Visitors

This past weekend my mom & our dear family friend Mary Ellen made the trip to KC from South Dakota for a visit. It was a quick weekend but one that was full of fun & good food!

They arrived early afternoon on Friday & we decided to make our way to The Cheesecake Factory for a little lunch & of course some cheesecake! I wanted to try a new flavor so I opted for the Pina Colada Cake cheesecake:

It consisted of a moist white cake layered with cheesecake, pineapple, coconut, rum & sprinkled with coconut. And trust me - it did not disappoint!! My mom chose the Adam's PB Cup Fudge Ripple & Mary Ellen picked the White Chocolate Caramel Macadamia Nut cheesecake....they both thoroughly enjoyed their picks!

We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling at home while catching up. For our evening plans, I had thought it would be fun to go to the New Theater Restaurant for dinner & a show. The Broadway musical "Hairspray" was playing & luckily none of us had ever seen it. The dinner was dee-lish & the show was so entertaining & so much fun - we all had a great time & enjoyed the evening!

On Saturday, we did a little shopping around the Overland Park area & had a great time at Hobby Lobby checking out all the Fall & Christmas decorations. Later in the afternoon we met up with the hubby & enjoyed a yummy lunch at Jack Stack BBQ.

That evening, my brother Steve, his wife Meghan & her son Caleb all joined us for supper. We ended up getting Papa Murphy's pizzas, salad & had Strawberry Cheesecake for dessert made by my dear friend Setson. It was a great time visiting with them & catching up. Of course we couldn't let the evening end without a few photos :)

On Sunday morning, we all had breakfast at IHOP & then said goodbye to my mom & Mary Ellen as they made their way back to South Dakota. It was a short & sweet visit but was an enjoyable one & I'm glad they made the trip. 

Another great weekend spent with my family!

Pedi's & Lunch

And the birthday festivities keep on going....

Today I met up with the game-night girls for a little post-birthday pedi's & lunch! We all met at BB's Nail's & they were really good at accomodating our group of 7 girls. Everyone got their toes & feet beautified - even Jilly - who had never had a pedicure before due to not liking anyone touch her feet. She did a great job & was a trooper through it all :)

(from the far end: me, Emily, Jilly, Erinn, Michelle, Keri & Melissa present, however she is taking the picture!)

After pedi's we all headed to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch on the patio. It was a gorgeous day out & a perfect setting for lunch outside with friends. After we ordered our food, it was time to open presents! These girls were so very generous & gave me such nice gifts! I am SO very blessed to have such a great group of girlfriends in my life!!

We all enjoyed our cocktails & lunch & just when I thought I was full - out comes a box of cupcakes from Gigi's Cupcakes that Jilly had brought. They almost looked to pretty to eat:

The flavors were Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Red Velvet, Italian Cream, White Midnight Magic (white w/choc chips) & Midnight Magic (chocolate). They were dee-lish & the frosting was the best part! Such a yummy treat!

After cupcakes & before we all left, we of course had to pose for our usual group photo. Thanks to Melissa for always having the camera for any photo op that arises:

Thanks ladies for a wonderful outing & for making an end to the week-long birthday festivities a fabulous one! So very thankful to have each & every one of you in my life!

Fabulous 40's

Goodbye 30's.....hello 40's!

Today is the day I leave my 30's behind me & embark on new adventures as a 40 year old. Ugh - it just doesn't seem possible but unfortunately, it is staring at me in the face. I am 40 & am now an official member of the "Fabulous 40's" club.

Honestly though, for as horrible as turning 40 sounds, I couldn't have asked for a better day. It began with a "happy birthday" & hugs from the hubby & a really nice card. I then made my way to work & was greeted with balloons, cards & a huge breakfast spread from Panera by my co-workers. We all enjoyed a nice breakfast together & then got back to work.

Lunch-time rolls around & my co-workers had all brought a dish to share for a "birthday lunch" which was awesome. There was a deli meat & cheese tray with bread for sandwich's, cheese dip/chips, cracker/dip tray, fruit tray w/dip & for dessert....

Strawberry cheesecake made by my dear co-worker Stetson. Mmmm - so good!
My co-workers are the best group of people & are so very thoughtful! I felt so very special after all the fuss they made making sure I had a great day! 

