P2 Girls Weekend

Left to right: Jen, my older sister Julie, my younger sister Jalene, Melissa, Michele, Monica and Amy
Middle: Trista and Marsha 

In honor of my 40th birthday (which I celebrated on March 12), my cousins and I spent a girls weekend in St. Louis March 15-17.  I am one of fifteen first cousins on my mom's side and 10 of us are girls.  Since it is the Powers family and we're the 2nd generation, I dubbed us the P2's.  I invited
all of the P2 girl cousins including those who married into the family.  Nine of us made it on the weekend, eight first cousins and one cousin-in-law!  The age range was from age 25 to 42.  My sisters came in from Chicago and LA and the cousins came in from Iowa and Minnesota.  Thanks to everyone for making the trip and special thanks to Julie for flying in!

Friday

My cousin Monica booked us rooms at the Embassy Suites in downtown St. Louis.  It is a fabulous hotel with plenty of room for nine of us to share two rooms.  We all checked in by 5 p.m. on Friday to make sure we didn't miss the free cocktail hour from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

First, we met in my room for a champagne toast and everyone got their welcome bag for the weekend.  (Joe thought it was funny that I made goodie bags for my birthday party.  He said, "you're such a mom".)  The bags were a hit.  Here's what  I put in them:
- Explore St. Louis guidebook
- St. Louis city map
- bottle of Vitamin Water
- regular bottle of water
- bag of microwave kettle corn
- package of Kleenex
- personalized M&Ms (pictured below)
- light up flower ring (see picture below)
- my list of 40 Random Things I've Learned

The M&Ms had four designs:  Happy Birthday, P2 Girls Weekend, The Big 4-0 and a picture of me with my silly Kermit winter hat.  The colors were pink, white and red but the pink didn't really show up well in this picture.

I picked these up at Party City.

We headed to the cocktail hour which was conveniently located right by our rooms.  Wasn't that nice of them to put us so close?

From front to back, Left:  Marsha, Jalene, Amy, Trista; Right:  Jen, Julie, Melissa, Michele, Monica.  Each of us brought a snack to share for the weekend.  We are already digging into them here.

I was wearing a light up button that said, "Oh no, the big 4-0!"  I'm saving that for future P2 parties.

Self portrait, can you tell?  Monica, Jen and Melissa

After we closed down the cocktail hour, we walked across the street for pizza at a place called Pi.

Waiting for our pizzas.  I'm in the center at the end.  It was delicious!

My little sister took a picture of me in front of the pizza place but she didn't get the Pi sign in the picture.  Too funny.

It was 70 degrees that day so after dinner we decided to go check out Rooftop 360, a bar on the 26th floor with amazing views of St. Louis and Busch stadium.  The manager at Pi called us a cab and we all piled into a mini-van cab.  The driver looked a bit shocked.

Yes, we can all fit!
Amy, Jalene, Trista, Marsha, Monica

Eugene, the elevator man, was nice enough to store our leftover pizza in his cupboard and sent us on our way to the top floor.  What a beautiful night to enjoy the view.  You can stand outdoors and look out over the city through glass walls.  They had several fire pits going and quite a mix of clientele.  Cool place.  We tried to get pictures with the Arch behind us but the bright KPMG sign stole the limelight.

The 4 M's, Melissa, Monica, Marsha and Michele

The three J's - Jennie, Jalene and Julie

Jen, Trista and Amy

There's the Arch!  And you can see the cool fire pits.  

We walked back to the hotel after we realized it was only six blocks away.  The 4 M girls found a  cool sign.

Monica, Michele, Melissa and Marsha 

We had these two in our group, who would mess with us?
Jalene and Marsha

Saturday

Saturday morning we met up at 9:30 where I revealed our plans for the morning.  I didn't tell any of them what we were doing and it was driving some of them nuts.  I planned the P2 Amazing Race St. Louis.  Here were the rules:

P2 Amazing Race St. Louis

You have two hours to visit as many of these St. Louis landmarks as possible.  

