Pumpkin

Tomorrow is September 1st & you know what that means?? Summer is ending & fall soon begins. So I thought it would be fitting to celebrate the first day of September by whipping up some pumpkin-baked goods:

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese frosting anyone??

Mmmm - yes please!

And look who is now serving Pumpkin Spiced Latte's:

Heaven!

Have I ever told you all how much I love this time of year?!? Maybe just once or twice :)

Auntie

....again :)

Very happy to announce that my sister is expecting baby #3 around March 27th.
Love my nephews dearly, but I am secretly crossing my fingers for a niece this time!
For some reason, I think my sister is too!?

La Carretta

After a whirl-wind of a week, I was looking very forward to meeting the "game-night" girls out for dinner & drinks this evening.

We all met up at La Carretta's in Gardner for mexican & margaritas & ended up shutting the place down. It's amazing how quickly three hours can go by when hanging with these girls! There was much talk about the upcoming fall season & all the awesome things it brings, talk about our beloved pets & TV shows that everyone has been watching this summer.

Thanks ladies for the fun evening out! Always good times with these girls. Thanks also to Melissa for always having her camera ready & for sharing her pics. I love how I look like I am wearing a lit up tiara in this pic! It was actually the light hanging from the ceiling - perfectly placed above my head :)

Charlotte

This morning I took Bubba to the vet to get his nails trimmed & on the way home - on a busy highway - I came across this chocolate lab running down the middle of the road being dodged by traffic:

I had pulled over on the side of the road along with another lady & we managed to catch her & get her off the road. She had tags which said her name was Charlotte & there was a phone number. So I called it & unfortunately the owners weren't home so I had left a message. I debated what to do with her & just couldn't leave her roaming free on the road so I loaded her up in the back seat of my car & took her home with me. Bubba was in the front seat & could have cared less there was a new dog in the backseat. He is really mellowing out as he gets older!?

Once I got home, I ended up putting Charlotte in the backyard & contemplated what to do. What if the owners didn't call back? What if we were stuck with Charlotte all weekend? What if no one called to claim her? So I called the Spring Hill Vet & asked them what I should do. Lucky for me, they knew who Charlotte was & her owners since she had been a "client" there before so they told me to bring her by & they would keep her until the owners came for her. Have I told y'all how much I love living in a small town? This is one of the reasons why - everybody knows everybody.

So I loaded Charlotte back into the car & dropped her off at the vet right before they closed for the weekend. About an hour later Charlotte's owners called me to thank me & tell me how very grateful they were that I had picked her up & had taken care of her in that short time. I felt like I had done a really good thing & probably saved their dog from being hit by a car or even killed.

Kudos to HT :)

Birthday

Today is my birthday & I have once again turned another year older. How can this be? Seems like I was doing this just a few months ago?? I no longer feel young but I don't feel old either. Even though Shane is now 15 months younger than me & will jokingly refer to me as his "old lady" - lol. So I am now 39 years old & it is my last "hoo-rah" in my 30's. What a scary thought!

The day started off by waking up to a beautiful card & birthday gift from Shane. Then I listened to the cutest, sweetest birthday message ever by my two nephews (Tanner & Cael) which totally made my day! As I made my way into St. Lukes-South my phone started blowing up with all kinds of text messages & voice mails & it didn't quit all morning!

Once I got to work, my co-workers had suprised me with breakfast from Panera:

Thanks to this lovely lady (Lori) for going out of her way this morning to make breakfast happen:

After doing our morning cases, my team was going to take me out to lunch but an unexpected emergency in the ER trumped our plans :( We ended up doing the procedure & afterwards I was finally able to sit down & check my email. I was blown away to see almost 80 birthday messages in my inbox which the majority were from Facebook. Talk about making a person feel loved :)

As I was sitting at the nurse's station enjoying the down-time, my dear friend Stetson comes around the corner with a surprise:

He had made my absolute favorite cheesecake: White Chocolate Raspberry

Mmmm - it tasted even better than it looks! Thanks SO much Stetson - you are such a dear friend:

