2013: In Review

In addition to loving our city and growing deeper friendships with people here in KC, here are the highlights of our year:

January: We entered 2013 by finishing up our 10-day South Dakota holiday with a ski trip in the Black Hills. We loved our time with family and friends, and it was bittersweet returning to the new city we'd grown to love. I did some freezer meal baking and exchanging with friends, and wondered why I didn't do it more often. Jordan first brought up wanting to quit med school, and my reaction was not everything a loving wife's should be. And Jordan studied like a crazy person.

February: A Pampered Chef mini-conference brought me and a friend to St. Louis for the weekend, where we got inspired to build our businesses (and then I didn't do much with it). My calendar says I spent a lot of time at the gym, eating out, spending time with med school friends and working like a crazy person (crazy, because I was trying to find a new job, as the current one was making me crazy).  And Jordan studied like a crazy person.

March: We spent the first weekend at a cabin in central Iowa with 4 couple friends from Northwestern. This was our 2nd yearly trip together, and we hope to do it again in 2014. I traveled back to SD for my high school best friend's baby shower and to help my sister plan her wedding. We experienced our first (and last) "med school prom" and I enjoyed my last days at QM and my first few days at Woodruff Sweitzer. We celebrated 3 years of marriage, and continue to grow more thankful for each other. And Jordan studied like a crazy person.

Happy 3rd Anniversary!

April: Other than Jordan's birthday, this month was pretty uneventful as I got adjusted with my new job. Jordan's mom came to visit over her birthday weekend; we enjoyed a spa day together while Jordan studied like a crazy person.

May: My driving foot got pretty tired this month, when I made 2 solo trips back to SD for 2 bridal showers for Kay and her bachelorette party. And Jordan studied like a crazy person.

The sisters, at Kay's bachelorette party.

June: This was the summer of weddings for us - we went to Jordan's cousin's wedding in Amana, IA and my sister's wedding back in SD. I traveled for work to the Pacific Northwest and climbed on top of a huge potato pile. Mom came to visit us and we potted a whole bunch of plants for the patio, I went to a fabulous women's conference at our church, and Jordan took a break from studying like a crazy person and continued to wrestle with quitting med school. God really prepared my heart, as I secretly was hoping he wouldn't continue (but wanted him to make his own decision, so kept that opinion to myself).

Our growing family!

You may have eaten a potato that I stood on.

July: Jordan decide to NOT study like a crazy person anymore! We met with the dean, and officially withdrew from medical school. Much rejoicing happened all around. We went back to SD for another friend's wedding, and spent a weekend at a bed and breakfast near Lawrence, KS to celebrate our third anniversary. 

Picnic lunch, during our bed and breakfast weekend.

August: My sister and her hubby visited us and enjoyed our sweltering KC summer weather. I traveled to Memphis for client planning meetings with the rest of my team, we also spent a morning at Graceland while there. I made a bittersweet trip back to SD for a friend's bachelorette party and a funeral. Jordan started classes at UMKC, and is pursuing a master's in computer programming, expected completion: August 2016.

Caitlin and I in Memphis, enjoying Beale Street after a day of client meetings.

September: After a crazy busy summer (we were either gone or had visitors 8 out of 13 weekends), we kept September pretty boring. We celebrated my birthday, took a class on the Theology of Beauty at church, played sand volleyball, had friends over for dinner, and enjoyed spending time with our gospel community. I got a new boss, 3 new accounts, and more leadership opportunities at work. Jordan and I started the 9-week membership class at church.

Hubby made my favorite beet salad for dinner. So. Good.
Also, note the cleverly placed wine glasses that tell my age.

October: Mom visited and we went antiquing for hours. I spent a wonderful weekend in Omaha with 3 of my dearest girlfriends from SF, all of whom were probably more excited to be kid-free for the weekend than they were to be with me ;) We're hoping to make this a yearly trip, as well. I spent a day with my 2 aunts shopping till we dropped at the KC Holiday Mart.

Girls' weekend in Omaha.

November: We spent a getaway weekend at a friends' house (from our community group) where we enjoyed fellowship with our friends, I spent an afternoon making bread and we both did some target practice with a handgun. A friend/former co-worker from Sioux Falls was in town for work, so I spent 2 lovely evenings catching up with her - I'm always wishing her and I could work together again! We went home for Thanksgiving and had an early celebration for mom and dad's 30th wedding anniversary. We can only hope that in 30 years we'll have as great a legacy as they are leaving for all of us.

Out with our friends from community group, who we sadly didn't take a photo with.

