HAPPY Valentines DAY!

So BDR and I have a hard time waiting to open gifts when holidays come around. I think we both just get so excited, so Valentines Day was no exception! We exchanged gifts last night!

Here's some backstory... Several month's ago there was a prominent Kansas Citian (who has a bigtime jewelry store named after him!) that BDR helped when he wrecked his car, since then BDR has been on the family holiday card list. Shortly after the accident, BDR received a small thank you gift at the station. I was so excited when he told me a package arrived from Mr. Helzberg. I got excited too soon though, it was a box of peanuts!

He got a holiday card and most recently a Valentine's card from the Helzberg family. They have the cutest grandkids by the way! So BDR tells me that another package arrived from Mr. Helzberg, and that he couldn't wait to show it to me.

He brings home a big padded manila envelope from the Helzberg Foundation, with the Valentine's card and some "I am loved" pins inside. I keep telling BDR he needs to leverage this relationship, but of course, BDR being BDR, he says no way.

Anyway, he shows me the envelope from the Helzbergs and says, "Bummer, no Valentine's gift for you from Helzbergs."

I smile and turn around to keep cooking our delcious taco dinner, knowing that's what I should have expected.

"But there is something from Kay!" 

Beautiful white gold and blue topaz (my birthstone) bracelet! 

He said he wanted to find something to match my new ring...

Am I lucky girl or what?!?!

Seriously, I have got the best man any girl could ask for! I hope all of your sweethearts are just as good to you this year!

Off to the races!

I'm signed up for 2011 race #2 and #3 of my 11 races of 11.

 Diva Dash 5K

 Westport St. Patty's Day 4 Miler










I'm pretty stoked.

Diva Dash benefits Girls on the Run, which is always good. And St Patrick is my patron saint, thus one of my favorite holidays and seasons of the year.

Talk of a fall marathon is also brewing... Chicago's been thrown around, but I'd rather do one I haven't done before. Any suggestions for the best marathon out there? Between race, course, and location - we'll turn it into a vacation, so it needs to be an all-around good time!

Every Home Needs A Harvey

What a super super smart dog!!!

Blizzard of Oz, a doggie's dream!

This past week half the country experienced what Frankie Avalon might call the Humonga, Cowabunga from Down Unda'... Ok, it wasn't a big honkin' wave like the one that got him in "Back to the Beach" but it was a serious snowstorm. An actual blizzard. I can't remember a time when the weathergirl actually termed it a true blizzard.

So I settled down in my kerchief and readied myself to get a little stircrazy. There was no way I was driving my new ride out in this. Not when Kansans aren't sure how to drive in snow! It was just a little wet and sleety when I woke up Tuesday morning, but then it started coming down in a serious way.

I'd not seen snow accumulate on my windowsills before but it did last week! It looked like a scene from a beautiful Christmas card!

I feel pretty lucky that my dogs love the snow. And when I say love, I MEAN it! They don't care if its 30-below, if there's powder, they want to play! Look at little Belly's face here, covered in flakes after a romp around the yard, She's in heaven!

At one point, I peaked out the window in the downpour and she was just sitting out there, in awe of the flakes. Isn't it amazing how dogs just truly get it!? They can teach us so much about life and how we are just such a small portion of this huge world.

Before we knew it, darn near a foot had accumulated. This is the door to the back deck from the mud room. Its up to Stella's belly, but she doesn't mind!

And when there is that much snow, there is nothing better to do than play chase! They did laps around the yard quite a while before coming in to nap and warm up.

With this much snow, I was so glad I wasn't out working, but poor BDR was. He pushed so many people out of the snow that luckily, his 12-hour shift just flew by! TGFO. In layman's terms, Thank God For Overtime! While he was outside getting chilled, I started to wonder about the chill in the mud room. Sure enough, snow was coming in everywhere! From the doggie door to the back door, we got snow!

But of course, Stella didn't mind. She just wanted a buddy to go out and play in it with her!

 As the day came to a close, and the flakes started to lighten up. The dogs and I just waited for BDR to come home! What a view we had out our front door of the silent white night. It was breathtaking. 

On Wednesday, after sleeping in, knowing the streets were crap, BDR and I bundled up to shovel my Chevy out of the driveway. This:

is our driveway. Yep, you can't even tell. That could be the lawn for all we know. And there were pretty big drifts in it too! This one is almost up to my knees! I about bit it when I jumped in! Yikes!

About halfway thru I remembered my brother owns a snow blower, duh. Unfortunately, for us and them!, it broke that morning! So we kept shoveling and a few hours later - we had this!

Tada, a clear driveway! Combine that with a romp around the back yard with the pups and a perfect snow angel, it was a pretty good Snow-cation!

