Even though I’ve moved to Colorado, I’ve remained subscribed to the Missouri Arts Council email marketing list. I like hearing about creative, artistic and cultural events in my home state, and MAC is good about providing regular updates.

When I saw this email from them today about the StoryLine Short Story Competition, the writer in me got excited. I’m no longer a Missouri resident, so I can’t enter the competition. If you’re a writer and a Missouri resident though, I encourage you to submit a 40-line story to the Missouri Arts Council StoryLine Short Story Competition.

From the Missouri Arts Council:

Can you bring a creative tale to life through writing? In exactly 40 lines? If you are up to the challenge enter the Missouri Arts Council StoryLine short story competition.

Submit an original fiction or non-fiction story exactly 40 lines, 6.5 inches wide @ 11pt Times. The story does not have to revolve around the arts or MAC, it just needs to be interesting and original to be considered. Stories will be judged based on originality and formatting needs. The chosen story will be published in the MAC FY11 annual report, as a line by page story from the beginning to the end of the report, and may also be presented on the MAC web site. The winning writer will also receive $100. If you are a Missouri resident send us your unique and engaging story by October 5th.

Send entries to:
Alexis Nugent
Missouri Arts Council
815 Olive Street, Suite 16
St. Louis, MO 63101
Toll free: 866-407-4752
alexis.nugent@ded.mo.gov

As a work at home Mom, I love to cook healthy meals for my family, but I also love convenience. This is why I absolutely LOVE shopping at the Dardenne Prairie Produce Market.

The market sits on the corner of Highway N, right outside of my lovely little community of Winghaven. I frequent this place quite a bit, in fact, I walk in and they know me!

Dardenne Prairie Produce Market, photo by Elisabeth Cutshall

The two owners, Shannon Yates and Jean-Paul Doyen, are helpful and approachable. Every time I am there, they are quick to show every customer how to pick out the perfect fruit or veggie, and they’ll even carry it to the customer’s car if it’s too heavy.

Besides all of their wonderful produce, Shannon and Jean-Paul also carry some fantastic local products (coffee, bread, spices, jams…). Both Shannon and Jean-Paul pride themselves on the quality of their products.

Dardenne Prairie Pineapple, photo by Elisabeth Cutshall

On more than one occasion I have heard them tell customers (myself included) that if we are not happy with our purchase, they would be more than happy to refund our money. They’re also more than happy to peel and core your pineapple, free of charge!

On the Dardenne Prairie Produce Market Facebook page, they update what new produce has arrived and also what is on special for the week. Since I am there so much, and since I’m such a social media dork, I always make sure to check in and tease them in some way or another…like requesting bloody mary’s or mimosas!

Dardenne Prairie Produce Market, photo by Elisabeth Cutshall

***

The Dardenne Praire Produce Market is located at 7397 Hwy N in O’Fallon, Missouri. You can find Dardenne Prairie Produce Market on Facebook, and you can reach them by phone at 636-240-3990. The stand’s hours are Monday – Friday from 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., Saturday from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

***

Elisabeth Kuebel Cutshall is a work at home mom, freelace makeup artist & fashionista, & former Fashion Editor.  For more by Elisabeth, visit her blog, follow her on twitter, and like her Facebook Business Page; Makeup By Elisabeth. You can also subscribe to her website here!

I’m moving away.

I’ll have 15+ hours in a U-Haul to listen to music while my loyal sidekick (Rosie) sleeps beside me.

I need music for the drive.

This is where you can help.

Leave me a comment with the song or songs that you think I need to have on my playlist for driving across Kansas, starting a new step in my career, leaving family (again), chasing my dreams, facing my fears, and embracing new opportunities.

I’m  sad about leaving ‘home’, excited about my next steps, and nervous about so many changes in my life. Help me build an incredible playlist to capture these moments, these feels, these fears and these dreams.

The tears are welling up as a write this. Make a small town girl smile and leave a comment with a song, will you?

