Honor Flight

A little over a week ago, K and I decided to spend our Friday evening at the airport welcoming home the local Honor Flight. We couldn't think of a better way to spend the 70th anniversary of D-Day than cheering on a bunch of World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans who were returning from a day in DC. Here's a link with some more info: http://honorflightdayton.org/

The best part about this is that the veterans don't know they will be getting this homecoming when they return. They get up at the crack of dawn, fly to DC, tour the memorials and return home after 11 p.m. When they get off the plane they are shocked to see people cheering and clapping as they get off the plane. It was sweet, I cried. You had guys who wanted to go through and shake every single person's hand - and there were hundreds of people there. And then they enter the lobby and there's even more people. :)

We had a great time at the event and both of us hope we can do it again. I wish my grandfathers would have lived long enough to have the opportunity to go on one of these flights.

 Color Guard marching thru the entrance of the airport

 My attempt at taking K's picture was poor, he was on the opposite side. So here's a shot at people marching in formation.

And some of the veterans as they entered the lobby area of the airport.



Nashville

In early October, Karson and I headed to Nashville for a weekend of football and friends. He's from the KC area, so Mizzou playing Vanderbilt the same weekend as the Chiefs playing the Titans is a perfect storm. One of Karson's college friends is coaches for the Titans and was kind enough to get us a room at the Loew's Vanderbilt which is a beautiful hotel in the Vanderbilt area of Nashville. The weekend was also Karson's best friend's birthday. Since we were going to tailgate, I made Ryan cupcakes and used these cute football cupcake holders.

Friday night, we went out to dinner on Broadway and then hit up some honky tonks. I think catching some live music is a mandatory thing in Nashville and always a lot of fun! Saturday morning we went to the Parthenon and the Opryland area before tailgating. In between the two, we hit the grocery store as we needed supplies for our tailgate. Karson had asked me to make buffalo chicken dip, I had brought a crock pot. So after the grocery store run, I'm lugging the crock pot into the hotel and carrying it in the elevator. There's an 60something guy in the elevator making polite conversation with me.

He pushed his floor button, and then said: "You don't really need a key card to get to the top floor."
Me: "I bet the view from the top floor is really nice."
Him: "Is that a crock pot??"
Me: "Uh, yeah. We're going tailgating today and I need to make a dip for it."
Him: "Oh. Okay." Weird look on his face. Secretly thinking I'm making something illegal with my crock pot.  I don't often cook with a crock pot in a hotel, but when I do, I try to do it at the nicest hotels possible. At least I brought the one with the damask design on it. :)

Missouri won, so the husband was happy. The weather the next day was not so great, but we had ponchos. The Chiefs won so again, the husband was happy! We had fantastic seats, which we were very lucky to be given.

 Karson at Opryland

 Me at Opryland. I LOVE this show. DVR it every week.

Go Chiefs! View from out awesome seats. P.S. Check out that guy's mullet. Ha!

 

 



Nashville Flea Market

At the end of September, we headed South to visit Karson's brother and sister-in-law and their cute kiddos. I had never been on an Army base before. It was fun to see the differences/similarities between the Air Force and Army bases. His sister-in-law has been great with my transition to military spouse life, answering questions, sharing stories from when she and K's brother first got married and moved, etc. It has been beyond helpful!
We spent time grilling out, playing Scrabble, going to church and having a movie night watching Tangled with the kids.
When deciding what to do with our Sunday afternoon, my sister-in-law mentioned there was a flea market in Nashville that happens monthly and happened to be that weekend. Karson's interest in going was not much, and his brother's was even less. The kiddos were even less excited. So off the two of us went in search of something fun. I must admit, I've been to many garage and estate sales over the years, but never a flea market. I'm also not a good negotiator.
We arrived and began wandering around when I spotted a chandelier painted blue and turned into centerpiece. Originally $40, it had been reduced to $30 because it was Sunday. I mentioned I liked it, S-I-L thought it was cute. She knew her husband would hate it if she brought it home. I figured K wouldn't really care one way or another. S-I-L went to work. I paid $22 for it! Score!
Here's a link to the Nashville Flea Market if you're ever in the area and want to go check it out. It's supposed to be one of the top Flea Market's in the country. http://www.nashvilleexpocenter.org/expo/fleamarket/dates.asp

Here my find on our dining room table. Need to buy candles for it

Past Year

Since my last post we have....

