A Date with the Girls

Saturday night was dinner and a movie with the gals. It was such a beautiful night! After all the storms that rolled through Saturday morning and early afternoon, it was nice to sit outside on a patio and enjoy the sunshine.

We went to a trendy new place out south called Wine Flights. It's actually in Stanley, KS, but located at 151st and Nall near Leawood. It was fabulous! What a great place to start off the night before seeing Sex and the City 2.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

The wine flights were a great way to try out several different wines. The wine trios were paired perfectly for your taste buds, so all you had to do was choose a type: medium reds, full reds, light whites, medium whites, etc.

Crab Cakes

I chose a Sauvignon Blanc trio. Is was great with my angel hair and shrimp pasta. YUM!

Off to see the movie at the Town Center AMC!

Did you know it's assigned seating at AMC now? Well I didn't, and it was a little strange to me. It turned out to be fine, but was a bit of a cluster in the beginning. People were in our seats when we arrived, so we sat elsewhere. Then those people came and said we were in their seats, blah, blah, blah. It was pretty much musical chairs.

Great movie though! Not the best movie ever or anything, but worth seeing if you're a Sex and the City fan. The girls outfits were a bit on the crazy side, much more out there than the show; but all in all, good flick to see with your girlfriends.

Ta-da!!

Check out my new blog design! Don't you love it?? I just love it. I was due for a fresh look, I felt the other one was a little too boring for my style. I still have a few things to tweak, so expect minor changes.

I did all the fun tags and banner design myself, but used the new blogger template designer to upload. It annoyed me at first, but I got used to it. Oh, technology these days. Always changing and evolving, even harder to keep up with.

And yes, it is 2:00 in the am on a Friday night and I am re-designing my blog. I lead a pretty exciting life:) And I'm not tired yet.

Brian is gone this weekend at a bachelor party float trip, so I stayed in tonight to hang with Jake. I always take full advantage of Netflix when Brian is out of town, and watch all the chick flicks I can fit in.

Tonight, I watched Dear John. Wow, what a tear jerker.

It is based off the novel by Nicholas Sparks starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried. Same novelist as The Notebook. It really wasn't as cheesy as I expected it to be. Pretty good flick actually.

I'm not sure if it was the wine I was drinking or what, but I literally bawled through half of the dang movie!! I am such a sucker for a love story. I had to pause it at one point to go grab a kleenex, because I needed to blow my nose that bad. No lie.

Tomorrow, it's girls night. Dinner first, then Sex and the City movie. I'm excited. Update and review to follow.

Good night!

Gourmet Hamburger Helper

Gourmet? Ok, not really. But it's sort of close. Definitely 10 times better than hamburger helper.

I got this recipe from KRAFT and it is very quick, easy, cheap and tasty. I recommend you try it. What do you have to lose? It's only a few ingredients and little time. The hubs loves it.

Cheesy Salsa Beef Skillet

1 lb. lean ground beef

2 cups water

1 cup Taco Bell Home Originals Thick n' Chunky Salsa (You can use any kind of salsa)

1 pkg. KRAFT Deluxe Macaroni and Cheese (Cheese sauce isn't powder, just so you know)

2 cups frozen corn (You can also use canned corn. I have tried both and it tastes exactly the same)

1/2 cup KRAFT reduced fat Mexican Style cheese (Again, can use any brand)
2 green onions, chopped

1.  Brown meat in large skillet, drain if needed.
2.  Add water, salsa and macaroni, stir. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 10 minutes until macaroni is tender, stirring occasionally.
3. Add corn and cheese sauce, stir. Cook 2-3 mor minutes or until heated through.
4. Top with cheese and scallions.

Voila! You're done. Super easy. Enjoy!

OTB Birthday Dinner

We went to On the Border last night for Brian's B-day. It's his absolute favorite. He always orders queso to start with and the quesadillas. I don't know what it is about the quesadillas from OTB, but he just loves them.

Margaritas were on special, so of course we had a few. The sangria swirl is our fav. It's right up there with our miami vice obsession.

So, this is kind of funny.