After a relaxing day at work, I headed downtown to meet my girlfriend's for dinner at our favorite mexican restaurant - Rudy's. We celebrated with a margarita, a great dinner, presents from the girls & then topped it off with some fried ice cream - compliments of Rudy himself :)

I ended up getting home pretty late & was excited to see that I had one last little surprise waiting for me on the doorstep. My girlfriend Keri (who shares my love of fall, pumpkin baked-goods & Christmas music on Nov 1st) dropped off a little gift consisting of a Yankee candle in my most favorite scent: Autumn Leaves. Wouldn't be surprised if I start burning it this weekend while whipping up some Pumpkin Bars....just sayin'! Thank you so very much Keri :)

I must say it was a wonderful day & a great start to being 39! I am SO very blessed with a great husband, loving family & so many friends who are near & dear to my heart!

As I reflect back on being 38 years old, I am closing the door on the hard times & disappointments. I will treasure all the wonderful memories made with friends & family & will open my heart to what is to come in the next year. My perspective has shifted once again. I remember when I turned 29 & how upsetting it was for me to be leaving my 20's & how I hadn’t yet accomplished all I had wanted to by 30. Now that I have checked off all those "must-do's", I look forward to being another year older. I can think happily about all the things I plan on doing this year & the new list of items that need to be checked off the list before I turn......40!

::gasp::

Ugh - it pains me to even write it but I am going to embrace it & make the best of it. There is LOTS yet to do before this time next year & can't wait to experience it all with those who matter in my life!!

Chopped

After lunch with Melissa, I ran all my errands & then headed home to spend the rest of the afternoon with the hubby. I had planned on doing some house & yard work but Shane had other plans in mind. He had been wanting to go to Union Station to see the Art of the Chopper exhibit for awhile now & suggested we go that afternoon. Anything to get me out of cleaning the house & I am for it!

So we ended up jumping in the convertible, putting the top down & enjoying the beautiful day & drive into downtown. The exhibit displayed 33 custom-made Choppers & was definitely cool to see. The hubby & I enjoyed looking at all the intricate details put into each of these bikes & seeing all the beautiful & weird paint jobs as well. Here are a few of my favorites:

It ended up being a fun afternoon & a good time spent with the hubby checking out what he loves most - motorcycles (besides me :)

Greeked

The plan was to meet the "game-night" girls for a movie & lunch today but as I was on my way to the theater, I get a text & a phone call that the girls had partied a little bit too much the night before & were all bailing on our outing.

No biggie - I had errands to run anyway so I was going to go ahead & do that but then my girlfriend Melissa called & asked if I would be interested in going to the movie anyway or just meeting for an early lunch instead. I hadn't seen Melissa in forever so I was excited at the chance of getting some one-on-one time with her & we chose to fore go the movie & meet for lunch at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant instead.

I had never eaten here before but had been wanting to try it - unfortunately my hubby is such a "meat & potatoes" kind of guy that he would refuse every time I suggested this place so I was looking forward to finally get the opportunity to experience it for myself.

We ended up ordering the roasted red pepper hummus for an appetizer & the gyros for our main dish. It was all very tasty, the service was good & the company wonderful! Before I knew it, 2 hours had flown by & it was time to get going. It was so nice to be able to get caught up on Melissa's busy, yet always entertaining life & spend some quality girl-time together.

Thanks so much for the invitation Mel! I look forward to getting together again soon :)

36 hours of hell

As soon as I got to St. Luke's East Friday morning, I knew. I just had that "feeling" that the day ahead of me was going to be a long, rough & challenging day. I can't explain how I knew but from past experience my gut feeling is usually right on & today was no different.

It all started at 8am with the 1st STEMI page - aka: ST elevation myocardial infarction - aka: patient is in the ER having a heart attack & needs to come to the Cardiac Cath Lab asap for an emergent heart catheterization. We got finished with our 1st emergent procedure & proceeded to do our 2 outpatients. Then the 2nd emergency comes in. While he is on the table our 3rd emergency comes in. Next thing I know it is 4pm & we still have 2 inpatients yet to do. Day. From. Hell.

