I'm an embarassment to the blogging community...

Hi! Sorry, sorry, sorry! It's been 20 days since my last blog... I sound like I am at a BA (bloggers anonymous) meeting... Ok, so, I've been really busy the last few weeks, which therefore explains my absence from Heart and Soles. Work has fortunately started to pick up, and we are putting together trend and fashion info for the Fall 2009 (yes, we work an entire year in advance) line. I was in Chicago two weeks ago looking for "the next big trend"... Didn't find it, but we got lot's of cute stuff anyway! I love going there because we get to shop in the cute trendy urban areas like Bucktown and Wicker Park. The have so many independent little shops and boutiques, and not just for little kids, but for Men/Women as well... They now have a Cynthia Rowley store, BCBG Max Azria, Intermix, etc... Tons of places you only hear about on the east and west coast... Not to mention the fun restaurants! Oh my! All of these cute little places w/ tons of outdoor seating! I love going on shopping trips for work!

Other than work, the weekends have been pretty crazy too. Last weekend I got to go out to dinner with one of my best friends from college, Abby, and her awesome family and their friends! We went to Charlie Gitto's on the Hill in St. Louis and the food/wine/atmosphere were AMAZING! We had such a good time and I didn't want the night to end!

Saturday I went to the river with my friend Cori. Her parents live right by a sandbar on the Mississippi River and everyone just parks their boats and hangs out and grills. We drank grape vodka and club soda, which is my favorite drink of the moment... I was quite intoxicated by the time I got home, so I didn't make it out to watch the Mizzou/IL football game, but that's ok:)

As for this week, it's been really low key at the office, my boss has been shopping in Denver (think hiking boots and outdoorsy stuff), and then L.A./San Diego so it's been just me in our big ol' mega cube... I've also been sick with a stupid cold all week, so it's nice not to have anyone breathing down my neck either.

Next week will pretty busy, so I hope that I am feeling better by then. I will be in the office on Monday, but Tuesday through Friday I am going to Miami and Puerto Rico to shoe shop! I am so excited! The only bummer will be if the stupid hurricanes continue to stir up trouble... I will be so hacked if the PR part of the trip gets cancelled- I have never been there!

Ok, well, I should probably try to do some more work, considering I have only done one sample today (which doesn't really account for much). I am counting down the minutes until 4:30!!

Peace Out

Yay for Friday!!

I am so excited for the weekend to get here! One of the perks of my job is that we have "summer hours", which means that we can work and extra half hour Monday-Thursday and then on Friday, everyone in the office works from 8 am to 3 pm. I think that my short Friday's have become one of my very favorite things. Today I am planning on going home and finishing the book that I am reading "sTORI Telling", by Tori Spelling- before you roll your eyes I just have to say- I love her. I can't help it. She is so funny. I watch her show "Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood", on Oxygen and I am completely addicted. Sometimes I wonder if I am just a reality TV slut. Don't judge, you probably are too.

I am also going over to my friend Chrissie's house tonight for an 80's movie night. Chrissie and I have worked together at Elan-Polo for two and a half years and she quickly became my work BFF. She is super funny, sassy, and I LOVE her fashion sense. I honestly don't know what I would do without her at work. She's just great.

Tomorrow I think I might be going to a sandbar to hang out with my friend Cori and a bunch of her friends. It is in IL, over by her parent's house and should be pretty fun! The weather has been so great lately that you don't feel like you're melting everytime you step outside, so I'm really looking forward to it!

Tomorrow night I have a "Stock the Bar" party for my cousin Kevin and his bride-to-be, Annie. I'm sure you all have heard about this kind of party, but if any of you haven't, it's a couples type shower where everyone brings something bar related and at the end of the party, your house is stocked with all the bar essentials you would ever need- alcohol, glasses, shakers, stir sticks- you name it! I got them 12 "mini pilsner glasses" from Crate and Barrel. They are so cute and perfect for either a nice cold beer or even just to use as glasses everyday.

After the party I am going to a concert at the St. Charles Family Arena that has a variety of bands. You can't go wrong with something like this. Good music + Beer + Summer = Drunk happy Stevie, singing at the top of her lungs. Good times.

Hopefully this weekend will produce some memorable photo's for all of you to laugh at next week. Have a good one and don't drink and drive!