I had to work a little late so I met him at OTB. We arrive in separate vehicles, greet each other outside the front doors, and go in and eat. When we were leaving, we gave each other a huge smooch outside of the front of the restaurant. Ok, a couple of smooches:) Just before we head to our separate cars, I say "geez babe, we probably look like that couple that is having an affair." He just laughs and we part our ways to head to our cars. Brian then says yells, "See you next week!" as this guy walking up gives us a weird stare.

That's my husband for ya. I was mortified.

Happy Birthday BK!

My hubs turned 28 today! OLD MAN!

hee-hee.

Here's a few of my favorite pictures of him from when he was 27. It only goes down hill from here. Love you babe:).

Happy Birthday!!

American Royal BBQ, then meeting up with crazy Lando.

Heather's wedding dancing with Willy. He was actually just under 27 here, by exactly 1 month.

At the lake doing the YMCA in their diaper vests.

Schooley's wedding. Doing the Mary Kate and Ashley. I think Brian totally had this one in the bag. BAAAHAAAAAAA! Check out Ado in the background:)

 Trying on some new shorts while cooking and acting like a dork:)

John Gosselin.

New York. Must have been a really great song. Notice all the spills on his and Pultz shirts.:)

Had to end on a good one. Our little family.

Book Worm

I am a new member of a Kansas City Book Club! Sounds really intelligent, right?

Well, it's actually just a club my dear friend Roback thought of starting. And it works out great with my effort to improve my Daily Imperfections! Here's how it works:

We will meet every other month to discuss the book for that time. The host/location will change each time and we'll vote at that meeting for the next book. I'm certain we will discuss over copious amounts of wine:). The first book we are reading is Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler. I'm really looking forward to this new venture!

We would love for others to join, so let me know if you are interested!! The more the merrier!

Doggie Swim

Whew! What a weekend. We didn't have much planned, but it turned out to be filled with lots of fun activities.

Friday - stayed in and lounged.

Saturday - morning bike ride followed by my company picnic. That night, I stayed home to do some cleaning, vacuum out my car, catch up on Y&R, etc. Brian went to the Royals game with Ron and they got to sit in Crown seats right behind home plate. He was pretty much on TV the entire game. Pretty much famous.

Oh, and he got to ride there in a convertible Porsche Carrera. Pretty sweet.

Sunday - early morning bike ride with Kathy and Ron, then a little time by the pool. After that, I had to go into the office for several hours to finish a project for an 8:00 AM client meeting. Boo.

But Jakey boy had so much fun today on his doggie pool date! He got to play with Kathy and Ron's dogs all day and go swimming. He loves the water.

Headed south for a bike ride. Jake loves hangin' out the windows.

Pool time!

He's a great doggie paddler.

Bella doesn't like the water so much.
And here's Jake in action. Too funny!

Severe A-D-D

I spent the last two days sitting in a room full of energy-guzzling computers taking a Photoshop class. Both Thursday and Friday, 8:30-4:30 at a computer training facility in Overland Park.

My company is really big on training. They encourage it at all levels. So, as one of my yearly goals, I wanted to take a Level 2 Photoshop class. Really because I needed three goals to achieve, and this was an easy one:)! I know the program to an extent, but it is so complex, I felt I needed the extra knowledge.

After taking the class, a few thoughts:

1. I know Photoshop more than I thought I did (at least some of the material that was covered, I already knew).

2. I'm not cut out for all day training courses. I have uber A-D-D. I kept finding myself fidgeting in my chair, watching the clock, constantly looking at my phone for new emails/texts or waiting for it to be over.

3. Annoying people that ask really dumb questions over and over drive me absolute nuts. I almost couldn't stand it. It was really hard to just bite my tongue and not yell "If you were freakin' listening and paying attention to the instructor, you wouldn't have to ask over and over how to do it! Open your ears and use your brain!"

4. It reminded me of being back in school. My opinion, not fun.

So, I would like to give a shout out to all my friends that are pursuing (or have already) a new degree or Masters! I now understand it's not an easy endeavor at this time in our lives, and I give all of you major kudos!

I think I have everyone:)? Sorry if i left anyone out, but this is who I know of!

