Somerset Ridge Winery

Another weekend went by packed full of events.  Friday night we had plans with friends to go to a sushi happy hour at RA Sushi and then see the new Spiderman movie; however, we arrived too late and it was over an hour wait, so we had to reschedule the happy hour for Saturday because we didn't have enough time before our movie.  I was thinking about going to Somerset Ridge Winery in Paola, Kansas suggested by one of our friends because the scenery was better than the one up the street from our house. 



Mom - I want you to make me this "Wine" cork holder for Christmas, please.

So, we all packed some snacks and carpooled to the winery on Saturday.  It was only about a 45 minute drive from our house.  The place was pretty cute, but I was expecting a view as pretty as those in Augusta, but I forgot we are in Kansas and the rolling hills are about as exciting as it gets.

For the wine tasting, we split up by who preferred sweet wines versus dry wines.  There were 7 of us, so it was pretty evenly split.  The wines were just okay, but the prices were great.  Greg and I usually prefer red wines, and we actually ended up with a white and pink wine.  I wish we would have asked to try the sweet wines as well.  They did have some different tastes, though, then most places that we have been.  They prepared some of their wines in stainless steel barrels rather than the oak barrels, so the fruit taste was more apparent.

There was a nice breeze in the afternoon, so we were pretty lucky.  We played the game Celebrities to keep us busy.  We have played this with the Schomburgs before at a winery in Columbia.  It was quite entertaining. 

We left early in the afternoon so we were sure to make the sushi happy hour.  It was really good!  After a long day, one of the couples came back over to our house to play some cards and sit out by the firepit.

Sunday we relaxed for most of the day and decided to make sushi again for dinner with a grape and apple juice.  This is our second attempt at making sushi, and I would say it was better than the first, but we still aren't pros.  Our eyes are bigger than our stomachs, and we both ended up with leftovers for lunch on Monday.

Triathlon

Two weekends ago I participated in the WIN for KC Women's Triathlon at Smithville Lake in Missouri.  The triathlon was created to promote women's health in KC.  I did this event 2 years ago with 2 women from my work, and this year there were 6 of us participating from McCownGordon.  The race consists of a 500 meter swim, 10 mile bike, and a 5K run.  It couldn't have been a better day for the race.  Temperatures were at 75 degrees that morning, and I was actually cold waiting for the race to begin, and I finished before it got too warm outside.  Greg and I had to get up at 4:30 AM in order to make it to the race on time.  We had to switch drivers on the way up because I was falling asleep at the wheel.
We were able to look up my score from two years ago, and I was able to beat it this year.

I'm the lonely girl in the back with the striped shirt looking for my coworkers.

Swim Time:  2010 - 14:47 / 2012 - 12:52
Transition 1: 2010 - 2:15 / 2012 - 2:11
Bike Time: 2010 - 36:36 / 2012 - 36:14
Transition 2: 2010 - 1:18 / 2012 - 1:14
Run Time: 2010 - 30:35 / 2012 - 29:26
Finish Time: 2010 - 1:25:21 / 2012 - 1:19:54



Yes, I am as miserable as I look...

I wouldn't say I trained all that much harder this year in order to improve my time.  I don't even know if I trained at all.  My co-workers printed off training schedules that they were going to follow (and never did), and I received a copy, and it would have the week's laid out building up to the distances of the triathlon.  So, let's say Week 1, you would spend Monday maybe biking 2 miles, Tuesday, swimming 4 laps, Wednesday, biking 3 miles and running 1 mile, Thursday, swimming again, etc.  So, instead of spacing the activities out because it seemed to easy to me, I would just bike for 5 - 10 miles, and then Abby and I would go running however long the weather allowed us to run that day, since it is so crazy hot outside.  We would do this around 3 times a week.





