Yes, that's right, I'm ready for the weekend already and it's only Monday!  I hear today was great outside...I wouldn't know...but I think it got up to about 65 degrees here.  *sigh*  I so wish that I could have gotten outside to enjoy it, but I did experience the 55 degrees around 7pm!  Also good!!  Today was another crazy day at work filled with two loooooong training sessions in which I had to present.  Blah!  I'm hoping for a bit of a break by this time in February.  Fingers crossed!

Saturday night we actually peeled ourselves from the River Market and drove down to the Westport neighborhood.  It's like a cross between The Loop and the CWE.  It's a bit of a "transitional" neighborhood and only about 15 min away.  There are tons of bars and restaurants to checkout.  We chose the Beer Kitchen.  The food was great and the beer tasty, but I was disappointed with the small number of beers on tap...and the prices of the bottles.  We'll be back but not before we check out everything else Westport has to offer.  


Sunday we chilled around the condo and began to unpack the last of the boxes.  Yep, began...not completed.  Oh well.  Another few weeks probably.  At least it's the last of it.  We also cooked a couple of dinners using our yummy ingredients from the market.  I first made some Potato Leek soup to eat during the week.  Then for Sunday's dinner we made Giada's Lasagna Rolls and some roasted veggies.  Super yum!!!  Here's a pic, which doesn't do it justice at all...

Tonight we made an improptu visit to Cellar Rat for a free wine tasting from Mettler Vineyards.  We had been wanting to check this place out.  It's only a couple minute drive from the condo but a little too far to walk.  I had purchased a Groupon from here for Chad for Xmas.  The Groupon was for a wine tasting class for two people.  So of course that was our excuse to check out the wine tasting...we had to schedule the Groupon.  The wine tasting tonight was pretty cool.  We actually got to meet the Mettler family, who was serving the wine to us.  We tasted 3 of their wines...all very good...Zinfandel, Cabernet & Petite Syrah.  We purchased two.  Here is our favorite...

 

That's all I have for now.  Hope everyone's week started with a little vino!

 

Attack cat!

Well, it's been another hell of a week at the office.  The staff are extremely nice, but the agreements of the aquisition are making it tough.  I've been here just about a month, and I still have so much to learn.  But it will all come in time I guess.  Enough about work...what a downer.

On to more positive things...
I've had three visits with my new chiropractor...Crossroads Chiropractic.  My back seems to be doing well.  She's even told me that I can start back to exercising...beginning with walking.  A lot of her techniques are very similar to my previous chiropractor, which is comforting.  The one machine that she has that the previous office didn't is a "roller table".  You lay on the table with moist heat and a roller rolls up and down your back.  It's so ridiculously relaxing!!  I could almost fall asleep.  The office has a great vibe too.  It's located in downtown KC, so there's lots of exposed brick and low lighting.  She has each "room" sectioned off with these hanging panels.  There's also a lot of cool art on the walls.  Very zen.

I also had my first "hair night" in KC...The Glam Room.  This was not the same without my mom, since we usually do these things together.  The salon, like the chiro, also has a great vibe.  (Check out the link above.)  Tabatha would be quite proud of this salon...very clean and modern with all the right touches.  It should be because it was about double from what I'm used to paying, but I knew that was going to be the case.  The previous salon that I had been going to was ridiculously reasonable.  *sigh*  What we girls pay to have good hair.

The only products used at this salon are Davines products.  They are very natural when compared to most products and smell wonderful.  However, I'm convinced that there is some kind of cat nip in them.  My kitty, Lucky, is always mesmerized by my hair when I get it colored.  She's always sniffing it or licking it...yes, licking.  When I got home this time, she basically attacked my head and started biting my hair & scalp.    I still can't get her to stop...even after I washed my hair.  It's crazy!!!!  I've looked online but can't seem to find a full list of ingredients for their products. 


Our dining room table was delivered this week.  We had originally purchased the table at I.O. Metro along with dining chairs, bar stools and an accent chair for our living room.  We found out that our table was on back order until at least the end of February.  As most of your know, I don't like to wait.  So we went out to Nebraska Furniture Mart last weekend with Mom and John.  I HEART NFM!!!!!  We found a very similar table for about $250 cheaper.  They delivered it this past Thursday.  Yahoo!  I've already called and cancelled the table from I.O. Metro.  Our bar stools should be in this week, so we'll have all the furniture delivered at one time...soon!  Here's our table...

