I Need a Little Twang!

That's right my friends, we saw Mr. George Strait in concert last night!!  We stood in line for tickets a few weeks ago and ended up with seats in the upper deck of the new Intrust Bank Arena, but honestly, the seats were pretty darn good.  I seriously don't think there is a bad seat there and his stage was in the center, so we had great views. 

This is a picture from right before the concert.  Leanne Womack opened the show, followed by Reba and then George closed it out.  I knew a lot more of Leanne Womack's songs than I thought I would.

 

She only sang for about 30 - 40 minutes and then they re-set the stage for Reba!  Now, I've got to be honest, Brandon and I weren't really looking forward to Reba because we don't like too many of her new songs, but she is a performer!  We ended up really enjoying her show.  From a performance stand point, she is a better performer than George, but he is still the man when it comes to music!!

 

 

 

Leanne Womack came back out to sing "Does He Love You" with Reba.  It was a great duet!

 

Reba ended her set and left the stage, only to reappear in a taxi cab, wearing a red dress to sing "Fancy"!!!   Watch her music video to understand why she did this.  I love "Fancy" and it was a great encore choice!!!

 

Finally, around 9:30 George took the stage!  Like I said, George isn't much of a performer, so he rotated around the four corners of his stage to sing. 

 

 

His band was amazing!  I bet he had four or five different guitar players, a piano, a steel guitar, drums and a fiddle.

 

 

He also came back to do an encore.  One of the songs he sang was in Spanish, so that was a little different, but then he sang a Johnny Cash song and that really go the crowd going!  We counted up the number of songs he sang, including his encore, and we estimated around 26 different songs!  Needless to say, we definitely got our money's worth with this show!!

This was our fist opportunity to go inside the arena and we were very impressed.  It is designed and decorated well, the concourses are wide so it wasn't difficult to move around and the seats are comfy, but maybe a little too close together.  When the concert was over, we really didn't have a hard time getting out until we got to the bottom of the escalator and we started piling up like dominoes.  We also didn't have any trouble finding close parking and we arrived about 30 minutes before show time.  The traffic getting out wasn't bad either.  Overall, we had a great time!!

 

Valentine's Day

We are getting ready to head to Yia Yia's for a Valentine dinner, but I wanted to take a minute to share our Valentine weekend!

On Friday, Brandon took me to lunch and when I got back to the office, I had a beautiful bouquet of flowers on my desk!

 

Aren't those perfect!  After several years of working in a flower shop (together) flowers didn't necessarily mean too much to me.  But, as time has passed, I've grown to appreciate them more and more, and it was a HUGE surprise when I received them!  Friday night was pretty low key.  We pretty much just caught up on our dvr'd TV shows from the night before.

Saturday morning, I got up and made Brandon breakfast - heart shaped biscuits and sausage gravy (one of his favorites!).  We spent the rest of the day picking up the house and running errands.  Saturday night we ordered Knolla's pizza and watched "Couples Retreat," which was a Valentine's Day gift from my parents.  It was a cute movie, but we were hoping they weren't trying to tell us something (ha ha!).

Today has been another relaxing day.  We got up and got ready for the day, opened our gifts to each other and then headed to Newton to have brunch with Brandon's family.  We ate at a little place called The Bread Basket in downtown Newton and it was so yummy!  Definitely worth the drive.  Koby was excited to play with his friends, Sam and Brutus, and he slept the whole way home!  Once we got home, we took a Sunday afternoon nap and now we are getting ready for a yummy dinner!  

Oh yeah, Brandon did a great job with my Valentine gift this year!  Not only did I get the flowers on Friday, I also got The Beat by Burberry perfume gift set!  

He always insists I don't get him anything for Valentine's Day, but I can't not get anything so I got him the usual Valentine boxers and an iTunes gift card (I can't really go wrong with either of those items).

I hope everyone else had a lovely Valentine's Day!

Humble?

Tonight in our Bible study we were discussing prayer in terms of engaging with God and really sharing your heart with him.  Yes, God knows our hearts, but he desires for us to share it with him.  After all, he commands us to cast our fears and doubts on him and he will bring us peace.  This discussion led to another topic - being humble.

