Daisy visits Laura

My sister Laura (Hi Laura!) has been off traveling the world (or at least Europe) for the last 7ish months. So once she got back to the states, I decided I kind of missed her and planned a trip to visit her the first weekend she was back at school. And I decided to bring the boy to help me drive and the dog, because the dog waned to visit Knox College. (just go with it)

Daisy was really happy to see Laura and get a backseat buddy. Because you know, Chris and I were just torturing her making her sit back there alone for a whole 3 hours.

We had a great time visiting Laura and went on a walk around Knox College. Where Daisy got to visit some significant historical locations and roll around in a lot of new grass that she hadn't touched before. Overall thumbs up.

Here is Daisy and Laura at the site of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Daisy totally was amazed by the historical significance of this location.

Daisy did pretty well in the car. The biggest problem we had was that she kept wanting to hop up front with us. I think she likes to watch where we are going, because she takes a really long time to lay down any time we go for a car ride. We tried to keep pushing her into the back and she would creep back up and put her paws on the middle console - and then further - and further - until she ended up in your lap. (The passenger's lap, not the drivers!)

We'll have to work on that and find a way to keep her in the back if she comes with us on any longer car rides. Any suggestions?

Daisy's Bracket

So Daisy may not be the next psychic animal sensation. Her bracket success was limited, to say the least. Her two championship teams lost on the first day. Not a good start.

However, she did pretty good with the final four. She got Louisville and Kansas right! GO DAISY!
Unfortunately for her, those were pretty much the only games she got right... and now she can't get anything else right.... sad life right?

Oh well- at least she isn't losing the bracket pool. And the boyfriend is incredibly embarrassed because he is only ahead of her by 1 point. OUCH!

Leaving you all with a picture of Daisy enjoying the beautiful weather we had lately.
Also - will have to update sometime this week with Daisy's historical trip to Galesburg IL to visit my sissy (her first college visit how precious!) and with how life is with the addition of Ellie, my roomate's dog who has been with us for a little less than a week now.

Spring Break in the Smokies

So as I mentioned the boy and I traveled to the Smoky Mountains for 5 days of my spring break. We had a great time!
We stayed in a hotel in Gatlinburg that was probably a whole 2 minutes from the park entrance. In general, we woke up pretty early and went hiking in the morning. We did two major hikes. One was to chimney tops which is this small peak of a mountain.

 It was very steep and I think I complained a lot on the way up. But when you got to the top you got to scale this rock face (which in hind-sight was pretty dangerous) and had awesome 360 degree views. Here is one on the top. It was pretty, foggy and cloudy so they view was hard to capture on camera. I really really regretted not getting a picture of the rock face - but not enough to go back up...

The hike we did the next day was my favorite. It was a little longer than chimney tops but not as steep. We followed this river for the first mile or so - and it had poured the night before so the river was BEAUTIFUL!

 Then it started climbing up through some cool rock formations. This one was called Arch Rock. 

By the time you got part way up the mountain, there was a nice clearing, and you had a gorgeous view of the valley and the mountains. The sun was shinning and this was probably the best view of the whole trip. I can just imagine how beautiful this would be in the spring when everything is blooming. I think we were like 2 weeks early, because most of the plants had buds but they hadn't opened up yet.

Then you walked up a little further to this bluff. It was bizarre because it was super dry and dusty yet surrounded by some of the wettest area in the US. At the point we turned around and headed back down the hill, but we could have gone another 2 miles up to the top of the mountain. I wasn't brave enough to try it, maybe next time.

Those were our two major hikes. We did some shorter ones out to some waterfalls and did a couple of motor loops that were pretty cool, but I doubt anybody really cares. 

Onto the more exciting stuff, the places we ate and things we did. So  I guess I didn't realize it, but Gatlinburg and that area is super touristy. Like family touristy so lots of themed dinner shows, amusement park rides, mini golf, and go-kart like things. I was kind of expecting more mom & pop like restaurants and stores, but Chris knew the great places to go eat so it worked out okay.

The three best places we went where the smoky mountain brewery (Of Course!), the apple barn, and the pancake pantry. 

The brewery was very cool, and we visited it twice because the hotel didn't have a very good cable package and the NCAA basketball tourney was on. We had to see how Daisy's bracket would do (Answer = not well). They greatest thing was the first time we were there we got a sampler of all 9 of their beers. Each beer came in a 5oz glass for a total of 5.35! WHAT!? 45oz of beer for just over 5 bucks. Greatest deal ever. Their beers were actually very good. They are the only craft brewery I've ever seen with a light lager - and it was not good. But I guess it makes sense, there prolly aren't a lot of craft beer fanatics in bible belt country. Plus they dyed it green for St. Patty's day. Gotta love that green beer. 

The apple barn was ridiculous. Just an obscene amount of food for pretty cheap. Each dinner came with your choice of homemade vegetable or chicken noodle soup, salad, two veggies, your main entree, and your choice of dessert. Plus every table got warm and delicious apple fritters plus this special apple/fruit juice. SO full, I didn't even try and eat my desert, they just packaged it directly in a to go container. Our mini-fridge in the hotel couldn't even fit all of our leftovers, so I was forced to throw out our fried apples. Or at least I thought I had thrown out the fried apples. Turns out, I actually got the two boxes mixed up and threw out Chris's country fried steak, and when he discovered that he was very sad.  