December: This month flew by, with only 2 weekends at home before returning to SD for the rest of 2013. We spent one weekend in Columbia, MO for my work retreat and work holiday party, where they wined and dined us and also got hotel rooms for everyone in the company. To say I think my job is fabulous would be an understatement. We left for SD on the 21st and crammed in as much time with friends and family as possible, it was bittersweet being home - we love the fellowship we have in SF and are sad that we can't continue to invest in our friends/family there each week, but we're so thankful for the friendships that have been growing here in KC, too. We, again, spent a weekend skiing, and again, came home with no broken bones (only sore muscles). 

WS Holiday Party

2013 brought many changes, and was good to us. We're excited for 2014 and have resolved to spend more time at the gym and less time spending $$. (Don't we all want to do those things?) We're thankful for how richly God has continued to bless us, are thankful that He sent His Son, and that we have God's unending grace and love to sustain us through each day. We hope you're thankful for the same things, and that He continues to reveal more of Himself to you and us in the coming year!

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1st Annual VC Girls Reunion

The first job I had out of college built some amazing coworker camaraderie, for a variety of reasons not worth going into. Suffice to say, those friendships carried on long past our quitting dates and I am ever-so-grateful for those ladies.

When Jordan and I were living in Sioux Falls, those friendships meant couple date nights, game nights, coffee dates, weekly lunch dates...and I really, really missed all of that with these friends when we moved to KC.

With Omaha as the middle ground between KC and SF (and three mommies eager to have a girls' weekend), it was easy to persuade them!

We didn't take pictures of the room, but we stayed in a suite at the Hampton Inn in Omaha - best. idea. ever. They have a fabulous free breakfast, where we enjoyed a little coffee with our creamer in the morning, waffles hot off the press, an oatmeal bar, cereal, eggs, bacon, bagels, toast...the list goes on. Delicious. And the suite was perfect for 4 of us - it had a little mini fridge, a couch, and LOTS of open space. We didn't feel crammed in the room when we were there, which was really nice. We were also able to relax in the hotel's hot tub and pool. Yes, please.

We enjoyed two dinners out - one at The Twisted Fork and the other at Cheddar's. The Twisted Fork gets props for adding avocado to my BLT for free. Cheddar's I'd definitely visit again - affordable, delicious, and lot of options. (Also a quick lunch at Subway, and who can forget the homemade ice cream at Ted & Wally's?)

Me & Jess! These drinks were only $3.75!

Shalaine & DeeDee!

We saw a movie (Gravity, which I've heard that astronauts have said is the closest they've ever seen to an accurate depiction of what space is actually like) and relaxed in these bad boys - all for no extra charge! - at Majestic Cinema of Omaha.

Shopped till we dropped at Just for Her Expo, and also enjoyed 10-minute chair massages, so nice after a night of sleeping in an unfamiliar bed.

I got this cute owl for the kitchen wall and also a couple Christmas gifts.

And all in all I came out around $250 for the whole trip! (And it could have been even cheaper!)
$80 - hotel
$25 - gas
$45 - food
$95 - Christmas gifts and wall decoration
$6 - chair massage

What sort of trips do you go on with your friends? How else are you intentional with your friendships?

I'm So Frugal I...

It's pretty common knowledge that I'm pretty darn frugal. Other people know that Jordan and I managed to pay off $88,000 of undergrad debt in 3.5 years. I get asked "How do you do it???" a lot.

So here's some of "how I do it":

At the grocery store, I buy only off the weekly sales ads. (With the exception of the "staples"...but even for staples, milk is the only thing I [generally] pay full price for. I watch for sales on bread, butter, cereal, hamburger, chicken, cheese etc and then stock up.) (I just looked in my freezer and I have 8lbs of butter that I paid around $1.76/lb for!)

I only buy milk from a certain Walgreens (39th and Broadway, KC peeps), where I can get a gallon of 2% milk for $3.69+tax. The same brand at my HyVee is $4.38+tax. WHAT.

My other grocery store "rule" is that it must be $1.99 or less. I pretty much always hit this "rule", with a few exceptions (milk being one). 

I cook everything from scratch. No "pre-made" frozen meal stuff in this apartment. (Frozen pizza. But only if they're $1.99 or less.)

I wash ziploc bags. (Within reason, people! No gross raw-meat baggies or moldy cheese baggies...yuck.)

I seriously contemplate my "larger" purchases. (To clarify: "larger" to me means $30-50+) Example: After 2.5years of wanting a green bedskirt to match the quilt mom made Jordan and I as a wedding gift, I finally bought one. Until a few month ago, my most recent jean purchase was 6 years ago. I only bought a new pair because the current ones bit the dust (aka, I wore them so thin my fingernail poked a hole in them, haha).

On the very rare occasions that I buy new clothes, I try to always buy off the sale rack and then I leave them in the shopping bag, with the tags on, for a week or two. If I haven't "had" to wear it within two weeks, I obviously don't need/want it, so I return it.