Stella's Pedigree

My awesome birthday present this year was a Doggie DNA test for our new little one, Stella. We recently go the results back and were a little surprised. When we first got her, we were told she was a Mastiff mix. As she grew, she started to look more and more German Shepherd.

Here's the results....

She is half purebred! That's a lot more than any of us American Mutts can claim anymore! I know I'm Irish, English, Norweigan, Indian, German, etc, etc, etc.

She's been living up to her breeds. It seems like anywhere I walk, she's right behind me, nipping at my calves and heels telling me where she wants me to go. What a herder! And just yesterday she popped Peter in the face showcasing her full boxing abilities!

Next week she's set to get spayed. She's losing baby teeth right and left. And she's mastering the skills we learn in her puppy class. She's up to about 25 pounds and its getting hard to lift her!

Sigh, my baby is growin' up!

Delightful Dining

So one of my besties is a superawesomeradderthanyou blogger. And she recently wrote about an amazing dining experience we had at KC Restaurant Week at the American in Crown Center.

I think you should read it. If this photo doesn't show it enough, I'll just say it. This place was Fahn.Cee.Schman.Cee. We had a great time at a place we wouldn't normally get to go.

I saw my shadow...

At this year's Groundhog Run!

I think that's a good sign, right?! Although with the Second Coming of the Snowpocalypse, who really knows?!

Sunday was the Groundhog Run in the caves at the Hunt Midwest Subtropolis.

This is one of my all-time favorite events. If you can handle the rotten-egg fart smell at some points on the course, you'd love it to. Its your only chance to run in 70 degrees in the middle of winter in Kansas City.

My race buddy had something come up and wasn't able to race with me, so I was a bit bummed. Luckily with a plea on facebook, I found a buddy to take her bib and join me in the caves!

Pre-race, I ran into my Girls on the Run pal Jackie and got to catch up while we waited for the 5K to end.

Here's my race buddy Mike, me, Jackie and Mike's friend String Bean Dean - pre-race. You can see the cave looking stuff that proves where we were running in the background!

So, the race story. Well, first off, if you've been reading for a while - you know I've been a huge winter slacker and have been doing pretty much Jack for a while now. Needless to say 6.2 miles was going to feel damn near like a marathon!

We started at the back of the pack, just after the gun due to the portapotty line. This is my favorite place to start a race, because then I get to be the passer instead of the passed. I actually felt pretty decent for the first lap, and I knew we were keeping a decent clip. Probably right around 11:00s. I was hoping to negative split, like I usually try to do (though I don't always succeed). We walked the aid stations and in the second lap took a couple other walk breaks. With Mike's encouragement, I kept pushing long after I wanted to.

Keep in mind that Mr. Encouragement is the same guy who on Saturday did the Polar Plunge in a Speedo and a Superman cape. He did raise about $1000 for Special Olympics though. Pretty sweet if you ask me.

Anyway, Superman kept me running and pushing and huffing and puffing around every bend in the caves. Once we hit the 6 mile mark and I could see an end in sight, I picked it up as best I could and tried to out sprint him to the finish line. Maybe that's why my knee hurts a bit today...

Anyway, here's us afterwards, all sweaty, with Gus the Groundhog in the background. I give this race a big thumbs up!

My official time:

95th in my AG

1:06:42 total time
10:44 average pace.

Not too shabby.

Afterwards, I took a rest on the back of the ambulance waiting for the rest of Superman's firefighter crew to pack up and head to the Ameristar for brunch. Here's us with a big Gus on the way out....

So far, a wonderful morning. My favorite way to spend the weekend. That is, until we got to the smoke infested casino and I got sick! I completely cleaned out my system in the casino bathroom and told Mike we needed to hit the road pronto. As we found the on-ramp to the highway, I made him stop so I could continue to puke in the snow. Ugh. Seriously, not a fun way to enjoy your post-race high!

But I got home, showered and cuddled with my puppies for the rest of the day and woke up Monday feeling great! Phew!

Our Winter FUNdraising Efforts!

Its the middle of winter and we're all bundled up, trying to make it through these brutally cold nights and dreary days. So what do BDR and I do? We give back.

Ok, in all fairness, we ask you to give back! We do the work, you reap the reward aka laughing at us when we look rediculous!

I've written before about my fundraising efforts. I'm training for the Rock the Parkway Half Marathon on April 2 and raising money for my local Girls on the Run Chapter. I need to raise a minimum of $262 by that date. I would be so grateful, if you would visit this site, and make a donation. Any amount is wonderful, appreciated and will be put to good use!

Here's the more entertaining portion of this blog.

BDR is growing a moustache.

Need I really say more?!

I'm hoping that he starts to look like Burt Reynolds, Tom Selleck or George Harrison. But who knows how it will turn out. It could end up being a bit more "Rollie Fingers".

