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Appreciating Friends and Family

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Last Friday was a good day for my site:

1. The St. Charles Community website offered a nice lead-in to my post on Picasso’s Coffee House in St. Charles.

2. The Cuba Mural Project blog wrote an post about me, linking to my post on the Cuba, MO Race to the Rocker, a 4-mile road race culminating at the world’s largest rocking chair.

3. My wonderful mom created this card for me, directing many, many readers from her successful paper crafting blog to smalltowngirlsguide.com.

Thank you St. Charles Community, Cuba Mural Project, and MommaG for making Friday a very good day for smalltowngirlsguide!

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While I was at the Bonne Terre Public Library on Monday, I pulled out a copy of my mom’s North County High School yearbook. Check out the hottie on the upper-right corner of the spread.

MilliGFunk's Momma, photo by MilliGFunk

Turns out my mom was a cheerleader and on the pep squad. I had NO idea! I knew my trip to the library would teach me some things, but I never guessed it’d teach me about my own mom. Small Town, Missouri is FULL of surprises lately.

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Months ago, a woman named Lisa reached out to me on twitter after seeing my posts about the transition from New York City to rural Missouri. We tweeted together and exchanged a few emails before meeting in person for the first time this week.

Lisa is a photographer, and my brother and I wanted to have professional pictures taken together for our parents for Christmas. On short notice, Lisa and her photography partner Raquel not only made arrangements to do our photographs, they were incredibly flexible when the weather was unexpectedly unfavorable.

On the morning of our session, Lisa and Raquel found a beautiful alternate location that would accommodate our needs despite the cold, December rain. Two days before Christmas, they met my brother and I for the first time, and were so personable that even my very quiet brother was laughing and smiling for the session.

Needless to say, my parents were thrilled with their Christmas gift, and John and I were beyond pleased with Lisa and Raquel’s work. You can follow Lisa on twitter (@LeesaB) or check out our online photo gallery here. If you’d like a more detailed recommendation on Lisa and Raquel’s photography, feel free to email me at smalltowngirlsguide at yahoo.com.

Credit: Lisa Nikole Photography

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Cranberry Walnut Thumbprints, photo by smalltowngirl

Cranberry Walnut Thumbprints, photo by smalltowngirl

Let it be state for the record that I am NOT vegan, and that I love cookies. These cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar blew every pre-conceived notion of what a vegan cookie should taste like out of the water.

For those of you who don’t already know this, vegans don’t eat any products derived from animals. There is no egg, no milk and no butter in these cookies, but you’d never known it.  These cookies were moist and rich and absolutely lovely. If you like jelly on warm toast, you’ll like this recipe. These cookies taste like fall feels.

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Also check out Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: Peanut Apple Pretzel Drops

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photo by smalltowngirl

Christmas is four days away, and I’m curled up in my pajamas with several inches of show outside. My best friend and I are spending this snowy December day experimenting with vegan cookie recipes at her parent’s home in the Chicago suburbs.

"Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar" Cookbook, photo by smalltowngirl

Our cookbook of choice today is “Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar,” and the first recipe we’re trying is for Peanut Apple Pretzel Drops. Peanut Apple Pretzel Drops include, among other things, dehydrated apple slices, crushed pretzels, crushed peanuts, flaxseed, and cinnamon.

Apples and Pretzels, photo by smalltowngirl

Neither of us are accustomed to cooking in her mom’s oven, so our first batch turned out a little bit crispy on the bottom.

Oops.

Crispy, photo by smalltowngirl

We were able to salvage the top half of each cookie in the first batch, and the second batch turned out well.

Road trips to Chicago to see friends is one of the many things that I’m beginning to see as an advantage to life in the Midwest. Our day together involved Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies and Cranberry Walnut Thumbprints, too. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow to hear about those though. Happy Holidays!

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When I moved back to Missouri, I decided I’d use twitter and my blog to try to stay as connected as I could to things and people I wasn’t geographically near. I’ve come to use them both to make new friends, as well.

I believe in finding the good in bad situations. The good in being taken advantage of by people representing themselves falsely online is that I’ve come to really, genuinely appreciate the real-life interactions I’ve had with legitimate friends I’ve met online.

You already know that my trip to Washington, Missouri for the YMCA’s Holiday Homes Tour ended with amazing pie at Cowan’s restaurant. What I haven’t mentioned yet is that dinner at Cowan’s included meeting a friend in person for the first time who I know from twitter.

Cowan's; A Place to Meet, photo by smalltowngirl

Cowan's; A Place to Meet, photo by smalltowngirl

I’ve been tweeting with @ladyniko for months, and it was great to put a face and real-life personality with what was previously a series of 140-character tweets and an 80×80 pixel avatar. My experiment of using twitter and a blog to make new friends in Missouri and stay in touch with friends in other places has been a successful one.

