Milestones

So some of my favorite ladies have had shared with me some major milestones in their lives recently. They are all very different, and are definitely spread out on the spectrum of life, but they are each significant in their own respect

• Talked to my Mom today, and she said she was going to inquire about hearing aids. Amen Sister! I like to think of this as something positive, first of all her hearing test revealed that her hearing loss is of a type that can be helped with hearing aids, second hopefully I won't have to use my "angry voice" to talk to my Mom any more... even when you are not angry, if you use the "angry voice" long enough you start to get angry, and really is that anyway to talk to you mother?

• My buddy Sarah J reached a milestone of another sort. Her offer to buy a house was accepted, so when she returns to Vicksburg, MS at the end of the summer (she returned to UIUC for the year to start here PhD studies in Civil Engineering) she and her dog Daisy Mae will have a cute little house to live in. I have seen a picture of Sarah J's house on the internet... it is very cute and absolutely perfect for her. I can't wait to visit her in Vicksburg now.

• The final milestone... I saved the best for last... my Goddaughter, Abigail now wears "Big Girl Panties" all the time now. Abby will be 3 in less than a month, and let's just say that this a very big deal for her, and the rest of the Thomas household. Rock on girlfriend!

So congratulations ladies, you all have a lot to celebrate.

Kudos: Today's kudos go to the poor poor man who gave me a pedicure at UI Nails this evening. This was the first pedi post-cast, and I know it could not have been pretty, but God bless this man not only did he do it, he did it well, and with a smile on his face. Needless to say he was tipped handsomely for his efforts. A secondary kudos to OPI and the great names they give their nail polish colors... in a case you were wondering... tonight's color was "Hoodoo Voodoo".

Game Highlights

So today was the first time all weekend I was able to watch the Cardinals game. The Cardinals, Fox Sports Midwest and Insight Cable has some sort of drama going on these days, so there are about 30 or FSN games that are not on Insight Cable... for some reason they decided to have two back to back, Friday night and Saturday night. Needless to say I was kind of pizzy because I hadn't been able to really sit down and watch all week, and was all set and ready to go both Friday and Saturday night, only to be DENIED. Arrghhh. I don't now what the deal is with the Insigt black out, but Cardinals, Insight... save the drama for yo' mama!!!!

Today the game was on KSDK so I was good to go. Here are some highlights from todays game: #1 Spiez! (aka Scott Spiezio, see photo) hit a 3-run HR! Granted Albert hit two home runs, but he is Albert, he is supposed to do that. Spiez is a bench guy, the 3-run dingers don't happen every day. Also, Spiez is a former Illini, and well those who used to were the orange and blue have a special place in my heart. Then there is also the fact that he is just way cool, and is the only one who can pull off the red soul patch (see picture and note that Nik and I can't really pull it off, not that we didn't try!) Add to this the fact that Spiez is involved in one of my favorite Spring Training stories. Before the game at Port St. Lucie against the Mets Spiez was headed to the dugout and noticed a little boy (probably in the age 6-8 range) sporting a #11 Dee Brown Illini jersey. Spiez called out to the little boy, "Hey, Dee Brown, the Illini, that was my school." Then the little boy excitedly turned around, found his dad a couple of rows back and yelled "Dad! Dad! That guy knows Dee Brown!!!!" Priceless!

Game highlight #2 was the text I recived from Nikki in the 9th inning that read: "I love watching the game with Grandma. Her reaction after Izzy gave up the HR in the bottom of the 9th- 'Well Shit!' " Again, priceless!

#3 Today was "Pooches in the Park" day at Busch Stadium. It also rained during the game... ahh nothing like smell of baseball... hot dogs, peanuts, beer... and wet dog! No thanks.

So I am posting this from my local Panera, and it brings us to today's Kudos: Panera Bread for their Black Bean Soup and Fugi Apple Chicken Salad... perfection!

Kudos All Around

So this post is just going to be a quick Kudos to Nikki for stumbling across a great little blog that I have added to my favorite links. The blog "Ladies..." (we check'em out so you don't have to) is a bunch of sports minded gals discussing a variety of sports, along with the various levels of hotness of the men playing said sports. It is pretty feakin' hysterical and isn't too much different than most of my conversations at most sporting events. Here is a post from "Ladies..." that has me looking even more forward to my upcoming trip to San Fran/Oakland (just 3 days!), it is entitled "Hotness: Thy Name is the Oakland A's" http://ladiesdotdotdot.wordpress.com/2007/04/30/hotness-thy-name-is-the-oakland-as/#more-578

I must admit, I don't know much about the A's, but I figure after three games in Oakland I will. Basically I know that Tony LaRussa was the A's manager before he came to STL, and that their 3rd baseman Eric Chavez owns a pair of grey pinstripe trousers that he purchased from my friend Lindsey at the Club Monocco store in Chicago last summer when the team was in town to play the White Sox. Well, that is all for today. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Same Brain

So here is an interesting story. Often times my friend Nikki and I share the same brain. We have the same thoughts about things, no matter how random they might be. Well it turns out that we are now sharing "our brain" with April and her mom, Jane. First, a little background. We met April and Jane at the Cardinals Winter Warm Up in STL in January. You spend a lot of time waiting in lines at Winter Warm Up, and to pass the time you start talking to strangers. We started talking to April and Jane, kept seeing them all weekend and well what kind of baseball lovin' girls would we be if we didn't bond over southpaws and baseball booties? Before the weekend was over we exchanged names and emails, decided to keep in touch and try to get together sometime in STL for a game (they live in central Missouri)

Fast forward to today. I sent an email to April telling her we had two extra tickets to the game on July 8, and asked if she and Jane would like to go to the game with us. A little bit later I get a response saying how it was funny that we had invited them to the game on July 8, because they had two extra tickets to the game on July 7 and were going to invite us to join them. Needless to say we are going to both games and are going to make a weekend out of it. The same brain thing, kind of creepy, huh? Oh, it gets creepier... the tickets we both have, in the same section just one row apart. Now is that a coinkydink or what?

