Road trip to Mmm....

This week some of my good friends at work (who all happen to root for the Jayhawks) and I took a little drive over to Manhattan for dinner at So Long Saloon. This bar/restaurant was a favorite when I went to K-State and judging by the crowds Wednesday night, it's still doing pretty well. My KU friends haven't been to Manhattan very much, except Leslie who lives between Topeka and Manhattan....and Jenny's daughter is a senior on the cross country team there. Anyway, I'm so glad we made the trip and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great place to stop in Aggieville for good food.

Leslie and Kristen

Jenny, Sarah, and me

We had to wait for about 10 minutes for a table so we decided to order a drink....I asked for Old Style and pinnapple, since that's what we drank there in college. My sister and I LOVED this combo! The bartender sadly informed me they don't carry Old Style anymore since it has went up in price, but now mix pinnapple juice with Old Milwaukie and they call it a Nancy. We all had one and loved it! Just as good as I remember.

A couple of reasons we went there are for their fried pickles and the black bean raspberry dip. Both are really good and super popular! We split some of each and enjoyed an evening out of Topeka. I look forward to going again sometime soon. Visiting Manhattan makes me really excited for the upcoming football season!! Go Cats!! :)

7:30-

7:32

Before:

After:

The day my parents bought pork chops at Sam's.....

My mom casually mentioned that my parents had went to Sam's this weekend. She said they happened to get a "good deal" on some pork chops there. Well, if you have ever been to Sam's, you understand that they sell in bulk. And lots of it. I think my parents forget they don't have 18 children. Whoops.

My cousin Jennifer recently moved here from Denver and I mentioned we were grill some pork chops at my house tonight for dinner so she should join us. I had no idea what I was promising. Jenn came over and shortly after my parents show up with the better half of a pig. Holy moly. Their idea was that we would have dinner tonight and then all have leftovers. Granted, my dad didn't grill all of them (some were saved for the freezer), but it was slightly overwhelming and I think Jennifer was like, what kind of family do I have in Kansas?!


In addition to the chops, I grilled some veggies and we had baked potatoes. Turns out, we needed a spare plate for the chops....what a mess! We discussed how in fancy restaurants, they give you a nice little side for plate for bread or salad. Apparently when you eat at my house, you get a Pork Plate since all of our pork wouldn't fit on the main plate. Geeze!







Anyway, thanks for dinner Dad (tonight and for the rest of the week!). Welcome to Kansas Jennifer and good luck starting law school tomorrow (pictured below with her first day of school picture)!

A visitor and celebration

Last weekend my friend Amanda drove to Topeka from Colorado for a wedding celebration of my friend Megan. Amanda worked with us until May when she moved to Colorado. It was good to spend time catching up and the wedding was beautiul, as well as Megan. Here are a couple pictures:


The beautiful cake....


Most of the gang from work....


Me with the beautiful bride....

Our little Coloradan with the Martins. Congrats Megan and Anthony!

Answered Prayer

I recently posted about a friend's dad who went missing in KC July 8th. An article came out this evening that he was found on a trail in a Shawnee Mission park. Although he is disoriented and dehydrated, he is alive. God Bless Kristen and her family as they reunite!

Old friends, new recipes and the French Press!!

This weekend I had a few friends from grad schoool over to my house for dinner. Out of the four, only one of them had seen my house since I moved in last summer. We had a blast. Not much that I love more than having some of my favorite people over, sharing a meal and catching up. It had been quite awhile since all five of us had gotten together and I'm so glad it worked out for everyone to come over.

My friend Gena offered to bring dessert and said she was gonna whip up a key lime pie. And did she ever! It was SOOOOOO good! She said the credit goes to a Betty Crocker recipe. So, since she was making something light and sweet, I found a recipe for Tequila-Lime Chicken on the super popular Pioneer Woman website. That woman knows what she is doing! I would highly recommend it! So, to round things out, Maha looked up an amazing Corn, Avacado and Tomato Salad on Paula Deen's website....really tasty! Leah and Teresa completed the meal with some wine and it all went together really well.

Gena and her beautiful pie!

To finish off a delightful evening, my friends taught me to use a French Press that my friend gave me. As a non-coffee drinker, I have not had much interest in learning how to use it, but they were VERY excited. My friend Amanda that gave it to me also had given me some Caramel Creme coffee from World Market. Again, all these coffee drinkers were VERY excited. I took a couple sips and so badly wanted to like it, but no luck.

Maha getting things started with the coffee....

Brewing....

Me wanting so badly to like coffee.....guess I will be sticking to Diet Coke for a vice.

I was super glad to spend time with these girls and look forward to doing it again! :)

Me with Leah who I lived with for a year after we graduated from KU....
With Gena who had baby Lydia in December....

Maha and Teresa.....Maha just got a new apt by the Plaza in KC and Teresa is getting married in November. Lots to celebrate!

With 3 of the 4 ladies...we figured out the self-timer! Ta-da! :)

Rough week...

It's been a doozy of a week and brings a whole new meaning to TGIF. There has been several things that have been going on around me that have been really sad. First off, a high school classmate has been in the hospital and very sick. It's hard to see someone and their family go through that. Last week, my sister's friend from K-State's dad disappeared. He has been missing for over a week now and she was supposed to get married tomorrow but because of this, has postponed her wedding. Tuesday, the hospital I work for laid off 105 people. The environment is definitely one of sadness and anxiety. It's sad to think about that many people losing their livelihoods and it's scary to think about what this might mean for future layoffs.

So, as much sadness as there has been, I guess it's good to remember the good things and be thankful for the positives in our lives. One person laid off was one of our unit secretaries on rehab. She is one of the most youthful 82-year-olds I have ever met. Mariam is always dressed beautifully and looked about 60 years old. She told me her secret is to sleep with your head against the north wall (I do) and to drink a cup of carrot juice with your lunch (I am still contemplating this). Anyway, she got let go and she was reportedly okay with it. She wasn't doing the job for the money, but to have something to look forward to. Yesterday, she came back to the hospital as a volunteer secretary, just glad to have something to do. One of our food services gals apparently sang "When the Saint came Marching Back".....glad I wasn't there for it; she's an amazing singer and more than a few of my coworkers and I have cried hearing her sing "Amazing Grace." Point of the story, I admire her determination to make her days worthwhile and come back to "work". I am thankful to have a job and last night when I was mowing (one of my least favorite tasks on the planet) I told myself be grateful that I have a house, that has a yard that needs to be mowed. Love to all of you good people in my life and for all of theblessings that I have. Prayers to those that are having a tough time right now.

USA Proud

I LOVE the little neighborhood parade that is an annual tradition in my neighborhood. The paper said it was the 38th year for it. Only about half an hour but really cute and there are usually lots of familiar faces there. I thought it was about the cutest thing ever:

My attempt at being patriotic and decorating my house for my bbq involved some streamers. My mom and I had seen this in a Better Homes and Garden magazine and she was like, that would take forever, so of course, I had to prove to her that it wouldn't. :)

Something not very patriotic is my sister left Dallas yesterday for 3 months to go work in Australia.....she landed today and I hope she LOVES it!! I am hopefully going to get to visit this fall. It will be different not being able to obsessively text and call her since there is a 13 hour time difference and texts each cost $$. I look forward to seeing if she gets an accent during her short time. :) I will miss you sister!!