The Missouri River

On our way home from celebrating Father's Day in Horton on Sunday we stopped through Atchison, KS to see the Missouri River. With all the rain that we have had the river is about to let loose! It is quite sad that there are people that are having to vacate their homes and are losing everything because of flooding. It will not take much more to spill out over the grass and into the streets in Atchison.

toast a final drink to single life!

On Saturday evening I gathered alongside some of my best gal pals to celebrate my 'last night' as a single lady. My friend Tara hosted the party at her house...and boy did she go all out. She had a mexican fiesta...with amazing food, drinks and decorations!! Lets start with the invite. Love the orange and pink.

 

 Check out the table decorations (monogram S napkins), hanging streamers cut by hand and lovely flowers.

A few pictures of the spread!

 

We played a few games from guess the lingerie gift giver (too many pictures to post) and cracking the pinata at the end of the night.  Unfortunately we did not get a group shot - not sure how I missed that one!  

Thanks everyone for making it a special night!!!

whoops

On Tuesday night i got a text message from the fiancé saying not to use the garbage disposal - it is broken. i was out to dinner with a friend...so i did not really think i'd be using it anyways...but good to know. turns out the fiancé dropped a super strong magnet into the drain and it had stuck to the garbage disposal. i mean this magnet is like super strength. we did not touch the sink that night because it was too late to deal with it. so on Wednesday night we tried everything to get that darn magnet out of the disposal. it was seriously stuck. not moving. so we decided we should try to take it off the sink, open it up and remove the magnet. we got out our trusty home depot DIY book and looked up how to install the disposal. We followed the instructions backwards hence trying to take off the disposal. We were successful in getting it off the sink considering it is seriously secure. we pried open the garbage disposal hoping that we could remove the magnet and put it back together. We realized that when we opened up the disposal we tore the seal/rubber gasket that keeps it together so that it doesn't leak. well crap...that sucks. we for sure then had to buy a new disposal. In the meantime I had called my dad to get some advice in getting the disposal off the sink. The man knows everything and has pretty much jerry-rigged or completely fixed tons of stuff at my parent’s house. by the time the fiancé left to purchase the new disposal -9:30 PM…my mom and dad showed up to support the fix.  Dad was able to remove the rest of the bracket and drain which was connected to the sink. He cleaned the sink drain and prepared it for the new one. The fiancé arrived with a new disposal. Seriously it took maybe 20 minutes for the fiancé and dad to hook it up. It was super simple I probably could have done it. But I am glad I didn't have to!

Some lessons learned

•          Don’t drop magnets (or any foreign object) into the the sink / drain
•          Buy Home Depots DIY book – it is orange and 19.99. 
•          Marry a man that is great at fixing things!
•          Thank Dad for his willingness to help! I know plumbing issues are his absolute favorite.

loving the sun.

the pups love when i work from home during the week because they get to lay around the house rather than be in their kennels. i will usually find them laying infront of the sliding glass window snoozing away in the sunshine. i found harper here this afternoon - sunbathing on the back step. love it. she must have rough life.

StUffEd SheLLs

My sister gave me this great recipe a while ago and I just got around to making it. I will not tell you that it is healthy (read: cheese, cheese cheese) - BUT I think that there are things you can do to definitley lessen the calorie intake. Also, I am not sure that this is the BEST meal for a 95 degree day in KS....but it worked!

Here are the ingredients. I must also add that the fiance said this by far was the best thing  that I have made for dinner in a while. I'll take the compliments while I can get them. It is usually a tough crowd around here.

