Now is it acceptable that we live downtown?

It finally happened... we have a full-service grocery store downtown. We always have our beloved City Grocers, but now Schnucks is here! I assume that NOW it is acceptable that we live downtown.




Whenever we tell people that we live downtown, the first question is, "Where do you get your groceries?" Same place you do - the grocery store. I usually will drive out of the city limits to shop, but now we have a real live grocery store with the Schnucks brand name! For my friends outside the St. Louis area that would be equivilent to Publix, Albertsons, ShopRite, Pathmark, Dominick's, etc.

Most people are shocked and can't imagine that we live with 2 toddlers and 2 dogs in a 7th story loft. How do we do it?

• We have an elevator, so getting down from the 7th floor is pretty easy. We've walked down the steps a few times - during an elevator outage and one unfortunate fire at Copia Winery (a favorite restaurant that was consumed by a fire last year). Aidan now understands the difference between going up and going down and is tall enough to push the elevator call button. Reese wants to assist so bad, but her time will come soon.



• We (mostly Daryl) walk the dogs 3 times a day. Both Tyson and Haley have always been walked, so no adjustments for them. The downtown "Scoop the Poop" campaign provides bags at various locations around the city so that we don't leave our poop on the stoop.



• Our apartment is 1500 square feet, the Gourleys don't take up that much space - so it seems to work out. This is a lie - my junk and the kids' toys take up about 1000 square feet and we live in the other 500 square feet.



• The kids love to take walks to the Arch and City Garden. They run, kick balls, play in the water, etc. Daryl and I hate to take care of a yard so it is a win-win for everyone involved.



• The kids attend daycare downtown 1 mile west of our loft. Daryl and I both work less than 1 mile east of our loft and we walk to work.
  

Everything that we need is within reach. Aforementioned grocery store is also within walking distance of our loft. We never need to leave downtown.

Our apartment building. Our loft is on the 7th floor. We have the middle two arched windows.

We are city dwellers and we love it. Wouldn't change a thing.

Belated birthday parties - 8/14

We were unable to go to Chicago for my nephew Elijah's birthday and my family was unable to come down to St. Louis for Reese's birthday. We decided to do the next best thing and meet up at a McDonald's half way between St. Louis and Chicago for some cousin bonding time.  Somewhere 3 hours north of St. Louis, we met for Chicken McNuggets.

Uncle Batman - July 24 - 26

Uncle Jeff, Aunt Jill, Kelsey and Brian came to St. Louis to visit with us and celebrate Reese's birthday.

Reese loves to play with her birthday present.  She loves dolls, especially ones with accessories.

We took them to City Garden and had a great time playing in the fountains and on the sculptures.

Daryl and Jeff rode motorcycles for the afternoon and the rest of us spent the afternoon at St. Louis Mills. We also took them to one of our favorite restaurants, Vitos for some delicious Italian food. Turns out Aidan and Reese both love to dip their bread in Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar. So yummy and hilarious at the same time to watch toddlers dip their bread.

Aidan got a kick out of sitting on Jeff's motorcycle. He's just one of the guys too! Aidan also thinks Jeff actually is Batman. I can't wait until the next time we go to Chicago and Jeff can show Aidan the rest of his Batman collection.

Wedding Gifts to Cherish (part 2)

My father-in-law reminded me about the gift he gave us... He let us borrow his Thunderbird as out get-away car. My dad told most of the guests that it was our wedding present. Not exactly. Turns out this beauty is part of Daryl's "inheritance." This is listed in the will next to the vintage mixing bowls that I'm getting! Woo Hoo!

Our family and friends are truly the most amazing gift of all. We are blessed to have been accepted with open arms into each other's family and circle of friends. We've added several new friends over our years together and we've had a few additions to our growing families.

