Taste and See

Thanks to Groupon, I was introduced to a secret gem of a place in Wichita that made for a very fun girl's night!  Taste and See is a super fun, "open kitchen" dining experience.  The owner and head chef is from Venezuela and has won several prestigious cooking awards.  If you're a Wichitan, you might recognize the oh-so delicious restaurant, Sabor, in Old Town...he started that.  He's kind of a big deal.  And kinda very attractive. Check out the website to see what's offered and get a peek at their menus.  Their classes and such are a bit pricey, so keep your eyes peeled for a Groupon.

Chef Jason (of course I'll refer to him on a first name basis, as if we're the closest of friends) described an open kitchen concept as very hands on.  We created our own empanadas  at our seats and he asks for volunteers to help him as he cooks right in front of you.

We were able to enjoy three tasty courses during their Old Spanish Cuisine night: empanadas with chimichurri sauce (does it sound like I know what I'm talking about?), stuffed tomatoes (my fave!!), and a rice with veggies and seafood.  He does a great job of entertaining you during the evening and shares fun little kitchen and recipe facts.  Feast your eyes on this good stuff-

Empanadas with chimichurri sauce

Tomato stuffed with cheeses and a hamburger meat mixture

Rubber gloves for handling our pastries

Group shot with Chef Jason

Our very own Brooke was asked to help out in the kitchen with the rice dish.  Her husband is from Venezuela, so she and Chef Jason immediately connected...jealous.  :)

This was such a fun experience!  Definitely look into it if you're in the area.  He has some nights where he cooks very exotic things...like guinea pig.  dead.serious.  I'm very glad we did not show up for that night.  So maybe read the fine print of your Groupon or you could be signing yourself up for "this could be your pet" night.

Spring Time Phone Dump

Just when I've thought Spring was going to show her sweet, warm little face we've continued to have us some dang cold days.  And apparently Tuesday is dipping back to the 40's.  I know folks, sorry to be the bearer of bad news.  I don't think anyone is ready for warmer weather than me, and that is why I'm pumped to say T-minus 17 days to board my plane and head to the Bahamas.  What? You're tired of me bragging about this...ok then, on with the random picture dump. 

Enjoying nice weather Easter weekend

Mom & Dad making a great Easter lunch

We celebrated my birthday early and mom used festive wrapping paper to go along with my cruise :) 

A new luggage set! Very exciting! 

Maybe the next you hear from me I'll be golden bronze and sharing pictures from the beach!  

Spring Break Recap

Yes, Spring Break was weeks ago, but it's never too late to relive some good times.  I made my annual trip down to visit my grandparents where we spent the days at Papa's CPA office and our evenings watching March Madness and Wheel of Fortune.  We also ventured out to the Hard Rock Casino for an evening.  The usual stop at Toby Keith's restaurant and then a quick visit to the slots that lasted just long enough to lose our money.

Toby Keith's restaurant 

In case you can't read the voucher, it says $0.02 

Well, despite the crazy weather, we're getting closer and closer to summer break!  And on another exciting note, I'm boarding my cruise in 24 days!

Birthday Bash!

While on my three week hiatus from blogging, life has continued to fly by.  Look forward to hearing about my Spring Break happenings and a fun four day Easter weekend.  However, this post is dedicated to the recent birthday party for Sweet Reesie's one year! I'm sure Jana will post all the fun details once life slows down a bit for her, which never really seems to happen with two under the age of three.  But here's my brief version of the cutest girl on earth--

See what I mean? Cutest.Girl.On. Earth

Jana, as always, went above and beyond to throw the best birthday bash a one year old princess could ask for.

Complete with tutu highchair :) 

Sauder's motto for decor is always "go big or go home"

Sauder Girls 

Speaking of big celebrations.....Lola the Corolla (aka my car) turned over a huge milestone about a week ago.  Might as well be like a birthday.

100,000  miles had to be caught on camera! And yes, I've incriminated myself with the fact that my car was in motion while taking this pic.  Ssshhhhh. Happy Monday, everyone! 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This post is about all things green!  It's been a fun weekend of festively celebrating St. Patty's Day with lots of yummy treats.  Now, most people might blog about their own creative endeavors; however, allow me to brag on my oh-so-creative friends who make up for my lack of creativity.  Some could say I'm green with envy, but I'm simply embracing the fact that I will likely never be the pinterest pro, so I'll live through others' creative juices.

My small group got together on Friday & Carlee brought this yummy Lime Bunt Cake 

Jessica and I went to a party last night and she made these super cute Leprechaun Hats out of marshmallows and cookies.  A friend, Kayla, made the cute cupcakes!

We took advantage of the super cute photo booth!

I tried to be festive and wear these shamrock earrings , but ended up losing one somewhere between my car ride and getting inside, so my single ounce of festivity flopped.

Hope you all are enjoying your Sunday afternoon!  I'm officially on Spring Break and couldn't be happier :) 

Road Trip

The Sauder's hit the road to Dallas this past weekend for a wedding.  I graduated high school with the bride (eight years ago!) and our parents are good friends.  We're all spread out just enough that mom and dad left the earliest and picked me up in Wichita, then we traveled down to Stillwater and met up with Cowgirl Barbie.  I jumped in her car and we followed the parentals the rest of the way so we'd have room to pick Grandma Sauder up in Texas from her 6 month stay with her daughters.

The Kid is a great road trip buddy!  She always introduces me to new music--we kept updated on the KState vs. OSU game and sadly the bad guys won! 

Here we are all dolled up!

Aren't my parents just the cutest?!

Target nude heels are a must have! And my prepared mom had snacks and toll money for us. 

Never a dull moment with this crew!  It was a quick trip, but a very fun one!  Sorry, no actual pictures of the wedding or even the bride (oops), but she looked beautiful! Lot's of excitement in life right now--new classes starting up for my masters, Bachelor Finale tonight, and Spring Break next week!! (Surely you can hear my excitement through the exclamation points!) 

Operation Beach Bod

So remember when I set that New Year Goal that I was going to start working out?? Well, fast forward two months and today we've got ourselves a winner!  Let me remind you I'll be spending the big 2-6 on a beach which is making for great motivation to get my butt in gear and start working out.  I had Jessica take a pic of me after I finished officially working out for the first time in 6 months  for awhile.

Going all "tough girl" and sporting my Changing Lives YMCA folder

Let's reminisce on how I used to work out with a personal trainer twice a week, or how I could have done 20+ REAL push ups at a time, and had toned, defined arms...now fast forward to today with me.  First of all, the gym was packed.  I am not the only one looking to turn over a new leaf.  I decided to start by finding a quiet corner where I could stretch.  Side note: I've always been a huge proponent of stretching before physical activity, so no, Jana & MaKenzie, I will not just join you in whooping out a toe touch without any stretching. End side note. As I'm stretching, I really think I could hear my bones cracking from the lack of activity they've had lately.  While I made my way to the ARC trainer I just felt like a fish out of water or like I was wearing a blinking neon sign that read, "I HAVEN'T BEEN HERE IN FOREVER."  Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be a gym rat whose upper body can't fit through a door, but I am ready to be a regular again.

 Once on the machine, I decided I'd go for 25 minutes.  As I got started I thought to myself, "Man, the last person sure had this thing on a high resistance level."  I looked down to see Resistance 1....oh my!  Overall, it felt good.  I sweat my hiney off and the pregnant lady next to me schooled me, but I felt good.  My dad has always said there are two hard things to a job: starting and finishing.  Today, I started.  Beach bod, here I come.