Wondering What Fun's Ahead

So it's been a week since my last post and we haven't done anything having to do with downsizing or being downtown since my last post. I made it through my biggest meeting of the year and then left OKC the next morning for a runaway girls' beach trip with three wonderful friends. We're sitting in the Mobile, Alabama airport at the moment, waiting to board the first plane on our journey back home after spending several days relaxing on the beach or sitting on the balcony with a terrific glass of wine. I think we're all feeling rejuvenated for sure.

We're hearing some weather warnings for Oklahoma as we start home. I think the weather all week this week back home was in the 80s but I understand there are now freeze warnings for tomorrow night and Tuesday. Seriously, Oklahoma? Wow. I guess that's spring for you... but I am so ready for warmer weather to arrive and stay. Maybe not the stifling hot summer days just yet but warm, sunny days for sure. Good thing we haven't planted much yet in our new community garden!



So now I'm wondering what kind of fun lies ahead in the new few weeks... working in the community garden, for sure. The OKC Festival of the Arts is set for April 22-27, just over a week away. It will be great fun to be downtown for that and able to walk over to it any time we want to (along as the weather cooperates, of course). The H&8th food truck event will be coming up again on the 25th... I'm not sure if the Arts Festival will impact that or not. Guess we'll find out. And then the Paseo Art Walk is going to be on May 2.

Urban Neighbors is signing up for the Boathouse District's dragonboat league. We've never done anything like that but they all assure is it's great fun and I'm sure they wouldn't lead us astray. I think we'll practice on Sunday afternoons starting next week and the final regatta is on June 28th. We should only miss one session while we're in DC with all the Youth Tourians a couple of weeks before the regatta.

It looks like the new few weeks are going to be loads of downtown or near-downtown fun for us. Have I mentioned lately how happy I am that we made this move? :)



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Loving Living Downtown!

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since I last posted to this blog... and I can't believe all the really cool, fun things we've done in the last 3 weeks that I've got to tell you about now! From the time we first moved downtown back in mid-December, all through the cold winter months, I kept thinking that as soon as things started warming up and we could get out and about, living downtown was going to just keep getting better... and I was right!

As soon as we got back from our spring break trip to the beautiful Alabama gulf coast, the spring time fun started. We're both still crazy busy at work... been back two weeks today and am starting my third big work project this afternoon! Whew... and sweet hubby has almost the same pace at his job. We've packed in some really cool stuff though in our spare time.

One of my recent meetings was at Quartz Mountain Resort in far southwestern Oklahoma. That place is so beautiful. If you haven't been, I highly suggest giving it a try... very peaceful place.

We were going to try to go the H&8th food truck event that happens the last Friday of each month here in OKC when I got back from that meeting but between being exhausted from the meeting and it being a little too cold and windy that evening, we decided to skip it and try again next month. I heard the crowds were amazing though and they had somewhere between 15-20,000 there! I guess we're weather wienies compared to them. Holy moly, that's a lot of people! Glad it's so successful.

We got out and walked around on Saturday because it was a beautiful day. From our place near 4th & Walnut, we decided to try to find the most level route to Park Harvey because we were going to ride our bikes on Sunday to meet up with some Urban Neighbors friends and then ride to OpenStreets OKC on 23rd Street. From there we went around and strolled through the Myriad Gardens, marveling at all the tulips blooming since our last visit there and all the people who were out enjoying the beautiful day. It was great.



Plans changed for our bike ride Sunday because, warm as the weather was, the wind was gusting to 40 mph! With the single speed bikes we have (beach cruisers, not city bikes), we thought that might be a bit much. There was also a Thunder game our friends had to be at so driving made more sense in the end. We parked a block or so off 23rd Street and set off to see what we could see.

We got there pretty early so at first there didn't seem to be too much going on for the first OpenStreetsOKC. It didn't take too long for that to change though and wow, what a great event it turned out to be! I don't know if there were quite as many people there as at H&8th but I bet it was close. There were all kinds of booths from all kinds of great groups focusing on health and being active, there were activities for kids and adults to participate in and there were food trucks. Even the Loaded Bowl, the vegan food truck we'd been so anxious to try at H&8th!






