Central West End...

Justin and I took a little trip - ALL BY OURSELVES - to Saint Louis this past weekend for a little house hunting trip courtesy of Nestle-Purina, where he'll be interning this summer. It was a short trip, but it was so much fun! Honestly, we could have sat around and stared at each other for two days and it would have been fun without kids, as much as we love them.

Anyway, Nestle gave us a couple of options for housing this summer, so we skipped around holding hands like newlyweds while we toured apartments, neighborhoods and tried to figure things out. Ultimately, we could probably save a *little* money by living outside the city and moving ourselves and everything we'd need for a summer to an unfurnished place, but after checking out the central west end of the city and the FURNISHED corporate housing, we're sold.

I'm actually really excited about it all, living in the city for a couple of months. We're blocks from a huge park housing the (free) zoo, (free) museums, science center, public library and shopping, across from Applebee's (something like a dream come true for our kids, for whatever reason), and there's a Panera Bread right downstairs in our building. I don't know why, but for whatever reason that seems to epitomize city life to me, taking an elevator downstairs to some kind of deli on your way out to walk your dog (or kids, as the case will be for me) at the city park. It's happened a little later in my life than I planned, but I'm looking forward to a great adventure knowing full well it will only last two months, after which we'll be back to our yard and suburban life.

After checking out the area a little, we went to lunch at a kind of fun place in Saint Louis' *real* downtown area on Washington Ave.

It was so fun to see how things have changed in the few years since we originally moved to the area! The redevelopment projects are really coming along, and the buildings that have been rennovated really look beautiful! The businesses are coming back, and the city seems to be really coming to life. Anyway, this restaurant was really cute, and I had to include the picture of my darling hubby giving me the "I can't believe we're inside a restaurant and you're taking my picture, you weirdo" look. I have been kind of on a photography trip for a couple of weeks, actually, due to a little online course I have been taking to figure out what this thing will do, and I needed an indoor flash-free photo op. He made a cute, semi-willing subject.


After a day gallavanting wherever we wanted to go (in the city), including a random stop at public storage to close an old account and see some people Justin worked with at B&D, we finished off with dinner at the hotel. Then what do you do when you and your husband are away from home and have no kids with teeth to brush or needs that require your attention... for the first time in your marriage? You practice setting up a makeshift tripod in the window of your hotel, turn off all the lights and practice taking pictures of the Saint Louis skyline! Here are my favorites. You can see some window glare, but it was fun to try every little setting on my camera and figure out a little of what each is capable of -


Anyway, nothing fabulous, but it was a fun trip, and we're really looking forward to being back this summer! Thank you, Nestle!!!