• -Gotten Married

 Me with my bridesmaids

 Me with my parents

Me and K just after the ceremony.

• Honeymooned in Aruba. Highly recommend it, especially if Nebraska happens to get a freak snow in May while you're gone.
• We left Omaha and moved to Ohio in July.

Omaha skyline from Council Bluffs before 4th of July Fireworks







Our rental house in Ohio.

 

• We also sold my condo in Omaha and I'm looking for a job here. I was not able to transfer my job when I moved. Being unemployed is a weird feeling, but I'm adjusting. There are some perks. We have done some traveling. I am less stressed out, my acne has improved greatly. I starting to get out and meet people, so that is helping with the transition.
• We like Ohio, but we tend to make the best of whatever. One of the best things for us, is Karson and his oldest brother have not lived this close together since 1995 (only five hours away). So we've made a trip there already. They will be coming here in two weeks and again for Thanksgiving.   



Houston Day 2 & 3

The primary reason for heading to Houston was for an annual Fourth of July party held by Karson's friends, the Browns. With the 4th being in the middle of the week, they moved the party and opted to have it the weekend before. They've got both a pool and a hot tub and had a massive amount of food and beverages as well. They were great hosts!

Some of the food for the party

There were 5 dogs at the party. This was the biggest dog there, but she was very well behaved.

Getting ready to hop in the hot tub with Matt's awesome homemade margarita. :)

On Sunday, Karson and I headed out to be tourists at the Johnson Space Center. We were going to do some other outdoor activities, but it kept raining and that put a damper on plans - so after a few hours at the Space Center, we went back and spent some more time hanging out since we were taking off for San Antonio the next day.

At the Johnson Space Center. I don't think either of us is cut out for a life in space.

Texas 2012

Omaha to Houston

The day of our traveling was mostly spent getting to Houston. We left the Omaha area after work on Thursday and drove to Wichita, primarily on two lane roads. Being the planners that we are – and since we’re experiencing a heatwave in the Midwest, we brought along a cooler of water bottles. It was a godsend. I also made a ziplock baggie of trailmix to cut down on gas station snack purchases. We encountered some road construction, but nothing awful on our way to Wichita. After getting to Wichita and paying the toll, we went to our hotel. We arrived around 10 p.m. tired and ready to call it a day, there were two vehicles from out of state in the loading area. Karson went in to check us in and I waited in the car. A little over five minutes later he came out shaking his head. The people ahead of him had not booked rooms and were trying to pay with cash.  They didn’t understand why the hotel still wanted them to put some type of card down for damage purposes.

Friday morning we set a goal to leave Wichita by 8 a.m. – so we were up and going by 7 and on the road by 8 a.m. We were rolling along just fine, we decided to stop in Norman because I was jonesing for an iced coffee – I needed my fix, we both needed a bathroom. We gassed up, decided we’d wait a bit longer to get lunch and got back on I-35. And by got back on I-35, I mean that we then sat on the interstate for an hour or more, waiting. There had been an awful accident at 6 a.m. that morning and 5 hours later they were still cleaning it up. So, our schedule got messed up. We’d hoped to get to our friends’ house in Houston at 5, we arrived around 7,  STARVING.

Karson had been telling me for two months that when we went to Houston, we would would go to the best Mexican restaurant EVER. He would then go on and on about it. Eventually, I told him he needed to quit talking about it because I was a afraid it wouldn’t meet expectations. It reminded me of when people build up a movie and then you see it and your opinion is, “That’s it?”  Fortunately, El Tiempo was not the overhyped movie. http://www.eltiempocantina.com/

After freshening up at his friends’ house, we headed out to dinner at El Tiempo. I don't think I've ever been to a Mexican restaurant with a valet before. The place was busy and apparently there are multiple locations throughout Houston. If you're ever in Houston, I highly recommend it. The drinks and food were both quite tasty. After that, we headed back to the Browns' and it wasn't too much later before I called it a night.

