Update:

Home in Centralia. Spent yesterday wandering around STL w/ the family, Forest Park, then down to Laclede's Landing. First, we went in this freaky little wax museum that me, Krissa, and Cheryl explored 3 summers ago during a VERY hot Fair St. Louis...it was creepy but fun. For dinner we headed to the Old Spaghetti Factory right down the street. Good stuff. Happy Birthday to my mom! The whole restaurant sang to her and I think she was successfully embarassed. I really miss STL. I hadn't been down to the landing for...GET THS...almost three years! Afterwards. we hit Garden Ridge on the way home, and who did I run into but...la familia de el "ex-factor". Yeesh. After the obligatory "Hi, how are you?" and forced niceness, I forced myself NOT take another trip down memory lane, as I find I have been doing as of late. If the past two years have done anything for me, they have forced me to grow up and realize that my life is not necessarily going to resemble the cookie-cutter picture-perfect existence only seen in Happy Days or another unrealistic 50's sitcom...my life has had twists and turns and bumps and ups and downs, and frankly...I'm ok with that. It keeps things exciting. After all, what fun would life be if we all took the same path? Exactly.

Anyway, today we're having some typical Southern IL afternoon festivities (what do people do in SO-IL when it's summer and a nice day? Cook out, of course), and then I'll probably be heading back over to the 'lou with some friends from home for the evening. I'll talk to ya'll more later...if you're in town, and reading this, and I haven't seen you in awhile, you're welcome to stop by!