07.18.09[saturday afternoon blend] another s and p original (very different from our previous originals... in case you missed those, here's a link to our unfinished vlog.)
07.10.09-07.12.09[rollergirls can't spell] s and i enjoyed another fab kc escape. a friday evening arrival afforded late night bar bites and microbrews at the foundry at mccoys in westport. the foundry is quite possibly the best reward for a three hour drive: pot roast sliders, ninja stars, coupled with two pints of ale. perfs. we hotwired a room at the intercontinental on the plaza. so in addition to exploring the area, we also spent time crisping by the pool and relaxing in the oak bar. being wedding season at a fancy hotel and all, we spotted two brides during the course of our stay. and as with every kc visit, we had dim sum at bo lings, shopped at urban outfitters (for me), brooks brothers (for s), and had sunday breakfast at eggtc. (eggtc has the yummiest eggs benedict florentine ever.)
we revisited the nelson-atkins and caught two of their current exhibitions: "inventing the shuttlecocks" and "beloved daughters: photographs by fazal sheikh." among the permanent exhibits, we were surprised to find a monumental cast of rodin's 'the thinker' on the lawn. because of inclement december weather, we must have raced right past it in an effort to enter the building, and not even noticed it last time!
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saturday evening marked the main reason for our visit to kc. filled with noodles, lettuce wraps, and mango boba from po's dumpling bar, we hit the municipal auditorium to see the kansas city roller warriors (#18, 2007 wftda champions) take on the charm city roller girls from baltimore/dc (#5). the bout was a-maze-ing. i only wish that j and s could have been among the 1700 in attendance, to witness the game. (derby news network has a great article/recap of the bout, for those who are interested.) after the game i visited the merch booth to find something to thank p for arranging our comp tickets. and then i collected autographs for the wifey and i. this is when i realized that rollergirls can't spell. only one of seven girls could spell "bourbon" without intensive coaching, and she was a self-proclaimed alcoholic. other girls were determined to spell scarlet with an "i." i guess when you're tall, pretty, athletic, and can knock a girl down... you really don't need academics to get by in life. (i'm the antithesis of that... so i better spellcheck this post before i smack of hypocrisy.)
07.03.09[multiples of five] five years of car payments... trips in nine states (hawaii, california, nevada, arkansas, missouri, oklahoma, texas, tennessee, and kansas)... two auto transports (by sea from hawaii to california and then by land from california to arkansas)... thirteen services... eight tires... and fifty thousand miles marks finally owning my title!
07.03.09[up and coming in the underground] last night, i (aka wasabi) introduced s and i to experience fayetteville underground's monthly exhibit. fayetteville underground is an eclectic collection of local artists, who rent studio space within the empty vaults of the defunct bank of america building on the historic downtown square. the venue itself brims with character and is a perfect platform for rotating gallery exhibits. i's boyfriend greg moore paints on reclaimed metal, making use of rust and blemishes to create really pretty and original pieces. we also really liked the intricately layered multimedia work of kelly price colston and the inspired hot air balloon paintings by nann nwe.
06.06.09-06.10.09[old faithful] s and i had another fabulous, extended weekend vacation with l and b (soon to be the n's, ahhhhh!) this time we visited the aspenized jackson hole, grand teton national park, and yellowstone. on the way to pick up l and b from the airport, s and i snuck in a quick visit to the national museum of wildlife art and viewed the original illustrations of the lorax. seeing dr seuss's sketches, inspired us to collect his books for future spawn.
over the next few days we went hiking, floating, biking, and did a lot of driving. we explored mudpots, all sorts of geysers (my favorite was a little blue one called "depression geyser",) springs, and a fumarole. we spotted marmots, bald eagles, bison, elk, deer, and two lovely ladies who flew in all the way from denver just to paint the beautiful landscapes. (l and b found moose on their last day.) we had wine atop an overlook on our jenny lake hike, climbed up to inspiration point at 7200 feet, pondered the continental divide, and floated along snake river where we spotted beaver dams, bald eagles, pelicans, and a postcard view of the grand tetons.
we gorged on the most awesome s'more rendition ever and collected a pint glass from the snake river brewery, we took plenty of cheesy photos by lewis falls, found the kepler cacades, and sampled big game at the the gun barrel. the gun barrel is a taxidermy museum turned restaraunt, where one dines amongst bear trap displays and sawdust stuffed wildlife. it's definitely not for everyone.
jackson's definitely worth a second visit with the fam.
