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!

Relaxing, Romantic Weekend Getaway

After buying a Groupon in March and making reservations in April, our (extremely late) anniversary weekend was here ("here" as in, the last weekend of July...)!

We spent our weekend at Circle S Ranch, near Lawrence, KS (about an hour from KC) in their Celestial Room:

Double whirlpool tub! I want one of these in our "someday" house...

This room is usually $250 a night on Friday and Saturday night, so we were feeling pretty good about our $279 Groupon deal. After checking in, we each enjoyed an hour-long massage (normally $80, but included with our Groupon!) and then spent our evening walking around the grounds, playing card games, and relaxing. 

On both Saturday and Sunday morning we woke to a delicious country-style breakfast buffet with bacon or sausage, french toast or pancakes, fresh fruit, eggs, juice and more. 

We start our Saturday off with a 2hr "hike" on their pasture trail.

There's a donkey in this picture. I can't even see him anymore though.

Yay! Hike!

Jordan trying to coax the donkey closer.

Me. Farmer style.

Longhorn cattle that I was sure Jordan was going to be speared by. "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear." applies to pictures as well.

After our hike we went back to the ranch to pick up our picnic lunch (normally $25/person, included in our Groupon):

That's a bbq brisket sandwich, cheesy pasta with tomatoes, chips, fresh tomatoes, and brownies. 

Me eating tomatoes "dad-style" - fresh with only salt and pepper. They were pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Saturday afternoon we heading into Lawrence where Jordan enjoyed some Kansas Free State Beer samples and I got a mocha java coffee from an eclectic coffeehouse. It even had a cereal bar: 

Note old-skool b&w TVs playing retro cartoons.

After exploring some shops, we ventured out to Davenport Winery for a free wine tasting and then headed back to the ranch for their Tomato Festival (cost also included in our Groupon). The food was great and the music was fun:

Sunday morning we packed up, enjoyed our breakfast and then headed back to KC (after making a pitstop at Holy Field Winery for another free wine tasting).

It was a wonderful weekend, and we're hoping to keep making it a priority to take little trips like this together in the future. And after adding it up and realizing that a weekend like this would normally cost just under $800 - we were even MORE thankful for our $279 Groupon (which we used wedding money to pay for...so to those of you who gave us $$ as a wedding gift, thanks for the romantic weekend getaway!!). 

What sorts of special things do you do to keep your relationship from falling into the same ol' same ol' routine? 

Freezer Meals: Round 2

You may remember the first time I participated in a Freezer Meal exchange. It wasn't a disappointment. So when Emily suggested we do one again, I was the first one on the bandwagon.

Because I'm a crazy over-achiever (and because initially it looked like it might be just Emily and me exchanging), I went over the top and did 3 recipes for the exchange. Rules were the same as last time: bring 6 meals that each serve 4-6 people.

I brought 2 Texas Skillet meals, 2 Creamy Ham & Noodle Casseroles, and 2 Cheesy Chicken & Rice with Veggies (recipes below).

The other 2 girls brought Lasagna (always delicious!) and Baked Ziti (with hamburger and spinach!) - if I happen to get these recipes, I'll add these to the list.

It's been such a relief to have something completely ready-to-go in the freezer and just need to take it out to thaw in the AM and pop in the oven after work. As you all know, I LOVE to cook, but I certainly love a good homemade, effortless meal!

Are you a freezer-meal guru? Share your secrets!

Creamy Ham & Noodle Casserole
10 cups uncooked shell pasta
6 celery ribs, thinly sliced
3 smallish peppers, chopped (I used red, green, and yellow.)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter, cubed
3 cans (10-3/4 ounces each) condensed cheddar cheese soup, undiluted
3 cups milk (I used powdered milk b/c it's more cost-effective and you can't taste the difference in a casserole)
1 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

4 cups cubed fully cooked ham
2 cans (8 ounces each) mushroom stems and pieces, drained
1 cup crushed saltines

Cook pasta, set aside. Saute celery, peppers and onion in butter, add soup, milk, salt, pepper. Combine soup mixture with ham and mushrooms. Mix with pasta. Top with cracker crumbs. Cook, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 20-25mins. Or freeze.

This recipe is HUGE. I got 4 8x8 pans out of it. 

Adapted from this Taste of Home recipe.

Cheesy Chicken & Rice with Veggies

Sauté 1 chopped onion in 1 tbsp. butter

Add to sautéed onion:

1 can cheddar cheese soup

1 can Cr. of Mushroom soup

1 1/2 can chicken broth (I measured 1 1/2 can by using the soup can)

1 cup cut up velvetta cheese

Cook until smooth.

Cook 3 cups minute rice. 

Steam 1 bunch broccoli (I used a bag of [thawed] frozen stirfry veggies and it worked just as well). 

