Tallgrass Film Festival 2026
Posted on October 26, 2026 by Ching under Community, Things to Do.
This is our first time back at Tallgrass Film Festival in a few years and my first time embracing it fully. In the past, when we’ve gotten Tallpasses from either my work on through Jenni, we’ve always just attended the VIP parties. This year, since it was the final weekend before my hysterectomy, I decided to take Friday off work and really immerse myself in the festival by watching multiple movies and attending as many of the activations as I could.
On the first day of the film fest, we attended the festival opening reception and open house at Wichita State University Shocker Studios. Shocker Studios didn’t exist when I attended Wichita State. The 50,000 square foot facility is located at the old Wichita Mall on East Harry. I guess the facility opened in 2017 but I never knew of its existence until recently. Here’s a video tour of the facility.
We watched our first festival movie, YO Love is a Rebellious Bird, in their large conference rooms. It’s a really interesting story about a friendship between two women who are decades apart in age. Here’s preview trailer.
Since opening night was on Thursday, we opted to skip the kickoff party at Hawk’s Nest. I was off the next day but Brian still had work.
On Friday I met Jenni at Reverie and filmed her first kouign-amann experience before the Crystal Cross screening at Boulevard Theatres. Boulevard at Old Town Square was the main hub for all the movies with a few exceptions–the opening night screening at WSU Shocker Studios and screenings at the Orpheum Theater on Saturday. Here’s the Crystal Cross movie trailer:
After the movie I went to check out the VIP lounge with Jenni where they had really cool themed rooms for people to take photos. We had to keep our lounge stop brief in order to make our next movie screening: Wood Street. Here’s a preview of the documentary:
I really wanted to watch another movie and hit popcorn happy hour in the Cargill Community Tent but Brian was getting off work and I was getting hungry. I decided to go home and pick up Brian for some dinner before our final movie of the day: Loves Company.
This movie was so weird. I’m not sure I would have watched it had it not been part of the film festival so I do appreciate Tallgrass Film Festival for the opportunity to watch something unique and different. There was a theme party at the Cargill Community Tent that night which we also skipped because Brian had an early drive down to Oklahoma to see his parents the next day. Here’s a highlight reel of my day at TFF on Friday.
I had extremely high hopes for watching a bunch of movies on Saturday but ended up sleeping in and getting a later start than I wanted. Despite this though, I’d still watched more movies this festival year than any other year I’ve attended. After a quick lunch at Kim’s Noodle down the street from our house, I met Jenni and Adam at EggCetera downtown and the three of us piled into my car to go to the Orpheum for the screening of Seized. It’s a documentary film about the police raid of the Marion County Record.
After that I went to get Brian at home and we met Adam and Jenni at Piatto for dinner before returning to the Orpheum for Copeland, which was mine and Brian’s favorite film of the festival.
Here are highlights from day 3 of the film festival.
The last day of the film festival kicked off with community breakfast and dance party in the middle of Old Town Square. It was kind of hard to decide what to watch after breakfast. We opted to go see Kansas Shorts, a collection of short films made by Kansas filmmakers.
These are the short films that were included in that block:
- Flooding Kaw Nation: Submerged Cities, Desecrated Graves, and Kaw Lake
- Safer Waters: Artist Stephen Towns on Paradise Park
- Rainbow Rider
- Hit-Woman
- It’s Nice to Finally Meet You
- We’re All Sorry Souls
I wanted to watch more films but it had been a long weekend already. Brian and I decided to take a midday nap break before meeting back up with Adam and Jenni for the awards ceremony and then dinner. We originally wanted to have dinner at Public but forgot that they’re closed on Sundays so we ended up having dinner at River City Brewering Co. instead.
While we’ve skipped most of the parties this year, we did attend the festival wrap party at Velvet Tiger–mostly curiosity. I’d never heard of the Velvet Tiger before. I guess it’s because they haven’t officially opened yet. It’s going to be a pretty hip hot spot (think “upscale dive bar”) on S. Hydraulic, which isn’t really the best part of town but, with the new Goldfinch coffee shop down the street, I’m hopeful that the area will begin to flourish.
Anyway, I’m really glad that TFF weekend happened before my surgery because I don’t know if I would have felt up to sitting through all these movies after my hysterectomy. The only thing that would have been better is if it was actually even earlier because I couldn’t drink alcohol three days before surgery and Brian, who is so strict about following instructions, cut me off on Saturday. They had all that free booze at the events and all I could drink was Pepsi.
Oh, well. Hopefully Jenni will hook us up with passes again next year.
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Bally Bash and Bartlesville
Posted on October 25, 2026 by Ching under Pickleball, Travel.
We packed a lot of stuff in one of my final weekends before surgery. Since I didn’t know how I would feel after, I really wanted to make the most of the last days of freedom. LOL.
