IKEA in KANSAS!

As mentioned in my previous post, IKEA in Kansas has opened not 5 miles from my office and it is equal parts awesome and bad news bears (because it will take all my money).

Let me mention that I had been to the IKEA in Florida a couple times so I knew what to expect when going into the store for the first time but that didn't stop it from being magical.

The store opened on September 10th, a Wednesday. I couldn't contain my excitement so I drove over and around the store on my lunch hour. Realizing that there was going to be no way to get in and out in an hour I just admired from a distance. (I may have issues.) Let me just say that there were cops and security at every intersection, stoplight and possible crossing within a mile radius of this place. They were keeping the traffic flowing by manually changing the stoplights.

I made it to Friday the 12th before I couldn't wait any longer and I ventured out again over my lunch hour. I parked on the second story of the parking garage and speed walked my way through the throngs of people that didn't realize I was on a time crunch.

The following are a few of my thoughts while visiting IKEA:

• Don't these people have jobs? I realize I'm here too but there are literally entire families here. And couples, who look like they're on dates.
  
• Why in the world would you bring multiple children to this place? Especially on the week it opened. I realize they have childcare but anyone with half a brain would realize it's going to be full.
  
• I want all the things.
• Man, I really feel sorry for the guy that has to use the little hand-clicker (technical name for it obviously) to keep track of the amount of people that come in.
  
• Some lady just ran away from her table asking me to watch her (probably) 1 year old little girl because her 4 year old-ish wild child boy just ran away.
• I wonder if she's regretting bringing her kids now.
• What is in this Pepsi? It's very possibly the best thing I have ever drank.
•  I'm pretty sure I have a goofy grin on my face right now.
• I might need a second job to pay for my future Ikea purchases.
• The chicken strips aren't as good as I thought they would be. Might need to try the meatballs next time.
• I want all the things. No really, I do.
• Get out of my way.

Okay, that about sums up the highlights of my visit. Obviously once wasn't enough though because I went back this past Friday also. I have yet to buy anything outside of lunch and I'm starting to wonder if this might turn into a weekly thing. We shall see!

Has anyone else visited the new IKEA, in Kansas, yet? What did you buy?

What's your favorite item(s) to purchase at IKEA?

Technically this photo was taken at the IKEA in Orlando when we were there in August but you get the idea. I like it.

Mom, you're photo taking skills need a little fine tuning. Just saying.

We can all pretend that's more tan than it is shadow.  

Our Story - Part 1 - (and our 2nd Anniversary)

Happy 2 year anniversary to us! To the man that puts a smile on my face and makes my childhood dreams come true, I love you. 

Wedding Day {10-15-11}

To celebrate I thought I would write down our story and how we came to be. Since it's long, 9 years 6 months and 1 day of dating (plus about a year before), plus 2 years of marriage, I'm going to break it up into parts and post them occasionally. This is more for me and my terrible memory than anything else, so if you don't like love stories you may want to skip it. (Eventually, I will try to come back and post a few old school photos, but until then just use your imagination.)

Our Story Part 1

I was 14 and starting high school in about a month. I spent all my free time that summer of 2001 hanging out with my friends including my cousin (and best friend) Jacqueline. We are a year apart in age but both have August birthdays that put us in the same grade. I was one of the old ones and she was one of the young ones. 

Jacq's brother Andrew was 16 and played baseball which is where the story starts, a baseball field. 

I clearly remember sitting in the stands watching Andrew and his teammates out on the field. The non-baseball playing friends sat in the stands with us. They yelled out to one of the new kids that was getting ready to bat. "Wear the white helmet". Obviously the stark white helmet was more than a bit of joke, it was the dorkiest thing ever, which only made it funnier when he put it on. He turned around, laughing with the rest of us about how ridiculous it looked, but he had no problem making people laugh.  That was the first time I ever saw Seth and he made me smile. 

