Beer, baseball & vino...

I had a great trip home a couple of weekends ago, but it was nice to be back in KC.  Last weekend we took in the Cards/Royals game on Saturday.  I was really hoping to go Friday night as there were many KC celebs in town for a charity poker tournament...and they were all at the game on Friday for a celebrity wiffle ball game.  These celebs included some of my faves...Eric Stonestreet and Paul Rudd, just to name a few!  Sadly I did not get to attend the wiffle ball game and drool over Paul Rudd.  However, we did go Saturday and tailgate before the game, which I've grown to appreciate.  I LOVE sitting around the parking lot with a couple of brews while grilling hotdogs and people-watching, one of my favorite past times!!!  It was a great afternoon for tailgating...cloudy & breezy...not hot at all!  Here's a couple of pics from the game.

A sea of red at the Big K...

Jeff and Jen...

...and us, of course, faithfully wearing our Cards attire!

 

We've been tearing up the grill lately grilling some items that we haven't before.  Sunday we grilled scallops for the first time with some tangy sauce.  Last night we grilled a pork tenderloin that had marinated in a rub all day.  They were both fabulous!  I love when new recipes turn our right. 

Here's a pic of the scallops. The brew in the background is the coveted, newly released, Boulevard Love Child #2.  It's a sour beer that they've been working on for awhile.  We first had it at a recent beer fest and loved it!  I'm not a fan of every sour yet, but I sure loved this one.  It's so sought after in KC that you can only buy one at a time...and it's quite pricey too!

Monday night vino was our vice of choice as we headed to Cellar Rat for a wine tasting that we had bought from Groupon.  I had originally purchased it before we moved here...and after rescheduling several times, we finally were able to make it to the tasting.  They have several that you can choose from but they fill up quite fast as they only allow around 14 people at each tasting.  The class we attended was called "$10 vs. $100 Syrah/Shiraz".  They had a distributor conducting the class.  It was set up as a blind tasting of 6 different wines.  Even the distributor was blind tasting!  The pours were nice, and we tasted each of the 6 wines by themselves and then with cheese, which makes them taste quite different.  We each voted on our favorite wines, and then also on which wine was $10 and which was $100. 

The wine voted most favorite, which was also our favorite, was Chocolate Box Cherry Chocolate, which tastes nothing like it sounds.  Most of us voted that it was the $100 wine, but it was actually only $19 (the second least expensive).  So we feel that we won, since we could afford to buy our favorite wine of the night!!  LOL!  Love the vintage label!

My second favorite wine was Molly Dooker Carnival of Love.  This I voted to be between $30-40.  It actually turned out to be the $100 wine!!

It was quite a fun night.  We hope to attend another of their classes soon!  It was informative, low key and fun!  I'll leave you with three fun facts that I learned while at the tasting:

• Cristal is the only brand of champagne that doesn't have a punt in the bottom of the bottle.
• Only serve hard cheese with red wines.  Soft cheese will make the wine taste tinny.
• The longer the cork, the more the winemaker feels it will age.

Horses, Family & Kidneys...Oh my!

This weekend I left Chad behind and headed home to The Lou.  I had vacation to burn (but Chad did not), and what better way to do it then to spend it with family and friends!  Unfortunately I did not take barely any pics.  I must get better about this!!

Friday I met up with the Jefferson's clan (Judy, Vicki & Angie), and we even added a few more...Kristine & Tasha.  Angie & Vicki even brought their families!  It was so great to see everyone!!!  I had been missing them so much!  We've begun to make friends in our new home, but nothing is as good as the old ones.  We had a way of gathering for impromptu Jefferson's dinners.  I knew that I would miss these gatherings, but I didn't realize how much until these last couple of months!  Unfortunately Ashley was out of town for her father's birthday, so I'm still missing her.  I'm hoping to see her soon!  (Hint, hint)
After Jefferson's a few of us went to Fairmont for a little horse racing and people watching.  I did well at the track.  It would have been even better if I'd bet more than $2 on a race.  Ha!  Here's the one and only pic from that night...

