Meet Me in St. Louis

It was Christmas in January since I got to see my bestest over the weekend--thus, last week? Was the longest week EVER.

The hour and 45 minute flight? WAS PAINFULLY LONG. Like, I wanted to stab myself in the eye and just get there already.

(in other news, I met Kay Bailey Hutchinson at the airport)

Finally, finally, I landed in St. Louis and was off to meet my Sara for a weekend of fun.

Because she’s awesome, she met me at the airport with a sign. I love her.

We went to one of her fave Mexican joints for dinner, of which I have no pictures, which is sad, but, it was delicious. And so.much.fun.

Then, we went back to her casa where we stayed up way too late talking and playing with her sweet pup, Mally and then I fell asleep the moment my noggin hit the pillow. Also? Sara’s house is totally cute and I’m moving in.

The next day, we went to brunch in her old neighborhood of Soulard, which, I’m officially in love with and I had a super yummy breakfast burrito—yes, I’m from Texas. Again, no picture. Hm. Weird. Use your imagination. But imagine it without sour cream, because sour cream is of the devil.

Our next stop, was The Gateway Arch.

Which, I was super excited about, but, um, I’m petrified of heights. Like, looking at a tall building makes me want to hurl. But, I’d come all this way and I can’t go to St. Louis and NOT go in the arch.

And of course, I didn’t say anything about my blinding fear of heights because I know Sara would have been all “It’s cool, we can just take pictures out here. In the freezing ass cold.” But, I acted like a grownup and we did it. Ya know what? It was SUPER FREAKING COOL. And not that scary at all!

Inside the arch in the little museum--my dad would have been so proud (he's obsessed with Lewis and Clark, for real):

This is us getting ready to go up into the arch. This is also me pretending I'm not having a panic attack:
Look! The view! Cardinals Stadium and downtown STL (I feel like I can say STL now, I probably can't):

Lookie, that’s Illinois. Not as cool as St. Louis, duh.

Also, Dallas, can we discuss this for a minute? St. Louis has it figured out. Rams, Cardinals, they play within two miles of each other. DOWNTOWN. None of that 35 minute drive to the ‘burbs nonsense. Thanks again Laura Miller for that one.

My St. Louis photog, Sara:

This proves how brave I am:

After the arch, I got the tour of St. Louis where we drove around and saw super big houses. I saw where Nelly lives—or lived? Whatever. Big houses. And then we went shopping because it’s what we do. Sara got a super cute new beach bag and I fell in love with a pair of Gucci sunglasses, which, I totally should have bought because I cannot find them online anywhere. Ahhh!

She also took me to the St. Louis Basilica which was amazingly beautiful:

It's the only church other than The Vatican to have so many mosaics:

Amazing, right? Those are all teeny tiny itty bitty tiles:

Sara made us reservations at a cooking class for Saturday night and that was a blast! We made a Mexican Girls Night Out menu and I loooooved it. Plus, I didn’t have to cook anything, just watch! Bahaha.

Brownies, aka death by chocolate, aka the reason I gained 10 pounds:

Sara and her strawberry marg:

After dinner we proceeded to stay up way too late again talking and watching the end of Twilight and playing with Mally. Who I’m in love with.

Sunday, aka the worst day ever because I had to leave, we still managed to have fun. We spent the morning watching Say Yes To The Dress, which probably wasn’t too smart because we then got major wedding fever—and we’re both happily married. Sigh.

We went ice skating and I attempted to give Nancy Kerrigan a run for her money. Yeah, I didn’t. But, it was a blast—even if the two year olds were better than me.

Love this picture of Sara:

Once we warmed up we walked around Central West End and I hunted used bookstores for a copy of Little Women since I collect old versions of the book and how cool would it be to have a St. Louis version? I didn’t find one, but, I did find myself a pair of “I Don’t Need A Job, I Don’t Need My Parents, I’ve Got Great Boots’ Boots”—on sale! Am wearing them now. LOVE. (I'd show you a picture, but, my Blackberry is being lamesauce)

Sigh….And then all too soon it was time to head home. Where there was a snowstorm. That I missed. Because I was in St. Louis, where it was supposed to snow, but didn’t. I guess I just bring the sunshine with me? Ha.

All in all, it was a great weekend. Thanks again for everything my sweet! I can't wait until she gets her butt to Dallas to see me!

PS. It's Sara's birthday today. Go wish her Happy Birthday on her blog!