Our Trip to the WALL
Posted on December 5, 2018 by Ching under Date Ideas.
By WALL, I mean the Wichita Advanced Learning Library. It opened a few months ago but Brian and I hadn’t gotten around to checking it out until this past weekend. We’ve just been too busy. It might have been brighter inside except it was very gloomy and rainy on the day we went. The decor is very modern. Brian was particularly infatuated with these chairs.
I thought I got a picture of him in it but I guess I must have posted it on Snapchat. Bummer! He really like them. Anyway, here are a few more pictures of the new library and its very modern furnishings.
Brian was looking at this giant book trying to figure out how to turn the page.
Brian also liked these individual desks with the walls for privacy. They even have built in power outlets. Really cool!
Another cool feature is the Reverie coffee shop inside. As you know, Brian loves Reverie coffee. Anyway, the library seems like a really cool place to hang out. I wish we had more reasons to go there.
BTW, it’s technically just called Advanced Learning Library but I thought adding Wichita at the beginning made for a more clever acronym. Then you can tell people that you’re going to the WALL, which is far more mysterious and intriguing than simply saying you’re going to the library. But that’s just me.
P.S. This counts as a date, right?
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First Time at Slim Chickens
Posted on December 4, 2018 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Brian and I finally got around to trying Slim Chickens. The restaurant has been open for some time but, now that we no longer live that way, we really hadn’t ventured out to those parts in a while. That entire Northeast area has completely flourished the last couple of years. When we were driving to the restaurant, I told Brian how I can still remember the days (almost 10 years ago) when there was absolutely nothing out there. For a long time, the only restaurant chain out there was Chili’s and they actually had to close because business was slow — because there was absolutely nothing around them to help bring traffic. The Chili’s is open again — at the same location — along with a plethora of other businesses. There has been quite a boom the last few years that’s brought about all sorts of businesses, including Slim Chickens.
We tried it for the first time on Saturday.
You would think the interest would have died down by now. Slim Chickens has been open almost two years. However, when we were there on Saturday (despite it being already after the lunch rush), we were still greeted by a line that was almost to the door.
I took a couple of pics while we were waiting in line. You basically order at the counter and then they give you a number to bring to your table and then someone brings the food to your table when it’s ready.
Well, except for the dessert which is pre-made. You get that right away.
It was kind of disappointing because we really had our hearts set on the desserts that were pictured on the wall — one was some kind of chocolate mouse dessert in a mason jar and the other was strawberry shortcake in mason jar. They didn’t have those so we had to settle for what was available. I got pecan pie and cheesecake bites in a mason jar and Brian got the Oreo cookies and cheesecake one. They also had a pumpkin pie one, which neither of us were really interested in.
Brian and I shared a meal consisting of five chicken tenders, five chicken wings, fries, and toast. We also shared a bowl of mac and cheese. It doesn’t look particularly appealing but it wasn’t bad otherwise.
As fast food goes, Slim Chickens is not particularly fast. We had to wait quite a while for the food to be brought out. We actually started eating our desserts. The food wasn’t bad. If you like chicken and don’t mind the wait, it would be a good place to check out. I thought the mason jar desserts were kind of cute. We kept ours because we couldn’t finish our desserts. Actually, the rest of mine still in the fridge. Now that I’m thinking of it, I might bring it to work for lunch tomorrow. LOL. It should still be good, right?
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Andrea’s Superhero-themed Zumba Birthday Party
Posted on November 26, 2018 by Ching under Events, Zumba.
We had a blast celebrating Andrea’s 32nd birthday on Friday night. Charis turned her normal Friday night class into a 90-minute Zumba party in honor of Andrea’s special day. We invited several instructors to teach and it turned it in full-fledged Zumbathon for the ages!
Here’s the official instructor line up (from left): Johnna, Andrea (the birthday celebrant herself), me, Jessie, Rose, Francie, Charis, and Amanda.
I wasn’t the only Wonder Woman. We had a few people dressed as Wonder Woman that night, including Danielle above. Jessie also wore her Wonder Woman head and arm bands. I love it when we have theme parties.
We had a wonderful turnout and a few even stayed for the group photo after class.
This one of me and Charis is one of my faves. She’s an excellent selfie-taker.
After Zumba we kept the party going at Los Cocos.
Here’s a video from dinner. It was such a fun night. I just love Zumba birthday parties and can’t wait until the next one!
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Thanksgiving Day 2018
Posted on November 25, 2018 by Ching under Events, Family.
I had a Zumba-filled Thanksgiving this year. I volunteered to teach a couple of classes. One at the Andover YMCA at 9:30 AM and then another at VASA Fitness at 11:00 AM. It was the best way to start Thanksgiving Day!
Brian even got in on the Zumba fun and danced with us! Click on the picture below to check out his awesome dance moves.
It’s always so hard to get people to stay for a group photo. At least we got this one at the end, though. Such troopers!
The next class was at VASA Fitness where I taught with a team of amazing Zumba instructors: (from left) Victoria, Lauren, Liz, and Jessie.
Lauren had Zumba bags for everyone.
Speaking of presents, one of our Aqua Zumba regulars (Cindy) made us shirts.
The pic above is before I customized the shirt. Below is the design I did for the back.