Abby throughout the months up to the race was call my "Triathlon Dog", and I think she knows that name means if she waits for me downstairs while I bike, then she will get to go running with me.  And yes, I trained on our stationary bike in the basement in the air conditioning while watching TV and having a fan blow on me.  It wasn't until the week before the race that I got on a real bike...  Next year, that could probably be an improvement to help improve my score more.  Greg did go out and buy another road bike in order for us to be able ride together since I was using his bike.  So, on Wednesday before the race we rode 4 miles to go get icecream, and then rode 4 miles home.  I'm not sure if the icecream helped with the training either, but it was a fun date.

Still looking miserable, but at least I'm passing some of the older women.

Everyone else seemed to be smiling at this point to the Cameraman when looking at the pictures.  He must have been hiding when he snapped my picture because he caught me at my worst moments.

Another improvement would be to go swimming more than twice.  For the race, you line up with how long you think it will take you to complete the swim, and then they allow people in the lake every 6 seconds.  Two years ago we started at the 9 minute mark, and I swam around 14 minutes.  This year I stayed back with my coworkers around 11 minutes and did pretty well.  However, I didn't even waste my time with freestyle.  I swam the entire 500 meters on my back.  I just couldn't put my head under the water because I was breathing so hard.  We went swimming in our neighborhood pool once with another couple who teaches swim lessons.  She gave me some pointers, but all I could remember was just how hard I was breathing.  It's a lot of work to swim well and make everything sync up with your arms, legs and breathing.  I just needed more practice, but every time I would swing up by the pool (okay, let's be honest, there were only 2 attempts, but I thought about it a lot more), there were just too many children and they would scare me off, and I would walk back home.

There were 1000 participants.

All in all, the race was a personal success of mine, and I'm happy again that I participated and finished.  I signed up again because I knew I could do better than the first time, and that goal was met.  I could probably improve, yet again, by more training, and my bike chain did fall off during the biking portion of the race (luckily I was able to put it back on in less than a minute), but that could give me some more time to work with.  Greg thinks I could train enough to win the entire race... I appreciate that he has hope for me, but I told him to keep dreaming...

Master Bedroom Furniture Rearrangement

The Original Layout

We've been in our house now for a year, so I decided that I wanted to switch up our master bedroom.  Maybe next year I would be so lucky as to get new furniture for our room.  I'm sure most of you recognize this set because it's been around for 15+ years.  I think my parents bought it for me when my family moved into our house when I was in 6th grade, so I've had it for quite a while, gained some scratches, removed the finish in an area, and Abby decided to gnaw on the corner of the footboard while I was at Ash Wednesday mass one evening when she was mad at me for stopping home after work to only let her out and feed her and then leave her by herself again.  Nevertheless, the furniture set has been good to me and nice to have in our room.

When I think of a master bedroom, I think of a quiet, relaxing comfortable space.  I would say our room is far from that at this point.  All I can think of is when we rile up Abby so she bolts out of our room to the stairs, turns around and runs full speed back and jumps on the bed, and repeats that 4 or 5 times.  It's very fun, but I know it will have to stop one day when we get nicer things.

Our room does have potential because it is a decent size.  So as we do with all of our rooms, the picture below shows the original owner's decorations.  I shouldn't have reminded myself of what their room looked like because now our furniture definitely looks like it belongs to a 10 year old girl.

We arranged our room similarly using the long wall as the focal point with the bed centered between the windows, but with the door entering on the long side of the room, it never felt like a true focal point because of the angle, but that may just be because of the finish of the woodwork gets lost in the color of the walls or because we don't have any window treatments or artwork above the bed.  This will all change one day. 

What was also annoying about this layout was that the bed stared into the bathroom that doesn't have a door, so whenever Greg and I would go to bed at different times or when I would wake up earlier, the light blinds the person in the bed.  I tried to get a picture of the situation, but the flash on the camera didn't do it justice, and it doesn't look so bad.  Trust me, it's bad.

The new layout is against the far wall and is truly the focal point of the room.  Again, mostly because you're staring staight at the bed and no thanks to any decorations.  I wasn't sure if I wanted the long dresser in between the windows because it crowds the space a little, but without it that wall would be so bare.  It needs some giant paintings! 

