my husband the scientist

That is right. We have Erlenmeyer flasks in several sizes at my home. Over the past several months you would have found the following in my kitchen. If you know me at all I hate clutter on my kitchen counters and this darn thing has been driving me nuts. I hosted book club 2 weeks ago and the ladies were interested in the little science experiment. The liquid is called a yeast starter. With Oktoberfest coming up in the next few weeks my husband has been brewing beer like crazy. Why make a yeast starter you ask? The list is long but I will hit a few reasons a yeast starter will only better your brew. First off, it will ensure the yeast is alive. Yeast starters guarantee an accelerated fermentation. With a fast start to your fermentation, you stop any bacteria from taking over the wort eliminating the chance of an infected batch of beer/wine. Starters allow yeast to multiply - the added yeast cells will help achieve a lower final gravity and avoid stuck fermentation. 

Anyways you're probably asking how in the world I know this - well actually I don't- I just googled it and then copied and pasted into this blog!

For those of you that read my blog hop on over to KC Hop Heaven. You'll learn more about brewing that you really wanted to know! My husband and his 2 buddies document their brewing adventures. 

And lucky for me - this weekend was the last one for brewing! Hallelujah, my counter space is back!!! Bring on Oktoberfest!!!

Hello September

Well it is that time of year again. A few of us headed to Manhattan on Saturday for the first K-State game of the year. It was definitely a crazy weather day in KS. We left home that afternoon to temps in the 70s and rain thanks to hurricane Isaac. Our rain gauge said we had 6 inches of rain -we are not complaining!! Manhattan was smoldering with 90s and sunshine. I am not a fan of being hot and am hoping for a few cooler games this season!

Our tailgate group grilled out green chile hamburgers, had a wide assortment of side dishes and desserts. It was a great start to a new season. We are lucky to have the same crew from last year and added on two newbies. It is going to be pretty busy the next few weekends with 3 home games in a row. It was a sell out crowd with 50K in attendance. The stadium looked great aside from the construction on the West side. The university is making an upgrade that should be finished next fall! We can wait to see it!

our last hurrah

i am a blogger failure.
i went to santa barbara with some of my besties in early may and failed to blog about it.
please forgive me. i will make up for it now.
we traveled to santa barbara to celebrate our friend heather and the fact that she is becoming a MRS.
our theme for the trip - Our Last Hurrah.
bachelorette party in SB - need i say more?
4 of us left early friday morning and flew to LA to meet up with heather.
heather and her dashing fiance (now husband) live in LA.
just after she picked us up from the airport - we found the first IN & Out burger available.
the line was massive but we were in and out in probably 35 mins. not too bad!
we then drove from LA to SB.
we stayed in a sweet hotel with adjoining rooms! it couldn't have been better for 5 adult ladies.
we had tons of room!
we ate at fancy restaurants, spent all saturday on a wine tour of SB County and visited a coach outlet.
it was fabulous.
the weather was amazing
and the company even better.
cheers to heather becoming a MRS and our last hurrah - sort of, i'm sure they'll be more!

**4th pic down we're outside the gates of Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch 
** 5th picture down - we were delayed i think about 4 hours? I think we were supposed to leave at 6 but left LAX around 10. So to kill some time - we visited Strand Brewing Co. Fantastic.

ThE sAnForDs

we attended our first wedding of 2012 the last weekend of april
our friends tom and libby from kstate were married!
tom is a fraternity brother of the husband and libby is a sorority sister of mine.
they are a great match and we could not be happier for them.
they had several details that truly put a mark on their wedding.

• libby's dad and brother sang and played the guitar during the wedding ceremony. amazing.
• they had the cutest guestbook idea
• the maids had super cute dresses.
• green and grey accent colors. to die for.
• amazing center pieces
• libby's dad sang for his toast / speech. amazing. i was crying (of course).
• tom gave a heartfelt toast that made people speechless
• they had amazing cake.
• tom brewed some of the beer for the wedding. classic.
• chevron table runners
• burlap, mason jars, raffia, okie joes at the rehearsal.
• photo booth.

the details were definitely amazing but truly the day was all about libby, tom, their friends and family. i just love weddings and seeing people come together to support major life decisions. 

cheers to libby and tom. wishing you many years of love and happiness!

*i have pictures but they are fuzzy in blogger. dang it.

baby Mac

Baby Maclin was born on 4/18. I wrote about his awesome mom here.

He shares the same bday as my friend Erica.

And my other friend Andrea happened to have her baby girl Cora on the same day!

I had 3 friends due within a couple of weeks of each other and they happened to all deliver within 7 days! Week of babies!

Mac's momma said he is a bit over 7 lbs as of last week and that he is sleeping great at night. Only waking up a couple of times to feed. His momma looks great and I can't wait for her to come back to work.

The hubs and I visited Mac on Monday. The entire time I held him he was just staring at me. I thought it was quite funny. He has the bluest eyes and cutest little nose. I asked his mom and dad if I could take him home. They immediately said No! LOL.

weekend in review

this past weekend the husband was out of the country for work.
i was on call for work- the first weekend into a really big project. lucky me
we successfully started the project this past thursday and there were very few hiccups over the weekend.
thank god.
friday night i went to the gym hoping to spend about an hour working off stress
it ended up being a little over 2 hours
when i wanted to leave the gym, my car decided it did not want to.
it would not start
so with the husband out of the country, i called my wonderful parents to come to the rescue.
my battery could not be jumped.
we called the tow truck.
he could not jump me, therefore he towed me.
it was sad seeing my little car up on the rig.
have i ever mentioned that i really hate car problems?
i take pretty good care of my car. follow all of the scheduled maintenance, oil changes and tire rotations.
so when crap like this happens it really makes me mad
apparently my alternator is shot. ahem.
so it is in the works of being fixed.
luckily it is monday and i can put this annoying weekend behind me.
next weekend will be more fun!
a wedding shower for heather and a fun activity planned with friends on sunday.

babe miller

My dearest friend at work is about to leave me high and dry for the next 10-12 weeks.

She's supposed to have a baby on monday 4/3.

That is if baby miller decides to come on his/her due date.

Jayme (my friend) is betting that it happens closer to easter weekend.

Today was our last walk during work.

We try to walk at least 30 mins every day that we're both in the office.

We use this time to catch up, step away from our desks and talk about things other than work.

She is going to WFH next week hoping that her water breaks.

She was concerned about it happening at work. i mean really? lol

I am not really sure what I am going to do without Jayme at work.

She keeps me sane

She lets me vent

She proofreads my really important emails

She makes me laugh

I am so lucky to have such a great friend at work.

When you spend so much of your day at one particular place one could only hope to enjoy the people you spend it with.

Jayme has had a pretty crazy couple of years trying to get pregnant, the process of adoption, etc.

I remember when she told me she was pregnant this past summer.

I started crying knowing that is what she and her husband had hoped and prayed for so long.

She was very calm, cool and at ease with it.

You could tell it was meant to be.

I can’t think of two better people to be given a sweet baby.

Jayme - i'll miss you pal. wishing you a heathly and speedy delivery. and a precious baby!