Archive for the year 2016
Opera House Coffee and Food Emporium
Posted on November 19, 2016 by Ching under Food and Drink.
I found a new place to eat while I was in Kansas City a couple of weeks ago. It’s called Opera House Coffee and Food Emporium. I’d seen it a few times while riding the KC Streetcar but I hadn’t bothered to stop and check it out until this last time. But then I liked it so much that I ate there twice that same week.
I love that they are right next to a streetcar stop (City Market), which makes it super convenient. I also love that there’s both indoor and outdoor seating so when the weather is nice, such as we’ve had the last few weeks, then you can dine outside.
I also like that the food menu is posted on the window so then you can decide what you want to eat (or even whether you want to eat there at all) before going inside.
Here are some pictures of the restaurant’s cozy interior.
I love the ambiance and can’t wait to take Brian there.
They have a pretty good menu and the food is good.
Here’s what I had on my first visit.
I was by myself that day and decided to eat somewhat healthy. I had the strawberry spinach salad with berries and I added salmon.
On my second trip I brought reinforcements. I met Michelle, Selena, and Kelsey there for dinner the evening of the election. I ordered a the grilled chicken panini, which was delicious. I would totally order it again.
I was pretty happy with the food I had both times. The service is pretty iffy, though. It took forever to get my panini and I probably would never have gotten it if not for Michelle noticing that the cook was just hanging out with a couple of the other workers watching the election updates on TV.
The three of them, Michelle, Selena, and Kelsey, had gotten there ahead of me and they all got their food pretty quickly. Michelle was like, “Isn’t that the cook? How do you not have your food yet when he’s out here hanging out?” Which prompted me to ask about my food. Turns out the guy who took my order completely forgot about it. The cook had it done a long time ago and set it on the counter to be delivered and it just sat there because the other guy forgot to bring it to me. He didn’t remember at all until I asked for it.
Anyway, the food is fabulous. The service not so much.
I still want to bring Brian there, though. Hopefully, the service will be better this next go around.
No Comments
Trolls Movie with Nickira
Posted on November 13, 2016 by Ching under Movies.
I took Nickira to see Trolls (Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Zooey Deschanel) on Friday night and it was awesome. I heard about the movie but hadn’t seen any of the previews. I didn’t have any specific plans for hanging out with Nickira so I asked her what she wanted to do. She didn’t really have any specific suggestions so I made an executive decision to go to the movies. We hadn’t done that in a while.
We decided to stop by Brian’s office since he was still at work and, on the way there, I asked Nickira to read the list of movies at the Palace. None of the movies there appealed to her. Brian suggested Trolls so we drove to Warren West down the street to see it. They had a 4:45 PM showing which was perfect. It allowed us enough time to get there, park, buy our movie tickets, get concessions, and secure the best seats.
I’m so glad we decided to see it. The movie was super awesome. I loved the message (about finding happiness and all that) and all of the singing and dancing was just fabulous. Check out the star-studded cast on IMDB.
I was thoroughly entertained.
I loved all the songs so much I’m actually contemplating buying the soundtrack. They did a great job of blending new and old songs.
There wasn’t a song at all I didn’t like. Even Nickira enjoyed the older songs, which I’m pretty sure she wasn’t familiar with before the movie. And, of course she knew all of the words to “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” She was singing along to it at the end of the movie.
It’s such a feel-good, fun, happy movie. I highly recommend it even if you don’t have any children in your life. I actually thought of taking Brian to see it but he has some other movies that he wants to see first (i.e. Doctor Strange). He says he will watch the movie with me when it comes out on either DVD or streaming. In the meantime, this movie and soundtrack is going on my wish list.
Let me know if any of you guys have seen the movie and what you thought in the comments down below.
No Comments
Sponsored Post: Get Cash Back When You Shop
Posted on November 10, 2016 by Ching under Shopping, Sponsored Post.
If you’re shopping online and not earning cash back bonuses, you’re totally doing it wrong. You need to stop what you’re doing right now and sign up for Ebates before you buy anything else online. Earning cash back is so easy you’re going to be upset that you haven’t done it sooner.
- Here’s how it works:
- Shop through Ebates at your favorite stores.
- Earn cash back on your purchases.
- Get a BIG FAT CHECK or PayPal payment.
Membership in Ebates is absolutely FREE and you’ll earn up to 40% cash back on purchases from over 2,000 participating stores. Plus you can use 10,000+ coupons to stack your savings. I’ve earned over $300 since I joined.
- Top cash back stores include:
- AMAZON – up to 25% cash back
- EBAY – up to 5% cash back
- GROUPON – up to 6% cash back
- NORSTROM – up to 6% cash back
- SEPHORA – up to 4% cash back
- WALMART – up to 2% cash back
- KOHL’S – up to 3% cash back
- MACY’S – up to 3% cash back
Occasionally, Ebates also runs double, triple, and quadruple cash back. See some examples of the types of cash back rewards that could be taking advantage of right now below. Shopping has never been more rewarding!