We live in a world where being humble is not viewed as a positive trait.  We live in a world where personal gain, wealth, control (the list could go on an on) are what you need to possess to "be somebody".  These traits can also cause us to not be honest with ourselves and to feel like we can't have any weaknesses or faults.  God's desire for us, through prayer, is to be able to confess our weaknesses, share our deepest darkest secrets, and to ask for help.  He wants us to cast those things upon him so we can clear our heads and focus more on what he wants for us and to give us answers we are seeking.  For women, this sounds like a dream come true!  God wants to hear us ramble on and on about the things we need help with or the thoughts we have spinning around in our heads.  But, how willing are we to be brutally honest and to really confess our sins, our bad thoughts about other people, the secrets we wouldn't tell even our best friends? 

At the end of tonight's study, the author encouraged us to make a list of all of those things mentioned above and just turn them over to God because he wants to take them on for us and free us from the burden.  But first, we must be humble and confess.  So, that is my challenge this week - humble myself before God and truly engage with him and see how he answers me back.

This Is My Kind of Snow!

This is what we woke up to this morning!  Now, normally snow would make me grumpy because it would mean a rough drive into work, dealing with snow-packed streets for days and Koby not wanting to go outside for very long.  But, this snow is the perfect snow!  Beautiful, fluffy and clean snow!  The snow is wet, so it is turning to slush on the streets rather than ice. 

My drive in to work today was like a scene from a story book.  The trees lining the river looked like huge white feathers.  The snow looked like a fluffy white blanket covering the ground.  It was just really peaceful (if you looked past the traffic). 

So, today I will be greatful for the snow!  I mean, we are going on over a week without seeing the sun, so I should be greatful for something, right?

Because It Is FRIDAY!!!!

1. What is your name and do you have any nicknames?
Tessa - Tess the Mess, Tess, T-Bohn (in high school)

2. What color are your socks right now?
black

3. What are you listening to right now?
My boss's radio

4. What was the last thing that you ate?
a brownie after our office "Soup or Bowl" party!

5. Can you drive a stick shift?
Not at all!!

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
My husband!

7. Last place you went on vacation?
New York City!!!!!!

8. What Hobbies do you have?
Blogging, cooking, decorating and re-decorating, landscaping

9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV?
Football

10. What is your favorite drink?
Non-Alcoholic: Soda Hot Drink: Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks Alcoholic: Summer Brew or Vodka Cranberry

11. Have you ever dyed your hair?
Yes, but I haven't dyed it in a long time.

12. Favorite food?
This is so hard. Probably steak or Mexican food. And baked goods - cookies, brownies, cake...

13. What is the last movie you watched?
It's Complicated

14. Favorite day of the year?
Hmmm... probably my birthday!!!

15. How do you vent anger?
One of two ways - I either get REALLY quite or REALLY loud!

16. What was your favorite toy as a child?
Barbie Dolls

17. What is your favorite season?
Fall - I love the weather, I love football, I love the smells.

18. Cherries or Blueberries? Blueberries, especially the blueberries we pick at the lake. I don't really like anything cherry except for in coke.

19. What is your occupation right now?
Marketing Manager at the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?
I'd really love to be a florist again one day...

21. What state (or country for our international bloggers) do you live and what State or Country would you like to live some day?
Currently I live in Kansas, but I would be open to moving somewhere else some day.

22. Living arrangements?
In a house with my husband and our dog.

23. Do you have any pets?
Oh yes! Koby, our Boston Terrier!!

24. What is on the floor of your closet?
Shoes, a dry cleaning basket, laundry...

25. What are three of your favorite items at the moment?
Philosophy body wash, Root Beer, our new coffee table!

26. What did you do last night?
Attended a photography class with Brandon.

27. Any news you want to share?
Umm, none that I can think of.

28. What do you like on your hamburgers?
Cheese, tomatoes, pickles, mustard, ketchup

29. Favorite dog breed?
Boston Terrier or Golden Retriever

30. Favorite day of the week?
Saturday

31. How many states have you lived in? Two - Kansas and Oklahoma for a year.

32. Diamonds or pearls?
Diamonds

33. What is your favorite flower?
I really can't limit this to one, so I'm going to give two - Hydrangeas and Dahlias and Tulips (okay that is three!)

34. Favorite meal you have ever had at a restaurant and which restaurant was it?
The red snapper I had at Bobby Flay's Bar Amercain was pretty darn good!

