I decided to take a quick trip to St. Louis to see Mary in the closing weekend of Titanic @ the Muny. After seeing Annie with Abbie, et al, for her birthday on Friday night, I flew to St. Louis on Saturday morning. We didn’t do much other than hang out, go to dinner and head for the show. I saved any seeing of the sights for when Paul and I go back in August to see her in Show Boat. I started the trek home on Sunday after breakfast.

The production was wonderful! Most of the cast had come back from the original Broadway show for this production and it was the first show since the tour ended. I really enjoyed getting reacquainted with the music as I had wrongfully given it the brush off years before. Cool tilting set, very talented cast, excellent dancing (Mary did the only real dance bit in the show) , and I got a quick backstage tour after the show. All that and getting to spend a little much needed sister time = great little trip!

Next she has Sound of Music and her last show will be Show Boat.

Ol’ Man River

Mary’s house… they managed to get the same house as last summer!
It is conveniently located just north of Forest Park.

Dinner @ the Boat House in Forest Park

brute?

I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything since the wedding. Things have been so crazy!

We had the most fantastic honeymoon in England, Wales & Scotland. I posted my favorite photos from the trip on facebook so you can see the “quick” version here. If you REALLY wanted to take some time seeing the sights, you can see ALL of my photos here and here… all 1,100 of them. Pretty sure Paul took another 1,200 in case that isn’t enough for you.

The weekend after we got back, I was a bridesmaid in my dear friend Elisabeth’s wedding. It was beautiful and we had a lot of fun! I posted pictures here. We immediately came back and had a Memorial Day, wedding-is-over, Paul’s birthday party with swimming and grilling and honeymoon pictures.

Paul got a wine making kit for his birthday and we are about to start on a new adventure. He was given a Chilean Merlot recipe!

The following weekend we headed north for Gram’s 80th birthday pool party on Saturday and Caryn’s graduation pool party on Sunday.

The garden is doing well! I am harvesting tomatoes and basil like crazy. Our potato harvest was small, but I will know what I am doing this fall! We also have beautiful snapdragons, purple coneflowers, black-eyed susans, daisies, and indian paintbrush in full bloom.

Last weekend we purchased a new mattress and bed!! The mattress just got delivered, but we won’t get the frame until August. Mattrezzz Guys & Gage Furniture are great local shops if anyone is in the market.

Tomorrow we are having Wil(l)’s 1st birthday in the park behind the house! And next weekend, Val, Vaughn & his girlfriend, and Chad (my cousins) will be coming down for the weekend. It has been non-stop for the last 6 months, but we are having a great time together.

What an amazing weekend!

On Thursday we drove to my mother’s home and immediately realized we needed to take Santino to the vet (had a bout of wedding tapeworm). After that slight crisis was averted, we started to work. Friday was spent designing the flowers (boots, nosegays, corsages, my bouquet and the centerpieces) and packing up cars. We took almost everything with us to drop off just before we had rehearsal on Friday evening at Chandor. Then we had a lovely dinner at the Fire Oak Grill just off the square in Weatherford. We wore our shirts from Think Geek! We had way too much to eat and a lovely time! Thank you to Anne & Jim for hosting this for us!

On Saturday we finished the centerpieces, loaded up and went over early to set up. They had set out the tables and chairs incorrectly so that had to be redone. We put on the linens and the food arrived just before I had to go get ready. Mother came in and helped me put the flowers in my hair just before the photographer arrived. We had a full hour and a half with him before the ceremony. We won’t get the photos until we are back from the trip, but our photag sent over a teaser picture. I hope they all turn out this well!

The ceremony went well… we remembered our vows! I wish the recessional music had been a little louder… but what can you do?! We had been planning for a long time to have the 1812 Overture playing as we walked down the aisle together. Me being me, all of the music for the ceremony and reception was carefully chosen.

The reception is a complete blur. I started to loose my temper with the photag only once during the big group family photos. Thanks to all that put up with the yoyoing back and forth about having big family photos and not having big family photos.  I am glad we got them.

Now all I can think about is how many people I didn’t get to talk to as long as I wanted, if at all. We had so many amazing family members and friends around us in a perfectly beautiful garden and I couldn’t have begged for better weather! I know blanket thank yous are lame but… THANK YOU to everyone that helped make this day so special for us. If I thought it wouldn’t be so annoying to be Katelyn McKenzie McLellan Swan Ballow Patterson, I would absolutely do it. What a wonderful family we have!

If you took pictures or video, we require a copy ASAP! Please, please, please send them along! We are currently uploading wedding pictures here and there will be a link for honeymoon pictures and videos when we return.