On our wedding day, we assembled the finest bridal party. They helped us celebrate the entire weekend of our wedding. They were even cool enough to get into the fountain at Kiener Plaza in downtown St. Louis for this photo op. I couldn't believe how much fun it all was! This area is a popular spot for wedding photos and there was another bride and her crew waiting to take their pictures after us. Her bridal party was hollering, "Yeah, that's awesome, we should totally do that too!" Their bride looked at her crew and shook her head with a disgusted look on her face. "Oh NO you will NOT get into the fountain." Sorry people, my wedding party is better than yours.





Shanna, Hays, Daryl, Brent, Colleen, Colette, Emily, and Cole. Yes - Hays, Daryl and Brent all took their pants off (those are the black blobs on the ground), but thankfully kept their boxers on.

Wedding Gifts to Cherish

As we continue to celebrate our 10 Year Anniversary, here is a list of wedding gifts I still cherish:

1. The COLANDER given to us by Colette. Daryl posed for a picture with it on his head when we opened it the day after our wedding. We now use it often for culinary masterpieces such as Spaghetti, Macaroni & Cheese and Cheese Ravioli

2. The METAL TISSUE BOX give to us by Jennifer (Cohan) Kalteaux. It is always filled with a tissue box and because it looks so cool, it doesn't matter what the box inside looks like. Although it must be plain tissues because Daryl is allergic to the ones with Lotion, Aloe or other fancy products. This went unnoticed for almost 2 years as I continued to buy the fancy tissues until Daryl finally set me straight.

3. Set of 10 GLASS MIXING BOWLS. We got two sets at my bridal shower and I can't remember who they were from. I think one was from Aunt Margie and the other was from Aunt Jill or Aunt Peggy. When we registered, I HAD to have these bowls. There are 10 glass bowls and they keep getting smaller and smaller and the smallest one is teeny tiny. Daryl thought they were useless, but I HAD to have them. I use them all the time and I always put Ketchup, Honey Mustard or any other dipping sauce in the smallest one. They always come in handy on Taco Night!

4. DRESSER. My Uncle Fred gave us money that we used to purchase a dresser from Gothic Cabinet Craft in Brooklyn, NY. It was our first piece of "adult furniture" and the first piece that we purchased together. Gothic Cabinet Craft sells unfinished pieces of furniture, so we picked out the stain and spent a weekend sanding and staining it together. It was a great team building exercise until I realized how messy Daryl is with the stain and vowed to complete all future wood staining projects myself. Yes, Daryl I do intend to stain the cabinets that you installed in our bedroom.

5. WHITE DOVE CANDLE from Christie and Drew Wright. As we were preparing to take our vows, we decided that we would always communicate with each other and if the "you know what" was really hitting the fan we should have a symbol (like a candle or something) that one of us could put out for display so that the other would know, but we wanted to save it for something really serious. When we opened the candle, we just knew that this would be our symbol. To this day, we have not lit the wick.


6. VINTAGE GUEST BOOK from Natalie and Tim. Our wedding guests signed the book and from time to time I read it. I love the comments and well wishes from our family and friends.

7. WEDDING video "produced" and "directed" by my uncle Jeff. We watched it again a few years ago and I loved being able see us take our vows from a "bird's eye" view. I was so nervous that day and it seemed to go by so quickly, it really helped to take the time to watch it on video. I treasure that we have these memories captured forever - on VHS, no less. We currently have only 4 VHS tapes including our wedding video a sign of the times, I guess.

10 years and counting...

Hard to believe that Daryl and I have been married for 10 years. We celebrated our 10 year anniversary on August 21. We enjoyed a romantic dinner at Vin de Set and took a walk on Washington Avenue. During the evening we reflected on the past 10 years. Our lives are so much different and it was nice to remember our wedding day, our life in New York and New Jersey, our dogs, the birth of our children, and now our life in St. Louis.

We have changed so much and we have learned so much about ourselves and each other over the past 10 years. Daryl was 25 years old on our wedding day and I was 21. For most people it may have seemed like we were so young, and we were. On our wedding day we talked about how lucky we were to be able to grow up and old together. During our 10 year anniversary dinner, we toasted to being able to celebrate our 65th anniversary. Cheers! Daryl will be 90 years old and I will be 86 - I hope we can still pick up our own wine glasses by then.