I got the layered enchiladas and sweet hubby got the gardener's pie - that way we could try them both to see which we liked better. Wow, they were both terrific! I don't know how to pick a favorite. Guess we'll just have to keep trying them so we can decide. :) I love that we have a vegan food truck in OKC. That rocks!

I tried to take pictures of the crowds on the street but I just don't think they really do it justice... there were so many people and it looked like everyone was having a great time. Plus, other than the food trucks (which were pretty reasonable), everything was FREE!












OpenStreetsOKC was a great way to spend a beautiful spring afternoon with some of our Urban Neighbors friends... we even left a little something so everyone would know we were there:



We finished up our last night of the bowling league on Tuesday, right after my first Urban Neighbors board meeting. There are several new board members this year (including me) and some wonderfully seasoned ones, too. I think it's going to be a terrific group to be part of and I'm really excited to see all that comes from it.

Thursday was such a nice day we decided to do something else we've never done before - the Art After 5 at the OKCMOA. On Thursday evenings starting in the spring, the museum keeps the galleries open until 9 p.m. and opens up the rooftop terrace where you can have drinks and appetizers, relax and enjoy the great view. Starting in May they'll have live music, too. How cool is that?




Since we were already there, we decided to stay and have dinner at the Museum Cafe (we'd received a gift card for Christmas that we've been intending to use...) They had a wonderful veggie plate that was so big, I couldn't finish it all. Wow....



Next up was the movie, Particle Fever. We just love the theatre at the museum and when I saw this film was there, I knew sweet hubby would enjoy it. It was about the big Hadron Collider and all the physicists who worked on it for so long. It was interesting... but maybe just a tad too nerdy for my tastes. Hubby liked it so it was worth it. It really was an amazing project...



Of course our next fun was a project more along my tastes... the big community garden project!

We met up bright and early Saturday morning (well, it was actually 6:30 a.m. so it wasn't bright just yet!) and worked most of the day. Shelley, the one spearheading everything on the garden, is simply amazing. She somehow managed to find a developer who had land that was currently unused who was willing to let us garden there. Then she and her dad worked to build 10 raised beds for the garden and she planned it all out herself. Like they say, build it and they will come... and come they did. I didn't count all the volunteers who were working yesterday but there were a LOT. Including a really great group of students from OU who made our garden part of their "Big Event" community service project. It was really awesome to see it all come together. :)























Once the potatoes and onions were planted, those of us who were left decided to walk over to Waffle Champion for lunch. We'd never been there before but everyone raved about it and now I can see why. They idea of having a waffle "sandwich" had never crossed my mind. It was crazy good! Hubby and I had the garlic cauliflower mash along with a cold brew. It was the perfect way to wrap up a great day.



As we were walking back to our cars, someone suggested we go up to the 7th floor bar in the new Ambassador Hotel to see what our garden looked like from up there. I'm so glad we did because, not only does the garden look awesome from up there (and will look even better once it's filled with veggies!), but now I know for sure I want to go back to try out the bar & restaurant sometime. The hotel looks amazing, too!



So now I'm off to Norman for my biggest meeting of the year and once that's finished, I'm heading to the beach with my girlfriends for a few days of R&R. But I can't wait to get back, work in the garden, meet with the Urban Neighbors folks and have more downtown fun.

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Location:NE 4th St,Oklahoma City,United States

Adventures Ahead

Wow, we've packed a lot into this last week. Crazy busy time for both of us at work with multiple meetings going on. I had a three-day meeting scheduled for Tuesday-Thursday at a local hotel and then we had an unexpected board meeting crop up on Tuesday and a benefits meeting come up on Thursday. I missed the board meeting but I raced to the hotel to get things set up for the meeting Thursday morning and then rushed back to our office to get set up for the benefits meeting.

When I introduced myself to the guy who was there from our national organization he said he was surprised, he thought I'd had a conflict and wouldn't be there. I told him I did have a conflict but I'd finally figured out how to be in two places at once and that was going to come in so handy. LOL. I wish! That would be awesome. :)

And it wasn't just work that kept us busy either... four nights in the last week we've had company for dinner - three of them at home (which also means cooking!) and one of them at a new place that just opened in Deep Deuce, Urban Johnnie.




