Wine Tasting @ Gomer's North

 Any time Gomer's has a wine tasting on a Monday or Wednesday, I make every attempt to go.  Since Andy was at the farm and I had a reservation for 2 I brought Jenny this time.  It was an exceptional tasting - wines of the Pacific Northwest, as well as one 'special surprise', a Napa Valley wine called Shafer Relentless, at a super marked down price.  Even at the marked down price, I shouldn't have bought it, but I justified it by calling it a birthday gift for Andy.  A yummy birthday gift.

 

Besides this the other standout was an Oregon pinot noir (of course) that I can't remember the name of offhand!  I'll add to this post when I remember/check!  

Highly Coveted Beer Treasures!!

Right before Valentine's Day, Boulevard and Christopher Elbow (a renowned local chocolatier, if that's a word) collaborated and came out with a chocolate ale.  I believe I mentioned it in my V-Day Recap.   Kansas City went batshit-crazy over it, and rightfully so, as it is delicious.  We were lucky enough to catch a few glasses on tap.  After it was totally official that I wouldn't find it anywhere in town, I started calling friends out of town and asking if they could find it.  Long story short, Erica found some in St. Louis and bought 4 bottles for us!  Mi Ángel de la guarda!  

While we were in Rolla for St. Pat's other beers distracted us from making the switch, but when she came to town this past weekend she brought them, wrapped up in her underwear in an incredibly heavy backpack.  

 

Yum. 

 

WyCo Armored Truck

 

 ....need I say more?

Children & Random Cheap Shit

After the previous night's Dark Horse power hour, I had a bit of a headache.  Erica was in worse shape.  But being the dedicated and lovely people we are, we were off to Lil Reggie's birthday party at Fun Run in Liberty.  I'd post a link, except I never want to go there again.
In my mind it was going to be like TunnelTown used to be.  I say used to be, because as far as I know the only one left around here is in Lee's Summit, and that might as well be the opposite end of the earth.  If you don't know what Tunnel Town is, you must have had an awful childhood.  It's basically a building full of a maze of tunnels, and rope bridges, and all of the fun things that come with tunnel playgrounds.  It was not uncommon to find a small child in there sobbing because they could see their parent through the porthole but not get to them.  Pussies.
ANYWAY, in reality it was a strip mall space full of inflatables.  You know what I'm talking about, shit like this.  There was also a 'town', which some poor sap built from plywood and labeled with Sharpies.  In the town was a jail, a fire station, and a Build-a-Bear-esque shop which I believe they called a 'pet store' but I could be wrong on that one.  Apparently there was an arcade on the other side, but I didn't venture that far.  They had a snack bar, and the people who worked at it were all assholes.  I didn't go to the bathroom there either, but I was told by hungover/pukey Erica that the toilet didn't work.  When she went to tell an employee they said "Great."  ALL OF THIS FOR THE LOW LOW PRICE OF $7.50/child!  If I didn't have such lukewarm feelings toward children, I believe I'd buy a large metal building and fill it full of those eyesores and only charge $6.50. I should probably say here that I'm sure the place is lovely if you have children.  I just don't think it measures up to Jungle Jim's Playland from the days of my youth - yeah, you remember that?!  Apparently there is still one in Utah - luuuuckies.

Birthday Boy (:

After dropping Erica off at Union Station and a failed attempt to visit the WWI Memorial, Mom and I went to Red X.  Now there's a link worth posting.  Red X is the kind of place that you have to set aside an entire day if you really want to experience it all.  It's a store, sort of.  It's almost like a combination liquor store/discount grocery/flea market/hardware store.  They have an area of weird off-brand shit, where I found a genuine BADGER toothbrush, they have an area of cheap t-shirts, lots of groceries, tobacco products, a huge liquor selection, and it's also where bells go to die.  I probably should have taken a picture of them to demonstrate what I mean...It just seems like every time a bell (we're talking large bells, church bells & such I assume) around town is no longer going to be put to use they drag it over to Red X, where there are at least a dozen large bells outside.  I wonder if there's a story behind that.

They also have fun house mirrors.