We finally finished up around 6:45pm & all decided to head to Jose Pepper's for much needed & well deserved:

Nothing like a margarita & some mexican food to end a crappy day! Me & my co-workers enjoyed our beverages & dinner while discussing our day from hell & I was making my way home by 9pm. Just as I am about 1/2 way to the house my pager goes off - STEMI at St. Lukes South. Ugh...

I am on call until Sunday morning & from the day I just experienced I knew the next 36 hours was going to be no different. That callback was the first of what was to be 7 call-ins:

Friday night: 9:30pm & 11:30pm
Saturday morning: 2am - 6:30am - 10:30am - 3pm - 6:30pm

I have never hated my job so much in my life as I did Saturday morning. Every time I got home or laid down to sleep the pager went off & at one point (I think it was the 10:30am call that did it) I just started to cry. Shane felt SO bad for me & hugged me as I was on my way out the door. I was so exhausted & pissed & was hating life for those 36 hours.

Saturday night I was finally able to get a full night's sleep with no beeper going off & was so happy to see 8am on the clock Sunday morning. Call was over & I had survived.

Looking back after it was all said & done, I realized that I had done a good thing these last 36 hours. I was part of a team that saved 7 people's lives. We helped save someone's mom, someone's grandpa, someone's brother, someone's aunt, someone's dad, someone's sister. When I really think about it that is all that matters & it makes me very proud of what it is I do.....even if it is at 2am, 41 miles away at St. Lukes East in Lee's Summit, for a meth addict. Regardless, it's a life & I helped save it.

'Nuff said.

The Hubby

Some of you may wonder why I don't write a lot of posts about the hubby & may sometimes wonder if he even exists!? Well, this blog isn't called "A Day in the Life of HT" for nothing!

I use this blog as a journal & to document my life. The plan is to one day get my entire blog printed so I have a keepsake for my family & children (if I am ever so lucky enough to have them) when I am long gone. It's proof that I existed & that I lived a wonderful life while I was here on earth.

One thing I love about my husband is he allows me to be an individual & he encourages me to have my "girl-time" which I feel is extremely important in a relationship. Now don't go feeling sorry for him that he is missing out on time with me or fun activities. Trust me - he does PLENTY of "boy-time" to make up for my social life. But we also do a lot of things together that isn't really "blog-worthy" like spending the whole day together doing yard work, or riding the Harley around the Kansas countryside, or going to lunch & a movie or hanging out on the couch watching episodes of 24 all day.

Unfortunately, my husband works evenings so I don't get to see a lot of him during the week. So a lot of my "girl-time" is spent during those week-nights & my girls know that my weekends are spent with my husband. So while I have been going to concerts & musicals & balloon festivals & game-nights, here is a little glimpse of what the hubby has been up to:

Many afternoons riding the Harley:

Nascar race with his dad & brother:

NHRA race at the Kansas Speedway:

"Riders for Heroes" poker run:

"Art of Choppers" display at Union Station:

And in the last few weeks alone, the hubby has participated in 2 charity rides, went to the Whitesnake concert, attended "bike night" at Fuel Bar & Grill & has rode countless hours with his brother & friends during the weekends I was taking call.

See - the boy stays busy in his spare time. Lately, it seems that he has been busier than me - if that is even possible!?

Mamma Mia

This evening I joined my girlfriend Jilly for an evening under the stars at Starlight Theatre for the musical Mamma Mia - a musical that is based on the songs of ABBA.

ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972. They became one of the most successful acts in the history of pop music, topping the charts worldwide from 1972 - 1982.

We started out the evening by having a cocktail & some snacks in the parking lot at Starlight. Jilly brought a yummy spread of hummus w/pita chips & carrots, shrimp, deli ham & white choc covered strawberries along with a chilled bottle of wine. This girl can pack food for an event like nobody's business!

