Day 127 - Starlight Theater, Chelsea Lately & Liam's first time to our house

I got home from my business trip a little after 5 and as we were pulling into my driveway had a warm welcome from my Momma & sister Michell. They came to town this afternoon for some fun Mother's day activities and for Michelle, her friend Ashley and I to go see Chelsea Handler at the Starlight Theater.

This was my first time to the Starlight Theater (in nearly 4 years of living in KC) and I am so happy I finally made it there. It is a unique outdoor theater that is located in an older (not-so-safe) part of KC called Swope Park. Hopefully Quinn and I will be able to catch a few shows this summer too

It was pretty cold for an outdoor show, but we had great seats (good work Shell-bell) and really enjoyed both the opening comedian, Chris Franola and Chelsea.

My sister Michelle and her friend Ashley have both read her books and are much bigger fans than I am (and had a better idea of what to expect - pretty raunchy)

Here are my adorable little nuggets (they are both pretty short and this is a term Chelsea uses often, so we had fun with that) before the show

And me & my mini-me, my sister Michelle

Chelsea came out on stage in a Royals shirt which was a crowd pleaser and jumped right into her bit.

It was a funny show with good company and I am so glad Michelle & Ashley invited me to join them tonight :)

Other Firsts: While we were at the show, more visitors arrived! My sister Janelle and her family (husband Nate & baby Liam) got to our house and it was so fun to have everyone at our house. This was Liam's first trip to KC (hopefully the first of many to come)

Day 126 - Springdale Arkansas & Dinner at Mary Maestri's

I am traveling on business today and am currently in Springdale, Arkansas. I may of driven through here before but I have never stayed over night or had dinner in this town.

Tonight, I had dinner at Mary Maestri's, which is a nice, little Italian restaurant - just down the road from the hotel. It was a charming restaurant with good food & service.

The menu was simple with classic Italian dishes available.

I ordered the Chicken Piccata and was served a large portion. It came with a dinner salad, that had a tasty home-made Italian dressing and a side of spaghetti (which was more like an entire meal all on it's own).

As we were leaving the restaurant the walls were scattered with articles about Mary Maestri's and with photo's & autographs of famous people who have dinned there. The restaurant has been in business since 1923 and although I wouldn't say it was the best Italian food I've ever had or the atmosphere was fabulous, it was a nice restaurant with good hearty servings

I snapped this picture as we were leaving, the setting and sweet lights around the building added to the overall charm.

Day 125 - Local Produce, Delivered

Tonight I signed up to start receiving fresh, organic produce straight to my front door at I ordered the 'bitty box' of both fruit & veggies. My first shipment is scheduled for May 18 and I am really looking forward to it.

I also found a code online for $10 off your first shipment. If you decided to sign up enter this code when prompted: dtdtb11.

Once my first box arrives, it will be another first and I will be sure to blog about it and let you know what I think.

Day 124 - Happy Birthday Dad! My first Jib-Jab Card

Today is my Dad's birthday. This is one of the things I like least about living in KC; I rarely get to see my family on their actual birthdays. Thanks to some great modern technology I did, at least, get to send him a fun birthday message.

I decided to send my dad an e-card (his gift is scheduled to arrive in Omaha on Thursday, and I still wanted him to have something from me today.) As I was searching for a good card, I ended up on the Jib-Jab website, which is actually something my dad has used in the past - so I knew he would like it. To send a card you have to be a member, which costs $12/year but their unique cards, where you put people's faces on animated clips, seemed worth it. So I am now a member of Jib-Jab and am looking forward to creating some more fun e-cards in the coming months.

You can Click Here to see the entire card I sent to my dad.

The site was really easy to use and directly from the site I was able to link to his Facebook wall and email him the card. Even if you don't want to get the membership you should still check out the Jib-Jab site. There are some really funny videos that you can make - but you will need to join to send anything. Enjoy!