@milligfunk and @ladyniko, photo by smalltowngirl's mom

@milligfunk and @ladyniko, photo by smalltowngirl's mom

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The latest St. Louis-area twitter meet-up took place on Tuesday night in O’Fallon, Missouri. A small group of hard core tweeps bundled up for the cool air and fought St. Louis rainy day traffic to walk through the Celebration of Lights.

@meghoulihan gave us the VIP walk-through, complete with behind-the-scenes stories about the display. The total tweet-up head count was nine people. Not bad, considering that it was 34 degrees and raining.

Thanks to @bobbyautry for letting us use his camera to take this picture. In case you can’t see it, the signs point to St. Louis and New York, among other places.

Happy Holidays to all my tweeps in both cities, and thanks to @meghoulihan, @versadave and @jenn_if_er for helping to promote this tweet-up.

#stlchristmaslighttweetup

#stlchristmaslighttweetup

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Attending the #stlchristmaslightweetup 2009 were: @meghoulihan, @jenn_if_er, @bobbyautry, @tojosan, @nanna_j, @donhead, @donhead’s kiddo, and my friend Tony!

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To read about my last #stl #tweetup, check out this post about Jack Dorsey’s visit to St. Louis in September.

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McKinnis Home, photo by smalltowngirl

McKinnis Home, photo by smalltowngirl

On Sunday I took my mom on a small town blogging adventure to the Washington, Missouri Holiday House Tour. One of my favorite features of the homes we saw was the fireplace in The McKinnis House, which was decorated in letters that spelled “Believe”, along with lots of whimsical, wintery accents and Christmas stockings.

Believe! photo by smalltowngirl

Believe! photo by smalltowngirl

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The Homes Tour also featured the following locations:

St. Peters United Church of Christ

The Kriete Home

Hillerman Nursery & Florist

The Meyers Home

The Schneider Home

The Gildehaus Home

Gary Lucy Gallery & Home

The Prenger Home

Tickets for the tour were $10 in advance or $15 at the door, and were available for purchase at Four Rivers Area YMCA, Hillerman Nursery & Florist, Urban Accents, Four Seasons Florist and the Gary Lucy Gallery. Stay tuned for more pictures and writing about smalltowngirl’s experience on the 2009 “Homes for the Holidays” House Tour.

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Holiday Tree, photo by smalltowngirl

McKinnis Family Tree, photo by smalltowngirl

Today was a mother-daughter blogging adventure in the town of Washington, Missouri. Washington is on the Missouri River west of St. Louis, and while it’s not a tiny town, it’s downtown has a historic, small, river town feel about it. Decorated for Christmas, the town left a nice impression on this small town girl’s heart.

After months of subtle hints from friends to make the trek to Washington, it was the Four River Family YMCA’s “Homes for the Holidays House Tour” that finally inspired my visit. The homes tour included eight homes and businesses and a church, and though my mom and I weren’t able to visit all nine locations, we both really enjoyed our day.

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The Homes Tour featured the following locations:

St. Peters United Church of Christ

The Kriete Home

The McKinnis Home

Hillerman Nursery & Florist

The Meyers Home

The Schneider Home

The Gildehaus Home

Gary Lucy Gallery & Home

The Prenger Home

Tickets for the tour were $10 in advance or $15 at the door, and were available for purchase at Four Rivers Area YMCA, Hillerman Nursery & Florist, Urban Accents, Four Seasons Florist and the Gary Lucy Gallery. Stay tuned for more pictures and writing about smalltowngirl’s experience on the 2009 “Homes for the Holidays” House Tour.

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This Thanksgiving I had more to be thankful for than I can articulate. Among the things I found myself the most thankful for were:

My dad’s health.

My brother coming home for the holiday.

Not having to travel to come home for the holiday for the first time in a decade. (NYC = 0; MO=1)

My family, in general. I love them. They’re amazing.

My old friends. I have some of the world’s most caring and devoted friends.

My new friends; moving to Missouri has provided the opportunity to meet fun new people.

My health. It’s a blessing that I have the physical well-being to trek around Missouri independently; hiking, taking photographs, and writing about this state.

My job, which keeps me interested and challenged, allowing me to grow and learn.

My faith, which even the events of 2009 haven’t been able to take away from me.

My taste buds; there are so many wonderful flavors in the world. I’m thankful I can enjoy chocolate martinis and meat on a stick and turkey and dressing and good cups of coffee.

My travels. I’ve lived in many places, and I’ve seen many more than that.

My education.

Reconnecting with old friends. I’ve had a great time lately, hanging out with new old friends!

Twitter; for helping me find the beginnings of a community in St. Louis when I live and work 70+ miles away in a small town.

Readers. i.e. YOU. For reading what I write and looking at the photos I take. For encouraging me when I’m down and reminding me why I make this blog a priority.

And a fun picture from yesterday’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I walked in it for work, taking pictures of our volunteers and staff, and helping to promote our organization. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!

Happy Thanksgiving! photo by smalltowngirl

Happy Thanksgiving! photo by smalltowngirl

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