Thursday, October 27, 2011

Bird is the Word

Oh man.  I'm not sure who the anticipation is killing more, Alex or me.....  For those who haven't yet figured it out, there is a bluejay in 'da house!  A bluejay with a class Halloween party tomorrow!

It's major crunch time!

Cookie Emergency

The Girl Scouts were back in action last night to kick off everyone's favorite time of year: Cookie Time.  Oh Yeah!!!  In celebration of the new year and cookie sales, we gathered at a local fire station for a tour of the premises and some fire hose fun:







Did I mention it's cookie time?  We're gladly accepting orders now....  :)

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Team Shagderian

Man - October has been one seriously busy month!  We have had family in town, weddings, thrown a baby shower and taken a mini-vay-cay.  Let's back up to the first weekend of the month when my BFF Mandy Shannon married her Prince Charming: Nick Agderian and invited us to be a part of their team.  Team Shagderian.  See what they did there?

The weekend was absolutely gorgeous.  As far as fall weddings go, you could not have picked a more perfect weekend to get married.  Having flown in from NYC for their big weekend, they were greeted with amazing temperatures in KC.  They also could not have picked a cooler place than the Boulevard Brewery for the rehearsal dinner followed by a super rad ceremony at The Berg Event Space.


And here is the blushing bride now...


It was such a cool event with great food, great people in town from all over and of course super great, local beer.


Food was amazing.  Ask Evan.  He went back for seconds.  And possibly thirds....


Oh you know these two...


The following day was of course the beautiful ceremony. Thankfully they had the same amazing photogs for their wedding that we had for ours, so really awesome pics are forthcoming I'm sure, but for now, a few of our own:


Us again....



My gorgeous corsage!  Loved this!  It's still in my refrigerator because it is still gorgeous!


This cool wall art I had the special honor of bringing to life for the bride and groom --- no pressure!



The Team heading out for pictures...



An amazing shot that I am obsessed with...


And of course the amazing, beautiful bride...


And groom... who by the way is the man responsible for our amazing wedding video you saw here!


Can I just tell you that the only thing better than getting married yourself is being a part of your best friend's big day all in the same year!  It was just fab!  I reconnected with long-lost friends I haven't seen since college, we got to dance like rockstars and watch two very special and incredibly talented people get married. We had such an awesome time and just love these two to pieces!  Congratulations Nick & Mandy.  Now move back to KC!  :)

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Must Have

I don't know how much a 6 year old actually needs a fedora, but if this picture is any indication, it feels like a lot.   

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Back It Up

The other day while working on my Halloween of Years Past post I started digging through my photo files to find some of the early shots of Alex.  I got a new computer a few months back and had backed everything from my old one up to an external hard drive.  When I booted it up, in search of my photo history, it was nowhere to be found.  We're talking about YEARS of photos and videos here and I had the worst feeling in the pit of my soul.  My face felt like it was 110 degrees - a feeling I get only in times of uber high-level stress. 

Vacations. Christmases. Random shots of random awesomeness.  Videos.  Oh the videos!

I could feel the tears starting to form and panic was certainly setting in.  Immediately I started running through some of the photos and videos that I would no longer have proof of.  Moments in time, captured digitally and now, maybe lost forever?

I couldn't take it.

The thought of losing the past 4 years of Alex's life on "film" was devastating.  Luckily, my hero of heroes was able to locate and retrieve the files and brought the past 4 years of our lives back to life.  I was reminded just how important it is to back up your files and back up often.  Save your photos, save your life!

Among the thousands of photos I now had regained access to, I had the one video that immediately came to mind when I thought about what might be lost. It was the one file I couldn't bear to live without! As this blog has and will become a time capsule of sorts, I figured I may as well post the most amazing 2 minutes in a then-3 year old's life.  In the event that I ever do lose my files, at least this one, my favorite one of all time, has a place forever online.




Parental Units

When we bought a 6 bedroom house, a lot of people asked us if we were planning on having a lot of kids.  We're not - just to be clear - but we were planning to have a lot of guests.  We loved the idea of creating a space that our guests could feel right at home in and hopefully, it would entice family members to come visit us more often.

Both sets of parents made visits in the last month and both took advantage of our recently re-done accommodations.  We have yet to do an official reveal of our work on the 3rd floor but that's mainly because its only about 75% done.  We still have an entire room that is currently hiding behind a closed door, with a blocked entry, so no one is tempted to go in.  We'll get to that at some point....I'm sure. 

Anyway, long story short, the 'rents were in town on back-to-back weekends and it was a great time.  Below are a few pics from their visits. 











Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Restaurant Review: The Drop Bar & Bistro

Now that October is well upon us, I should back up a bit to discuss the delicious dinner we had to celebrate Evan's birthday back in September.  

You've already heard how much we love to celebrate birthdays - and this was no exception.   It was an evening filled with lies, deception and some tall, tall tales as 16 people gathered to surprise my totally sweet and completely unsuspecting  husband for a birthday dinner at The Drop, tucked away in the trendy Martini Corner neighborhood of KC. 