What bothers me most about all of these matching bedsets is that it doesn't come with 2 night stands. I don't like that it's not symmetric on each side of the bed.  So, when we finally decide to buy new furniture for our room, I'm going to break up a set and get some different pieces that still go together.

Enough about reality, let's dream for a bit before I head off to my child-like bedroom.

A picture of a master bedroom that I have always liked is shown below.  I can't decide if I'll move forward with it because it doesn't have a contemporary feel and may be a bit too elegant for me.  And, let's be honest, Greg would never go for the mirrored night stands.  Although, we do want a smaller couch or bench at the end of the bed or a seating area, and we've even thrown around the idea of hardwood floors upstairs at least in the hallways, but maybe in our room, so we can have a fantastic area rug to add lots of personality.

Well, this will have to do until next year when I get into the design phase of the room.

Good night!

Gettemeier Family Get-Together in STL

It's been too long since the last post because our weekends have been filled with lots of social events and fun with our friends, so the house projects have been put on hold while we are enjoying our summer.  This past weekend we went home to visit our families and celebrate my cousin's daughter's 1 year old birthday party.  Josye was born 2 days before Greg and I's wedding.  She is the happiest, cutest little girl, and I can't wait for her to be walking around and talking.

She really enjoyed her cupcake and she had to wash off in the pool afterwards.

The party was circus themed, and I should have taken more pictures of the decorations and all of the kid's swimming.  My cousin had an artist that draws caricatures at the party.  He asked each person what they wanted as their background.  Greg and I chose frisbee golfing.



How do you think he did?  I think it looks pretty good.

Since we moved away, we don't get to go to all the family get-togethers for birthdays that my mom's side of the family, the Gettemeier's, like to do, so it seems as though everyone is growing up so fast and my cousins continue to add to their families.  Out of my 5 cousins that are married, there are 9 children and one more on the way.  This weekend we were able to meet Maddex who is 4 months old.  He is an adorable little baby starting to smile at funny faces.

  

Now to talk about my little guy (a cat) for a bit... When we go home and share our time between Greg's family's house and mine, I always drop Chase off at my parents' house first because he doesn't often sleep in new places.  He's typically up all night playing with new things he finds or often pawing at the blinds to see outside.  So, we got a good night's sleep on Friday at Greg's parents' house, and on Saturday, I was up numerous times trying to contain Chase.  I had to kick him out of our room because he was trying to eat the blind pulls, then an hour later he would paw at the door.  So, I then locked him in the back of the basement.  Somehow he was really strong and opened up the door and woke me up again pawing at our door.  I lost my last nerve and locked him out of the basement completely, so he would have to be upstairs with my parents who sleep like rocks (hopefully).  My mom said she didn't hear him at all, but we woke up to all her yarn around the house leading from her closet where she keeps it.  

Chase is always exhausted from the weekend of not sleeping, and he such a sweetie on Sunday evenings when we get back to Olathe, and he wants to cuddle and sleep. 

As of right now, we don't have another trip planned home to visit until September for a wedding.  So, let us know of any future parties coming up, or let's get something on the calendar.

St. Pat's 10K Race & Weekend in STL

We traveled to St. Louis this past weekend for Greg and his friends to participate in the St. Patrick's Day 10K Race.  The boys decided to make a weekend of it and rented a hotel room for the evening and had a night out downtown.  Greg finished in 44 minutes, and they were all smiles at the end of the race!

Ryan, Jeremy and Greg - Both of them were in our wedding

We took a half day on Friday and got into town early.  My parents surprised us with a finished basement!  They were always going to finish the basement, but as I know now, projects take longer than expected.  At Christmas, they explained how they were going to lay it out, and just like that, they were smart and hired the help to do the items that they couldn't do themselves or that would take several months to complete.  It looked great, and now Greg and I have a bedroom there to call our own.  That afternoon, Greg went to a shooting range with his friends, Jeremy and Andrew,  went out to dinner, and then Andrew and Greg came back to my parents' house and our friends, Jessica and Evan, stopped by as well.  We played a couple games on Wii Sports, and then called it a night.


