Quick and Dirty (no, really. see the last photo)

 So...all of this stuff has happened recently. 

I made Michael install a fan.

 I can't sleep without air circulation.

 We enjoyed a fabulous weekend at a friend's lake house. Thank you, Sean!

 We hosted visitors (Michael's parents) and promptly put them to work.

 We had some fun too.

 But mostly we just made them work.

 We hosted more visitors. We didn't make this group work though. They were already exhausted from their cross country trip including song-playing and movie-making. (Really, I'll do more on this later but it will require a loooong post to explain the peculiarities of this story).

 Pep made fast friends with the band/movie crew. He'll sleep with anyone willing to be lazy with him though. 

 Drywall went up on the stove wall. This wall wasn't particularly difficult. 

 The bay window walls were a bit more difficult, requiring the building of mini-walls.

 Michael installed canister lights.

 Aren't they pretty?

 We attended a birthday party for two of our friends that entailed me sewing a Medieval dress for myself and a tunic for Michael. It was a lot of fun!

 The bay window turned out quite well, especially now that I've accepted that the walls will never be truly level in this house. Sigh. 

 And we started to work on slapping drywall on the sink wall. This was truly the most difficult part of the project so far. 

 Frieda developed some separation anxiety. She sits with her head up on the back of the couch and watched and wimpers every morning as Michael drives away. 

And we've acquired a mud dog.

And the sad thing is that this won't even be considered catching up since I can't currently locate my camera cord therefore, all new photos are off-limits.

Photos to come include finished kitchen drywall, mudding and skim coating of all the walls in the kitchen (I'm so excited at how good it is looking), and pulling up the laminate floors (plural!) that have been laid on top of the lovely hardwood in the kitchen.

Be Still My Heart

 It's been a good week for talking to some of my favorite (non-Saint Louis) girls in the world. Really, the only one I've missed is Meg (Meg, if you're reading this, we need to g-chat) but that's beside the point.

The point is that a great e-mail chain regarding very pretty clothes/shoes was started this morning by one lovely sister-in-law (Laura) and Kathia (another lovely sister-in-law) and I have kept it going. 

By the way, this is a terrible photo of me, but the only one I could find. We need a better pic of the 3 of us ASAP!

 There's been lots of discussion of vintage style, wedge shoes and my current obsession, these new boots:

And the discussion reminded me that I've not shown them off on the blog. They're Frye Jane 14 Stitch boots and they're divine. And yes, the first place I noticed them was over at the Pioneer Woman blog but at the time, I never thought I would want them due to an irrational fear of wearing heeled shoes for long periods of time. Of course, I fear has been abated because these shoes (after the first "stretching-out" day) are crazy comfortable!

They're not cheap by any means, and it took lots of soul-searching and prodding by friends much more fashionable than I, but I finally bit the bullet and bought them. They are absolutely going to last me for the next 20 years.

I love them.

If only we were experiencing a normal spring and not this unseasonably warm one (have I complained enough about the weather yet?), I may not have taken these off until May. Alas, boots and hot, sweaty feet do not mix, at least not in my book.

On a side note, you can see the extreme difference in quality between our old camera and my new favorite toy (the Nikon D7000) in this post. Whoa! Huge difference!

The Triumphant Return

My, it's been a long and crazy couple of months. 

Here's a bit of what you missed:

(OK, maybe more than a bit.)

 Our joint Christmas presents

 Christmas presents to one another

 A Christmas dinner of truffle-stuffed chicken (a.k.a. poulet demi-deuil or chicken in half-mourning)

And a statue cat watching over the feast

 A long trip home to visit the [kitty] grandparents

 A fun-filled visit with family

 And friends

 And Roman!

 The hanging of a vintage Peruvian tapestry (Thanks, D&K!)

 My recent obsession with knitting socks

 Finally finishing some Pinterest Christmas ornaments

 "The best hot chocolate in the world"...not really, but it was decent

(With my dear foodie-friend Lucy)

 A pâte à choux stealing (1-year-old!!!) kitten

 Some amazing Japanese beer, sake

And sushi

 St Louis' first (and maybe last) snow of the season

 Being social at Plush

The beginning of an epic knitted quilt

(which will be documented as it progresses over the next 20 or so years)

And more socializing for Kevin's Birthday at Diablitos

Along with the crazyness of the past few months there has been a trend of eating to much bad food. I know it comes with the territory of traveling home and celebrating the holidays but we need to get our eating habits back on track. 

To kick-start the change, we've made a plan to spend at least the next month eating a pescetarian (mostly vegetarian) diet. We already have some favorite veggie-centric meals in our repertoire but I'm planning to seek out lots of new recipes. I'll be sharing our favorites, new and old on here in case anyone else is feeling the post-holiday sluggishness as well. 