Today we headed out to Tamale Wizardfor a late breakfast.  Their breakfasts are super yummy!  We need to go there for lunch or dinner soon.  It's about 3 blocks from the house...just a brisk walk. Here's my breakfast...chorizo and egg on a corn tortilla and potatoes.

Then we hit up the City Market for our normal weekend visit...stocking up on whatever we need to cook that week.  I think the City Market is probably my favorite thing about our location.  It's basically in our back yard...and so reasonable!  Check out our findings:

• Lots of produce
• Fresh baked bread from Bloom Baking Co.
• Fresh ricotta, jalapeno cheese, prosciutto, parmesan cheese & noodles from Carollo's Italian Deli
• And lots of samples from several of the vendors...super yum!
 

Now off to Target and the grocery for the remaining items.  We have to drive a bit farther for these stores than we had to back home, but it's a minor trade off to being so close the the Farmer Market, wine shop and so many restaurants.  Hope everyone's weekend has started off as good as mine!

Tamales and Spices

It's been a fun weekend so far.  Mom and John arrived Friday evening.  Everyone was a bit tired from their day whether it was working, cleaning or driving.  So we opted for a low key evening.  We grabbed some Minsky's pizza, and then came back home and chilled with some wine.  Mom had brought me a couple goodie bags...one consisted of everything I left there when we stayed with them prior to the move...and the other had fun things in it.  One of my favorites was a 5x7 collage that she put together of the pics from our Going Away party.  So sweet.  She also got us an Italian cookbook that has one of John's sister's illustrations in it.  Very cool!

Saturday, we had breakfast at the Tamale Wizard, which is this great little mom and pop tamale shop.  They serve breakfast on Saturday only, but the rest of the time they serve lunch and dinner.  It was super yummy and very reasonably priced.  I will definitely be hitting it up for lunch or dinner soon!  We spent the remainder of the morning at the City Market.  It really is a cool market, and I believe it's bigger than the Soulard Farmer's Market.  Mom and John really liked the Italian Deli & Store, as well as the spice vendors.  Everything is so reasonably priced.  I love having this right in my "backyard"!  Last night we went to Cellar & Loft for the wine tasting, had dinner at Hickok's and then came back to the condo for a little Hand & Foot.  I can't believe that I haven't taken any pictures yet!  Hopefully, that will change today.

On a different note, we were happy to sell our dining room table off of Craig's List yesterday.  A big thanks to my Dad and Mary Sue for being there for all of that.  It was a huge help!!!!  They have also been checking up on house several times a week, which we also greatly appreciate.  We actually received an offer about 1.5 weeks ago, but it was $20K below asking price!!  That probably isn't so much when your house is several hundred thousand dollars, but when you are selling it for what we are, it sure is a ton!  We were willing to negotiate, but the buyers were not.  So we said, "Sayonara!"  We have a couple of showings on our house this weekend.  So keep your fingers crossed!!!

Cheers to a fun weekend!

A day of firsts

Very excited to be off work today.  It's been such a busy first three weeks here...both at work and at home.  Lots of firsts today...

First Chiropractic Visit
So nervous about this, but hoping it goes well.  Before I left home, I researched some chiropractors and had my current chiropractor review them.  She actually called and spoke with several and liked this one the best.  So all should be fine, but it's difficult to trust someone to work on your spine.  Here's where I'll be going...Crossroads Chiropractic.


First New Bank Account Since High School
It just seems crazy, but there are no Regions Banks in the KC area.  This is making it quite difficult to do any banking.  Thankfully, I pay almost all my bills online, so I've survived the first three weeks.  But I still feel the need to have a local bank.  Chad has an account at U.S. Bank, so it looks like I'll be joining him there.

First Overnight Guests in Our New Place
My mom and John are coming in today!  Yay!!  It will be so nice to see a familiar face around here.  We don't have any big plans other than going to the Market and wine tasting tomorrow, but I'm sure that we'll fill up the weekend.  They're staying until Monday, so we'll have plenty of time to catch up...and play cards (Chad's favorite).

Well, I have lots to do today.  I better get off here and run!  Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Productive day off...

