Esse's big move

My cat, Esperanza del Gato (Esse), moved from Hays to Salina on Friday. Ok, so now since she's living in Erik's house, she's Erik's cat (or so he says!) She doesn't like car trips .... especially LONG car trips. She did a LOT of crying and panting (she does this panting thing in the car, it's strange).

She didn't want to do her business before we left, so of course, 28 miles out of Salina, she took care of it. Thankfully, that was in her carrier.


After that traumatic experience, I "freed Esse." She scampered around Erik's basement, and also enjoyed checking out the upstairs bedrooms.


After she explored, I introduced her to the big, picture window in the living room. It is about the same height as a window in Independence, so I think she'll like it.


Right now, Erik spends lots of time watching Booger and giving me updates. What can I say? I"m pathetic! BUT I also want to be sure the transition is smooth, and so far it has been!

Hellooooooo Atlanta!

When I arrived Saturday evening, I was greeted with THIS! Crazy talk! I was in nearly standstill traffic for about an hour (3 of 7 lanes were closed for re-paving. Evidently they do it on the weekends coz weekday traffic is too crazy). THEN it took me a half an hour to get lost before I finally met up with Sarah and her friends. We had a blast at Watershed Restaurant.

I'm here in Atlanta for Liana's Business Boot Camp, which starts tomorrow. Yippie! BUT before I left, Erik gave me a surprise:



I LOVE Mike and Ike candy! Isn't Erik thoughful??? :-) It tided me over during the drive so I didn't get too hungry, which would have resulted in some SERIOUS road rage! ;-)

Home away from Home ....

After the game, we marched through the tunnel and up the hill to Laws Hall , my first residence in Columbia. I used to peer out this window and wonder what the world had waiting for me after getting out of school. Now all I think about is how do I get back! ... Isn't life weird ;-)


I even got to harass the current occupant of 321 Laws Hall, my former living space.

Me: "Hey, this used to be my room."
321 man: "Oh, yeah? Long time ago, huh?
Me scowling: "Um ... yeah."
He called it as he saw it: Some nutty, middle-aged interloper interrupting his study time. What kind of nerd studies on a Saturday afternoon, anyway? I wonder if he relayed the story to his roommate?

MIZ-ZOU!

On Saturday, Karen and I attended the Mizzou spring football game at Faurot Field.


Note the serious look on my face. When I comes to football, I don't mess around ... All business! This was my first Tiger spring game since the early '90s, and thankfully the team is MUCH better now. The Tigers are coming off a 12-2 season, with the sweetest victory a 38-24 beatdown of the despised Kansas Jayhawks! (Yeah, yeah ... they got a basketball national championship ... that should keep those dirty birds quelled for another few months.)


[karen: check out how early they start brainwashing kids in Missouri! CRAZY TALK!!! I'm not sure if this next little fella is looking at her tail or tail end. YOU be the judge!]


Despite sitting in a puddle upon arrival and suffering with a damp rump for most of the game, I enjoyed watching QB Chase Daniel work his magic. Karen was a real trooper dealing with the low-50's temps and dank conditions. She had her Powercat sweatshirt as one of her layers of clothing. She is a true Purple One at heart.

[karen: DUDE! In my defense, it was FREEZING and I don't own another hoodie!]

Devil's Ice Box

Just lots of pretty photos to look at from The Devil's Ice Box (in Rock Bridge State Park)

This is the same rock from the above photo, but from a different angle. Interesting how perspective changes EVERYTHING.


The stairs down to peer into the water.


Erik explaining to me that you have to get WET to get to the Devil's Ice Box. Um, in 50 degree weather, that did NOT happen!


Sign explaining "the rules."


Beautiful water action down the side of a rock formation:




Erik checking me out while I took the above photos. ;-)

Rock Bridge State Park in Columbia, Mo.

[karen: after all those eating photos, I seriously need to burn some calories, so I'll share this series of photos]


We also managed to squeeze in a trip to Rock Bridge State Park, which is located just south of Columbia. It wasn't the best day for a jaunt around the trails and a peek into Devil's Icebox. I've actually been inside that cave, but the water was much lower and my common sense was not as developed in those days.

[I don't always follow the rules ... I ascribe to the philosophy that "it's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission" BUT at the park, I opted to NOT cross the yellow sign!]


[Why did I follow the rules? Check out the missing planks! I'm TOTALLY bummed we didn't get to walk under there, but want to make it to our wedding day, so I took a rain check.]



[this photo is from the Devil's Ice Box area ... stay tuned for more photos from there tomorrow!]

Why oh why ...

can't be registering at Lowe's or Home Depot be SIMPLE???????

[sorry, I'm interrupting the Missouri trip blogs from Erik, but this is getting my goat!]


So, a friend in Hays wants to throw us a bridal shower. Great! BUT there's nowhere in Hays we're registered. SO I go to Home Depot's web site, thinking I'll create a registry similar to the ones for Lowe's or Target. WRONG. Can't do it. Gotta go to the store. THEN when I got to the store, I was given a piece of paper with SEVEN LINES on it for all of my registry items. Umm.....not enough.


I encountered something similar when we registered at Lowe's. I had to walk around the store with a sheet of paper. It is seriously annoying. BUT at Lowe's, at least I can go online and adjust my registry. BUT I never got a clear answer at the store of whether my registry will be at multiple stores ... again, NOT helpful.

At Home Depot, it was VERY clear — the registry was tied to the individual store. Again, NOT helpful.


Seriously, what the heck???? Target has an awesome registry program. You show up, sign up and they give you a scanner gun to go around the store with. THEN you can go online and change the registry, and the registry is available at ANY Target store in the country. VERY helpful.