35. What music are you currently listening to?
I'm really loving Train's new song and the Lady Antebellum CD

36. What is one fun thing you are looking forward to in the coming year?
Hmmm.....

Valentine Gift Ideas

I got an email today from Real Simple with Valentines Day gift suggestions. Now, I don't think too many guys, other than my husband, read this blog, but just in case, I thought I would do a Valentine's Day gift suggestion list of my own! And, it probably doesn't hurt that my husband reads this blog from time to time either ;) So, here it goes:

Philosophy Body Products
These are seriously my new favorite bath products! I received the Amazing Grace shower gel for Christmas and absolutely love it. In fact, I ration it and only use it a couple of times a week so it lasts longer. It is moisturizing, it provides a great lather and it smells divine! However, for Valentine's Day, I think these lovely scents would be very fun:

I seriously don't think anyone could go wrong with these products!

A fun gift for the baker!

While this may be a little more practical, it would still be a very cute and fun gift for those who love to cook and bake!

I bet someone could really whip up something fun with these cute little Valentine gadgets and they are all courtesy of Target. Also, if you top it off with this cute apron, courtesy of Etsy and Bodumzup, you will have one sweet gift!

Vera Bradley Products
I am a huge Vera Bradley fan and I have turned many of my friends and family into fans as well. The bags are so cute and practical and not to mention durable! There are all different types - totes, cosmetic bags, luggage and so much more!

This would be a perfect gift to use on a fun romantic getaway!

Items that Begin with "P"

These are short and simple suggestions:
* Poseys
* Pedicure
* Puppy
* Performace (tickets to a performance - Intrust Bank Arena has some great performances coming up!)
* Platinum (jewelry)

Any girl would be happy with any of these items! (No, I will not be getting a puppy, even though it would be SUPER fun!)

These are just a few of my suggestions for this Valentine's Day! Maybe you will get lucky and snag one for yourself!!

Tonight...

...I'm making a Pioneer Woman feast and watching the Grammy Red Carpet on E! while my husband works on/studies for an upcoming LEED bid. It has been a very relaxing day for us today - church, a couple of errands (including the grocery store), a visit with a couple of friends, a hair cut, some golf (of the electronic kind) and some mindless TV for B and a few naps and some fetch for the pup.

The cold weather that has happened upon us has caused me to crave some comfort food! Tonight's menu includes the PW Comfort Meatballs from the Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook and PW's Perfect Au Gratin Potatoes. Now, if that doesn't sound like comfort food, I don't know what does?!?!

I know I need to discuss last night's game. As disappointing as it was to lose by two points, it was such an AWESOME game!! Both teams played with so much passion and from the sounds of it, the Wildcat fans inside the "Octagon of Doom" (not so sure I love that name)were also pretty passionate. I am definitely proud to be a Wildcat and can't wait for the next game!

Well, our dinner is ready and I have a very hungry husband, so I better sign off!

Sunflower Showdown!

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that we are pretty excited for today's basketball game against KU! The Cats have been playing exceptionally well this year and today's game is one of the biggest of year! ESPN Game Day is in Manhattan and from what I've heard, the K-State fans have shattered the Game Day attendance record!

Initially, we had my dad's tickets and had planned to go to the game, but being the nice sister that I am, we gave them to my brother who is a super-fan. However, since we gave them up, I've wished several times we had kept them. One of the biggest reasons for regret - Darren Sproles will be at the game today!!!! He is my favorite Wildcat athlete ever!! Not that I would have got to chat him up or hang out with him, but it would have been fun to see him in all of his San Diego Charger glory!

We plan to have some fellow K-Staters over tonight to watch the game, and we're hoping for a Wildcat victory!! We played well against Texas, so if that team can show up again, I think we will have a chance! Plus, it never hurts to beat KU!! Go Cats!!!!!

Snow Day!

...I wish!! While most of the schools in the area were closed and even a few offices, Brandon and I still had to go to work. We got about 4 inches of snow last night, so it really wasn't all that bad, but it still would have been nice to have a day at home.

Since Brandon has a truck, he decided he would take me to work. We left the house a little early to pick up my coworker so she wouldn't have to drive in by herself and make a pit-stop at Panera. Given the weather, there wasn't even a line, which is amazing for a work day morning! Brandon was not impressed with my outfit (I had on work clothes and my brown fake Uggs with my work pants tucked in), so I think he was a little embarrassed to go in with me. After I picked up our breakfast we headed to work. The roads were a little slick and snow packed, but we could definitely tell the road crews had been working on them.