I'm not much of a couponer. That's not to say I don't use them; if I have a coupon, I check to make sure the generic brand isn't still cheaper than the coupon brand (and, generally, generic is the best-priced option).

I have relatively long hair...that I only wash twice a week (Monday and Thursday). Shampoo/conditioner is spendy and this makes it last much longer.

I rarely eat lunch out. The more lunches I can bring from home, the better. We also rarely eat dinner out (I know it looks like we eat out quite a bit...but it's generally with a Groupon, where we can get a pretty good deal). If we do eat out, I always bring home the leftovers.

Getting "fancy" coffee rarely happens - only if I'm meeting up with friends at a coffeeshop; so maybe once every other month. Same goes for going out for drinks. (Which in my case is always A drink...why waste money on more than one!?)

Jordan drinks coffee every day. The man can't function without it. And no Folger's either. We always do the World Market coffee deal. (Scroll down in that post to the "coffee" section.)

I just asked Jordan what "weird frugal things I do" and this is the list he gave me:

• I use a spatula on everything. Not one ounce of food is wasted. I even scrape out the PB jar and the ketchup bottle.
• When my shampoo and/or conditioner is gone, I keep it in the shower for one more washing (okay, maybe 2 or 3) and then add water and shake it up. 
• Long after Jordan has deemed the toothpaste tube to be empty, I'm still squeezing it out. I scrape whatevers in there to the front, and then when that doesn't work anymore, I cut it open and scrape it out with my toothbrush. 
• My parents gave Jordan Netflix for Christmas, because of that, I rarely want a to get a Redbox movie. Okay, I rarely think we need to get a Redbox movie...we have all of Netflix to choose from!
• I buy generic everything. He's probably right about this. 

I'm sure there's more, but that's what comes to mind right now. What do you do to save money?

Wedding Flashback: The Shoe Game

To say I had a total blast at our wedding might even be an understatement. At our reception, I wanted to make sure that our guests could see where we were and also that they were entertained. I'd seen the shoe game at some other wedding receptions and knew I wanted to have that at ours. Mom took care of planning all the games and explaining them to the DJ and we were definitely not disappointed. 

For the shoe game, the bride and groom each have one of each other's shoe and their own. Then they answer questions by holding up the appropriate shoe. Here were the questions they asked at our wedding: 

I tried to match them up with the photos below...but I'm pretty sure the DJ asked them in a different order than this. So, enjoy the questions, then enjoy our reactions.

Who is the biggest flirt? 

Who made the first move?

Who’s the better cook?

Who said I love you first?

Who has the wackiest family?

Who’s the best driver?

Who’s the fastest driver?

Who spends the most time in front of the mirror?

Who spends the most time in the bathroom getting ready to go?

Who is in control of the checkbook?

Who is most likely to eat dessert for breakfast?

Who wears the pants in the family?

Who is in charge of the remote?

Who’s the better kisser?

Who will be the 1st to fall asleep tonight?

Who has the smelliest feet?

Who do you think will  love the covers more?

Who popped the question?

Who says I love you most in a day?

Who talks more?

Who’s mostly likely to get lost?

Who’s most likely to ask directions?

Who’s the 1st on to make up after a fight?

Who’s most likely to be grumpy in the morning?

Who’s most likely to be running late?

Who spends more money?

Last, who do you love the most in the whole world?

This was easily one of my fave things from our wedding...I enjoyed it (I mean, I know you can't tell from the pictures, but I really did), Jordan enjoyed it (he'll tell you that our levels of reaction in these photos is completely telltale to our entire relationship) and the guests enjoyed it. A win for everyone.

If you're married, what was one of your fave things from your wedding? 

A(nother) Season of Change

There's been a lot of changes going on again in our lives, and on the outside edges of our lives. I've been struggling to come up with something to write about because even with all the change, life just seems constant(ly boring, lol). Work, weekend, work, weekend...I'm sure you've fallen into that slump before, just feeling like life is all the same. (And I've been listening to a Chuck Swindoll radio series in the morning on the way to work about Ecclesiastes, which is kinda of along those same lines.)

The biggest change for us right now is that Jordan decided not to continue on with medical school. He'd been wrestling with this decision since January, and we made it final in July. It was a variety of reasons: the time investment, money investment, work-life balance (or lack thereof), culture, future of medicine...the list goes on. He's started at UMKC and will graduate with his master's in Bioinformatics (bascially, computer programming for medical things) in August 2015. It's been a good change, and I think he feels at peace with his decision.

At work, I've been wrestling with purpose...I want to be making a positive impact in people's lives, and I don't know that this job does that. I think that "purpose" is something a lot of people in my generation struggle with: wanting to make a difference. I'm continuing to refocus myself and know that this is God's purpose for this time in my life, and that I am making a positive impact where I'm at just by loving Jesus and putting Him at the center of everything I do (or at least trying to!).