I teamed up with my friend Donnie Lesperance for my final Friday Night Fiesta. The next day we attended our first Bally Bash. We’ve always been invited since having met the Ballys through pickleball a few years ago but we’d never been able to make it until this year because we are either out of town or have some other commitment. Last year we missed it due to my birthday getaway to St. Charles. Usually they have Bally Bash later in the month of October so it always falls around either my birthday or Halloween. This year they held it much earlier, which was a good thing too because, not only did the weekend work out well for us this year, but also, had it been later in the month, it would have fallen after my surgery and I probably wouldn’t have felt up to going.
On Sunday, the girls and I had a fun little day trip to Bartlesville so they could check out the new Aught2 Pickleball facility. Brian and I came down on their grand opening weekend so I had been there before but I was excited to show the other ladies. Megan, Gwen, and I rode down with Susie. Ashley and Michelle came from Emporia and met us down there. I made a fun little highlight reel of our trip.
Deana brought together a fabulous group of ladies to play with us, plus Kumar. It was so much fun! You can find some of our game footage in my pickleball YouTube channel. A bunch of us had a nice lunch at La Fiesta after playing. It’s Deana’s favorite Mexican restaurant.
Kumar’s favorite restaurant is Senor Salsa. He had dinner plans there that evening so he did not join us for lunch. He didn’t want to eat Mexican food twice in the same day. I never understood why Kumar and Deana had different favorite Mexican restaurants until this trip.
Apparently, good looking international students (soccer players) at Oklahoma Wesleyan University tend to get part time jobs at La Fiesta as servers. Every semester brings a new batch. The food quality being equal, I finally understood why Deana preferred La Fiesta. LOL.
We had a great time at lunch and even got a group picture with our server Alejandro and his friend and fellow soccer player Mateja in our photo. Mateja was helping a different section but he got in the photo.
The trip down and back was uneventful and didn’t even seem to take that long. Susie is a great driver and the four of us had fun catching up on the trip down. Gwen and Megan slept on the way back while I kept Susie company. Gwen needed to be back by 4 PM and Susie made up a lot of time on the way back. We were back at her house shortly after 4 PM where Brian was waiting, despite an initial ETA of 4:30 PM. I am so grateful to the ladies for making this trip happen. This was the best little road trip before my surgery.
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Glampgrounds at Chicken N Pickle
Posted on October 21, 2026 by Ching under Things to Do.
Fall is my favorite time of year. Not just because of the mild temperatures but because it means Glampgrounds are back at Chicken N Pickle.
Last year, we went later in the season. I don’t believe I did it intentionally, but I booked on my actual birthday. I think it’s just the way our schedules lined up that year. This year we had the opportunity to preview it before reservations opened to the public.
Glampgrounds opened to the public on October 8 and I originally chose my date as October 6 because it fell on mom’s birthday but she actually already had plans that day. I ended up inviting our friends instead so as not to let the reservation go to waste. Mom was actually super busy throughout the last couple of weeks that we didn’t get a chance to give her birthday presents to her until last Sunday.
I joked to Jenni that we should get birthday cake and celebrate mom’s birthday without her but she was busy with Tallgrass Film Festival preparations that she couldn’t make it. We still made the most of our Glampgrounds reservation, though.
Glampgrounds are available through November 28. S’more for your group are free with every reservation. You can make your reservation here.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Chicken N Pickle comped our reservation and great outdoors platter ($48) for this preview visit. However, we did pay for a second great outdoors platter and all of our drinks. Even without the perks, I highly recommend this experience. Have you done it? Let us know your thoughts.
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Busy Weekends Recap
Posted on October 4, 2026 by Ching under Pickleball, Travel.
I keep falling behind on the blog due to busy Weekends so this is going to be another catch up post. First, I volunteered at our work booth at the Kansas State Fair a couple of weeks ago. Didn’t really get to enjoy the fair because Brian didn’t want to come up. That and we had Zoobile the prior weekend and a pickleball tournament in Overland Park on the second weekend. We had work in between so there wasn’t really any time to go.
I was so focused on getting to Hutchinson early that I prepared my bag the night before. However, I forgot to throw the most important thing in there–my ticket. I grabbed my bag when I walked out in the morning and didn’t realize that my ticket was still on my desk until after I parked. I figured that I would probably just have to pay for a ticket for the day but when I explained the situation to the gate attendant, she just let me in. I guess I have a trustworthy face. LOL.
Actually, she was like, “Just remember to bring your ticket tomorrow.” I wasn’t volunteering any other days, but I wasn’t going to argue so I just said, “Yes, ma’am.”
I didn’t want my ticket to go to waste so, on our way out of town the next morning, we gave my ticket to the drive-thru person at Mokas. I figured that even if they couldn’t use it, then maybe they’ll run into someone going to the Kansas State Fair who could benefit from a free ticket. We weren’t running into anyone else likely to go because we were about to get stuck in the car for two and a half hours.