After about an hour of being at work I looked out my office window and noticed the small snowflakes that had been blowing in and turned to big, fluffy snowflakes and they were so beautiful! It really looked like there was a huge pillow fight taking place outside. All in all, we probably ended up with another inch of snow by the time it was all said and done.

We worked all day, of course, but once we got home, Brandon changed his clothes to go shovel the drive way and deck. He decided to take Koby out to play in the snow. Koby doesn't typically love the snow, especially when he has to go outside to use the bathroom! But, I can't blame the guy because I sure wouldn't like to outside in the snow to use the bathroom. Anyways, since Brandon was out there with him, he had fun tearing around the yard and trying to catch the snow in his mouth.

Thankfully, we did not get the ice that our friends in Oklahoma received, so we are perfectly happy with powdery snow, even if we did have to work...

Random Thought Post

I'm being lazy, but to my defense, I haven't done a "random" post lately! So, here it goes:

1. We got a new coffee table today!!! Pictures to come soon, but it was a table that I had looked at months ago when we got our other furniture, but today, it was on sale!!
2. I've had a new obsession with cereal lately. Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds and Cinnamon Toast Crunch have been the cereals of choice. Even Brandon has been hit with the cravings. No, these are NOT pregnancy cravings!
3. I wore my cute silver shoes to work today and it just made me happy!
4. Brandon is taking a photography class tomorrow with two of my favorite photographers in town. I used to work with them fairly often when I worked for the agency, but don't get to see them much anymore. They told me I could come observe, but I should be prepared to model - ha! They were joking!!
5. I entered a good deed today for Do the Deed! Don't forget to track your deeds using my code, tdb2010!
6. I'm excited for the new Bible study we started with our small group! I think it will be really interesting.
7. I am annoyed by an online shopping experience that I had over Christmas. I never got my product, so I canceled the order, but we still haven't received our credit from Paypal. Ugh!
8. We are ready for the big game this weekend! Hoping the Cats can beat those Chicken Hawks!

Okay, that is about all I have. I will post pictures of our coffee table soon, along with the much over due pictures of Brandon's birthday!

New Recipe

Yes, I realize this will be my second post today. Not only is it the second post of the day, it is the second post within a few hours. But, it is an important post - I just made an awesome dinner and I want to share the recipe!

Remember how I was browsing for recipes this morning while I was waiting on Brandon? Well, this is something I do a lot of in my spare time and the recipe tonight is the result of an online recipe search from a few weeks ago. The recipe is courtesy of Cooking Light (January, 2001). I modified it just a little bit, but it is definitely worth putting in your meal rotation. Brandon gave the meal two thumbs up and I would have to agree!

Spicy Pan-Fried Sirloin Steak with Noodles

Yield: 6 servings
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 (1 3/4-pound) boneless sirloin steak, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch-thick strips (when I make this next time, I will cut it in strips and then into smaller bite-sized pieces.)
2 cups sliced onion
2 cups chopped red bell pepper
**Note: I added sliced fresh mushrooms, too.**
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 (14 1/4-ounce) can low-salt beef broth
5 cups cooked medium egg noodles (8 ounces uncooked pasta)

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a small bowl.

Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of beef; cook for 1 minute on each side. Remove from pan. Repeat procedure with remaining beef; set aside.

Add onion and bell pepper to pan; sauté for 5 minutes. Stir in chili powder mixture, flour, and garlic, and sauté for 1 minute. Stir in ketchup, tomato paste, juice, and beef broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Return the beef to pan, and cook for 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve over egg noodles.

One of Those Days...

It is not very often that we wake up on Saturday morning without any plans. But today was one of those days! While it was a busy day, it wasn't a "planned" day.

We got up and had a semi-leisurely morning; frozen waffles and cereal for breakfast (not together, though - B had a waffle and I had cereal), a little TV and a quick shower. Then I accompanied Brandon to his office so he could get a few things done before Monday. I wasn't of much help to him as I was consumed with finding new recipes online, but I was there for moral support! After about an hour we headed to the mall. Brandon needed some new cologne (it's a new scent for him) and JCPenny's was having a sale on sheets. We both walked out happy and headed to lunch at Knolla's Pizza. We don't eat there very often and we always leave saying "We need to eat here more often," so maybe we'll make that happen.

