A Night Out: Thomas

Last night while Brett was at a coaching clinic, I had a wonderful, much-needed night out with two of my favorite girls from work, Jen and Jenn. We went to Thomas, which was a new-to-me restaurant. It is now a new favorite of mine, so I had to share!

Friday is $5 martini night until 7pm, and they had a fun selection of martinis. We all ordered something different and shared... they were all delicious. I started with the Banana Nut Bread, Jen had the Kansas City Coffee, and Jenn had the White Martini. Round 2 included more Kansas City Coffee, and a Chocolate Strawberry Martini. So fun!

For appetizers, we ordered Calamari and Goat Cheese Marinara. The Calamari was pretty standard (but yummy nonetheless), but came with a delicious roasted red pepper dipping sauce. The Goat Cheese Marinara was a dipping sauce consisting of, you guessed it, goat cheese and marinara. It was served with breadsticks and was definitely my favorite!

For entrees, I went with the Thomas Diablo Pasta with chicken. It was angel hair pasta with a yummy diablo sauce. Delish! Jen ordered the Buttermilk Cider Chicken, which I tasted and was also fantastic. I have leftovers of both in my fridge right now, waiting to be eaten for lunch!

But the best part of Thomas was not the food or the martinis, but the amazing piano player. He plays every Tuesday-Saturday night starting at 7pm, and was so entertaining and talented. He played a hilarious variety of music, ranging from Billy Joel to Journey to Miley Cyrus to R Kelly. You have to see it to believe it... but it was so fun.

Love, love, love this place. If you haven't been, try it soon. It's quaint and cozy with great food and drink, great service, and great entertainment. I can't wait to take Brett back for a date night soon!

"Snow Week"

It's been a historical week here in KC/at the Taveau household! We started back to work on Monday (teacher workday, so no kiddos). On Monday evening we got word that school was called off on Tuesday due to poor road conditions and frigid temps. I will say, the roads were pretty bad... I came very close to getting into what could have been a bad accident on Monday morning.

So we enjoyed Snow Day #1 on Tuesday... I spent the afternoon hanging out with my sis-in-law and nephew which totally made my day. Tuesday evening we got word that school was cancelled Wednesday due to the snowstorm that was forecast to arrive Wednesday morning. Sure enough, the snow arrived Wednesday morning and stayed all day/night, followed by blizzard like conditions Wednesday night. I don't even know how much we got, it's hard to tell how much new snow there is when there was already about a foot on the ground.

On Wednesday afternoon, we got an email that school was called off for Thursday AND Friday! Unheard of! I'm sure the roads are bad (I wouldn't know, haven't left the house for 2 days now!), but the frigid temps are not helping... the high tomorrow is zero!

It's been a lovely week. We have relaxed A LOT, gotten back into somewhat of a workout routine, watched several movies, and I've cooked a lot. I've got 2 new recipes to share, and 1 old recipe to share, which I will do in posts to follow. We'll enjoy one more day here tomorrow, then I'm heading to Hermann, MO to meet Kristin on Saturday for a girls day/night at the wineries. It's going to be rough going back to work on Monday after a 3-week winter break!

I hope everyone is staying warm and dry wherever you are! Recipes to follow...

End of a decade...

It's hard to believe that this week marked the end of one decade and the beginning of another. It's also amazing to look back and see all that has happened over the past 10 years. Here are some personal highlights:

• Graduated from high school.
• Mom and Dad moved to Nashville, and not only was I away from home for the first time, but I was 7 hours away from them.
• Spent 4 wonderful years at Mizzou.
• Graduated from Mizzou.
• Moved to KC (for the first time) to go to grad school at Rockhurst. Spent 2 great years in KC during grad school, made some amazing friends, learned a lot.
• Graduated with my Masters from Rockhurst.
• Moved back to St. Louis, spent a year there working a job I less than loved.
• Met the man of my dreams. Promptly (as soon as the school year was over) moved back to KC to be with him.
• Started the job of my dreams. Still can't believe (even 3 years later) how lucky I am to have scored this amazing job.
• Got engaged.
• Planned a wedding.
• Married the man of my dreams on July 11, 2009. Highlight of the decade for sure.
• Went on an amazing Hawaiian honeymoon that we will never forget.
• Became an aunt to sweet Daniel in December of 2009.

Of course, there have been some low points, but looking at that list, it's not hard to see that the highlights very much outweigh the low points. I am so grateful for the experiences I have gained over the past 10 years, and can't wait to see what the next 10 years have in store for Brett and me!

November/December recap

New Year's Resolution #34: Keep up with blog! (aka, blog more than once every 3 months).
Let's see if I can give a quick recap of the past few months... it's all been a blur.

Brett's football season ended in November after a loss in the first round of playoffs. I got my husband back. It's amazing how helpful he is when he gets home before 7:30pm! He cooks, he cleans, he runs errands... I have my sanity back!

I spent 10 (unplanned) days in Pittsburgh at the end of November with my family saying goodbye to my dear Granddad, who passed away on November 29. Brett spent 7 of those days there with me as well. It was stressful and exhausting, but I was so glad I was able to say goodbye to Granddad and spend that time with my family.

I returned home from Pittsburgh late on the night of December 3. We got a phone call at 6am on December 4th from Brett's brother Rock, saying that Jessica was in labor. Our precious, perfect nephew Daniel was born December 4 at 10:01pm. We've spent the majority of our free time over the past month visiting Daniel, snuggling Daniel, taking pictures of Daniel, and when we're not with him, talking about Daniel. Brett's new favorite question: "What do you think Daniel is doing right now?" We are totally smitten with him.

In the midst of all that, we had a blur of Christmas shopping, decorating, getting our first tree, wrapping, baking, packing, and finally traveling to Nashville to spend a week with my parents over Christmas.

Nashville was also a blur, but more of a relaxing blur. We left KC the night of the 22nd, drove to Marion, IL and stayed the night there, then drove the rest of the way the morning of the 23rd. I started my annual baking frenzy as soon as we got there, which lasted for the better part of 3 days. On Christmas Eve we tried a new church (which I loved), then went to my parents' neighbors' annual Christmas Eve party. Christmas was a very lazy day... we woke up, opened presents (Brett and I got terribly spoiled, as usual), enjoyed a great breakfast, then just laid around all day until dinner. Some neighbors came over for drinks and dessert after dinner, which has become somewhat of a Christmas tradition.

On the 26th, our family friends the Kristichs came down from St. Louis, which they have done every year for the past 8 or 9 years I think. It's always a great time to catch up with them. We did some shopping, some eating, and took a trip to the winery.

The Kristichs left on the 28th, and Brett's parents arrived that evening to spend a few days with us on their way down to Florida. We ate some more, drank some more, shopped some more, and took another trip to the winery.

We headed back to KC on the 30th, and haven't left the house much since we've been back, which has been fabulous. We went and watched the awful MU bowl game on New Years Eve with some friends, then decided to call it a day and came home, cooked dinner, watched a movie, and were asleep by 10:30. We are wild.

Oh, and it's been snowing. A lot. They got about a foot of snow here while we were gone, and it's been snowing since last night again, and we've got at least another 3 inches. I love snow, but paired with the 10 degree highs forecasted for the next week, I'll be staying inside as much as possible.

I'm trying to upload some pics, but having technical difficulties, so I'll try again later.