Saturday, Mom and I hit the stores in hopes that we would find a dress for her for the wedding.  I originally thought that dress shopping would be easier for a beach wedding, but it appears it's much more difficult for a Mother of the Bride. Even though we didn't actually come away with a clear winner, I think we made progress!  


Saturday evening we headed to Alphonso's Pizzeria to celebrate Father's Day, Mother's Day and my birthday.  I'm probably forgetting something else we haven't celebrated.  LOL!  Here's pic from that night...minus John who's behind the camera.

Sunday started out with breakfast at the Happy Cow, a little dive in Caseyville.  Every Sunday, my grandparents get together there with my grandfather's siblings.  It's a "whoever can make it" kind of gathering.  It was quite the crowd for Father's Day!  The remainder of the day I made my rounds to various Fillback households.  I just about saw everyone I wanted to see except for my cousin, Mike, and his family.  That was disappointing, but I was quite happy to see my other cousin's, Kristina and Scott, and one of my uncles, Dale.  I hadn't seen Kristina since sometime last year.  Since we last saw each other, we've both gotten engaged and one of us is pregnant.  (I'll give you a hint...it's not me.  LOL!)  Sunday ended with dinner at Dad's...a great Sunday!


Today I made a pit stop at Barnes Hospital before heading home to KC.  One of my oldest and dearest friends, Missy, received a kidney transplant on Sunday. She has only been on the kidney transplant list for 2.5 months and just recently started dialysis.  It's a miracle that this happened so quickly for her!!!!  What an amazing gift, and I'm so happy that I could be in town for it!  This opens new doors for her and her beautiful family!  Love ya, Miss!!!


It was so wonderful to spend a relaxing, but busy weekend with family and friends.  I had been craving time with all of them lately!  I'm blessed to have them in my life!

Officially a Missourian

This weekend, after much frustration and effort, I officially became a Missourian...and what an ordeal it was!!!  The amount of hoops that one has to jump through is ridiculous.  However, it is much cheaper to transfer everything over to Missouri (as it should be due to personal property taxes) than it is for IL.  I think Chad paid close to $200 when he switches his registration and license over to IL two years ago.  I paid just under $60 to transfer mine.  However, it did require:  
** A minor odometer inspection on my car (from the local Valvoline shop).  
** A trip to the courthouse and several pieces of paper to prove that we were not residents of MO in either January 2011 or January 2012.  (This is necessary, so that personal property taxes do not have to be paid.)  
** Finally, a trip to the DMV...many of which, in this area, are contracted office and not actually employees of the State of MO.  This means that they can be open the hours that they choose.  This we found out after running around Saturday trying to find one that was open.  The DMV wanted the above two pieces of paper, as well as your insurance, passport, proof of current residency, money...and your first born.  Ha!

I was finally able to accomplish all of the above.  Chad's still working on his.  Here's the end result.  Not too bad of a pic!

After that exhausting trip, we decided to head out to Manhattan, KS to Tallgrass Brewery, which is about a 2 hour drive from KC. This brewery is new to us since our move out West.  They don't currently distribute in IL but will be soon.  They make some pretty good beers.  We read that the brewery is pretty low-key and they weren't kidding.  Manhattan is a college town, and the brewery feels like the local college kids are running it.  Ha!  

When you arrive you must purchase a glass for $5, and that comes with 6 tastings.  The tasting pours run anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 of the glass.  Here's our first taste.  I got the Buffalo Sweat, a smooth oatmeal stout, which is their #1 seller.  Chad chose the Velvet Rooster, a Belgian Tripel.

They give tours on Saturdays only.  The tours are only about 30 minutes long, but the tour guide was fantastic...very funny!.  The owners are big fans of the first two seasons of the American Gladiators.  So all their tanks are named after the gladiators.  Hilarious!!!!

Another unique factor about this brewery is that they use cans instead of bottles.  They stopped using bottles two years ago.  They say that they can "can" faster than they could bottle, and there are less reason to shut down the bottling line for reasons such as a broken bottle.   Here's is a write-up on the whole concept...interesting.  They only use the "tall boys"...the 20oz. cans.  Here's stockpile of empty cans...