After lunch, Brandon got a burst of energy and decided to tackle some yard work. By the time he was finished, we had two truckloads of rock laid (with weed barrier) along our back fence (to keep the dog from continuing to kill the grass with the path he wears while barking at the neighbor's dogs), trimmed shrubs, a shortened gate and a few other miscellaneous items completed! Talk about productive! To some this sounds like work, but to Brandon it is definitely pleasure.

While he was working, I tidied up the house, did a little laundry and made a Sonic run. I also made some AWESOME Blondies. I've been trying to find a recipe that rivals the Blonde Witches we found in NYC and I think I might have come VERY close! I highly recommend these guys to everyone!

We also watched the Cat's disappointing loss to the Cowboys. To make matters worse, my boss is an OSU Alum and I was doing a bit of smack talking on Friday - oops!

Now, tonight we plan to make dinner and just relax. We might have to break out Rummikub, our new obsession, or find a movie on TV that we can both agree on (never an easy task), but whatever we do, it will be a perfect ending to one of those perfect days!

A lot on my mind

I've had a lot on my mind lately and my blog has sort of taken a back seat to it. Our lives have been busy (I threw a Surprise birthday party for Brandon last weekend - more on that later. I'm waiting to get the video because his reaction was PRICELESS!), work has been busy and we just haven't had much time to just sit and process what is going on in the world around us.

I have been specifically burdened by the tragedy in Haiti. There is so much that we can do to help, but it kind of overwhelms me, to be honest. I know I could text HAITI and donate to the Red Cross and I'm still considering that, but I guess I want to do more that shows God's love. I've been so moved by the stories I've heard about the people of Haiti, gathered in the streets, signing praise songs to God. I've often asked myself if that is what we would do here in our country? My conclusion has pretty much been no. I think the difference is that as Americans we have so many resources that we don't always have to rely on God to pull us through tragedies. The people of Haiti are not fortunate enough to have the kind of resources that we do and therefore I have to rely on God. And then I feel guilty. Why can't I have that kind of faith? Am I too embarrassed to praise God out loud? I don't know.

Everyday, I've been reminding myself and thanking God for the constant blessings in our life. Brandon and I both have stable jobs, a roof over our heads, food on our table and plenty of other "things". Should I feel guilty for this? I don't think so - we've worked hard to provide for ourselves and I don't think God looks down on that. But, I do know that we need to share our blessings with others and give what we can whenever we can.

On the bright side, there is a new "Do the Deed" campaign going on here in Wichita. Click the link to find out more about it, but basically it is a campaign encouraging people to do simple acts of kindness for other people. Simple, random acts of kindness can make someone feel so special. So, I decided I want to participate and I want to encourage all of you to participate as well. I have started a code "tdb2010" and all you have to do is follow these instructions:
1. Go to Track a Card.
2. Fill out the form (use the tdb2010 code).
3. In the description, Tell us how you received the card. Did you just find it? Did someone do a deed for you and leave a card?
4. Click submit and view your entry. You can also see how many others have entered your card’s code.
5. Jot down the code so you can come back and track the card again.
6. Now, go do a nice deed for someone and pass the card on (or the website and code). 7. Come back to the site and tell us what deed you did.
8. Check back every now and then to see if anyone else has submitted a deed using this code.

It is pretty easy and I think it will make us all feel good to do something for someone else.

Stay tuned for pics and video from Brandon's surprise party!!

The Big 3-0!

Today is Brandon's 30th birthday! Can you believe he's 30?!?! I asked him today if he thought this is where he'd be when he was 30 and he told me no. I think he thought he would have kids by this point, or at least be playing in the Major League (ha ha!). I have to remind him that I'm still young and he's still young-at-heart so we have plenty of time to have kids. And, his shot of playing in the Major League is still not out of the question. Remember the movie "The Rookie"? He did tell me that he is happy with where he is in life and that he wouldn't change anything about it! He isn't really bothered by turning 30, but he definitely didn't want to draw much attention to his birthday, but I wasn't about to let that happen!

We had a fun weekend of celebrating his birthday. I caved and gave him his birthday present Friday night. For once, I think I truly surprised him by buying him an iPod Touch. It wasn't something he had ever really mentioned wanting, but I just thought he would like it and I was right. He hasn't really put it down until this evening!

Saturday I let him sleep in a little and then we met my parents for lunch at Sabor in Old Town and then we went shopping. He used some birthday money to buy a few iPod accessories and some running clothes and then we picked up a surprise cookie cake from my siblings.

It's not the best picture, but it says "Happy Birthday Old Geezer!" - Someone had to give him a little bit of a hard time!

