Anna-thology

such a great day!

Having so much fun with the nearly famous Kim. We spent ten hours out messing around today. Started at the Alton store with 20% off our purchase (so fun!). I mostly found ribbon and paper - shocking, I'm sure. Then we were off to Red Lead. Oh my stinking fun!!! Love that store. Seriously, sensory overload. So dramatic and intense and crazy and beautiful and more than a little intimidating. Can't wait to go back. It was kind of like Moulin Rouge in a paper arts store, if that puts words into it at all. I had to laugh too, because I looked so stinking preppy today, stuck out like a sore thumb, but hey, it's me. Kim took this crazy picture of me, which I love! (except the manican is more stacked than me, but that's the story of my life!) Lots of exclamation points today, it was just that kind of day.

So after our fix at Red Lead we found another (terrible) scrapbook store down on Manchester, I seriously bought one piece of paper for my Paris trip - this crazy baggage claim paper with a giant arrow on it, couldn't resist - and 4 ribbon photo corners, a grand total of $1.61 or something similar. Kim didn't buy anything. We left that store (?) and decided it was time for an Archiver's fix, so we headed over to Chesterfield mall and met the rest of the fam for Chick-fil-A too. Then off to the Galleria. So fun. Finally got to check out Urban Outfitters and Anthropology, two of HKS's favorite stores. UO was very trendy, lots of inappropriate reading material in there, but some very funky artwork that I found inspiring. Loved, loved LOVED Anthropology. Couldn't afford a pair of shoelaces in that place, but what an amazing place to suck up the vibes and pump them onto a scrapbook page! I could have wandered around that store for hours, just enjoying the whole experience, but two kids and a husband didn't quite 'get' it. Very vintage chic flea market but new. An experience, to say the least. We also checked out a jewelry store and Crate&Barrel, which I loved and can't wait to go back. At the very least I feel like we grasped a lot of what St. Louis had to offer this afternoon and I feel blessed to live here. We are thinking about doing the botanical gardens before Kim leaves because admission is free during the month of January and that's a picture op I can't really pass up.

I love how Kim is so good with my kids. We didn't spend a lot of time with them today (such a nice day off!) but when she's been with them she's always so patient and loving and kind, where I want to stuff them in a closet and find some chocolate, not always, but definitely sometimes. Eli woke her up at 7am - which is so sad because this is single Kim's weekend, not used to little sleep-rumpled children climbing into bed with her at the break of dawn. And she was so sweet about it. I'm so blessed to have her here, as I ignore her to blog. I just wanted to get this all down before I forget it. What an amazing day!