The apple barn also has a winery attached to it. They have lots of apple wines, which I've never tried before, but are pretty darn good. Better than most of the wine out in that region. (TN wineries = not so good). 

The last place we went was the pancake pantry. We actually went here for lunch because our breakfast had a free breakfast, and my mother taught me so well not to pass up free food. Well we actually did pass it up once because we left the hotel before breakfast opened so that we could get out this place to see wildlife in the early morning. In exchange we saw like 50 deer. I'm not sure what my mother would choose in that situation. Free food or deer? I'll have to ask her...

Anyway- the pancake pantry was like most pancake houses. Lots of pancakes in unique flavors. VERY GOOD. I was starving, so I devoured 4  of my 5 pancakes as my boyfriend watched in horror... 

The other thing we did to take up our time was check out some of the wineries in the area. As I mentioned. Not so good. They have this local grape that is just nasty. Its called muscadine because it smell musky, ICK!. They were just like, don't smell the wine - just taste it. Mmmmm.... no. not how that works people! So no need to elaborate on that.

On the last saturday that we were there it was St. Pattys day. And it turns out they have were having a Santa Claus parade on St. Patty's day, because that TOTALLY makes sense. It was amusing and super bizarre. 

Anybody else go on a cool spring break trip? Where did ya go?

Home Wine Kitchen

This is another St. Louis Gem that I discovered just a few weeks ago. Home Wine Kitchen is a small restaurant on Manchester Rd, but it has unique and delicious food. It is a little pricey, but pretty reasonable considering the quality of food you get. It's also adorable, I was fascinated by their decorations (apparently I have a thing for old re-used wood - particularly old doors)

How cool is this coat rack? That would be so easy to make and looks awesome. Excuse the awful angle, my friends wouldn't let me embarrass them by getting up to take this picture.

I first discovered Home Wine Kitchen for Brunch one Sunday. That is where I heard about their No Menu Mondays. Basically every Monday they do a dinner service with no menu. You walk in and answer some questions.

1. Are you allergic to anything or have any dietary restrictions?
2. What makes you say yuck?
3. If the chef were a magic genie what would you have her make?
4. When you cook at home what do you make, is it any good

Based on your answers to the questions the chef creates for you a 3 course menu and everybody's meal at the table is different. Which is great because it means you can try lots of different food. And the food...omg it was amazing. Beautiful and delicious.

Appetizers:

Fried egg and arugula salad on a french toast

Fried goat cheese and arugula

Beet chips (I think)

Scallops

Shaved duck?

 Main Courses:

Filet Mignon and broccollini

Cornish hen?

Trout with pomegranate sauce

Beef cheek with mashed potatoes

I forget what type of fish this was

Desserts

Chocolate Ganache

Bread Pudding I believe?

Cranberry sweet bread with orange spread

Fondue with strawberries and cake

Biscuits with fig jam and cheese

After we finished that meal, which is one of the longest meals I've ever been a part of (Almost 3 hours!) none of us felt as if we could move... We were so full. It was almost sad that we were so full, I'd love to have been able to eaten more. If I ever go back or if anybody reading this ever goes (which you should!) I would recommend not eating the entire day so you are starving for this meal because you will get so much food and will want to eat all of it.

Home Wine Kitchen recommends you make reservations a few weeks in advance because it is a very popular thing to do. But if you want a real amazing dinning experience in St. Louis for an affordable amount of money (cost is set at 30 per person), it is the place to go. 

Looking at those pictures makes me want to go again!

Survived my Mountain Adventure!

See look! Mountains. We climbed up some of them and didn't fall off!

I've got a ton to do this week with all the schoolwork I abandoned for this trip, so I'll share about the hikes we did and the places we ate (OH the places we ate!) once I get all that done.

I also have to upload the photos from Home Wine Kitchen which I ate at with a group of friends and tell about how awesome the restaurant is.

That will be coming soon, so check back later this week. 

Your March Madness Predictions from Ms. Daisy

So Daisy had a big and exciting weekend. First, she allowed another dog into her home and tolerated, (maybe even liked) her. This dog is named Ellie, which is the dog Michele is adopting from Stray Rescue. The fact that they were getting along is a huge relief, because Daisy can be a little picky about the dogs she likes. Daisy is a very dominant dog, especially with dogs smaller than here. And she also plays pretty rough and can get very scary looking if a dog isn't willing to keep up with her. At least, that has been our experience in the dog park. But we know that isn't the story all the time because over Thanksgiving she hung out with my cousin's very large and dominant dog and was willing to be submissive and played well with them. Which lead us to the conclusion that Daisy is territory aggressive, so when she decides an area is hers she wants all dogs to accept that. Hence, she decided the dog park was hers, and it obviously wasn't/isn't. This means, no more dog park for Daisy...

Wow- I got off topic. Point: Daisy and Ellie got along and no major issues. See here they are sleeping and watching TV.