Later in the evening we headed to Bonefish for dinner and then came home to be surprised by his parents who came to town for his birthday (I was in on the surprise)! They also brought along a surprise of their own - a new tool chest for the garage (I don't have a picture yet)! He was totally caught off guard :)

Finally today, his real birthday, we had a leisurely morning and then headed to church. Then, we came home and prepared for his family birthday dinner with his parents, sister and brother-in-law and my aunts and uncle and cousins. Since Brandon's favorite food is pizza, I decided to do a homemade pizza bar. I made PW's Pizza Dough (courtesy of my PW cookbook!) and we rolled out a personal sized pizza crust for everyone and then had an array of toppings and let everyone make their own pizza. After lunch we did cake and ice cream, complete with 30 candles on the cake. He definitely didn't show his age because he pretty much blew all of the candles out with one breath!

We capped off the afternoon with a few rounds of Rummikub and Quiddler and then said our good-byes to his parents.

I would be remiss if I didn't brag on Brandon a little bit on his birthday. I'm not sure if any of you know this or not, but I'm one lucky girl to be married to this guy!! He's a great leader in our marriage, he keeps me on my toes with his silly antics and funny jokes, he's a hard worker and he has developed a passion for his job and thus for projects around the house, he loves being active and is always looking for new fun things to do, he isn't afraid to try something new (i.e. photography), he knows when to give and he knows when to hold back, he's sensitive, he loves our dog like a child (even if he won't admit it) and he's my best friend!

Happy 30th Birthday, honey!

Not Sleeping

Lately, I haven't been sleeping very well. I wake up at all hours of the night and then fall back asleep. Then, I wake up around 6:00 a.m. and toss and turn, willing myself to go back to sleep for several minutes until I finally just decide to get up. This was especially frustrating during my vacation! If any of you follow me on Twitter or are one of my Facebook friends, you might have noticed my early morning posts. It has become a huge problem.

I've noticed been slightly uncomfortable in our bed lately, so I decided the combination of worn out pillows and a memory foam mattress pad that I don't think I like anymore might be the problem. Tonight, I enlisted my lovely husband to help me move the old mattress and memory foam mattress pad to the basement and move the mattress from the basement up to our room. The basement mattress is the first mattress that Brandon and I purchased when we got married, but when we bought the memory foam mattress pad, we had to use the old, hand-me-down mattress because it didn't have a pillow top. I'm going to try this "fix" out for a while and see if it makes a difference.

If not, I googled "sleep remedies" and some suggestions I found were taking wild lettuce pills, drinking warm milk (the thought of that literally makes me want to throw up!), wiggle both sets of toes, at the same time, 12 times, sleep with your feet facing south and your head north, get up earlier, rub your stomach (and reap the benefit of weight loss because it stimulates the digestive system) and a few more I won't mention. Let's just hope that the mattress and pillow switch-a-roo work. Otherwise, I'm afraid Brandon will think I've really jumped off the deep end!

2009 In Review

As we were trying to decide whether or not to write a 2009 Christmas letter, we realized we really didn't have a very exciting year. We didn't have any major life changes to announce, so it just felt a little "flat". However, we do realize we were extremely blessed with good health, stable jobs, a roof over our heads, etc. But, in honor of the New Year, here is a recap of 2009 in the Brungardt household:

* We rang in 2009 with Brandon's family in Garden City.

* In January, we celebrated Brandon's 29th birthday!! And immediately began talking about how we couldn't believe he was going to be 30 :)
* Brandon got a new camera and started taking an active interest in photography.
* I started taking a bigger role within the children's department at church and we continued to lead our small group.
* I got inspired to do something new with our upstairs furniture and we successfully sold the red couches on Craig's List for exactly what we asked for them! This was before the Craig's List Killer surfaced; we haven't used Craig's List since.
* Brandon's sister and brother-in-law found out they'd be moving to Newton and his brother-in-law lived with us for a couple of months in the spring while his sister was still teaching school.
* We did our yearly Lake Clean Up weekend.
* We finished our living room including painting pretty much the entire upstairs! Thanks to some help from Brandon's parents, it went pretty quickly. You can see the finished product here. * We celebrated our third wedding anniversary on June 3rd!

* We had our annual family get-together at Table Rock Lake.

