EPIC Mommy Madness

So if you follow me on FaceBook you would know that my best friend, Beth, and I planned to have a girls weekend. We had been talking about it since last year and finally at the first of the year we decided on a date. We had already worked it out to the point that both of our husbands would be gone along with our kids to include the furry kind. So in January the date was set and the saving and planning began. It almost fell apart at the end but it worked itself out and even though it was slightly stressful getting started it was totally worth it. This is a picture heavy post so you have been warned and this is mostly for me as I need to write it all down so that I remember what we did so when I go to make the mini books for Beth and I, there will be references to refer back to. With the disclaimers aside let's begin. Oh one more, these are not all the pictures as others will only be appropriate for Beth and I, but if you know me there are some pretty "proud" moments of mine.

I closed my day care early so I would be in St. Louis before midnight. I only had one kid and it worked out really well. I left Oklahoma City around noon. According to Goggle, it was suppose to take me 8 hours 33 minutes. I made it 7 hours 25 minutes....yeah I was moving right along. I only stopped to fill up once and still had just under half a tank when I got there. I was pretty impressed. As I was getting closer to the house I had to call Beth because I didn't really have any idea where I was going but I was told to have the camera ready for when I pulled up to the house. Below is Beth jumping up and down waiting for our awesome weekend to begin. 

Beth excited to see me.

 After the tour of the house (which for whatever reason was nothing what I pictured in my head but still really jealous for the amount of storage she has and the awesome layout that would totally work for a family) we headed out to dinner. It was a late dinner but since all I really ate was a 3 Musteers bar, a bag of Dortios, a diet coke, and some water, (No Moon Pies which is what I really wanted) I was pretty hungry. When went to one of Beth's (and now mine) favorite restaurants, Lotawata Creek.

 The food was amazing!!!!!!! And it was HUGE!!!! You got so much it wasn't even funny. I had the BBQ Brisket Sandwich and Beth had Chicken Atlanta. (***Another disclaimer, we ate a lot. Most of the trip was based around what we were going to eat so if you see a theme forming, that isn't on accident.) I was totally trying to finish my sandwich and alas, it defeated me, I only ate half of it and didn't really make a dent in the fries. We left with 4 to-go boxes.

 But this was also after very LARGE and awesome stuff mushrooms. Next time I'm there, totally going for the fried pickles. There was also something about their ranch dressing that was good too. But the bread was good, the homemade butter.....I mean this place was awesome and it is one of those local places that I wish I could find around here.

After dinner we went home but only after the EPIC-isms started. An EPIC-ism is random phrase or thought that was said or heard by Beth or myself as some point over the weekend. And although not everyone will make any kind of sense, even just hearing them makes you laugh. So they started in the car on the way home from dinner.

EPIC-ism #1 - "Why is the brake pedal in the cup holder?" -Beth

(45 sec later) EPIC-ism #2 - "Good thing that curb was there?" -Beth

(and 45 sec after that one) EPIC-ism #3 - "Annnddd I think he's peeing." -Beth

Once home we cracked the first bottle of wine "Mommy's Timeout". Yes that's the name of it and we had some ice cream. We sat down to watch TV, in particular, My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding (UK edition). I don't have cable at my house so I found these very funny and interesting.  Insert another EPIC-ism. (**Another disclaimer, not all EPIC-isms will be included)

EPIC-ism #7 - It's like a bouncy castle on her legs.

We went to bed around 2ish, even though I thought it was 11:30 p.m. the excitement had gotten the better of me.

The next morning we had errands/shopping to do. And although this does not sound exciting it really was, just for the simple fact that there were no children or children related things like car seats, sippy cups, diapers, dirty diapers, snacks, movies/entertainment for the car, nap times to consider, hand holding, watching for traffic/the runaway kid, a diaper bag, did I restock the diaper bag, feeding them lunch, and I'm sure there are more but this was exciting.

I think we started at Kohl's. Beth recently bought her first purse (in a long time) instead of taking the hand me downs from her mother at Kohl's. It was nice and I thought, I really need a new one too. So the hunt was on. I found one that I like and thought it was very "me." Mean while Beth was trying on quality sunglasses (pic not pictured) and that were pretty damn funny.

Also at Kohls I got my father's day cards and I got some more clothes for Max. As we were walking to check out we just quickly stopped by the women's section to see what they had. We had a good laugh about some of the clothes and made a small bet. We bet that the ugliest clothes would look pretty good once you tried them one. This was sort true. So for the hell of it, I tried on these gold tight jeans and this shirt/blouse that had the shoulders cut out but still had sleeves. Well it was pretty damn funny. Every time I moved my shoulders the shirt would move. Insert EPIC-ism

EPIC-ism #10 - "You got a remote control shirt!!" (*smile*) -Beth

On to the next store.