This place is owned by the same people who have Johnnie's Charcoal Broiler, an iconic OKC burger place for sure. They have some of the same items on the menu (like the Theta Burger, which everyone seems to love) but they have some other items, too - even vegan items! We were thrilled. The food was great, the atmosphere was cool (LOTS of TVs for all the sports fans) and it's a two block walk from our place. They have a great patio out front that will be awesome on the non-windy warmer days that are just around the corner.

Another night we had a business dinner and then, on the only evening left in the week, we made our way to the wonderful Colcord Hotel for the Urban Neighbors Annual Meeting where I was elected as one of the new 2014 board members!



I love the Colcord. Such a beautiful building and they've done a great job keeping things updated on such an old building, too. The hotel was built in 1909, just a few years after statehood, and was the first "skyscraper" in OKC. Hard not to love the marble walls in the lobby...



We actually started attending Urban Neighbors events before we ever moved downtown. We knew we would be there in a couple months and we knew we wanted to get involved - so we could meet others who lived nearby, discover some of the great places they meet/dine and so we could learn more of what downtown offers. It's been a terrific group to be part of and I'm really excited about being on the board.

We had Steve Lackmeyer as a guest speaker at the meeting. Steve is a columnist for the Daily Oklahoman and is probably the foremost authority on everything downtown. He gave us updates on a few developments, answered a lot of questions and praised the group for wanting to be even more active. He was really interesting.



One of the projects our out-going president mentioned at the meeting this week was a community garden. All the details aren't quite worked out yet but work will get started soon on the raised beds. I can't wait to see how all this pans out. I've had a few tomato plants and an herb garden but never grown much food besides that. Now that we eat a plant-based diet, growing vegetables seems like a perfect idea. I wonder if it might end up looking something like this?



I told the group Thursday night that a big part of my job is being a meeting planner so I hope that will help with some of my duties on the board. They have all kinds of committees I can work with, too... membership committee, business committee, social committee, social media committee, etc. I can't wait to get started and see where it goes. I suppose having time to do something like this is a direct result of our downsizing. Sounds like a win-win deal to me. :)



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Snowed in...

For the second time in the 2 1/2 months we've lived downtown, we're spending a Sunday completely snowed in. Yep, it's almost 3 p.m. and we're both still in our pajamas. I don't see real clothes or shoes in our immediate future. :)

All we've done today is watch Netflix, watch it snow, listen to the freezing rain hit our windows and marvel at the occasional bouts of thunder sleet. Well, all that and be thankful we don't have to get out in the elements and drive anywhere today. Can't forget that.

I did manage to make some really wonderful soup for lunch... potatoes, carrots, great northern beans, green onions, BBQ sauce and spinach. It was quite the interesting mix. Will definitely have to make it again sometime but I hope this is my last chance this winter... because that would mean it warms up soon and I'm no longer interested in making soup. Here's what it looked like though... very pretty.


It was pretty gloomy yesterday but we met some friends last night (the goddesses and consorts) at a new restaurant. Well, it was new to all of us. I'm not sure how long it's been open. I hadn't heard of it before a couple days ago when one of the goddesses suggested it. I was happy they had a couple of vegan items on the menu even though they included tofu and I've never been a big tofu fan. It was so good, however, I may have to change my opinion of tofu in the future... at least at Guernsey Park anyway.


They had the prettiest light fixtures in the waiting area...


I had the Kung Pao tofu and I'll definitely have it again. I'm looking forward to taking the heathen son there sometime because I know he'll love it, too.


After dinner we had the gang over for dessert. I'd made some vegan brownies and a vegan pineapple cake. I had intended to make a vegan cream cheese frosting for the cake but realized, right before I added it to the powdered sugar, that the vegan cream cheese I had was garlic and chive! Yikes, that was close. On the bright side, the cake was good without frosting. :)

We won't have our Urban Neighbors bowling league the next couple of weeks because of home Thunder games. I'm not sure if that's because the whole area will be so crazy busy or because at least half our bowlers have season tickets but I'm leaning toward the latter. :) Unfortunately, we'll miss the first week of bowling when it starts back because we will be at the beach that week. No, wait. There's nothing unfortunate about being at the beach, missing bowling or not.


