Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon

On October 23, H competed in his first half-marathon. H's parents came down for the big event, and we were so excited for his big event. H trained for months to prepare for the big event, and it all paid off. Luckily, we live down the street from where the race began, so we packed some chairs, and snacks and headed down bright and early to find the perfect spot to watch H cross the finish line. His goal was to cross the finish line in under 2 hours, and he was successful, he finished in 1:55:59! I can't even express how proud I am of him. After the race, the group enjoyed a beer (sans me) and watched Sugar Ray perform on the main stage!

The Peabody

In October, St. Louis welcomed the opening of a new Peabody Opera House downtown. Over the last year we have watched the transformation of the historic opera house and were able to experience it's second "first" night. My parents, H & I attended the grand opening at the Peabody. It is an amazing venue with so much history. Originally, the Peabody was opened in 1934 and welcomed entertainers from Frank Sinatra to the Rolling Stones. The grand opening show featured Aretha Franklin & Jay Leno, and they did not disappoint. We had a wonderful time and truly enjoyed the "new" opera house. We look forward to enjoying many more performances there.

Next Stop, KC

For our last road trip of September, H & I headed to KC to visit our good friends Aarti & Jeff. For the first time, we were able to attend the KC Fair in the Square, which is a fabulous art & food festival. After hours of walking around, Aarti & I found some cool art pieces! The boys walked around the food & drink booths, and seemed to find some good things as well! We ended the day with a great dinner at an Italian restaurant in KC. We are looking forward to our next trip to visit the happy couple!

It's a Boy

On September 22, H, myself, and both of our parents came to St. Louis for our ultrasound and to find out the sex of our baby, and it's a boy! After an exciting morning, the six of us went to brunch and then off to register for the new addition!

Justin's 30 & Flirty - Part 2

For the second weekend of H's birthday celebration, we headed to Chicago for some more fun. We started the weekend by taking in a game at Wrigley Field with Justin's parents & Evan. We were fortunate to have a beautiful Friday afternoon for the game and to top it off, the Cubbies won in extra innings. To celebrate, we headed to Goose Island for dinner and a few more drinks. Unfortunately, after all the excitement of the day, this pregnant lady was ready for bed! Saturday we had tickets to the NIU game at Soldier's Field, so we kicked off another beautiful day tailgating and then to the game. Unfortunately, NIU lost the game, but we had a great time with family and enjoying a beautiful Fall weekend in Chicago. After resting for a few hours, Ritu, Tim, Priti, H & I headed out for dinner and an evening of sisterly fun. We have been fortunately to have many sister weekends this past year, which is something we didn't do before, but I think we will work on doing these more frequently. Before we headed back to the Lou on Sunday, we enjoyed brunch and some shopping (surprise, surprise)! As always, we had a wonderful weekend in Chi-town, thinking maybe one day we will end up there (probably much later than sooner).

Justin's 30 & Flirty - Part 1

This year H turned the big 3-0! In celebration of this, we planned many activities and celebrations! We kicked off the 2 weekend celebration with dinner at Kries' Steakhouse and cocktails at the Ritz with my parents. Saturday, I had planned a small surprise for H, I invited his best friend Kyle, and wife, Ericka, to St. Louis for a night out on the town, complete with a limo & driver. For a fun twist, I put together a progressive dinner scavenger hunt over a 4 course meal. It was a fun night, with way too much food, a little too many drinks (only for the boys since both Ericka and I are expecting), and lots of laughs.

Baby & Balloons

One weekend, H & I packed up and headed to C-Town for the Balloon Fest. In all the years, H and I have known each other, he had never been to Ballon Fest, so I thought it was time for him to experience a C-town tradition. H and my dad were able to take part in the hot air ballon race on Saturday morning and I was part of the chasing crew (which was pretty exciting)! Their pilot decided to take a detour and take them on a 1.5 hour scenic tour of Centralia, so needless to say, they did not win the race! Along with balloon fest, my parents had their annual prayer at our home and this year we focused on the birth of our first child. This was very important to me, as this is our first pregnancy, and I am a little bit paranoid, so prayers and positive energy have been very important! Overall, it was a wonderful weekend with the family.

The Windy City

Chicago is one of my most favorite cities to visit, other than the amazing shopping, restaurants, sites and activities, some of my favorite people live there, Ritu & Tim, with Priti close by (and Evan too)! This past weekend H & I took Friday off and jetted off to Chicago for a long-summer weekend. We arrived late on Thursday night so we could enjoy the whole weekend! Friday morning, H & I met up with Elisha & Tanner, our friends from Quincy, for a fun day at Lollapalooza. This was our first time attending Lolla, and it did not disappoint. It was a warm day, but felt mild compared to what we have experienced lately! There was plenty of food and entertainment to keep us busy all day. There were plenty of amazing artists performing all day, but the best was Coldplay (the main reason we attended). Their performance was amazing, with a fabulous firework display to end a great day!

