red dirt

we love our red dirt music and texas singer/songwriters. our faves do not come up to kc very often, so we're forced to jump in the car and chase them all over south missouri, kansas, and oklahoma. we've yet to hit up a texas concert, but i'm sure it's in the not-too-distant future. would love to see a show at billy bob's or gruene hall.

the best venues have been wormy dog in okc, snorty horse (the old springfield, mo location), and knuckleheads in kc.

the worst? the grenada in lawrence (thanks to the uber-trashed college kids only there for the free beer from their bartender friends) and some random ass park outside of tulsa to see brandon jenkins play in his hometown. it's all part of the experience folks.

what's not to love? music written from the gut, cheap (or free) tix, small yet rowdy crowds, smoky honky tonks, and the best part.. you can get up close and personal!

my future ex-husband: charlie robison at wormy dog

pat green and cory morrow at the grenada. love me some pat f-in green.

tonight we're off to see randy rogers band! for free! i love this stuff!

fall cravings

just a few more weekends of summer fun left. and i couldn't be happier about that. don't get me wrong, i enjoy summertime and last winter was dreadful, but i am having serious cravings for all things fall right now.

we have fully taken advantage of our hot summer days. we've been to the ballpark twice, the water park, grammy's pool, through numerous sprinklers and spraygrounds. we've played golf, tennis, baseball, bouncyball, ran 5ks. we've grilled almost every other night, made sangria and margaritas, shucked corn from the farmer's market. just last night we sat outside at smithville lake marina and watched my brother play in his band. and now we're getting ready to go to truman lake on a family fishing trip. it's been a great summer.

but we're hot and sunburned, and had all the hot dogs we can handle. i'm ready to dye the highlights out of my hair, grab my hoodie and some hot apple cider, and head on out to the pumpkin patch.

picking apples in grammy's backyard

mo wine please

one of our favorite things to do is explore local missouri (and a few kansas) wineries. i like how you can get to know the winemakers, see the facilities, and get generous free samplings at the places around here. most are actually kid-friendly, but it really makes for a better date outing without the munchkin.





wineries we've visited:

jowler creek - a newer winery off the beaten path, but i'm so glad we found it after two tries. it's owned by a nice young couple with two little ones, so they are very kid-friendly. jowler creek wine is my favorite missouri wine because they really know what they're doing. she grew up in sideways country in california and took viticulture classes in college; he grew up a farmer. match made in winery heaven. try the critter cuvée and butterfly blush.

=> side note: work actually took me once to solvang (one of the sideways towns) where i was able to do a tasting at lucas & lewellen. luke broke my glass from there, so he needs to take me back someday to replace it, right?

riverwood - my second favorite, riverwood is in an old schoolhouse next to some bluffs and railroad tracks north of weston. very nice people here too. love their blush of innocence.

fence stile - we ventured to this newer winery out in the sticks of excelsior springs during a nascar rain delay. we took e along, and after he got carsick on the rolling hills, the lady pouring wine offered him some nice sparkling grape juice which he drank down in two gulps. very pretty and quiet, with a pond next to their grapevines.

pirtle - in an old church in weston, pirtle has been around for as long as my wine memory goes back. a picnic basket and bottle in their shady garden makes for the perfect date. this is where i first fell in love with missouri wineries. their chardonel is the best.

holy-field - a nice kansas family winery that's been around for a while. we try to stop by whenever we visit legends at village west or kansas speedway. love the sunset blush.

wine barn - a newer kansas winery owned by two neighboring couples. sal was our wineaux for the day. huge free tasting (see below), and sal will pour you some more from his private stock if you chat him up. we went home with an armload of bottles.

still on the "to-taste" list:

van till farms

inland sea

hermann wine trail

and many more..

maybe someday we'll make it to napa or tuscany, but for now i'm happy to have my missouri wines.

Grandma, Granddad, and Boat Show

Grandma and Granddad came to visit this weekend. Ethan gets so excited when they come for a visit. Of course they came bearing gifts - a remote control racecar and a piggy bank with a weekend full of "oh, is there some change in my pocket? you better check." to fill up the piggy bank. We will have to make a trip to the bank next weekend to put it in his savings!

We decided at the last minute to go to the boat show. Ethan has the same sparkle in his eye as mommy does when he sees a boat. I can't wait for E to be a little bigger and mommy and daddy to have a little more money so we can buy a boat and spend every weekend in the summer out on the water. That's my plan anyway.

Since G & G were here, Valentine's plans got changed from me making a fancy 'surf & turf' dinner to Luke whipping up a batch of his famous chili. However we were able to escape for a little bit and go see my brother play with the Shanks (a great cover band) at Ameristar. Four raspberry martinis and 7&7s later, we called it a night.

BTW, check out my brother's CD from the 80s. He is signed after all these years!