It was another busy weekend with 2 long runs for Heidi (12 miles Saturday, 10 on Sunday), the BNIM company picnic and home repair projects (including regrouting and recaulking the shower). Tonight Mike made a delicious 'belated birthday' dinner of mussels with saffron and mustard, crusty bread, a mixed greens salad and homemade french fries!

Both the mussels and french fries are recipes from the Bouchon cookbook, and, this was the same birthday dinner that Heidi enjoyed last year while in dining at Bouchon in Napa with Amy and Terese!

they say it's your birthday

Thursday marked Heidi's 31st birthday and we were happy to have her Aunt Judy in town to help celebrate! Judy was on her way from Minnesota to Arkansas to visit Heidi's cousin, Sean. We enjoyed a walk to a neighorhood favorite, Aixois where we dined alfresco.

Of course, Thursday was also Heidi's dad's birthday! Happy 63, Warren!!

swinging in the rain

Today was the annual Prairie Gateway Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects golf tournament which Heidi helps to organize. We awoke (early) this morning to thunder and lighting and had heavy rains all morning.

It wasn't looking good for the tournament, held at the Hillcrest Country Club (a Donald Ross designed course), but soon after players started to arrive, the rain stopped! The BCA team didn't play very well, but everyone had fun and enjoyed a few hours away from the office.

on the go

Another busy weekend...

Friday:
brewery tour + happy hour

Saturday:
22 mile run on Saturday
cheesecake baking
Plaza Art Fair

Sunday:
trail run
taught a class on how to make cheesecakes
Theta meeting
dinner with friends

Whew!

happy hours

The weekend started early when BCA shut the doors early and headed to the Boulevard Brewery for a tour and tasting. Afterwards, the festivities continued at the Velvet Dog where we were joined by spouses for happy hour.

Heidi is not a beer drinker, but she tried each of the samples before passing them off to co-workers to finish. We thought we had a winner when the Dry Stout was described as having a 'coffee and cream' flavor--I think they just said that so I'd try it!!

designer dog

Vokey is not allowed on the couch. But, once in awhile, she sneaks up when she thinks were aren't looking. Mike had gotten up from reading Metropolis magazine and when he came back, there was a dog holding his place!

family | fun | fall | fix it | football

We had our first taste of fall this weekend and were glad that Gene and Ardith were here for it, too! Friday night found us enjoying pork chops, corn on the cob (more produce from Iowa), roast potatoes and creme brulee. We began our day on Saturday with a mushroom, zucchini and potatoe frittata. Once fed, the men began on a few small home repairs while Heidi and Ardith did a little shopping. We all took a break to watch the exciting end of the Iowa-Iowa State game and then headed out for an early birthday dinner at Jasper's.

This morning we all attended the installation of our new pastor at church and it was fun to learn that she went to college with Mike's cousin! We enjoyed one more meal with Gene and Ardtih before they headed home. Now we're enjoying a dinner we didn't have to make--crab bisque, compliments of the seafood counter at our favorite grocery store!

3 pounds, 5 ounces

It's a...zucchini! Gene and Ardith came bearing gifts and produce...including this scale tipping squash (a gift from one of Shannon's patients!) The end of season harvest included tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and strawberry jam!

Saturday morning was chilly but we headed to the farmer's market anyway. A few tomatoes later, I had enough to make my Grandma B's tomato preserves and the zucchini was large enough to make 2 1/2 batches of Ardith's zucchini bread!

power of two

The Indigo Girls were in town last night, performing at the VooDoo Lounge at Harrah’s Casino. It’s a fairly intimate venue and Heidi and her friend, Rachel, were front and center (about 7 rows back)! We’re both long time fans and have seen ‘the Girls’ at least 5 times but agree that this was the best show by far!

need for speed

Today gave a new meaning to 'a quick lunch' when the Tour of Missouri made it's way through downtown Kansas City. The inaugural six-day, 600-mile pro cycling race lead cyclists just blocks from our offices so we both (seperately, but with other co-workers) enjoyed a few minutes away from the office on a beautiful fall afternoon! The pack went by really quickly, but Mike saw (he thinks) George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, and Alberto Cantador (winner of the 2007 Tour de France)--all of Team Discovery which is racing it's last event as a team. The race concludes on Sunday in St. Louis, but you can see more information on http://www.tourofmissouri.com/.

night on the town

Last night we enjoyed an evening of new Kansas City experiences. We started with dinner at the new Noodle Shop in the neighborhood shops at 59th and Holmes. The restaurant doesn't officially open until Tuesday so we enjoyed being guinea pigs and trying out the combo plate of pickle appetizers as well as different noodle bowls.

After dinner we headed downtown to the Folley Theater for a performance of the Alvin Ailey dance company. The dancers, choreography, music and lighting design were amazing and we both really enjoyed it!

Afterwards, we were both hungry (hey, one of us ran 20 miles that morning!) so we stopped off at the 24 hour a day, Town Topic for a burger.

On our way home, we were able to view WaterFire, an art installation along Brush Creek.

committed

Since she's paid the entry fee and completed a 20 mile training run (today), assuming all goes as planned, Heidi will be running the Waddell and Reed Kansas City Marathon on October 20.

i got all my sisters with me

This weekend the Pollmann sisters left the husbands, kids and dogs at home and headed south to enjoy some fun in the sun in Fort Myers Beach, Florida. Our condo was right on the beach and the weather was beautiful! We spent hours relaxing on the beach but also found time for trips to Naples and Sanibel/Captiva Island and of course, enjoyed lots of great seafood! A storm rolled through last night so this morning was cooler and the waters were calm. I took an early morning walk on the beach and saw dolphins swimming! Best of all, I got to spend time with my sisters!