Day 123 - Home-Made Hummus (Roasted Red Pepper Hummus)

Tonight, I made hummus. It was so simple and yummy too! Over the weekend we were out with some friends and a few people were having hummus when someone suggested I make it sometime for my blog. It seemed easy enough so tonight I did.

I looked at a few recipes on line to get the idea of what goes into a hummus and then made up my own version as I went along. Some recipes listed Tahini as an ingredient, which can either be made or purchased. I did not have this in my recipe tonight but want to include it here so I can make a note to try it for next time!

I made a Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Ingredients:

1 can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) - same thing. My can was 15.5 oz., rinsed under cold water
1/3 cup liquid from can of chickpeas, I poured off 1/3 cup and drained the rest.
3-5 tablespoons lemon juice (depending on taste)
1 red pepper, roasted (canned work too)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
salt, to taste
olive oil, to taste & consistency

First I roasted my red pepper. You can do this in the oven with the boiler on high or, if you have a gas stove you can set the pepper right on the burner over the direct flame (I only do this when I am only roasting 1 pepper - for multiple peppers I always use the oven). Turn the pepper a few times and in about 5 minutes - you should have a chard, roasted pepper. I then poked a couple holes in it and set it aside to cool. Lastly I ran the roasted pepper under cool running tap water to remove the skins and then diced it.

Next I poured off some of garbanzo beans liquid, about 1/3 of a cup and set that aside. I then drained them and ran some water over them to rinse them well

Now I just had to combine everything. I used my food processor, which worked perfectly. I first added the garbanzo beans, chopped garlic, lemon juice and a little olive oil, once I pulsed those together a couple of times I added a pinch of salt and the roasted red pepper

I ran everything together until it was well blended and pured into a serving bowl.

I served this with a sliced baguette that I had drizzled a bit of olive oil over and toasted for about 5 minutes.

This recipe was so easy and I am looking forward to trying other varieties of hummus at home soon.

Day 122 - Liam's Baptism & Sweet Caroline

This morning, around 7:30 AM, we set off for Omaha.

When we got to town we headed straight to the church for Liam's baptism. The mass started at 10:30 and the baptism followed the mass. The priest who baptized Liam was also the priest who married Quinn and I and he is a dear family friend, which made it even more special.






After the beautiful baptism ceremony Janelle and Nate hosted us all for a great cook out. The weather was perfect and we spent the afternoon outside. Once most of the guests had left I got feed Liam for the first time (picture to follow) and my mom, my sisters and I had had fun oowing & awing over our cutie-patootie, Liam :)

Around 4 o'clock Quinn and I said our goodbyes and we drove across town to visit my best friend Stacy and her family, but we especially went to visit their new addition . . . Caroline Jean Gutz


She is such a doll! She has light red hair and sweet little cheeks. I can't wait to watch her grow up and to see how her and big brother William interact. Aren't they both adorable!?

Will is almost 2 and is already a great big brother

Caroline was so tiny & sweet and I was so happy I got to meet her in her first week!

This day trip to Omaha was a busy one, but so worth it! Love you all!

Day 121 - A Beautiful Wedding Receiption at the Kemper Art Museum

This evening our friends Taylor & Lisa were married. She was such a beautiful bride and her dress was gorgeous. It was a wonderful evening, I love weddings!!

After the ceremony we were off to celebrate at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and suprisingly we had never been here before(now that we had a chance to see the museum we both hope to make an effort to go back soon)

I loved the flowers, they worked so well with the setting

It was also really interesting because the galleries areoung the reception were all open for the guests to enjoy!


We had so much fun enjoying the delicious food and catching up with friends.




After the toasts it was time to really get the celebration going, there was a live band and we had a blast!


It was a great night and tomorrow we are heading to Omaha for Liam's baptism. Quinn and I are so honored and excited to be Liam's godparents and can't wait to see everyone tomorrow!

Other Firsts: I wrapped the wedding gift a new way. The Crate & Barrel box wrapping is nice, but so basic and this is a wedding gift!

So I kicked it up a notch, with a little tulle and sparkly ribbon

So much more elegant ;)