JC Penney, How I love Thee!

For a few years now I've sort of pooh-poohed JC Penney, seeing it as the Wal-mart of the mall. Although, a couple of years ago my sister was telling me that they'd really upped their image and had some great home decor items. I still wasn't a believer, until today that is.

We just had the dining room painted and I have desperately been searching for drapes - without ANY luck. I had resolved to make my own, and at the last minute decided to stop in JC Penney for a look-see before heading to the fabric store.

OMG!!!!

They have AMAZING drapes, and window treatments of all kinds. I was really impressed. So impressed that I spent $150.00. I found the perfect pair of drapes, but I do have to go back and have them ordered in a longer size. I even bought some throw pillows. They had soooo much stuff, that I dared not venture past the window treatments for fear that I would go broke.

So, here I sit (or stand) corrected on my view of JC Penneys. You are no longer the Wal-mart of the mall. You are now the TJ Maxx of the Mall - and what a compliment that is!

Uppercase living tutorial

As I attempt to host my first (and perhaps last) catalog party, I realized that many folks won't understand how to apply the product once they've received their orders. So, I found this great tutorial on You Tube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssespxRJSic

Uppercase Living a-go-go

Hi all. I don't seem to be able to find any kind of consistency with this blogging. I am hoping though that this will change now that I'll be posting Uppercase Living photos and helpful hints here. Since I'm totally in wedding mode, I'll post some of cool wedding projects that can be done with UL for wedding receptions.

I have returned!

Well, after a very long break I have returned. I've actually been toying w/ the idea of an independent blog site (like w/ godaddy.com), but I'll continue to use google for now.

So many things have been happening since my last entry. For one, I'm engaged! Mr.P popped the question 2 months ago after the big chili festival here in Bellevegas, in our garage no less. Seeing as how Mr. P is not conventional in any way, I couldn't have expected any less. I was given a beautiful sparkling vintage wedding dress. Actually, I really do love it. I'll try to get a photo on here soon. Although, I plan on doing some changes to the overall style. Won't be able to post the photos of the finished dress until after the big day, though. Don't want to have any spoilers for guests or Mr. P!

Of course, now I'm obsessed with all things wedding, particularly wedding websites and will be including all of my finds with you!

seven.....up?

ok, next on our Belleville stop is the restaurant/bar 'Seven'. We've heard several things (good and bad will not be included in this text) about this place, but since we had a business meetings of sorts last night - we decided to meet here. I REALLY wish that I could say great things about this place......but, I can't.
Perhaps I should first describe the venue.....off mainstreet, seemingly hip cocktail bar. Sadly, it was less than hip w/ marginal menu items. I really did go there w/ the best of intentions, wanting the St. Louis experience in our little Belleville town. Alas, no go. While our waitress was VERY attentive, perhaps asking too often if we needed anything, the ambiance was lacking....not to mention the onion turnover. I will say that we got there while the sun was still shining, so we opted to sit in the patio area. However, after the sun set the patio became a narrow back alley w/the feel of a rapist's playground. Yes, my friends, that means NO LIGHTING. Not even a damned candle on the cheap Lowes patio table. If I were really going to snob out, I would tell you that the waitress brought my bottle of wine to the table already uncorked and didn't even let me sample it before leaving. However, given that I really do hate the pomp and circumstance of opening a bottle of wine - I wasn't too offended. To boot, My martini-drinking friends tell me that the classic dry martini was neither classic nor cold.
I really like to consider myself an open-minded person, but COME ON. This place has been open for a while. They should have worked out the bugs. I don't know what was worse....the service or watching my friends slowly simmer into a boil of outrage and aggravation at the piss-poor service. Now is probably is the time to discuss OVERPRICING. Ok, we have already established that I'm no food critic, and I should probably let you in on the secret that I'm no sommelier either. But, I do know one thing and that's cheap wine. They charge 10.00 per glass of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay. Come on folks! First of all we're in Belleville, IL not Napa. I know you gotta pay the bills and all, but let's not kid ourselves. I can run down to Schnucks and get the same bottle for 13 bucks. In short, this place needs a chainsaw enema of good food service. If we want Belleville to become the lustrous business area that we envision, then someone has to step up to the plate.
Sorry folks at Seven, but you need to get on the ball.

Mmmmmm.....El Cerrito

15 minutes ago as I sat at my dining room table finishing off last night's El Cerrito left-overs for breakfast, I thought man! I should start a blog.....a blog about Belleville and this little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant that we love so much. Sadly, it seems that only we ('we' being me and my boyfriend) and a few others know and appreciate the folks at El Cerrito. In any other instance, I would love the intimacy of the being the only people who know about this great place.....however, I'm worried that if they don't have more patrons that I might lose out on this cuisine and be forced to go down the street to Marguaritas - which is a far cry with their 50 cent drinks and 20-something-meat-market crowd.
What separates El Cerrito from any other struggling-to-get-a-leg-up mexican immigrant diner? Well, firstly....SERVICE. These guys are great. Always adding that extra touch. Take last night for example. I had the Murjarro, which is a whole fish (yes, the head is still attached) dredged in flour, deep fried and served w/ chopped onion, sliced avocado and rice. I'll tell you that I was a little nervous to dig into a whole fish with its empty eyes staring up at me, but after some teasing from my family I took the plunge. And what a treat! Anyway....about the little extras. So, I ran out of my onion and requested more, to which the server asked if I would like chopped cilantro added to the onion. Ok, maybe I'm easily impressed, but WOW. In my 36 years I've never been offered chopped cilantro w/ my onion - and I'm a fairly well-traveled gal. At least in the arena of local mexican restaurants.
Thinking about the whole fish experience brings me to the 2nd reason that we really love this place.....the menu. Sure, sure, they have the standard fare of burrito, chimichanga, taco, etc., but they also have fried whole fish. I mean, come on, where have you seen that before in Belleville? Maybe off Chippewa in South St. Louis, but not here. So maybe you're not into whole fish. They also have wonderful enchiladas w/ a sampling of green, queso and mole sauces. Yum. Oh, and to-die-for fajitas w/ some sort of red chili sauce that could make you slap your grandma. (I'm speaking figuratively grandma.....no worries)
Obviously, I'm no food critic. Still, you should give it a try and go out on a limb.....get the fish.

El Cerrito
20 Mascoutah Ave.
Belleville, IL