1 Box of large shells - (sometimes called Jumbo Shells)
1 Jar of spaghetti sauce (don't skimp on this - use something with flavor)
1 container of part skim ricotta cheese
1 egg
1  C of part skim shredded mozzarella
1/2  C of Parmesean Cheese (the good stuff not the green can stuff)
1 pkg italian sausage (hot or mild)- I used italian pork but turkey sausage would definitley work.
2 Tbsp of italian seasoning
4 slices of fresh mozzarella (top the dish prior to baking)
salt and pepper to taste

Cook noodles as directed, drain and rinse with cold water (so you can handle them). Brown Italian sausage into crumbles and then drain/rinse. In a bowl mix cheeses (minus fresh mozzarella slices) egg, seasonings and cooked sausage. Using a spoon or a small ice cream scoop stuff each shell with cheese/meat mixture and place in a prepared (PAM'd) 9x13. Pour sauce all over shells and then place sliced mozzarella all over. Bake  at 400 degrees for 30min -- it might take more like 35-40 to make it hot, sauce bubbily and cheese gooey!

I paired our dinner with some fresh brocolli from my dad's garden. Delicious!

Alternatives:

• You can make 2 loaf pans, she does this often so they have stuff in the freezer to pull out! works out great!
• If you've frozen it, you need to let it thaw at least in the refrigerator overnight as it will be super dry frozen to hot oven...TRUST me:) Also if you freeze I usually put saran wrap over it first then foil...
• Also, I think if you were to take a bag of fresh spinach and cook it down in a saute pan and add that to the cheese mixture - it would be legit.

Loving Lawrence

Our dear friends Cody and Little got engaged!!! Cody had told us that he was going to pop the question this summer - and that he had purchased the ring. This was about maybe 2 months ago. That meant I had to keep this darn thing a secret from Little - for that long. That was hard. We see them all the time....and a secret like that is ridiculous. He decided that he was going to ask her sooner than he was initially thinking. So the plotting began. He planned for them to spend the day in Lawrence -where they first met. Eating at their favorite places and just spending the day together. He had arranged for us to watch their dog Mojo - which meant they had to drop him off prior to leaving for Lawrence. I mean - holy crap I knew what was going on and why they were going there - it was hard not to freak out and blow it. So they dropped off Mojo and headed to Lawrence. What she didn't know is that he invited some of their closest friends to meet them at the Eldridge Hotel for dinner and drinks after. She had no clue. I told Little we were going to a BBQ that night.  HA no - we were meeting them at the Eldridge. Cody gave specific instructions on where they were going to be and what time to be where. The fiance and I are pretty familiar with Lawrence area and Mass street but prior to leaving I plotted out where we were going to park because I did not want to be the one to blow the surprise. So once we parked we bolted to the Eldridge.

While we were sitting there - EVERYONE at the table received a text from Little saying "Cody and I are engaged" - funny thing is everyone there TEXTED her back - which is not normal. Usually people would be so excited they would call back. Well she didn't know we were all sitting in the same room - waiting for her to show up!!! When they arrived around 9PM - she was super shocked. She could not believe it and soon figured out why no one called her back!! That evening we celebrated in Lawrence with Cody and Little. I couldn't think a better couple. They are family to me and the fiancé and we're so lucky to have them in our life. Cheers to Cody and Little!!! Let the planning begin!!!!!

turning of the calendar

This morning when I arrived to work - I looked at my K-State Alumni calendar and realized today is June 1st and it was time to flip my calendar. What does mean folks - that means there are exactly 30 days between today June 1st and July 1st. And 30 days till Hawaii!!!!!! More importantly the real countdown is on for the wedding!!!! 33 days till the big day!!! In a way I feel like this wedding thing has become a project for work. I am sending follow up emails - updating the project plan and checking off my to-do list. I love the feeling of accomplishment and making little checkmarks next to those action items. Don't freak out but I have already gone through my closest trying to figure out what I am going to take and even started a small pile of nicely folded clothes on the guest room bed. HAHAHAHA - I tried on my swimsuits yesterday while I was working from home - they still fit from last year. So they were thrown in the laundry to be cleaned. My thinking – is get ahead of the game. Don’t wait to the last minute – the last few weeks of work are going to be busy with my co-worker out on vacation and the completion of a few projects that are coming down to the wire. Get ahead now - I keep telling myself!! Because in 30 days I’ll be sitting on the beach in Maui with my soon to be hubby without a care in the world!!!