Another Busy Weekend

Posted on by Jordan

Disclaimer, as always I am falling behind on posting, so this may not discuss last weekend, so much as a weekend I meant to post about. 🙂

 

Friday night, Heather and I had a quiet evening at home. The evening got a lot quieter when the power failed.

I quickly discovered that Heather’s love for scented candles makes us well prepared for this kind of event. I have been careful to keep a few flashlights handy, but we only used those to get some candles lit, and then we had plenty of light.

It was a great reminder that I need to get moving on that emergency preparedness kit I have been thinking about from the day I rejoined the scouts. If I let myself get a blog post or two out of it, I might actually get it together 🙂

About the last thing I remember before falling asleep was marveling at how quiet our building was without power, and then hearing fans and motors kick in as the power came back up.

The next morning, Heather’s parents came for a short visit. We took the opportunity to teach them how to play St Petersburg; in the hopes that it was something people who weren’t already inclined to enjoy board games would have fun with. I am pleased to report that, despite our less than ideal introduction, they enjoyed the game.

Later we took advantage of the fact that it was somehow over 50 degrees in February, and headed up to the “High Trestle Bridge” trail. The bike route we take is 11 miles, but there is a nice trail-head only a little more than mile from the bridge, giving us a nice walk out to a great view of the valley.

I encourage people to come visit us, but chances are your going to be playing a board game and then walking on one of the many trails around here. It isn’t glamorous I suppose, but everybody seems to enjoy it.

We finished up the day with dinner and a movie.While we were out, Heather and her mom both managed to independently pick the phrase “it looks like a hearse” to describe a vehicle we were interested in. I still can’t explain how they arrived at that.

Sunday was more food, and more boardgames. Don’t let the lack of a long description here lead you into thinking it wasn’t enjoyed, I just don’t think I can produce interesting reading by recapping.

-Jordan

Valentine’s 2012

Posted on by Jordan

Heather and I might not be exciting people. I say this, because it is the only conclusion I can really draw when faced with the events of Valentine’s day this year. That being said, it was a good day… Just not terribly exciting.

The day started off with Heather giving me Saint Petersburg the board game. We discovered this game over the weekend, at the West Des Moines Board Game Club. It isn’t the sort of game that ether of us would initially be drawn too, but thanks to the people at the game night, once we learned it, it was really enjoyable.

Before we got a chance to actually play the game, I tried out a new recipe: Stuffed Panko Crusted Chicken. I think it went rather well, and Heather stated that I should take a picture of it, so I must not be the only one who thought it came out ok.

We then played a lovingly contested game of St Petersburg… Pretty good for a work night 😉

-Jordan

Entertaining

Posted on by Jordan

I learned soon after the post went up about being done decorating and painting furniture that we are not actually done with that.

None the less, Heather and I have had the opportunity to invite friends over on several occasions in the past few weeks. It has been really gratifying to feel that our hard work getting this place cleaned up was worth it. I should also note that Heather practically levitates around the house as she gives the tour of our final decor placement.

For a while there we were averaging just over two nights a week with three or more guests over. That pace has dropped off this past week, but we were having a lot of fun with it!

A few things we are discovering:

Cooking for more people is harder! I generally manage to scale the recipe up enough, only to be 20 minutes slow getting it done. Not the worst problem ever, but it feels like it throws the entire night off.

Letting guest bring over a salad or dessert helps out more than I ever would have guessed. It isn’t that we couldn’t make those, but in the time between getting home from work and when things start there often isn’t time.

And then the final bullet: Ticket to Ride is a great game!

Heather has deemed it her “favorite game ever” and thoroughly enjoys it every round, despite often loosing to a new player. And there have been quite a few new players… we played the game every night, and every time taught a new group of people how to play the game. Without fail, everyone picked it up quickly and was having a lot of fun by the end.

I am still looking for other games that we could perhaps move to once people have bought into the idea of boardgames being fun, but so far that search hasn’t turned up much. Perhaps as it gets colder and staying inside sounds more attractive we can devote some more time to the question 🙂

-Jordan