Sorry, I didn't get a good picture of Ellie's face. But once she gets spayed and comes lives with us full time I'm sure she'll get plenty of pictures up here. Look for Ellie to join us here starting around March 22nd. 

Then, of course Daisy wanted to participate in March Madness! When I say wanted, this might be a slight exaggeration, since what she WANTED to do was sleep on the couch. But we convinced her to get up and fill out her bracket.

We wrote the name of the two teams on two different pieces of paper and placed them in front of her. Chris and I then both went and stood behind them and called for her. Whichever paper she stepped on was the team she picked. Doesn't she looked thrilled by this process?

Daisy started off very well. Her South and West brackets are almost reasonable. But her East and Midwest choices are highly unlikely, but who knows - maybe Daisy will be the next psychic animal sensation. 

Just wait if the Round 1 winner upsets UNC and Montana upsets Wisconsin, Vandy, and Syracuse. The media calls might just begin...

This screen shot is really blurry, so if you actually want to see the craziness that Daisy selected you can follow this link here.

Or - these will be some of the worst pick's ever, and we'll blame the fact that 1. Daisy thinks a basketball is just a giant chew toy and 2. She can't read. 

Any other pets selecting a bracket? How many of my friends did Daisy offend by not selecting their favorite team?

P.S. Chris and I are leaving for Gatlinburg, TN and the Smoky Mountains Wednesday morning. Hopefully, not too much rain and some nice weather!!!

It's a sad day in the neighborhood

Yesterday was gorgeous out so I thought Daisy and I would go for a walk and I'd take some picture to show off just how excited Daisy gets when you ask if she wants to go out. As soon as you say that magic word "out" - she is off to the door, where she sits really nicely waiting for you to put her leash and collar on.

Sorry - her eyes look SUPER creepy with the flash

Then as soon as the apartment door opens she is out- I usually just let her run, but do try and hold onto her leash until I make sure the hallway is clear. There is a little boy that lives down the hall that is understandably scared when a 50 pound pitbull comes racing out of an apartment. But unfortunately for Daisy, and luckily for everyone else in the building, she has to wait at another door. 

HAHA - why do her eyes look so funny? How do I fix that on my simple little point & shoot camera?

Then- when I open that door for her she flies down the stairs, which I tried to capture in this video. Ignore my annoying voice and the clip-clop of my flats...

See how excited she gets? Its cute and makes me a little sad that we don't have a backyard for her to just hang out in during the day. All the more reason why I loved the townhouses I talked about here.

So then Daisy and I went for a walk - and walked by the saddest thing  ever. Granted, I already knew this, but still need to document it over here.

Look how sad she looks!!!

The city/neighborhood association closed the tennis court/dog park. Apparently it was some issue with liability and they were concerned that if somebody got hurt they would be responsible. But it is such a disappointment, even if Daisy couldn't go all that often when there were other dogs there, it was a great place for her to run some energy off on a nice day... :(

Woah - Real Person overload

So last week I spent a few days in Lexington with the boy checking out the medical school at UK and meeting some of the other crazy students that figure spending the next 7-8 years of their lives earning both an MD and a PhD sounded like a good idea. It was lots of fun, and the school was kind enough to let me join in on some of the activities and dinners.

The other purpose of our trip was to check out some condos and townhomes to house the boy and the puppy. Since he is going to be there for so long and with this economy it makes sense for him to buy. So wanna guess what suddenly makes you feel like a real real person. Looking at houses! But I thought I'd share some of the ones we liked. Most of these are empty, so I suppose it doesn't matter if I post photos of their home on the internet.

1. Split Level with a fenced backyard

One con is that this one doesn't have a garage, but it does have two designated parking spots. Its got a cute brick exterior that I like and a little overhang so that the door has some extra protection from the weather.

 When you walk inside, you have a half stair-case up into the kitchen/living area and a half stair-case down into the bedrooms.

 The ceiling was vaulted and made of a very nice wood. It made the living area seem a lot more spacious and inviting.

 The living area also had a nice fireplace - although I don't think it had ever been used. And the kitchen was large and had a ton of counter space for cooking.

But the best part, was this lovely patio and nice backyard that I just know the puppy would love. The two bushes are a little awkward, but they could be pulled out and some nicer things could be planted...

Plus - this house has been on the market for over a year which makes you think that maybe they would be willing to drop the price some...

2. Trent property

This was a more traditional townhouse with the living area right where you walked in and then two bedrooms upstairs each with their own bathroom.

The other thing was that this one had a little less counterspace and the kitchen to living area wasn't as open as in the other one. However, it did have brand new very nice appliances (although it didn't have a dishwasher). It like the other one also opened up to a very nice fenced yard - although this one didn't have a patio and just had a little brick area for a grill or something. 

The other nice thing was that since the bedrooms were upstairs they got a lot more light and each had their own full bath as opposed to a shared one in the other house. 

So there! look at me - evaluating houses and talking and thinking about what to look for. Granted its not my money nor am I likely to be living in any of these for a few years at least. So I guess, I'm a little bit less like a real person than I originally thought.....

But still - even just thinking about such a major purchase real does seem like something only real people do...