Fly-over Country

Lately, St. Louis has felt less like a fly-over city and more like a stop-through town. I love it! In the past week, three friends from three different states have been through this city of ours.

Leigh Anne and Matt stopped in for less than 24 hours on their drive back from Wisconsin, but it was a fun-packed visit full of local eating at Pastaria and Half & Half and late-night catching up. Plus it's the first time we were all together since Jonathan and I got married - so that was bizarre/exciting! :)

Abby visited us the next weekend for what has become our annual March Abby visit - I really hope that's a tradition! Again we enjoyed some local eats at Dressel's Pub, Seoul Taco and brunch at Cucina Pazzo (lemon ricotta blueberry pancakes: you complete me), finally watched Frozen (Olaf! I love that singing snow man so much!) did some outlet mall shopping, and visited Bowood Farms so Jonathan could start a bonsai tree and I could try my hand at keeping a new houseplant alive (we'll see how I do...).

This is a chocolate chip cookie stuffed pretzel. Yes, you read that right.

Mistletoe fig ficus, I'll try my best to keep you this green.

And then! Thanks to the NCAA games happening in St. Louis, Amanda, my oldest friend from elementary school, was in town on Sunday to cheer on her UK Wildcats. So we got dinner at Pi after! Quick catch up, but oh so dear considering I saw her last at my wedding and before that it had been six years.

Moral of the story: St. Louis is the BEST place to reunite so come on through - plus we have delicious food to share with you!

Daylight

"... It's just a season thing. It's just this thing that seasons do. And that's the way this wheel keeps working now." Wheel, John Mayer

I'm so thankful for Daylight Saving Time. I know a lot of people complain about the lost hour of sleep and the adjustment in general, and I'll admit waking up in pitch black this morning threw me for a bit of a loop, BUT the fact that there was sunshine when I left work and when I got home trumps all of that!

I needed this time change bad. I don't think I ever fully adjusted when Daylight Saving Time ended last year... The fact that days were getting longer was already lifting my spirits. There's just a certain lazy inducing factor when you come home in the dark.

But when there's daylight? There's still so much that can be done in the day! I'm not saying the lack of daylight is what was keeping me from running a marathon or doing a slew of other athletic things, BUT it puts you in this homebody mentality (am I right?) And I love being a homebody as much as the next person. But for everything there is a season. And I am oh so thankful that there are seasons, both in life and in nature. It's so refreshing for mind, body and soul. Truly.

The extra daylight makes me excited for many reasons, namely:

• longer walks with our pup
• bike rides
• drinks and dinner al fresco
• maintaining my sanity in traffic (I think daylight helps with that...)
• the simple psychology that the day does not end when work does

Enjoy the daylight everyone! This girl sure is.

Pretty unrelated, but extra daylight makes me want to be outside more ... and bring the outdoors in! These succulents are adding some new life to our bathroom window.