Saturday & Sunday was time for sisters and respective H's. It is rare we have a weekend for us to hang out with no special event taking place. Saturday evening we went out to a wonderful dinner at Fred's at Barney's New York followed by Cirque Shanghai and the mangificant Navy Pier fireworks display.

Sunday was the day of our departure, but we maximized the time beginning with brunch at Zed 451, a Brazilian Steakhouse serving brunch, in one word - amazing. To work off the amazing meal, we shopped on Michigan Avenue until we dropped!

All in all it was a fabulous weekend with some wonderful people! I can't wait until the next trip!

Take 2

After a long hiatus, I am back to blogging. I am going to attempt to update regularly, but no promises! Being that it has been a long time since my last entry, I am not going to try and catch up but start from the present! Summer has been crazy busy and insanely hot! In attempts to stay cool and traveling most weekends, we have been trying to enjoy the season! Even though summer has been fun, I am definitely ready for the fall, my favorite season. Let's hope that fall brings me more time to blog and some relief from the heat!

Happy Anniversary!

On October 20, H and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary! I can't believe that it has been 3 years since we got married. Being the sweet guy he is, H planned a special night for us. Unfortunately on our actual anniversary he had class, but he was able to leave at break so we could enjoy part of the evening. That weekend, he surprised me with dinner at Niche, a phenomenal restaurant in Soulard. It was the perfect celebration of our 3 years of marraige. Happy Anniversary to my dear H, I look forward to many more anniversaries and memories!

Ireland - The Main Event

On October 6, we took the train from Dublin to Limerick, which is the town that Adare Manor was located. Ritu, Tim, mom & dad arrived a few days before preparing for the wedding events. We met the group and headed to the castle where the rehearsal dinner was to take place. The venue was a true medieval castle and would not disappoint. After the details were finalized, we headed to the "Cliffs of Moher". The Cliffs are 120 meters above the Atlantic Ocean and on a clear day you can see the Aran Islands. A few of famous films were also taped at the Cliffs, such as "Harry Potter and the Half Blooded Prince" and "The Princess Bride". We luckily had good weather, it was windy, but bearable.

From the Cliffs, we headed to "Papadum", an Indian restaurant in Limerick. We had about 20 guests who had arrived for the wedding so far, who joined us for dinner. The food we had at this restaurant was amazing, one of the best Indian restaurants I have eaten at. After dinner, we headed to the Manor. We had not yet seen it and were so excited after hearing how amazing the compound was, and it did not disappoint. I can't even verbalize how magnificent the manor was. From the minute you stepped in the door, you felt like royalty. There was a piano bar at the manor, where we decided to toast to the beginning of a wonderful wedding weekend before turning in for the night.

October 7 was a relaxing/exploring day. The rest of the guests were arriving, including Abhi and Priti. We started off the day with a magnificent breakfast and then headed to the rehearsal. After understanding the logistics of the ceremony, the bride and bridesmaids headed to town for lunch and manicures at a darling spa. It was a nice and relaxing afternoon, which was much needed for the bride. That evening, we had a "Welcome Reception" at the "Tack Room" in the Manor. We enjoyed a wonderful slide show put together by a dear family friend, toasts, dinner, and cocktails! By this point 90% of the guests had arrived, and the manor was bustling with guests for the Nemani/Reimer wedding.

On October 8, the morning again began with an amazing breakfast and great company. the groomsmen and friends went golfing first thing that morning. The golf course at Adare is world renowed, Tiger Woods played at the course over the summer for the Irish Open. Justin was so excited and after playing the whole course (which took them close to 7-8 hours), he said it was worth every minute but man it was hard! While the guys golfed, a group of us walked around the compound, enjoyed lunch at the Golf Club and then walked through Limerick, which was adorable! They had the cutest little shops, which we enjoyed very much! Soon it was time to get ready for the Rehersal Dinner. After a little bit of a frightening bus ride to the Castle (imagine large bus, small road up and down hills), we arrived, in one piece to singers welcoming us and "mead" (sweet honey wine). After social hour, we headed into the holding area for a welcome from the performers, and then into the dining hall. What an amazing night, with everything from singers, dancers, heckling of Justin, and kind words from family and friends. Per usual, we had a night cap at the Tack Room.

