gatewaygroupies

all star city

St. Louis will be the site of the 2009 MLB All Star Game!

That's so cool.

Love, Exciting and New

I'm more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants sort of gal, but for all you planners, here's the fudge on St. Valentine's Day, Wednesday, February 14, 2007.

Love is Observable: Observable Readings Does Valentine's Day @ the Royale, 8:00 p.m.

I've been through diamonds, I've been through minks, I've been through it all: love stinks. Are you single? Cynical? Both? Come congregate with your kind at The Royale on the night of Valentine's Day, with your Delilah-style hostess, Julie Dill. Sign up to vent your spleen on stage, or just watch as the loved and the lost render their favorite love songs, torch tunes, and kiss offs into performance poetry. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll drink beer and cocktails. And you'll forget all about what's-his-name. Come because you're angry, come because you're bored, but most of all, because love is like a cloud, it holds a lot of rain, oooh, love hurts.

Seriously, though the catharsis is more complete if you pick a gutwrencher, your song doesn't have to be a downer. We'll need a change-up after one of us polishes off her Debbie Gibson hat and lays her pain on the stage.

I'm stopping by Costco for a case of Kleenex. 

Tell your friends! Even better, bring them and don't tell them what it is! And who really needs an excuse to go the Royale?? Good food, great drinks, and superb company. You are welcome.

an annual in a perennial world

Along with ice, sleet, snow and slush, December brings with it the three busiest weeks of our calendar year (what does "calendar year" mean, seriously?). On top of fantastic one-time only events, December is also home to the birthdays of (in order of appearance on the monthly calendar, not on earth) my father, my sister, me, Cathy and Jesus. Me, Cathy and Jesus—we tight.

This weekend features:

Friday, December 8: The start of the Independent Art Market, which runs all weekend long at the Shaw Art Gallery. Tonight is the 52nd City (not 52nd Street, as the egregiously erroring edit staff at the St. Louis Post Dispatch wrote)'s Variety Show. Stefene and Thomas worked hard at this, so come watch the fun!

Saturday, December 9: Sake, Sushi and Fashion at the Shaw Art Gallery, followed by bursts of poetry readings from local poets. I have it on good authority that THIS is the place to be seen Saturday night, because all the dorks in the area (including Laine and I) have to go to the rescheduled Saint Louis University Information Technology holiday cocktail party at Orlando Gardens. I know you're crushed that you won't get to hear me quickly mumble read year-old, stale poems for ten minutes, but you'll soon forget when you hear the real writers lay down their lyrical stylings. The fashion show is a must-see, too. You'll want to be on the inside when St. Louis as a center for indie fashion finally catches on, and you know we don't take on fence sitters once the sails take wind.

Friday, December 15th, we'll be at Fruitcakes!, the Gateway Men's Chorus Holiday Concert, thanks to Lisa B., who generously got us tickets as a thank you for putting her up for a weekend layover. If you've never watched these guys, you should! Feast your ears on the beautiful man voices of dozens of gorgeous, stylish guys in tuxedoes. Just make sure your shoes match your purse.

My birthday is the 17th, and it's a big one: The very first year I'll be 29 years old! As usual, Cathy and I are having our dynamic duo birthday party. This year, she gets the early shift from 7:00 to 8:00, and I get from 8:00 to 9:00. E-mail me if you don't know where the party is.

Then we get a bit of a breather before Mother Marschik comes to visit (no one ever calls her that), and we're having a nice, laid back holiday at home. No food poisoning this year! The Friday after Christmas, we're heading to the vineyards of Hermann, Missouri for our second annual B&B getaway at Hermann Hill Inn. And holy crap, by the time we get back, it'll be darn near New Years Eve!

Ask me when I'm going to fit Christmas shopping in there, I dare you.