Required 

The Gateway Arch

Optional

Citygarden

St. Louis Art Museum

Historic Old Courthouse

Union Station

Busch Stadium

Old Cathedral

Missouri History Museum

Scottrade Center

St. Louis Science Center (planetarium)

The Old Spaghetti Factory

Saint Louis Zoo

Edward Jones Dome

Rules

1. Your group cannot split up, you have to stay together.
2.   Each team must take a picture of all their team members standing at the bottom of  the Arch.
3.   You must take a picture at each landmark with at least one person (except the Arch) and it cannot always be the same person. 
4. Smart phones are allowed.
5. Jen will ride along with one team but will NOT help with geography and logistics.  
6. Meet at Amighetti’s Cafe and Bakery on the Hill at NOON. 

     Address:  5141 Wilson Ave.

     St. Louis, MO  63110

     (314) 776-2855

The losing team and Jen buys the winning team lunch.  Good luck!  

Please note:  Jen will not pay for any speeding tickets.    

The teams were chosen at random by drawing popsicle sticks with each person's name on them.
Team #1 (The Oldest):  Julie, Melissa, Jalene and Marsha
Team #2 (The Youngest):  Monica, Amy, Michele and Trista
I rode along with team 2 and it was killing me not to help them a couple of times.  Other times, I was just as lost as they were.  

The temperature dropped overnight so we were bundled up that morning.  Here are a few pictures from the race from Team #1. 

Busch Stadium

St. Louis Zoo

Bonus picture

City Garden

At the bottom of the Arch.  Cold wind blowing, that's why they were on the side.

Team #1 won the race by getting one more landmark than Team #2.  Team #2 missed the Scott Trade Center.  It was tough to get over there because the St. Patrick's Day parade was setting up downtown at the same time as our race.  Neither team got the Old Spaghetti Factory which was at the Landing very near our hotel.  I really wanted to tell my team where it was but I kept my mouth shut. 

We went to Amighetti's on the Hill for lunch. The Hill is an Italian neighborhood filled with fantastic local restaurants.  My friend Jessica met up with us for lunch and snapped this picture for us.  Thanks for coming Jess!

Front to back, Left:  Marsha, Trista, Jalene, Amy; Right:  Jen, Julie, Michele, Monica and Melissa (center)

Our afternoon activity took us to the ArtMart.  I narrowed down project ideas to three choices and let everyone vote.  The group decided to make spring wreaths and everyone signed up online.  When we arrived, the art studio director had everything ready and waiting for us.  We used burlap, ribbon and made felt flowers.  The finishing touch was painting our last name initial.  I kept changing my mind so you'll notice I had pink ribbon in one picture.  I finally settled on a red and white "Cardinals" themed wreath.  We had lots of fun and some amazing wreaths when it was done.  

Getting started.  This is when I still had pink ribbon. 

Showing off the finished product.

A bird's eye view of everyone's wreaths. 

Here's how mine looks on our front door.

We headed back to the hotel for a snack break and then to the Cathedral Basilica for 5:00 Mass.  What a gorgeous place to worship.  It is truly inspiring and the archbishop was leading our Mass.  Very cool.

After Mass, we had time to enjoy the rest of the hotel cocktail hour and then get ready to go out for dinner.  We went to Eleven Eleven Mississippi for dinner.  Fabulous!  

Ready to go out and notice we're wearing our light up rings.  I'm wearing a sash that says Birthday Girl.

After dinner, we walked to Bailey's Chocolate Bar on Lafayette Square for dessert.  I had a Chai-tini.  Yum!

Sunday

Time to pack up and head for home.  There was a chance of snow that day (after the 70 degree temps. on Friday) so the girls stopped by my house for a quick tour and visit with Joe and the kids and then headed home.  Julie and Amy stayed with us for the night.  We vegged out.  

Sisters: Jen, Jalene and Julie

Thanks again to everyone for coming in and special thanks to Joe and all the dads who took care of the kids all weekend so the girls could get together.  So.  Much.  Fun.