This is our favorite view...


By the time we get back from the beach, it will officially be spring. There's so much we haven't done downtown yet that we're still looking forward to. And on a day when you're snowed in, spring just can't get here fast enough.


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Location:Block 42

Two months in... and feeling good.

It just dawned on me the other day we've lived downtown now for 2 months, having moved in right before the beginning of the year. Wow, what a change it's been and wow, have we ever done a lot in a pretty short amount of time.

In one of my recent posts I talked about living well with less. It still definitely feels that we're doing that and it really didn't take long to adjust. It's amazing how quickly you can get used to something, especially if that something makes your life easier. Downsizing and moving downtown has definitely made our lives easier. Everything from having no yard work, no home maintenance, less time spent cleaning, to shorter commute times to and from work (for hubby at least, mine is the same amount of time, just fewer traffic lights).

I don't think I fully expected to have so much more free time than we used to have. It's been really nice. And when the weather cooperates (which is always iffy in Oklahoma!), we've put that free time to some pretty good use. We've had a lot of FUN since moving... we've done a lot of spontaneous outings with no real goals in mind other than being together and exploring. And we've discovered some great places and made some new friends, too.

Last weekend we went with a group of our Urban Neighbors friends to the OKCMOA to watch the animated short films that have been nominated for Academy Awards. It was the first time we'd been in the theatre there and it's really great. Plus, since we have our membership there now, it's only $5 to see a movie there.




We didn't care for all the shorts... one of them was pretty disturbing and a couple were just weird but there were a couple of really good ones. My favorite was Room on the Broom. It was precious. I'd like to get a copy of that to show to Calin, my sweet grandbaby. I really hope it wins.




After the shorts were over, the group went to Shelley's apartment at Park Harvey, one of the downtown skyscraper apartments. Wow, it was an amazing view from her 16th floor apartment and just a block away from the museum. It would have never been so easy to do something like in any other neighborhood.

On Saturday we got out and strolled over to the Myriad Gardens again. This time we stopped at Park House for lunch and enjoyed the view. It was pretty windy so it was nice to sit inside this time. That place is so cool - circular glass most all the way around. I can't wait to see it at night. The veggie burger was good but the fries were awesome (sometimes you have to splurge, right?)




Just as we were finishing lunch, sweet hubby said he wondered what was playing at Harkins, the downtown movie theatre. I checked on my phone and found that a movie we had been wanting to see had just opened there - A Winter's Tale. But it started in 5 minutes... with the theatre over half a mile away, there's no way we could make it in time. He smiled and said let's see. And we took off.

We didn't run but we definitely walked a very brisk pace to get there. I don't know what was going on at the Chesapeake Arena that afternoon but there were a lot of people heading over there when we walked by. We had to weave in and out through them to not slow down. We got to the theatre, got our tickets and walked into the movie only 5 minutes into the previews. Not too bad. And the movie was worth seeing, too, thankfully. :) It was a good love story... just didn't expect Will Smith as the devil.




We had a house full Sunday afternoon/evening as the kids & grandbaby as well as heathen college son all came over to hang out and have dinner. Even in our smaller space we have plenty of room for that. Now when the twins and their parents come down from Kansas City and add to the mix, it will be interesting for sure but I'm confident we'll manage just fine.

It was such a beautiful day yesterday we got out our bikes and gave that a go. Alas, we discovered downtown OKC's hills are a bit much on single speed bikes (that were always intended for the beach anyway). After working out several times this week at the Y, my legs protested the ride for sure. Perhaps we'll stick to walking instead... we'll see. We do have the cutest cruiser bikes though...



Today we're settled in for just hanging out at home, maybe watching a movie on Apple TV. The kids will come for dinner tonight so there will be some fun in the kitchen seeing what I can come up with for them. It's especially fun with grandbaby now that she's exploring foods.



Yep, just a lazy day at home... no pressures, no stressors. If it feels this good after only two months in, especially during the winter, how good is it going to feel a few months from now when it's warm all the time and everything is green and blooming? I can't wait to find out. :)

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Location:NE 4th St,Oklahoma City,United States

Busy, busy week...