Post 4th update

I know, I've been absent. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some pics up from our Texas adventure (Houston, San Antonio and Austin). Karson does most of the picture taking, not me. Here's one of of from the Tower of the Americas in San Antonio. We went there for drinks and appetizers at sunset - which I totally recommend for watching the sunset - it was really cool. We're in the lounge area - the hostess told us there was a 3 hour wait for the restaurant - however we noticed plenty of empty tables. The restaurant rotates around - the lounge didn't - our view was still amazing.

In wedding related news - we've purchased invitations, thank yous and Save the Dates are on the way to us, or at least the first batch of them. And when we were in Austin, we went to IKEA and got some cute laterns for our reception centerpieces.

The Dress

My mom and sister came to town over the weekend for what I thought would be the first of a few shopping trips to find "the dress" for the wedding. I'd invited Karson's mom along to, but she was unable to join us. After doing some looking online and a prior trip to David's Bridal because I had a giftcard for $50 - I had a basic idea of what I wanted: A-line, strapless, not super busy, probably off white.  I had heard about an outlet place in Wahoo that had great prices on discountinued designer type dresses and thought we should go check it out. OMG! We got an amazing deal on an Ella by Essense. My parents are generously paying for my dress (and items associated with the dress). I will not be posting pictures of the dress on here since certain people look at the blog from time to time. :) But it's everything that I wanted. I just need to get a few alterations and have it pressed and cleaned and I'm good to go. Love it. I thought we'd be looking for a month or two and have to order something. Now to find cute shoes...

Change in Plans

Things were humming along with the wedding plans until last week. We had lined up our reception site, and scheduled an appointment with the chapel. The colors have pretty much been decided, my mom and sister will soon be visiting to look at wedding dresses. And then last Wednesday, Karson dropped a bomb on me when he arrived at my house. The Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting is taking place on our wedding date. For those of you not from Omaha, here's what that means - 35,000 people descend upon the city to hang on Warren Buffet's every word, buy B-H products and such. And for you out-of-towners, it means higher hotel rooms costs and plane tickets. Much higher, in some cases double. Why? Because people will pay.

I discovered a handy site called, hotelplanner.com. It sent a request out to 85 hotels in Omaha rated between 2 to 4 stars. 25 have no availability and of the 14 that offered me a price - all but 2 were way over their normal rate. There's a hotel on base, but it only allows rooms to be booked 30 days in advance. With all this information, my head had begun swirling, who would come and stay in a crappy, slasher hotel, paying $120/night?

And so, despite how much we like the first weekend in May, moving the wedding seems to be the only logical option since we only have so many bedrooms at our homes. Karson contacted the coordinator at the club and asked if the weekend before or after May 4th was free. The weekend before was open. So... new wedding date: April 27th, 2013.

Uh Oh!

So, I broke into my own home today. (I mentioned losing weight yesterday and today being in somewhat better shape came in handy.)  I walked out the front door of my house, after I'd already locked the handle to realize I had no keys. No keys to my car, no keys to my house. The Jeep was sitting in the driveway and it was, of course, locked. I remembered that the deck door was unlocked, I thought. Sweet. I was also dressed for work in business professional clothes. Thankfully, I didn't wear heels today. My deck sits about six feet off the ground and there are no steps that go to the ground.  What to do?  Yup, hopped on the a/c unit, and jumped onto the deck.  Into my house I went, hoping no one saw me.  I then locked the deck door.

Weight Watchers

I restarted Weight Watchers eleven weeks ago. I say "restarted" because it isn't my first time doing WW. I'm planning to lose 20 - 22 pounds total. My goal was to cross the midway point with tonight's weigh in.  I lost 1.4 pounds this week. Total weight lost: 11 pounds! I've just been eating smaller portions and incorporating more fruits and vegetables. We're also eating at home more, which helps with the portion control - I use smaller plates whenever I can. Next goal is 15 pounds!

