Goodbye Bags
Posted on September 11, 2016 by Ching under Shopping, Wishlist.
I retired a couple of bags this weekend.
The zipper of my Thirty-One gym bag broke a while back but I had been enduring it because I didn’t want to have to move everything over to a different bag. Plus, I always felt that the big blue duffel/gym bag that I got from work a couple of years ago was far too big so I didn’t want to switch to it.
I finally moved all of my stuff over to it yesterday out of necessity. Although it’s a little big, it actually works out because I can fit two pairs of high-top sneakers in the shoe compartment; whereas I could only fit one pair in my old gym bag.
I also had to finally retire the Coach crossbody bag that I got from an outlet in Arizona almost six years ago. It was money well spent because it has been my everyday, take everywhere, bang-around bag from day one. It is a shame that they don’t make it anymore, otherwise I would have just ordered the exact same thing to replace it. After all, the signature print matches my wallet.
I couldn’t find a suitable crossbody from Coach. And, it seemed like they weren’t making bags in the old signature print I had. I think it might be a retired material. I had to completely switch brands.
It’s an upgrade for several reasons. (1) It is actually bigger than my old crossbody. It’s like a full-fledged messenger bag but on a smaller scale. (2) It’s got way more compartments to hide stuff. Lots of different pockets. My old crossbody only had the main compartment and a small outside pocket. (3) It cost most more than my old crossbody. But, considering I keep bags for five years or more and I pretty much use the same bag everyday (rather than switching bags on whim or match my outfit), it’s going to get lots of mileage. I don’t mind paying a bit more for something functional, practical, and won’t be collecting dust on a shelf in my closet.
The nice thing about this is that, since it’s black, I won’t have to replace my wallet. It doesn’t match my wallet perfectly but it kind of coordinates with it. It works for now, anyhow. Unless someone gets me a wallet (hint, hint). My birthday is just around the corner after all.
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Labor Day Weekend 2016
Posted on September 9, 2016 by Ching under Life, Zumba.
Here’s a recap of our short but Zumba-filled holiday weekend.
On Friday night Missy got everyone together for Zumba with Jenny at East YMCA at 6:45 PM followed by dinner and drinks at Carlos O’Kelly’s. I would have missed all of the messages had I not taken a day of vacation. I’m glad I was home to I could join the fun. The craziest part is that, after she rounded everyone up, there were more instructors in the class the regular students.
After teaching my Zumba class on Saturday morning, we ferociously prepared for Jay and Becca’s visit. It’s such a privilege to host them for dinner because they’re busy travelers and we rarely ever see them anymore.
It was a productive evening.
Sunday was “Labor Day Fun Day” at the Larnengs’. Brian and I arrived at the party late because I had to teach my Sunday afternoon Zumba class first and then we still had to take care of the dogs. I’m glad we went though because we had a blast.
It had been a while since Brian and I played poker. We were both really rusty but had fun, nonetheless.
On the plus side, I’m glad we didn’t end up doing well because we would have been up late playing poker. And we couldn’t have that because we had an early morning commitment, volunteering for the Labor Run.
Brian actually did not want to volunteer this year because we didn’t receive any kind of communication and had no idea what was going on. But I’m glad we did anyway because it’s for a great cause. And, the volunteer shirts were nice. 🙂
It was a little bit chaotic. I’m not sure that any of the volunteers knew what they were supposed to do. No one had assigned jobs ahead of time. Heck, I had five different jobs in 10 minutes.
I’m thinking I might listen to Brian and refrain from volunteering for the Labor Run next year. We’ve given them our holiday weekend the last few years. We hadn’t been able to go out of town because we’ve had to be at the park first thing in the morning. I’m thinking it’s time to start enjoying our Labor Day weekend again. By not committing to the Labor Run, maybe we can actually go out of town for a change, which is something we haven’t done in forever — at least since we started volunteering for the event.
After the Labor Run, I managed to squeeze in a Zumba class led by Melissa and Todd at South YMCA, which was awesome.