Plus, you’ll receive a $10 bonus for joining now. You don’t want to miss out on this deal! Happy shopping!
No Comments
Light Your Heart 2016
Posted on November 9, 2016 by Ching under Events.
Here are some fun photos from Light Your Heart last weekend.
Starting with obligatory selfies.
Ran into Mary Anne…
Not done with selfies just yet.
Jessica and Josh attended the event as well and looked dapper in coordinating outfits. Here’s another selfie of me and Brian during the “Clink and Drink” portion of the evening.
Josh tried to win the “Cheers for a Year” drawing consisting of 52 bottles of liquor — one for every week of the year.
Another selfie…
Meatballs and some other appetizers were served before dinner.
A selfie selfie…
Ran into Denise…
Table selfie…
Mike and girlfriend.
James and wife.
Josh and wife.
We had excellent dinner companions.
Lamphouse photo booth pics.
Dinner salad…
Dinner…
Dessert…
They auctioned off golf at Flint Hills National with both Coach Gregg Marshall and Mayor Jeff Longwell. This was definitely the highlight of the live auction as there wasn’t a puppy this year. And, thank heavens for that. LOL.
While that was the highlight of the live auction, the highlight of the entire evening was Mayor Jeff Longwell singing a few tunes for the crowd.
Our emcee for the evening, KWCH’s Michael Schwanke challenged the guests to donate at least $100 to Heartspring to entice Mayor Longwell to sing for us. Sure enough, several guests answered the call, and Mayor Longwell, the good sport that he is, sang a few songs.
They raised a good chunk of change for Heartspring that evening. What a wonderful event!
No Comments
Pictures from the 10th Annual Brew Ha-Ha
Posted on November 7, 2016 by Ching under Events.
Here are a few pictures from the Big Brothers Big Sisters Brew Ha-Ha event at Flint Hills National Golf Club last weekend.
Spot’s Party Bus was there as usual with several busses to cart people between the various lodges and the clubhouse. They’re the party bus company we used for our Pokémon GO party the week before.
We actually got to meet Kurtis, who we worked with in making our party bus arrangements. He was driving the “Wu Spot” bus that night. I think the bus pictured above is their “Yoda” bus.
We also got to see Eddie, the driver who was assigned to our Pokémon Go party. He was driving the pink bus. I like how they have several busses and they had a really good system going that night. You were never waiting around too long for a bus.
The longest we had to wait was when we were at the end of Jim’s street but it wasn’t a designated stop. Kurtis was nice enough to drop us off at the end of Jim’s street on the way to lodges on the other side and he told us to just come back to the same spot when we were ready to return to the party. It worked like a charm. We had to wait a few minutes but, sure enough, a bus showed up momentarily and Eddie just happened to be the driver.
Brian and I like to get there early because the lodges aren’t as crowded and you get first dibs on the food and beverages but also because Flint Hills National Golf Club is breathtaking and you don’t really get to appreciate the scenery as much when it’s dark. This is our obligatory pre-party selfie. LOL.
We also took a selfie with Darcy and Justin. Notice how there’s not anyone in the background? As the evening wears on, there’s more and more people, and the lodges quickly get crowded to where there isn’t anywhere to sit.
If you’ve been to Brew Ha-Ha before or seen some of my pictures from previous years, you know what I mean.
Joe Parten (Carrabba’s) supports the event and has participated every year that we’ve been. Besides Carrabba’s the other participating restaurants Abuelo’s, Bonefish Grill, Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, and Woodfire Grille. We had to get a selfie with Joe because he’s awesome. He’s involved in various community events and it’s great. More people should do the same.
Anyway, you’ll notice that there’s not as many vendors as Zoobilee but that’s exactly why we like it. The food is usually better and there’s not as many people so it’s not so overwhelming. We also love that you get to ride around in a party bus, which also has beer, so your feet aren’t on fire at the end of the evening.
We made our first round with Darcy and Justin and then we ended up going to visit Jim at his house. We ended up visiting a while and then had to wait for the bus to show up so we didn’t end up making it back to the party until almost ten o’clock, which meant no second round for us. LOL. I’m glad that we stopped by the clubhouse though; otherwise, we would have completely missed these fine folks.
We did miss Don and Denise so that was a bummer.
They took off while the rest of the group decided to hang out at the clubhouse a little while longer to enjoy music by Annie Up.
Besides Don and Denise, there were a few others we didn’t get to see. I wish we could have seen everyone but we still managed to have a great time nonetheless.
I did run into Tammy, Stephanie, and Susan from Big Brothers Big Sister and also got to enjoy some great music, delicious food, and fabulous company. Brian and I were a little disappointed that there weren’t any silent auction baskets up for bid this year but it was a great night all in all.
Brew Ha-Ha still tops our list of most favorite fundraising events. I hope we have the privilege of attending again next year.
No Comments