On our way out we got glimpse of the brewmaster who had come in on the weekend, as he is often said to do, to homebrew.  Guess he can't get enough!  We really enjoyed the beer!  Mine and Chad's favorites were the Buffalo Sweat & Velvet Rooster.


On the way home we drove through a small town that we've seen advertised on many billboards in Kansas...Wamego.  Their claim to fame is the Wizard of Oz museum, which opened in 2004.  There doesn't seem to be a reason why it's located in Wamego, but since the opening of the museum other "Oz related" businesses have opened...Oz Winery, Toto's Tacos.  So since it was the on the way, I had to drive through!  It was quite a disappointment.  Ha!  Here's a couple of pics of the businesses...

On the way back home we swung through another KS town...Lawrence.  They have a Jefferson's here!!!!!  Yes, you heard me correct.  Jefferson's!  Just like back home!!!  The food was just as we remember it.  Hooray!!  Here's a pic of the inside...

Yesterday, we headed to Columbia, MO to hang out with Ben, Calyn & Lehni.  Mom, John and Jerod met us there.  What a fun and relaxing day!!  Lots of eating and drinking, of course.  They just built a deck on the back of their house, which went to great use!  Here's mom play with their two dogs...Darwin & Winston.

Ben set up a Slip 'N Slide for Lehni.  Whoa!  What memories this brings back!!  Lehni had never been on one before.  She kept running, stopping just before the slide and then plopping down on it.  She couldn't see to grasp the concept of running and sliding on her belly.  Ha!  She eventually got it, but here's a couple of cute pics of her practicing!

We spent the night in Columbia and then headed back home this morning.  Today we just took it easy.  I even managed to get a little shopping in and spend the gift cards that I received for my birthday.  Here's one of my many purchases...new kicks!

It's back to work tomorrow.  Makes me wish I would have taken an extra day off.  Ha!  Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!!!

Bday, Beer and Big Pancakes

I typically love my bday.  I admit it is harder to love as I get older...but I always love the prizes.  Lots of great prizes this year!

• Gift cards for clothes and shoes from the parents
• A Rachel Ray garbage bowl from Chad
• Jewelry from Chad's mom, Sandi  (They were so cute, then went right into my jewlery box...sans pictures.)
• Beer from our new friends, Jeff & Jen
• Beer and goodies from my MOH, Jude  

That weekend we tried a new diner on Sunday morning, The City Diner.  It was a hole but the food was good.  Check out the size of Chad's pancake!!!!

 

Last weekend we hit up the 2012 HopFest in the Waldo neighborhood.  We sprung for the VIP tickets which got us in the door an hour early.  During this hour each brewery had a special beer that they didn't offer the remainder of the afternoon.  Boulevard offered a Love Child #2 sour beer, which Jeff, Jen and Chad loved.  The jury is still out on if I like the sours or not.  I'm not quite there but the rest of the fest was yummy!

Chad and I also signed up for the UFO Beer Club at the Flying Saucer, a tap room and restaurant a few blocks from here in the Power and Light District.  They have tons of craft beers on tap and even more by the bottle!  It's a fun place to go with several events each week.  Tuesday's are Old School Trivia Nights, which we have yet to try but sounds like a blast.  Wednesday's are Take Home the Glass Nights, and Thursday's are Rare Beer Nights.  Recently we went on a Thursday to try the Schlafly Dark Cherry Saison...very good but not enough cherry.  Once you try 200 different beers, which they keep track of, you get to have a party there where they pick up $100 of the tab...and you get a plate on the wall with your name on it.  Only 196 beers to go.  Ha!  I'm not sure we'll even achieve it but it's fun!  It took our friends, Jeff and Jen, about two years to get their plates.

This weekend we don't have much planned other than heading to Columbia, MO on Sunday to visit with the family and obtaining our MO driver's licenses at some point!  Hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend!

 

Happy Bday to me!!!!

Wow, what an exhausting...but super productive weekend!  Friday night, Chad made dinner reservations at Michael Smith's restaurant in the Crossroad's neighborhood.  