We fly into London and will spend a couple of days there. Then we will meander our way up to Scotland by way of Stratford-upon-Avon, Oxford, Stonehenge, Bath, Wales, West Yorkshire, The Lake District and Hadrian’s Wall. We pass through Edinburgh, St. Andrews and Sterling on our way to Glasgow. We then fly back down to London and then back home.

So excited!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I loved this banner image from Food Network so I borrowed it. I found a good recipe for a vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie and a very tasty Guiness & Onion soup recipe I might try tonight!

Haven’t been very good about posting lately… We have been somewhat busy with wedding stuff and I don’t want to bore ppl with all of that. But I figured our recent trip to the coast and St. Patrick’s Day would be a good excuse!

Just got back from our annual trip to beachingtown Port Aransas, TX with Paul’s family. They go every year around this time. This is my 3rd year and it is always very relaxing and a lot of fun. Will, my soon-to-be-official nephew, had his first experience with the ocean so that was pretty exciting… for all of us.

HAPPY BABE!

It was Blue’s first time and he was also a happy pup!

Other than walking or running down the beach and a few times head-on into the cold waves, I got some reading in and we watched the first season of Castle. We also visited the Aquarium in Corpus and the National Seashore.

We take turns making dinner each night. This year we made lasagne rolls and pine nut cookies with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Everyone made yummy foods and each night couldn’t be beat.

National Geographic is having a Peeps In Places pictures contest so we took some Peeps pics… I think this was my favorite of mine.

I know Abbie, Anne and Paul got some good (probably better) ones, too! As usual, it is good to be home.

I want to watch a good Irish movie tonight… The Quiet Man, Secret of Roan Inish, Bloody Sunday, Boondock Saints, Waking Ned Devine, Darby O’Gill and the Little People, Angela’s Ashes, Wind That Shakes the Barley, Finian’s Rainbow… if you have any suggestions, please send them!

FINALLY we got the save the date sent via email.

I had it designed last week, but we wanted to get the website  up and running before it went. Paul is amazing! He took my design for the Save the Date and made it into a website. There are several ppl we don’t have emails for that will be getting a postcard in the mail soon.

Also… heads up for Austin folk… we are having to keep the ceremony and reception somewhat small for cost purposes. So we are going to be having a separate party in Austin not long after the wedding… we are thinking Memorial Day weekend. Will post details soon!

Our honeymoon is going to be AMAZING!! A few days after the wedding we fly into London, spend three days in the city and then start driving around the country. We are going to Stratford-Upon-Avon, Oxford, Stonehenge, Bath, up through Wales to see all of the King Arthur sites, York, the Lake District and into Scotland to Edinburgh, St. Andrews and Glasgow. I CAN’T WAIT.

The month of May is going to kill us. Mary graduates on April 30 in Michigan. The following weekend is our wedding. The next two weekends we will be across the pond. The weekend after that I am bridesmaid in another wedding AND we are thinking of having our Austin party. The following weekend is Paul’s birthday!! Yikes! But I am looking forward to it all. We are having so much fun.

We just got back from Romulus, New York where we spent the last three days at Paul’s extended family reunion. It was a blast! We tossed washers, played bocce ball, admired Will, hung out in and around the pool, played Syzygy, admired Will, enjoyed their mid-70s July weather, got in some good reading… all while enjoying copious victual & potable.

Everyone made me feel very welcome and I had a wonderful time! Go here for more (but not many) pictures!

Petra is pleased to have us home and I can’t wait to retrieve Sonny from my mother’s house. Special shout out to Mr. Leonard for checking on Petra for us and watering the plants. We have been homeward bound since 3am so I am going to rest before work tomorrow! Ciao!

Last night I got back from St. Louis. It was a great trip. Here are all the pics if you are interested below are some highlights.

Thursday, July 9

We spent Thursday on the riverfront of the Mississippi. First we saw the Arch… Everyone else has said that it is over rated. But I disagree! Sure you only go to a small observation area at the top and spend all of ten minutes trying to fight everyone else to see out of the tiny observation windows they give you. But I think its the whole idea that something like the Arch exists and what it represents. Sending a couple of guys into the unknown… there will always be room for discovering more about what is around us. But the only other opportunity we will have for truly going into the unknown is space. We should do that…

Then we visited the Old Courthouse where the Dred Scott case was heard.

We also went to the Old Cathedral but never got to actually go into the Cathedral which was disappointing. Next was a riverboat ride in the Tom Sawyer on the Mississippi.

It took us up and down the Mississippi giving us a history of the city and the river. Very cool! We also passed another riverboat called the Becky Thatcher The most interesting was the electric building on the bank of the river that was build to supply power to the 1904 World’s Fair.

