The Magic Number is… (NYC=0; MO=1!)

By far, one of the best parts of moving back to my hometown this spring has been the daily excitement about the Cardinals. I grew up watching games with my family from (amazing) seats three rows back from first base, just past the dugout.

I’ve seen games in New Busch from almost every section; the Hardees party plaza (that may not be it’s proper name), behind home plate, nosebleeds, and bleachers on the Left and Right Field sides. I love #stcards baseball.

In the ten years I was away, I tried to make it home once each season for a game, but wasn’t always successful. This season, I’ve been to one game every few weeks, and watching the Cards’ season has been a source of joy for me during an otherwise tough summer of transition from NYC to small town Missouri.

Here are a few highlights of my 2009 Cardinals love:

Not having All Star Game tickets didn’t stop me from going by the stadium that week to see the All Star Game banners outside.

All Star Game Week in STL, photo of smalltowngirl

Or from taking pictures of my new Cards hat in July:

New Hat, photo by and of smalltowngirl

A few weeks ago, I was at the Friday night game when Pujols hit his walk-off homer. Crazzzzy exciting stuff!

Walk-off Homer, photo by smalltowngirl

I went to that game with a friend from high school who I only see once a year or so. Thank goodness for great friends and great baseball.

Friends at the game, photo of smalltowngirl and her friend

For satisfying my baseball habit: MO=1; NYC=0

#Jacknotatlunch

#jacknotatlunch, photo by smalltowngirl

I’m still buzzing with energy from a speaking enegagement by @Jack Dorsey, co-founder/CEO/Creator of Twitter, this morning at Webster University (#jackatwebster) and a great lunchtime tweet-up (#jacknotatlunch) at Llwelyn’s Pub in Webster Groves.

Thanks to @sbolen and @michaeltomko for merging tweet-ups into one huge, successful #jacknotatlunch!

#jacknotatlunch photo 1, by smalltowngirl

#jacknotatlunch photo 2, by smalltowngirl

(this photo shared by @effiek. Thanks!)

#jacknotatlunch photo 4, by smalltowngirl

***

As promised, here is a list of #jacknotatlunch tweet-up attendees. If you attended today, this list is in the order it was passed around the tables, so that may help you look up people whose faces you remember but whose twitter names you didn’t catch. I’m omitted real names here, but I do have them on the list. If you remember a first name but have forgotten twitter name, DM me @milligfunk, and I’ll pass it on!

@milligfunk  and @ymcaoftheozarks (This blogis a personal project, and is in no way a reflection of the YMCA.)

@ruthblock

@katzpotter

@gmostl and @umatter2chtrG

@Umatter2Chtr and @toyoufromzero

@Umatter2chtr2 and @chappy01

@Umatter2Charter and @KetzerMusic

@michaeltomko and @firebirdstl and @lot_mstl

@mbogart

@cyberteacher

@maryburke

@effiek

@sbolen

@STLwinegirl

@good4skin

@joshkocurek

@liketheketchup

@scorchagency

@mollydowntown

@JavaSTL

@DixieDynamite

Trader Joe’s

NYC = 0; MO = 1

Why?

Because in NYC, the Trader Joe’s in Union Square typically has a line that winds so far through the store that employees need to stand throughought the store holding signs that say things like “Line Starts Here” or signs with arrows pointing in the direction that the line will turn next.

In St. Louis, the line at Trader Joe’s was exactly two people long.

In NYC, you shop at TJ’s for 20 minutes and wait in line for 30. In MO you shop for 20 minutes and wait in line for 3. NYC = 0; MO = 1.

Short Line, photo by smalltowngirl

Kaldi’s Coffee

Friends and colleagues of mine know that I’m a coffee drinker, and several of them have recommended Kaldi’s Coffee to me  since I moved back to Missouri. On Friday, I gave it a shot (har, har, har…)

Kaldi’s is one of two coffee companies in St. Louis that I’m aware of that roasts its own beans (Northwest Coffee is the other). Kaldi’s also has delictable sweet treats and lots of vegetarian food options for full meals.

I ordered a black bean burrito and cozied into a table near a window, ready to upload and edit the 200+ photos I’d taken at work that morning in Shaw Park. When the barista called my name to give me my burrito, this is it said:

My Name is Not Alyssa, photo by smalltowngirl

For those of you who know me only as smalltowngirl or @milligfunk, I’ll fill you in on a secret; my name is not Alyssa.

That said, the coffee, the burrito and the cookie I got for desert (a giant one with chocolate chunks) were all good, and I really liked the no-wireless-internet, authentic-coffee-shop feel of Kaldi’s.

Kudos to local, independent businesses, even if they decorate their burritos with the wrong name.

Brooklyn Arrives in the Lou

Today my friend Michael Hearst arrived from NYC with bandmate Ron for a performance of his project “Songs for Ice Cream Trucks” tomorrow afternoon at 1 pm the St. Louis Art Museum.

As is evidenced by my lack of blogging over the last seven days, I’ve had a hellacious week, and hanging out tonight was a much needed and celebratory end to my 80-hours of hell at work.

Nothing like some rooftop ferris wheel action to chill me out:

Rooftop Ferris Wheel, photo by Ron a.k.a. @SlavicSoulParty

I met Michael at music festival in Kenting, Taiwan in the spring of 2007, where he was performing with his band One Ring Zero (theramins, accordians, and all-around creative genius…for real, check them out.).

smalltowngirl with Lily and One Ring Zero in Taipei, 2007

When I arrived in Park Slope, Brooklyn later that year, he was my ambassador to the neighborhood, making introductions for me, familiarizing me with local restaurants, and generally unsuring that I wasn’t getting run over by New York City.