And he was totally surprised which made me all kinds of happy.   But what surprised me the most was the impressive menu and wide array of delicious - no scrumptious!- bruschetta that seems to be the crowning glory of the menu.  Let's take a closer look: 




We figured with our large group, we may as well try one of everything and that included: 


Brie, apple, balsamic cream, candied pecans
Smoked salmon, cream cheese, sliced almonds
Red grape, gorgonzola, port wine reduction
Goat cheese, citrus cranberry compote, browned butter
Genoa salami, peppadew, fresh basil
Oven-dried tomato, smoked mozzarella, basil pesto
Prosciutto, roasted garlic, romesco
Citrus-marinated shrimp, white bean, roasted garlic
Carpaccio of beef, porcini crème, capers, micro greens
Goat cheese, fig, pistachio

How do you argue with any of that?  Let me just say that between the two of us, we tried one of everything and each one was equally as amazing as the next.  Follow it up with an equally impressive dinner menu and this restaurant/bar just moved to a top spot on the list of places I do believe we will be going back to...soon.  

Check out these Caramelized Sea Scallops, Ensalada Verde and a delicious flatbread pizza I can't seem to find an official name for:




The Pitch named this restaurant one of the Top 5 Best New Restaurants in KC and we're thinking its well deserved.  But to be sure, we'll have to try every other new restaurant in Kansas City first.  Which sounds perfectly appetizing to me! 

Monday, October 17, 2011

Halloween Is Almost Here

Over the weekend I finally purchased the supplies needed to make Alex's Halloween costume.  I have been picking up little pieces and ideas here and there, yet so far, none of them have brought on any brilliant or inspiring plans of how to get started.  Finally, I stumbled upon a "looks easy enough" tutorial online and decided to give it a shot.  Normally something I classify in that category can produce misguided results of epic proportions, but so far, this one seems to really be quite simple!

Yay!

I am a huge Halloween fan and making a costume for the little one is just another part of the fun.  I have found that you can make just about any costume imaginable with a pair of black tights and a black leotard.  For the 4th year in a row, that is the basis for this year's design.

But before we reveal Alex's choice (a decision process that usually begins around July)  I thought it might be fun to revisit some costumes of years' past.

For Alex's first two Halloweens we snagged a couple of cute store-bought costumes.  The first one was arguably the cutest thing that has ever happened in the entire universe.  Ever.



I mean, how do you compete with that!???  At 10 months, her first Halloween, she didn't really have any opinions yet, so I had 100% say-so in dressing her up as a piece of fruit.  And I could have just nibbled her right up! 

Year 2 I have affectionately named: The Year of Minnie Mouse.  We met Minnie for the first time at the opening of a new Disney Store when Alex was 18 mos. old.  The following year revolved entirely around that mouse.


There really wasn't a question of what she would be that Halloween.  Add in the fact that her 2nd birthday, a couple of months later, called for a Minnie Mouse themed party and you had the perfect opportunity for a re-purpose-able Halloween costume:


Mommy Like! 

Year 3 (age 2) is when we started to get creative and began DIY costuming. It was also the inaugural year of Alex's Annual Ice Scream Halloweenie Spooktacular, a tradition we have celebrated every year since and one that is currently being planned.

Black tights.  Black leo.  Black Cat.


And thus began her obsession with all things animal related.

We had a small mix-up at an Old Navy in year 4, and a relative which shall remain nameless (Shannon!) discovered a glittery white & pink cat costume that ended up breaking our short-lived streak of homemade glory:

It was an unseasonably warm Halloween that year and, well, you can see how thrilled she was to be in all fleece.   A. It didn't look at all like a bunny, but B.) Everyone thought it did.  Which C.) caused a meltdown each and every time someone said "what a cute rabbit!". 

Okay, it wasn't that bad.  She pulled it off just fine, whatever it was. 



In year 5 (age 4) we got it together again and we were back in black.  By now we had met Evan and our opportunities for DIY costuming became a whole lot more exciting thanks in large part to his sewing expertise! 




This bat was my ultimate favorite.  Until last year.....

We successfully avoided a disastrous "dolphin-bat" concoction that Alex had been dreaming up for Year 6 and used our powerful methods of re-direction to introduce and create: The Panda Bear:


Still.  Can't.  Hardly.  Stand. The. Cuteness.

And now, in Year 7, we are once again working with our basic black attire in the hopes of creating something amazing.  We are avoiding any unnecessary shopping trips where a repeat white/pink cat-tastrophe might occur.

The good news is that this year she chose an actual animal that exists in the real world and is nowhere near as crazy as any dolphin-bat madness.

So, without further adieu, here is a little sneak peak into the beginning details of Year 7.  More to come once the actual sewing commences....



  But until then, any guesses as to what she has in store?
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