Friends

September 2, 2014

Birthday Celebrations

Turning 34 was just as great as I thought it would be.  A full weekend of friends, good food, booze, football, Harley riding… so much activity that I am going to have to split my weekend re-cap into two posts.

Friday:

Considering the cards and the giant bottle of Vodka I received from co-workers, it is very apparent that I’ve shared my love of Vodka a little too often. Maybe this is a sign I need to tone down the Vodka talk.  I swear I don’t drink but on the weekends or if out for Wednesday Night Bike Night.

But, let’s be honest.  A little Vodka never hurt anyone.  Clearly the fish agrees with me:

 

image

 

Rewinding a little to let you know that Clint actually sent me these flowers to work on Monday.   Celebrating the Birthday Week, of course.

For 8 years he’s been sending me Harley Birthday Roses.  What a good man.

 

image

For the record:  black spray-painted roses STINK!

.

I took half day vacation on Friday and was able to meet up with my Mom and Grandma for lunch at the Olive Garden.   Wine, girl talk and good food with two ladies I just adore.

 

image

Parking lot selfie in the glaring sunlight.  Could we squint a little more? 🙂

After lunch I treated myself to some girlie pampering before meeting up with a group of friends at Kona Grill for sushi and drinks.  I opted for the private room in order to be able to chat with everyone equally.  Thanks to our awesome waitress for taking a group photo for us!

It may or may not have taken multiple takes to get a decent shot. Boys tend to misbehave when the camera comes out.

image

Lot’s of sushi, calamari, martini’s, vodka <— ya, that was me, and laughs were had.

image

.

image

.

Poor Luke.  The victim of Jade’s great ideas.   “I’ll buy you a beer if you eat this Wasabi with no water… for a solid minute”

image

For the record:  He did it.

After Kona we went up to the 21st Saloon to close out the night low-key.

image

Top left/clockwise:  Kayla and I -> when boys take selfies -> me, Trena and Linds -> Clint and Jade storytime.

It was a perfect ending to a great Birthday.

image

Cheers!

Stay Tuned for Saturday and Sunday recaps coming soon!

August 26, 2014

Lake of the Ozarks- Girls Trip – June 2014

Lake of the Ozarks.

It’s a little slice of heaven for this city dwelling girl.

I’ve been to the Ozarks several times throughout my life, thanks to our good friends Jason and Amanda living down there, however, this time a Girls Trip took me back.

972

Girls Trip ~ Lake of the Ozarks ~ June 2014

Thursday June 19th- Jess, Joey and I were scheduled to take off from Omaha.  Erin and Lega -from Des Moines.

Our goal?  Leave town at noon.

In true woman form – the Omaha crew left late.   Like 1:30 late.   A trip to the bank was necessary because SOMEBODY had poor planning skills.   Ahem, Jess.  😉

883

This bank video screen cracked me up.

Ok – I’ll admit I had a part in that too.  Stuck at work on the phone.  What’s a girl to do?  And we had to give the pups some serious love before leaving them behind.

Once on the road, a lot of singing, snacking, face-timing the other car and absolutely  ridiculous story telling was had for the next 6 hours.  Road trips are far more fun with friends.

First stop: our weekend home, courtesy of Jessica’s cool parents.

First on the agenda:  a cocktail and time on the dock to check out the scenery.

884

Second stop:  The grocery store.

889

They might kill me – but I think their faces are priceless.

We attempted to get everything we could possibly need for Thursday-Sunday.  Wouldn’t think that’d be too hard, right?

Wrong.

Our theme for the weekend:

On Vacay, Zero Worry, Alcohol, Relax, Kick back, Suntans and Smiles

887

We ended our first night sitting outside on the patio with drinks, food and good ol’ girl talk.  A perfect start to a perfect weekend.

886

Friday morning I was the first to wake up.  Typical me – up at the crack of dawn.

What was a girl to do when the rest of the house was sound asleep?  A bloody mary, magazine and some quiet time on the dock of course!

902

The rest of the weekend pretty much went like this:

911

934

.

939

.

930

.

924

.

923

.

933

.

947

960

.

913

Seriously – had the BEST time with these chicks.

I hope we make this a tradition and maybe even stay an extra day.

Good friends, new friends, forever memories.

971

…and stupid sayings that only we can understand

#BRS4EVA

Cheers!

August 24, 2014

The Weekend in Review – 8.24.14

Another weekend has come and gone and I’d say this one was done up right, yet again!

Man – I am getting GOOD at this weekend living stuff.  I should figure out how to make everyday a weekend day.

Are ya in, or are ya in?

Friday Night:  Out with my man for an evening BBQ at our friend Andy and Heather’s to celebrate their 1 year anniversary.

 

Date Night

Gosh I love this guy. Scowl and all – can’t be too smiley ya know – messes w/ that rough biker exterior.

.

Andy and Heather had quite a house full of people helping celebrate their 1 year.  Such a cute couple and fun friends they have.  Glad we could partake in the festivities with them.

Entertainment was offered up by Andy and his best buddy Mike.