Then we went back to the hotel, out to dinner with Mary and Cary at the Boat House before the show, and on to the MUNY to see Meet Me In St. Louis!

The theatre is HUGE! The capacity for sellable tickets is 14,000 and they give away lots of free seats at the top. As you might imagine, Meet Me has been sold out every night.

Friday night was HOT. It was difficult listening to Esther sing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” when I was still sweating profusely at the end of the show (around 10pm). But before, during intermission, and after the show, they turned on these HUGE fans which really helped.

The show itself was interesting. Everyone sang and danced really well so it wasn’t the talent. The movie came first in 1944. I have always liked that movie. But the Broadway production came in 1989 with additional songs written by the original composers and lyricists, Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. Those additional songs… are horrible. One song in particular is called Banjo and talks about a new dance that “all the college kids are doing”. They do it at the Christmas party towards the end of the show when they are all wearing ball gowns. And they are doing this ridiculous “banjo” dance.

Mary fully admits that that was the worst moment in the show. In fact she really wished we could have come to one of the others. As part of the dance ensemble, there aren’t that many scenes for her in Meet Me. But it was still great, she did a great job and so did the rest of the cast.

Friday, July 10

First thing was the St. Louis Zoo which is supposed to be one of the top five zoos in the country (I believe). It was great (but not much more spectacular than my Fort Worth Zoo which is awesome!). I won’t put ALL the Zoo pics up but my favorite places where the puffins, the butterfly room and the burrowing owl!

We saw something a little disturbing… this gazelle was draped over a walk way on a branch. It was no where near the gazelles… very curious as to how it got up there. I would say possibly one of the big cats got overzealous and somehow flung it up in the tree… but we weren’t near the cats either…

It started pouring right as we were leaving the Zoo so we decided to head to the Missouri History Museum. Keep in mind that all of this is in Forest Park, a large park area east of Downtown where the World’s Fair was held.

The Missouri History museum had a great exhibit on the World’s Fair. Turns out my great-grandmother had dishes from the Fair!

By this time it was time to head back to the hotel before the show that night.

Saturday, July 11

The families in Meet Me in St. Louis lived on Kensington Avenue. In fact, when the sings “The Boy Next Door” she gives their address: she lives at 5135 Kensington Avenue and John Truitt lives at 5133. During the show on Friday night when she sang those lyrics, Mom and I looked at each other with the same idea. We had to go find it.

So we did…

When driving up Kensington Avenue you can tell that those homes were beautiful at one time. But now they were dilapidated. There weren’t homes on the lots of 5135 or 5133. Here is a little clip from Wikipedia:

The Benson house at 5135 Kensington Avenue, St. Louis, Mo. [1] no longer exists: after being sold it fell into disrepair, eventually became uninhabitable, and was demolished in 1994 [2].

Not far from there are some of the most beautiful homes you have ever seen.

Next we drove by the Fox Theatre which is a beautiful old theatre formerly owned by Fox that houses tours. Then we drove on to the Scott Joplin House.

One of his two operas. The other has been lost.

I KNOW, I KNOW! I am trying to wrap it up… sorry for the long post.

Next we went to the St. Louis Union Station, an old train station that now has a Marriot and a mall inside. However, the amazing architecture is still there and we went to gawk.

The muse here represent San Francisco, St. Louis and New York.

This famous incorrect headline was held up by Truman on the back of a train in the St. Louis Union station.

Next we had lunch with my Aunt and 2nd cousin who were also in town for Mary’s show at the St. Louis Art Museum.

On the way there we saw some LARPing going on and I had to take a picture.

Saint Louis monument with the Art Museum in the background

We just went in for lunch and didnt have time to walk around but I did get to see this. Jeff Koons does large scale sculpture of balloon twisted objects!

Lastly we stopped by the St. Louis Planetarium and Science Center. It was an unfortunate quick trip. This place is SO COOL! I got some constellation glowing stars for the ceiling at the new house!

AND THAT IS MY TRIP! It was tiring but lots of fun. Glad to be home again, home again, jiggety jig.

5 days & 2,908 miles later… what a cool trip! below is a quick summary of what we did each day with some highlight photos… to view the entire album visit my picasa page.

Wednesday, April 15

Woke up early and drove from Austin to Bowling Green, Kentucky. In Memphis we drove by and got pictures of Graceland. I put my Grandmother’s name on the wall of signatures in front of the property because she is such a huge fan of the King!

Thursday, April 16

Got up and hit the road again. Stopped in Louisville, Kentucky at Churchill Downs where they have the Kentucky Derby.