We went home a few weekends ago for quite the juxtaposition of events: a bachelorette party and a funeral. One of my friends from college was married this past Friday and I went home a few weeks ago to celebrate with her at the bachelorette party. It was low-key and, really, just my style. Eight of us went out for dinner and then back to the bride's home to open gifts and paint canvases. I'm so excited for my friend and this new chapter in her life. Marriage is such a blessing, and it really shapes us into new people as we grow closer as a couple. I'm praying for them that they continue to bring out the best in each other and learn to love each other more each day.

The funeral was for one of my nanny kids. I spent summer 2007 with her and her two little brothers...I always tell people that my two summers of nannying were the best "jobs" I ever had. I loved loving on the kids, planning fun days for them, blessing their parents by keeping their kids happy and occupied, while at the same time taking some stress off them by keeping the house picked up and getting dinner on the table. I still really, really love my two families. Jess was a vibrant, fun-loving 18-year-old...and she decided to take her own life. There's only questions in situations like this and my heart continues to break for their family. I can't imagine having to go forward in a "new normal" like this, and I think about them each day and how hard it must be to wake up with that realization that it isn't a horrible dream, but reality. I'm just praying that they cling to each other and to Jesus, that they love on their boys, who are still young and need a lot of leadership and shaping as they're growing up (as all young men do).

With the decision to quit med school and start at UMKC, we're planning on staying in KC long-term (unless God has another plan) so we've started trying to intentionally invest more in our church (now that we have time to invest as a couple) and building new friendships with people there and outside the med student circle. We've had dinner with a few couples, which has been lovely, and we've started a class at church and signed up for the membership class, too, which starts here at the end of the month.

Those are just a few of the "changes" going on in/around our lives lately. Are you in a season of change? What sorts of things are you wrestling with?

A Family Weekend: Enjoying Hidden KC Gems

You may remember that these two cuties got married in June:

Bro-in-law and seester!!!

Even better than getting married, they CAME TO VISIT US!!! (Okay, so that probably wasn't better than getting married. Not better at all. But still pretty awesome to have your little sister and NEW hubs visit for the weekend!)

While they were here, we discovered a few hidden gems in KC that we'd never experienced before!

The Orchid Cave
This is literally what it is. A man owns an orchid shop, in a cave. It's pretty freaking awesome. I took a billion pictures, but just so you can get the effect, here's a collage:

Yes, there seriously were that many orchids. Here's the $1000 one. Not kidding.

Christopher Elbow Chocolate on Friday Fridays
So, if you're not from KC, Christopher Elbow Chocolates don't mean anything to you...but they're awesome. And expensive. Christopher Elbow creates artisan chocolates right here in KC. And they're expensive, did I mention that? $1.75 for one piece of chocolate. BUT. On First Fridays, chocolates are $1 each! You can bet that we spoiled ourselves with a few. (And you can bet that it's on my calendar and in the budget until infinity to continue spoiling myself each month.)

Me with our chocolates. Pretty excited.

Close-up of these "works of art"...guess I could have taken them out of the bag for a better picture...but whatever.

Tasty Thai Friday Night Seafood Special
Kay and Luke wanted to try some type of food they'd never had before, so Thai it was! We have a great little hole-in-the-wall Thai place 5mins from our apartment that we've enjoyed, so we went there...only to learn that they have a Friday night special of no $5 up-charge for seafood...what?! That was pretty fantastic. And delicious. If you haven't tried Tasty Thai, go immediately.

City Market
While we've definitely already enjoyed this time and again in KC, we're sure to always bring our visitors here b/c it's really something to see. Kay and Luke got a great haul for $12!

West Bottoms Antiquing 
How I haven't enjoyed this until now is beyond me. Kay and I went for 3hrs and then we only stopped b/c our bodies said no more! We went in store after store and floor after floor that were jam-packed and filled to the rafters with antiques. We were so enthralled we didn't take any pictures. It was pretty awesome though. If you're into antiques, this is the place to be. This is also on my calendar until kingdom come.

Swope Park Frisbee Golfing 
While us girls enjoyed antiques, the men headed over to Swope Park for some excellent frisbee golfing, or so we were told. Then they also enjoyed bbq, which is a must if you're in KC.

All too quickly it was Sunday morning and Kay and Luke had to head back to SF for their jobs. We loooooved having them and are SO SAD that they're moving to Rapid City...which makes them 12hrs away from us now. They'll be moving again in December/January after Luke graduates and gets a job. We've been letting them know that there's lots of positions for mechanical engineers here, so if you all could do the same, that'd be great. There's nothing I'd like more than having my sis in the same city as me!