Archive for "Hobbies"
The Weekend Recap
Posted on September 14, 2026 by Ching under Hobbies.
We kicked off the weekend at a Friday night Wind Surge game, and let’s just say the scoreboard wasn’t exactly on our side. The Wind Surge got blown out, but honestly, nobody seemed to care. We spent the evening hanging out on the Coors Light Party Porch with the Terneses and Warwicks, enjoying great company, and the night ended with an incredible 9/11 tribute drone show and fireworks display. Even with the lopsided loss, it was a fantastic way to start the weekend.
On Saturday morning, I played pickleball and (American) mah jongg with Carrie Soto and her ladies. I ate lunch at TapNPaddles because we didn’t finish mah jongg until almost one o’clock and I didn’t want to drink on an empty stomach.
Then we met some friends for drinks at the Hopping Gnome before heading to Zoobilee. Their new midnight margaritas, created in honor of Practical Magic 2, are deliciously refreshing.
We didn’t want to drive home and then drive back out to the zoo, so we decided to just go straight to Zoobilee from Hopping Gnome (since were already halfway there). I’m always grateful for the free tickets from work because Zoobilee just seems to go downhill every year and I would be really disappointed had I actually paid for tickets. It seems like there are fewer food and beverage vendors participating and more and more people attending. And the ticket price just continues going up.
Brian and I usually go early and high tail it out of there as soon as the food vendors start packing up, which seems to be earlier and earlier every year. I’m not sure if they’re just unprepared for the number of people who attend or what.
Brian and I did run into a few people though, most notably Chelsea Hawthorne who I hadn’t seen in nearly ten years. We used to part of the same close-knit Zumba crew back in the day.
We took one other selfie earlier in the evening just to show we were there (because pictures or it didn’t happen – lol) but we really haven’t been as crazy about Zoobilee as we were in our 20s. I think the Autumn & Art party at Bradley Fair was on the same night and I kinda wish that we went to that instead because it was probably far less crowded.
I didn’t get to take pics on Sunday but we were quite productive. After I got home from playing pickleball, Brian and I worked on our deck. We removed the old roller sunshade, which mostly just serves as a spot for random birds to nest (don’t worry, the birds were long gone for the season so no birds were harmed in our deck makeover project), and then hung some outdoor curtains in their place. We’re getting the deck ready for the new deck furniture we ordered from Ashley Furniture last weekend. We’ve only received the ottomans so far but we have four chairs and a couple of little tables coming. We will share pictures as soon as we get all of the furniture assembled. Check back soon!
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Learning New Things
Posted on September 9, 2026 by Ching under Hobbies.
American mah jongg is one of the new things I learned this summer. My progression has been as follows:
In July, I observed some ladies play American mah jongg at TapNPaddles.
In August, I played for the first time.
Playing in the pool was amazing and I was actually thinking I don’t know why you would want to play any other way. LOL. Since I was gone for almost the entire month of August, I didn’t get to play at all again until last night when we celebrated Carrie Soto’s birthday at TapNPaddles. She had seven tables, plus some spectators. It was so much fun.
It was her birthday but she gave away prizes. She gave winners vintage dice and matching dice dishes. She has such a generous spirit.
She let us pick from a wide array of beautiful dice and dice dishes. There were three different ones I considered but this is the one I ultimately chose.
Anyway, since the MILP team tournament got canceled, I guess I’m playing mah jongg again this weekend. This might be a whole new hobby in the making!
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March Madness
Posted on March 30, 2026 by Ching under Hobbies, Things to Do.
The month of March was all about drinking martinis and reviving old hobbies. First, I picked up crochet again and made a few things.
I made a washcloth and a lizard for Brian.
For myself, I made a coaster and a scrunchy and also a little flower thing (not pictured) using the leftover yarn from the washcloth.
Also in March, I decided to try all 20 martini flavors at TapNPaddles. I actually finished my last one on March 24 but I’ll probably go again tomorrow to have my favorite one. Here’s to ending March with a bang!
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Other August Highlights
Posted on September 26, 2025 by Ching under Community, Hobbies, Things to Do.
August was a full month. Besides our trip to Grapevine for our 23rd wedding anniversary, I got to play a lot of pickleball and participate in several fun things. While I never get to play in the Chicken N Pickle ambassador open play anymore (because it’s on Wednesdays this year and I teach Zumba on Wednesdays at West YMCA), I always manage to stop by for the group photo. August was no different.
I also enjoyed a great month of team league with my awesome KC^2 teammates.
I played some chess at TapNPaddles.
I helped with the Dink Minor Leagues MiLP v3 presented by InPickle Nation at TapNPaddles.
We hung out with Chris Townley and Jay and Becca Dill at family fun day.
We celebrated Zach’s 40th birthday at Flight Club.
We ate lunch at Plentibloom (inside the Ruffin Building).
Brian got to try a new ramen place. I will make a separate, dedicated post about this. Stay tuned!
I played pickleball with some fun ladies.
We had our weekly InPickle Nation mini tournaments at TapNPaddles.
Lots of trips to the ballpark.
September is pretty much over so I’ll be recapping what happened this month soon. Eventually we will be completely caught up. Have a fantastic weekend!
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Brian Got Me Flowers
Posted on September 19, 2025 by Ching under Date Ideas, Hobbies, Things to Do.
A few weeks ago, Brian surprised me with this:
As you know, I’m not a huge fan of flowers. First, they’re expensive; and secondly, they don’t last. They’re a nice thoughtful gift but I honestly thing they are a waste of money. So I was super thrilled when Brian surprised me Lego flowers instead.
He thought it would be fun for us to build it together. We started on it before pickleball one night but it was more involved that we thought so we didn’t finish. Not being a very patient person, looking for all the various pieces and parts was a bit cumbersome at times.
Brian was like, “I thought about just building it at work and bringing it home to you already done.” My immediate, unfiltered reaction was, “OMG. That would have been so much better!”
He did complete building the rest of it himself and suprised me with the finished product when I came home from pickleball.
I love it so much that I decided to take it to work and display it next to my other fake orchid. Speaking of Legos, if you enjoy building Lego sets and drinking wine, Exploration Place has super fun Sip & Build events the next couple of months.
I really wanted to do it in September but none of the dates worked for us. I hope they do it again because none of the October kits were that appealing to me. I wanted to do either the typewrite or the camera kit. But who am I kidding? I probably would have just supervised and watched Brian build both things. LOL. Until next time!
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