It Is So Hot!

It is so freaking hot, I think we can all agree. However, K and I have been having tons of fun despite the heat. I spent a long time on a work trip, the highlight of which was finding this in the Skymall catalog. Needless to say it was SOO tempting to snatch it up for K's impending birthday....but I didn't.

We celebrated my Mom's birthday with a fun day at the pool, went to another pool with K's work friends and had a very fun "4th of July" party with some of my work friends. All in all, a very busy weekend. Unfortunately, the only thing I took (cellphone) pictures of was our night at Shakespeare in the Park. This year's production of Macbeth was well done, and we got a good spot by getting there early and spending the time on some cold beer and Uno.

K partakes of the strawberries and carrots we brought :)

The set.

The new family cooler, as K took every opportunity to mention:) He was the proud owner of this, our first cooler.

The crowd soaks in the sun.

Sandwiches! K style (meaning, no condiments)

We had fun on our extended weekend and are looking forward to some more fun at the lake for K's b-day soon.

No new wedding news, except that we'll be spending the month trying to finalize everything so I don't have to have any more wedding nightmares.

6.20.2011

City of Fountains Bicycle Tour-Kansas City

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This weekend was a great Father's Day extravaganza. Sunday we got up bright and early and went on the City of Fountains Tour . It was super fun to see all parts of the city and very perfect weather for a 22 mile ride.

Here we are pre-ride, which started at Washington Square Park.

So fresh and so clean. We are missing a post picture, where we were sweaty, but just as happy:)

Mom Dad and Kyle amidst the fray. The kids doing the ride were the cutest (there were 9 and 17 mile routes as well), with many parents using total bike attachments .

Mom, Dad and Me, family bike rides!

Kyle, stopped in front of the Fire Fighters fountain, another piece of the family affair, as Papa K is a retired fire fighter, as well as other members of the Lancaster family.

The view from the top of the WWI memorial. One of the best views of Kansas City.

In other news, we have been getting more things in the mail which is pretty exciting. See a peak of our exciting stuff. My wedding band came in the mail, as did K's birthday present (Reel Big Fish tickets!).

Similarly, my kick ass wedding shoes made an appearance. I think from now on I should order everything on-line, as it is so exciting to get mail that is fun:)

We also had an awesome visit to the farm where we are getting married recently and I felt like Maria, ready to burst out and sing to the hills. Here are some pictures of how beautiful the farm is in Spring.

That's it for now folks. I'm going to go away on business this week so nothing fun will happen, but we will be back with more rides and Shakespeare in the park and some lake fun to come.

6.10.2011

The Summer Sizzle

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Hello you, our faithful followers. In an effort not let this go completely, we have here a little update of what we've been up to in the newly summer weather. I apologize for our sporadic posting, but I don't want to let it completely die. I plan to make it a better account of our lives when we get married, out of inspiration from my absolutely favorite blogger Mrs. C .

Ok, enough of that. In the mean time, we've been playing outside and preparing for the weather a lot. We had a really fun memorial weekend, in which we stuffed in a lot of activities. I finagled my way in to taking a day off work in the middle of the week so that K and I could actually share a day (and working memorial day instead) and we had a ton of fun.

We got some bar-be-que from Oklahoma Joe's. Delicious

We also saw Hangover Part II. My review is that is was not nearly as funny as the first one. The plot was almost identical to the first one, except that you were more worried about their characters than laughing about them. There seemed to be unnecessary graphic nudity that was not very funny and overall it wasn't very enjoyable. K was pretty happy I went to go see it with him though, and that is all that matters. We went tradsies for him coming to see Bridesmaids with me, although we both ended up liking that one better. Go Kristin Wiig!

We also stumbled upon a really great festival, in benefit of Kansas City pedestrians and cyclists and sponsored by New Belgium Beer. There were short films and beer tasting and fun all around.

Hanging out in the grass with the sample beers. They also gave you a little book describing what the beers were like, flavors, something called "mouth feel" etc. We felt very snooty, but wrote comments like "Give me more bananas!" so it wasn't lasting.

Later that weekend, we got to celebrate the union of our good friends B and A. We dj'ed the wedding and it was double fun to be K's assistant and see all my friends from graduate school as well.

Here is our setup, a little more modest without the lighting rig.

They held the festivities in a very cute barn, which was also fun practice for us.

All dressed up for the partay.

Finally, we had tons of fun this last weekend participating in the Samsung hosted scavenger hunt in Kansas City. We signed up, along with 500 other people, got to use one of the new Nexus phones, and headed out on the hunt. It was about 95 degrees, and the radius for the spots was 1-2 miles, so running from place to place for 2 hours got us VERY worn out, but man was it fun. We did fairly well, with the top place had 102 points, we got 81 (only 9 points away from the third place winner at 90). Go team R & K!.

Here are some pictures of K practicing for the event with the SVNGR app at his workplace.

Speaking of work, K has been putting in some time as an overnight photog, riding out with a fellow photographer to get a feel for the role. He has had a blast, despite the fact that both times he has done it, he had to work his own day shift before hand, therefore ending up working 16 hours and being awake 24. Yikes, however, he was having so much fun he didn't notice much.

Here is a sunrise shot being shot in KC.

In my news, I have been working on wedding things quite a bit. The ladies in my family, LP, LH and Marmi have all been giant helps, thanks to them we are all booked up for our fabulous honeymoon in Key Largo, FL, well on our way towards making all our diy decorations and have already prototyped out the home-made wedding dress.