I'm so grateful to have had today off work!  Thank you, MLK!!!  We were quite productive this weekend, but mostly today.  We have now gone through every box that came through these doors.  Woo hoo!!  We did decide to save a few boxes to go through at a later date, but at least we know what's in them.  We also were able to get the guest bedroom set up...just in time for my Mom and John's arrival on Friday.  I do have a few more things that I want to get done this week...kind of organize the remaining mess.  LOL!  However, with the progress that was made this weekend, a small bit of my sanity has returned.  : )

Today the temperature made it to 65 degrees!!  It was such a gorgeous day.  I really wish we could have spent more time outside, but we did manage to open the windows today...and make a large drop off at Goodwill.  We also walked down the block to the City Market to get some produce for dinner tonight.  I'm making a Red Wine Beef Stew...not too synonymous with the weather today, but we'll be glad we have leftovers for tomorrow.  It's only supposed to get up to 29 degrees tomorrow!  Ouch!  It's amazing to think that after a day like today!

I also thought I'd share a couple of pics that I stole from Nadia's (Chad's brother's wife's sister) FB page.  I'm so grateful that she posts pics often.  We miss them all so much.  It's nice to see what's going on in S.A.  It's also crazy to see them in their "summer" attire.

 Here's the Gerber crew!  Yay!

Ryan and Tanya...

...and Mack

This is a fun pic that I love.  A man...his dog...and his beer.  Ha!

Well, it's back to the grind tomorrow.  Cheers to a good weekend!

The first two weeks...

It's been a crazy, busy first two weeks...unpacking,wine, unpacking, long work hours, head cold, unpacking, wine, unpacking...you get the drift.  Here's some pics of our first few weeks here...

Last meal in IL.  Mom and John fixed us a yummy cajun pasta (one of Chad's faves) and brown butter and mizithra cheese pasta (one of my faves).  Awwww.

The ride to KC.  They were so miserable.  It was a long four hours.

Exploring the new place.

Relaxing on the our new couch.

Smokey...one of the first few days he was left home alone...not happy.

 Our madness...

...and where we recover from our madness.  Cellar & Loft is this cute little wine shop a few blocks from our place.  The cellar is where all the action is, and the ambiance is amazing!

I hope to have pics of our new place posted soon.  It's been a struggle finding and actually receiving all the new furniture.  We've received some of it and will receive more of it soon.  We just found out this weekend that our dining table is on backorder and will not arrive until the end of February.  Boo!  The only place we have to sit is the couch right now.  It will be nice when at least the bar stools come in.

We've been unpacking and running errands all weekend.  We did take a break yesterday though to have lunch with Doc, Chad's advisor from SLU.  He was driving back from Omaha.  He also stopped in last weekend to have lunch on his way to Omaha.  It's been nice to see a familiar face around here.  We've enjoyed the company!  So tonight we're relaxing, have a glass of wine and watching the Golden Globes.  One more day of unpacking this weekend before it's back to work.  

Next Friday, Mom and John are coming to visit for a long weekend.  Yay!  We're pretty excited to have the company!!!  Woo hoo!  

Chaos!

Just a short note to let you all know that we're still alive out here...just buried under mountains and mountains of boxes!  I really do feel like they multiplied on the truck...like little Gremlins...just add water.

Work is super crazy...even more so than I imagined.  So I haven't gotten any of the time off that I had planned.  Needless to stay that the unpacking is coming along very, very slowly.  We've managed to get the kitchen, master bedroom, master bathroom and 3/4 of the master closet unpacked.  Lot and lots more to do though.  I wish the unpacking fairy would grace us with her presence.  I just always feel unsettled when both work and home are chaotic.

Our new couch arrived last week, but the furniture from I.O. Metro won't be here for a couple more weeks.  We did purchase a guest bed and mattresses from Nebraska Furniture Mart this weekend, which is scheduled to arrive this coming Wednesday.  Now we just need to decide on a coffee table and end table...and we should be set.

Enough crabbing already.  We've managed to eat out every day this past week.  Here's some of the places we've frequented:  Minsky's Pizza,  Burrito Bros,  Cafe al Dente,  Harry's Country Club, and Hickok's Bar & Grill.  This morning we got up and walked over to the City Market to have coffee at this cute little coffee shop with great muffins.  Chad had planned to make some spicy red sauce this evening, so we grabbed some of the ingredients from the vendors there.  Very cool to walk everywhere and have this great farmer's market right in our backyard!!


Well this week at work is going to kick my butt, so I better get it to bed soon.  Happy Monday!!