October 9 - THE BIG DAY!
It was finally here! The ladies began the morning in Ritu's suite having our hair and make-up done, enjoying champagne, and breakfast, and in disbelief that the day was finally here! The whole day was magical and went perfectly. Jayson did an amazing job officiating the ceremony. It was such a personal and meaningful ceremony. Following the ceremony, there was a cocktail hour while the bridal party had photos taken. Shortly to follow was the reception, which was like an event which took place on the Titanic, luckily our ending was much better. The reception hall was grand, and beautiful. The couple cut their cake, had their first dance, and the night kicked off! There wasn't a dull moment all night, from the heartfelt toasts, dancing, professional Irish dance performance, fireworks, and a few enjoyed a scotch tasting. All in all, it was perfect.

I can't put into words how amazing of a trip this was, being in Ireland with 80 close family and friends was unlike anything we had ever experienced. I hope that we are able to enjoy this type of event again with such amazing people. Thank you Ritu and Tim for choosing such an amazing venue and thank you to everybody who came to celebrate the two of them. Thank you to mom and dad for arranging the event wiht the couple and making it something nobody will ever forget!

I would post photos, but there are so many, please use the link from the previous post to see photos from the wedding!

Cheers!

Ireland - Part 2

We arrived to Dublin on October 3, bright and early in the morning! Upon arrival we were excited to find that the weather was perfect! We checked into our hotel, The Morrison, and got settled in. Since we didn't get much rest on the flight over, we took a quick nap and then headed out on the town! The location of our hotel was perfect (thanks to H for doing the research and planning for our accommodations in Dublin). Our hotel was just over the bridge (Ha'y Penny Bridge) to the Temple Bar district. On Sunday, we roamed the city to get our bearings, had lunch at "The Quay's Bar", walked through the Dublin Castle, St. Stephen's Green Park and had a few pints at local pubs (which wasn't a challenge since there was one every corner!). That evening, Bob & Karen stayed in to get some rest and H and I ventured out to have some dinner and enjoy a bit of the night life. Much to our surprise, we ran into Jay, Karen and Jayson Schmitt walking down the street at the Temple Bar area! They were also in Ireland for the wedding, Jayson was the officiant for the ceremony. Running into friends in Ireland is quite surreal. We stopped at the "Temple Bar" for dinner and drinks with the Schmitt's. Unfortunately, H and I had to cut our evening short due to the exhaustion which was creeping up on us from our trip.

On October 4, day 2 in Dublin, we woke up well rested and ready to do some sight seeing! Again, we had another beautiful day! We started out our day by taking the train to Dun Laoghaire, a seaside town about 20 miles from Dublin. It was beautiful and had a much different feel from Dublin. We had lunch at a local restaurant and then walked down the pier. It was breathtaking! After our relaxing morning, we headed back to Dublin to see some of the hot spots.

We began our tour through Dublin at Trinity College to see "The Book of Kells". It was amazing how the book had been created, preserved and displayed. Next we headed to St. Patrick's Cathedral. The original St. Patrick's Cathedral was founded in 1191 and then restored in the late 1800's to the building it is today

After a educational day, we decided we needed a Guiness Break (these were needed every few hours). We stumbled upon a bar in the Temple Bar district which had live Irish music and cold beer on tap (and walking distance from our hotel).

On October 5, day 3 in Dublin. Being that this was our last day in Dublin, we saved the best for last - Guinness Storehouse and the Jameson Distillery. Our hotel was centrally located, which allowed us to walk most places. Our first stop was the Guinness Storehouse. The Irish are very proud of Guinness and hold it at a very high regard.

We began with an introduction of Guinness and background about the company, which has been around since 1759, from there we proceeded on a self-guided tour of the Storehouse, at the end of the tour we enjoyed a nice lunch at the 7th floor restaurant and a complimentary pint at the Gravity bar with a view to die for!

A few fun facts about Guinness. In Ireland, Guinness pouring is a process, actually a six part process:
1. Guinness is to be served at 6 degrees c
2. The glass - must be a 20 ounce tulip shaped glass, washed meticulously and dried.
3. The glass must be angled 45 degrees under the tap.
4. The pour the glass 3/4 of the way, set it down and let it settle. The color of the beer will change and it will have the dark body and white top as we have all grown to know.
5. Once this is complete, fill the glass up to where the white top is above the rim of the glass. The proper pouring process takes approximately 119 seconds.
6. Enjoy your perfectly poured Guinness!

Another fun fact, Arthur Guinness signed a 9000-year lease for the St. James Gate Brewery for 45 pounds. That was in 1759, and the lease is still valid and in affect.