His police department has challenged its officers to grow a moustache for the month of February and raise money for its favorite cause, Special Olympics. They do other regular fundraisers including the Torch Run and the Summer Games. But this one is definitely the most fun!

If you are willing to sponsor BDR in his quest to grow the most righteous stache, please contact him at reedy.us (at) gmail. Any amount counts. And really, if I have to see that flavor savor every day for a month, I hope he can really raise some good money for it! Come on, Its for the Kids!!

Here's your sponsor agreement:

"I agree to Sponsor BDR's Stache in the name of charity for the Special Olympics. I understand that my pledge is only due upon successful completion of the event by said Stache growing participant until February 28^th, 2011. Should the participant shave said Stache, I am released from all Sponsoring liability and will mercilessly ridicule them for bailing out on their fellow participants, not to mention the pledge they just lost for Special Olympics."

I hope you feel you can undertake these responsibilities and help me get through the next whiskery 28 days. I promise to document the growth throughout the month, so you can enjoy it too!

And just for reference, here's the starting point after Day 1.



These boys bowl me over

Saturday afternoon was my time to babysit my adorable, all-boy-all-the-time, nephews. They can definitely be a handful, and are great birth control, but man do I love them.  They are so fun!

We hit up Incredabowl in South OP to knock down some pins. They are such goofballs - and so animated!

Sean was pretty serious about his turns. He'd watch the ball roll down the alley until it could roll no more. And he'd be so nervous seeing where it would end up! See nervous stances in the following photos. At one point he was so focused on the pins that he accidentally let the ball roll backwards towards my toes instead!

Ian is Mr. Crazypants. He'd be rolling on the floor after a bad throw, and doing some serious celebrating after he got a spare!

Little Jacob though, man is he a baller! The only one of us to get a strike and ended up winning by 10 pins!!

This is his game face. Grr. Watch out brothers. I'm comin' for ya!

Highlights of the outing at the bowling alley: playing with the balls and the fan in the ball return.

Making the computer screen beep!

Seeing who can hold on to the most balls at once.

 But most importantly, quality time with those we love!!!

After our epic bowling adventure, we went to Petland to see all the animals. Jacob got to hold a one-pound Peagle puppy (pekingese and beagle mix). Ian and Jake held bunny rabbits. They all played with the dwarf hamsters and the hermit crabs. Of course, they wanted to take them all home with them! Luckily, we got an ice cream call from Uncle Timmy that rescued those poor animals from a dubious fate!

Dogs Night Out

Somehow, I recently found a website and group called Dogs Life KC. They showcase tons of cool stuff for people like me that are crazy about their pups. I heard about this event, Dogs Night Out, and called up another dog-loving buddy to go with me.

Its sponsored by Three Dog Bakery, a local business turned international, and portions of the proceeds went to their charitable foundation. Apparently they do these events regulary, even though this was the first time I attended. Btw, my favorite thing about Three Dog is how they make everything dog-related. You can shop in their "Dogalog" and put items in your shopping "basset", and they have assort"mutts" of treats that are just tasty!

I had to flip a coin to decide which dog to take. Stella won. Next time, I'll find a way to take them both. Here's the menu from our night out.

And this is what Stella thinks when she finds out what she's gotten herself into:

We started off with a Yappatizer Basket. The guy we shared a table with thought these were for the humans, so he had a bite. He said they weren't all that tasty. You'd never have known it though, because Stella and Laila LOVED it!

After the yappatizers, the girls got some good play time in. Of course, they almost tripped Kmac several times, but they were having so much fun!

Course Number 2: Tasty! I love the parsley accent!

It's agood thing Stella has learned to sit and lay down, she was able to work for the food!

Man, did she love it!!

This is our appetizer - crab cakes. Mmm! They were falling apart, but they were pretty tasty.

While we ate, Stella just wanted some more! She was a hit though, being the only puppy among the crowd.

The main course - beef stew! mmmmm. It looks like something that just came out of my crock pot!

Holy cow, did the dogs love this! Lady couldn't get enough, she kept trying to find more and more.

And my favorite course - dessert! This labrador bar was peanut butter, banana and carob. I wanted to eat it myself.

Since BDR had already fed the dogs (oops!) I made sure to bring home leftovers so Stella didn't eat too much, and Peter was able to enjoy some of the goodness as well.

And they sent us home with a pupcake for later. Its so cute - it looks like a little red velvet cupcake, and I want to eat it myself!

I can't wait for another event like this! Peter would've just had a blast and I felt bad I couldn't take them both.

Ooh, I almost forgot! Stella is now famous! Fox 4 News did a story on the event that was on the 10:00 news. You can see the clip here....