Archive for "Things to Do"
Tulip Time at Botanica
Posted on May 8, 2022 by Ching under Things to Do.
Here are some video highlights from our recent trip to Botanica for Tulip Time.
I’m so glad we had the opportunity to see the tulips this year.
It was a little cold that day but we had a great time nonetheless.
We will have to do this again next year. Until next time, GNG.
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More Coffee Adventures with Chris
Posted on March 30, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink, Things to Do.
Since I started going back in to the office the beginning of March, I’ve had the pleasure of going on coffee runs with my friend Chris Townley. We went to Mokas a few weeks ago and have also visited a few other coffee shops.
Sunflower Cafe is one of our favorites. It started as a coffee truck at the ICT Pop-up Urban Park, which is no more. To clarify, the Sunflower Espresso coffee bus still exists. It’s the pop-up park that’s gone — which makes me very sad because it used to be my go to place for lunch.
Anyway, here are some pictures from our Sunflower Cafe adventure…
The interior of the place is not huge but I’m grateful that you can at least go inside, unlike at Espresso to Go Go, where you have to stand outside in the cold to order and wait for your drink.
Above is a picture of their menu and below are the cafe hours and daily specials.
The coffee is good but my favorite thing at the cafe is their selection of Lovie & Co ICT handmade artisan chocolate bars. Brian doesn’t like all the stuff in it but I sure did. I bought a bar for us to share, so I picked one that I thought Brian would most like, but he prefers his chocolate bars unadulterated so I ended up eating all of it myself — which I was totally fine with, LOL.
If you’ve ever got a hankering for good chocolate (and coffee), you know where to go. Until next time, GNG.
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Trying a New Coffee Shop
Posted on March 19, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink, Things to Do.
I started working from the office two days a week starting this month. We were actually supposed to return to the office a couple of months ago but it kept getting postponed because COVID cases kept surging. Now that COVID has become endemic, things are starting to return to normal — somewhat.
Before the pandemic, I was working from the office five days a week. Occasionally, I would work from home if I wasn’t feeling well or if the roads were not drivable. I think our new normal, at least from the perspective of the department I’m in, will be working from the office a couple of days per week and remotely the rest of the time. For now, anyway.
My boss sent me a “Return to Office Survival Kit” care page which I think she sent to everyone a long while ago but I didn’t get until recently because I hadn’t been in. Every single item was so perfect and thoughtful but, as you might have guessed, I went for the chocolates first.
Honestly, what really helps me survive workdays are coffee runs and walks with my friend Chris Townley. It’s something that we hadn’t been able to do having worked remotely over the last couple of years. Now that we’re both back in the office, we have resumed our coffee runs.
We had to make up for the last two years and so we ventured out quite a ways for our first trip out. We walked all the way to Mokas, this new coffee shop by the Advanced Learning Library.
Here are some pictures of the cute interior.
By the way, Mokas serves food so you can get more than just coffee there.
This table would be perfect for Mexican train dominoes but it’s a tad narrow.
I’m always on the lookout for good tables for Mexican train dominoes. LOL. Anyway, I didn’t get to try it but the food looks good. Chris got a breakfast sandwich which he ate as we walked back to work. He said it was good.
I have trouble eating and walking — unless it’s a burrito or an ice cream cone — so I can’t eat unless we stay. We will have to go for lunch sometime when we have a bit more time to spare.
Food pictures next time. Until then, GNG.
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New Pickleball Courts at WSU
Posted on March 15, 2022 by Ching under Pickleball, Things to Do.
I finally had a chance to check out the beautiful pickleball courts at Wichita State University. There are four lighted pickleball courts on campus, nestled between the Heskett Center and the softball stadium. I had no idea how amazing these courts are until I had the opportunity to check them out for myself a couple of weeks ago. I love how much space there is around each court.
Huge thanks to Ryan Kellenbarger and the ladies — MariAnn Heeren, Greta Siemens, Karen Fox, Lesli Toubassi, and Kimberly Howe — for going with me that night so I wouldn’t have to check out the pickleball courts by myself.
I’m going to try to go back there again tomorrow night with some gals for women’s doubles. I’ll keep you posted. Until then, GNG.
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Chicks that Click
Posted on December 13, 2021 by Ching under Community, Events, Things to Do.
I love the Snowbound pop-up bar concept at Chicken N Pickle so much that I welcome any excuse to go. When Kim Blackman and Lisa Orf invited me to the Chicks that Click event at Snowbound and told me I could bring some friends, I was all over it. I was already going to be playing at Chicken N Pickle that day anyway for the CNP ICT Major League Pickleball team tournament so I figured it was perfect because then I could just come out an hour early.
Sarah is the best bartender/mixologist/bar manager ever! She made an amazing “mocktail” for my friend Lesli Toubassi (below). I liked it so she made me an “adult” version spiked with rum, which was just as tasty.
Deana Holman, Karen Taylor, and Jenny Cole listening attentively to Abby and Kim. Deana and Karen are a couple of pickleball players from Oklahoma who were playing in MLP that weekend. They stayed at Jenny’s house.
We listened to Abby (brains behind the Snowbound pop-up bar concept) talk about how they did Snowbound at the Kansas City location (original/first ever CNP) last year and it was a huge success so they decided to bring it to the other locations this year. I’m not sure how it’s doing at the other locations but it is super popular with my circle of picklers so from that perspective I think it’s doing really well.
Missina Sharp (another out of towner), Krista Crawford, and Rachel McMahon.
The same ladies with Karen Fox. At first Karen said she couldn’t make it but she was able to come out after all.
Deana, Karen (Taylor), Jenny, and Michelle Pease with their fun drinks.
Group photo with most of the girls who attended. Lesli couldn’t stay.
I had to get a gondola pic with my friend Krista who I had ran into at Costco earlier that same day. Then we did again with all the other girls because everything is better when you do it with a group, specially a fun one like these ladies.
Jody Vinson was surprise when she arrived at open play because there weren’t many people there and when she found out we were still all drinking at Snowbound, she came to get us. LOL.
The pre-pickleball drinks made open play quite interesting but I did get a few good practice games in before heading over to Nahola for our more pickleball with Debbie’s group. Anyway, this was the day that we took my car in for an oil change and I didn’t realize they turned off my headlights which are normally set to auto so I don’t ever mess with them. Anyway, I didn’t realize I was driving around without headlights until I was on my way home. Ooops!
I highly recommend checking out Snowbound. I do not recommend driving around without your headlights on. I knew I should have checked but it was daylight when I went to CNP and, even though I didn’t have that much to drink, I completely spaced the checking my headlights because I never really ever have to mess with them. I will be extra careful in the future. Until then. GNG.
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