Cut up 2 cups cooked chicken.

Stir broccoli, rice, and chicken into sauce and season with pepper (I used 2-3tsp of pepper).

Pour into greased 9x13 pan. (This also makes a TON. I put it into 3 8x8 pans and froze 2 of them.) Bake for 35-45 minutes at 375 degrees, covered with foil to keep it moist.

Mini KC-Area Winery/Brewery Tour

Since my boss decided to give us the day after the 4th off (woohoo!), Jordan and I decided to spend it doing our own little winery/brewery tour. Here's our route:

A - we spent the night at aunt Kathy's and uncle Pat's on base in Fort Leavenworth.
Thanks for the delicious food, letting us spend the night, and for entertaining my husband with Empire Builder, Dominion,  and Power Plant. We had a wonderful mini-vacation with you guys!

B - High Noon Saloon and Brewery
Jordan enjoyed a 6-sample flight here for $7.50:

• Oregon Trail Raspberry Wheat (for me, which I actually thought was okay...given that I don't like beer)
• Stampede Stout
• Black Gold Lager
• Lewis & Clark Light Gold
• Rough Rider Pale Ale
• Deorganizer IPA

He said he's gotten snooty about beer, and wasn't all that impressed with any of these. He thought the flavor was off in all of them. 

C - Riverwood Winery (and a surprise scotch tasting!)
When we drove up to this winery, I said to Jordan, "It looks like a schoolhouse!" and, sure enough, their website tells us, "Riverwood Winery's Tasting Room and Giftshop is based in a 1950's era renovated school building located along the east bank of the Missouri River." I did the Try 3 for Free, and Jordan did the full $5 tasting. 

They had nice options for red, white and port-style wines, and we enjoyed them all. I also noticed that they had options for olive plates, bread and cheese plates and a few other varieties ($15 each), in case you wanted to purchase a bottle of wine and enjoy a plate of munchies with it in their outdoor or indoor seating area. A nice touch. 

As we were sampling our wines, I noticed the chalkboard behind Jordan listed SCOTCH TASTING. With a hubby who loves scotch, I knew he'd enjoy it. Sure enough, when I suggested it his eyes lit up like it was Christmas. Here he is with his $9 Scotch Tasting: 

1. Triple Distilled Auchentoshan Three Wood - he thought this was really excellent. 
2. Aberlour 16 Year - Having tried the Aberlour 10 Year before, he can vouch that this one is even better.
3. Bruichladdich Rocks - I tried a little sample of this and dubbed it "Earth on Fire". 

If you're into Scotch, this is a great option. For $9, the pours were very generous! 

D - Weston Brewing Company / Pirtle Winery
We've been to both Weston Brewing Company and Pirtle Winery before, but if you're doing this same wine tour, these are both right on the way. Jordan loves Weston brews and Pirtle has some delicious, unique Mead (honey) wines that other wineries in this area don't have.

We did stop at Weston Brewing to pick up four 6-packs for $20 though (a great deal!). Jordan also got to sample their new IPA: Jack the RIPA. He said it was fantastic and is hoping they'll decide to bottle that soon.

E - Jowler Creek Winery
I'm almost ashamed to admit that we almost didn't stop here! They do fantastic marketing, which lead me to believe that they must be bigger than they actually are. We were expecting expensive wine tasting (due to the $15 groupon I'd seen) and high prices. We were VERY wrong. This is a husband- and wife-owned winery and it sits right next to their home. They both "retired" from the ag communications industry in KC last year, which explains why their marketing is so great!

We got to try all their wines for free, and with the exception of the two drier red wines (which Jordan loved), I really liked them all! (which doesn't happen very often) We basically did an "eeny, meeny, miny, moe"to choose which one we wanted to buy and ended up with Butterfly Blush. Jordan also decided to splurge and get their port-style wine, aptly named "Nort".

I was impressed with their label - a fun, sketched animal adorns each bottle and is also sometimes reflected in the name. Like their delicious Muskrato de Missouri, which is reminiscent of my favorite Moscato d'Asti.

F - Ladoga Ridge Winery
The final stop on our tour was at Ladoga Ridge Winery. This is a little larger operation and they have a very nice, welcoming tasting room with warm bread ($2) and plates of cheese and meat ($6) to purchase to enjoy out on their patio that overlooks their grape vines or at one of the seating areas inside. They also have $5 glasses of wine slushies available. We had a sample of that and it was so, so good.

We each did the Try 5 for Free, which meant (with sharing) we were able to try all of their wines. Being from South Dakota, we've sampled our share of Strawberry Rhubarb wine, and weren't expecting to be wowed by Ladoga's. We stand corrected! Their Strawberry Rhubarb was strong and fiesty, a nice change from the softer, lighter Strawberry Rhubarb wine we've experienced in the Dakotas! 