A few weeks later my parents were out of town and Jacqueline was going with her family to Andrew's baseball tournament in Hutchinson. Since I had nothing going on I went with her to hang out at the hotel and enjoy the rest of our summer. I remember pulling up to the Holiday Inn and the baseball team crowded around my aunt's 15 passenger van. Right there in the middle, staring at me, with his bright blue eyes was Seth, the boy in the white helmet. As the cliche says "our eyes locked" and we both smiled. At that point there was no way to know that I was looking into the eyes of my future husband but that's what it was. I couldn't tell you who the rest of the boys were that surrounded the van but I remember his face like it was yesterday. 

We spent those few days in Hutch getting to know each other between the ball games. I honestly don't remember the games at all, but I haven't forgotten how Seth and a few of the other guys (which ones I couldn't tell you) decided to run and jump fully clothed into the indoor swimming pool at the hotel. And how I forgot my contact solution so Jacq and I obviously knocked on Seth's door to see if he had any. He didn't but his mom did. How a bunch of us went for a drive in Seth's mom's SUV and he showed off his superior driving skills. 

And just like that the weekend was over and we came home, back to reality.

Weekend Happenings

I was terrible at taking photos this weekend so you get what you get and you don't throw a fit.

Linking up over at  Sami's Shenanigans. 

Friday - Huge thunderstorms with lots of lightening but I'm so thankful it wasn't snowstorms. It did rain out the homecoming game though, so dinner date for some bbq with the hubs and an episode of Dateline filled in nicely. Be jealous. 

Unrelated photo but I promise the storms looked even cooler than this!

Saturday - Fall really arrived. It was freezing (aka 50 degrees) outside and I found my first fall leaf before heading over to OctoberEudorafest. Chowed down on an Indian taco while hanging out with my brother at the fest. Made it home in time to snuggle up for a nap with the husband. Productivity people, I've got it figured out if you need advice. 

Hey Fall, so nice to see you!

Sunday - I experienced Nascar for the first time at the Kansas Speedway. Not a bad experience but I still prefer baseball. Maybe because I can have a conversation without saying "what" fifty bajillion times. Or maybe it's the baseball pants. Who knows.   

Sadly, no mullets were seen. 

It may be Monday, but it's payday so I'm not hating it. 

Happy Birthday Seth!

Happy Birthday to the boy that swept me off my feet when I was only 15 and to the man that he has become.

The one that works hard to give me everything I've ever wanted and more. 

The one that makes me laugh everyday with his silly faces and random sayings.

The one who can do just about anything and everything.

The one who will someday be a father to our children.

The one who is always respectful.

The one that is slow to argue and quick to end it. 

The one that said "I Do" almost two years ago and never makes me doubt that he meant it. 

The one that makes every day of my life better, because he's in it. 

I love you Seth and can't wait to celebrate many many more birthdays with you!

7 Quick Takes {14} Vacation Edition

Going to do this a little differently this week and recap our vacation. Might be boring (and LOOONG) for others to read but I want to write it down before I forget. Feel free to skip the wordiness and just look at the photos:) 

(don't say I didn't warn ya!)

1. The day before and day 1 of the cruise. We arrived in Fort Lauderdale and were checked into our hotel by 11:30 am. Conveniently enough there was a Chipotle right across the parking lot were we managed to scarf down our burrito (bowl) quickly before heading back to our room for a nap. Since we left our house at 3:15 am (!) that morning a nap was definitely needed. Once our nap was over we walked down the street and boarded a water taxi that gave us a nice little tour of some of the rich and famous' homes that sit right on the water. We stopped by the mall to pick up a new pair of shorts for Seth and then headed down to an area that had lots of restaurants. Yum!

Heading out for the evening in Ft. Lauderdale 

Water taxi - a great way to travel

Delish burger and fries at 11pm. Yes, please!

We made it to the port by 11:00am the next morning and we were on the ship and headed to our first meal by 11:45. The ship was gorgeous and the food was yummy as usual. While exploring the ship we stumbled upon a tour of the spa. The tour ended by having a  lady give you a neck and shoulder massage for about 5 minutes. That's all it took to sell us on a couples massage. And it was AMAZING! Keep in mind they do automatically add in a huge gratuity and we probably wouldn't do this again because it was super pricey but I definitely enjoyed. 

Just watching a little titanic before heading to the port. A bad sign??