Weekend Rewind

Hi Everyone! I'm sorry it's been so long since I've blogged. I'm sure you have all been going through withdrawals not being able to get your daily dose of me:).

So this was my first weekend in a month having absolutely no plans and I LOVED it. It's not that I don't like being busy, I do, but sometimes you just need some time to yourself and don't want to wear makeup for a full 48 hours, that's all.

So Friday afternoon I got home around 4:30 pm (I was on my way home from a work trip to Pay less- Topeka, KS). I hadn't seen Sparkles for two days, so I was excited to see her and she is usually pretty cuddly if I have been gone for a while... Good to know she still likes me:). After I had settled down, I watched the Opening Ceremony for the Olympics (love the Olympics!), caught up on the SYTYCD finale- SO EXCITED FOR JOSHUA! I wanted him to win!, and went to bed around 11. It was a very restful nights sleep if you don't count the 15 drunk dials I got from Cori and my brother wanting to know if I wanted to come over and eat waffle fries.... Evidently that warrants 15 phone calls... Who knew?

Saturday I slept in (probably my favorite thing in the whole world to do), and got up around 10:30. It was lovely. I had previously made plans with my good friends Heather and Jil to come over to my parents house and swim/layout for the afternoon. It was the PERFECT day! Not humid at all, 85 degrees, and sunny! Cori came with us and we had a really good, low key time! Also, isn't it true that after June or something, the sun isn't as strong? I don't believe that because my face is so burnt! Not to mention I have total raccoon eyes because I was wearing sunglasses the whole time... Oh well, nothing a little concealer can't fix!

After I got home from my parent's pool I accidentally fell asleep... I know, everyone who knows me is laughing and shaking their heads at me right now, but it really was an accident. I have been trying not to take naps on the weekends because I have serious sleeping issues. But I guess I needed it:) I woke up around 7:30 and made a weight watchers lasagna dinner and again, played on the computer and watched the Olympics (I can see this becoming a repeating pattern over the next few weeks!). Oh, and I also watched "27 Dresses". I saw this movie in the theater, and forgot how much I loved it! It was so cute and made me want a boyfriend... Shocker.

So that brings me to now... It is Sunday morning and guess what? I am watching the Olympics and on my computer... I really need to do something productive today so I am thinking about cleaning my house and going to the gym... Gotta love lazy Sundays!

I will try to be more on top of this blogging thing... I know how riveting it is for all of you to read about what movies I watch on Friday nights! I will try to keep you better informed!

Later Gators-

Princess Sparkles vs. Riley- Round 1

WW III in my Condo last night! So, I had the bright idea to have my brother bring his 5 month old Golden Retriever over to my house last night. I told him that it would be good for her to get acquainted with my cat, Princess Sparkles, seeing as they were cousins and all... NOT a great idea... Riley was so excited when she first got there that she didn't really notice the beautiful gray feline that had immediately jumped on the couch as soon as she entered the room... That was about as calm as it got for the rest of the night! I had Scott hold Riley as I held Sparkles to see if they would be more comfortable. WRONG. Riley got nervous and started growling and barking and Sparkles' ears went back and the biggest hiss I had ever seen came flying out of her little kitty mouth! Needless to say, Sparkles spent the rest of the evening hiding under my bed w/ the door shut and Riley decided it was necessary to destroy all of Sparkles toys in less than an hour.

This whole episode got me thinking... If there was an Ultimate Fighting Championship match between Princess Sparkles and Riley, who would win? You see, in the far right corner you have Riley, a 5 month old Golden Retriever, weighing in at 35 lbs. She's young, full of energy, a strong build, and has a growl like a lion...She'll eat you up!

In the far left corner you have the sly, clever, Princess Sparkles... She weighs in at a whopping 11 lbs, is 5 years old, and likes to lick the toilet bowl... But don't let her pretty looks fool you, she is a deadly feline when she wants to be!

The below pics accurately discribe how I feel this match would end...

VS.

EQUALS =

Ladies and Gentleman, I give you your champion!!!

