Well, here we go again! Sorry I missed it last week, but I was still recovering from Disney.
1. My kinda souvenir. So, if you are just catching me for 5 on Friday, you should really check out my Disney vacation posts here. We just took the kids on their first Disney vacation last week and it was full of magic and memories. We had the dining plan, so all we really spent money on was a ton of toys junk for the kids. Nathan even brought home a $18 pirate walking stick that cost us an additional $25 to check since it was over sized. The hubby thought it would fit in my suitcase when he bought it with Nathan, uh. There was no way it was fitting in my luggage, its taller than my 4 year old. However, I had to bring something home for myself from this trip. I didn’t want a Mickey Mouse t-shirt or a black sequin Minnie Mouse headband. Nope, I wanted something practical.
Here is my kind of souvenir:
A beautiful shell beaded bracelet with leopard print.
I also got this silver sand dollar bracelet, I love how simple it is… and I fell in love with these silver earrings that are roses. These will definitely get more wear from me and Autumn had so much fun helping me select them at the store in Animal Kingdom Lodge.
2. State Shirt and Etsy Fail. State shirts seem to be really in right now, I have seen different kinds everywhere. I follow Jessica on little pumpkin grace and I saw that she was taking orders for these adorable state shirts on Gap tee’s. 
I had to put in an order for Autumn for a Missouri shirt and ohhh I cannot wait to receive it. Isn’t this example one adorable?
Speaking of Etsy. I am having a horrible experience with a different vendor on there. I ordered a monogrammed pocket tank shirt on June 4th and she promised she would ship it to me before my Disney trip at the beginning of July. She even wrote me a few weeks ago and told me she had shipped it and she would give me the tracking number. The day before we left for Disney I asked her for the tracking number as I had not received it. No response.
Then, I got back from Disney and the tank had still not arrived so I wrote her again and asked for either the tracking number or a full refund. No response. I write again asking for a response and her daughter writes and says her Mom (owner of shop) has been in the hospital the last week and she was trying to sort out the orders. AGH. Now, I would feel bad, but I thought she had shipped my order 3 weeks ago? And, where is this tracking number? And… why is the shop still open? (There are some pretty bad reviews on there, too… which I don’t remember seeing when I had ordered it. I think the shop was pretty new when I ordered back in June.)
Well, now I am not sure how to respond. I really feel I just want a refund at this point, especially if the lady is ill? I really don’t think my tank is done OR shipped. What do you all think I should do? Ugh! Why me! I will only order from trusted Etsy shop owners from now on!
3. Gallery Wall. I have selected a layout for the gallery wall I am working on and even went to Hobby Lobby and purchased the frames. I purchased 4 8×10’s and 3 5×5’s… I found a wonderful deal on a 16×20 canvas print and plan to purchase it soon. Now, I just need to figure out what prints I want to use… since Brian and I just got married last October and we had the kids in our wedding, I thought about doing an entire wedding themed gallery wall. BUT, I am also considering some wedding photos and some other photos that I have taken from the last year. I do want to do some in black and white and maybe experiment with some different mattes.
I mocked it up at Hobby Lobby and here is how the frames will lay on the wall. The 16×20 frame will be a canvas print, though.
4. Luna. I always tend to get hungry later in the afternoon before dinner time. I tend to binge on something that is unhealthy, like leftover pizza from a meeting at work or cookies or brownies left out from a food day from some department at work. I more often crave something sweet over salty. Everyone has been craving over Luna bars lately, which are 180 calories and can be used as a snack or a meal replacement. There is no way one of these could replace a meal for me, but it does offer me a quick and healthy snack option at work. They come in a variety of flavors, such caramel nut brownie, LemonZest, carrot cake, peanut honey pretzel, etc. 
I decided it would be cheaper to buy an entire box of them off of Amazon and I selected S’mores for my flavor! YUM! It tastes just like a candy bar and fills me up until dinner. I usually eat one around 3:30 p.m. and dinner is around 6:00 p.m.
5. Private Restaurant. I mentioned before that Brian has had a membership to an exclusive restaurant here in St. Louis for over a year and we had not dined there once! Our membership is only for week nights, not weekends (the weekend membership list is full!) so it was near impossible to get there on a week night with all of the kids activities during the school year. Since the schedule with the kids is a little different during the summer, we were able to slip away for a nice dinner at Blood & Sand! Yes, isn’t the name sort of weird? We also had tickets to see South Pacific (my favorite musical ever!) at The Muny after dinner, so it was a perfect night!
The place was very private in that it did not even have a sign on the door, just a number. I love how the bar area and dining area is divided up by these frames hanging from the ceiling. Also, the bar had a chalkboard wall and I loved that!
Our drinks. They had quite an extensive mixed drink and cocktail menu and the bar was really hopping at this place. Brian tried their spiled ‘punch’ and I got a virgin cocktail. I love the antique glasses they served our drinks in!
This place is known for their truffled tator tots appetizer. Oh my gosh. My mouth still waters when I think of these. They were like soft butter inside, just amazing. I asked Brian, how did they do that?!
Another appetizer – tallegio cheese agnollotti. Delish. Mushrooms, toasted pecans, truffle honey.
You know how on the cooking shows, the owner expects each dish before it leaves the kitchen? The owner at this place did this!
Main dish and dessert. I got the grilled strip steak with brown butter and horseradish grits, HP sauce, carrot and leek. I told Brian I want to come back here and eat five orders of tator tots! YUM! They change the menu weekly, but keep popular items like their tots. I also want to try their scallops sometime soon! YUM!