We've Got a Date

We picked a date for the wedding!! We met with the reception site yesterday and settled on the first weekend in May 2013. So May 4, 2013, will be our wedding date. I picked the weekend as only the first and last weekend of May were available. Karson loves it because he's a Star Wars geek. May the Fourth be with us! Ha Ha!  Love it.

Engagement photos

I finally have a working laptop again! Very exciting. I have a feeling this blog is about to be filled with wedding related posts.  Here are some pictures from our engagement from the Bob Kerry pedestrian bridge. (Clicking on any of the pics should make them fullsize.)

Here's where Karson first proposed

Just a bit shocked

Woohoo!

The happy couple :)

The ring (needs to be resized)

The Scrabble board Karson used to propose. He Superglued the pieces to the board.

Royals Opening Day

Karson and I headed to KC for the Royals Opening Day and a weekend of fun. I got to meet one of his brothers, several of his friends and his grandma.  He also got to meet more of my friends. All in all it was a pretty fun weekend. It was only the second major league baseball game that I'd ever been to, so going to opening day was pretty cool. The weather was a bit chilly and rainy.  We did most of our "tailgating" indoors at a bar in the Plaza area.  Karson took a lot of photos, here's some highlights.

Karson and I at 810Zone Restaurant (it's not even noon)

Karson's brother and his girlfriend. Karson and myself.

Gates BBQ, I had a Burnt End sandwich. It was pretty tasty. I did NOT need the french fries we got.




Heading into the K

We had seats in the upper deck on the 3rd base side, we opted to go stand with some people in the outfield area in the 6 or 7th inning. I look REAL sober here.

At some hole in the wall bar, after this we headed back to the Plaza for a bit and then off to pass out for the night.

Trip to Ames

Karson and I made a trip to Ames this past weekend to catch some Hilton Magic.  We'd originally been planning to go on February 19th for the ISU- Mizzou game, but that didn't work out.  Since we would have been cheering for opposite teams that day, I'm okay with that not working out.

After arriving in Ames on Saturday and buying tickets, the cashier directed us around the corner, where we ran into the Knops heading upstairs.  We stopped to talk to them for a few minutes before heading to our seats.  We did a lap around the arena got some snacks and found our seats, which were decent considering we walked up and bought them that day.  Karson spotted someone in a argyle sweater that he liked.  He's been telling me for almost a month that he plans to wear overalls when we attend VEISHEA.  This can be attributed to bad fashion choices in 1997 and 1998, he's convinced that everyone at ISU must wear overalls.  (HA HA!)  I told him the sweater would be a better option.  The game against Nebraska ended up in an overtime win, and he even bought me a Clone cone!

Once the game was over we made our way to the Memorial Union to hit up the bookstore - he wanted to find that sweater and check out the UnderArmor gear.  While we wear there, we ran into more people. Erin, Andy and Katie were there along with some people I tailgate with.  None of these run ins were planned so it was random and fun.  The sweater wasn't at the bookstore, and they didn't have UA gear in his size, so we headed off on a cold, walking tour of campus.

Then of course....Great Plains. YUM!!!  We followed that up with some relaxing in our hotel hot tub. 

Sunday morning we met up with my sister, brother-in-law, their kids and my aunt at the Machine Shed.  Someone may have pointed out the staff was wearing overalls.  After being stuffed with the breakfast buffet, we headed off to check out the DaVinci exhibit at the Science Center. Absoulutely fantastic. 

Oh and the sweater was found at the Hy-Vee on Fleur.  One of my friends told me she'd seen it there.  Karson didn't want to drop $45 on it.  Now he's wishing he'd bought it. :) Number of ISU things Karson already owns: 3.  Number of Mizzou/Arkansas things I own: 0.  Pretty sure I'm winning the conversion.

Moving Right Along

So since starting the 30 Day Shred, I've made decent progress so far.  I'm down 4.5 pounds in less in about 10 days.  I'm pretty happy with those results.  I signed up for Jillian Michaels website for 30 days for free.  It suggested that I lose 20 pounds, I decided 15 pounds seemed more reasonable.  So that will be the goal before my trip to Mexico in May. I've got loads of time to get that accomplished.