In short, Michael’s a good guy.

Tonight, I also got to meet Ron, who plays with “Songs for Ice Cream Trucks” as well as with Brooklyn-based Slavic Soul Party. (check him out on twitter @SlavicSoulParty). City Museum, Blueberry Hill, and good company helped end my otherwise pretty friggin’ lousy week on a high note.

Fun at the City Museum, photo by Michael Hearst

***

Check out some of the creative work Michael and/or Ron are involved in:

Songs for Ice Cream Trucks – Tomorrow (Sunday, 7/26) at 1 pm at St. Louis Art Museum

One Ring Zero

Slavic Soul Party

Michael Heart dot com

The 18:59 Podcast (with Rick Moody)

And a link to my favorit bar and venue in Brooklyn: Barbes

I’ll Be Famous in Turkey!

Last night I attended my first Social Media Club St. Louis event, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a large crowd of folks interested in engaging offline about online engagement.

One of the people I met was an internet entrepreneur from Turkey who spends much of his time living and working in St. Louis.

When I told him about my small town blog, he asked if he could take my picture and post it on twitpic to introduce his twitter followers to me.

There’s no doubt in my mind that my fame in Turkey is only a matter of days from exploding into full scale celebrity.

Famous in Turkey, photo credit: @aykutkaralioglu

St. Louis and Social Media

I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that St. Louis is an active social media city. Check out these three upcoming events in the St. Louis Area:

On Thursday evening, a LinkedIn networking event will be held at Bar Louie’s in the Central West End from 5:30-8:30 p.m. The event is hosted by www.therisetothe top.com, and $5 will be charged at the door. This one looks like a substantial event, with 468 people on LinkedIn giving “yes” RSVPs and an another 222 showing interest in the event.

@RiaSharon has been promoting an #stl #tweetup this Friday at 5 pm at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood. You can’t go wrong with Schlafly’s. This place is the real St. Louis brewery now that A-B isn’t locally owned. Schlafly’s has a large weekly farmers market, and even purchases some of its ingredients locally. If you order the Bison Nachos, your bison meat is actually coming from my area of small town, Missouri, from a ranch called Sayersbrook.

There’s another event on Friday that’s being marketed towards McCleur High School grads, as well as Twitter and Facebook friends of the organizer. I’m not sure how open or closed this event is to new people (St. Louis people can be funny about inviting new friends into their old-friend  mix), but here’s the link in case you’re interested.

On Friday, July 3rd, @rex7 and @prebynski hosted “The World’s Largest Tweetup” at McGurk’s in Soulard. Here’s what @Tojosan had to say about the event.

NYC Food Lover Lost in SEMO

I’ve lived in New York City, so it should go without saying that I’m hurting for good food in St. Louis.

Or should it?

At Friday night’s #stl #tweet-up, @Tojosan and @MattHomann, determined to convince me that St. Louis isn’t just BBQ and steak, drafted a list for me of the best restaurants and bars in St. Louis. Here’s what they came up with: (note: their original list has been extended to include more recommendations from friends reading this blog and following me on twitter).

33 (wine bar)

Absolulty Goosed

Bailey’s Chocolate Bar

The Bleeding Deacon (for good bar food)

Boogaloo’s (Maplewood)

Farotto’s (great lasagna!)

Franco

Frazier’s Brown Bag

Grazzi’s (The Hill)

Hodak’s (for fried chicken)

Iron Barley

La Vellasana

Niche

Olympia (Greek – try the flaming cheese!)

Pi

Porch (store)

Ravanelli’s (Collinsville, IL)

Red Sea (Ethiopian)

Venice Cafe

Do you think my twitter friends have omitted great St. Louis restaurants? Leave me a comment, and I’ll add your suggestion to my list!

Fourth of July in St. Louis

This year, Fourth of July in Missouri meant rain for most of the day, so instead of BBQ or bottle rockets, I filled my day with indoor things. It wasn’t until I was standing beneath the St. Louis Arch that it really felt like the Fourth of July to me.

I met an old friend for dinner on The Landing, a strip of restaurants and bars just north of the Arch. We made our way down The Landing’s red brick streets to the riverfront, claiming a spot to stand beneath the Arch.

As we stood side by side, the stainless steel of the Arch reflected the vivid colors of the fireworks in the sky above us. The structure’s steel face magnified the cracks and booms of the fireworks, vibrating the walls of my chest with each explosion.

The finale came, and the gunpowder from the fireworks hung tight to the still, damp summertime air. I smiled, happy to be back in my home city, celebrating my freedom with an old friend by my side.

Photo on Schmap.com

Good news!

This week, I received a note on flickr from schmap.com, requesting use of one my photos of Brooklyn Botanic Garden:

Lily Pool Terrace at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, photo by smalltowngirl

Check out my flickr pool here. I’ll let you know when this photo makes it live on schmap.com’s New York City site.

An addition to the excitement about the schmap.com selection is the blog  that fellow St. Louis Twitter Donna Gamache posted to The St. Louis Design Community Connections blog about me and my photo. Check it out.

Here’s to pursuing hobbies and careers with passion. There’s nothing like being rewarded for what you love to do.