1st Place in my Age Division

This weekend is the 49th Annual Azalea Festival in a small, southeastern Missouri town called Fredericktown. The Azalea Festival includes fair rides, a 5K fun run, a 1 mile walk, a car show, a sand volleyball tournament, an arts & crafts fair, a parade, and a queen coronation, among plenty of other activities for kids and families.

Fredericktown’s population is somewhere around 4,000 people, and the town is the county seat of Madison County, Missouri. Despite spending many weekends in Fredericktown as a child, I’ve never been back as an adult to the Azalea Festival until today, when I ran the 5K and attended the Rotary Club’s fundraising breakfast at the United Methodist Church.

The 5K road race was held at 8:00 a.m., and despite cool weather and heavy rain, there were still probably 100 or so runners at the starting line.  I’ve started incorporating  speed work, yoga, strength training and resistance training into my training regiment to try to relieve pressure on my injured foot while strengthening some of the core muscles of my hips and thighs (thanks for getting me started, Pro Rehab!). I guess the speed work paid off, because I cut a couple of minutes off of my previous personal best 5K time today, and I won my age division.

First Place in Age Division

If you’re interested in getting more active or adding running to your lifestyle, small town races like this one are a really fun way to get started. From spring through fall in Missouri there are countless opportunities to sign up for fun run/walks of various distances (1-mile, 5K and 10K are some of the most popular distances).

The registration fees  for races like the Azalea Festival 5k are usually reasonable, you’ll feel your adrenaline pulse a little bit as you line up at the starting line with other people who are trying to stay healthy, and you’ll feel really accomplished later when you wear your race t-shirt. If you feel even the tiniest itch to get more active, I can’t encourage you enough.

Photo by Lisa Nicole Photography

Earlier in 2011, my good friend and colleague Jamie Vollmer from Inspire PR and Events contacted me to ask permission to suggest me to a statewide magazine called Missouri Meetings & Events. Jamie had been writing for them for some time and thought that I would make a good addition to their freelance writing team.

Many thanks to Jamie for making this connection for me. This was the first state-wide print publication I had written for, and I’m pleased with the way the story turned out. Missouri Meetings & Events must have been pleased, too, because they contacted me to write again for their summer issue.

Watch for me in the summer issue of Missouri Meetings & Events, and watch for more of my writing coming up on the Missouri Division of Tourism blog in May!

Chesterfield Mall's "Artropolis", photo by MilliGFunk

After more than two years in Missouri, few things still surprise me, and even fewer bring me to genuine, unforced optimism that borders upon giddiness. Today’s stop off at Chesterfield Mall’s The Foundrie was one of them.

MilliGFunk rockin' her new "Gimme MO Love" shirt by Megan Lee Designs

The Foundrie is a carefully curated boutique selling the work of local artists, crafters and independent designers. They opened up in the mall two years ago over the holidays, and after two years as a successful temporary shop, decided to give a full-time business a shot in 2011.

The Funk gives MO Love...

While I give MO love with this great t-shirt by Megan Lee Designs, you should give The Foundrie some love. I know that I’ll be back there. Check them out online or stop into the Sears wing of the Chesterfield Mall in Chesterfield, Missouri if you’d like to visit them in person.

Grace in Small Things

Little things that rock about early springtime in Small Town Missouri:

1. Fresh air coming in through open car, office or home windows.

2. Spring rains pounding down on the metal roof of my cabin in the woods.

3. Yellow daffodils dotting the sides of country highways.

4. The fluffy blossoms of Bradford pear trees.

5. Longer, sunnier days.

]]> http://smalltowngirlsguide.com/2011/grace-in-small-things-gist-442011/feed/ 0 http://smalltowngirlsguide.com/2011/one-of-those-days/ http://smalltowngirlsguide.com/2011/one-of-those-days/#comments Sun, 27 Mar 2011 20:00:38 +0000 MilliGFunk http://smalltowngirlsguide.com/?p=3293 The last three weeks have been challenging.  Much of what’s been happening in my little nook in Small Town Missouri is pretty fantastic, but I’ve been pushed far outside of my comfort zones in my personal and professional life thanks to new opportunities I’ve been given.