I have been pretty lazy about my workouts lately so getting Zumba in four days in a row (Friday with Jenny at East, teaching my own classes on Saturday and Sunday in Andover, and then with Missy and Todd on Monday at South) was fantastic. It really got me thinking about how much I love to take Zumba classes and maybe I should put a schedule together so that, whenever I’m in town and have some free time, I can easily find a Zumba class. I used to keep a map of all of the Zumba classes in the Wichita area but I haven’t updated it in years. It’s probably time to dust it off and work on it again.
In the meantime, here’s the helpful Zumba schedule I put together:
These are all of the weekday evening classes, ideal for people like me who work their butts off during the day.
These are all of the Zumba classes for the full week.
These are all the classes on the weekends (Friday included).
Don’t fret if the writing is too tiny. You can click on these pictures and then you can zoom in. Also, I will post links to the printable PDF versions so you can stick them on your fridge or board at home or in the office. I hope you guys find these helpful. I know they will help me a ton. Until next time!
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Impromptu Lunch at P.F. Chang’s
Posted on September 4, 2016 by Ching under Food and Drink.
It has been about six years since Jay introduced me to The Secret and it never ceases to amaze me how it works. Granted, the concept of the Law of Attraction was something that I was already living. I just didn’t know that it was a thing. And, I wasn’t doing it consciously. Now that I know about The Secret, I’m a little bit more purposeful about behaviors and decisions.
So I was sitting at my desk the other day, trying to figure out what I wanted to do for lunch. We didn’t have any food at the house so Brian didn’t pack any lunches for us that day. Around ten after eleven, Alicia came by and invited me to go to a celebration lunch. She told me they were going to P.F. Chang’s and I was like, “Sold!” I usually go to lunch at around eleven so I’m really glad that I hadn’t gone yet that day or I would have missed Alicia’s invite. As I was thinking about lunch, the universe did even better and provided a free lunch. LOL.
Here’s a picture of my free lunch:
Thanks, universe! Actually, thanks to Alicia. I did tell her that I was super grateful for the invite because I had just been wondering what to do for lunch literally moments before she asked.
I’d had been to P.F. Chang’s in a while so it was perfect. Brian and I used to eat there all the time but, for some reason or another, it had fallen off our eating out rotation. I think probably because we’ve been gravitating toward more locally-owned and mom-and-pop restaurants over the last few years. As restaurant chains go, the food at P.F. Chang’s is very good.
If I had to eat at a chain restaurant, P.F. Chang’s would be one of my top pics for sure. There are several reasons for this but the main one being, with P.F. Chang’s I know what I’m going to get — figuratively and literally speaking because I actually always get the same thing when I’m there — Mongolian beef and eggplant. It’s made the way I like it so I add eggplant. I love eggplant, specially with the sauce/flavorings used in Mongolian beef.
I really like the lunch portions. They’re the perfect size. Then again, when I get the Mongolian beef with eggplant, I always clean my plate out no matter the size of the portion. LOL. The other thing about the lunch combos is that you can do appetizer add-ons (there are several to choose from listed on the menu) inexpensively. I had crab wontons added for $2 and I’m so glad I did because it reminded me of how amazing their crab wontons are.
Krystee didn’t like the crab wontons for the exact same reason that I loved them. They contained too much crab and not enough cheesy goodness for her. I actually liked that they were all crab.
Oh, and before you freak out. I did not have a cocktail at lunch. That drink you see in the upper left corner is P.F. Chang’s yummy strawberry cucumber lemonade. I like it because it reminds me of refreshing spa water, only sweeter (because it’s lemonade and not water). Cucumbers always make me think of spa water.
Anyway, I’m super grateful for the opportunity to join Alicia, Krystee, Alex and Teresa on Teresa’s celebration lunch. It definitely beats eating lunch at my desk which is what I end up doing most of the time.