Megan Green
Adriane Falco
Bethany Sterrett
Ashley Lang
Mark Wellmeyer
Lauren Bakian
Julie Bowen (she obtained right after her graduate degree, but she still deserves kudos)

Daily Imperfections

Recent conversations with some friends inspired me to do this post. There are numerous things in all of our lives that we need to be better at. I have been thinking about this a lot lately and what I need to change, so here goes.

Some are small and easy, others are more difficult. But, the matter is, each and every one of them is important; and things I feel I need to improve upon. Maybe this will inspire some of you to work on daily imperfections.

Far from Water Logged

We all know how important it is to drink water. Eight glasses, 64 fluid ounces or 1.89 liters per day. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the average adult actually ingests 2 liters a day. Well, I feel that I am FAR from 2 liters per day. Aside from my food intake, the actual water I drink is maybe 3 glasses a day. I know, it's horrible. I just hate drinking tons of water at work because it causes me to live in the bathroom! I guess I just need to get over it and deal with my small bladder.

I'm happy to report that I started making an effort today by taking a large plastic bottle (like a Nalgene) to work. I am now on my third refill. That's more than 64 fluid ounces! Woo-hoo for me! Thanks to Heather for telling me I needed to do that! I have also found that when using a straw, I drink a lot faster and a ton more.

No More Excuses
Brian and I seem to come up with lots of excuses for not going to church. We were out of town, we had stuff to do around the house, we were hanging out with friends, we were out too late the night before...you name it, we've exhausted all of them. It's time that we stopped making excuses. Church is one hour, once a week. Don't get me wrong, we are pretty good about going, I just feel the times that we don't, our excuses aren't good enough.

Grab a Book

I wish I was more of a reader. But in reality, I'm just not. I was the student in high school who read the CliffsNotes for book reports rather than reading the actual book, or I would just watch the movie. Yep, I was that kid. I did read all of the Twilight books and just a few others within the past two years or so, but haven't really dabbled in much else. If I could just find the right book that holds my interest the whole time, I could do better.

I'm currently reading The Help, suggested to me by my fab friend Lyndsey. I will admit, it sat in my bedside table for about 6 months before I opened it. But, I'm about half way through now, so I'll post a review when finished.

Sailor Mouth Be-Gone!
If you know me at all, you know I have a major sailor mouth.

Especially when:
1) I'm mad and fired up
2) I've had a few cocktails

I'm not proud of it. And I definitely need to change my potty mouth. Here's to not dropping the f-bomb when not necessary!

Keeping in Touch
I almost didn't put this one because I feel I do a pretty good job. Just sayin':). However, we all could do better at staying in touch. Even if it's just a quick email, text message or a phone call, I need to take the time to tell the people I care about that I'm thinking of them. Especially with my grandma and grandparents.

Mood Swings
Although I can't control them entirely:), I do feel my mood swings could happen less when around my husband. As I assume most married couples are similar, I tend to take out my bad days and moods on my hubs. And vice versa. Neither of us deserves that.

My goal is to only hear the words "moody woman" shouted back at me once a week:). These are Brian's words for me when I am in one of my moods.

Count My Blessings
I can't tell you how fortunate I am. I am so blessed to live the life I do. I have a loving family, amazing friends, a stable job I enjoy, a roof over my head, the opportunity to enjoy all the extra things in life, and most of all, a support system that has my back. It breaks my heart to know how many people out there don't even have that. There are numerous times in my daily life that I need to let the little things go, think of all the suffering people in our world, and count my blessings.

That's it for now! Trust me, there are many, many others, but these are the ones I will concentrate on for now. We'll see how I do!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

We went to the Royals vs. Angels game last night with friends. Thanks to the generous invite from the Bowens! Julie scored awesome suite tickets from her work. I was a first timer into the suites and I must say, they are pretty darn sweet! All you can eat and drink, and your own section/area to watch the game.

I'm not sure Heather, Julie and I watched too much of the game, but we had a blast catching up! I did happen to notice that the Royals lost. Shocker. Are you surprised? :)

Da boys

Da girls