G - Finally home after a 6-hour tour!
Our take-home wine!

Ladoga's Blackberry Wine, a sweet, fruit table wine - $11.95

Jowler's Nort, described on their website as, "This one-of-a-kind dessert style blend of Norton grapes will keep you warm and toasty as you curl up by the fire in your cave on a cool fall night or mid-winter day. Scents of blackberries, plums, and chocolate will fill your nose. It begs to be sipped with chocolate desserts, nuts, or cheese with a little bite." - $15 (guessing, we seemed to have lost that receipt)

Jowler's Butterfly Blush, described on their website as, "This premium rosé is bursting with bold, fruit flavor and finishes with a flutter of sweetness. Sit back, relax and enjoy it today with baby Swiss cheese, barbequed or roasted chicken, or a lighter dessert like angel food cake." - $13

What's your favorite local winery/brewery? We really enjoy visiting wineries/breweries and would love to have suggestions! (We're not just looking for MO wines...we also love traveling!)

$50 Patio Makeover: Before & After

I'd be planning to repot a few of my plants for...a very long time. Before we even moved to KC. That's like...planning to for over a year.

So, when mom announced she was coming for a girls' weekend, and hubby was planning to be out of town, I knew that getting my plants repotted was on my list for us. For anyone that doesn't know, my mom has a ridiculous green thumb. And she loves anything to do with gardening/plants/making things grow.

What started as me just wanting to replant the couple plants I had, turned into something bigger - and much more fun.

Here are some before and after pics:

Our bare, sad patio. 

Me with our "haul" - this looks like we got an obnoxious amount. I also piled mom's plants in there that she bought and took back to SF with her. 

Left side of patio. A NEW hanging plant, a NEW fern, the middle level is all plants I had before (an african violet Jordan gave me for a birthday, a christmas cactus that someone gave me, some kind of green leafy plant that grows and grows and grows that I got in a secret santa exchange in college, and chives from mom's garden). On the ground we have an amaryllis that I gave to Jordan for Christmas (that I got for free), a pot from mom with NEW flowers, another type of plant that aunt Karen gave me, and another one of those green leafy plants (this was the original one - the other one started from this one).

Right side of patio. An ALL-NEW over-the-ledge planter box! And a NEW hanging plant.

Close-up for the planter box :) I kinda cut off the purple leafy thing. It's pretty huge. 

What sort of affordable makeovers have you done? 

The Past Month in Pictures

You may or may not have noticed I'd fallen off the face of the earth for the past month...or, rather, I got ON the face of the earth!

I've been busy traveling and haven't had any time for much of anything, except the traveling. Here's what I've been up to:

May 24-26: Kay's Bachelorette Party

1 of the 3 scavenger hunt teams (plus Bekah who's taking the picture!) -  here we are with action figures of Luke and Kay. 

More scavenger hunt: the 3 bachelors who gave us marriage advice. It's not fit to print. Let's just say it was apparent why they're still bachelors. 

Playing Kiss or 'Stache - I would read questions and then tell them one answer, if they thought it was Luke's answer, it was the mustache; Kay's answer was the kiss. If they thought Kay and Luke had the SAME answer, they put on both the mustache and the kiss!

I didn't get any pics of the delicious food everyone provided or the gifts...but we had a fabulous time!

June 1-2: Jordan's Cousin's Wedding
This brought us back to the Amana Colonies where Brian and Stacey were married! We took a very brief evening exploration of the Colonies, bought some meat and cheese, and then headed to the wedding!

Jordan's cousin Lindsay is the bride and her (cute, pregnant!) sister is the matron of honor. We're so happy for both couples...one starting the new adventure of marriage, the other starting the new adventure of parenthood!

Jordan and I at the wedding!

June 5-9: Luke & Kay's Wedding!!!
Kay has 3,000 photos from her photographer, but mom sent me just a few. SO EXCITED!!! This was a fabulous weekend, and I couldn't be more happy that Luke has joined our family. Yay Luke and Kay!!!

Yay for the newlyweds!! 

Seesters!!!

The NEW Heiberger family!! 

June 10-12: Pacific Northwest Trip for Work
After getting back from the wedding, I hit the road for Idaho, Washington and Oregon for a trip with our client.

Some beautiful countryside on the way to Oregon.

Our super-cute hotel room in Baker's City, OR.

Me in a potato storage facility...I'm in the MIDDLE of the pile! It's 20 feet tall!!

It's been a great, busy month. How has your summer started?