I believe we went to 5 different stores all before noon and this was after we had eaten breakfast, a sit down in a restaurant (IHOP), and taken our time at each store. We headed home to get ready for the Cards game that night but we hadn't eaten lunch. Insert EPIC-ism

EPIC-ism #13 - Q: What do you want for lunch?
                          A: A Dairy Queen milkshake.

So we get ready for the Cards game. We get dressed in our proper attire. Mine is my birthday present from Beth and we have a drink before we go as we had a ride both to and from the Metro Link into STL. (thanks Susan!)

 Our first stop was Hard Rock cause I have to have a pin and magnet and I got Tim a t-shirt as well. About 5 minutes before we walked in there was a company that had just come in and taken over all the tables in Hard Rock, so we sat at the bar. We can do that, we don't have any kids with us = AWESOME!

 We ordered our drinks, me a Hurricane and Beth a Martini and we told the bartender, Jessica, that we wanted some shots. She ask, "Strong but tastes good?" We replied a resounding, "YES!" I'm not sure what was in those shots but they were awesome. After deciding what we wanted to eat, we decided to head to the store to get the said pin, magnet, and t-shirts (Beth got a t-shirt for her too). There we met T. Money.

Not sure what kind of person you think of when you hear the name T. Money, but I picture a very large, tall, strong bodying building black man. No, I'm not a racist, I mean how many white guys do you know named T. Money. I can now say that I know one.

T. Money was a short, skinny, white, hippie who LOVED to talk about just about anything. Insert EPIC-ism

EPIC-ism #14 - "What did you guys do yesterday?" - T. Money

Uhhhh....Why would you ask us what we did yesterday when we told you that we were here for the night to watch the baseball game? Insert EPIC-ism

EPIC-ism #13 - "Sorry it's taking so long, the computer was sleeping (as he makes prayer hands and lays his head on them like you would tell a child that its time for sleep) or something." -T. Money

I thought Beth was going to pee her pants. What an awesome guy and come to find out he is quite the lady's man too. Apparently, according to his co-workers and manager, he brings in lots of very tall good looking models. Ahhh, T. Money, you will forever be remembered to us.

Dinner arrives.

 Beth and I got the same thing, I believe it was the hickory bacon burger. it was messy but it was damn good. We had a few more shots and we headed to the game.

The Cardinals were playing the Kansas City Royals. The police officer on the corner took this picture for us. He did a really good job, it is probably one of my favorites from the whole weekend.

 We had amazing seats. Beth said that normally the free seats for the military are in an area where you have to wear sunglasses till like the 7th inning because the sun is blasting you in the face. But we were on the 3rd base line right in foul ball territory, about 30 rows up. I told Beth that if a foul ball came our way that I would jump and push whomever necessary to get it, her job was to attempt to grab the camera/drink/food/phone that was in my hand(s) so that it doesn't get broken/spilled/lost. We had this discussion before the game started just to be clear how badly I wanted a foul ball and what I would do to it. Little kids watch out, Andi wants a foul ball. Need to add that to my bucket list too, not the pushing little kids, but the foul ball part. (haha)

Taken ourselves...can you tell?? I look like I have 2 glass eyes.

 Around the 7th inning it was time to eat again, cause why not right? It was between nachos and pretzels. Beth is always talking about how great the pretzels are so pretzels is what we got. Although they were totally awesome and I could have licked the cheese out of that little cup they give you, we had no water and these were salted pretzels. Mine had LOTS of salt and Beth's had mild salt, not on purpose but it worked out that way. A bottle of water was $8 at the game. Sorry, not paying $8 for a bottle of water that I could have bought for like $2 at the gas station or gotten free if I had a cup from the bathroom. But alas, we were ready to jump people on the train on the way home for a half a bottle of water that I'm sure Beth and I would have fought over.

 We left around the top of the 9th, the score was 3-2 Cards but the game didn't really pick up till about the 6th inning and it wasn't a really intense game so we left early. I still don't know if they won or not. We beat the crowd down to the Metro Link and then came the long train ride home. By long I mean about 35 minutes. It just seems very long because we were so thirsty from the salted pretzels and the fact that we had to stop every 2.5 minutes for another stop and our stop was the. very. last stop. It seemed like we were on that train for-ever. Damn you pretzels!

 Since we were gone most of the the evening and we both have fairly old phones and had been posting pictures on FaceBook and making phone calls from the game saying that we were at the game our phones were on their last leg as far as a good charge was concerned. Beth's phone died at the game and on the ride home, mine was at about 17%. We ended up writing down Susan's phone number just in case we couldn't call from the train.

Susan was awesome! We requested bottle water on our pick-up and aside from not opening the door for us (haha), she was the perfect driver, and again, Thank you Susan!

We figured since we were so excited that we got about 90% of the shopping done on Friday that Saturday would more of a chill day.

 Here is the morning after. It's an exciting look isn't it. Yeah I thought so too, she looked awesome water her half dead plants at 9 a.m. So we talked gardening as it is a new thing that I'm into and got some more ideas for my own garden. Beth showed me the plants that she has "borrowed" and been given from the neighbors. I have lots of ideas for next year for my own garden.