We went up to Overland Park for the APP Dillons Overland Park Open. First, we weren’t planning on going up. I kind of toyed with the idea of going up to spectate and cheer for friends who were playing but wasn’t particularly committed. However, due to the low registration numbers, they were giving away free tournament entries to various clubs. I got an offer to play for free through TapNPaddles and also through the Chicken N Pickle ambassador team.
I could have played in multiple events for free but, because I was at the Kansas State Fair on Friday, I really could only play on Sunday. I decided to roll the dice and signed up for 4.0 mixed doubles without a partner. As luck would have it, a friend from Kansas City (Isaiah Peel) also did not have a partner so we agreed to team up. The down side for us was that we had never really played together before and we didn’t really get a chance to have any practice games. But I wasn’t really too concerned because I wasn’t counting on playing. I was just grateful that I could.
Brian and I caught another lucky break in that the Holiday Inn Express next to the tournament venue is pet-friendly so Saki could go with us. Here’s a view of the tournament venue from our hotel room window.
We arrived at the hotel early and our room wasn’t ready so Brian dropped me off at the tournament while he waited in the lobby with Saki. The concierge was nice and let him check in shortly after noon. After he got Saki settled in our room, he grabbed some lunch and then came out to tournament to watch our friends and hang out with me.
Dinner that night was at Nick & Jake’s. Credit to our friend Susie Ternes for organizing. The next day a bunch of us had to play against one another in mixed doubles. There were three Wichita teams in our division–Branden Stephenson (Susie’s brother) and Stacie Myers, Craig and Kelly Balzer, and Susie and Keith Lietzke. Then there’s my team which is half Wichita, half Kansas City.
There were nine teams total and so they divided the teams into two pools. The Balzers and Branden and Stacie were in the pool with five teams and then Susie and Keith and my team were in the pool with four teams. I was glad that we weren’t all in the same pool because I’ve actually had that happen in past tournaments. Anyway, the format was such that only the top two teams in each pool would advance into the playoff bracket. In the end, only teams with Wichita players got to advance so our four teams got to complete for medals. Wichita ended up sweeping the podium with the Balzers taking first, Branden and Stacie taking second, and Keith and Susie taking third. I think my team ended up falling short of the podium because we were only half Wichita. LOL.
All jokes aside, I had a fantastic time at the tournament. Our division started late so Brian and Saki actually drove back to Wichita without me because we had to check out of our hotel and the indoor venue wasn’t pet-friendly. I hitched a ride home with Susie and Branden so it worked out that we all finished around the same time.
The tournament was held AdventHealth Sports Park, a brand new venue in the Bluhawk area of Overland Park. The indoor sports facility also has an ice skating rink and a massive arcade. Naturally, we had to play some games before we left because the Stephensons (specially Susie and Branden) are quite competitive.
The following weekend our friend Tom Grace came to visit and we all got our nails done together: me, Brian, and Chris Townley (our usual group) plus Tom. Susie even joined us–which worked out great because then it gave me a chance to watch the Paddles for Plates benefit tournament for the Kansas Food Bank at Chicken N Pickle. And, then I rode with her to the nail salon.
After nails, Susie had Somewhere Fest. Tom, Chris, Brian, and I had the drone festival at Exploration Place but we grabbed dinner at the Monarch before that. On Sunday we had a surprise birthday party at TapNPaddles for Kelly Balzer. It was another fantastic weekend.
This weekend, I took my sister to the hospital on Friday for her colonoscopy. Her husband Adam works late so I agreed to take her. Anyway, I was documenting this occasion because I thought it was her first one. I was quite disappointed to find out this is actually her second because she had a colonoscopy before while in her 30s.
Our friend Laurie Adams came to visit for the weekend and we celebrated her birthday at Newport Grill. We got to meet her friends Lindsey and Doug, who also live in Wichita, and her boyfriend Cale at dinner.
On Saturday, I ran the first InPickle Nation mini tournament of the fall season (which was a little tricky as I had a couple of no shows–thankfully, Pam Browning and Branden Waldschmidt who were already there playing in Harvey’s ladder group agreed to stay and play to complete our group). Laurie and Branden got paired for bracket and took second.
Brian and I met Adam and Jenni at the movies after IPN. Jenni got us tickets to watch the Forgotten Island, a Disney animated film based on Filipino folklore. It was the first time Brian and I had been to the movies in nearly 10 years and it reminded us of why we quit going. We should be good for another decade. LOL.
All jokes aside, the movie was really good. We laughed. We cried. We were thoroughly entertained. Highly recommend you go see it. I think it’s especially relevant because there were many Tagalog words used in the movie and Brian had recently learned some of the words through his Facebook reels.