Wow... this has been a busy, busy week. It started Sunday evening with a banquet for 250 people from across the state. We had an auction of items brought to the banquet by the attendees. The auction raised $23,640 for the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) and my boss was nice enough to add in the difference to bring it to an even $25,000. That is one of the things that makes me so proud to work for the Electric Cooperatives of Oklahoma... they are so incredibly caring and generous. Wonderful people.






Monday was our conference, which went really well with the exception of our last speaker. He was truly every meeting planner's worst nightmare... I still shudder when I think about it. However, we've had no serious complaints about his inappropriate, off-color, offensive jokes... nope, only lots and lots of people having a good time teasing me about it. :) All the really great meetings I've planned, all the terrific speakers I've lined up over the years... this is the one I'll be remembered for. Sigh... aw, well. I guess those broad shoulders I've got will be put to good use. Too bad I can't say the same thing for these broad hips! :)












Monday evening we had our legislative reception at the Cowboy Hall of Fame. Yes, I know it's now called the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum... but if you grew up in OKC, it will always be the Cowboy Hall of Fame. That went well, too, and gave everyone who had been at the meeting a good chance to give me a hard time about that speaker.












Tuesday we had our board meeting and that was a full house. Tuesday night we got to go bowling with our Urban Neighbors Bowling league at Red Pin. We timed how long it takes to get there from our condo... all of 3 minutes. Wow. That's too cool. Of course we found out this week that we want to get there early because we had to park pretty far away. We ended up parked on the east end of Toby's, pretty far from Red Pin. But it all worked out and we had a great time. I'd been really worried that we would bowl so badly that no one would want us on the league. However, it didn't take us long that first night to realize we really don't have any serious bowlers, we just have a bunch of people who want to have fun together. That's pretty awesome.






Wednesday I drove to Vinita, way up in the northeast part of the state... a good hour past Tulsa. Got home just in time for sweet hubby and me to head off to a wine tasting at Paseo Art Studio. Not quite a downtown event, but not too far away. After the wine tasting, we just crossed the street to Paseo Grill for dinner. Oh. My. Gosh. Was that ever delicious! We weren't super hungry so we opted for salads and appetizers - hummus, olive spread and pita bread and an order of edamame. It was really good. We'll definitely have to do that again.






Today (Thursday), I had 92 people signed up to be at a class for new employees and new directors of the co-ops across the state. Even with 6 people not showing up, we still had the biggest class ever. I'm really glad we have a large training center we can use for things like that. It will be really nice when the new building we're building is finished and we'll have even nice training space for these groups. I told the class I'd learned a long time ago the success of any meeting I planned was based on two things -- how well I fed them and how early I could get them out. Today, I was two for two. We had a wonderful lunch from Ted's Escondido Cafe and we ended about 15 minutes earlier than the agenda said we would. I think they all left happy.






So now I'm home and faced with a 3 day weekend... and the weather is supposed to be beautiful. Hooray! I love it that all the nice days in the last month or two have all been on the weekends. That's so unusual, but I'll definitely take it.

I think we're going to swing by OKCMOA tomorrow evening to see the animated short films that have been nominated for Academy Awards. Shelley, one of our new friends from Urban Neighbors, invited us when we were bowling the other night. That sounds like an interesting evening. It's Valentine's Day tomorrow but sweet hubby and I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day. I would so much rather him tell/show me he loves me of his own volition than because someone says he has to. He will always be my Valentine but I love it when he does something special for me because it's a Tuesday... not because it's Valentine's Day. Still, I'll love spending the evening with him no matter what day it is.






I'm off work tomorrow and I think I'll start the day by heading the Y. We joined the downtown Y, just a couple blocks from our condo, earlier this month but I haven't had a chance to go yet because of the crazy weather we've had. I've got a haircut appointment at noon and I may do a little shopping tomorrow afternoon. I'm not a huge shopping fan but I'm sure tired of wearing all the same clothes lately... so we'll see.

Not sure what we'll do on this beautiful weekend... both Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be in the 70s. I hope we'll be able to get out and roam around downtown. There's still so much to learn about what's available down here... I think getting out and about is the best way to find stuff.


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