Whirlwind

Guys. I know it's been a while since our last update, but things have been B-U-S-Y! Which means I have lots to fill you in about. Fasten your seat belts.

Part One: Homecoming

If you didn't know, Mizzou invented the Homecoming tradition way back in 1911. Mizzou did it first, and Mizzou does it best. But don't take my word for it. Read more about it here. Even the TV show NCIS knows Homecoming started at MU.

What you may not know is that Mizzou Alumni Association (aka my employer) organizes the Homecoming celebration each year. Which means that yours truly gets to work it. It's a lot of extra hours, but it really is worth it when you see all those Mizzou alums come home and reconnect with campus. Totes fun. Except the 7:00am parade. That part sucks.

Casa de Anderson hosted several guests this Homecoming. My friend Nicole and her friend Lauren flew in from NYC to enjoy the festivities. They ended up staying a little longer than expected, but more on that in a minute. Our old pal Bryan Quick (Terrence, too) also came in from Colorado to partake in the fun.

Shannon, Nicole, Lauren, me, and Megan hanging at Quinton's.

Brent, Quick (Terrence), Alex, and Josh. Apparently they weren't having fun...except Josh.

So Homecoming went off without a hitch, and all of our guests were supposed to return to their respective homes on Sunday. Or so we thought. So we move on to part two...

Part Two: Hurricane Sandy

As I mentioned above, Nicole and Lauren live in NYC and as you may have heard the east coast (New York in particular) was hit with some unusual weather recently. Like a huge hurricane named Sandy.

So Nicole and Lauren got to extend their vacation in CoMo for a few more days. Which meant that they were able to partake in other fun things, like a Mizzou basketball game and...

Part Three: Halloween

Friends Stef and Jordan talked for weeks about how they wanted to throw a Halloween party at Casa de Anderson since we are the most likely to have trick-or-treat-ers. And since we like friends and candy, we obliged.

There was a debate as to whether call the gathering The 1st Annual Anderson Spooktacular or Hefferween. What's your vote for?

There were some excellent costumes, but the most popular costume at this party was Alex. Both Jordan and Brent dressed as him, complete with bald cap and golfing accessories.

They even have his goofy smile down...

Josh and Shannon also came through with a clutch costume based on the hilarious website Awkward Family Photos.

Josh was a big fan of the red turtleneck. 

Alex Gray's squirrel mask was also a big hit.

Sorry about my incessant giggling. I couldn't help it.

Halloween was a success and the hurricane house guests finally made it back to NYC on Friday morning. They ended up staying with us for more than a week and the house felt weirdly empty once they were gone. Nicole and Lauren...COME BACK!

Part Four: An Engagement!

The other Stefanie and Alex finally got engaged! We are SOOOOOOOO excited for them. (And I can't wait for Stef to start planning, since she was such a huge help as MOH for my wedding.) Woot!

Stef and Alex 2.0

Part Five: Decision 25

Josh's 25th birthday fell on Election Day this year, so Shannon hosted a birthday/election shindig and coined it Decision 25. It was fun watching the results with friends, but the real fun was seeing all of Josh's presents.

He got a lot of cheese.

Back-story on the cheese. Josh gave Shannon cheese for her birthday, so it was only fair that she (and a few others) return the favor.

Part Six: Mizzou Beats Tennessee

This past weekend Alex and I traveled to Knoxville to watch Mizzou beat Tennessee in 4 overtimes! It was a really great trip. We won, Knoxville is awesome, and we got to see our friends Jeff and Dusty. 

Victory is ours!

I think we had to listen to Rocky Top 23 times, but it was worth it to go home with the W!

Told you we've been busy!

Friend Invasion

Remember this guy?

How about him?

If not, meet Jeff and AJ. They were both integral components to our wedding. Jeff was Groomsman #2 and AJ was the emcee extraordinaire. Now they both live in Madison, WI. And they both came to visit last weekend. They're pretty much inseparable.

Alex and I were excited all week for Jeff and AJ to get to CoMo, so around noon on Friday this little text exchange occurred between Jeff and I:

          Steph:  JEFFFFFFFFFF! Have you left yet? Hurry up!!!!!!! I want to see you!!!!!!!!
          Jeff:     Just left! We're going 180 mph!

Don't worry...they didn't really drive 180 mph, but they did make it to Columbia in record time. We met up with them at Mizzou Madness (the kick-off for Mizzou Basketball). We had a great time and are definitely pumped up for basketball to start. (First game of the season is in 11 days.)

Aren't Jeff and I the cutest?

The highlight of the scrimmage was also the #1 play on Sports Center that night. Keion Bell dunked the ball while jumping over 6 people. Pretty amazing. If you haven't seen it, check it out.

Then we went to our CoMo fave, Addison's, to grab some dinner and watch the Cardinals game. FYI, I'm now 2-0 when it comes to watching epic Cardinals comebacks at Addison's. I was also there for game 6 of the 2011 World Series. But I think the real magic behind the comeback is in my friend Jordan's rally hood (or her hair).