Growth isn’t a comfortable thing, which is why I’ve been particularly quiet online in March. It’s hard to write with any kind of perspective on the storms that you’re in the center of. This weekend has provided me with some rest and reflection time, and I think I’m ready to begin sharing some of my March stories with you.

Today’s story is about Wednesday, March 9th.

The places are University City, Sunset Hills and Small Town Missouri.

The leading character is – you guessed it – Me.

Supporting characters include The Bison Rancher’s Daughter and Rosie the Dog.

I had a job interview on Wednesday, March 9th. The interview was scheduled to take place at 9:30 a.m. in Small Town Missouri, and it was a panel interview with my current Executive Director, Associate Executive Director, a powerful board member and the Executive Management Team at the office. I was to present a sales proposal to them before answering their questions in traditional interview style.

I had to work in St. Louis all day on Tuesday, March 8th, so I’d decided to stay at The Bison Rancher’s Daughter’s apartment with her that night to ensure that I got a good night’s sleep before driving to work. My day Wednesday was scheduled down to the minute:

5:30 Wake Up

6:10 Drive Out of U City

6:30 Grab Breakfast & Coffee

7:30 Arrive at My Small Town MO Cabin

7:30-9:00 Final Presentation Run-Through, Get Dressed, etc.

9:30-11:30 Interview

11:30-1:00 National Conference Call of a Work-Related Marketing & Branding Committee I’m Part of

2:00 Leave the Office for…

3:00-5:00 Physical Therapy Appointment in Another Small Missouri Town (1 hour from my town)

The day began exactly as planned, with my alarm clock going off at 5:30 a.m. I hopped out of bed, showered, gathered my things, grabbed Rosie, and headed to my car. That’s when I found this:

6:10 a.m.

I stubbornly pride myself on being able to handle things like flat tires without anyone else’s help, so I put Rosie in the car, popped the trunk and dug for the tire iron and jack. I cranked and cranked at the jack until the car was almost high enough up off the ground for the spare tire to fit when the car suddenly fell back off the jack.

I didn’t put on the parking brake.

I’m an idiot.

Insert expletives here.

The tears and the curse words began flowing in equal proportions as I walked to the driver’s side of the car to put the parking brake on. The Bison Rancher’s Daughter had come outside by this time and was ready to help me. Together, we managed to get the flat tire off and put the spare tire on. It was 7:00 a.m.

Unfortunately though, I wasn’t going to make it 75 miles home on that spare tire in time to change clothes and give my 9:30 a.m. presentation. It was at about this time that my phone buzzed in my pocket. A text message from my Associate Executive Director read, “We’ve managed to push your interview back to 11:00. Take your time and be safe.”

I work with such good people.

Fixing the Flat

The Bison Rancher’s Daughter also had to drive back to Small Town Missouri that morning, so she offered to let Rosie and I hitch a ride with her. We loaded my flat tire into her back seat, gathered Rosie and my things and headed south to our shared small town. I was determined to be positive and have a sense of humor about the day, and I decided that things could only look up from there.

Things are Looking Up

Oh, how wrong I was.

At around 7:30, we pulled into St. Louis Bread Company in Sunset Hills to grab breakfast and coffee for our drive. The Bison Rancher’s Daughter waited in the car with Rosie and Mr. T (her dog) while I ordered our food.

As I walked back to the car I had a moment of what can only be described as complete and utter lack of grace. Both feet became hung up in a concrete parking bumper at the front of a parking space. My body, a bag of bagels, a glass of water and a regular skim latte flew through the air in some cruel choreography of the cosmos.

The Bison Rancher’s Daughter’s glass of water slid through my fingers and flew through the air in front of me. In slow motion, the lid came off the cup, water splashed through the air, and gravity began pulling the cup, the water and the lid back towards the earth.

My body followed, as all of my weight was introduced to the asphalt parking lot via my left kneecap. My priorities in life became clear to me in retrospect when I realized that I had held on firmly to my latte and our bagels, all of which were in my left hand. My left elbow must have been the second place on my body to make contact with the asphalt. I landed on the asphalt with the latte still upright in my hand.