Michael Smith is a James Beard award winner, so I was super excited to try the restaurant.  The staff was super friendly and accommodating.  We opted for the 4 course Chef's Tasting Menu...which was basically 8 different courses that Chad and I shared.  They brought you each different appetizers, different seafood entrees, different meat entrees and different desserts.  If you get bored with food pics, then you'll definitely want to fast forward through the next handful of pics.  Ha!

The first course was appetizers...Braised Rabbit with Gnocchi and Maryland Soft Shell Crab.  This was my first time having rabbit.  It was surprisingly pretty good.  Chad says that it tastes like dark meat turkey.  It's close, in my opinion, but it's just a slightly bit game-ier.

The second course was the seafood entree...Seared Sea Scallops and Pan Seared Monkfish...both extremely tasty!

The third course was the meat entree...Grilled New Zealand Lamb Rack and Braised Boneless Shortribs.  Aren't these dishes lovely???

The dessert course was also lovely...Chocolate Macaroons with Homemade Ice Cream and Lemon Chiffon Cake with Homemade Lemon Sorbet & Ice Cream.

Well, needless to say, we were both ridiculously stuffed after that tremendously yummy mean...one of the best I've had in a long time!


Saturday we had a packed day planned.  We started out the day with lunch and then a trip to the Coach store.  Believe it or not, we ventured there for Chad as his wallet was coming apart.  Coach is great with their customer service.  I've had a purse restitched in the past.  So we walked out with them agreeing to give Chad a new wallet and new sunnies for me thanks to Chad's coupon!  Woo hoo!  I finally have Big Girl sunnies!

We then went to the travel agent to decide on a honeymoon.  We've been trying for months to decide where to go.  We've considered destinations from Bali to Bora Bora, from St. Lucia to Turks & Caicos and even the Bahamas.  The meeting was quite helpful.  Stay tuned for the decision...


Then we headed to the jewelers to pick out our wedding bands, which we were quite successful.  Finally we ended the day with our friends, Jen & Jeff, and some Indian food...Chad's first "Indian experience".  

Today we tried out a new diner in the area for brunch.  Check out the size of Chad's pancake.  It was about 1/2-3/4 of an inch thick!  I think Chad ate barely over half.  Ha!

It was a super fun and super exhausting weekend.  No wonder all I wanted to do today was veg out.  I was able to accomplish a few things today though.  Now on to another week!  Cheers!

Go Yankees!

I can't believe the weekend came and went already!!  Is it really Sunday night already?!?!  I'm dreading this week at work.  Friday was probably one of the most difficult days that I've ever had at work, and the beginning of this week proves no different.  Oh well.  Let's suck it up and get on with it!!

We had a busy weekend filled with Yankee's-Royals' games to keep my mind off of everything.  Friday night our seats were in the Diamond Club.  These are the seats directly behind home plate.  They are not all-inclusive seats, but one does have access to an indoor area with better food.  Here's the view from the indoor area just above our seats...

...and another from our seats. 

We had tickets or Saturday evening's game also.  We tailgated before the game with our friends, Jeff and Jen, who are meteorologists and work in the same building as Chad.  It was sooooo hot that afternoon, which is ridiculous for May.  However, I still came away from the game as white as can be.  Ha.  Here's a pic of Chad before the game.  We unpacked the beer before we unpacked the rest of the car!  We knew that we weren't going to be able to celebrate Cinco de Mayo this weekend, so we did it up the best we could...Negro Modelo with lime!

Jen and I acting a bit goofy!

Today we took it easy.  We started off the day with brunch at The Farmhouse, which is a farm-to-table restaurant just down the street from us.  We'd been itching to eat here and so glad we did.  Lots of yummy options.  Chad got some French Onion soup and a BELT sandwich on sourdough.  I ended up with corned beef with potato & butternut squash hash and a fried egg.  Yumm-o!

To end the weekend right, we finally got the envelopes printed for our Save the Date cards which arrived this week.  They turned out sooooo good!  I can't wait for everyone to see them  So fun!  

I hope everyone has a better week than I'll be having!  Cheers!

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!!!