National Catty Cowls Day

Wrap your cowls on three. Ready? 1...2...3!!!! If you own a cowl, wear it on Friday to celebrate our annual Fall Retreat. See you in Jackson playa!

3 More Days...

...you know what's coming...RETREAT!!!!!

Southern Missouri is in so much trouble.

Retreat! - Section C

I think I am gonna start letting the pics do some of the talking for our trip. Our friends finally showed up by the way.

Tave and Mel with sunglasses headbands.

Jenn doing a dance...as usual.

yummy - snacky - lunchy

Mel prepping our craft. We should finish that sometime.

Old lady rocking.

Someone should keep an eye on her.

Aside from the lethal stares, check out our cute matching cowls. I know!

Not sure how you can be sad with two glasses of good wine.

Maybe she just needed her friend.

Ciao!!!

Retreat - Part Deux

Hello and welcome back to TCK Retreat 2011, Part Deux! Faith and I didn't make it too far down the road from the winery when we stopped to try Crown Valley Brewing.

I am not sure it was necessary, but we each ordered a sampler of beers and at this point had still eaten very little.

Wait, that's three samplers...I am pretty confident that is not all ours.

 Then again...maybe we should head to the cabin. I am starting to get pretty hungry.

Rothbrick Winery - complete with horse trails, two cabins, some ponds and wine! Sidebar - this place is highly recommended by all of us in the Kitchen and have already set our date to visit them next year. If you live in MO, check them out. Lorri and Steve are great hosts!

And the horses came right up to our windows the first night! Aren't they magnificent?

Faith had some trouble containing her excitement so we blew off some energy taking more pics and finding dinner.

This is gonna be, like, the longest set of vacation posts ever and we were only gone two days. I know, right?! We are so amazing.

Retreat! - Part Once

Happy New Year! How was your last year? If I must say, 2011 kind of got away from us here in the Kitchen. We still hung out for quality girl time, but sometimes seeing each other once a month was difficult to achieve. Never fear though, the 2012 planning meeting is in a couple of weeks so we can make our grandiose plans!

In the meantime though, let's retreat down memory lane, to a simpler time, in fair November, amidst the falling leaves and swirling winds. The whisper of future frost and delicious wine. A time when The Catty girls get out of Dodge for a weekend of ladie's night bliss. And I do mean bliss...

Sunrise on 11-12-2011, Jackson, MO

Faith and I got the roadtrip started this year first thing on Friday morning. Our motto for the weekend was "We can do whatever we want." So we did.

BFF wine and good times, 11-11-2011, Ste. Gen, MO

Our first stop was the Crown Valley winery in Ste. Genevieve. While sampling our wines we watched the bison roam in the field while the sun warmed up the breeze and we could forgo jackets.

Bison at Crown Valley winery, 11-11-2011, Ste. Gen, MO

Good conversation filled the first part of our morning as we paired the wine with camaraderie. We also ran into an old pal from the 80's.

We really wished all of our girls could have been with us. The weather and scenery was beautiful and we were kind of drunk by noon. That's a good thing on vacation. I think we were both grateful for the bonding time we were able to spend together though too. From what I understand, Mel and Jenn tightened their bonds on the car ride to the cabin the following morning.

Check back next Sunday for Part Deux as it seems we have some catching up to do! Mooches!!!

We Went on a Trip

We are back from the first annual Catty Kitchen retreat and I think it was a smash! We took a whole weekend just for us girls at the Lake of the Ozarks-maneuvering their new highway and relaxing in a penthouse that far exceeded our needs. Since their is so much to share I am opting to break this in to several posts because chances are you have been dying to hear more from us anyway. By the way, these may not be in any sort of order whatsoever.

Skipping over Mel's birthday to our stop off in Hermann...the drive to Hermann was the prettiest stretch we could see while on the road. Freshly shaved sheep, autumnal changes in the leaves, overcast, but well lit sky and rolling hills with a coolness in the air. We (well me-I don't think anyone else saw this) also saw two white doves canoodling atop a window unit AC. First time I have ever seen them live and they were beautiful.

 

Arrival...Fa and Je cozy up in a alley

 

Outside of Tin Mill Brewery...the beer was good and the place was subtle but classy for a brewhouse.

 Evidently in Hermann bathrooms are strictly relegated to the basement.

 Mel checking the settings on her new birthday pressie.

 Jfer takes shelter from the wind in a tiny tree.

 

All in all Hermann was very pretty, but quite small. They did have one hell of an antique shop and German fare around every corner. Quaint is a good word for it.

 Then we hit the dusty trail, pulling our wind tussled locks into side ponytails a la "Deb" fashion.

The lake was calling our names.

Here I am!

I've kind of been slacking on the Catty Kitchen, minus a few beautiful pictures added by the other girls. But I've been very busy, and mostly internetless. So, now there is no excuse! Jennifer is officially blogging on the Catty Kitchen again!
I really just wanted to give you guys a heads up of the awesomeness to follow. Right now I have Saturday morning cartoons to watch (yes, I realize it's Sunday morning, but a girl can pretend, can't she?).