It’s a hair of the dog morning here at The Fortress. Our list of accomplishments is long and so my breakfast of champions – gin and grapefruit juice – is warranted. We had a party for Beth’s birthday last night with a more extensive menu then we usually have at our BBQs. I made salmon and asparagus with this Argentinean Chimichurri dried red pepper sauce that I got out of the May issue of Gourmet Magazine (pg. 84). I suppose that giving the details would be a copy write infringement. We also had grilled spinach pesto chicken, acorn squash, goat cheese pizza, a nice Camembert, corn bread, macaroni & cheese, and stuffed peppers. All in all it was a good birthday feast with cupcakes for desert and Harry Potter napkins, hats, and plates from Vanessa for a theme.

Vanessa also took lots of pictures so I’ll have some of those up at some point. I was surprised at how little was drank and how early the night ended. We are all rounding some kind of corner such that while we once got ready to go out at ten-thirty we are now getting ready for bed at eleven. Everyone’s exit line had something to do with food coma. Maybe our evenings will continue to get earlier until they end before they start.

Jes, her mother, and I all went up to Bevo Mill early this morning for a tour and breakfast. I am so sold on this Kitsch location for our reception. Our waiter was a guy named Brad S. that I went to undergrad with at TSU. St. Louis continues to be a small town. Anyway, at Bevo there are gnomes and antlers everywhere. There are hideous tile murals that are on a par with my velvet ram wall hangings; one is covered in turkeys and such and it is just foul (he he). Think the Harry Potter Hogwarts’ dinning hall and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what the interior of the reception space looks like. The exterior is a Flemish windmill so our wedding will be rife with the quixotic. Ah well Sancho, the wheel of time defeats us all.

So, we are now locked on the twenty third of September for the wedding at Trinity and reception at Bevo Mill. Mary should be excited about that, if for no other reason than that she can walk home from the party. I think we are going to borrow from Dan and Yumi and stay at the Cheshire since we will no longer be living in St. Louis when this all goes down. Yup, it’s time to start looking for houses in H.