* We finally launched our new website at work. This was a project that we started when I started my new job in July of 2008. It honestly felt like I gave birth to that thing!
* I turned 26 in August and continued to give Brandon a hard time about turning 30!
* This little girl joined the family in August!

* Quite possibly the most exciting part of 2009 was our trip to NYC! You can read about it here, and here, and here and here. Honestly, I wish we could put this is every end of year recap!!! The best trip ever!
* This fall, we spent quite a bit of time in Manhattan, cheering on the Cats!

* Brandon went to Hays to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the FHSU baseball team taking 2nd in Nationals.

* We experienced tragedy and sadness this year as we had family diagnosed with cancer and we lost another member of our family to a tragic accident.
* The economy also affected both of our jobs financially, but we are thankful to still be employed in a time when not everyone, especially in our city, have been so lucky.

We are anxiously awaiting what 2010 has to offer and hope it holds many blessing for everyone!

Things I've Learned During My Vacation

This week has officially been a vacation week for me. Our office closed for the week, so we all got a bonus week of vacation! Typically, when I'm on vacation, I'm not in town so this has been a different experience for me. I've only been "free" for two days, but I've already learned a few things:

1. Sleeping in when your husband still has to get up for work is nearly impossible.
2. Since I'm awake, I'm more motivated to get in the shower and get ready. It sure beats stumbling into the shower when I'm still half asleep.
3. I really like watching morning TV, but afternoon TV isn't so great. I've never been much of a soap opera fan.
4. I much prefer to go to the grocery store on Monday morning rather than on the weekend.
5. Panera is significantly less busy on a weekday morning than a weekend morning and in return, much more enjoyable when visiting with a friend.
6. Koby really likes that I'm home and continually reminds me of his delight by following me around with his toys begging me to throw them.
7. My days don't seem so "routine", which is quite refreshing!
8. I can actually have dinner on the table before 6:30 p.m.
9. It is A LOT easier to keep the house picked up when I'm home to stay on top of it rather than letting it all pile up for the weekend (I want to get better about picking up during the week!).
10. I miss visiting with my co-workers and find myself wondering what they are doing with their free time.

I think I could get used to this kind of vacation every year! The extra time to just be at home has really been refreshing to me. I'm afraid the rest of the week is going to go by way too fast...

Here We Go Again

Yes, it is that time of year when we are all thinking about those New Year's Resolutions that we didn't fulfill and trying to figure out what to put on our 2010 list.

Here is my New Year's Resolution blog for 2009. I started out the year with the best of intentions. I lost close to eight pounds and developed a pretty good strategy for eating healthy and exercising. However, healthy snacks only taste good for so long and I like to cook and bake too much, so I slowly fell off the wagon and gained most of the weight back. FAIL!!!

I also tried my best to get better organized, but if you were to look in my storage room, closets and cabinets today, this is what you would see:

Please excuse the poor photo quality, I had to use the old camera.)

Clutter!!!! Now, there are a few systems in place to keep things semi-organized: a shoe rack that serves as storage for miscellaneous items in the hall closet, hooks installed in our bedroom closet to hold purses and bags, and shelving and storage totes in the basement storage room, so my resolution wasn't a total fail, but I did fail to maintain the organization. After a while, things just get put on the shelves without finding a place for those items and stuff just gets shoved in a pocket in the closet without really knowing where it ended up. I also failed in the kitchen. After taking everything out of the cabinets and moving them around to places I felt were more appropriate or accessible, the cabinets ended up the same - ingredients shoved where ever they would fit, stuff stacked on top of each other just waiting to come tumbling down at any second, etc.

So, this year my resolutions will be to build on last years resolutions and try to maintain them through out the year. Since I'm off work this week, I plan to get a head start on home organization. I'm going to clean out and purge all of the closets and then I'm going to research some storage solutions and put them into practice. Hopefully, I can develop some sort of system that makes sense and is easy to maintain.

As far as the eating healthy and exercising, this HAS to start soon. I know we can do it, it is just a matter of making conscious decisions and only allowing myself to cheat every now and then and not everyday.

I also have a new resolution in 2010: Limit my caffeine!! This is something that I've needed to do for quite some time and I just figure it is better to start now rather than put it off any longer. I get pretty bad headaches and I need to try to eliminate sources for these headaches and I think caffeine could be one of them. I also know I will most likely feel better all the way around if I cut down my caffeine intake.

So, there you have it, my 2010 resolutions! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to the new year.