Here are some sneak peaks:

Flowers being made from book pages and tissue paper:

Nithi practicing being a flower girl. She really loved making us sing "Here comes the bride" and throwing cotton balls from her little basket willy nilly.

That is it for now folks, we will be once again, trying to make a better effort of updating this here blog. I'll leave you with this random photo of what K calls "One Trip Rachel". I will NOT be going back down to the car for another load thanks very much (p.s. that is costco sized food, we don't shop there exclusively:D)

4.25.2011

Planting Plants in Planters and Pots

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Yesterday R and myself went out and got our little plant buddies that will be living on our deck this year. Today I planted them, making a gigantic mess I hope didn't make too big of a mess on the deck below us when I was cleaning up!

This year we're revisiting the upside-down tomato thingy and the strawberry side-hole pokey planter (Pretty sure these are the trademarked names). Last year I loved the tomatoes a little too much, and constantly over watered them... giving most of the ones in the middle and end of the season "stem rot". And we started with only seeds in the strawberry planter... which never grew into anything at all, so at least we're already ahead of the game this year in that department!

We've also got some basil, rosemary, and thyme started in these little guys.

We tried some shady and half sun plants for the bottom pots this year, and hope they enjoy their time on our deck facing east into the forest. Also, decided to try a sweet red pepper plant, second from the right. Must not have gotten a closeup of that guy.

Nithya's favorite puppy statue protects the plants R will have to give you the name of.

We'll keep you posted on how everybody's doing as the season goes on. I love this weather, and also bought some tennis balls today in hopes of getting R out on the court. Can't wait to get a few more miles logged in my brand new bike jersey too... Maybe R has a pic she can upload of that?
...hopefully not. haha

K

4.21.2011

The Academy is Rigged!

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Hey everybody, K here!

First of all, I'd like to thank the Academy, and all the little people who made this possible... However, you've outdone yourself this time, Academy. When R finally returned home from Tinseltown, she had apparently accepted an Oscar on my behalf! AWESOME! ...However, it appears I won an Oscar for BEST HUSBAND, something I haven't even become yet! R was apparently very short and to the point in her acceptance speech, and the audience seemed to appreciate that with claps, smiles, and gentle outtro music... not even skipping a beat I'd been awarded an Oscar for something I am not! I hate to expose the academy in this way, but I love little Oscar and he's going in the trophy case now. THANKS!

In other news, I recently found out that R couldn't remember the last time she had an Easter basket. I love baskets of candy and presents, so I decided that we would celebrate Easter for the sake of having a basketfuls of presents and candy! Yay!

When I was home sick last week, we rented Lego Harry Potter years 1-4 on Wii, and R loved it. She admitted it was the first video game she's actually really enjoyed playing (Sorry Mario Kart, looks like you were living a lie this whole time.) Anyway, I knew this had to be the centerpiece for R's basket. I then found an actual Harry Potter Lego set, and threw that in among some candy, knowing the display on R's work desk could use another geeky, dorky trinket.

Jim Halpert Bobble-head, and Battlestar Frak mug... Meet Lego Harry Potter, Dobby and Lucius Malfoy

Yes, R may have gotten her basket early this year, but she's coming home every day this week to find several candy-filled eggs hidden all over the apartment by what must be some terrifying gigantic bunny. It's the only explanation I can think of...

HAPPY EASTER!

4.18.2011

My Trip to LA

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So the story is that I work with a bunch of wonderful people in LA. This past week I was lucky enough to travel there on business, right in to Hollywood.

Here follows a pictorial journey of the fun stuff I did.

We did the star walk. Naturally, the only star I took a picture of was the one I felt would get the biggest laugh from K.

E and Sly, whom I was lucky enough to travel with, kindly didn't look away as I touristly took photos. Yes, touristly.

Here is the famous Grauman's

Clearly, this was also due to K's influence.....

I also almost missed the Kodak. It is hilariously surrounded by shopping malls and people dressed as spiderman crouching on trashcans.

Have you ever seen Big?

Yeah...

I was pretty excited too.

This is Sly's fabulous view from her office window. I feel pretty jealous staring at psuedo carpet cube walls. Ah to be fabulous

If you look closely you can spot the Beverly Wilshire where we walked to a celebratory lunch one afternoon. I felt as though Richard Gere would sweep in to give me a giant cellphone and save my life.....or something :)

It is a bit hazy, but you can see the Hollywood sign and all.

Our first night we dined at La Loteria

It was divine, fragrant rice, perfectly stewed beans, tender shrimp tacos.

I felt pretty damn chic

Alas, still not celebrities lurking in those dark corners.

One afternoon we drove to Santa Monica, where the stars gather their Vitamin D.

If only K were there to ride to beach-long board walk.

We supped at the delicious Gladstones

We are pretty happy sitting in the sunshine with Mojitos.

However, we became much more deliriously happy when we got moved to a table next to the beach. We watched the sunset and basked in the glory of amazing food.

I started with some New England chowder. Now, this was the one thing I didn't like so much, but that shows me for ordering this in CA. Duh R.

Sly's Taco Salad.

E's basil shrimp, goat cheese flat bread.

Yes, it was a sandwich. But I swear, it was the best sandwich that has ever graced my mouth with its presence. Seared Ahi tuna with a house made Chile Harissa (i.e. delicious, crack sauce) with avacado, pickled red onion and spinach on a soft ciabatta roll.