Weekend Wrap Up

This week started out a bit rough for our department at work, and though nothing has changed throughout the week, I think I'm in a better place now.  The Stages of Change & The Stages of Grieving are similar to one another.  It's super important to be self-aware of what stage one is currently in to respond appropriate to others at work.  Although, I made it all the way through the stages this week, it encompassed most of my week.  So I'm choosing to focus this post on happy thoughts of the week.  

My Favorite "Things"

1) I bought a new reusable work cup at Starbucks this week.  Love the champagne color & faceted design.  As much as I don't want Monday to come, I'm excited to start using it!

2) Attended a fabulous wine dinner at The Majestic on Wednesday night for Vermeil Wines.  This was my first time at the historic Majestic and boy was it delish!  The 4-course dinner started out with mussels and ended with manchego gougeres with fresh berries...and had duck confit tart & a petite filet in the middle!  Yumm-o!  Chrystal and I even had our pic with Coach Vermeil!  Fun night!

3)  We spent Thursday night at our favorite spot in our hood - Barrel 31.  I had the pleasure of meeting Chad's friend/colleague, Marc, who was in town from Billings for a conference.  Good food & good company!  He even tolerated my sarcasm & my "dislike" for Montana.  (Yes, I know that I've never been there, but there are so many other places I'd prefer to go first!)


4)  Friday I received the last of my birthday presents in the mail.  (Well, almost the last.  I still have an Athleta GC to use - hopefully, next weekend.)  This was a self-purchased gift - one of the best kinds.  Saw this dress in the store at Ann Taylor Loft and loved it.  It's a comfy material but looks a bit more elegant that a lot of maxis.  It runs large like most things at Loft - always nice to buy a "smaller" size!  LOL!  I'm picturing wearing this in Sonoma next month.

5)  Organization!  I've always loved pics of organized pantries where everything is labeled and has its own place!  So I recently purchased some new Tupperware containers from a work colleague.  While waiting for those to arrive, I found these adorable vinyl stickers on Etsy and picked up a chalk marker at Target.  I love the result so much that I'm actually thinking of ordering more Tupperware! Showing a little love for my OCD tendencies.  LOL!

Lehni & Miles are visiting me later today - Fun!  Better get my butt off to barre, so I can start my day.  Hoping for a picnic outside later with the kids!

Smokey Update

It's been 5 weeks since Smokey's last vet appointment when we changed his diet and started him on B12 injections & steroids.  So this week we headed back for a checkup.  

Over the course of the last 5 weeks, we have become experts in "pilling" Smokey and analyzing any product that comes out of him.  I know, I know - TMI!  But seriously, it's sad that most of our daily conversations surround...how much did Smokey eat?  How many stools did he have?  What were the consistency of his stools?  Did you take a picture of them to send to the vet?  We even have an Excel document where we log all of this craziness!  It's just too much to remember & report on without some kind of tracking system.  (OCD Lisa talking here!  LOL!)  

When we're tracking all of this every day, we really started to notice even the smallest differences in his behavior, the way he's eating, etc.  He seems to have a bit more energy lately and has been more affectionate also - similar to prior to his health status deteriorating this past January.  He also seemed a bit heavier.  However, his GI status seemed to have plateaued meaning that his stooling has not been favorable - better than this past Jan/Feb but no where near where we need & want him to be.  So we were hopeful for the visit but also knew that there were some changes to be made.

Wednesday morning (ADA Vet Visit Day) arrived.  I dosed Smokey with some gabapentin (which is basically Neurontin for cats) to relax him a bit.  He's received this med a few times prior to his visits and it seems to work.  Little did I know that I was going to be tested today.  So after i scooted him in his carrier and lugged him down to the car all while participating in a conference call, we were on our way.  Half way there (about 10 min from home) I noticed an unpleasant smell in the car that didn't seem to go away.  So I pulled over only to find that Smokey had an accident!!!!  So we turned around and headed home so I could clean him up.  "Cleaning up" a cat by ones self isn't an easy feat and I wasn't terribly successful.  We ended up arriving at the vet appointment about 30 min late, but at least we got there...even though I felt like this.