What Being a Med Student's Wife is REALLY Like

When Jordan got accepted to medical school, I spent a lot of time googling "being a med student's wife" and other such queries. When I finally would find someone with a blog, their life looked so ordinary! They were playing with their kids, cooking, cleaning...doing all sorts of normal things. I wanted to know what it was like, and couldn't find anyone writing anything to give me that insight.

Now that we've been in this lifestyle for (almost) a year, I have to concur with all those other bloggers out there...it is normal and ordinary. But here are some things that I'm guessing a lot of non-med-student wives don't have to "deal" with:

Note: While some of these things probably won't seem positive, I'm extremely happy and content with our life...I think God made me this way because He knew what type of life I would be have. My personality and skills are a great match for being Jordan's wife during this season of life. 

Being alone. A lot. 
Jordan studies, all the time. Even when he's home, I have to pretend he's not home b/c a 30-second interruption from me wastes minutes of his time trying to get back into the groove of studying. Jordan loves to study late, so I usually go to bed alone, too. He always comes in for a 5-10 minute convo before bed and if he has time, we'll eat dinner together, too. But otherwise, I'm free to do whatever I want, which is okay for someone who enjoys alone time (that would be me) or the freedom to meet up with friends, run errands, cook, clean, read, workout etc without seeing what plans hubby has for us (also me).

Being the breadwinner. And the homemaker.
You are THE provider. It's a strange role for a woman (at least to me; I know other couples operate fine throughout their whole lives with the wife as the breadwinner). I'm pretty old-fashioned, so I never "expected" to be in this position, but you know what? It's okay. I squint at that teensy tiny light at the end of the (very long) tunnel, where someday I'll be a stay-at-home mom (don't get any ideas people).

In the meantime though, I'm also the homemaker! Studying takes A LOT of time, as I mentioned before, so the only household chore that is TRULY hubby's is the garbage. When it's ready to go, I gather it up and set it in front of the door for him to take out. I grew up with this same mentality though (my parents have the same "traditional" mindset), so it seems normal to me that the house (apartment) is my responsibility. That's not to say that Jordan doesn't help out when he does have time - if I ask (when he's on a break from school), he's been known to vacuum, fold laundry, make the bed, sweep the floors, and even clean the toilet on occasion.

Having the yearly loans be more than the yearly salary. 
I know, a lot of you have home loans that are far more than your yearly salary. I do think that's different than having school loans...I joke a lot that I'm building a house in my husband's head, but it's not exactly a house we can live in. And I'm not sure what the interest rates are on home loans nowadays, but our student loans are at 6.8%, which means the loans from this 1st year alone have already accrued more than $1500 in interest (and we took them out less than a year ago!).

We don't really feel too daunted about this though...not b/c he's "going to be a doctor someday" as people are always saying if we talk about loans. But b/c we've already had to tackle a big chunk of loans. I had $20,000 from undergrad that I paid off in a year on a $30,000 salary. Jordan had $100,000 from undergrad that we started paying in April 2010. We only have $12,000 left to pay - and I'm still working on it, with plans to have it gone in a year. (Not that we're at all looking forward to paying back $200,000+interest of loans from med school...we just know that we'll manage.)

Being a constant cheerleader.
Medical school is stressful. And daunting. And hard. Really hard. As the other half that's not being assaulted by crazy amounts of knowledge every day, about the only thing I can do is encourage him. You can do it! You're almost there! You're 25% done! You're 50% done with 1st year! You're almost 100% done with 1st year! I believe in you! You're smart! I'm so proud of you! Sometimes I feel like a broken record, saying all this stuff again and again to him...but I believe it. I'm so ridiculously proud of my hubby.

Being outgoing.
This goes along with being alone. I may be an introvert, but I DO enjoy time with friends. ...and when you've moved to a new place, you have to go ahead and make friends. Now, for extroverts, this wouldn't even make the list - they love getting to know people and hearing their stories and so on and so forth, and while I do, too, it's exhausting to me. A good exhausting, but still exhausting. So much social effort has to go into making new friends. And, as mentally exhausting as it may be, I'm super thankful I made the effort and have friends here in KC.

Being frugal. 
Being frugal is one of my hobbies, but I don't think it comes as naturally for other folks. Despite everyone saying that "someday he'll be a doctor and you'll have lots of money", we need to be conscious of where we are at right now. We don't want to plan for something that isn't a done deal (who knows how much docs will make in the future?) and we need to be good stewards of what we have right now. If we're taking out more in loans than what we make in a year, it hardly seems right to "waste" a bunch of money. (Everybody's definition of "waste" is different when it comes to money...Jordan will tell you I fall in the extremely-conservative-almost-crazy category.)

So there you have it. A few things that are "different" about being a med student's wife. But, really, it does just seem normal and ordinary, like I'd discovered in my own research before starting out on this journey.

Thoughts? Questions? Anything you want me to elaborate on or are curious about?