Thoughts on our 19th anniversary

19. Hmmmm. That sounds weird. I'm learning that no matter how many years go by, you don't feel as old as you are. 19 years of marriage. Where did all that time go? It just seems so unreal. The only thing for certain is, time is an amazing concept. Sometimes, on a day to day basis, as I might be sitting in the dentist chair or picking up dog shit in the dining room, it seems to drag by. But then, you wake up one day and find yourself saying HAPPY 19TH, and thinking wtf. Where did it go?
So, much we still want to do. So, here's to the next 19!

YUMYUM BOWL

You have to notice that this place is getting quite crowded at lunch time. It's like the Peoria thing, if it plays here, it must be right. So, I drove thru today to grab something, not even knowing wtf a yum yum bowl is.

So, they have several choices, sweet n sour, general, cashew etc in pork, beef, chicken. You can have it fried or grilled atop a bowl of rice or , for $1 upcharge, noodles, which I chose. I got the grilled chicken Hawaiin sweet n sour on noodles with an eggroll. I fell for the "combo" deal when I didnt really want any of their drinks anyway. ok, so moving on. It was around $9! That included eggroll, BUT it was super dee-lish. A little heavy on the sauce but the sauce was yum (even though its that neon red/orange sweet n sour sauce you get occasionally). And the bowl is so huge, it's at least two meals anyway.

A little googling told me it's owned by the Ocean Zen and Five Spice people. They DO know how to make things sizzle.

So, two chopsticks up for YUMYUM BOWL on East Battlefield, near Kimbrough.

Transfer Photos to Canvas Stretched Frame, Great Christmas Idea......

First of all, I KNOW MY PICTURE SUCKs HERE but trust me on this.

I saw these in black and white at Sam's Cellar in Neosho. These are so cool. I have always loved prints on canvas frame, just naked with no framing. The gal that owns the bar took a bunch of black and white old family photos and had them transferred to canvas this way and they look amazing. I LOVE IT. (sorry my iPhone pics are so bad and blurry here, but trust me they look great, especially hanging on the old rock walls in there.)

I googled it and there are tons of places that do it. Some will do what is called "wrapping" the image which means the image covers all sides of the canvas, so you dont have any white or blank edges. If you can afford to "crop" or lose a bit of the image, I think this is the way to go. (the color pic above shows the wrapped edge.)

Here are just a few of the websites I found that do it. One is in Atlanta and they let you load your photos online to see preview it. I think you can order it that way, too. One site started at only $25 for an 8x10. At Sam's Cellars, she had all different sizes, all in black and whites and it really creates a neat gallery look. It's not cheap, but if you figure you aren't framing and buying glass, etc, it's really not a bad deal and looks way cooler.

Here are the few of the websites I found that offer this service:

http://www.photogonia.com/

http://www.zazagallery.com/

Day Trip to Neoso MO

Bruce had business in his hometown, so I went along (and like your are all thinking, "what else do you have to do?".

The weather was 75 and blue skies. We made a few stops along the way. One was at Big Spring Park in downtown Neosho where a spring comes out of a bluff and forms a little brook. It is really pretty. The little rock building across the street is their Chamber of Commerce.

We must be reminded (as I am often am), Neosho is the "flowerbox" city. Home not only of Bruce Brown, but the world's largest flowerbox (and no, I didn't get a picture.)

On the way home we stopped at an orchard for apples. And sit your ass down, yes, I am baking an apple pie right now. Southern Living swears it is the BEST apple pie recipe they have ever published and I will tell you tomorrow if this is so.

Stopped at Shoal Creek on the way into Neosho

We stopped to see Shoal Creek on our way into town. It is a floatable stream that runs through Neosho to Joplin MO and into Kansas (dont know if i can shoot these falls though).

Actually, upstream it runs by Bruce's family farm and may be floatable up there. We are trying to find out. There is a put-in place called SMACKOUT. I love that name. There is a liquor store nearby called SMACKOUT LIQUORS. LOVE IT!!!!! (should have gotten pic) damn

Finished off the trip at a great find...

What Brown trip doesn't finish off (or begin) with a great bar?

On the square in Neosho MO is a very cool bar and "oven" in the cellar of an old building. It is called Sam's Cellar. It gets two Brown thumbs up. Very cool place. Rivals downstairs at Flame in Springfield and I'm serious. They have a woodfire oven going all the time for pizzas, wraps, nachos, etc.

Nathaniel Greene Park, Worth Going

This park continues to amaze me. You never hear much about it, yet it is so wonderful. It is home to the Japanese Stroll Garden, which is very cool. It is part of the South Creek Trail, which is part of Ozarks Greenways Trail. It has a great lake and the flower gardens contiune to multiply, complete with walking paths through them. On this trip we found the new Butterfly House. Adjacent to this, major construction is underway on the new Botanican Gardens. This project looks large and they are working on digging out and running sewer lines for a new building. Anyway, this is probably my favorite walking spot in town. And, it's definitely under the radar. It is off of west Battlefield, on Scenic across from Horton Smith Golf Course.

