Wine, Women and Shoes
Posted on September 18, 2018 by Ching under Events.
A few pictures from Wine, Women and Shoes event by the Wesley Chidren’s Foundation. This is the first benefit that Brian has sat out in a long time. The funny thing is, he actually wanted to go but I thought it was a women only event so I told him to stay home and took Kate as my plus one instead.
Me and Pat and Kate
Me and Stephanie
Also ran into Annette and Mike, which made me feel bad for asking Brian to sit this one out. There were actually a lot of guys there.
Guys even had their own special area. The Gentlemen’s Lounge had scotch and bourbon tastings and cigars!
Here’s a picture of Kate with one of the handsome “shoe guys” at the event.
Kate and I at the after party, which we didn’t realize wasn’t included with our event ticket. Oops! Anyway, I didn’t stay too late because Brian wasn’t with me. Kate and I had a lot of fun but it’s just not the same without Brian.
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Grace Hill Winery Tour and Tasting
Posted on September 17, 2018 by Ching under Things to Do.
Jay, Becca, Brian and I attended a tour and wine tasting at Grace Hill Winery last month through the Young Professionals of Wichita. We may or may not have been the oldest attendees. LOL.
Everyone met up in the Rotary Club parking lot downtown (which I didn’t even know existed but is pretty cool — I’ll show you pictures of it later) where we boarded a party bus to the winery in Whitewater, which is about 30 minutes away. Here are a few pictures from our outing.
I’m not sure why these two looked so serious. By the way, check out Jay’s spiffy “Rebecca” name tag. LOL.
The two people who ran the wine tasting were very informative. They were also super nice and poured quite generously. I wish I would have blogged about this sooner because, now that I’ve slept since then, I can’t remember their names.
Here are pictures of the wines we got to sample. First up was El Gato Moscato.
This one is Dodging Tornados, a sweet red.
This one is Vignoles. I don’t think I liked this one because it wasn’t memorable to me. I don’t think I liked this next one either.
Chloe’s Cuvee is one of my favorites. We actually bought a bottle of this wine from the gift shop to take home with us.
Peckerhead Red, also a sweet red.
Black Out dessert wine.
This is the Beach Day Rose. It wasn’t part of the wine tasting but it was what the girl was drinking and she let me try some of it.
Just a few of the bottles of wine that was consumed that afternoon.
Gratuitous wine glass picture.
Picture of Grace Hill Winery’s award-winning wines.
Here’s a picture of the wine gift box that we bought.
Just a few pictures from the winery tour part of the afternoon.
I took a picture of the entry as we were getting ready to leave.
Picture of the bus ride to the winery.
Vs. the bus ride back to Wichita when everyone was so much more relaxed, as can be expected after a few glasses of wine.
Some obligatory selfies.
It was a great time and I would totally do it again. I’m glad we decided to go. I’m also glad that Jay and Becca decided to join us.
Until next time. GNG.
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Pictures from Youth Entrepreneurs’ Biz Bang 2018 Event
Posted on September 9, 2018 by Ching under Events.
Brian and I had the privilege of attending Youth Entrepreneurs’ Biz Bang 2018 last month. With the exception of the Home for Doc Gala, this is probably the most lavish event that we’d ever attended.
Here’s a picture of me and my friend/coworker Yuvina.
As you can tell, I’m the only woman in costume. Yikes!
I misunderstood the invitation and thought they wanted guests to show up in superhero-themed attire. Thus, the Wonder Woman shirt and cape.
Unfortunately, no one else interpreted the memo as I did. All the women were in fancy dresses. “Summer chic” was the suggested attire for if your “cape was at the cleaners.” Well, mine was clean so I decided to wear it. LOL.
I saw a couple of guys with Superman shirts under their dress shirts, as Brian had done, but none of the other women, with the exception of the volunteers, had superhero outfits on. I felt quite silly (think Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, but with me as Wonder Woman at a fancy gala instead of a Playboy Bunny at a frat party) but didn’t let that stop me from having a great time.
These lavender lemonade vodka drinks made my Xclusive Events‘ Crystal McDonald helped me to loosen up and not focus so much on the misunderstanding about the dress code. They were so delicious and didn’t taste alcoholic at all.
Here’s Crystal, the woman behind the delicious concoction.
Here’s a group selfie we took with Yuvina and her brother Luis early in the evening.
Another one with Mike Carroll from Splurge magazine.
Charles Koch had the same idea as Brian. He also wore a Superman shirt under his shirt. At least Brian was in good company with his choice of attire.
Here are a couple of selfies of me and Brian at the event.
Anyway, we had super awesome time despite my feelings of being out of place. Not just because of my outfit but also because we were surround by people who had more money than we could ever hope to make in our lifetimes. Seriously. Nothing in the live auction went for less than $25K. It was ridiculous — but also awesome in that the event was hugely successful and they raised a lot of money for Youth Entrepreneurs, which is a really great program. I highly recommend it to everyone. I wish they were available at my school when I was in high school.
That’s all for now. More stories and pictures next time. GNG.