Who won the fight?

No, that is not a shadow, Reese has a black eye. She came home from daycare yesterday with this shiner on her left eye. Given her feisty attitude, Daryl and I both thought she must have gotten into a fight over Legos with another kid. The accident report states otherwise - thank goodness! If it was a fight, I would hate to see the other guy.

No permanent damage done - she may still be able to be a teen model. A little Vaseline and some time and she'll be back to normal. My kids are prone to bruises and bumps so I always have a first aid kit handy.

The Poo-Poo Platter

Natalie, Guy, and Levi were in town for a family friend's wedding and we took every advantage we had to see them. We had fun cousin playing time on Monday and when Natalie planned a girls night out for downtown, we decided to stop by to say "hi."

"We" included the entire Gourley clan - Daryl and I, Aidan and Reese, and the dogs - Tyson and Haley. We got to spend a few minutes saying "hello" to Natalie's girlfriends before their delicious dinner at Mosaic (my recommendation - because it's my favorite). It was great to catch up with the girls - Daryl has known some of them his entire life and I have had the pleasure to get to know a few of them as well over the years. We hugged and wished them a great dinner and were on our way to continue the rest of our walk.

On our way back to our loft, the unthinkable happened - the Poo-Poo Platter! Any of you dog walkers out there know that the purpose of the "dog walk" isn't always for exercise and fresh air - it is your dog's bathroom break. Well, combine the dog walk and the sidewalk cafe and you've got yourself a Poo-Poo Platter. We always try to avoid the situation, but last night as we were walking past the Kitchen K sidewalk diners, nature called Tyson and he answered.

Wisconsin, weddings, and a whole lot of fun!

This past weekend, the Gourleys traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to celebrate the marriage of one of my oldest friends, Colleen. Colleen and Chad were married in Hawaii in May and they hosted a reception at their home this weekend. As a gift to them, I created and sent the invitations above.

This marriage is extra special to me for many reasons.

First, I have know Colleen since I was 13 years old. We've been through a lot together and we've grown up together. We once lived together at her Aunt Beryl's home, we shared joint custody of 3 rats (and many more when they had babies), she tried to teach me how to drive stick shift, she was in the car when my uncle Jeff tried to teach me to drive and I got his Firebird stuck on the grass median, she was my maid of honor, I was at her baby shower when she was pregnant with Josh, and she was at my baby shower when I was pregnat with Aidan. We've been there for each other through the years and I was thrilled to be there for her to celebrate her marriage!


Second, I have also know Chad since I was 13. He is such a great guy and I know that he loves Colleen and Josh (Colleen's son) very much. I am so happy that these two friends found each other. Third, this marriage wasn't just the joining of two people, it was the joining of a family. A growing family... Colleen and Chad are expecting a little Techtmann this spring.

We had so much fun, the food was delicious, the cupcakes were sweet and all over my kids' faces. I reconnected with old friends. It was so much fun to watch my kids play with Colleen's son and my friend Cindy's kids. I looked at Cindy, who I have also known since high school and said, "We are really adults, aren't we?" I was so blessed to be able to introduce my family to Colleen's family. Having grown up together, they are almost like a second family to me. As I always say, "Good Times!"

We headed home on Sunday stopping in downtown Milwaukee to visit the Harley Davidson Museum. The kids (and Daryl of course) had a blast. Aidan put on his toughest face while he "rode" the motorcycles. Reese, being the tough chick that she is, "rode" too.

Later in the day we met my Mom, Grandma and brother, Gideon for lunch to have Chicago-style pizza. We took advantage of driving through the windy city and were able to spend some family time together.

The kids were exhausted and frankly, I was too. We had fun taking detours, but it was such a long trip home. I was so thankful for the DVD player, which kept us going. I was also thankful to my friend Holly who spent 2 hours on the phone with me. It was great to catch up with her and it kept me focused and alert for 2 solid hours of driving. It was all going well until my iphone battery was out of juice. Oh well, all good things must come to an end.