Then just when I thought the day was coming to an end, there was after-work birthday festivities. I was told to show up at "The Well" bar & grill at 5:30pm & was given no further instructions. I knew something was up but did as I was told.

When I got to the Well, up on the roof-top were my co-workers ready to "surprise" me, bearing gifts & ready to celebrate my birthday over drinks & appetizers. Can I just say how awesome this group I get to work with is?!

As the night went on, more co-workers kept popping in to say "happy birthday" & enjoy a beverage & it made me feel so very special that they were all there for me :)

 

Relaxing on the rooftop at The Well during a beautiful evening with wonderful friends was a great way to end a great day. I must say this "Fabulous 40's"club thing isn't so bad.....so far ;)

(in.gre.di.ent)

 

Tonight I met my friend Mindy for a pre-birthday dinner at a dee-lish restaurant called (in.gre.di.ent). It is located at Park Place behind Town Center shopping area & is a great place that offers over 75 fresh ingredients to create your own custom salads, sandwich's, unique wraps, brick oven pizzas or breakfast items. I always end up getting the salmon flats salad with a garlic chipotle dressing & it is SO yummy!

This place even has a cute little patio & sitting area where you can enjoy the outside, people watch & enjoy the view of the park & fountain. If you've never been before, it is definitely worth checking out!

Unfortunately, I failed to get a pic of the two of us before we parted ways :(

Buca di Beppo

It seems like just yesterday I was in Aruba with two of my closest girlfriends celebrating my 30th birthday. Hard to believe that was 10 years ago & now I am going to be celebrating my 40th!! I thought turning 40 would be as depressing as turning 30 was for me but I must say it was more traumatic turning 35 years old for some reason!? I decided earlier on during the year to just embrace it, enjoy it & that I did!

The birthday festivities started the Saturday before my birthday. My girlfriend Heather (HK) gathered the girls who all went to Destin, FL (minus Kari) along with our dear friend Anthony & his wife for a pre-birthday dinner gathering at Buca di Beppo. She surprised us all by reserving the VIP table back in the kitchen so we were able to see all the food made, put together & expedited by the servers which was a lot of fun.

HK managed to surprise me once again with an unexpected appearance by my dear friend Deanna. Deanna lives in Austin, TX & just so happened to be in Missouri visiting family during the week & made a special trip to KC for my birthday dinner. It was such a great surprise & as always, so good to see her & catch up.

Our dinner consisted of margarita pizza, stuffed mushrooms, fried calamari, chix parmesan, lasagna & spaghetti/meatballs & it was SO good! We were SO stuffed after it was all said & done but made sure to leave room for a little birthday dessert - tiramisu. This was of course after all the wait staff came & embarrassed me by singing "happy birthday" & made me blow out the candles on this huge candelabra.

After dessert I opened up all my gifts from my very generous friends & then we ended up taking a few more photos of the group. 

While everyone else decided to call it a night, me along with Deanna, HK & Camille decided to walk on over to the Cheesecake Factory for cocktails on the patio & catching up on the happenings of each of us since we were all gathered in Destin. It was a gorgeous evening to be sitting outside & before we knew it, it was 1am & time to call it a night.

It was a wonderful evening spent with such very dear friends & a great way to kick off the birthday week festivities :)

Concert

Earlier this week, my friend Jilly texted me & told me she had won tickets to the J-Lo & Enrique Iglesias concert & wanted to know if I would join her!? Um - twist my arm!! Of course I'll go to a FREE concert to see the beautiful Jennifer Lopez & handsome Enrique!!

We started out with drinks & appetizers at The Cashew & then made our way to the Sprint Center for the concert. We had gotten there a little early & had to wait outside a bit for the doors to open. While waiting, we enjoyed all the people watching & were amazed that we were the minority as most of the concert-goer's there were Hispanic people. I have never seen more big, curly hair, tight dresses (on women who shouldn't be wearing tight dresses), 6" stilettos & gay people in all my life. It was definitely fun to see & quite entertaining.

We finally made our way inside & ventured down to the floor where our seats were. They weren't bad seats but once the concert got going, Jilly headed up front to scope out some empty seats closer to the stage & she scored!! We ended up 10 feet from the stage & it was awesome! Front & center of Enrique - couldn't ask for much better :)

 

He ended up playing for about 1 1/2 hours & put on a good show. He did a lot of audience involvement which really got the crowd going & sang all his popular songs like “I Like How It Feels,” “Dirty Dancer," “I Like It," & "Hero".