Koozie boxing.  It’s the new thing, y’all.

 

image

.

Saturday:   I subbed for an 8am class at the YMCA.   Had a blast!   We did Insanity and for some reason it felt 10 times harder on a Saturday morning than it does during the weekday mornings.  Makes no sense – but we will take it.  It was a KILLER workout!

Then it was time to play.  Tyree and I hadn’t gone for a Harley ride just the two of us since before her surgery in May, so we were LONG overdue for a girls day out.  We managed to hit up multiple small town bars including:

image

Malibu and Pineapple for Jordan – Blue UV and lemonade for Tyree

.

 

The Hood

Super cool bar with car hoods and old album covers decorating the interior.

.

Apparently old habits die hard and as two former school teachers know – the only way to get something is to raise your hand.

image

Hey, bartender…

..

sums it up

This basically sums up our afternoon.

.

image

This is our new friend, Duane.  He was a friendly fella and even bought us a drink.  Thanks, Duane!

.

t and J

Yep, I love this girl!

.

image

We support Plattsmouth Main Street as well! 

.

Last stop where we met up with two of our favorite boys to end our fun filled day.

 .

image

Tyree and Cole-Man

.

image

My main squeeze

.

image

Good friends, good conversation, good ending to a Saturday night.

.

Sunday: Lazy day and dinner with the in-laws for my birthday.  We met up at The Cracker Barrel in Council Bluffs and had some SERIOUS dinner.   I had grilled fish, rice, broccoli and baked apples <— To DIE for.    Delicious.

My in-laws then gave me this antique music cabinet.  We think it’s from the 20’s or 30’s. It’s absolutely beautiful.  Surprisingly my MIL has had it in her possession for almost a year.  It’s shocking that they’ve kept it a secret for so long.

Antiques

I’ll be 34 on the 29th!

Bring it on, baby.

I freaking LOVE the thirties!

And weekends.

I need more weekends.

Cheers!

August 5, 2014

Weekend in Review – August 2014

Let’s see if I can be a little less wordy and little more picturey.

Yes, I made that up.

Deal.

Friday:  Rode my baby to work.  It’s always a good day when it starts on two wheels.

I had a hair appointment scheduled in Clarinda at 4:30pm, so the opportunity for 90 miles of open road on two-wheels after work?

Pure Bliss

image

After my hair appointment – ( I went black, brown, red and caramel – it’s sooooo pretty – THANKS KAYLA )  I went to visit with my mom and Aunt before making the trek back to Omaha.

I LOVE riding at dusk.  Sunsets are just gorgeous.  Another 90 miles back home was just what this chick needed.

image

I often get asked if I get nervous riding by myself.  And to that I say –

Oh, hell no.

I love it.  Of course, I love riding with my hubby and all my fellow Harley Sista’s, but I am totally cool riding by myself too.   I often will take off and go through a full tank of gas just me and my baby.  It’s called therapy.

And it’s glorious.

Saturday – a little gym time, some work from home, bill paying and some selfie playing (you know you do it too) while I waited for the hubs to finish working in the garage.   Check out the hair.  Like?

image

Trying to master the photo in the mirror below.  ha

image

Don’t judge.   Waiting for the hubs.  What’s a girl to do?  Can you see him in the background of that pic?

I also played around with my new WordSwag App

image

Alright, back on track.  Once he got around we took off for Bennington to meet up with Tyree and Regeana.  They had been out riding on a Poker Run all day and we went to surprise them at the last stop.

PS – It was Regeana’s Birthday on Saturday.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, REGEANA!!

image

Tyree, Me, Regeana – the BDAY girl! 🙂

image

Cheers!

image

Typical.

After a few drinks and dinner we headed up to Shelby and J’s (Clint’s brother) house for a block party.  Drinks, good convo, laughs and delicious cupcakes and soon we found ourselves staring at an ugly storm that has us all packed up and OUTTA there fast.

image

Sunday– Coffee with my girl, Sunni.   We try to meet up once a month, however, summer got crazy busy so this was our first time meeting since May.  She has a million kids, so I’ll give her a free pass.  😉  LOVE you, Sunni.

After coffee I did a little shopping and then Tyree and I went to Chrome Lounge for a benefit concert and auction for the Pivonka Family.  Please visit the below pages to learn more about this tragedy and to help.

Pivonka Family Go Fund Me

Memorial Page

The benefit ran over the course of three days with local bands donating their time and music for the cause.  The turnout was just breathtaking.  People say there is no better support than small towns, however, I have to say that this weekend proved the Omaha Community is just as phenomenal.  I was moved to tears multiple times just seeing the love and support that was out there for this family.

I didn’t know the Pivonka’s personally. Only had seen them on occasion at Chrome Lounge and recognized their faces.  This weekend proved that this couple was loved deeply and will be missed tremendously by so many.

The music community in Omaha pulled through in the most amazing way.  Below is a screen shot of the Sunday bands alone.

image

Bless you all.

image

What a good way to end the weekend being surrounded by positive vibes, generous people and a room full of love.