This is Cindy, the awesome lady who made us the shirts. I wanted to show her how much I appreciated her present so I wore it to Aqua Zumba yesterday.
The rest of Thanksgiving Day was pretty simple and quiet. We didn’t make too much food this year. We opted out of turkey and just had ham. We didn’t want to have too much food because it was just Brian, grandma, and me this year. After our Thanksgiving meal, we played Uno which is something we always do when grandma is here. She actually won this time. LOL.
We also had brownie a la mode for dessert. Grandma only wanted ice cream though, and took her brownies to go instead. After everything, we had our usual video call with Brian’s parents in Oklahoma. I did some snaps but forgot to take actual pictures. I need to make sure I take some next year.
After Brian took grandma home, we decided to finish the rest of our Christmas decorating. It was a super nice day and so we both agreed it was the perfect time to install our outdoor lights. We simplified this year and opted not to wrap the tree in the middle of the yard and our river birch. Not only did that take forever to install last year but it always took forever to take down. Brian decided that wasn’t going to happen again this year. After some negotiation, we compromised and decided to only light up Fern (our evergreen), the driveway, and our plants/bushes.
Installing all the lights (we have six sets of solar-powered LEDs) actually took less time than looking for the lights. Brian couldn’t remember where he stored them. We looked all over — in our storage area in the basement, the garage, the coat closet, the linen closets, everywhere! We could not find them. It wasn’t until after our third time searching the garage that Brian finally found them.
It would have helped if we knew what we were looking for… Brian and I both thought they were still in boxes. Brian had actually moved them to a reusable bag. We overlooked the bag several times thinking they were just our reusable grocery sacks. Once the lights were found, it took less than an hour to achieve our new and improved (and significantly simplified) lighting design — which was a good thing because Brian rented four movies for us to watch that night.
Many years ago we used to do the whole Black Friday thing but things have gotten quite ridiculous and so we’ve opted out of the madness the last few years. Stores are starting their Black Friday and opening their doors at 2 PM, which is when most people are doing their Thanksgiving celebration. That’s crazy. Brian and I decided we would just stay home and watch movies instead.
Our Thanksgiving movie marathon consisted of…
…in that order. Gotta love Redbox. I told Brian this reminded me of the days we would go to the drive-in and watch three movies back to back. Except this time we were watching four movies from the comfort of our own living room. Inevitably, I would doze off at some point. Not this time, though. Believe it or not, I stayed awake for all four movies. I amazed even myself.
Brian originally doubted that we would be able to get through all four movies in one go. I think I stayed awake partially to prove him wrong. LOL. That, and the movies he picked were actually better than I expected.
It was a wonderful Thanksgiving Day overall. Brian and I got to do all the things we enjoy most — Zumba, food, cards with grandma, family, movies — and even finished the rest of our holiday decorating.
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Harvest Feast 2018
Posted on November 24, 2018 by Ching under Events, Food and Drink.
My work usually has an annual potluck on Friday before Thanksgiving. We call it Harvest Feast. It’s a tradition that’s been going on for over two decades. I’ve been with the company for over 16 years and it’s happened every year. Some years I’ve been out of town or on vacation but, when I can, I always try to participate.
This year I was in Topeka all week. When I returned the fleet car back to the office, I found the team had already set everything up. I love this time of year because work always looks so festive.
Everyone chips in some money for meat (usually $5) and then signs up to bring some kind of dish for the potluck. This year I signed up to bring dessert. The brownie cake that Brian made for my VASA staff meeting last month was such a huge hit, I decided to recreate it.
The cake consists of three layers of brownie goodness. We decided to use different chocolate chips for each layer. We did one layer with dark chocolate chips (above pic). Another layer with white chocolate chips (below).
And the third layer had regular milk chocolate chips.
Here are pics of the finished brownie cake layers.
To save time, Brian and I decided to use store-bought whipped icing instead of making our own ganache (which would have had to cool for two hours). I wasn’t about to stay up all night for this cake. LOL.
Here’s the finished product. I thought this cake was super rich the first time we made it. It’s even sweeter and richer with the pre-made icing.
Here are some pictures of my coworkers enjoying the feast on Friday.
We had so much food and a huge selection of desserts.
Sue, Amelia, Erica, and Jeremy were part of the Harvest Feast team.
Erica is kind of hidden in the above photo. Here she is below between Amelia and Jeremy. They were helping serve food to everyone.
Josh was on the team also. It’s great to see all of the young people at work helping and keeping up the Harvest Feast tradition.
Here’s a picture of my plate.
Here’s a picture of Chris’ plate.
Chris normally eats later so we went around 12:30 pm. We made it just in time. There was only one slice of my brownie cake left so we shared it. Belinda said she wanted to try it so we actually split that slice of cake three ways. Even then we still had some left over. The cake was just to rich. I warned them ahead of time and told them to make tiny slices but I don’t think they believed me.
I’m so glad that I got to participate in Harvest Feast this year. With my transfer to special projects last year, I sometimes feel disconnected from the contact center. Plus, it’s not very often that you get to break bread and catch up with coworkers. We are all always so busy and heads down on work. Harvest Feast last Friday was a welcome break from it all. I look forward to it every year. GNG.
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