 

J-Lo came on next - after about a 30 min wait - & her stage presentation kind of reminded me of Madonna. It was very elaborate, there were several wardrobe changes into beautiful costumes, there were skits, videos & virtual guests (Lil Wayne, Pitbull, Flo Rida), there was a light show, awesome choreography, confetti flying through the air & there was singing. Although she didn't sing more than 70 min, she put on a great show & her male dancers were amazing! At times I almost thought I was seeing the movie Magic Mike all over again :)

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/01/3744897/concert-review-jennifer-lopez.html#storylink=cpy

All in all, it was a pretty good concert - for free :) Thanks Jilly for inviting me & for a fun Saturday night out!! So glad I can be your "go-to" person when you are in need!!

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/01/3744897/concert-review-jennifer-lopez.html#storylink=cp

Worst night ever...

Our house is 8 1/2 years old. So is our AC unit. With day #58 - or what feels like it - of over 100 degree temps Shane & I have been waiting every single day for our AC unit to stop working. Half of the neighbors in our cul-de-sac have replaced their units already so we are definitely next. 

It was a normal evening here at the Taylor household. I got home from work, let the dogs out, fed them, made dinner & then Shane & I settled in for the evening in front of the TV. Around 7pm I notice the bulldogs were starting to pant & it was starting to feel pretty warm in the house. I went up to check the thermostat & it read 84 degrees....which is usually set at 76 degrees. I put my hand over the vent & felt NO cool air. In fact there wasn't any air coming out of the vent.

Son of a biscuit!! The AC had finally gone out :(

We knew this time would come but it never makes it any easier when it does. We quickly made arrangements to leave the house for the evening as there is no way the bulldogs would have been able to be in such a hot house for the night - darn bullies - they run our life :)

We were going to stay at a hotel but luckily for us, my girlfriend Jilly was out of town this week & she offered her home to us until our AC could get fixed. So we packed an overnight bag, loaded the dogs in the SUV & made our way over to Jilly's for the evening. By the time we left our house the thermostat was reading 85 degrees so it felt SO nice to be back in some air conditioning!! 

Unfortunately, the evening was anything but restful for me. We ended up going to bed early & while Neo was all curled up under Jilly's bed asleep, the bulldogs were crazed & panicky being in a new place & would NOT settle down. Shane of course had his ear plugs in, the fan blowing on him & was snoring away so he heard nothing that was going on! Typical...

It was about 10pm by the time the dogs had calmed down a bit & just as I was dozing off to sleep my pager goes off. UGH!!! I quickly get dressed & go to put on my glasses & they weren't in my case. My contacts were in the cleaning solution that takes 6 hours to neutralize so I couldn't put those back in so I was screwed. I have pretty bad vision & everything is blurry without my contacts/glasses so I began to panic. How would I drive 35 miles to the hospital at night without clear eyesight?  By this point I was exhausted, pissed, stressed - I threw my glass case & started crying. Can my night get any worse??

I managed to make my way to the emergency case - very carefully & on the way back home it started to downpour. Not only can I not see well already, throw pouring-down rain at me & make my drive all that much more stressful. Ugh - why me?? I ended up making it back to Jilly's around 1am.

I crawl back into bed - Shane still sleeping away - & the bullies are restless. Panting, pacing, whining.

All. Night. Long.

It's lightening, thundering, raining out & the bullies are not happy. I got absolutely NO sleep. All I kept thinking is that we could have a couple more nights like this & I didn't think I could handle another repeat like this again.

Shane woke up at 6am all rested & ready to go while I laid there desperate to sleep. He put the dogs in the bed with me & they immediately settled down & fell asleep. He left for our house to get ready for work & we all managed to get a couple hours of sleep. Around 8am I got up & then headed home to meet the AC service guy. He arrived right on time, spent 15 minutes working on our unit & came back in to say he was all done. 