The Lemon Detox Diet

Did anyone ever hear of that diet that Beyonce did that consisted of Lemon juice, water, maple syrup, and Cheyenne pepper? She supposedly lost 20 lbs in 2 weeks! I think I am gonna try it (On Sunday, after I am doing partying it up on Saturday night!) . It's really simple (and cheap- yay!!). All you need is the below:


The Detox Drink
To make one glass of Natural Tree Syrup and Lemon Drink take
Two small tablespoons (or 20 ml) of Madal Bal Natural Tree Syrup.
Two tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice (about half a lemon). Use fresh lemons, not lemon drink or concentrate.
Half a pinch of cayenne pepper or ginger (adjust to taste).
Mix the ingredients and dilute with half a pint of hot or cold water.
Drink as much as you like, ideally 6 to 9 glasses a day.
If you prefer you can prepare one batch of Natural Tree Syrup and Lemon Drink to last for the whole day. For 1½ litre of water (approx. 7 glasses) you will need 140ml of Madal Bal Natural Tree Syrup and 3½ lemons as well as the cayenne pepper or ginger.



I'm pretty sure that I am going to be a raging bitch by the end of this little endeavor, but who knows? Maybe I will look like Beyonce;).





I will keep you posted for sure!!

Big Worm's 9th Annual Float Trip

Ok, so I did something truly monumental this past weekend, I went on a float trip. I know that may not seem like such a big deal to most of you, but this is a HUGE step for me. You see, I'm not really a camping type of person. I don't really like being dirty, and I am redicuously afraid of snakes. Needless to say, I put all of my fears and dislikes aside and plunged head first into the Huzzah Valley- literally, I fell head first (see below).

You see, in order to really let myself enjoy this beautiful outdoor adventure, I decided it was necessary to drink copious amounts of vodka before even stepping foot in the river. Fifteen short minutes later.... well, again, please refer to the above pic:).

But, I must give myself a pat on the back, you see, I rallied back like a champ. I calmly looked over to my friend Cori and said "I'm not drinking anymore"... And I actually stuck to my word! I didn't let myself have a drop of alcohol for at least and hour, maybe more, and was able to continue partying it up throughout the rest of the float... Below are a few more pics!

Welcome to Heart and Soles!

Hi! My name is Stevie. I live in St. Peters, Missouri, which is about 30 minutes west of St. Louis. I went to the University of Missouri- Columbia (Go Tigers!) and now work for a Footwear company in St. Louis. My official job title is "Line Builder Trainee- Boy's Development", but I am also still assisting the Senior Line Builder in this area as well. Basically, I am a footwear designer for little boy's shoes. I love my job (most of the time) and feel very lucky to be able to do something so fun at only 26 years old.

Besides my job, I am basically your typical twenty-something single gal. I bought a condo about three years ago and love living there. I also have a cat that I adopted from the Humane Society. Her name is Princess Sparkles and she is probably about 5-6 years old. I know, I know, before you let your pre-conceived notions get the best of you, I want to stop you right here- I am not, repeat NOT, that single girl who lives with cats ( I promise). You see, I love animals. Dogs and cats especially. I've always grown up with animals and couldn't imagine life without them. I would love to have a dog, or several for that matter, but the small space (an 1000 sq. ft condo), and a job that is 30 minutes away would make that very hard on a puppy dog. So that's why I got a cat... She is fine by herself all day (in fact, I'm sure she loves it.) and we are equally excited to see each other when I stroll in.

Ok, enough about that. Let's see, besides my job, my house, and my cat, I also enjoying living so close to my family members and friends. I can honestly say that I would never end up moving back to my home town after I graduated college, but somehow, that's how things worked out. Not that I am complaining, I love my family and friends and I could never see myself separated from them now. So let's start with my family....

My parents names are Steve and Judy. My Dad is a native St. Charlesian (is that a word?), but my Mom is originally from Spokane, Washington. We won't go into detail about how they met, but let's just say it's been 31 years and things seem to be working out. They are not only great parents, but great friends as well and I am very blessed to have them (and all of their idiosyncrasies:)).

Scott is my older brother. He is 28 years old and is a P.E. teacher. He's also probably one of the funniest and most laid back people that I know. You could tell Scott that the world is ending tomorrow and his typical response would be "Sweet, I'm gonna go take a nap". He lives in St. Peters as well, and has two roommates, a room dog (Beans- Kyle's Basset Hound), and Scott's puppy, Riley, a Golden Retriever.

Well, now that you know a bit about me and my family, I'm gonna check out for the night. Please look for more blogs to come!