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P.S. I was only kidding around The Secret. I know it don’t really work like that. My life is full of these creepy coincidences, though. It’s like the universe is paying attention to every single thought that comes through my mind. I have to constantly remind myself to be careful what I wish for because, inevitably, some form of it happens. It’s both good and bad. Brian and I have learned to roll with the punches. Now it’s a running joke around here when some kind of coincidence happens we chalk it up to The Secret and get a good chuckle.
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Anniversary Finale
Posted on September 2, 2016 by Ching under Life, Relationship.
Brian and I finished our month-long anniversary celebration with a couples massage at Sveta’s with our favorite massage therapists, Michael and Mindy. It was kind of bittersweet because I found that Michael is moving away, which means he won’t be around for my birthday massage. Michael has been my go-to massage therapist for several years now. I’m not sure how I will get by without him. On the plus side, Brian told me I could have Mindy — unless, of course, we’re getting a couples massage in which case he gets her and I will have to settle for someone else.
We decided to have lunch at Food Trucks at the Fountain after our massage. Our go-to food truck, Kamayan, was there. Predictably, Brian got ribs with sticky rice and I got porchetta with steamed rice.
Brian and I parked ourselves at the table next to the truck. They had a patio umbrella for shade but the sun had shifted and so it wasn’t really shading much of the table at this point. After we scarfed our food up, we realized that we should really adjust the umbrella. It had a very heavy base and I couldn’t move it by myself. Brian did a good deed by adjusting the patio umbrella so that it shaded the entire table, which benefitted the couple with two kids who took our place.
We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling at home before bowling. I know it’s not idea to go bowling after a nice, relaxing massage but we have our Jack & Jill bowling league on Sunday nights. At least I didn’t have to teach Zumba that day.
Anyway, that pretty much sums up our 14th wedding anniversary. Nothing too exciting this year. Now the countdown for our 15th wedding anniversary begins!
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Saturdate with Grandma
Posted on September 1, 2016 by Ching under Family, Food and Drink, Things to Do.
We had a wonderful “day date” with grandma over the weekend. It started with Brian and grandma’s monthly trip to the grocery store. I had to teach Zumba class so I just met up with them at home afterwards.
We decided to take grandma to this new restaurant we discovered a few weeks ago, the Hungry Heart. It’s right next to the Intrust Bank Arena and occupies the space where Jetty’s used to be. The food is phenomenal and the service is fantastic. I wish we could go there more often.
By the way, I caught a Goldeen while we were waiting for our food. The little fella was right in front of grandma. Besides Pokemons, there were also lots of people milling about downtown because Saturday was Crawl for Cancer day. Grandma got to see some of the groups as the massive pub crawl commenced.
Here are some pictures of our food. Grandma wanted to go with something light so she just ordered a salad.
I got the 2015 Wingapalooza “award winning” wings. I had them the last time and they were amazing so I had to get them again. Incidentally, I missed this year’s Wingapalooza due to another commitment. I’m not sure how they fared this year.
Brian got the pulled pork sandwich again. He really enjoyed it last time.
I also got an order of fries for me and grandma to share because Brian loves their fries so much that he doesn’t share his. I didn’t get a picture of the pulled pork eggroll thingies that we had as our starter because our server forgot them. I was just going to cancel that order because then we were going to get full on our meals but she said she had already put them in. The eggroll things came shortly after we started eating our food. She was nice and didn’t charge us for them, though.
After lunch, we were off to the Wichita Art Museum to see the Chihuly Drawings exhibit. As WAM members, Brian and I saw the exhibit when it first opened but we were waiting until the weather had cooled off enough to take grandma.
As an added bonus, we also got to see the Jesse Alexander: The Golden Age of Motorsport exhibit which consisted of some amazing photographs.
It turned out to be the perfect day for a “day date” with grandma. I’m so glad our schedules worked out and we got to go.
The Chihuly Drawings exhibit ends on September 11 and the Jesse Alexander exhibit ends on October 2. Be sure to swing by the Wichita Art Museum this month to check them out. You don’t want to miss these!
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