After filling up our bellies & some catching up we made our way into the show:

I LOVE ABBA's music. I'm not sure why seeing how they were huge from the time I was born to the time I was 10 years old & wasn't really into music until I was older!? I just can't help but do some toe-tapping & sing my heart out when I hear an ABBA song. I was a bit worried that I might disturb those around me at the show with my singing & carrying on but turns out I wasn't the only one dancing & singing my heart out :)

I thoroughly enjoyed this performance & was sad to see it end. The story line followed the songs (or should I say, they did a great job of working the songs into the story line) & the singing did not do a disservice to the originals. It was filled with many hilarious moments & there were times I could barely see through the tears because I was laughing so hard (the snorkel gear dance comes to mind).

If you get a chance to see this show, I highly recommend it. You are guaranteed to have a good time! And if you aren't already, you just might leave the show an ABBA fan!

Heat Wave...over?

These are the temps around the KC metro area at 6 pm this evening. See that 112 degree mark in Gardner? The town I live in is about 5 miles East so I'm guessing that is how hot it is here - definitely feels like it. I just watched the weather forecast & they say a cooler front is moving in tonight & will bring us these temps the rest of the week:

HALLELUJAH! And a chance of t-storms everyday? Awesome.

Low 90's may seem hot to some of you but after dealing with almost 4 weeks of 99+ degree temps it is going to feel heavenly! I am hoping the heat wave is finally over but unfortunately we still have a whole month of August left which is usually a fairly hot month!? Regardless, I'll gladly welcome these lower temps.

And on a funnier note, my girlfriend Deanna from Austin, TX sent me this picture:

What is it?

A Texas rain gauge :) lol

Here's hoping all my peeps stay cool! Fall is right around the corner....

I ♥ Kenny

Tonight I was lucky enough to join my girlfriend Jilly for a night of boot stompin', beer drinkin', good ol' sweaty, fun at the Kenny Chesney concert out at Arrowhead Stadium.

After a horrible Friday night on call with 4 call-backs, I finally got home late morning & opted to catch up on some much needed sleep so unfortunately we didn't end up getting out to the stadium until around 5:45pm. The concert started at 4:30pm with Uncle Kracker opening up the show & Billy Currington following him.

Once we got there, we hung out in the parking lot drinking our lemony beverages & enjoying some snacks while waiting for Christine & Renee - co-workers from St. Lukes - who were joining us.

We had fun mingling with the folks around us & had to laugh at the "classiness" of one of the guys' t-shirt:

Once the girls got there we decided to take a quick photo & then head inside as it was SO incredibly hot standing out there in the parking lot.

We found our seats which were stage left on the 50 yard line, 2 rows up from the field & thought we had a pretty good view:

We made it inside just in time to see the Zac Brown Band & we all agreed that they put on a great show! We enjoyed seeing them sing "Toes" & the crowd favorite "Chicken Fried" & they even did an awesome version of The Devil Went Down to Georgia. They had lots of great energy & got the crowd up out of their seats dancin!

The unfortunate part about where we were sitting was that there was absolutely NO breeze & it was SO F'n hot! This is what Jilly & I looked like before Kenny came on:

Nice. We may or may not have been doing a lot of dancing!?

Next up was Kenny. He appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the stadium on a swing that carried him to the stage while singing his first number:



Oh how I ♥ Kenny Chesney!

He spent 2 hours playing a lot of his old songs as well as most of the songs off his Hemingway's Whiskey album - which is a REALLY good CD. I was however way bummed that he didn't sing my all-time favorite song "Old Blue Chair" :( Seriously cannot believe it....

For the encore ZBB came out & joined Kenny on stage & they finished out the night by singing a few classic's like Tom Petty's "Running Down a Dream" & Alabama's "If You're Gonna Play in Texas" which was an AWESOME performance:



Even though we were hot, sweaty & exhausted, I think the girls ended up having a great time!

Yee-Haw!