Today, we’re chillin’ at home watching Championship Sunday. Watching pickleball tournaments on the TV is one of my favorite ways to relax after a busy week.
That pretty much catches us up. Until next time!
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Home Updates and Saki’s Birthday
Posted on September 23, 2026 by Ching under Home Ownership, Life.
We had a productive Labor Day this year. We took advantage of our day off to buy some much needed things for the house: a new stove and new patio furniture.
I can’t remember if I ever complained here about our new stove woes. While it wasn’t the original stove that came with our house, we’ve had our stove for over 13 years. After 13 years, on of the knobs broke and one of the burners wasn’t working properly anymore. It’s a separate burner from the one with the broken knob. This burner just goes high or low and there’s no in between. I kind of wished the broken burner was the one with the broken knob because that burner actually works (as far as I know). We just can’t use it due to the broken knob situation.
For the last six months (maybe almost a year), we’ve just been suffering through it. However, we did remove the broken knob because we didn’t want anyone using that burner and getting burnt because they thought they turned the burner off but the knob wasn’t working.
We tried to buy a new stove on President’s Day because Lowe’s had some good sales on that day but it almost seemed like a bait-and-switch situation. We found a stove on sale that we love. We paid for it and ordered it for delivery but they couldn’t seem to deliver it. On the day it was supposed to be delivered the first time, the stove wasn’t there. So it seemed like someone else bought it and got it? I don’t know. They found it at another store and so they were going to have it transferred from that store to the East store and then deliver it to us but there was problems with that too. I was like, “Why can’t they just deliver it from that store straight to us? Why does it have to go through a store transfer first?” I don’t understand.
Anyway, since there were problems with that, they tried to get us to take the floor model and Brian and were like, “Hell no!” The dude we talked to at the store sat on the store model the entire time he was talking to us. Who knows who else’s ass has been on that thing?
Another solution was to get a different stove–same brand, but better model. I would agree to that only if we didn’t have to pay the difference. This is where it started feeling like it was a bait-and-switch situation. After multiple attempts at trying to get the stove that we had already paid for delivered, we finally just gave up and asked for our money back.
Fast forward to Labor Day and we decide it’s time to try again. We found a stove at during the Labor Day sale at Lowe’s. It was actually much cheaper than the other one we tried to get back in February. And this one has a built-in air fryer feature and you can also control it with your phone. It was a better deal all around. After our terrible experience the first time, I wasn’t holding my breath. But Lowe’s actually came through this time. It was successfully delivered and installed last week, on September 16.
Last week was a big week because Saki turned 11. Brian came home on Monday with a cute birthday cake cookie for her, which we gave for her to enjoy while we assembled the patio furniture that we ordered from Ashley Furniture. We didn’t purchase it in person but I found the sale online. Price was so good we had to jump on it. We got a set of two ottomans for less than $200 and the set of two chairs and a table was on sale for under $350. So we ordered two of the chair and table sets.
I was actually really confused because I saw the swivel chair set with no table and it cost more than the set with the table included. I studied the description carefully and the only difference I could find was the table. It was cheaper to get the set with the table. I didn’t understand this but who am I to argue?
We placed our order on Labor Day and got our boxes in two separate deliveries. The ottomans were delivered first on Saturday, September 12. We didn’t assemble it until Sunday because we had a busy Saturday with Zoobilee and all. Assembly was super easy. We knew the chairs would be more complicated to put together but we were hopeful that it would go just as smoothly.
The furniture that we got was not without issues. I actually sent pictures and all the nicks and issues we had to solutions@ashleyfurniture.com–no reply. I would be more upset had we paid full price for the furniture. I’m looking at their website now and, with their current sale, we would have to pay almost $1500 for all the items we got for less than $900 during the Labor Day sale. Maybe our items were on sale because of the imperfections? It sucks that it’s not perfect but they work fine and we don’t want to go through the process of assembling all the things again so it wouldn’t make sense to return and exchange them. I wish they would have at least acknowledge our issues, though.
It took almost five hours to get everything assembled because we took a break and went to TapNPaddles for dinner. It was almost 10 PM by the time we were done. Here’s a picture of the new patio set in the daylight.
I love how cozy the deck feels now. In case you were wondering what happened to our old deck furniture, Brian took the chairs, sofa, and tables to his work so they could have somewhere to sit outside on nice days. We ended up throwing away the loungers, though. Brian said they were no good.
We got rid of our sun shade and ordered some curtains from Amazon to replace them. I do like the look of the curtains except for it’s a new hiding place for Saki. Remember the cookie? We thought she scarfed it up but she actually only took a couple of bites. We found the rest of the cookie covered in ants tucked underneath the curtains the next day. We had to get her a do-over replacement birthday cookie. We’re only giving her a little at a time this time around so it doesn’t go to waste.
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