Project Inspiration

Okay, so I found something I want to do.  Of course, all project ideas are on hold until we return from our Hawai'i vacation, so I snapped a picture in case I forget.  

The strand of Christmas lights on my back porch has officially stopped working.  Whether it was the elements or the fact that several bulbs have gotten crushed by the bathroom window, I am not sure.  In any case, I need to take them down.  I was getting sick of looking at them anyway.  There are 3 light fixtures on the porch, but they are just too bright for drinking/partying, so I was trying to come up with some sort of easy & cheap way to get some 'ambient' lighting out there, when we went to Dark Horse for Power Hour.  (Erica came to town!  HOORAY!  We didn't do a whole lot (read: just drank), but I had a blast.).  I've done this many many times, but I've never sat at the bar before, which we did this time.  Above the bar they have these lanterns:

  

...Made from Patron bottles!!  By golly, I think we've got an idea!!

Neet Stofed Bison

 Andy's parents are cleaning out their basement.  We've acquired some random things throughout this process, including a framed painting of a tree from Andy's high school years, a Star Wars sing-along .45, and a slew of unique coffee mugs.  They've gotten to a point where they have most of the big stuff gone, so now his mom is sorting through pictures and other bygone memories and divvying them up between Andy and his sisters.

So tonight we were sent home with a small box of old photos, slides, newspaper clippings, and whatnot.  Among all of the awesome pictures of Little Andy (honestly he looks exactly the same only shorter...it's creepy), we found a 'book' of sorts.  I'm unsure of the backstory - was this something he had to do for school?  Was this a way for him to pass the winter afternoons?  Nobody seems to remember, but whatever the story behind it, the book made me laugh so hard I thought I would pee my pants.  

Here is a page from it:

  

We're guessing first grade-ish.  He says I have to mention that his spelling has improved vastly since then.  Check.  I just imagine a miniature Andy, with his itsy beard & mustache, painstakingly sounding out these words, and it makes my heart melt.  So fucking adorable.

Pillow Sniffers Anonymous

 

I'm Angie, and I sniff my pillow.

As you can see, I inherited this odd habit from my Mother.  

Are we alone in this??

The Fullest Moon Evar

 

...It probably would have looked cooler if this wasn't a drunken camera phone shot...

Overall, I thought it was a lot of hype and generally disappointing.

Bathroom Graffiti

 

So true.

Ready for Rolla

 

Well, my bag is officially packed for the St. Pat's pilgrimage to RollaMO!  I am crazy excited, and the fact that this is what my packed bag looks like makes me even more so!  I can't wait to be in the land of green beer!!!!  

PARTY GRAS!

 

It wasn't as wild as the title implies, but I had a great time celebrating Fat Tuesday.  Andy & I decided to have a shrimp boil, since that was probably our most Louisiana-style option in the house.  It was of course delicious.  We made fruity booze concoctions, and spent the evening flashing each other for beads.  All in all, a successful way to celebrate Mardi Gras when you're poor and have to work early the next day!

Ride 'em Cowgirl!

 

Went grocery shopping with the whole famn damily.  Unsurprisingly, it ended like this.

Doin' it Up, 21 Style

Tonight we went out for Miss Miriam's birthday.  We went to The Final Approach, a (lame) bar near the airport.   When we got there, Danny was a little bit drunk already.  About an hour later, Danny was REALLY drunk, and they cut him off at the bar.  Just a few minutes later, he fell out of a chair, and was then kicked out of the bar.  About an hour after that, Miriam fell and was kicked out of the bar.  SO by 11:30 it was all finished.  Jenny & I came back to the house for a power hour.  We're practicing for St. Pat's!

P.S. While we were at the bar, KC's "Best Country Rock Band" was playing.  I certainly hope they're just putting baseless claims on their flyers.  I hate to think there's no better 'country rock' band than them...

 

The Big 2-1

Happy 21st birthday to Miriam!  To celebrate, we all went bowling.  We bowled until she was too drunk to bowl anymore, and then headed home.  The big celebration is Saturday.  We shall see what's in store then!!!