Fam Fest 2012

For this year’s Fam Fest/Gram Fest, we decided to participate in St. Louis Public Radio‘s MetroQuest–an adventure around St. Louis using only your feet and MetroLink (and okay wheels in our case). Rounding out our team were our fearless leaders, Grammy and Grandpa, Aunt Nan, Aunt Suzi, Mom and myself. Aunt Suzi named us (“Fam-A-Lam-A-Ding-Dongs”) and Mom dressed us (in capes and white sunglasses courtesy of Stoli). Then we literally were off.

Fam-A-Lam-A-Ding-Dongs

Taking flight at the first Metro Stop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Along each stop, you answered trivia and completed challenges. Not having a smartphone, we didn’t upload our photos to the site for points. Instead, we were the team creating chaos and laughter along the way. Case in point: the elevator.

It was here the wheels of the Gramses’ got tangled and refused to come apart.  While the elevator door opened and closed at the Metro station, Grandpa used his cane to make it stop and Grammy attempted to use her arm. All to no avail. I made sure to document the fact the sisters could barely get it together in the back to figure out a plan.

Upon exiting, I think everyone was newly invigorated as we took the Missouri History Museum by storm in our photo scavenger hunts.

Sing “Proud Mary” to a stranger. And to think, we were rollin’ all day!

Your best 50s housewife pose in the pink kitchen

Proudly display the beaver pelts

All in all, the day might have started out with this….

But it ended like this. Successful Fam Fest 2012!

Come Fly With Me

Despite the fact I’ve never had any desire to visit  Norway, this commercial makes me want to hop a plane to see this scenery, wear sweaters and hang with Grandpa Norm. And of course, fly on Widerøe Airlines.

via AdFreak

Agency: McCann Oslo
Director: Marius Holst (Side note, he directed one of my favorite films from the Film Fest, King of Devil’s Island)

 

A First and Hopefully Last

Grandpas aren’t just good for teaching you how to hold a golf club, play Rumy or teach you the art of chocolate milk making. They help make sure you keep your blog up to date and fresh. Well, at least mine does. Nor (of Nor/Nan fame for all of you who drive the roads in STL and see him in his Caddy with those personalized plates) informs me every time I talk to him on the phone I haven’t updated. So, this one’s for you Nor.

Last week, I checked something off my bucket list no one believed I hadn’t done before. The wish? To pull an all-nighter.

Now I know, how could I possibly graduate from college without pulling at least one all nighter per exam time? Or how did I manage to not stay up the whole time during the All-Night Grad party (bleachers = nap time)? It’s beyond me. Guess we’ll just chalk it up to the fact I know what I’m like with just 6 hours of sleep and it’s not pleasant. So why should I submit society to anything less than six? But last week, I did it, survived and actually managed to go out in public with friends.

It all started on Wednesday. After a successful first date night (which I believe that phrase is usually an oxymoron), I had to chat with everyone under the sun about it. Which leads to the 4 o’clock hour rolling around and me still wide-eyed. So I sleep for maybe 3 hours before heading in to Werk. Needless to say, it was a glasses kind of day.

After weening myself off my usual 8-10 hours of sleep with that Wednesday night antic, I stare Thursday in the face. Thursday was my last midnight showing with Harry Potter. I don’t need to go into detail how traumatic this night was going to be for me, let alone coupled with an all-nighter.

It’s 2:30 in the morning as we wizarding-lovers finally make our way to the streets. Between the sugar high and special edition 3D Harry Potter glasses, I know sleep is no where in the near future. So after going home, I realize I’m not tired and proceed to read in the hopes I’ll fall asleep.

But I don’t. Because when I’m in a book, I can’t stop reading. And I won’t stop reading until I finish. So much for chapter breaks.

Then I see myself staring at the clock reading 8:15 and it dawns on me, that not only did I read Commencement in one night, I just pulled my first all-nighter.

And there you have it. My all-nighter didn’t include memorizing notes, a whirlwind evening in a foreign city or pain spasms preventing me from a slumber. Mine involved a goodbye to my favorite literary characters and a book about graduating and entering the real world.

A proper way to celebrate the night when it all ended.

Note: As Maggie can attest, my nights’ of sleeplessness caught up with me on Sunday as I managed to only wake for dinner. Jet lag isn’t just for international affairs…

Quickie: Old People Are Hilarious

I try every week to call over to Grammy and Grandpa’s house, mainly because the pearls/gems of hilarity that come out of their mouths can last me for a good two weeks. If Grandpa ever learns how to Skype, I’m going to start a YouTube Channel with our videos.

Ben Stiller got the same idea and got his dad, Jerry Stiller, and his old comedy act partner Anne Meara to do a Stiller & Meara show on Yahoo!. Ben sits them down in a room and they talk about topics going on today. It’s hilarious. Like pee your pants funny. Here’s Anne talking about Jersey Shore.

“They’re like trolls! She has a big knob on the top of her head, like a tumor.”

Quickie: It’s How You Look At It

Got a forward from Grandpa this weekend that just had an image I truly, truly loved. And now I’m scouring the web pages trying to find this.

A perfect reminder to let you know, no