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December 10, 2023

Christmas 2023

It was Fall 2020 when I first sat down with my cousin Dan to discuss preliminary home building plans. It was over that meal of sushi, where scratched on a napkin, we envisioned a staircase leading to a catwalk with banisters waiting to be adorned with Christmas garland, and a living room with cathedral ceilings to hold a 12-foot Christmas tree. Three Christmas seasons would come and go until those Christmas visions over a sushi dinner would come to life. And the wait was everything and more.

Many a box was delivered over those three years, holding Christmas goodies just waiting for their moment to shine.

The star of the show is the Norfolk Pine garland from Afloral. Oh this garland is simply dripping in timeless class. And I love her.

I put Christmas up mid-November to have several weeks to enjoy it. And I wanted it all up for when we hosted Friendsgiving, our first of many to come.

All we need now is a cascading of snow to blanket the ground and I’ll be holed up in front of fireplace until spring.

Sources: Brown Ornaments | Black Ornaments | Brass Bells | Brass Bells 2 | White Ornaments

The bar stool wreaths came from House Floral, a small online shop owned by House by JSD. The packaging, personal hand signed thank you note and recipe for fudge was such a special touch. 10/10 online customer service too.

I chose to keep the 10ft entryway tree bare as the vibe felt more cohesive. I love the simplicity.

Another view of the entryway from the catwalk where you can see a peak of the front porch where I’ve placed two small trees, wreaths on the door and a cute little Christmas rug from an Etsy shop:

I used simple black ribbon from Target for bows on the garland, and the hanging brass bells from Walmart.

Harley girl found her a nice and cozy spot. She hasn’t climbed any of our trees this year, much to my disappointment. Her rebel streak for 7 years has shifted elsewhere… of which is another story… another day.

What a dream it’s been decorating for Christmas this year. A long wait, but the reward worth it.

Cheers!

November 4, 2020

Reese’s Cookie Bars

I love all the November vibes. Rich colors, crisp air, the start of Holiday conversations. For me, November marks the beginning of Fall. September is just an extended summer, October is Halloween, but November? She brings to us a season of thanksgiving in all her beautiful tones.

Of course she also brings the below, which really is a point of discussion, but I can’t seem to get her to sit down to hash it out, so here we are.

In the dark.

I wanted to send a treat out to the shop , which landed me on No. 2 Pencil’s recipe for Red, White & Blue M&M Cookie Bars. To give the dessert it’s fall vibe, I called in Reese’s Pieces and Reese’s mini cups as reinforcements.

You can find the original recipe here, but will share my twist below. I was told by the hubs that the slightly undercooked middle pieces would pair well with some ice cream. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear they made this happen.

Ingredients

  • 2 sticks of butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 cups of all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • Reese’s Pieces
  • Reese’s Mini Cups

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray
  3. Beat butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until fluffy.
  4. Add eggs and vanilla extract.
  5. Add flour, baking soda, and salt until combined.
  6. Stir in your desired amount of Reese’s Pieces, reserving some for topping.
  7. Transfer to 9×13 baking dish.
  8. Press additional Reese’s Pieces and Reese’s Mini Cups into top of cookie dough.
  9. Bake 30 to 35 minutes on oven rack in lower third of oven.
  10. Let cool completely and cut.

Cheers!

*Contains affiliate links

April 22, 2019

Life Lately | April 2019

Hey there, kids.  Nice to see you!  We are just going to jump right into this public diary of events in Jordan’s lifey-life.   You know… for the future when I don’t remember much and need a giant assist.

So, what’s been going on?  Everything!  Life is fantastic!

January trip to the Duck Races in Avoca, NE with these Quacks.

 

We had Beer Olympics… I mean WINTER Olympics… in February at EBBC.  Competition in costume and on the floor.  My team killed it in beer pong, naturally.  I love this gym.

Skiing / Snowmobiling in Colorado in March.

 

Cat snugs on the daily.

 

Did I mention Edge Body Boot Camp?   We 5am’ers are crazy… about killing ourselves.  Seriously.  Love.  This.  Place.   And the great friends made!  We’ve got the MURPH coming up next month! I live and breathe for the challenge.

Rowing below… girl next to me is Simone.  She’s a lean mean fighting machine.  And the jolliest of the 5am’ers there ever was. 😉

 

Re-did the spare bedroom, formerly Kyle’s.  It went from a Ford Blue storage unit to a grey/white clutter-free zone that Harley has claimed as her own.  Friggin’ Princess.

Cats world… we just live in it.

 

Experienced Mr. Justin Timberlake himself in March!  Claire, Briton and I had an absolute blast.  JT … dang, man.  That was a show.

 

Clint and crew are killing it at the Walkup’s.  Both WT and WWP are coming into their busy season, so I visit the shop when I can in order to see that husband o’ mine.

 

I recently got the chance to sneak a few shots of Bodi, my biker B, Liz’s, newest addition.  Future biker right here, folks.  What a little heart-breaker.  All the heart eyes on this lil dude.