So long story short - Smokey has gained 5 oz.  We had hoped for more, but it's still a step in the right direction.  The vet also mentioned that his abdomen seems less inflamed upon exam and that his muscle mass is much better.  All good things.  She did agree with us, since we send her the weekly logs with pics, that he GI status had plateaued a bit though, and it was time to make some additional changes.  So it looks like we're adding another type food into his diet.  He's already on Royal Canin GI Fiber Response, and we'll be slowing adding Royal Canin GI High Energy (dry & wet).  Thankfully both cats love this food, so this should be an easy change.  We're also switching up his meds a bit.  He'll remain on his weekly Vitamin B12 injections & daily steroids.  We'll be adding his probiotic back into the regimen and also adding chlorambucil (a maintenance chemo med) at a very low dose.  The vet had spoken to us a bit about this at a previous visit, so we weren't too freaked out when she mentioned it.  Apparantly moderate to severe irritable bowel disease (IBD) and lymphoma can exhibit similar symptoms and also be treated similarly.  We are opting not to perform the endoscopy with bowel biopsies at this time, which is the only way to diagnose the lymphoma.  Regardless of the outcome of the endoscopy, the treatment is the same.  We just didn't want to put Smokey through all of that.  So he'll be starting the med next week and receive it 3x/week.

Fingers crossed for this guy!  We've made some baby steps and are headed in the right direction!  Here's a pic of him sitting on my lap "helping me work".  (Disregard the mess on the desk behind him.)  Love him!

 

Birthday Weekend!

This past weekend was my birthday weekend, and I can say that we definitely did it up right!  Thursday we celebrated with friends at Barrel 31.  I've mentioned it before, but they have the best food and drink, and it's only a mile from the house.  I really have some great KC friends, and they truly spoiled me this year. 

My family also spoiled me with makeup (Urban Decay, Tarte & Butter), jewelry and Athleta dollars!  Yay!  Friday, Chad surprised with with tickets to the ballet - Cinderella.  First we headed to Michael Smith's, as we do every year for my birthday, for some fabulous food. 

Chad being crazy

We always have such good food here!  I ordered the halibut...

...and Chad ordered the duck breast.

We capped off our meal with an amazing dark chocolate & apricot torte with maple bacon ice cream!  Delish!

After dinner we headed over to the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts - an amazing building not far from where we live.  Here's the outside of Kauffman...

...and here's a shot of our building (all the way to the right) from inside Kauffman.

Here's a few more shots of inside the Kauffman Center lobby.  Quite breathtaking!

Cinderella was great - actually more of a comedy than I expected - but still quite good.  Prior to this, I had only been to the Nutcracker (which I love) several times.  So it was good to see another performance.  We both really enjoyed the evening and are looking forward to the Alice in Wonderland ballet performance coming our way in October.  

Saturday was more of a low key day.  We started off the day with breakfast & a mimosa at The Corner Restaurant and then headed to one of KC's outdoor shopping malls, since the weather was fabulous!  We returned from shopping and took a walk in the park next to our building - Penn Valley Park.  It's really quite fabulous to live in the city and have a large park next to your building.  I haven't gotten to take an pics myself to date, so here's a couple I found on the internet.  It even has baseball diamonds and a dog park.

At the end of the park near our building there's a historic statue. The Scout, which we walked down to on Saturday.  It's got one of the best views of the city and it's often depicted in pictures and art.

We had a full previous two days, so we decided to grab a pizza and stay in for the evening...but capped off the evening with my most favorite champagne.  Happy Birthday to me!!!!  Cheers!

Catch Up: OPP Chef's Dinner

A couple of weeks ago, One Park Place (OPP as we call it) hosted a "chef's dinner".  The premise was a known area chef would be brought in to cook (and teach) a 4 course dinner.  The cost was $25 per person, and each couple was asked to bring a bottle of wine that paired with a specific dinner course.  

Spaces were limited and we barely got a seat but so glad we did.  I wasn't sure what to expect but it was so worth it.  We hadn't got a chance to spend a ton of time with our neighbors yet, so that was worth it for sure...and I must say we have very cool neighbors.  We really enjoyed our time with them...all 4 hours of it.  Yes, that's right, the entire dinner took 4 hours!  It was longer than I expected but well worth our $50.