05.29.09-05.31.09[an unconventional anniversary weekend] this past weekend marked two anniversaries. s and my 2nd wedding anniversary as well as the first anniversary of my 1st derby bout. s and i celebrated two fantastic years with dinner at pot pie. pot pie serves upscale comfort food in a chic and non-pretentious setting, all while nestled in the revitalized westport neighborhood of kansas city. to start we shared a spinach salad, steamed mussels and bottle of pinot grigio followed by pan-seared scallops for s and a delicious chicken pot pie for me. we never pace ourselves to leave room for dessert. early the next morning we made a quick shopping romp in the country club plaza and stocked up on non-essentials at urban outfitters. we followed our successful shopping trip with a dim sum brunch at bo lings. and then visited the kemper museum of contemporary art. Seeing modern art with s is always a treat. his museum tour always includes somewhat insightful and always hilarious commentary. we share the same goofy sense of humor that sometimes makes docents suspicious that we’re up to no good. after our museum visit we drove around and explored the power and light district.
i carbo-loaded and hydrated during our late afternoon drive to topeka to bout the capital city crushers. the crushers were an extremely physical team and I took a fair share of tumbles. at one point, four of us betties were sent to the penalty box while delight was left to fend 4 on 1. our defense was solid for the entire night, while scarlet, wagon, flyon, and joanne contributed to several successful jams. thanks to the blockers i secured a grand slam! the score stayed tight, with the betties maintaining a steady lead. in the end, betties won, 95 to 78, despite the unfamiliarity of skating on a cement floor and a clearly displeased home crowd. (they even boo'd when we won, how rude... but, i guess that's how sports are played.)
the following morning, we had breakfast at eggtc, a favorite breakfast and coffee bar of ours. over vegetable quiche, I studied the ink kc that I had nabbed earlier. the paper reinforced how kc is very much like an affordable, midwestern version of bay area. (who would have thought, right?) after breakfast we visited the city market to load up on biryani, curry, rosemary, and tons of fruits and vegies. (i plan to recreate the curried tofu benedict that i had at alcove a few weeks back in la.)
a few farmers went beyond organic and boasted sustainable biodynamic agriculture. we couldn't stay too long to ponder the true meaning of "green" when farmers drive miles and miles to set up stands at these supposedly "local" markets... since we, ourselves, had a long drive of burning dinosaur fuels ahead of us. on this third visit to kc, i'm still enamored. to me, it's second to only san francisco. one advantage kc has over bay area, is that it has a TON of different industries. this would be a hedged bet for the city's longevity and continued success, instead of relying on a sole industry... *cough cough, detroit.* so as usual, most of the drive back to nwa was spent fantasizing about relocating to kc. one of these days… we’ll move there, if not back to california.
05.15.09-05.17.09[a quick so cal tour] in 72 hours, we... flew to dallas and then ontario, drove to san diego, ate in & out, saw my folks, toured their new house, visited lightning brewery, went to dinner with the family, met up with l&b for drinks... drove to los angeles, had brunch at alcove with c&c, hiked runyon canyon, attended a&g's wedding (we've been waiting ten years for them to officially tie the knot!), stayed up much too late playing brain academy and watching c&c's wedding video, picked up jinky's, visited our new niece, played with grandma pam over skype, collected a trader joe's haul, went shopping (got me some new duds and new moon), and got a massage for s before flying back to northwest arggghkansas...
