There are a host of situations where my phone comes in handy… mostly with keeping Kate occupied in boring (BORING) situations. Unfortunately, those happen more often than we’d like. Most recently, the two HOURS of college graduation for one of her cousins. In the course of the first 10 minutes of sitting (waiting for the ceremony to START), she had drawn all over the program, kicked the chairs of the people in front of us and, apparently, taken no less than 50 (FIFTY) photos. Ran across them today. Most were photos of another cousin’s hair (enthralling, but I’ll spare you), the other 20 or so were of her purple (”It’s BLUE!”) T.Rex. 
While this looks like a lovely night shot of the moon, it’s actually one of Rexy’s feathers.
Another random shot on this month’s “roll” – Paddi in the back yard, basking in the sun and the post-peanut butter glow. (when we get to the bottom of the PB jar, we toss it to Pad, who then spends the next 2 hours making out with the canister, trying to get to every last bit of yummy goodness)
You may also notice Kate’s headphones in the grass next to the (@#$!) dog. Man, she’ll take off with just about ANYTHING!
Finally, from the category of Great Discoveries on Kelly’s iPhone. Another self-portrait.
Kate was playing with her dinos in the back yard and, since then, I’ve been tossing around an idea inspired by this photo.
Film? Jurassic Park IV.
Print? A dino version of “Where’s Waldo?”
Reality? A new lawn service…
(In the interest of full disclosure, yes, a dinosaur was harmed in the making of this post. A little green guy… never to be seen again… WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO MOW OUR GRASS?!?)
While stuck in the middle of the “fly over states,” STL does put together some great cultural events. We have wonderful museums, a great zoo and top-notch attractions. Whoever is in charge of the attractions’ traveling exhibits for 2009-2010, though, has their finger on the pulse.
Kate’s pulse.
The STL Science Center recently featured “Dinosaurs Unearthed” for a good six months (Nov-March). They were huge, it was dark, and they roared. Kate love it. LOVED it. And we visited the exhibit at least six times. She now recognizes the Science Center logo and loves to give a shout out “SCIENCE CENTER!”
But, as limited engagements often do, the SCIENCE CENTER! had to pack up the dinos and ship them down the road, to the next city. (fun trying to explain THAT to the kid. “But WHYYYYY?!?”) Just as she started to really miss the beasts at the SCIENCE CENTER!, word on the street – and on the sides of buses – assured us that more dinos were on the way.
“Dinoquest” has now hit the Missouri Botanical Garden. How’s THAT for timing?
Set in the Garden’s Climatron, there are over a dozen dinosaurs staged along the winding path. Thanks to a “seek and find” brochure handed out on arrival, it becomes a game of Spot-the-Dino. It’s pretty impressive. (It’s also totally humid in the Climatron. Between the humidity, the banana trees and the myriad of other out-of-this-world plants, you start to believe you’re really trekking through a dino habitat.)
Needless to say, the Missouri Botanical Garden has now become the MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN in our house. She hears and sees the ads everywhere and can’t wait to go back. (I’m guessing that we will soon become members of the Garden…)
(au contraire! this is not a question posed to Kate today.)
This is a question I’m asking myself with increasing frequency.
What do you want to be when you grow up? What do you want to DO?
Marketing? Law firm marketing? Real estate marketing? Mom? Volunteer? Business owner? Employee? Front person? Person behind THE person? Entrepreneur?
Many friends and business associates have heard the lament and I’m sure many of you find the words dribbling out of your mouth from time to time: I enjoy my job, but feel like I’m missing something. Maybe it’s a new challenge. Defining that challenge, however, is proving difficult. Personal, professional, philanthropic?
I attended a presentation hosted by the Urban Land Institute this morning. Once a member when I worked at Rosemary Beach, I’ve supported the mission and identified with their message over the years. These days, back in STL, I find the message resonates all the more loudly. This time, it’s for real. Rosemary was a building of the ideal. For STL it’s a shaping of what’s already real. That gets me jazzed. It’s what brought me back to my hometown and it’s what intrigues me yet today. I had just stopped listening.
Now, how does that fit into my work as marketing manager for Stolar? I don’t know. Perhaps it doesn’t.
For now, maybe it’s just a personal endeavor as a new member (out of my own pocket) and volunteer.
Who knows what that might bring…
My apologies for the lack of clarity in this photo, but it was too good to pass up.
Biking home along Forest Park last night, I stopped at a traffic signal and looked both ways. (aren’t I just the best Girl Scout?) To the south, red. To the east, red. (hm… doesn’t SOMEone get a green?)
But check out the walk/don’t walk signal.
Ok, granted, it’s nearly impossible to make out, but the lights on the middle finger and the ring finger are missing.
The result: the sign language symbol for “I love you.”
(i know, stupidly cool, sappy, but it made me grin. grin may have also been influenced by the earlier big-boy Blue Moon my co-workers and I downed at the Over|Under while our computers crashed upstairs yesterday afternoon… hm.)