Scenic Tour" through downtown and along the river. Some of the tour was very scenic, some of it was not so much (possible video to come later). We also hit the outlet mall, and had great success at Bath and Body works (you can never under estimate the importance of moisturizing, right Eric?) and the Gap.


We stopped at Sonic for lunch, and then again later for Happy Hour. Kind of hard to rate the pepper shakers there since they use the paper packets... pretty much a "tear and sprinkle" not so much a shake, a lazy man's pepper if you will, right Sergeant Pepper?


For dinner we went to the Heritage Buffet at the Ameristar Casino. It was fabulous with an awesome salad bar, mac & cheese and fried chicken, not to mention the dessert bar to die for.





The pepper shaker left a lot to be desired. It definitely needs work. Sergeant Pepper gives it two shakers. It really only deserves one based on the pepper itself, but the dessert bar makes up for the poor pepper shake.


After dinner we went back to Sarah's and were entertained by Madison and Daisy, the funniest dogs ever.



I think today were are going to check out some of the shops downtown while Sarah J is at work, and then tonight we have something special planned... you will have to tune in later to see what we do.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Shaker Showdown-Lambert's Cafe




We would like to introduce you to Pepper....George Pepper. He prefers his pepper shaken, not fresh ground.




You may recall from previous posts that Jane's dad George is very particular about his pepper shakers. This is a fact that Jane likes to bring up when we are out eating somewhere. It is determined if the pepper shaker would be "GTA" or "George Tjardes Approved". It's an approval rating that's sweeping the nation. Ok, maybe not the nation but at least close friends and family. Anyways, Jane and I felt that it is our civic responsibility to report back to you, the loyal blog readers, on the GTA ratings of the many establishments we will be patronizing in the coming week. We will be rating the pepper shakers on a scale of 1-5 shakers to be shown at the end of each post by our new friend, Sergeant Pepper. Without any further ado, we give you Lambert's Cafe...



Officially Seageant Pepper is giving this one a GTA rating of 4 shakers. They got 1/2 a shaker for style points for the cute Coke bottle shaker that was effective as well (plus we can't make a 1/2 shaker picture).



Til next time! Happy Peppering!

"Roll"-in on the River

Hi y'all! This is Nikki, guest blogging for Jane this afternoon on Day 1 of our trek south. Why am I blogging and not Jane you ask? Well, Jane is a great multitasker but I personally feel much safer that she is not trying to blog and drive at the same time. Right now we are coming to you live from I-55 courtesy of my new laptop and Verizon Broadband card which we are so loving right now. Being able to surf the net on the road is great. When you are not exactly sure how to get to Lambert's you can instantly look it up online. However I would recommend getting a power adaptor in which you plug the laptop into while traveling. We had a to make a pit stop at Wal Mart (what trip would be complete without a trip to Wal Mart?) in Blytheville, AR to remedy the dead battery problem. But we are back online again and are adding a new feature to the blog this week......video blogging. When I got my laptop from Dell the nice people there sent me a free gift....a Flip video recorder. Jane and I have had more fun with this video recorder in the last 5 hours....it is our new favorite toy and we already have multiple video ideas for this trip so be sure to check back for the latest.

Ok, back to the point....we headed out of C-U this morning around 7:00. The trip was fairly uneventful until our arrival at Lamberts' Cafe, Home of the Throwed Roll in Sykeston, MO. If you have never been there it is quite the experience. When they say they throw their rolls, they are not lying. We witnessed rolls being chucked the length of the dining room. Jane and I have decided that we would like to be a roll thrower for a day. We could totally walk around yelling "Hot Rolls!" and throwing them at random people on request. We have also decided that this would make a great celebrity fundraising event. Chris Carpenter needs some rehab work? Head on down to Sykeston and throw some rolls for a day. That could totally loosen up the arm. A few people on our celebrity throwed rolls wish list:

Adam Wainwright: He is a southern boy and could totally feel right at home in a place that serves chicken gizzards and fried okra.

Britt Miller (Illinois linebacker): We're not sure if linebackers can throw but he would definitely make it entertaining. He would be awesome at working the crowd.

Brett Favre: When he retires for real he could still go back to throwing something.

Carrie Walsh and Misty May-Treanor: They could spike your roll at you. A whole new spin on the roll throw.

Matthew McConaughey: This is completely dependent on their no shoes, NO SHIRT policy.

But back to our visit. The food was great as was the service. Jane and I both had a little crush on our waiter Andy. He was super cute and had a major southern accent that was adorable. We got there just in time too. We had absolutely no wait for a table but when we left there were probably 50 people waiting outside. Overall Lambert's is a great place to eat (see more of our Lambert's "rating" in our next post). I highly recommend stopping if you are in the area. Here is a little video clip of our trip to Lamberts.