What to do?

I've been racking my brain for awhile trying to figure out what to get Karson for Valentine's Day.  He's been needing a new wallet for awhile, but I realized a couple days ago, that his current wallet has a seperate ID holder thing that he keeps his military ID so that he can flash it. I'm sure that wouldn't be too hard to find, but I didn't like any of the wallets I was finding.

So then what?  For Christmas this year, my sister made me a no sew fleece blanket.  Karson really liked it when first saw it.  He'd never seen one before.  They weren't really all that popular when we were growing up, then he moved south for college, since then he's been living in warmer climates when not overseas. I started to wonder if it would disappear from my house. 
I decided a fleece blanket of his own would be a great gift.  So I set off in search off fabric.  Hoping that by some miracle I could find either of his two college teams of choice - Missouri or Arkansas.  Fat chance, here in the land of the Huskers. I managed to come across the Cyclones (yay) and the Hawkeyes (boo), even Texas A&M, Florida and Auburn, but that was about the extent of non-Husker related options. :(  Thankfully, he also has pro-teams.  I opted for the Chiefs over the Royals.  Edited to include the finished project.

All Because of a Dress

Last Sunday, (1/23), K called to tell me he'd made reservations for Valentine's Day on the 11th.  He'll be out of town for work from February 13-25 in Texas. Since he gets to fly out early on Sunday morning, Friday night seemed logical.  K was also sweet enough earlier that day to ask if there was anywhere in town that I'd been wanting to try.  We play the, "Places in Town to Check Out" game frequently - mostly because he's only lived here since late spring 2010.  I threw out the name of steak place that I've always wanted to try.  I didn't logically put it together that he'd make reservations there, I can be a bit clueless at times. 

So last night I went to try on the dress that I planned to wear in 11 days - it fits, but it doesn't exactly look superfabulous.  EEEK.  So I've got two options. Buy a new dress OR workout and lose a couple pounds/tone up a bit.  More so on the toning up.  At this time, I'm opting for the second option.  Obviously, the brownies that I made today will be a wonderful help toward the goal.  Bring on the 30 Day Shred!  I signed up for a trial of Jillian Michael's website too.

Thanksgiving

So I just looked at the calendar and realized that Thanksgiving is happening in a week! When did that happen? Did I mention the family is coming here? Here's a tale of Thanksgiving 2007, when I last hosted the event.

I need to preface this whole story by saying that my mom doesn't think that I can cook, which was half the reason that I wanted to host Thanksgiving - to prove that we wouldn't be dining on cereal and Lean Cuisines. We'd be eating real food, made by me.  Back in 2007, I was still living in an apartment.

As I was getting ready for the event, my friend, Amanda, told me that the one time she made a turkey, she'd bought one with a pop up timer, so if I'd just get one of those, I'd be golden. Sweet. Butterball Pop Up Timer Turkey on the list. I had a recipe for Yukon Gold mashed potatoes that I wanted to make from Real Simple, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, Stove Top stuffing (whatever, I'd never made stuffing), cranberry sauce, caramel rice krispie treats, and corn, probably other stuff too. My sister and mom were both bringing pies, and bread.  Lunch was slated to begin at noon, so I thought people would show up at 11ish or something. 

Sometime in the early morning, I pulled that gross stuff out of the inside of a turkey (YUCK!!) season it and put into the roaster into the oven. Around 9 a.m., I was doing a load of laundry when my parents arrived.  9 a.m. is nowhere close to noon in case you can't tell time.  It's completely different.  I needed trash bags and saran wrap or something like that, so I sent my dad to the grocery store.  My dad has never met a stranger - I figured he'd be gone for 45 minutes.  I needed to run downstairs and throw clothes into the dryer, my mom asked what she could do?  I suggested she start peeling potatoes.  My mom failed to mention that she is a champion potato peeler.  I was gone for about 2.2 minutes.  She had peeled half of a five pound bag if not more in my absence.  No joke.  I picked up a potato and started peeling and glanced over at my mom who was whirling away.  I said something about how she must have "the good potato peeler."  We switched.  The lightning fast peeling continued.