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Our Anniversary Weekend
Posted on September 8, 2018 by Ching under Date Ideas, Relationship.
Brian and I started our anniversary celebration this year with manis and pedis at our favorite local salon, Nails and Beyond.
I picked this one for my toenails because I liked the color. I took a picture because I thought the name was clever.
It’s sparkly but still kind of neutral, which is my style. I don’t really get into crazy nail polish colors or designs. I keep it pretty basic most of the time.
This is Brian getting an arm massage from Vanessa.
Here’s the finished product. I rarely (if at all) get my fingernails painted. We both usually as for the “buff shiny” treatment. It’s $5 more but the natural shine actually lasts a few weeks and you don’t have to worry about yucky, chipped nail polish.
We ended up going to Carrabba’s for dinner after. We were going to just eat at Taco Bell because I had this whole post planned about how you really don’t have to spend a lot of money or do anything fancy for anniversaries. I was trying to make the point that it doesn’t really matter where we are as long as we’re together. Anyway, I got derailed by a “happy hour all day” email from Carrabba’s. Of course, I would rather eat the delicious food at Carrabba’s any day. But the point is, if all we had money for was Taco Bell, that would be just fine with me too.
Love is all we need.
The next night Brian took me to a surprise anniversary dinner at Siena Tuscan Steakhouse. I figured it out as we were driving there. He said he wanted to go somewhere we’d never been before. I’d had lunch at Siena a few times before but never dinner. I guess he forgot that I’d been there. I told him dinner is different. This was my first dinner experience there. I was really proud of Brian for going out of his comfort zone.
We started with the bruschetta. It was delicious. I would totally go back just for this. The salmon had the perfect smokiness. I thoroughly enjoyed every bite.
Anyway, here’s a better picture.
We also both got Caesar salads.
Guess which one of us had the anchovy and which one didn’t.
Brian got the fettuccine bolognese. It doesn’t look like much but it was amazing! Next time I’m here, I’m totally getting it.
I had the grilled salmon, which you can’t really see too well in this photo. It was also very good but I really liked what Brian had.
We finished with a tiramisu, which they serve in a cute little mason jar and top with an even cuter mini macaron.
It looks even cuter next to Brian.
The one thing I found out that night that I didn’t know before is, much like the Ambassador Hotel in Kansas City, this Ambassador Hotel also offers complimentary parking and shuttle service to the shows when you dine with them. I told Brian I would make a mental note for next year. Also, posting it here on the blog in case I forget.
Traditionally, we always take anniversary selfies.
The next day, we continued the celebration by watching the Music Theatre Wichita production of the Little Mermaid.
MTW had several great shows this year but this was the first one that we’d been able to attend all season. Brian really wanted to see Pippin but we were in Orlando that weekend. Next year Chicago falls during ZINCON, which I’m a tad distraught about. I really want to see Chicago but I don’t want to miss ZINCON either. It’s quite a tough decision. I guess it will all depend if we end up with season passes.
Anyway, that’s pretty much our anniversary celebration in a nutshell. It’s quite low-key just like us. Happy 16th wedding anniversary to the two of us. Until next time!
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2018 Wichita Corporate Challenge
Posted on September 7, 2018 by Ching under Things to Do.
I usually get super excited about the Wichita Corporate Challenge because it’s the closest that I’m ever going to get to competing in an Olympics type of event. Apparently, I was the only one super excited about it. LOL.
It was like we didn’t even try. And, deservedly, we didn’t place.
I’m not sure how they decided who would compete this year. It seemed very random to me. For instance, they didn’t have Isaac play in the ping pong event. That would have been a guaranteed gold for us.
Another thing I thought was weird was me being assigned to Cornhole. I normally compete in the bowling event. I have to admit, I was very confused about this at first. I didn’t understand why I got assigned to an even that I’d never ever competed in before, other than I think they really didn’t have any other volunteers for it. Who knows? The weird thing is that even though I was competing in an event that I had absolutely no experience in, we actually managed to take third.
In the years I’ve been participating in the Wichita Corporate Challenge I had never earned a medal before. Go figure it’s an event that I absolutely have no training in. LOL. I was actually a little bit frustrated in the beginning because I knew I sucked at Cornhole. I thought there were others much better at Cornhole that should have represented our company and perhaps would have increased our chance of winning. See, I’m a team player. As much as I want to participate in events and play, if I know someone is better then I’m not going to take try and take their spot because I want our team to win.
Like last year for instance, I really, really, really wanted to compete in the ping pong event but I knew that we’d have a better shot with Amy so I was fine with not playing. And it was totally worth it because I got to watch her and Isaac win gold. They obliterated the field.
I was thinking I probably could have served the team better in the bowling event as opposed to Cornhole but I guess things happen for a reason. I never would have medaled in bowling. Everyone else in that event is amazing!
At least with Cornhole luck is much more of a factor. And, lucky for us, she was on our side that day.
* P.S. I realize that this post is a month overdue (the Wichita Corporate Challenge happened last month). I’m still trying to get caught up.
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