Thursday, August 21, 2008

Living a Blog Free Existance

So it has been brought to my attention (thanks Jenn :)) that I have been a bit of blog slacker of late. Actually that is a bit of a good thing. After being on the on the road every weekend for over a month, last weekend I simply went to the QC to just hang out with Eric. After watching the construction all spring and summer, the Sonic near Eric's house recently opened, so we finally got to go there... twice... supper Friday night was so good, we decided to stop in for breakfast on Saturday morning. Other than that we did a whole lot of nothing, stopping by Bent River to pick up a growler of our favorite beer to go with our Frank's pizza on Saturday night, and then church on Sunday. It was great to have a lazy weekend and rest up before we head to Houston next week.

Right now I am blogging between Benedryl induced comas. There is something in the air the past day or so that has left me with some seriously boogered up and itchy eyes.

The past two weeks I have been checking out the Olympics. So far my favorites are Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh... I will admit I got a little "misty" myself watching them celebrate their gold medal win. My former Illini Justin Spring and Deron Williams are doing me proud too. Justin Spring (gymnast) ties with Usain Bolt (Jamaican sprinter) for best Olympic name ever. A gymnast named Spring, a sprinter named Bolt, does it get any better than that?

Okay, time or more Benedryl and my next coma.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Big Win At Wrigley, and other Windy City Highlights

This past weekend Nikki, Eric and I headed to Chicago. We stayed with my "lil' sis" Nathan and went to the Cubs vs. Cards game at Wrigley on Saturday. I had not been to Wrigley since I was about eight, and as you might expect not too much has changed. I have to admit, even though it is the home of the rival Cubs, Wrigley is kind of cool. The ivy is truly unique and I enjoyed the "old school" vibe. We also managed to see the only game that the Cards won that series... they beat up Big Z pretty good. Eric tossed out a new name for Skip Schumaker at Wrigley as well. I usually call him "Skippy", and Eric usually goes with "Schu", but for some reason when he came up to bat Eric took it a little further and went with Let's Go "Schu-man-chu"... evidently Skippy is a fan of the new nickname... he went yard!

It was very weird and wrong to see Jim Edmonds as a Cub. I still love him, but as long as he is a Cub I will root against him. You can tell he still has fond feelings for me, when I was there in person he struck out a lot.

It was great to hang out with Nathan for the weekend. I had missed my lil' sis. He was a great host, making us pancakes on Saturday before heading out to the game, and then we all pitched in for a community effort on grilling out an awesome dinner. We also hit Sheffield's for some good beer before the game. He even drove Eric & I to the Metra station on Sunday evening to catch the train. I was a little disappointed to not me able to meet Nathan's squeeze, Stacey, but she was actually packing up her stuff in Nashville, TN and will be moving up to Chicago to be with Nathan later this week. On Sunday we went out for breakfast and met Nathan's college buddy, Maureen, and her boyfriend, Erik with a "K" who were back in the area from Boston visiting her parents. It was kind of cool because Nathan, Maureen and I all started dating Stacey, Eric and Erik right around the New Year and all of the relationships are working out fabulously.

Nik headed out of the city after breakfast on Sunday, but Eric and I stayed and met my friends Abe & Allison (see a link to their blog at the right) Sunday afternoon. They have been married just over a year, and like Eric and I met on Eharmony and had a long distance relationship. It was great to hang out with them, especially to bond over the ups and downs of the long distance relationship.

I like Chicago... at least to visit anyway. It was a great weekend with great friends.



Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Best Day

On Sunday Eric and I had one of our best days together. We decided to stay over in STL on Saturday night after the game and spend the day together on Sunday just doing whatever came our way. As it turned out the game on Sunday was moved to a night game for ESPN so we were able to tour Busch Stadium on Sunday after breakfast at our hotel. FYI, the breakfast included at waffle station... one of my favorites. Eric said my waffles were better, but these were pretty good and they were included with our stay.
The tour of the stadium was lots of fun... and a little bit different than the one I went on last season. We both really enjoyed it, and our time together. I snapped a fun little picture of Eric doing his best Tony LaRussa impression on the dugout steps.