Next, we wandered over to the Jameson Distillery. The original distillery, which we visited, is no longer the home of where Jameson is now produced, but it is where it all began. The building was rustic and full of history. Here we went on a guided tour of the distillery and at the end enjoyed a refreshing drink. I enjoyed a Jameson with Ginger, which was surprisingly refreshing! I am not a whiskey drinker by any stretch of my imagination, but this was a drink I wouldn't mind to have every now and then!

For our last night in Dublin, we took a car to the highest point of Dublin to "Johnnie Fox". A few of our neighbors frequent Ireland and this is one place they said we must go! It is one of hte oldest restaurants in Dublin and is located on top of one of Dublin's mountains and is the highest pub in the whole country. Here we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and traditional Irish entertainment. It was the perfect end to our time in Dublin.

Ireland - Part 1

On October 2nd, my in-laws, H and I headed to Lambert airport to begin our journey to Ireland for the Ritu & Tim's wedding celebration! The four of us decided to leave early and spend a few days in Dublin before kicking off the festivities. The whole experience was unlike anything I have ever done before. We had a total of 72 people traveling to Ireland for the wedding! Being that there was so much we did in one week, I am going to break up my posts to capture as much of the experience possible. I hope you enjoy the experience through our view point!

St. Louis Food & Wine Festival

Every year H and I try to make the annual St. Louis Food & Wine festival at Forest Park. Amazingly this year we were in town and had no plans, so we were able to attend one of our favorite events in St. Louis. It was a beautiful day, there was a fabulous band, and great vendors with food and wine!

Happy Birthday Justin!

A month and a half late, but better late than never, right? On September 9 we celebrated H's 29th birthday! Poor Justin was a little under the weather on his birthday, but we were able to go out for his birthday dinner at Citizen Kane's. Luckily, by the weekend he was feeling much better and we headed to NIU for a football game. Priti & Evan both attend NIU, so we had a big group heading up North the first football game of the season, my in-laws, Emily & Dan, Justin and myself were able to make it for the festivities! Evan lives in the Phi Psi house and the members of the fraternity had "Family Weekend" We spent the afternoon at the house for a pig roast (which I did not partake in), games, and cocktails! It was a little nostalgic hang out there because Justin was also a Phi Psi at SIUE. We didn't have houses at SIUE, but the atmosphere was similar to our events in college. From there we headed to the stadium to tailgate and then the game! Unfortunately, Priti and I were unable to enter the game because our bags were too big, who knew! So, we went to the closest bar to enjoy some adult beverages until the game was over. It was a fun filled weekend of sports (which I still am not sure who won the game), food, family, and friends! Here are the rest of the photos from the weekend!

Ritu & Tim's Pre-Destination Wedding Celebration

Being that the happy couple's wedding was a destination wedding, we decided to have a "Pre-Destination Wedding Celebration" as a bridal shower and in lieu of an after wedding reception. We held the party at the Sheraton City Center in St. Louis. We had a great turn out and were able to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of Ritu & Tim with family and friends, those who were traveling to Ireland and those who were unable to make the wedding. In true Nemani style, the event was a whole weekend affair. We had many friends come to St. Louis from areas far adn near. Friday night we went to Lombardo's for dinner, and Saturday, as we welcomed more guests to St. Louis, we prepared for the big event! We had an evening of fun, entertainment and dancing! Here are the photos from the event. Enjoy!

Ritu & Tim's Bachelor/Bachelorette Weekend

With our busy summer and getting ready for Ritu and Tim's wedding events, I have fallen behind on blogging. In August, we had a full month of events leading up to the big event set for October. One fabulous weekend was the bachelor/bachelorette party for the happy couple. The wedding party (most of them) and friends headed to Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva, WI for a weekend of fun. It was a relaxing weekend with lots of food, fun and reminiscing. Saturday night we went to "The Baker House" for dinner and entertainment. If you ever go to Lake Geneva, I would highly recommend visiting this venue. The atmosphere was unique, the food was fantastic and the service was amazing. They have a tradition of having "Sun Downers" every weekend when the sun begins to set. It is a very cool concept, at this hour of the evening, you raise your drink to toast the day you were fortunate to have and toast the night, which was upon us. To top it off, they gave you hats to wear! Overall, it was a fun weekend celebrating the last days of single life for the happy couple! We look forward celebrating many years of fun and vacations with the couple once they are married! Here are the rest of the photos!

Katy Trail

Among our numerous activities during the summer, one which we had never done before was biking on the Katy Trail. Mike, Erica, H and I rented bikes in Defiance and biked a total of 15+ miles round trip. During this ride, we stopped at a few wineries and a brewery. It was a fun and adventurous day! We only had 2 mini-disasters, first was a little bit of a detour for Erica off the trail and into a busy! Second was H's bike chain came off track! Overall, not too disastrous! Here are the rest of the photos from the day!