Kudos: WIXY (local country radio station) and their 90's at 9:00, which is often the highlight of my day at work. Today's fav 90 song, Terri Clark's "I've Got Better Things to Do"

Birds of a Feather

So I have a cardinal that lives in the tree in my backyard. When I say cardinal, I mean the actual bird, not a professional baseball player (although how cool would it be to have Jimmy, Eck, Flo, Yadi or Carp living in my backyard... I would have lots to blog about then). Anyway, back to the cardinal, he usually shows up in the morning and evening and I can see him out my kitchen window. I don't know why, but I just get really happy when I see him. Maybe it is because I am a fan of the cardinal baseball team, but really I just think he looks wicked cool, and I enjoy that he picked my backyard to live in. Have you ever really seen a cardinal? They are beautiful, the red feathers really rock. Not to be down on all the sparrows and robins out there, but y'all don't stand a chance next to the cardinal. Also, unlike most bluejays which are mean and nasty, the cardinal seems to have a very pleasant disposition. Typically I am a fan of nice people, so I think I am a fan of nice birds as well. I think I should name him, any ideas? Right now I am leaning towards calling him "Rod", get it? "Rod Cardinal"-Legendary Illini basketball and WWE trainer... I crack myself up. Please share any cardinal name ideas in the comments section.

Kudos: They go to Dick, who works at my bank. I had to skip lunch yesterday (long story) so I was forced to find "nourishment" from the vending maching in our break room. My M&M's got stuck, Dick helped me jiggle the machine and bring those sweet candy-coated chocolates home safely. Kudos Dick!

Cupcakes??

So this is kind of funny. I was telling my cousin Mark about how I wanted to blog about my upcoming trip to San Fran, but discovered our hotel does not have free internet... major bummer, and flaw in my usually stellar trip planning skills. So I got on-line to check out free wireless spots near our hotel, and found a few... Golden Gate Perk and Citizen Cupcake, to name a few. Being a fan of sweets I said I was intrigued to try Citizen Cupcake. Well by this point my cousin, Martin, and my brother, Phil has joined the conversation and they are all doing the wink-wink, nudge-nugdge thing... "Citizen CUPCAKE... this is San Francisco are you sure you want to go there?" This connection never even crossed my mind, maybe because I am a girl, perhaps it is because I was 100% focused on the actual cupcakes, maybe the boys are still working through some homophobic issues. Regardless we all had a good laugh, and now I HAVE to go to Citizen Cupcake and report... bakery or gay strip club?

Goin' Crazy! (and other graduation highlights)

So many of you may know that this weekend I celebrated my nephew Lane's graduation from Carlinville High School. His party was Saturday night, and the graduation ceremony was today (Sunday). Perhaps the highlight of the weekend was today at lunch before graduation. My family was talking about the Cardinals (go figure), and my Mom asked Lane, "Do you know where Aunt Jane is going?" (referring to my upcoming trip to San Francisco/Oakland to see the Cardinals play the A's-10 days for those of you playing the home version of the countdown game). Lane's completely dead-pan response was "CRAZY, that's where she is goin!!!!". Hence the title of this post. Ah, this is just one of the many reasons I love Lane, his sense of humor.

Anyway the graduation/party was a big success and and fun was had by all. I am so proud of Lane, for many reasons, but one in particular is that he was awarded a scholarship for his volunteer and community service efforts during the year-end assembly at school this past week. He has volunteered at his church, the local food pantry, with Salvation Army, ran the curtain for the school musical, served as equipment manager for the baseball and football teams, and volunteered several summers of labor to the local school district as a maintenance helper (he scraped gum from underneath school desks for free!), among many others. This summer my small group at church will be discussing servant leadership. I think we could all learn from Lane's example. He has definitely been blessed witha servant heart.

Okay, so done bragging, now I can share some of the other crazy graduation moments. Just minutes before the graduates were set to process into the gym, the President of School Board completely passed out on the stage, and had to be carried out in his chair. Evidently he had the flu, and the heat combined with dehydration was not a good thing. Drama!!! Also, my Mom and I sat behind a group of four members of the "Iron Sleds Motorcycle Club" (Harley dudes) at the graduation ceremony. It was sweet.. one had a mullet, another a camouflage dew rag, the third was bald and sporting a fu-man-chu 'tache, while the fourth was sporting a blue tooth head set. It so reminded my of the game they used to play on Sesame Street- "One of these things is not like the other, but three of these things are kinda the same. Can you tell me which one of these things is not like the other, now it's time to play our game, it's time to play our game.

Well those are some of the graduation highlights. I hope to have something exciting to post about soon, but it may be hard to top the Iron Sleds and the passed out School Board President, which I thought were both very blog worthy.

Oh, and I have decided to add a "kudos" section to each post when appropriate. Today kudos go to my buddy Nathan (see Nate Down Under link) for picking up the phone when I called him on my way home from Carlinville. I had made it all the way to Monticello and was just 25 minutes from home when I hit the "I am so tired, this drive is so boring, I am not going to make it" driving wall. Needless to say Nathan got me home save and sound... Kudos Nathan!!!!