Catch up...again

Man, I feel like I'm always playing catch up with my blog! I cannot believe that it's been over a month since I've posted anything.  I really enjoy blogging but it definitely isn't something that I crave doing after spending all day on the computer at work.  I envy my friend, Ashley, who is much more dedicated than I am about it.  I wish I could just think what I want to post and it would show up in my blog!  Ha.

Well, this last month has been filled with work, Easter, work, baseball, work, storm chasing, work and a bit of fun.  As you can imagine work has completely kicked my butt lately.  I have been super stressed about it and super exhausted.  It's really been bringing me down, but I'm going to try to go into this next week with a better attitude!  I just hope I can keep it up.  Fingers crossed.  Thank goodness that I have this patio to come home to.  It's the perfect place to kick up your feet, people watch and have a glass of wine or a brew!

Here's a few fun things that we've done...

April brought about my inaugural storm chase!  I've been wanting to do this for quite a few years now, but the opportunity just hasn't presented itself.  Moving closer to the vastness they call Kansas has helped though.  Storm chasing is a lot of planning & driving (hours and hours to be exact) for about a 30 min rush of adrenaline if you get lucky.  I'm told that I was very lucky, because many times storm chasers don't even see a tornado.  I'm so glad that we did!  It was my first sighting while chasing (second sighting of my life) and Chad's second sighting.  Here's a pic of our tornado.  This was at dusk and almost impossible to see unless it was lightning.

 ...and if spotting a tornado wasn't enough, we also spotted the Dominator!!!  Yahoo!!  (You must be a fan of the show Storm Chasers to have any idea what I'm talking about.)  I was almost as excited to see them as I was the tornado.  How exciting to be chasing the same storm.  Here's a video from Reed of the same tornado we were chasing in Heston, KS. Very cool!!

April has also brought us the start of baseball...and while I was bummed to miss out on all the Cardinals' Opening Day festivities that I've religiously taken part in the last 10 years, we were still happy to attend the Royals' Opening Day.  The hype was much less than in St. Louis, but it was still a good time...and much, much cheaper.  It was my first experience with tail gating, which I thoroughly enjoy now.  We also were able to take in one weeknight game while my St. Louis work friends were in town.  Here's a couple pics...

Geno's last trip to KC as a HCUSA employee.  We'll miss you Gene!

Here's me and Rebecca!  She's been "visiting" me at least one a month to help me with training at work.

Last weekend was the first Delaware Wine Walk of the season.  This event is pretty awesome because it's on our street!!  For a small fee, which goes to charity, you visit local businesses on the street and they pour wine for you.  This month's wine was from a local KS winery...Somerset.  While I cannot say the wine was very good, it was definitely a fun event.  We found businesses that we didn't even know were near us.   Here's some pics from this event...

The line outside our building to visit the business

that's on the first floor.

A lady drawing a mural at the salon where we get our hair done...The Glam Room. 

Another pic of the venue across the street from our building...Cafe al Dente.

This weekend my Mom and Judy came to visit and help me pick out a wedding gown.  I will not be posting any wedding dress pics on my blog, but feel free to email me if you want to see the dress.  It was so wonderful to have them here with me for this special day.  Thanks again, ladies!!!!

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!!

On the mend!

It's Saturday...and that means that Chad and I both made it through this hellacious week!  Thank goodness!!  I don't have any good Vday stories to report as we both spent the day/evening apart from one another.  Ha!  That's ok, because we had already purchased our joint Vday gift.  A lovely black/white pic of the Arch and Laclede's Landing.  LOVE it because it reminds us of home!!!

Thursday was the first day (since Sunday night) that I woke up without a fever.  I even had a bit more energy that day too.  Friday I headed back to the office, since I had been fever free for at least 24 hrs (the golden rule in the healthcare world).  It was good to feel like a human again...put on real clothes, wear makeup, talk to people face-to-face.  It's amazing what you miss when you're sick for a week.  Chad even got released from the hospital on Friday too!  Yahoo!  He was more than ready to be back at home!  (I think he even missed the kitties a bit.  Shhhh.)

So today begins our super low-key weekend.  It's a weekend of resting, relaxing and slowly increasing our activity, so as not to over do it.  This morning we walked down the block to a new coffee house that just opened this week...Classic Rock Coffee Co.  No website yet, but more to come.  It's located on a corner spot just across the street from the entrance to the City Market.  The spot used to occupy the Gillis Opera House and most recently the River Market Brewing Co but has been vacant since we moved in.  The new coffee house is adding a bakery and grill in the coming weeks.  It's super cozy inside!  I can't wait to spend some weekend mornings there!!  We grabbed a latte and headed to our favorite Saturday morning spot...Tamale Wizard.  Here's a pic of my breakfast...yumm-o!!

That's about all the walking either of us could handle at one time.  It's amazing how weak you get after laying around a few days with the flu.  Back to resting.

I thought I would share a couple more pics with you.  Here's a new pick of my niece.  Very cool and chic!  Makes me smile!!

Here's one of Chad's sister-in-law, Tanya, and her dog, Mac.  Ryan and Tanya attempted to make their own pasta this weekend.  Super jealous...as I have been planning to do so for the past couple of weekends but haven't found the time.  Looks like they are doing well so far!

Happy weekend!  Stay healthy!!

Influenza A 1 - Chad/Lisa 0

As most of you know by now, Chad and I are down for the count.  Chad woke up in the middle of the night Saturday/Sunday with a fever and body aches.  This continued into Sunday morning.  He had plans to leave on a business trip that Monday morning, so he wanted to get checked out right away to determine what the issue was.  We headed to a nearby ER, where they diagnosed him with Influenza A and asthma exacerbation.  He received steroids and several breathing treatments, but his oxygen saturation and overall breathing just weren't improving.  So they decided to admit him Sunday afternoon.

I was feeling fine at this point...just a bit exhausted from being in the ER all Sunday.  I came home Sunday evening and cooked dinner and went to bed early.  Guess what?  I, too, developed fever and cough in the middle of the night.  I woke up Monday morning feeling like hell.  I was lucky enough to find a physician that would see me (since I had not yet established myself with one).  I'll give ya one guess as to what he diagnosed me with??  Yep, Influenza A...and sinusitis...and we've been down for the count since.  Chad even had his flu vaccine this year, but I guess he found a strain that wasn't covered in the vaccine.  Lucky us!

As of today, I'm on my 3rd day of a fever and feeling like hell.  I'm hoping that I can at least stay awake more than yesterday.  I can't even count how many naps I took yesterday.  Chad remains hospitalized.  His breathing is getting better ever so slowly, but it really is taking a long time.  His body usually responds a bit faster to the meds, but they say that the flu course is really slowing things down.

Keep your fingers crossed for us!  This has definitely been a challenge...both of us being sick and in a foreign place.

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!