Christmas Eve

I'm currently sitting at Pam's kitchen table staring out the window, watching the wind blow and there is absolutely no snow on the ground. We decided to make the trip yesterday for fear that we would be trapped in Wichita by the last great snow storm of '09, but I think the weathermen decided to just give us a little scare. We made the whole trip without seeing even one snowflake. I guess it is better to be safe than sorry!

As we were driving to GC, we were between a couple of small towns when we noticed a HUGE mass of deer south of the highway. And by huge mass I'm talking more than 150 deer between two or three fields in a span of less than one mile. We couldn't believe our eyes. I suggested to Brandon that maybe they were decoys and he informed me that decoys don't bounce around the fields. In my defense, I made the comment when we first saw the deer and they had their heads down eating. Lucky for us, they were not moving towards the road and seemed pretty content where they were.

We're taking it pretty easy today. Just doing some cooking and preparing for tomorrow's Christmas dinner. It is nice to have a few days to relax with family and enjoy our time together. Sometimes the hussle and bussle of the holidays doesn't always allow for time to just be together. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and takes a few minutes to really think about how the birth of Christ has changed our world and our lives forever.

Merry Christmas!!

We've Been Busy

This time of year is always full of lots of "stuff" - work parties, friend's parties, family get-togethers, cookie baking, shopping, tying up loose ends at work before Christmas break and so much more. This doesn't leave too much time for blogging. But, have no fear, I will have lots of stories (and pictures) soon!

Tonight for instance, our small group baked over 600 cookies for the Angel Tree ministry at church. My friend, Emily, took lots of pictures and I hope to post those soon. Let's just say we had 10 lbs of butter and five pounds of sugar!!

I also plan to do a small recap of 2009 since we didn't write a Christmas letter this year. I want to be able to remember the highlights and maybe not so great things from this year. After all, I want to keep it real here.

We have a Christmas celebration with my family this weekend, so I will be back next week with a better update!

Coupons

Lately, I've been doing a lot of online browsing for decorative inspiration and also for fun Christmas gift ideas. And, thanks to a few tips, I've learned to google coupons for different stores or products and have actually found some really great deals!!

I know my mom has a friend who searches for coupons before she leaves her house to go shopping and always has an arsenal of discounts and buy one get ones, but for some reason to me it just seemed like a lot of work for not much in return. I guess you could say my time is money because I don't always have all the time in the world to do much searching. I'm also not a fan of shopping around to find the best price. But, like I said, I've been doing a lot of online browsing which allows me more time to search for deals.

Just this week, I found a coupon for free shipping on our Christmas cards and I found a 20% off coupon for a couple of fun Christmas gifts! I simply just typed in the product I was looking for and added "coupon" to the end and viola!

Aside from online, I've also been receiving TONS of coupons in the mail, mostly from the usual suspects like Kohls and Pennys, but some not so usual like Gap and Express. And, these coupons haven't been just 10% off, they've been more like 20% - 30% off or a certain amount of money off of a purchase, etc.

I'm sure a lot of it is just the retailers trying anything possible to get people in their stores or to their websites this Christmas season and I'm sure it is working for the most part, but I'm curious if they will continue to offer coupons and discounts as the year goes on? It sure does make it more fun to shop (and it makes my husband happier)!

Great Gift Ideas

Check out these super clever (and budget friendly) gift ideas! One of the many reasons I love Young House Love!

It's the Little Things in Life

I recently received my copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook thanks to Tara and Natalie who attended her book signing in KC a few weeks ago.

I know it took A LOT for them to HAVE to attend, but I appreciate them taking one for the team :) (disclaimer: I really don't think I had to force them to go!).

As I was browsing through the cookbook during Thanksgiving weekend, I found several recipes that I plan to try, but the one that stuck out most to my husband and the one he has been salivating about ever since: Eggs in a Hole!! He just thought this was the best idea, since his favorite part of an egg over easy is dipping his toast in the runny yolk (gaaaaggg!!! I really HATE eggs, so the thought of a runny yolk makes me a little uneasy!). Anyways, he has been asking me to make this fine recipe (quite possibly the easiest in the book) since Thanksgiving and we finally bought some bread over the weekend so he could have it for breakfast this morning. And let me tell you, he was excited! Sometimes, it's the little things in life that make it so rewarding!

And if you're wondering, I recommend the brisket and plan to try the pizza dough, French Breakfast Puffs, and cinnamon rolls!