Jordan's rally hood and majestic hair. 

Go Cards!

On Saturday, we headed to Faurot Field to watch the Tigers get slaughtered by the Crimson Tide. Everything was going according to plan when it started raining. A lot. Then lightening struck and everyone was asked to evacuate the stadium. It took forever to get everyone out so rather than waiting in line, AJ and I decided to have a dance party. We have no shame.

We were eventually asked to leave, so we tailgated in the parking lot for a bit before coming back in. The plus side of a rain delay? Most of the big alumni donors leave and we can sit in their seats!

50 yard line. 30 rows up. I could get used to this...but probably won't.

And now for a series of wet pictures where we look kind of happy, but were actually miserable...

Alex and AJ

Steph and Stef

Alex and Alex

In the end Bama won, Mizzou lost, and we were completely soaked. We eventually dried off and had a bunch of friends over for pizza and Cards Against Humanity. If you've never played Cards Against Humanity before it's like a really inappropriate (and really hilarious) Apples to Apples.

Despite the rain, it was great to see Jeff and AJ and we still managed to have a fun time. Now Casa de Anderson must prepare for its next friend invasion...HOMECOMING! T-minus 8 days!

Chi-City Fun (a very Swedish post)

A couple weeks ago Alex and I headed across I-70 and up I-55 to spend the weekend in the Windy City. We also met Alex's parents and brother for the weekend of fun. As a way to celebrate his dad's 50th birthday (which was last October btw...he turns 51 on Friday!) everyone decided the Anderson men should have some serious male bonding time at the Ryder Cup...especially since it was practically in our backyard. Or, you know, at least in the Midwest. Alex will cover his Ryder Cup experience in detail in a separate post, but for now you get to hear about my Chicago escapades!

While the men were out gallivanting at the golf tournament, my mother-in-law (Anna) and I had a blast shopping and visiting with friends and family members that live in Chicago. On Friday we met up with my old SWeven pal Bur (also known as Rachel Taylor) for some shopping at the Aurora Outlets. We snatched up several great finds (including a replica of Goldie the Watch for my friend Shannon...read more about that on her blog) but the deal of the day was at the Ecco Shoe Outlet. I found a pair of flats that retailed for $120 but were on sale for $50, PLUS they were having a buy one get one 50% off sale. BOOM! 2 pairs of shoes for $80. I'm still excited about the bargain two weeks later.

I forgot to take a pic with Bur, but here's an old
shot from our pre-married days circa 2008

After a day of shopping, Anna and I found the boys and then headed to dinner to see another set of old friends...Richard and Christa Payton. We've known Richard and Christa for a long time. Alex and I actually met through Richard our freshman year (he was our PA in the ResHall). Then we introduced Richard to Christa our sophomore year. That's how we roll. Making love connections since 2004.

It was great catching up with the Paytons

On Saturday the men headed back to the golf course, so Anna and I visited Andersonville. That's right, I married into a family that has a township. Jealous?

We even have banners. We're famous.

Ok, so maybe I'm not directly kin to the settlers of Andersonville, but it is a neighborhood in northern Chi-town with very Swedish roots. (For those who don't know, Alex is from Oakland...aka the Swedish capital of Nebraska.) Anna and I met Alex's cousin, Rachel, for an authentic Swedish breakfast at Ann Sather. In addition to Swedish pancakes, Swedish potato sausage and Swedish meatballs, they had the most delicious cinnamon rolls. And each roll was approximately the size of a softball. Yum with a capital "Y".

After breakfast Anna, Rachel and I walked around Andersonville visiting the various neighborhood shops. We also stopped and got our pictures taken with the village dala horse. Because a town is not truly Swedish unless it has a dala horse. (Oakland has one, too).

Anna and I with the dala horse.

Can you tell Alex's cousin Rachel is a Husker?

On our tour of Andersonville we ran in to a few particularly cool places and things. First, we stumbled across this awesome place called the Andersonville Galleria: a 3 story building with over 100 different independent artists and merchants. One of the booths had these fantastic graphic representations of several Chicago neighborhoods, including Andersonville. This was a must-have and will look great in the living room (when we finally get around to framing and hanging it).

Later we walked past a puppet show, performed out of a trailer hooked to the back of a bike. So random, yet so awesome.

Finally, we stopped by this comic shop aptly named Alley Cat Comics (you had to walk through this tiny alley to get to the store).

The shop itself was fine, but the true prize was running into Batman. Yep, Batman. There was this random guy (or maybe it really was Bruce Wayne) dressed as Batman perched atop one of the neighboring buildings.

Batman, in the flesh.

Perched in the shadows, observing Gotham...I mean Andersonville.

We had a blast spending time with Alex's family and then topped off our weekend-o-fun with a (not so) quick stop at Ikea on our way out of town. I'll spare you all of those nitty, gritty details, but we did walk away with a bunch of swag for the house. And I'm super pumped for Kansas City to finally get an Ikea in a year or so. It will definitely beat driving 5+ hours to the nearest Swedish mega-store.