Greece

H and I traveled to Greece this summer. We visited Athens and cruised the Aegean Sea and were able to see some of the most beautiful sites. Of all the amazing places Greece has, we were fortunate to go to Athens, Mykonos, Patmos, Rhodes, Santorini, Crete and Khusdasi (Turkey- Europe side). The history and beauty of this country was astounding. Here are photos from our trip, there are so many, I can't choose my favorites!

Is it possible?

Over the last few months, I have been trying to "change" my attitude and make myself a better person. Everybody has their flaws, and you will always have them, but I feel that, personally and professionally, in order to make ourselves better, it is important to know your flaws and how you can improve on them. Pointing out your downfalls is never a fun thing, but it makes you stronger person. With this, I have done a lot of observations lately and a few behaviors I have noticed repeatedly in different areas:

• Everybody looks forward to the weekend because you usually do not have to work, but nobody looks forward to the week. Yes, we work during the week, and we are tired and away from our loved ones. If we only look forward to the weekends, we are wasting 65% of our time waiting for something that will eventually come (only 35% of our time) and not enjoying that time which we are currently in. I personally want to enjoy 100% of my time, but am going to try and enhance that 65%. I am fortunate, I love what I do, it's not work to me. But, yes I do sometimes dislike getting up early and working late because it cuts into other things I would like to do. But, I look on the bright side and find a balance so I can enjoy the week fully.
• Negativity - there is so much of this going on and a lot of it has to do with the state of our economy and other factors which are caused and/or related to this. Aside from that, have you found that people complain an awful lot? When you say how was your day, many will say how it was terrible, or what went wrong, etc... How many people actually say it was a great day? How many ask you how your day actually went? How many look at the glass half full? People are cynical and tend to look at the negative side other than the positive. It's become human nature - which scares me! I am trying very consciously to be positive. If things are bad, they will get better but in order for that to happen, I have to focus on the positive. Things won't just turn around, I have to assist this in happening.
• Relationships - What is a relationship to you? How do you define your relationships? This is something that seems to take the back burner more than it should. Many times we get busy in our lives and "assume" that relationships will stay in tact and you will tend to them when you have time. If you know me, one pet peeve I have is people saying "I don't have enough time", I think that if something is important enough you schedule time for it or figure out a way to do it and if you are SO busy that you can't make time for your relationships, then you may need to re-assess your schedule. I don't buy the excuse "I don't have time". You can ask my husband, parents and siblings how strongly I feel about this. I am a fairly busy person but have tried to make an effort to make time for what is important and what I should do. Again nobody is perfect, so I am trying to improve upon my efforts.
• Goals - what do you aspire to do? Personally? Professionally? Relationships? Regardless of what you do for a living and your family structure, I think it is important to have goals in all areas of your life. This is something else I have noticed lately, people do not have goals, they are just going through the motions and are ok with what is happening. If you are truly happy, then that is great and I am happy for you. But, if you are negative and unhappy and still are not setting goals for yourself, then something needs to change. Goals are scary, especially if you are unsure if you can reach them. What fun is a challenge if it is attainable? It has to have something to push you a little further. When I first took my current job, I was frigtened, still am, that I would not be able to do it. It is very challenging, the group of people I work with are extremley talented and intelligent and I thought "What have I gotten myself into - there is so much room for failure". After I realized my attitude, I was doing all the things which I dislike - being negative, not looking forward to living in the world or that job and not setting goals. I have overarching short term and long term goals professionally but didn't have incremental goals set on how to reach the bigger goals. I have been assessing my position and my goals and have begun to set incremental goals in order to meet my bigger goals. This isn't easy, because it goes back to looking at your flaws, which nobody likes to do. But, I knew that to do that would help me in the future.
• Responsibility - all I am going to say about this one is that I notice, more than I would like to, people not take responsibilities for their own actions. It is easier to blame others than blame yourself.

These are some of the common behaviors I have observed lately. I have begun to turn those behaviors which I display in my own daily life around. I have set new goals for myself, incremental ones. I am outlining my flaws and working on them. I have put action items into place to improve relationships. I am enjoying every single day and not looking forward to Friday - Sunday all week long. I have begun volunteering, and doing other activities to enhance my week and continue to enjoy my job - it's not work! The minute I start to think of it as 'work', I need to change something. When it comes down to it, you have to learn to enjoy what you are doing and the time you are in, maximize it, it will amaze you how much happier you will feel just by doing a few little things which bring positive energy into your life.