Cats a la Carte and a Story

Last week before we left for our getaway, a good friend had a major sale at her store that she was closing. Everything was pretty much "garage sale" prices. Needless to say, I found quite a few things. So much in fact that my sister and her husband had to go back that night with a pick-up to get the rest, for me.
I knew that I would keep this little wicker tea cart because I have a "thing" for white wicker. You haven't heard the story about me and white wicker. BUT, I brought it into the house to get it out of the way in the garage. I wasn't sure where to put it but the Dining Room made sense for the time being. Immediately it was covered in swarming cats. (I only have two, but they were swarming) They were all over it smelling all the fabulous nose tickling "smells".

This is as close to live action that I will get for awhile.

And of course Miss Jenkins always has to be the boss and smack Miss Wrigley.

So after this display it went into the Sunroom and I changed out a little table. I could see that the top of the curio cabinet was just too tempting, and I didn't want to come home to everything in a pile of tiny glass pieces.

Such is the life with cats.

OK, the story of white wicker. Many years ago when my husband was not

as tolerant of my shopping fetishes, we had a little "showdown".

We had lived in a larger house then moved to a smaller one.

I refused to sell a white wicker settee that HE found to be old and useless.

He let me know he would deal with it.

One day when I came home and pulled into the garage he had all my wicker

pieces roped together, hogtied and hanging from the ceiling of the garage.

Of course from the street it looked totally insane and sick.

Oh well, I finally broke down and sold them, just to avoid the embarassment.

But...we now have moved once more, into our larger house.

Ha Ha, I have many, many more now.

(fiendish laughter and rubbing of hands)

Ahhh... revenge is sweet.

Debra

Out on the Town

We had some really great fun this last weekend. The kids are up on all the trendy places to eat and hang-out. (Wow, that kind of slang really dates me) Erin really went all out on showing us some great spots. I think everyone in St. Louis was out Saturday, so there were no parking spots at a couple of places we wanted to try, but we did get into a great spot called "Vin de Set", which is somewhat close to the Arch. These murals were painted on the walls inside, but we headed out to the rooftop for drinks and coffee with a few crepes thrown in for good measure.

This picture is on the rooftop with the Arch in the background.

All that you can see of it is a tiny silver sliver over hubby's right shoulder.

It was all lit up, but hard to see in a photo.

Saturday morning we headed out for coffee at one of the neighborhood spots, Winslow Home. At one time it had been an old storefront, so they kept the idea and turned it in to a "general store" of sorts. They served bakery items and lunch and then had the best displays of home items, linens, chocolates, candies, stationary, etc. Tons of organic produce...really a cool place. The sunflowers were the largest I have seen, that came from the farm that morning.

Just look at that tin ceiling.

Then we headed to the "Central West End", which is kind of Hippie, Boho, Arty. You know the kind of place. Little pubs and outdoor cafes...antique shops..book stores...coffee shops, and oh my, a cupcake shop! It was a lot of walking and oogling and window shopping, so we stopped at an outside spot for a yummy little lunch.

The weather was PERFECT this last weekend with upper 70's and low 80's,

a bunch of little clouds and a heavenly breeze. perfect.

Great old buildings everywhere you looked.

These kids cannot take a bad picture!

Below is the storefront to one of Erin's favorite stores, "Cassie's". Here you can have perfumes, lotions, creams all mixed for you personally. I love her concoction of cherry-almond. Wonderful!
She was showcasing her "Harry Potter" potions here in the front window.

These are just a few of the hydrangea bushes that were everywhere in Forest Park.

These are a few of the houses in the neighborhood. Tudor Style has always

been my favorite, along with English Country furnishings.

I would have paid good money just to have been invited in for a tour

of some of these amazing places.

This looks like a place out of Hansel and Gretel or some other fairytale or nursery rhyme.

It is directly behind Erin and Keith.

Sunday we headed to the Galleria to have lunch at the Cheesecake Factory,

another beautiful day to eat al fresco.

Next to Forest Park at the Boathouse. Kayaks and paddleboats could be rented,

but we sat in the shade and sipped our favorite beverages.

St. Louis made diet root beer.

This was a dog-friendly zone, as is most of the park, so we had lots of laughs watching

all the dogs, and how they related to each other.

trying to cool off.

This guy was just too cute

We visited Anthropologie, where I found an awesome scarf,

Restoration Hardware, where I bought my favorite "Crack Cream" so good for dry skin, Brighton, where I just had to get new earrings, and Dillards,

where the salesman of the year talked my man into a new pair of great shoes...

not to mention tons of other great places, where I was so busy oohing

and aahing that I actually forgot to get my camera out.

St. Louis is amazingly beautiful with all the old buildings, and architecture,

great places to eat and shop.

Thanks for coming with us.

Debra