So....point of all of this? Target is the only place I found with its act together. Oh, and if you are wanting to go to HD or Lowe's for a registry, I suggest you go to our wedding registry page and print OFF the list from the link there, THEN go to Lowe's or Home Depot and do your shopping (the brands might be different, but you'll get a general idea of what we're needing to fix up Erik's house based on the registry).

Bottom line? There are plusses and minuses of each place. The Home Depot team was VERY friendly. EVERY employee I encountered asked how I was doing and if I found everything ok. Lowe's didn't have that awesome customer service, but does have online registry options....

Eating our way through Columbia, Mo. — part 2

Karen and I managed to squeeze in a trip to Flat Branch Pub and Brewing, which was one of my many places of employment in the 90's. [karen: think "prodigal son returns home."]

[karen: Immediately, Erik wanted to check out the beer list]


[After being a ham, he got RIGHT down to business!]


While the food isn't quite as outstanding as Murry's, the beer typically knocks my socks off. I have a growler of it sitting in my fridge at home, just waiting for the right time to be consumed.


Somehow, I managed to get Karen in a headlock and convince her to split a stout brownie sundae with me. It was as good as I remembered with the warm brownie served with Tiger Stripe ice cream and whipped cream. Oh, heavenly days! Frankly, nothing in Salina compares.

Eating our way through Columbia, Mo. — part 1

[editor's note: this post was written by Erik, but posted by Karen]

Welcome to the Erik portion of the program!

Karen has been gently suggesting for awhile that I need to get down with this blogging gig so our recent trip to Columbia, Missouri seems like a good opportunity to break on through to the other side. (That's a Doors reference for those of you born in the 70s with a general knowledge of Rock and Roll.) [karen note: that's ME!]


You know what time it is? Murry's time, baby!

After checking in to our crack motel (Although we never actually witnessed any exchange of crack for money, this motel ... not Motel 5 or Motel 7, but something inbetween ... one could picture that transaction taking place on site), Karen and I bolted for one of my favorite dining establishments of all time — Murry's.

I discovered Murry's during my freshman year at Mizzou, and it became a regular in the rotation, instantly. While Karen has wedding nightmares, I have dreams of mound after mound of Murry's onion rings. [note from Karen: the following photo might give small children nightmares, so proceed with caution]


Oh, sweet bliss!!!!!! Without actually experiencing the tender, cripsy delights yourself, it's tough to get across how good these bad boys are. It's safe to say, most other appetizers are like ashes in your mouth in comparison. Karen can confirm. [karen is HUNGRY for Murry's O-rings NOW!]

[editor's note: stay tuned for more entries on our Columbia trip!]

MORE shoe choices!

Siiiiigh. I seriously don't know what to do!

There is a clear winner from the wedding shoe poll .... BUT one of my wedding photographers, the amazing Heather, sent me some MORE shoe options. UGH! (This is in a GOOD way, though!) :-)

SO .... should I choose a new one?


Keep the favorite from last week?



Choose the NEW sexy ones the awesome Kitty Maer found???? HELP!

BBC update!

Wow. WoW. WOW!!!!!!!!!

I was TOTALLY shocked Saturday night by some news I did NOT expect: I was invited to Liana's Business Boot Camp (Bananas EDU)!!!!!!!!!!!

Erik and I were in Columbia, Missouri tooling around. He took me on to MIZZOU for the spring game/scrimmage. The mini break was much needed by both of us (But ERIK will be blogging all of the fun details later this week!)


SO, we ate at Flat Branch, the brew pub where Erik used to work, and afterwards I needed to get a phone number from off of the internet. We found some Wifi and I pulled up my e-mail to let it download the new messages while I grabbed what I needed.

I got the number, but quickly looked through the e-mails. It was then I saw an e-mail from Liana telling me someone canceled and since there was space free (and I was one of the five finalists for the scholarship), I was invited to come. YIPPIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I'm in SUCH an excited daze! I need to book a plane ticket pronto for Atlanta.

I'm seriously excited because as I move and set up my office in Erik's place in Salina, I will basically have a clean slate. I'll have none of my current disorganization (i.e. wedding/portrait contracts lying on my bedroom floor). i will be able to set up the optimal work space and work flow (I just don't know what that is yet!).

This is SUCH a blessing. Even a BIG surprise. Especially since I was not in any way, shape or form expecting this. It's these things when you have NO sense of entitlement that, when they come to fruition, are just ..... beautiful surprises (plus, I'm super excited to romp around Atlanta with my friend Sarah!).

On the down side, we had to postpone our engagement session, which was supposed to take place Sunday. I'm bummed, especially since I just got my hair cut all cute, but Erik is SUCH an understanding man and I'm thankful he's a good sport.

SO....stay tuned later this week for some blow-by-blow of our culinary tour through Columbia. There might even be a photo or two of spring game festivities!

Wedding shoes — help me choose!

There's NO WAY I'm going to wear BORING shoes for the wedding!


I'm trying to find some fun options, a la the Jefferson Todd image above or this Jose Villa photo.



BUT I seriously can't choose a pair of shoes!!!! (I plan to wear something more comfortable for the reception, so don't worry if they've got heels!)

For example, a possible reception shoe:



SO, here are the options:
1.



2.



3.



4.



5.



6.



7.



8.



9.




Have a better suggestion? Leave a comment or drop me an e-mail!

This is probably my FAVORITE shoe, but it doesn't come in blue (I'm going for a blue shoe, if you couldn't tell!)



But fear not! I won't leave the men out of the fun. At least not Erik! I'm plotting and plan to have some fun socks for him, too!