It is actually coming up in a few weeks so there was prep work going on around the grounds. It was pretty but poor horsies…

Still northbound through Cincinnati, Dayton and Toledo… into Michigan! As soon as we got here we met Mom and Mary for dinner and then went on to the show! I am soooo proud of her. Here was the review given by the Ann Arbor News:

REVIEW: “42nd Street”

by Jenn McKee | The Ann Arbor News

Friday April 17, 2009, 1:00 AM

In “42nd Street,” now being staged by U-M’s musical theater department, a group of newly-unemployed, Depression era dancers try to cheer themselves up by singing “There’s a Sunny Side to Ev’ry Situation,” which contains the lines, “You’ve no job so just pretend it’s your vacation,” and “With no bonds and no stocks, in your little safe deposit box, you can never be affected by inflation.”

In this current economic crisis, the lyrics resonate in a way they probably never have before. (Though based on a 1933 film, “Street” wasn’t adapted for the stage until 1980.) But just as big shows and glamorous movies provided a temporary respite from the woes of the Depression, “Street” will make you smile, guaranteed.

This applies immediately, with a big, all-hands-on-deck tap opener that will knock your socks off. Director Linda Goodrich has provided phenomenal choreography that’s executed, with energy and flair, by her fabulously talented cast.

Chief among them is Mary Michael Patterson, who plays Peggy, the chorine who steps into a Broadway show’s starring role when the leading lady, Dorothy Brock (Marken Greenwood), breaks her ankle. Patterson plays the wide-eyed, small-town girl with charm and humor, and she’s got the vocal and dancing chops to make a physically demanding role look easy.

Greenwood’s excellent, too, making “Street”‘s diva sympathetic rather than simply villainous. In a featured role – that of writer Maggie Jones – Beth Kuhn is a standout, getting laughs from non-punchlines and a wisecracking attitude; and Bryan Langlitz, as Billy, oozes charisma while also doing some impressive footwork, including in the terrific show-stopper, “We’re in the Money.”

The orchestra, led by Catherine Walker Adams, provides great accompaniment, and the show is a quintessential “feel good” in bad times musical. So if you get the chance to go down this “Street,” by all means, take it.

More great news… Mary got called for an audition for a new Broadway show called Memphis in New York!

Friday, April 17

Went to Angelo’s for a HUGE breakfast. They have the best food! Then Paul and I walked around Ann Arbor while Mom and Mary went and did things like get fake eyelashes. We found the best book store ever called Dawn Treader Book Store…

The other cool book store I visited last time is now closed This one has been here for awhile just a block away from the original Borders… glad to see it is still thriving!

When Mary had to go start getting ready for the show, we hit the road again and drove as far south as we could…

Saturday, April 18

Wow… very exciting day! We woke up in Carroltton, KY and started driving. We saw signs to visit the home that inspired the song My Old Kentucky Home…

and the Abe Lincoln birth site. These little side trips were not planned so we didn’t linger, but we still had plenty of time to do them and drive the backroads of Kentucky to get to our planned destination of Mammoth Cave in Cave City, KY just in time for the noon tour which took two hours and two miles. This was amazing!

cave entrance

bottomless pit…

portion of the cave called Fat Man’s Misery

After, we got in the car and headed as south as we possibly could and ended up just south of Little Rock, Arkansas.

Sunday, April 19

Today was pretty much driving except we swung by where I spent a summer performing for Jerry Van Dyke in Benton, Arkansas. Jerry Van Dyke had a soda shoppe in Fort Worth and saw our group, the Swing Kids, perform once. He paid us all to move to Benton for a summer and perform in an old theatre and soda shoppe that he owned.

Today, the soda shoppe is closed down but the Royal Theatre still shows plays… that was such a cool time for me!

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SO! What did we do in the car for roughly 3,000 miles? Tons of stuff. Paul drove mostly but I jumped in when I was needed. I got a lot of knitting and reading in. We listened to I, Robot by Asimov, the rest of Wuthering Heights for Paul, and a mayoral forum for the upcoming Austin city elections. Right now we are leaning towards Leffingwell! I have more research to do though… I read poetry aloud for awhile and we listened to tons of music!

Basically we had a blast I have always heard if you can road trip with someone, they must really be special to you. I couldn’t agree more!

Yay! I just have to brag for a moment. Mary auditioned for summer stock in St. Louis and got it! Similarly to how she spent last summer in Pittsburg, she will be performing in St. Louis all summer in 42nd St, Meet Me in St Louis, Music Man, and Hairspray.

I am so proud and can’t wait to go see her!!

We are back! It was a wonderful trip… very relaxing. Lots o’ pics but here are a few of my favorites!

Even though I am making a face…

little swans all in a row…

my “making dinner” dance

Thanks to Abbie for use of some of her pics!