Jessica's grandpa passed away last week, and I was able to attend the funeral on Saturday.  Jessica has asked me when she was going to debut on this blog, and unfortunately, this is the first mention of her, but there will be many more in the future, I promise!  Jessica's grandpa was exceptionally welcoming and friendly growing up.  He made me feel like one of his grandchildren, and I just remember him being so funny.  He will be missed!


I should also mention my grandpa, who I was able to see on Saturday before the funeral.  He switched his internet service, and he had asked me how to save his favorites again to the toolbar at the top of the computer.  After a little research, we were able to figure it out.  Greg has always customized his toolbar on his computer, and I thought it was just as easy to type in a website in the browser that I visit frequently rather than saving it to my favorites; however, if my grandpa does it, then I should be able to do it as well.


Sunday we went to Greg's parents house for lunch and had delicious fish and beef tacos and brownies for dessert.  We like to play a game that we call "Guess What's New Around the House", and Greg and I find the new or changed items that they have done since our last visit.  We may no longer be able to play this game when they come to our house since I will be blogging about most of it.  We also were able to look at pictures of all the blankets and quilts that Greg's mom and her mother have made over the years.  I wish I would have counted them all.  All of them very unique and beautiful.  She is very talented.  I have learned how to crochet in the past, but I'm not sure if I will be able to pick it up one day.  I haven't been able to find that niche of mine yet, maybe it will be blogging, I'm not sure.


Enjoy the week and make the most of it!  We are getting rain all week long, but the weekend looks nice, so we may start looking at plants for the lawn.

Stone Pillar Winery Friends

Saturday was beautiful in Kansas City with temperatures reaching 70 degrees.  Rather than running outside, Greg and I decided to spend the afternoon at the winery! 

We live around 2 miles from Stone Pillar Winery, which is a small, family owned winery that we pass on our way home from work each day.  They have 2 dogs that run around the property that we have grown to love.  There is Ginger, who we found out this weekend is 14 years old, and there is Scout, who became Greg's best friend.

The plan was to meet some friends up at the winery and then go back to our house to continue to hang out.  We didn't get to the wineries until 4:30 pm, and only one of Greg's co-workers and his wife showed up for a half hour before it closed at 6 pm.  We did go out to dinner with Jeremy, and then he and Derek, another one of Greg's friends came over to our house to play Loaded Questions...again.  Once again, we haven't laughed that hard in a long time. 

Derek was dog-sitting that night for a small dog, and Abby and Charlie loved it.  Chase and Abby are also starting to like using our curtains as a blanket.

I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend as well!

Weekend with Mackie

We had another family visitor this weekend!
Mackie decided to come in town!  Abby greeted Mackie with lots of love and smiles, and Chase decided to nip her on the butt.  It was a perfect, relaxing weekend of working out, watching HGTV, walking Abby, watching movies, shopping and going out to dinner.

Mackie cooked us some of her famous salmon on Friday, which I love, and I made some cheddar broccoli soup with sweet potatoes.  Greg provided the vegetables by making a juice.  While we were eating dinner, Greg got us addicted to his trivia game on his phone that we couldn't put down.  Finally, we said one more game, and it ended up being two, and then we watched the movie 50/50, where Abby and Mackie cuddled throughout the entire movie.

We had plans on Saturday to work out, and go out to the movies to see The Vow.  I introduced Mackie to our elastic band work out videos that we like to do, and she was feeling it on Sunday with some sore muscles.  We went to the movie on the plaza for $4 in the afternoon.  Can't beat that!  Then, we shopped around for jewelry to go with her model's dresses for the upcoming fashion show.

Mackie introduced me to a very bad thing this weekend.  She showed me that you could watch more shows on HGTV's website by going to the shows website first, and then clicking on full episodes.  I thought I almost got through my addiction by watching all the episodes that I thought the website had to offer, but now I have so many more to watch.  We watched the show Property Brothers throughout the weekend, which I would say is a new favorite of mine!

After she left on Sunday, it was back to reality with a house that needed to be cleaned and a China cabinet that is nearing completion.  Look forward to an upcoming post on the China cabinet!