Dum dum da dum...

The wedding planning vacation was a success...unless you're talking about how I came home just as white & tanless as I left.  LOL!  Unfortunately, there wasn't a bit of time for the pool or the beach...but at least we were near the beach and in the warm weather!!!  

We toured 3 facilities on Friday.  Boy, was that exhausting...but super fun!  We finally decided on the Sandpearl Resort in Clearwater Beach, FL.  So now I will overload you with pics of the resort.  Settle in.

The outside and the lobby.

View of the resort from the beach.

Our wedding would be on the beach between the two dunes.

(The yellow beach chairs wouldn't be there in October...just for Spring Breakers now.)

Here is the veranda where we would have the cocktail hour after the wedding.

(The chairs would be moved.)

Here's the view from the veranda.  Gorgeous!!!

Here is the room where we'll be having the reception.  There is a balcony for guests to step out on to enjoy the fresh air.

Just a few more pics...promise!

Here are the super cool pool lounge chairs.  Check out the awesome shade that you can pull up to shield you from the sun!!  Most of the chairs have a flag to put up when you need a beverage...rock on!

One last pic...this awesome cabana that you can rent out for a day!

So things are finally coming together as I hoped they would once we secured the venue.  We booked the photographer tonight...Neil Shannon Photography.  We have entertainment and a florist pending.

I will leave you with this one last photo...a sunset, of course.  A bit cloudy but still B-E-A-UTIFUL!!!

More catch up...

This one might be a long one.  Lots to catch you up on...again.  If only I would get into a rhythm of blogging each day or at least every other day.  I'm sure it has something to do with spending all day at the computer and coming home just to get onto the computer again.  : )

Last Saturday was my Dad's birthday.  He and my stepmother were scheduled to come up for a quick visit.  That ended up being postponed as my Dad was a bit under the weather...and on his birthday at that.  

Here's a recent pic of us.  Happy Birthday, Dad!

So with a whole weekend to ourselves, we decided to get completely crazy...and hit up the normal Saturday night ritual...wine tasting and dinner.  We chose a new place for dinner in a neighborhood called Volker, which is next to Westport.  Volker reminds me of The Loop in STL, and Westport reminds me of the CWE.  Both are very cool, and only about 10-15 min from the condo.  Saturday night we went to Thomas restaurant...very cool with super yummy martinis!  

Sunday we headed to the convention center for the KC Cake Fest.  This is an annual event highlighting the art of cake decorating.  The general admission was free, which is what we took advantage of, but they had special tickets that you could buy for cake battles both days.  That would have been fun to see...but not for $40 a ticket!  Patty Cakes from Highland was part of the battles.  Fun!  Here's pics of some of the cake that we saw.

The Cupcake Lady

Sorry, Jude, no Miller Light...

...but there's vino!

Not for the faint at heart.

This dragon even blew smoke out of his nose.  Definite first place!

This one is about the Power & Light District...a very trendy, fun district a few blocks from our place.

Here's something for my mom...Wizard of Oz and...

...a little Alice in Wonderland.

Fun...but it only made me want to eat about 20 cupcakes. LOL!

This week has been a bit busier for us, since it's a 3-day work week.  We're heading down to Clearwater Beach to FINALLY make some wedding plans!  Ha.  We're sooooo far behind, but oh well.  I'm sure everything will work out.  I'm super excited to be heading to FL.  We won't have much time to relax.  We have meetings scheduled the majority of the time that we are there.  At least we'll be near the beach and in warmer weather!!  Yahoo!!  Hopefully I'll have good news when we return!

However, I'm now finding out what it's like not to have family close to me.  I've been so lucky (and spoiled) to have my family so close to me my whole life to help me!!!  They've always watched the cats when I was out of town previously, but that's not the case this time.  We'll be gone 4 days, which is a bit too long to leave cats by themselves.  So we've hired a pet sitter to come over for about 30 min each day to feed, water and scoop the litter box.  I'm a bit nervous to let people into our place when we're not here, but the company seems pretty professional.  They have 24 sitters on staff that cover areas from Lawrence, KS to Columbia, MO.  They offer a variety of services, but we're just going to have them do the short day visits.  They send report cards each day to let you know how they're doing.  Keep your fingers crossed that things go well...both at home and in FL!!!

Hope everyone has a good weekend!!

Catch up...

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted and we are still on the mend.  It seems like it's taken this long just to get ourselves back to where we were before we got sick.  Funny how that is.  Chad is finally starting to breathe a bit better, and he sees the pulmonologist tomorrow.  If there is any bright side to our sickness, it's that it forced both of us to get primary doctors...and Chad a specialist for his asthma!

Judy was supposed to come out for a visit the weekend that Chad was released from the hospital, but it was just too much.  So we rescheduled for the next weekend.  We enjoyed the visit immensely and had lots of fun.  Judy came out on Thursday evening, so we had a girls day on Friday as Chad had to work.  Judy is a big fan of the Chiefs, so we decided to check out Arrowhead Stadium and take the tour.  Here's a few pics...

Just left on Saturday afternoon as her work week starts on Sunday.  Sunday is our day to cook for the week, which we try to do most weekends.  This weekend, we decided on chili!  I HEART chili...but I haven't been able to make it much this winter given all the goings on.  We picked a Rachael Ray recipe that turned out to be super spicy...and super yummy!  Here's the recipe:

Roasted Poblano & Sliced Steak Chili

• 3 large poblano peppers
• 2lb sirloin shell steak
• 3 Tbsp. EVOO
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 jalapenos, seeded & chopped (optional)
• 1 tsp. smoked sweet paprika
• 1.5 tsp ground cumin
• 1.5 tsp ground coriander
• 1 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1 dark Mexican beer
• 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 1 lime, juice & zest
• Salt/pepper
• Corn tortilla chips  

Directions:

1.     Preheat the broiler to high and place the poblanos on a broiler pain or baking sheet.  Char and blacken the skins all over under the hot broiler, about 15-16 min.  Leave the oven door cracked.  Set the poblanos in a bowel and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  Let stand 10-15 min.  When the peppers have cooled, peel off the skins, discard the seeds and cut the peppers into large bite-sized pieces.

2.     Trim the steak and cut into thin bite-size strips about 1 ½ inches long and ¼ inch thick.  Heat the EVOO in a stew pot over high heat.  When it ripples add the beef and sear on all sides, seasoning it with salt and pepper. 

3.     Add the onions and garlic and reduce the heat to medium-high.  Cook the onions for 5 min.  Stir in the smoked paprika, cumin, coriander and chili powder distributing the spices well.  Deglaze the pan  with the beer, scraping up the browned bits.  Cook for a minute to reduce.  Add the tomatoes and lime zest.  Stir in the poblano and jalapeno peppers.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer the chili for 15-20 min.

4.     Squeeze the lime juice over the chili and turn off the heat.  Serve in the shallow bowls garnished with a few crushed tortilla chips.

llllYou definitely must try this recipe if you like spicy chili!  Yahoo!  Hopefully, I'll catch you all up on this weekend tomorrow.  Baby steps.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!