There you have it. A very Swedish post...as promised!

Weekend Fun with Guinness

We love Guinness...the dog. (The beer is ok, too.)

This past weekend Alex and I got to spend some quality time with one of our favorite pups...Guinness! Our good friends (and Guinness' parents) Brent and Megan headed off to South Carolina for the Mizzou football game, and we were more than happy to watch their precious pooch.

Happy pup. He also makes a great foot warmer.

Even though the outcome of the Mizzou game was not exactly what we had hoped for, we still had a great time together. We snuggled on the rug and watched TV...

Snuggle time. 

He gives Project Runway two paws up.

Guinness also went on several walks, chased crickets in the back yard, and helped Alex and I install a new ceiling fan (more on that in a future post).

Side note: Josh LOVED having Guinness stay with us. Even though he was out of town for most of the weekend, we still heard the Parks and Rec Tom Haverford puppy voice numerous times. For those of you unfamiliar...

Alex and I did a few non-Guinness related activities last weekend as well, mainly getting our groove on at the Roots n Blues n BBQ festival on Friday night. We listened to several great bands (check out the Monophonics if you get a chance), danced like no one was watching (FYI, there were plenty of people watching; we just didn't care), and hung out with the other Stef and Alex.

The other Stef.

Fun times.

The highlight of the night was probably seeing Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros preform. It provided excellent tunes and even better people watching. Hippies make for endless entertainment. 

All in all...a great weekend!

Organization Progress

We're starting to make some serious progress with this whole house thing. Hizzah!

Last week Alex and I headed to Bed Bath and Beyond to burn through some of our wedding gift cards (thanks everyone!) and get organized. We left the store with a cart full of storage supplies and immediately went to work.

The biggest transformation is in our bedroom closet. We actually have three closets in our room (I know you're jealous), but this last one had two awkward shelves across the middle...and that's it. No hanging bar. No top shelves. Just a whole lot of wasted space.

Before. Blah.

To take advantage of all that vertical space we bought a couple of the Real Simple customizable shelves and set them on top of the middle shelf. Just look at that organized final masterpiece.

Ahhhhhh! The organization angels are singing.

The best part? Look at all of the cubbies for my shoes! Below is the ingenious system I had in place before the closet overhaul.

Shoe pile!

Much better, right? Alex says that my shoe collection is limited to the number of cubby slots, but we'll see how that works out. (I'm pretty sure I can fit multiple pairs in one slot.) We also did some arranging of the hall linen closet, but I fail and forgot to take a before picture. Here's the exhilarating final product anyway...

TGFT...Thank Goodness For Tubs

Now like items are stored in their own tub. (First aid, eyes, teeth, sun, etc.) Maybe I can borrow Mom's label maker and put on the finishing touches. OCD alert!

It's nice to finally have things put away and out of the "stash this here for now" home. We're headed to Chi-town next weekend and are planning to make a pit-stop at IKEA. Who knows what kind of storage goodies we'll come home with?

A Bit of Yard Work

We've been busy the past few weekends working on the yard.

Before

After

When we moved in EVERYTHING was completely overgrown and out of control. So Alex and I headed off to Home Depot to pick up a set of loppers and a couple pairs of gloves.

Our backyard jungle. (Mowgli was nowhere to be found.)

As we started feverishly attacking the growth, we encountered what we affectionately call "Evil Ivy". Seriously, it was straight out of the movie classic, Batman and Robin. What? You haven't seen it? Watch this clip...it symbolizes the epic battle that went down in on our backyard. 

Seriously though, that ivy put up a fight. And we did not leave unscathed. Just look at those thorns.

Sooooo evil.

We made our way across the backyard and got the majority of the brush cleaned up...we still have a little to go. So far, we've filled 25 big trash bags with yard waste. The trash guys love us. Speaking of trash, we found an eclectic assortment of items hidden in the brush. These items included an old lawn chair, a broom, an unopened can of Natty Light, a dog toy, a tennis bell, and even a sewer manhole. I guess the 7 bedrooms in the house didn't provide enough storage for the previous owners. 

The buried treasure. Not exactly what the pirates were hoping to find.

The morgue. Where limbs, bushes, and "evil" ivy go after their deaths.

We still have more to do, but it's definitely a step in the right direction. Stay tuned for future battles against "evil ivy"... same bat time, same bat channel.

Where have we been?

Whoops...it's been a while since we've given an update. Our bad. But we have been staying busy. Scout's honor. What have we been doing, you ask? Well...

• Steph went to Starkville, MS for the SEC Alumni Professionals conference.
• Alex experienced his second Hefferfest. (There were no rainbows chased this year.) As a veteran, he also got to pass on the Hefferfest newbie hat and initiate the newest members.
• We got a roomie. Josh moved in with us (just until December).
• Mizzou classes started with another year of record enrollment. Enrollment is at almost 35,000 students, meaning more work and more traffic!
• We did a TON of yard work. But we'll save those details for a separate post.

The only pic I took during Hefferfest. What a beauty, right?