"The One Where...We Give Thanks"

Thanksgiving this year was spent on call so all of my relatives opted to stay in SD rather than head to KC like they normally do. I decided that I would fix the Turkey Feast anyway for just Shane and I. As soon as I had put the stuffed turkey in the oven, my pager went off :( Off to Saint Lukes on the Plaza I went. I instructed Shane on Turkey 101 and left him alone in the kitchen to tend to the bird in the oven....which was a scary thought! I was surprised to find that he did a great job and took the turkey out once the pop-up button had popped up - as instructed!


I quickly prepared all the sides (sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, corn, dinner rolls, etc) and an hour later we were enjoying the smells and tastes of the Thanksgiving Dinner. After we had stuffed ourselves silly, my pager went off again :( Off to St. Lukes South I went....thankful that I had at least gotten to eat before getting called back in! Once I got back, we enjoyed dessert - a Pumpkin Cheesecake made by my dear friend Stetson!

The rest of the evening was quiet and we enjoyed lounging around with the dogs and catching up on a few movies that we had rented earlier. Even though we were unable to spend it with family, it was a very nice Thanksgiving indeed!

"The One With...Karaoke & Rock Band"

Tonight was an evening full of food, music & fun for the Taylor's. I got home late from work and as soon as I walked in the door, I grabbed the husband and we went next door to our neighbors Brian & Julie's house where they were hosting a Wildtree Tasting Party (www.wildtree.com). It was fun being able to sample all the sauces, dips, oils and snacks that they provide and we of course ended up purchasing a few things to add to our kitchen cupboards :)

Once we got our fill of food and the company of our neighbors we made our way to the mexican restaurant El Tapatio here in Spring Hill to meet the game-night girls and their husbands for some cocktails and karaoke. I was unfortunately on-call so drinking "beverages" was limited for me but I think Shane and the rest of the crew drank my share and then some :) Ken was the first brave soul to start off singing and Keri & Michelle soon joined in the fun. A big thank you to Melissa for taking all the fun pics of the evenings festivities!

Serious karaoke skills: Ken, Keri & Michelle

From L to R the WR crew: Michelle, Keri, Melissa, Erinn, Heather

Once everyone had their fun with karaoke, we headed over to Erinn & Jeff's house for some Rock Band. Erinn was a great hostess by providing us all with great snacks, drinks and entertainment. The tequila shots & whiskey soon followed and everyone seemed to be having alot of fun - even me - the sober one :) I took a moment to look around the room at all the wonderful friends we have met since moving to the Woodland Ridge neighborhood 5 years ago and realized how we are so very blessed by such great neighbors and by all these new friendships. We look forward to many more festivities with these wonderful people - especially our upcoming Holiday Progressive Dinner!

Rockin' out: Shane on bass, Jeff on drums and Erinn on vocals

"The One Where...Mom Comes To Town"

Friday I took a 1/2 day at work as my mom and our dear family friend Mary Ellen were coming to KC for the weekend all the way from South Dakota. We started our visit by having lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and then afterwards we went and saw the movie Changeling. We all agreed it was a good movie and Angelina Jolie's acting skills were awesome. I wouldn't be surprised if she is nominated for some kind of award for her performance! We then made a stop at Papa Murphy's to pick up a pizza and headed home where we visited a bit with Shane before he headed to work.

While the pizza was cooking, I quick ran over to my neighbor Melissa's house (where she was hosting our girls game night for the month) to say hello to all the girls and present Michelle with the pet memorial stone that all the girls got for her and her husband Rob in honor of their Beagle Phoebe who passed away last month. There were a few tears shed and hugs given all around and she was so very touched at the gesture from us all. I then headed back home where we ate our pizza, enjoyed some cheesecake for dessert and then ended up playing a few games of Mexican Train Dominoes while enjoying a few glasses of Reisling.

Saturday me, my mom and Mary Ellen enjoyed breakfast at First Watch and then made our way to Hobby Lobby & JoAnn's Etc for some holiday decoration shopping. It was so fun looking at all the stuff they have out for Christmas! I did end up buying a few ornaments and gift bags which were 60% off but managed to keep the holiday spending under control. We next went to Old Navy so I could get Meghan a birthday present as today is her 29th birthday and then we went looking at $1 million furnished model homes off of 151st & Quivera which were UNbelievable. It was fun looking at all the elaborate detail and interior design of such a home and trying to imagine how much it costs to heat/cool a home like that or how many maids it would take to clean it :) We headed back home and enjoyed some hot cocoa as it was a bitter cold 35 degrees and windy outside and then we made our way into downtown KC to meet my brother, Meghan and her family for a birthday dinner and engagement celebration at Famous Daves BBQ. At this point, my mom and Mary Ellen didn't know about the engagement so it was so fun to see their reaction when they found out. After dinner, we headed to JP's Wine Bar up the street to meet Meghan's dad & step-mom and enjoy a few glasses of wine. It ended up being a really great evening and it was so nice having both our family and Meghan's family together for the first time.