The chef that was brought in has worked in some fabulous restaurants in KC...some that are in our top 10.  He currently owns the Broadway Butcher shop (just 2 miles or so from our place) and is doing some fabulous, innovative things there!  The Broadway Butcher shop is located next to a great wine & spirits store, Gomers Midtown.  Gomers was aware of the menu for the night, so we stopped in there the weekend before to get some wine recommendations for the course that we were assigned - Italian meats & cheeses.  We ended up with an Italian white & Italian red, which were fabulous & very reasonably priced!  As mentioned our dinner started with cured meats, charcutiere & cheeses.  The charcutiere was a country pate that the chef makes right in the butcher shop.  I didn't think in the least that I would like it, but it was rather tasty with the stone ground mustard!  Here's a couple pics of the set up...

How many men does it take to open champagne?!  LOL!

The first course

Here's some pics of our chef, Stuart, working on the 2nd course - scallop ceviche with coconut milk & habaneros.  He was so passionate about everything that it really made it quite fun!  A few of the neighbors even got to join in the prep.

Chad, of course, chose to sit back, sip wine and let the chef prepare the course.  LOL!

The finished 2nd course.  Love the presentation!  

It was finished off with prosciutto crisps - fabulous!

Our 3rd course with roasted duck breasts with escabeche, quinoa & chipotle mashed sweet potatoes.  Stuart had prepped much of this prior to arriving and finished the cooking onsite.  So good!

Our final course bananas foster with bacon - again, fabulous!  

Here's Stuart preparing the dish.

The final dish

The whole evening was so much fun - even better that all we had to do was walk upstairs to our unit!  I can't wait until we do it again!  Cheers!

Catch Up: Drink a What?

I haven't been able to find the time to blog the last few weeks.  So I'll be playing catch up for my next few posts.

The last weekend of April Judy came for a visit.  I hadn't seen her in awhile, so we had lots to catch up on.  A good Judy visit never goes with out plenty to drink!  LOL!  I think Judy"s collage sums up our weekend best...

We decided to chill at the condo after Judy arrived that Friday.  Our condo has a couple community grills and patio tables on one of the public levels.  It was our first time using a community grill, but it wasn't as difficult as I thought it might be.  We wanted to eat outside too, so we packed up everything on a couple of tray...and also backed a small cooler...and headed outside for the evening.  It was actually quite fun and relaxing.  It was also a great way to meet the neighbors as they come down to grill or take their dogs out for a walk.

Saturday we headed to brunch at one of our new favorite places, which is about a mile down the road - Barrel 31.  We arrived not long after it opened, and Judy quickly talked me into a spicy Bloody Mary.

Arriving jsut after opening is apparantly the perfect time, as the servers were tasting the daily cocktails and the bartender gave us the leftovers.  Yum!  I have no idea what he called this fancy concoction, but it sure was tasty!

Not only were the drinks superb, as always, but so was the food.  I ordered a "scramble" and Chad ordered the sliders.

We decided to do a bit of shopping after brunch in  hopes of burning off some of the grub we just devoured.  We headed to downtown Overland Park - an area we haven't been to before.  They have a Farmer's Market on Saturdays.  It's a decent size, but not nearly as big as the City Market...but they did have several cute shops in their quaint downtown area.  My favorite of the day was The General Store & Co.  Their website lists the shop as a "cabinet of curiosities", and I'd definitely say that's about right.  They have cards, coasters, pillows, and lots of risque items.  Judy bought us some awesome thick green felt coasters as a housewarming gift - love them!  We opted for a bit of a risque gift for a friend's birthday (which I won't be sharing with you) and this awesome pillow as a early birthday gift for me!  It lists all the midtown neighborhoods in KC. We live just South of downtown but North of Westport (which is the most North of any of those listed), but it's still "our hood" and we love it!

After shopping it was time for what?  A beer, of course!  So we headed to Bier Station for a quick pint.

Saturday night consisted of our usual ritual - Hand & Foot...and more libations, of course.
We sent Judy home a bit earlier than normal on Sunday as severe weather was expected to form...and it did as planned.  That was the night that we had tornadoes a bit sound of KC and even had some rotation over downtown.  

Glad she made it home safely.  Looking forward to the next visit!  
Cheers!