05.02.09[cake] thunder and rain provided a meditative backdrop for last night's cake concert. if you catch their summer tour, and you want to win the give away, your hint is "peach tree."
05.01.09[PC muscles and the un-PC] this morning, my annual well-woman check up brought more than the usual, uncomfortable encounter with stir-ups. the check-in process included authorizing a hipaa disclosure release. the form included a portion to report demographic statistics. one option stated "asian/oriental." that's right, the term "oriental" was actually used in print. are we in the 1800s?? am i a rug or a vase? oh no, wait... we're in middle america. sigh. the old me would have immediately snapped and accusingly "educated" the receptionist, as if she had any personal determination regarding the language choice. the calmer, current me, simply drew a line through the word "oriental," followed by an arrow with the following written message: "this is an archaic, racist, term." the receptionist pretended not to notice my note, as she scanned the form into my record. no acknowledgment. no apology.
racism stil exists and it's extremely subtle.
04.11.09[easter already?] i can't believe that we're halfway through april. this is the first 2009 weekend where we're not travelling or over-comitted. so, tonight is a chance to back-blog and upload photos over red wine, while watching the vince vaughn wild west comedy tour.
we'll be spending easter morning at church. (gulp, the last time we sat in a pew was 2008. seriously.) afterward, it'll be off to m and c's, where we'll decorate eggs with the kiddos and wet our whistles. haha... is there any other way to celebrate a resurrection?
in other updates...
i'm now certified in geriatrics and still planning on attending the accp review courses in orlando next-next week for a potential future pharmacotherapy certification... but, s and i have also been contriving a derby-related business plan. so maybe in the near future, i'll be upgrading my career. if nothing else, after having filed our taxes, we are in definite need of some write-offs. so even if it's a bust, it won't be a loss.
six weeks ago, c and m had a beautiful and healthy baby girl, whom we'll be visiting in may.
and the undeniably gorgeous and quite awkward robert pattinson came to promote twilight, the weekend before its dvd release. swoon.
my schweeet new decal!
04.04.09[grade a awesome] was literally our most awesome bout ever! the final score speaks for itself. i even scored TWO grand slams in a single jam! (if you've been following my derby career, then you know this type of performance is unheard of. usually i'm grating my dna all over the rink.) our blockers were so on that night. as usual, s drafted a slew of finance and health & wellness wal-martians to the bout. j was so determined to win the raffle of our autographed team photo that he purchased $100 worth of tickets. (he won it!) t rallied a ton of support and lead cheers, which i'm sure reminded mo-kan of who's turf they were visiting.
hopefully our performance won't be an anomaly. our next bout is april 18th against river valley... so we shall see!
03.27.09-03.30.09[new york] along with a weekend of catching up with old harvard friends, c from yale, and k from hawaii who came in on a trans-arctic flight... we got to see the season opener of the gotham city all-stars vs boston derby dames. and i even got to meet beyonslay! it was an amazing bout that's revitalized my love of derby. and of course a great weekend away from the monotony of nwa. while there we visited ground zero, the natural history museum and spent most of our time in the villages like the locals.
i was so star-struck by beyonslay!
i finally found the bigelow pharmacy, while wandering around west village.
03.05.09-03.08.09[vancouver/whistler] canada was pretty cool. totem poles, won ton soup noodles, snowboarding, local microbrews, paninis, and spending an extended weekend with l and b... it doesn't get much better than that!