What? That quick? Ugh - this can't be good news. I imagined he was going to tell me our AC unit was done & we would need a new unit. But surprisingly he said there was a bad capacitor in the heat pump that he had to replace & everything seems to be in working order. Hallelujah!!!! What we thought was going to cost thousand's of dollars only cost us $175. Unfortunately, I had to burn a day off of work but oh well...at least we didn't have to buy a new AC unit!!

I left shortly after the AC guy left to go get the dogs & already the house was starting to cool off. What a relief. We all got back home & while the dogs got settled in & relaxed, I laid down for a little nap & ended up sleeping for over 3 hours. I was just soooo tired & it felt good to catch up on some sleep...in a cool house....in my own bed!

Unfortunately, this little dilema we had only delay's the inevitable.I almost wish we would have had to get a new AC unit just so we don't have to worry about in the future & according to the weather guy, the month of August is going to be just as hot or even hotter!!

For those of you who are local, we used Air-Pro out of Olathe to service our unit. My friend Jilly actually dated the owner for a couple of years so he treats us & anyone I refer to them pretty good! Just click on "Air Pro" & it will take you to their website.

Hoping you never have to use them but if so, tell them we referred you :)

Auntie Day

That's right. It's National Auntie Day!!! WHOOT!!! 

No lie - just last week, I looked at one of my girlfriends & said, "I wonder why there isn't an Auntie Day?" They seem to celebrate all kinds of other "Day's" like Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grandparent's Day so why not a day to celebrate these special women in nieces & nephews lives? 

Well guess what?? There is.

I need to send an email to my sister, husband & my mom telling them that one of them can go ahead & buy me the Savvy Auntie book for my Auntie Day present. I'm sure they will all be running out the door to get it for me ASAP. There is even a website for cool, savvy Aunt's like myself. Who knew??

(crickets)

But in all honesty, I'm so excited to find this site. I LOVE being an aunt. I constantly show people pictures of my nieces & nephews. My friends hear all about them. My bosses & coworkers hear all about them. I find myself wanting to buy them stuff when it isn't even their birthday or Christmas. Even though I don't get to see them very often, they are often on my mind. A ran into a girlfriend I hadn't seen or talked with for several months & one of the first things she asked about were how my nieces/nephews were doing. She get's it....

So I admit it. I may or may not brag a little about my sweet punkin's. I know I'm "just an auntie", but that phrase has taken on a much greater meaning since my very first nephew was born over 4 years ago. That is the day I became a Debut-Aunt (the Savvy Auntie term for a first-time auntie)!

To all of you who are mommies, think about the special women in your life who serve as aunties & tell them they are loved. 

According to the Savvy Auntie site, aunties can be:"Aunties by Relation; Aunties by Choice; Great-Aunties; Godmothers; Cousin Aunties; Long-Distance Aunties; Step-Aunties; Single Aunties; Married Aunties; Par-Aunts (aunts who become the parent when one or both parents are no longer able); Straight Aunts, Lesbi-Aunts; Teen Aunties; Child Aunties; Special-Needs Aunties; Teacher or Coach Aunties; Nanny Aunties; & Fairy God Aunties."

Damn, we are everywhere!! What a diverse group of positive influences for America's children!

Please give the Auntie in your life a little love today. Unfortunately I will be all alone so I guess I will just have to treat myself on this awesome day. Maybe I can get a special Skype date with my little punkin's?

From one savvy Aunt to another.....we rock!

Dinner & a movie

Tonight the game-night girls met for our usual monthly gathering but instead of staying in we decided to take "game-night" out on the town. We all met up at Houlihan's for drinks, appetizers & some catching up & then the majority of us made our way to the much anticipated viewing of the movie Magic Mike - a movie that is supposedly based on Channing Tatum's experiences as a stripper in Tampa, FL when he was 19 years old.

I was looking very forward to an evening being surrounded by good girlfriends, movie popcorn & Channing Tatum & Matthew McConaughey without their shirts on. The first three items definitely didn't disappoint but unfortunately the actual movie did :( I would have liked to have seen more dancing/stripping & less cheesy story-line but that just wasn't the case. At least the popcorn & company was good!!