The boardwalk. Complete with a carousel and donut shop:)
Happy happy happy!

Baller!

At dinner that night we met two of our table mates for the first time. A super sweet couple named Russ and Julie (name twins) who are about our parents age and from Utah. After gorging on food we went to the the middle of the ship to watch an ice skating show that was pretty impressive considering how small the rink was. We swung through the ships casino for a bit of gambling before heading to bed at a decent hour since we had our first island stop the next day.

We may or may not have contributed a lot of quarters to this machine.

2. Day 2 of the trip. Sunday we woke up and got dressed for touring the island of Nassau, Bahamas. We walked around the island for a bit before taking a taxi over to the huge Atlantis resort. The casino stole a bit of our money before we headed out to the beach where we swam in the crystal clear blue water before heading back to the ship for another meal. Since we were only at the island until 1:30 we wanted to be sure that we made it safely back to the ship before it left. Being on time has never been my strong suit and those ships don't wait!

Hey, awkward!

I wish Kansas had a beach.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool where we met a super fun couple from Indiana, Jack and Deb. They had purchased the all you can drink package and were super nice to keep ordering us extra drinks. Let's just say it turned into a pretty fun afternoon and a nap was needed before dinner:) 

Another couple, old enough to be our grandparents, joined us for dinner that night, George and Ida. They had moved to the U.S., from Hungary, 56 years ago but still had an accent like they got off the boat yesterday. They were a nice enough couple but always seemed to find something to complain about. Our show after dinner that night was a comedy show that was probably the funniest thing I have ever seen. All 3 comedians were spectacular and didn't seem to care one bit about being politically correct. The highlight had to be when the very round comedian danced just like the snowman on the old school version of Rudolph. Pretty sure people peed their pants laughing so hard. 

Hey mr. crocodile....

....and eskimo??

3. Day 3 was a sea day so we slept in, ate tons and spent more time at the pool. I went to go see the show Hairspray at 2:30 which was absolutely incredible. I told Seth he would probably hate it since he's not much into musicals so he took a nap. Once the show was over I decided to go on a run. Probably because all I had done up to that point was eat. I managed to run the 2.4 laps around the ship that equaled a mile and then speed-walked a few more for good measure. 

The motivating signs as you ran. 

Our show that night was before dinner and it was a dive show at the aqua theatre. Basically a cast of super talented and past olympian divers did a show where they dove into a tiny pool from heights up to 57 feet! They also included some synchronized swimming and pretty cool trampoline skills. This show was pretty awesome. Then we ate dinner:)

Seth LOVES taking photos and I told him if he didn't
take another one I was using this. You're welcome Love:)

4. Day 4 we stopped at the beautiful island of St. Thomas. We took a taxi over to Megan's Bay which is supposedly one of the Top 10 beaches in the world. I have been there several times before but it is still gorgeous even if it crowded with tons of people. We ran into Jack and Deb again so we hung with them a bit. There's a nice little bar right on the beach that makes the strongest drinks in the world. My long island iced tea was basically straight alcohol so I enjoyed laying on my towel soaking up the sun for awhile:) On our way back to the ship we stopped at an overlook to snap a photo with the beach in the background. 

Apparently people take photos with donkey's?

Megan's Bay

Paradise!

Once we made it back to the ship we made a giant plate of nachos and then jumped in the pool for awhile. More dinner and another show with different comedians that night. 

5. Day 5 was spent at St. Maarten. One of our favorite islands. You leave the ship and walk to the pier where you take a water taxi over to the beach and shopping area. Somehow while weaving our way through the throng of people trying to rent us jeeps and braid my hair we got suckered into a timeshare presentation. The lady promised it would only be an hour, we could tour a beautiful resort, and then we could hang out on the private resorts beaches for the afternoon. Plus you would get a $150 credit to a jewelry store were Seth was going to get a watch. Lies. We went on the tour which took 2 hours and 15 minutes! Then when we went to the jewelry store you couldn't use the credit on a watch and they basically just gave us a necklace I will never wear. To drown our sorrows we hit up the beach where Seth had a few beers, we were offered drugs and we negotiated a better deal on riding a jet-ski for an hour. They let us ride for a little over an hour before motioning us back in to the beach where we soaked up some more sun and dug for shells in the ocean. 

