Making Friends

We have been BUSY with our new friends. Here's a (quick?) rundown:

Weston, MO
We headed out to Weston again, this time with friends! Larry & Leah and Weston & Nicole (hereafter: L&L and W&N) joined us. The guys bonded over cigars and over-sized beer flights, the girls bonded over...definitely not cigars and beer flights, haha. We had a great time getting to know these two couples better and are looking forward to more fun times with them (and you'll see as this list progresses, that we already have!).

Wine Walk on Delaware & Minsky's Pizza
This was a charity event for the National Parkinson Foundation, and a lot of other med students planned to go to it. For $15 you walked in a one- to two-block area and sampled different wines from Pirtle Winery (the one in Weston, MO, that'd we'd sampled a few weeks ago). We met up with L&L and W&N and met another couple that evening that we've become friends with - Josh and Audrey. The wines were delicious and were an excellent reprieve from the ridiculous heat and humidity. I had a sundress on and could feel the sweat rolling down my back...I was just STANDING there. It is ridiculously hot down here. Audrey and I initially bonded over our staunch belief in Dave Ramsey and the conversation went on from there. We are certainly glad we met!

After the wine walk, we all went to Minsky's Pizza, which Jordan and I decided was not nearly as good as Tomacelli's in SF (SF people, if you haven't gone there yet, get to it. Seriously. It's the best.). I don't think we were impressed enough to return. We're still scoping out excellent pizza joints here in KC...

Bistro 303
Yum. Jordan enjoyed a special they had...which I'm now blanking on. Crepes with chicken, feta...and more. It was delicious. I had the Lobster Cobb Salad (Mixed greens, buttermilk chive dressing, hard boiled egg, blue cheese, bacon, tomato, avocado). Fantastic. Both the salad and the special were between $13-$15 (again with the can't-remember thing), but they also had more affordable options on the menu. We went after church with a couple (the wife is going to be a KCUMB student, the husband is in advertising - same as me, haha) and another KCUMB student. They each tried the panini ($8) and said it was also excellent. It was a nice little walk from church, and I wouldn't be surprised if we went back.


Fishing & China
No, they definitely don't go together. While our hubbies fished, Audrey and I had a coffee date at her home. She and Josh were just married in March and I was her first "excuse" to use their new china! She made a fabulous lemon-blueberry coffee cake for breakfast, so we enjoyed that with our coffee. We had a great morning together, discovered we have lots and lots in common, and decided that our hubbies just "had" to be friends because we'd already decided to be. And, I experienced Trader Joe's for the first time, too. Audrey also told me about an excellent consignment shop that a lot of the wealthy folk bring their "old" clothes to, I'm sure we'll visit that sometime as well. (Oh, and the guys had a great time fishing, despite not catching anything.)

A Home-cooked Meal
Since we'd gone over to Chad and Chandra's the week before, we had them over to ours for an evening. I had a hard time coming up with what to make, since my go-to recipes are usually grilling (which was out b/c of no grill) or a Pampered Chef recipe (which was out because Chandra also sells PC). I finally settled on Texas Skillet (and this is my reminder that I need to send the recipe to Chandra...Chandra, if I haven't, message me on fb, lol). Turned out to be a hit - just a good, ol' home-cooked meal. Chandra made dessert - an amazing creme brulee. So. Good. We mostly just talked the night away, the guys on the porch, the girls inside on the couch. We're very thankful for their friendship, and I'm excited to get over and see those cute kiddos of theirs again!

Card Games
We hadn't gotten enough of new friends yet, so we had Josh and Audrey over for drinks (pomegranate margaritas for the girls, beers for the guys) and card games. Josh and Jordan discovered a mutual love for Settlers of Catan and Audrey and I discovered a mutual love for being non-competitive and trying to make the longest road, hehe. We didn't play the game yet (it's long and we decided not to be up all night, ha), but there are plans for a Settlers night soon.  We played 121, which Jordan had to explain to me for the billionth time (because I can never remember how to play any card games) and then I believe he (or Josh?) proceeded to win. It was an excellent evening.


Bears Smokehouse BBQ (again)
Yep, Bears again. This time with L&L and W&N - they live a few townhouses down from each other, so it's easy for them to ride together. The ribs were fantastic yet again and we stayed until they turned off the "open" sign and shut the place up. Then we stood around outside and talked some more. Leah recently started her nursing job and Nicole will start school (not at the med school) in a few weeks too, so we're trying to get as much couple time in as possible before everybody is busy with work/school.

Research Experience
For two days Jordan helped out a second-year med student with some of his research. It consisted of doing health screenings at a homeless shelter near the school. He got to do some cool things (something about pricking their fingers for blood and putting it in a tube to be tested) and some other stuff. The important part is that he had a really good time, got to meet some other students and also got to meet some of the professors. He is so stinkin' excited to start school. I've heard "I wish school started tomorrow!" almost every day for a week now. That's a good thing.

Ocean's of Fun
On a "cool" day - aka, not in the 100s, only in the 90s - Larry (Leah was working) W&N and Jordan and I walked to Ocean's of Fun from their townhouses (it was about a mile away...a very hot, sweaty mile). Once we got there...totally worth it. Slides. Water. Almost drowning in the wave pool (not really). Need I say more? It was awesome. And then we went on a crazy adventure for cheese curds that finally ended at...Culver's. Apparently they're not a common thing here in KC.

Hickok's Bar and Grill
Thank you, Groupon, for your fabulous deal that got us and Josh and Audrey an excellent meal out for $36/couple (including tip). Jordan and Josh enjoyed the most expensive item on the menu - the $21 steak - Audrey had a burger, I had steak fajitas. We all had drinks, plus we split two appetizers (bacon-wrapped shrimp - how can you go wrong? - and calamari). The bill was $120 (after tip). We thought we made out pretty good with that Groupon deal.

Mini Golf
Annnnnnd finally, today we went mini-golfing with Chris, the other KCUMB student that goes to Redeemer Fellowship. We had a buy-one-get-one-free, so the three of us cost $16...love a deal! Jordan and Chris are equally competitive and TIED after 18 holes...which meant they had to do one more hole as a tie-breaker. To Jordan's disappointment, Chris won. I picked a tough hole.

We're so thankful for our new friends! We feel so blessed that God has already given us Jesus-loving friends to go through med school with. We're very happy! (Don't worry, SF friends...nobody can replace you guys!)