"The One With...The Package"

This morning I received a package from Deanna. It was our Glamour Shots photos AND an extra special surprise....a cupcake from the famous Sprinkles Cupcakes Bakery. It came in the cutest little cardboard box and was a pumpkin spice cupcake with cinnamon & cream cheese frosting. It was thee BEST cupcake I have ever eaten. SO very yummy & such an added bonus to a Saturday morning :)

Below are a couple of photos from our Glamour Shots session:

"The One With...an Engagement"

For 2 months I have been keeping a secret from my family. It has been SO very hard to keep quiet about this but it had to be done. I have anxiously awaited this day for 2 very special people in my life for over 3 years now and the day has finally come. I can finally let everyone know that my little brother Steve has officially become engaged to his girlfriend Meghan and our family couldn't be happier.

For those of you who don't know, I was the "matchmaker" for these two. I had worked with Meghan in the cath lab and my brother had recently moved to KC and one day it dawned on me that these two would be perfect for each other. So I put my match-making skills into motion and hosted a get-together with some friends back in June of 2005 and invited Meghan and my brother so they could meet each other. Well, 3 1/2 years later and the rest is history. Our family is so very excited for them both and can't wait for the big event...which has yet to be decided.

Above is a pic of Meghan's ring and a pic of the happy couple :)

"The One With...A Vacation to Dallas"

Watch out Dallas - here we come!

Friday morning found me packing my bags and heading to the airport to meet my friend Heather (HK) for a weekend in Dallas to visit our dear friend Deanna. We arrived before Deanna got off of work so we decided to sit in Chili's snacking on our favorite food - chips/salsa & margaritas until Deanna got there :)

She arrived in front of the baggage claim in style with the hip hop music blaring, a set of holiday antlers on her head, a X-mas necklace of red/green fuzzy balls around her neck with one for each of us to wear - we expected nothing less from this girl :) You might remember from a previous post that Deanna is also one that shares our love of the holiday season...I think even more so than HK and I! Anyway, we loaded our luggage in the car and away we went with all three of us wearing our x-mas accessories! I'm sure it was a crazy sight to see & I am bummed I didn't get a picture of us all! We definitely got a few glares from the public!

Our first evening in Dallas was a fun yet relaxing one. We got settled into D's apartment, visited for awhile and then headed out to a mexican restaurant called Chuy's for margaritas and some great food. After dinner, we headed to a cute little pub in D's neighborhood that was playing live music and enjoyed a beverage while listening to the band. We got back to D's house a little after midnight and settled in for the evening as we were all exhausted from the days festivities.

Saturday morning we all slept in late and didn't get out of D's house until well after 11am. We started our day at the cutest cafe & bakery called Bread Winners and enjoyed the best breakfast ever. This litte cafe had the biggest pastries in the display case I had ever seen and they looked SO yummy! We are talking sticky buns the size of your head! We just had to get a picture in front of all the desserts...

Next stop was The Sixth Floor JFK Museum. The line to get into the museum ended up being over an hour wait and we were pressed for time so we decided to decline the tour but were still able to look around the building, observe the memorial outside and see the "X" in the road where JFK was shot. It was so surreal to look around and see the exact window where Lee Harvey Oswald stood, the road that JFK and his wife were traveling on and see where exactly that one moment in history that the whole word changed. In the picture count six floors up on the right hand side of the building and that is the window where the shots came from.Next stop, the Dallas aquarium. When we finally arrived up to the ticket counter, it was $20 to get in per person and we only had an hour so we bailed on the aquarium but we did manage to get some fun photos outside:

The reason we were pressed for time all afternoon is because Deanna surprised us with a photo session at Glamour Shots at 3pm for that day and we were SO excited about her "surprise"! We bought some "beverages" for the occasion and made our way to the mall. Once we got there, they started doing our makeup and hair which was hilarious. We opted for the "dramatic" look versus "natural" and were expecting blue eyeshadow, red lipstick and big hair. Much to our disappointment, we ended up looking "natural" afterall and we soon realized that this wasn't what Glamour Shots used to be back in the day! There were no more "costumes" to pick from and change into and very limited "props" to use but we did manage to use a few of there items for our pictures :) Here is a pic of us "pre" glamour:

Our photo session was so much fun and we all agreed we hadn't laughed that much in ages. After it was all said and done, we took a seat in the viewing lounge in front of a huge flat screen TV to view our pics. We watched the slideshow, agreed on 9 poses and then the price of each package was discussed. We were not prepared for what was about to be presented to us. The super sweet gal went over all 3 packages with us and then told us the price of each one. I hope those of you who are reading this are sitting down when you read just how much 2 hours of fun can cost you because I'm glad I was! OK - here are the prices: Package A-$3695 Package B-$3195 Package C-$2695 YES people - that is three thousand plus dollars! We had to pick our jaws up off the floor after she told us that. Deanna, being the not-so-subtle one of our group told the gal "if you think we are paying $3000 for Glamour Shots pictures you are f*!#ing crazy!" Let's just say the super sweet girl was not so super sweet towards us after that. We asked how much pictures would be if we didn't want a package and she rudely said $45 per sheet with no airbrushing. Sounded good to us - we narrowed it down from 9 poses to 4 & even had a coupon for a free 8x10 so we walked out of there paying only $152 total! We get our photos next week and can't wait to see how they turned out!

After our Glamour Shots session, we headed to a super cute restaurant called Fireside Pies and enjoyed dining on family-sized salads and pizza. We stuffed ourselves silly and topped it off with a warm apple pie dessert with ice cream. Mmm Mmm good! We then headed back to D's and freshened up for our evening out on the town in Dallas. We went to a fun dance club called Tribeca and spent most of the evening out on the dance floor. We ended up getting home around 2:00am and spent the next hour up talking. We finally fell asleep around 3:30am and was back up at 7:30am to pack and head to the airport. We were exhausted but enjoyed every minute of our time with Deanna!

Sunday we landed in KC around 12 noon and were sad to leave Deanna but glad to get back home to our family and to our own beds. It was a wonderful weekend and we are so glad we made the trip!

"The One Where...Tanner Turns One"

Today is my nephew Tanners' first birthday! I so wish I could have been there to celebrate with them!

Happy Birthday my little Tan Man :)

"The One With...Exciting News"

While I was at Rudy's enjoying my margarita this evening, I received a text/picture from my sister-in-law Rachel. It was a pic of my niece Joslyn and on her shirt there was a saying - it read: "I'm going to be a Big Sister"!

This can only mean one thing - I'm going to be an Aunt once again :) My new little niece or nephew is due in July and I am so very excited and happy for my brother and his family!

"The One With...Another Happy Hour"

After a long, drawn out, crazy day at work, a few of the girls retreated to our favorite Mexican restaurant - Rudy's - for some margaritas and food after work. Our friends Camille, her baby boy Savero as well as Nikki all came out to join us as well for the festivities. We had one too many margaritas and ate way too many chips - as usual :) It was a fun and much needed evening!

"The One Where...I Voted"

Election Day is finally here - thank goodness! I am getting tired of all the election ads and political talk at work and on the streets.

I set my alarm for 5am and decided to try and beat the crowd by getting up early and getting to the Civic Center by 6am to vote. I arrived at 6:10am and ended up waiting in line for over 50 minutes. Seems as if everyone else thought they would get there early also and "beat the crowd"!?! I didn't mind standing in line for that long however. I was actually very excited to be there exercising my right as a US citizen and casting my vote. I hope you all got the chance to get out there and experience the whole voting process also!

"The One With...Halloween"

Halloween....one of my most favorite times of the year. I just LOVE the fall colors, smells, decorations and the fact that Christmas is now less than 2 months away :)

I spent Friday evening with my neighbors while Shane spent it inside relaxing. All of us from the cul-de-sac got together in one of the driveways with a firepit and 6 full baskets of Halloween candy. Linda made a huge pot of chili and we all brought a side dish to share. The trick-or-treaters stopped coming around 9:30pm and we ended up staying out way to late chatting, drinking wine and digging into everyone's leftover candy baskets! It was a fun evening and we all enjoyed seeing all the kids in their costumes!

"The One With...The Sunflower Showdown"

KU: 52

K-State: 21

Ahhh - Victory is sweet! Sorry K-State fans....better luck next year :)