Elizabeth and her family arrived sometime close to 11, because that's normal and expected.  When Elizabeth arrived we kicked food prep into high gear. One problem - my apartment kitchen was small and not open at all.  Insanely small.  And then things start to get amusing, sort of...

My mom: "Rebekah, what do you want for Christmas?"
Before I can even say a word....
My sister, Elizabeth: "A bigger kitchen." 
The three of us in there was a tight squeeze. At some point my mom decided we should check on that turkey - not her first rodeo. 
She opens the oven door: "Rebekah, where's the pop up timer?"
Me: "On the turkey." And I was only trying to be halfway sarcastic.
My mom looked at me, and said: "Well, I don't see one here.  Where's your meat thermometer?"
Me: "Did you ever give me a meat therometer? I don't own one."

So yes, a 15 pound turkey in the oven for 8 - 9 people and no way to tell if it's done. Until my mom says that if we can twist the leg and it nearly comes off it's done. (My timer was almost up too FYI).  The leg thing worked and the turkey was great. I have since acquired a meat thermometer.  Thanksgiving got substantially less exciting from there - my sister brought this awesome French Silk Pie from a bakery that is now closed - it was so piled high that my knife disappeared.

When is it Over?

I'm lucky to live in a state where budgets have to be balanced every year - state, and local. What? What? That means that either services have to be cut or taxes have to be raised. This past year, both have happened in the Omaha metro. Full disclosure - I no longer live in the city, so many things don't actually impact me. Certain things, I honestly admit, I do not notice. I benefit from having a company car (yes, I can hear you telling me how much I suck). I am very thankful for this benefit, trust me. As a result, I don't pay to license my car, and when the county increased the wheel tax, I went, eh.   And when the city decided that they had to change their snow removal schedule to save some money - I thought, no big deal - I PAY for my snow removal every month, and many other things in my HOA dues. The city also decided to implement a tax for people that work in the city, but don't live there (Hi Council Bluffs commuters!). When I lived in Lansing they had something like this too, but I didn't actually work in the city - I found that I when I tried to sign up to pay this tax and payroll shot that idea down.

So what will impact me???  This thing called a "restaurant tax." I eat out a couple times a week.  And I'm okay with paying it, because it's 2.5%. I figure it's like a local option sales tax, which I grew up with.  Many people aren't happy with all of these changes - I'm not sure what exactly they'd like the solution to be other than no restaurant tax.  No snow removal?  Don't fix the potholes that were awful this year? Eliminate Fire and Rescue all together?   And therein is where the rub has happened of sorts - the current mayor inherited some problems that started before I even moved here, a little thing known as "pension spiking." Will it effect some people's dining out? Perhaps, but as a single person with no kids, the 20 extra cents that I was charged on my lunch today had no major consequence on me - I'm more likely to eat out less to save $8.67 not 20 cents.   It's tacked on after at the total, and before the sales tax. Typically, I see it listed as "occupancy tax" or "restaurant tax."  This made me chuckle. Here's what my receipt looked like from Brewburgers (Diners, Drive Ins and Dives and I agree - great place!!!)  "Mayor Fee"

There's a group that's working to recall the mayor, which is well within their rights. By Friday they have to gather 27,000 signatures, so they set up places to sign in parking lots, wave signs, use bullhorns, etc.  They aren't happy about all the spending, so they want the city to spend $900,000 on a special election to recall the mayor so that he could get kicked out shortly before his term is up. Yeah, I'm confused by that too, but it's a free country, do what you want. Doing all that wouldn't result in any MORE taxes ore services being cut by my logical thought process. W

My favorite part of this story just happened over the weekend. Since many of the people that have been hired to work for this "campaign" aren't from Omaha - they apparently don't know what they mayor looks like.  Yes, they did indeed ask the mayor to sign the petition to recall himself. He declined.  http://www.omaha.com/article/20101116/NEWS01/711169925