And along with this already exciting plan for the near future of the blog, we'll also be detailing our first splash into the real estate market here in Saint Louis. Eek!

My Best Friend's Wedding

It seems like we've moved over to a every 2 or 3 week schedule over here at Metzing Around. Honestly though, until my work schedule is a bit less crazy and exhausting and until I get finished with the last of my wedding cakes for the year, this posting schedule will probably stand. 

On the subject of weddings though, almost a month ago (You've been married nearly a month, A!), Michael and I made our way across Illinois and Indiana and almost through Ohio to Cleveland for my best friend's wedding. 

It was a insanely fun wedding weekend and we were sad to leave on Sunday morning. 

Long story short though: we drove, with a cake, 10+hrs, I finished the cake in 100% humidity (which does NOT make rolled fondant happy), there was a beautiful, sunny wedding (despite a morning or pouring rain), we partied, we ate cake, we partied some more, we collapsed into bed, we drove home. 

And here a a few favorite pictures from the trip.

 Pep was certainly not happy about the packing

 The lovebirds themselves in this utterly creepy underwater shot

 The self-proclaimed Sex In the City girls and my new friends

 The gorgeous bride

 Their excellent photographer blocking my view

 The final product

The Adrienne look

Oh, and Adrienne and Shannon gave us the best "Thanks for making our wedding cake" present EVER!

Behold!

 Only Adrienne would seek out a 1964 French Guide Michelin for us.

Although it did make us a bit "home"sick.

I hope this post will last everyone a bit. I am sure I'll be back to my regular, err...more regular posting schedule at some point soon. For now though, I'll let this and some other Photos from the wedding keep you satisfied.

Busy Times

 We had visitors on the Sunday and Monday of Memorial Day weekend. Mary and Michael Neumann stopped by on their way across the country. Mary is a great friend of both Michael and I from our school days back in Wellsboro and we had the pleasure of meeting Michael a few years ago before we were all married. Michael Neumann and I tend to have a love/hate relationship though, depending on where we are in the football season (Steelers fans and Ravens fans generally don't mix come playoff time) ;-)

 We had a great time with them though, enjoying a late dinner on Sunday then getting up early on Monday morning to go downtown. We spent some time in the park around the Arch and played in the flooded Mississippi river. This was our first time seeing the Arch up close. 

 It is pretty impressive I have to admit. 

Mary played paparazzi with my dream camera (Nikon D90) while I took pictures with my Android.

After the Arch we walked back into the city through the amazing CityGarden and eventually we ended up eating lunch at the famous St Louis establishment, Blueberry Hill. 

After the guests left on Memorial day we fired up the grill and made these amazing smoked ribs and a great and refreshing macaroni salad. That night we went to Emily's last Martini Monday (friends that get together every Monday for drinks, a weekly event that was invented by Emily) at an amazing rooftop bar that's not too far from our house. 

 This is Emily. She is sad in this picture because our candle holder in front of her exploded while she and another Emily were over for dinner a few weeks ago. I spent a few days after Memorial day helping her pack up for her move to Boston. She and I became quick friends after we met approximately one month ago. I feel like I've known her for years which makes me very sad that she is gone but also very happy for her that she finally gets to be in a non-long-distance relationship with her boyfriend of three years.

 This is a cowl (raveled here) that I have been knitting in my spare time for the past month or so. It was a lovely (and free!) pattern but it wasn't quite the mindless knitting that I tend to enjoy. The changing pattern every row meant I couldn't space out and watch tv while knitting it. It did turn out well though, and went to Emily before she left. I'm just waiting for a picture of her wearing its so it makes a bit more sense. Unfortunately, since the cowl is made of wool, this might not happen for half a year or so.

 After that the week seemed to fly by and before we knew it Thursday was here along with our first CSA (or farm share, if you prefer)delivery including:

Strawberries (already gone)

Wheat Berries

Iceberg lettuce (1/2 gone)

Free-range eggs (2/3 gone)

Green Garlic (almost gone)

Spring Onions (will be used tonight)

Russian Turnips (will be used tonight)

Red Mustard Greens (one leaf eaten by Pepin)

Romaine Lettuce (mostly gone)

Radishes (1/2 gone)

Broccoli (maybe I'll throw them in tonight too)

We're trying hard to get through everything so the fridge is cleaned out before our next delivery the day before we fly back to PA to finish...

...this cake for my brother Ben and soon-to-be sister-in-law's wedding this weekend. We can't wait to celebrate with family and friends and mostly, I can't wait to see all 9 nieces and nephews!