Finally, my right hand and right leg made contact with the ground. The palm of my right hand was sliced open by something (gravel maybe?) and I was bleeding a lot. My jeans were brown and black from kneeling to fix the morning’s flat tire and falling on the dirty parking lot. I couldn’t straighten out my left knee, and I wondered as I sat there, sobbing, if I’d broken my knee.

The Bruise

The Bison Rancher’s Daughter came running from the car to check on me. We sat together, her consoling while I cried, feeling like the world was completely out of my control on a day when I so badly needed to believe that I was the one controlling everything in it.

After several minutes, The Bison Rancher’s Daughter helped me stand up and limp my way to the passenger seat of the car. By this time, adrenal fatigue had set in and all I could do was sit, crying quietly in the passenger seat of her hybrid, Rosie in my lap.

Eventually we made it back to my little cabin in the woods, where I got ready for my interview. When I walked into the bathroom to put my makeup on, I realized that my latte had splashed out of its cup and into my hair, which now looked very 1980s scrunchy and crunchy. My skirt suit clearly showed the massive bruise on my left knee, and there were streaks of blood across my face, presumably from the gash in my right hand.

I washed my face, brushed my hair, applied my make-up, did my presentation run-through, and headed to my presentation and interview. What else can you do beside put on your big girl suit, make yourself look as pretty as you can, and try to pretend that you haven’t just changed a flat tire and fallen on your face in a parking lot en route to an interview for a job you’ve had your heart set on for months?

Grace in Small Things

Small Town Life: It’s the Little Things

1. Spring nights spent reading books on porch swings

2. The sound of laughter as kids play outside

3. Short commutes to and from work

4. Old men in old pick-up trucks

5. Chirping crickets

Grace in Small Things

As Missourians brace for what is expected to be one of the worst winter storms in decades, I’m at home with my dog by my side, fighting off drowsiness. Despite a thickening layer of ice outside and progressively worsening news reports, there’s much to be thankful for today.

1. Family.

When the weather began rolling in, I was welcomed to stay with my family. Water has been bottled, the generator is ready to go, and there’s plenty of food in the kitchen. I’m glad I have family who not only care enough to let me stay with them at times like this, but whose company I enjoy.

2. The Friends Who Celebrated My 30th with Me.

My 30th birthday turned into quite an event! Beginning on Friday with a trip to a Frontenac St. Louis spa thanks to an incredibly thoughtful friend and ending with dinner with my family on Sunday night, my 30th birthday was pretty darned fantastic.

In case you missed the post about my mustache-themed celebration, be sure to check it out. The Dirty Thirty Mustache Bash took place on Saturday night at HandleBar, one of St. Louis’ newest and hippest locally-owned bars. Dozens of friends came out and donned fake mustaches in honor of my 30s.

The Mustache Girls, photo by Dave Mills

3. My Readers!

I started a Facebook Page yesterday for A Small Town Girl’s Guide, and I already have more than fifty Fans. My readership skyrocketed yesterday, too, for reasons not directly related to the Facebook Page. Either way, it’s pretty amazing to see how many people support A Small Town Girl’s Guide. Thank you!

4. My RFT Web Awards Nomination.

A Small Town Girl’s Guide was a finalist in the Riverfront Times‘ Web Awards under the category of “Best Personal Blog”, and as a result, I was invited to attend the private awards party last week at a small St. Louis music venue called the Firebird.

An acquaintance of mine in the St. Louis social media world, Patrick Powers, won the award. Check out his blog if you’re interested in social media, communications and higher education.

RFT Web Awards, image credit the Riverfront Times

5. My Newest Story in Insider573 Magazine.

This story, which was originally supposed to focus on my blog, became a story about my family’s rural Missouri history. Be sure to read the story here on pages 44 &45. Thanks to Tom Smugala for the outstanding photography and the opportunity to write for the publication again in this issue.

Story in Insider573 Magazine Jan/Feb 2011 issue