32 Degrees Is Warmer in MO Than in SD

Not kidding. I've said that multiple times this week. 32 (or 35 or whatever) is warmer in MO than SD. I don't know why. Windchill, I guess. But even yesterday, at 35 degrees, I was outside without my coat on. Weird.

I'm packing all sorts of activities in before our 10-day Christmas holiday in South Dakota. We're getting pretty darn excited.

Girls' Night
As always, I had another fun evening with Rachel, Emily and Jenny. And, as always, super thankful for these girls and their friendship. This time, Rachel got the materials for a cute Pinterest craft - my first one ever!

Affordable Christmas
Our church puts on a fabulous Affordable Christmas for families in the church's neighborhood. I spent one evening this past week at a volunteer training and spent Saturday morning in the church kitchen helping prepare for the breakfast portion of the event. Take a look at the video and read more about Affordable Christmas - families are so blessed by this, and I was so glad to be a part of it.

Tea Time
On my way home from Affordable Christmas, I stopped at my friend Liane's apartment and had breakfast and tea with her (while our hubbies saw The Hobbit). I think us girls may have gotten the better end of the deal. I was thankful for some one-on-one girl time and felt very blessed by the fellowship we had.

Lunch Date
After hubby's tests, we met for lunch and enjoyed Haus on a Groupon. We've got to be some of Groupon's best customers. Seriously.

Here's hubby enjoying his buffalo & beef kielbasa sausage wurst  on pretzel bread with caramelized onions, homestyle 'kraut and honey dijon mustard ($7.99). And a beer. De-lish.

Because I made a ridiculously unflattering face when J took a pic of me, here's my food: Smoked Chicken & Apple sausage wurst with caramelized onions, sweet peppers and honey dijon mustard ($6.99). Surprisingly delicious. And, it's hard to see, but that's a pink beer on the right - Lindeman Framboise...a beer I actually really liked!

Cookie Exchange
Emily hosted a cookie exchange at her house and I came home with bunch of delicious goodies: oreo balls, peanut butter balls, rice krispies, peppermint white chocolate cookies, puppy chow, ginger and molasses cookies...my hubby was a happy man.

KC Symphony
Once again, Uncle Pat and Aunt Kathy brought me in as one of their very own - this time to a fabulous Christmas concert at the Kaufman Center. What a beautiful building. And what talented musicians. The KC Symphony is up for a Grammy this year!

Ugly Sweater Party
Last but not least (mostly last b/c this one has "a bunch" of pictures), we went over to Chad and Chandra's for an ugly sweater party and time with all of our med school friends. Food and fun was had by all. And I was introduced to boiled custard by Preston from Tennessee...it's fabulous! Like eggnog, but not...it's like melted ice cream in a cup. YUM!

Here's our ugly sweater finds...thanks, Goodwill!

Intentional Relationships

After the crazy week I last blogged about, last week was more laid-back...a trend, it seems, for me. Crazy week. "Normal" week. Crazy week. "Normal" week. At least I have a pattern? 

Being here in KC means I have to be much more intentional about my relationships with friends/family "back home". Kay and I have a weekly Monday phone date at 5:30. I've mentioned before that I have weekly phone dates with two college friends on Tuesday and Thursday. I try to email with other friends from home. But really, it's just not good enough. Email is good. Phone is better. In person is best.

That's what I got this past weekend: in-person, with one of my dearest friends from college, Amanda. We hadn't seen each other since March 27, 2010. SO LONG AGO. But now, with her in Nashville and me in KC, St. Louis is the perfect middle ground. About 4hrs for me and 5-6hrs for her.

Here we are after a lovely coffee date. Good to just catch up face-to-face.

This is at The Big Bang Bar - a dueling pianos bar. I fell in love with dueling pianos in Chicago and Amanda had never been, so this was the perfect opportunity.

We also ate at Zia's, where I enjoyed Tutto Mare: linguine prepared in a rich garlic cream sauce with shrimp, sea legs, clams and mushrooms. YUM. 

We stayed at the Ramada Plaza for $79 - thanks, Groupon! Free parking (for one), free welcome drinks and free breakfast buffet were also included. Groupon: always a good deal. 

We've already decided that a repeat of this trip is in order. And it'll be even better the 2nd time around: we woke up on Saturday to Amanda's car with a serious flat tire and our day consisted of AAA and Walmart - but lots of wonderful catch-up chatting time, which girls never mind having. We've decided not to repeat the car issues part of the trip the next time around.

How intentional are you when it comes to staying in touch with people? 

My (Not So) Secret Talent

Filling the calendar. Obnoxiously so.