 A quality breakfast and reading material was in order this morning, a sprinkle donut (me), a jelly donut (Beth) and strawberries to share. The amount of meat and carbs started to get to my stomach so I had to get some fresh fruit in there. All while reading the latest issue of People where the girl from Teen Mom that gave up here baby for adoption in the show is pregnant again. Now they are rushing to get married. Yes I know, quality stuff, but again, awesome because we can eat and read uninterrupted.

 Going along with the chill day theme a mani/pedi was in order. Beth said her nails (on her hands) haven't been done since her wedding......8 YEARS AGO!!! She had a pedi a few days prior and I did too, but I wanted another one, because I could. Beth came and showed me what her nails looked like before they cut them. She was telling me that the guy was telling her that some people come in and leave them like this. How do you function people?! Insert EPIC-ism

EPIC-ism #26 - "They're my favorite Asians." -Beth

 The Chocolate Affair was next. This is an old house that someone has turned into a store front and she makes and sells chocolate. This was also one of those AMAZING places too. I brought a bottle of wine to be dipped in chocolate, then I bought more just take home kinda chocolate. I think my favorite were the caramels covered in chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt. It's making my mouth water just thinking about it.

 So after spending way to much money on chocolate we headed home to just do nothing....well wait, that's wrong, we home to eat again. That morning we had bought bread to dip in the sauce that I made and Beth made Chicken Dip. Mmmmm, chicken dip.

 The Pepto was a result from it all..well for me anyways. It was at this point we decided that we were going to go to the movies, because when you have kids how many movies do you watch that aren't Disney, Pixtar, or cartoon related and how many are watched in the theater. We wanted to go and see What to Expect When Your Expecting but by the time we decided we were going to go and see a movie, this movie was starting in like 15 minutes. So I guess the next best thing was Snow White and the Huntsman. It was okay, not movie theater quality to me, but Thor was in it so it made it a little better. Insert EPIC-ism

EPIC-ism #29 - "We should go home, drink margaritas and watch Thor. It's like going to a whore house." -Beth

 After the movie and this shot of us in the bathroom after we peed we went to StarBucks. I mean who can't drink a coffee at 9 p.m. at night. We didn't have dinner...well our dinner was pretty much popcorn and the candy we bought at the movie theater. When we got home we had some more chicken dip and sauce with bread. We had a few margaritas then went to bed.

 In the morning this was found, the burnt remains of the chicken dip in the crock pot. Beth thought she had turned it off but that was not to case. Poor chicken dip, we would have eaten the rest of you. You were so good.

 Sunday was Father's Day and recently our friends Doug and Kim have moved to Scott AFB. Doug is Max's godfather and I was in town so why not do breakfast. We met at the Cracker Barrel. I have not seen his daughters in almost 3 years. One of whom I have never even met before that day. It was really great to see him and introduce him to Beth. They are going to get along great, or at least I hope they do....I think they will. :-)

 So since we had pretty much done most if not all of what we wanted to do while I was there we kinda hung out the rest of the day. Beth mentioned before I came about a Chinese buffet. I thought that would be a good idea for dinner, Beth thought it would be even better if we went to P.F. Changs in the city. Since it was Father's Day, we decided to invite Michael too.

 I had saki....I had a lot of saki. I love saki. The pictures aren't very pretty after this, they are really funny, well at least to me and Beth they are. I asked Beth what she wanted to do. She said I kinda want to do what my mom and I always do, drink and play scrabble. I said like Scrabble on a board, not a computer. I thought it was really fun, I haven't played Scrabble on a board in years, and Beth has the old school board that doesn't turn or anything. Insert EPIC-ism

EPIC-ism #35 - "A draper, you know a person that drapes stuff." -Andi

EPIC-ism #36 - "You're just going to be mad if I win cause I'm drunk." -Andi

EPIC-ism #37 - "Good, I got a V for vajay jay." -Beth

 On Monday it was time to go home and Beth to Chicago (or half way) to pick up her kids. It seemed like forever driving home, but I had to make one stop along the way. On the way to STL I saw signs for the World's Largest Rocking Chair and I thought, why not? I'm not in a rush to get home.

So here I am in front of the World's Largest Rocking Chair because who wouldn't want to go and see that. It stands 42 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 27,500 pounds and has a 20 foot width. It was erected April 1, 2008 in Old Fanning, Missouri.

Bucket List Item #108-1 - See the World's Largest Stuff
                                            1. Rocking Chair - CHECK!

This was an awesome trip and is definitely something that we will do again. There is nothing else really planned till next year. Next year's trip is going to be to Hawaii and possibly Las Vegas with Chris and Ed. Totally looking forward to that.

But until then and Epic Mommy Madness II (TBA) regular life will just have to do.