A suggestion to anyone who hasn't seen this movie yet - wait for it to come out on DVD!! That way you you can sit & watch it in the privacy of your own home, with the remote in your hand & using the "pause" & "slow-motion" buttons at your own leisure ;)

SD Wedding - country style

Today I packed my bags & headed north with my little brother for a road-trip to South Dakota to attend a good ol' country wedding. Unfortunately Shane couldn't get out of work & Steve's wife had a bachelorette party weekend at the lake to go to so it was just him & I which ended up being a lot of fun! 

One of Steve's childhood friends, Jordan (aka: "Red") was finally getting married after dating his wife-to-be (Katie) for almost 10 years so it was definitely time for these two to make it official!!

The wedding was being held on Jordan's mom's farm outside of Sioux Falls so my brother & I got a hotel & made a quick little weekend of it. We got up there around supper time & headed over to my other brother Chris' house to visit him, his wife & my adorable nieces & nephew. We all ended up going out to eat to Buffalo Wild Wings & then called it an early night.

The next morning my brother & I did a little shopping at the mall located right next to the hotel & then met up with my parents for lunch. Afterwards, we all headed back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.

It was a 4pm wedding & when we pulled up to the farm it was thee cutest country wedding that I ever did see. All the little details were so adorable & perfectly done for a "country wedding" theme & I have TONS of pics to share. Jordan's sister Jade was their photographer so some of these pics are from her collection & the rest are the ones I took. I'm sure you will be able to tell the difference between hers & mine :)

Above was the sign at the beginning of the driveway & the beautiful farm house where the bride was getting ready.

As we parked & walked up to the grassy area where the wedding was being held we saw hay bales made into seats:

A Jenga game on the gift table which served as their guestbook:

 

Where the wedding was to take place:

The drink station - mason jars with chalkboard paint on them so you could write your name on the glass:

The tent where we will gather to eat, drink & dance:

Next best thing to wedding cake? Wedding cupcakes - in 5 different flavors:

And no country wedding is complete without serving a roasted pig for pulled pork sandwiches:

And the much anticipated ceremony:

Releasing of the balloons as the bride walked down the aisle:

It was a beautiful day & an even more beautiful wedding! I was so amazed by all the little details that I didn't capture any pics of me & my family other than this cute pic of my nephew Lane & his orange mustache!

My brother & I ended up leaving super early Sunday morning & was back in KC by noon. Even though it was a really quick trip, I SO enjoyed the time spent with my brother & my family.

Game Night

Tonight was the June gathering of the girls for game night over at Jilly's house. Unfortunately it ended up being a smaller group than usual due to an email "snafu" but was still fun & an enjoyable evening none the less. 

 

As always there was a great selection of snacks, drinks, conversation & many stories & laughs shared by all. 

Thanks Jilly for a fun & relaxing evening :)

Headed North

On Thursday, I headed north to South Dakota to spend the weekend with the family on the farm. My brother Chris & his family along with my sister Jen & her family were there for the weekend so I was able to get in lots of "Aunt Hedder" time :) 

Unfortunately, my little brother Steve wasn't able to join us as he had started CRNA school & also had to work over the weekend. He, Meghan & Caleb were definitely missed.

The majority of the weekend was spent playing outside with the kiddos, watching them feed & pet the sheep, watching the horses, running through the sprinkler, playing in the kiddie pool...

...cooking, eating, visiting with extended family, watching sunrises/sunsets on the deck & snuggling with my niece Jensen - it was definitely a good time.

The main reason we were all gathering for the long weekend was to witness my niece Jensen's baptism at church Sunday morning. On Saturday evening, my sister & her husband hosted a BBQ for our enitire family as well as Ben's extended family.

There was about 26 people gathered at the farm & it was a beautiful night for hanging out on the deck & catching up with everyone.

On Sunday, we all met at the church for 9:30am service & the baptism of my niece Jensen. There was also one other little girl being baptized so our family stood on the right while her family stood on the left. 

My mom had just recently returned from a trip to the Holy Land in Israel & while there she managed to collect some water from the Sea of Galilee (where Jesus had "walked on water" according to the bible). The water was used to baptize Jensen which made the service all that much more special. Jensen also was able to wear the baptism dress & booties that my sister wore 34 years ago.

I was very proud to be chosen to sponsor Jensen & be her "Godmother" :)

After an awesome weekend spent with family, everyone headed back on Monday morning to return to their normal routines. It was definitely nice to get to see everyone & spend some R-n-R on the farm.