My mom says I come by it honestly; seems it's her not-so-secret talent, too.

Apparently Thanksgiving weekend just wasn't busy enough for my liking b/c I jam-packed my schedule this first week back.

MONDAY
I have some ever-so-lovely girlfriends from church that I'm so thankful for. I love my med-student-wife friends (okay, enough already with the three-word hook-ups!) and (not "but"!) I'm so grateful to have friends that are in the same time of life as me, but not in the same situation. I've talked about Emily, Rachel and Jenny before, and it was, once again, our every-other-week (there I go again!) get-together. Emily graciously had us over to her home and we enjoyed FANCY hot chocolate...that means not a Swiss Miss packet, folks! So delicious. And wonderful conversation. I look forward to those Monday evenings!

TUESDAY
I went to the dentist and got a cavity filled. Aren't cavities for elementary school kids? They were pretty darn efficient. Which was good b/c my jaw (aka tmj) was threatening to give out on me! The best part was when the hygienist complimented my hair (which was just down and straight). Who doesn't love a nice hair compliment?

WEDNESDAY
I work onsite at the client's office on Wednesdays, which means I work from home for the last hour (b/c the office is an hour from home, so my boss lets me leave early to beat the rush-hour traffic, since I'm already spending so much time in the car). So, because I was home earlier, I got to make mom's renowned Texas Skillet for Jordan's dinner. Talk about a happy man. (So happy, that I made it for him again tonight, bwaha.)

THURSDAY
Gospel Community Group tonight! We discussed the sermon, which I listened to Wednesday evening since we were in SD on Sunday. Since we're in the advent season, we're pausing with our journey through 1 Corinthians and heard a sermon on Jeremiah 23:1-6. A good question that we discussed: What do you live for? Whatever it is, that's your king (aka, idol). That king gives you purpose, meaning, self-worth...that king is often a good thing, but when we set our hope on anything but God, it becomes a bad king.

FRIDAY
After work, I went over to Audrey's for some delicious homemade pizza with her & Josh and Larry & Leah, then us ladies headed over to The Wine Bar for a Private Wine Tasting Party - $5 each! Thanks, Groupon! A group of 8 med student wives went, and my dear friend Liane wrote a great post about it (and my phone was dead, so I got no photos, lol) so, I'll let you take a gander at our evening over on her blog.

I know. You're wondering how much I can pack into a weekend. A lot. I'm very talented.


SATURDAY

We got up early to take my car to the shop - the check engine light was on and we suspected the catalytic converter. Long (boring) story short: not the converter, okay to drive with the light on, cost $45 instead of $325+. YAY! 

Then I went grocery shopping to pick up ingredients for my treats for a cookie exchange party.

Then I raked leaves with my Community Group at a neighbor's house. She's a single mom with 4 kids and was super grateful!  It was also a lot of leaves. A LOT. I built a lot of character, too, dad. ;)

Then I hurried home and ate lunch and made Easy Baklava Cups for the cookie exchange. And I wouldn't let Jordan eat any before we got there. In fairness, I didn't eat any either. 

Then we went up to the school - Jordan to study, me for the Cookie Party - and I enjoyed a variety of delicious treats...and some of the ladies shared their recipes! Snickerdoodles (my fav cookies growing up, probably b/c they're a close cousin of the sugar cookie, my other fav cookie)....Gooey Cookies & Cream Chocolate Cake Bars (this one was sinfully delicious. You should probably make it immediately.)...Chinese New Years Cookies (easy and delicious!)...and many more!

THEN (I know! When does it stop!?) Jordan and I joined the rest of our "group" at Cole & Maggie's for a tasty lasagna supper and fellowship. 

The ladies: Leah, Maggie, Liane, me, Audrey.

The men: Matt, Larry, Josh, Jordan, Cole. They see each other at school every day and still sit 4 to a couch.
That's friendship.

SUNDAY

After church in the AM, I made us the standard basted eggs, toast and sausage patties for lunch. After cleaning up, I diced and chopped and put a chicken and veggie soup in the crockpot. Then I headed out to help set up Lazarus Ministries - Women's Shelter with a few other med student wives. We set up cots, sorted linens, put together toiletry baggies and helped with some other general clean-up and organization. Afterwards, I went to the grocery store (milk, fruit...the normal things...), came home to do laundry and organize things for the week and at 7pm the doctor (aka hubby) declared that I was looking completely wiped out and ordered me to bed. I did get to bed at 8:45 and slept till 6:45...guess I was exhausted!

Hope you found time to glorify God and experience His glory this week!