After the Stadium we headed about 10 minutes west to the Schlafly Brewery Bottleworks. We have enjoyed the Schlafly beer in the past and wanted to learn more. We had an appetizer and a pint at the bar before we took the tour of the bottleworks. The tour was very interesting and educational, and other than a couple of very college girls who were enjoyable and asked really good questions, we were the only ones on the tour. The free tour included three different tastings. Afterwards we headed back to the bar for an actual meal (late lunch/early supper) and one last pint. We had the best time there chatting with each other, the awesome bartender/waitress and the various other patrons. I swearr if we didn't have to head home we would have stayed there all day and night. We have already decided we are going back on our next trip to STL, either The Bottleworks or Schlafly's Tap Room downtown. The food was fabulous, the beer was great (between the two of us we sampled quite a few and really enjoyed them all) and everyone was so nice and friendly... we felt like Norm at "Cheers!"

All in all it was just a great day. Eric and I got to spend some special time together, just hanging out and enjoying each others company and some of our favorite things... baseball and beer. We both agreed it was just the "Best Day"!

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

Saturday I went to picture day at Busch Stadium... we have had been patiently waiting for this since Spring Training. Essentially, they let the fans down on the warning track before the game and then the players come out and "walk the rope line" waving, posing for photos, just bascially chatting it up with the fans. We we made our rhinestone "Franklin 31" shirts in Florida Frankie asked if we would be wearing them in STL, so of course April, Ang, Nik and I rocked the rhinestones. April even made a 5 foot banner that said "Frankie's Fan Squad". All the players that saw the shirts and banner took note, and once again Frankie was totalling loving it. I believe his quote was "Man, if they would let me stop I would give you all hugs" or something to that effect. Brad Thompson and Aaron Miles had the best reactions. Aaron Mile was just cracking up, and Brad Thompson's said in response to "Frankies' Fan Squad"... "Me Too!"... evidently he and Ryan Franklin are buds. It was really hot but lots of fun.














I got a great picture of Nik and Ang with Rick Ankiel... he wasn't playing that day so he spent lots of time working the crowd. Eric joined us, as did April's Mom, Jane. Eric was a trooper... I know it got way girly for him at times but he was genuinely amused by the players' various reactions to our shirts and banner. Oh, and finally Nikki got to see her favorite, Joe Mather, play in person. Joey Bomb was super friendly with the crowd and Nik was beside herself with the "Aws!" every time he posed with a small child... I will admit he is pretty darn charming.


The Cards lost the game, which was kind of a bummer. Eric was disappointed that his original adjusting of the pins on his floppy hat wasn't successful, and has already done some additional tweaking for our next game in September.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

The Birthday Blogs Continue


Okay, so July is over and you would think there would be a break in the birthday blogging since "Everyone I know was born in July", but August starts off with two birthdays.

August 1st is my Mom's birthday, and my oldest niece Ashley's birthday. I will start with Ashley. It is hard to believe but she turns 21! When did that happen? I am alternately excited and completely freaked out that Ashley and I can actually go out for a beer now, with neither of us being under threat of being carted off to jail. Ashley is currently recovering from knee surgery… kind of a bummer summer, huh? Oh well, I am sure she is making the best of it… she is good about that. It is still hard to believe that she is 21, I guess that makes me old. I remember very well when she was just a little tot, planting marshmallows in her Mom's flower bed in an attempt to grow and harvest one of her favorite foods. I also remember that when she was learning to talk, they taught her to say "Ciao, baby!" instead of good-bye… how Italian Riviera. I must admit, it was pretty hysterical. Anyway, Happy Birthday Ashley! I was going to say that I would buy you a beer the next time I see you, but instead I think maybe you should buy me one!

Happy Birthday Mom! Today is my Mom's 71st birthday. Ashley (her first grandchild) was born on her 50th birthday. My Mom is the least annoying person I know. I know that is perhaps a strange thing to say, but it is true. You know how pretty much everyone you know, even the people you love with all of your heart, do something that just bugs you but it really isn't that big of a deal so you just bite your tongue because you are just being petty and you love them and you know if you said anything it would hurt their feelings… that kind of thing? Well, my Mom doesn't really have an annoying something or other… I love that about her, but at the same time am sort of jealous about it too because I know I am not like that. Maybe that is her "annoying thing"… the fact that she is not annoying! My Mom makes me laugh… a lot, and the best part is she is never really trying to make me laugh, she just says stuff that cracks me up. She also loves the Cardinals, but she is very low key about it. You don't really think she is paying all that much attention, then like she did the other night when Eric and I were at my parents house, she notices that Julian Tavarez (aka "High Cinco" by Allison Sit) is pitching for the Braves, and says "Hey, he pitched for the Cardinals, right?" Heck, even I have lost track of High Cinco over the years and didn't realize he was with the Braves. I like that kind of attention to details, Mom. Happy Birthday Mom!... High Cinco on the big 7-1!