Gorgeous infinity pool I wanted while touring the resort.

This is where we jet-skied. Pure amazingness! 

Approximately 12 photos later and this is the best photo. 

After returning to the ship we again gorged ourselves on nachos and hotdogs before taking a nap before dinner. #fatkids. We had no show that night so we explored the ship more and played the "Deal or No Deal" slot machine in the casino. 

Before dinner. Sad it's fuzzy since it's a normal smile from Seth. 

We can just pretend I ate salads for every meal. 

6. Day 6 was another sea day where we literally spent hours at the pool soaking up the glorious sunshine and planning our next couple of meals. Not much else to report besides going to see a show where people went flying through the air everywhere you look. We also went to a fun game show called The Quest where we enjoyed watching a drunk lady be one of the contestants.   

Dancing with balloon man.

The diving pool.

7. Day 7 and our last day floating out on the ocean. We spent our last day much like day 6 soaking up the sun and dreading leaving our floating paradise. At dinner our waiter, along with a few others came over with a (3rd) dessert to sing me Happy Birthday since my Birthday was in less than 2 hours. I have no idea what the dessert was and it honestly didn't taste that great but it sure was pretty:)

We left the ship at 8:30 the next morning and headed to the airport where we got delayed in Chicago for awhile before returning home. Since it was my birthday (and we had no food at home that didn't require cooking) we stopped to pick up some good ole' Kansas BBQ and a redbox movie. Hello 27!

Linking up with Jen at Conversion Diary.

Canvas Prints Deal - A really good one!

Remember when I told you that I finally ordered some wedding photos here? Well, when I ordered them I got one heck of deal and the deal is back so I thought I would be nice and share.

The deal is through a site called Eversave which is a site similar to Groupon.

Right now you can order...
1 - 16x20 for $30
OR
2 - 16x20s for only $40. That's a freakin awesome deal right there people.  Usually the lowest I see on Groupon is $39 for 1 - 16x20.

You know what else is cool though? When I ordered last time I didn't have to order the 16x20s. Basically, I just got the dollar amount of what the 16x20 normally was and I got to use it on whatever. So I actually ordered a 24x36 (I think??) and a 12x12 and it was only $40!!!! Plus I ordered 2 of the 16x20s as Mothers Day presents for both my mom and Seth's mom. They loved them:)

Only bad news is that today's the last day to order so jump on it! This is my referral link but it may actually get you a discount too...not positive so let me know if you try it and it does.

In case you forgot what they looked like. This is the 24x36.
I promise my walls aren't diaper green also....they're actually brown...

Quality looks terrible in this photo but that's what you get
with low lighting and filters on an iPhone. Real quality is actually great!

As soon as you order you can actually email someone or post it to any social media and they put $2 in your account for a future purchase:) Gotta love those deals!

P.S. I'm a cheapo so I don't order things like this unless it's a good deal and good quality. I just reordered 2 more of the 2-16x20's so I'm gonna have 4 new prints soon! Yippee.

4th of July Crafting

It's FRIDAY!! Okay, so it's not really Friday but it's my last work day of the week which essentially means, it's Friday. If it's not your Friday, please excuse my exuberance in this post.

I'm ready for 4 beautiful days of nothing but fun times on fun times on fun times. Hubs will be on his way home from Texas in a few short hours and then we are heading over to a 3rd of July party to get the weekend started right.

We've got a great weekend planned in Kansas City, Kansas City here we come (feel free to sing along.) Look forward to that update next week. 

Well, on to business. 

As I think I have already explained. I love the 4th. A lot. So, I've been doing a few crafts to help me celebrate. 

A lovely little banner wreath on our front door. 

Then I painted a few colorful blocks. 

Mod Podged and freehanded a couple letters...

And BOOM! A patriotic bathroom. (nevermind the fuzzy-ness)
Find the patriotic printable here. 

Looking forward to an amazing weekend. Remember, don't shoot your eye out!