 

Work.  Well, it’s fast-paced and each day something new. I love it.  It’s certainly challenging me in new ways that I didn’t expect, but am embracing and facing it on the daily.  Growth mindset.  It’s beautiful.  It helps that I have an absolutely INCREDIBLE staff.  My office mates/colleagues are equally as incredible at what they do and keep me afloat on the reg.

 

Still part of the Nebraska Wind Symphony.  We had our Spring concert a few weeks back and now I am on hiatus until the Fall season rolls around.  I enjoy playing still, but will admit the Monday evening rehearsals can be a bit much sometimes with the early 4:20am alarm clock.  Girl needs some zzz’s!

Also back to teaching fitness classes again and my heart is so happy.

 

Motorcycle season is FINALLY here and your girl is feeling all sortsa warm fuzzies.  Coming off Easter weekend and two days on the bike.  Saturday Clint and I rode down to Coin for Easter dinner at the Swanson residence, which provided us the opportunity to chase the sunset on our way home.  Sunset rides are LIFE.

 

Easter Sunday I took off on my own to Clarinda for what was hands-down the windiest ride I’ve had in a while.  Good solid leaning for all 50ish miles of Highway 34 on my way down.  Unfortunately just North of Goecker-ville I had a little malfunction.  It was little due to my low speed coming off a stop sign.  I am telling you… I have RAD angels who ride with me.  It could have been ugly, but it wasn’t, and so a quick call to my dad, Craig, and Jeanne and we had her loaded on their mower trailer and in dad’s garage in under an hour of being sidelined.

 

Saddlebags off, motorcycle up, dad’s magic hands and all necessary parts, and he had me back on the road only two hours late to mom’s Easter lunch.  🙂  Sorry Gr’pa for missing yours completely.  I had all good intentions.

 

Left Clarinda around 3:30 for what was an even WINDIER ride home.  To the folks in the white Grand Cherokee who initially set out to pass me on 34 but then decided to tail back a bit… I am just going to say thanks.  I am going to assume you held back after watching the wind own me like a little b!tch and you were just watching out for my well-being.

‘Preciate ya.

 

And, for the most part, I’d call that a nice brief wrap-up of a handful of events these last few months.

 

Happy Spring to ya.  Be Present in all you do!

 

Cheers!

October 3, 2018

Coffee & Cats

Guys.

If you didn’t think I was already crazy cat lady enough, go ahead and prepare yourself.  I took it next level.

New to Omaha: Felius Cat Café.

Felius is Omaha’s first and only nonprofit cat café! Their mission is to revolutionize Omaha’s cat adoption experience and reduce euthanasia rates.

I had the opportunity to sponsor a small part of the start-up costs and of course jumped on the chance.  And not because I am crazy cat lady…. well, partly… but also because I believe in the efforts being made across the U.S. to reduce the number of euthanized animals, increase the education surrounding owning and caring for pets, and the community based partnerships supporting animal care and rescue.  In this case, Wags to Riches has partnered up with Felius to provide adoptable cats!

(PayPal has me set up under my maiden name… I should fix that)

I follow a lot of cat rescuers on IG and have learned a lot on the topics of TNR, rescue, fostering, critical care and adoption.  Here’s looking at you kittenxlady, thecatcade, iamthecatphotogapher, littleman_mika, flatbuschcats, and others.

So while I comment often about my crazy cat lady ways in a funny/poke fun at myself way, I truly believe in the efforts being made to care for these little nuggets.  If you are lucky enough to own a cat from kitten to adulthood, you totally get their charm.

So, back to the post.  Felius is a cute little cat and coffee cafe located near downtown Omaha.

Photo courtesy of Felius, IG.

Patrons have the opportunity to play and connect with the cats on location while enjoying a cup of coffee or tea for a small fee.

Photo courtesy of Felius, IG.

I had my first visit last week and enjoyed an iced coffee and the company of a few cats for about 20 minutes.  While a few were pretty timid and working through trust issues and environment acclimation, a few others were ready to play!

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This particular darling in the photo below wanted so badly to play, but always bailed at the last second and retreated to a safe zone.  I believe I would have been successful in building trust had it not been for the family with two younger kids coming in the room with me.  It’s hard to get kiddos to understand the trust factor in kittos. 😉

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And don’t get me started on this lil snoozer.

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The room is designed with 100% focus on cats and their mannerisms.  Plenty of things to climb, places to hide and comfortable spots to snooze.  There is an escape room, per say, where the cats access through a tunnel.  It is in that room where their litter boxes can be found as well as food and water dishes ( in addition to a few in the main room) but also where the cats can seek refuge from the human race.  Could you imagine being on display all day long?  I asked several questions about this tunnel and escape room as it was very intriguing to me, but also comforting to know exists for them.

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With my sponsorship level I get a free hour visit every month.  I don’t know that I will utilize a full hour, but I definitely foresee a 30 minute lunch break in my future.  What better way to break up a work day then with some furry snuggles and play time?

Photo courtesy of Felius, IG.

You can check out Felius online by clicking here, or in person at 522½ S. 24th Street, Omaha, NE 68102.  If visiting in person just isn’t your thing, but you’d love to help support either organization, click on the below links for options!

Wags to Riches Amazon Wish List

Felius Donation

Cheers!

 

*All photos mine unless otherwise noted.