02.24.09[catching up: nov - feb] for those that don't know, the past few months were insanely busy. the craziness started late november when we began the extremely grown up task of buying our first home. (s already owned a condo in hawaii, but this was our first major purchase as a knotted couple.) we closed on our beautiful home on december 16th and this was immediately followed by holiday events, a cathartic visit to the post secret exhibit at crystal bridges, and a botched prague/berlin holiday trip. (our flight was cancelled and rescheduled five times due to inclement weather at the chicago hub, so we never even made it out of the country!) we were blessed in that orbitz and united were both extremely understanding and gave us full refunds. whew.
the flash washed out our sign, which says "and they lived happily ever after"
stuffing the massey mailbox with a subversive postcard, a la post secret of course.
s and i always find a way to make the best of the less than ideal, so as constellation we booked a last minute holiday weekend in spain's sister city, kansas city! i've raved about kansas city several times in the past and this trip was no exception. of course, we ate extremely well and filled up on the obligatory, we're-in-the-city-so-we-must-get dim sum, brunch at bo ling's. s stocked up on brooks brothers iron-free shirts while i pillaged urban outfitters, anthropologie, and north face. an afternoon at the nelson-atkins museum of art left us in awe. we've been long time subscribers to their newsletters, but never had the chance to actually visit, until this winter. we'll definitely head back as exhibits change.
a homemade poached pear!
after the new year, we spent ten days in my old bay area stomping grounds. s attended the morgan stanely healthcare investment conference while i telecommuted from d's place. i definitely miss california, most notably all the restaurant, market, and shopping options that are lacking here. i probably looked like a freak, when i carefully arranged my trader joe's basket for the perfect "haul" photo of tofu-based dessert, hummus, and cereal. you take options like that for granted when you live amongst a plethora of cultures and ideals... that is, until you experience the homogeneity that comprises the middle american supermarket excursion. i could go on and on about the contrast between bay area and northwest arkansas... but i'll spare you the whine. it was great to see that ns, aw, cw, fc, and yl are all doing very well.
a and p flew out from hawaii to meet us back in nwa and help us move into our new home. i was extremely pleased with two men and a truck. they relocated all of our earthly possessions with such care and were super polite. i was extremely annoyed at how difficult it was to transfer my cox-business internet account. the disorganized and irritating experience rattled me to the point, that i cancelled both our personal and business accounts with them. (yup, i have zero tolerance for unreasonably, awful customer service experiences.) they were so unprofessional, even in comparison to the local slack-jawed utility companies of this area. at&t on the other hand is an awesome company and their customer service is amazing! a-maze-ing.
once we were settled in our new home and a and p were well on their way back to the pacific, the 2009 ice storm hit. everything was encased in ice for a solid week. when the ice eventually melted, a war zone of broken trees and branches littered the streets and many homes and structures were damaged.
the entire month of february was spent either studying or feeling guilty when i wasn't studying for the geriatric certification exam that i took yesterday. s was ever so supportive throughout the process, working alongside me on weekends and evenings. the test was much more difficult than i anticipated, but at this point i can only hope that everyone else who took the test during this particular examination window felt the same and that the percentile works in my favor. i should know my result within a few weeks.
prior to yesterday's exam, this past saturday, was our first roller derby bout of the season. we played against como, whom we also played last year. somehow they got bigger and meaner during the off season, because they kicked our butts... or at least mine, personally. i would loved to have stayed for the after party, as they were all super nice (ahem, until the whistle blew and they pummeled us.) at least i won't have to be studying for anything when our next bouts happen.
oh and i almost forgot, we saw avenue q with h and a last week at the walton arts center. it was hillarious! i had a smile on during the entire show. my favorite characters were the bad idea bears and kate monster. this show is a must see. seriously, you must see this show.
[travelog]
seattle : born
manhattan beach taipei
rancho bernardo
baltimore
tucson
washington dc
new york : 2000 phenom penh angkor wat ho chi minh city chau duc bankok tokyo osaka kyoto
boston newport (ri)
portland (me) venice florence rome :
a&d
kauai
big island
oahu
monterey
san francisco
reno / tahoe
las vegas
napa paris : proposal vienna salsburg san jose (cr) honeymoon quepos monte verde rogers (ar)
branson (mo)
new orleans
louisville
cleveland
overland park (ks)
kansas city (mo)
austin
vail
golden (co)
memphis
dallas
tulsa (ok) oklahoma city (ok) columbus (oh)
st louis (mo)
little rock
orlando
topeka
jackson hole