This is funny......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1WLExgxWmU

Bad Photo of the Moment, FLUTIE FLAKES aptly named

I forgot what I was even searching for when I googled Doug Flutie yesterday, and saw his Wiki pic.

Doug, honey, these are only cool in older trailer parks.

Chiefs, The New Lions?

Repeat after me, THE CHIEFS WILL WIN TODAY....

alas even the westie in red couldn't pull this one off.

Are the Chiefs the new Detroit Lions?

Was Marty realllly that sucky?

Am I bummed we let our season tix go?

I say give Thigpen a chance.

WELCOME TO THE FUTURE!!!!! I GOT IT!!!!

This is just about as big as the new phone books. I take back everything I said. IT'S HERE. I HAVE ALREADY TEXTED PICTURES of myself, my dog all over the country!

You need to open iTunes, it will tell you that you have an update from your carrier. Download it. Sync your iPhone and BAM, there it is. I did have to reboot my phone to get it.

IS TODAY REALLY THE DAY OUR IPHONES GET MMS?????

Well, it's finally September 25. So, where is my iPhone update that will pull us out of 2003 and allow iPhone users to send TEXT PICTURES?! AT&T says "late morning" pacific time. But the buzz this morning is that it's not here. I'ts now 11:20 a.m. central time and NOTHING. The update is supposed arrive to us via iTunes..............

But how do we KNOW it's there? GIVE US A SIGN!!!!!!!!

Rumored is also that is this could bring down the entire AT&T network with the massive bandwith this is going to pull.

PERHAPS APPLE SHOULD SHARE THE LOVE AND LET OTHER CARRIERS TAKE A CRACK AT SERVICING OUR PRECIOUS IPHONES?

STAY TUNED! (meanwhile continue enjoying this feature on your free crappy ass flip phones.

I guess "synergy" was defined differently in the 70s...

He makes me feel special........

I love my husband because he says things to me like IS THAT ONE OF THOSE HOSPITAL BRACELETS? right after i got my new watch.

Lazy Weekend at Chimney Rock

Spent the weekend at Chimney Rock. Didn't even take the kayaks. Just wanted to be lazy and it worked out well because we didn't see much of the sun. We took a day trip to Eminence on Saturday. Ate at the new pizza place that had just recently moved to main street. It was pretty good. Stopped in at Angilla Steak House & Bar. Signs posted everywhere like this one. Now, that is a sign of a good bar!

RANT!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU, SONIC FOR NOT GIVING US A MINT WITH EVERY DAMN DRINK!!!!! No one can possibly consume that many mints. Now just get rid of that giant sticker and receipt on the cup. thank you for your consideration.

Just in......Whispers of iPhone MMS.....

It's just about embarassing that the iPhone cannot send or receive text pictures. I think Bruce's 1999 flip phone can do it (not to mention his speaker phone is actually audible). So, it's rumored that next week, Sept 7, Apple/AT&T will make announcement of an operating system upgrade and maybe stumble into the 21st century with MMS. Some other announcements might be made as well........... streaming music via a subscription service? Enhanced bluetooth features? (thanks 9 to 5 Mac for info)

HEY, APPLE, HOW ABOUT A FLASH FOR THE CAMERA???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! even the dingleberry has one

Things I'm liking right now.........

I need a Vera Bradley duffel. Yes, I do. And I think Murdoch needs this plaid wool collar from Georgesf.com. Isn't is cute???

This is kind of out of left field, but I have discovered DILLONS SALAD BAR. I mean I knew they had a salad bar, but did you ever think about getting all your stuff for stirfry of whatever off the salad bar? Its brilliant! Instead of buying all the different things, especially if youre cooking for one or two, you can get a huge variety of things all PRE CHOPPED/PREPPED right there! Green peppers, onions, mushrooms, crab mean, sun dried tomaoes, you name it! and BAM, you dump in the wok and look all-pro with basically no effort. My favorite look ;)

Viandel Vineyard

First Harvest

This is my most adorable aunt Cathy and my uncle Jon (ok, he's adorable, too). Check out their grapes! (that sounds kinda suspect). I haven't heard yet if they harvested enough grapes to make their first couple bottles of wine. How exciting is that? I have volunteered to relocate and run their Tasting Center in Mountain View MO. Stay tuned.....

Pssssssssssssssssssst!

My new bff from Long Island introduced me to DRY SHAMPOO.......... Remember it from the 70s? 50s? I don't know. It's nerdy. And you thought it was just for invalids and hobos? NO! Although hers was, sadly, confiscated at the airport and I couldn't first test it on myself, I took her word for it and purchased some today at CVS.

$6.50 and I admit I did kind of turned the can "psssssst" side down at the register while rationalizing I could be a saint, buying this for my poor old grandmother, bedridden with unkempt hair.

Unfortunately, I just washed my hair this morning and can't really test this stuff until my hair looks a little unsightly, which might be sunday.

I will keep everyone posted. Everyone except Dani, the re-inventor of Pssssssssssst! who had a most unfortunate plumbing accident today with her BlackBerry. (get an iPhone anyway, honey)

Husband's comment: THIS IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR SHOWERING

update: dani actually recommends BATISTE brand. and she knows