A sneak peek at our new house
It’s a little awkward to take photos of a house someone else is living in, but we are excited to make it our own!
Frenchy. #royals #kcroyaltweets
Heading to the game. Go #royals!
Version 4.0
Things look a little a different around this corner of the web. Not a lot different, but a little.
I recently finished a redesign of this very blog/portfolio/resume site, and - while I’m not 100% done - I like how it’s looking. It’s a little simpler and cleaner, and (most importantly, to me at least) it’s responsive.
If you haven’t heard of responsive web design, here’s a super primitive explanation. In this world of hundreds of various internet-connected devices with all kinds of screen sizes, websites should be designed to look great on all of them. They should “respond” to the size of the screen.
So, do a little experiment for me. Grab the side/corner of your browser window (if you’re on a computer) and make it smaller. Everything should still be viewable and navigable, right? Phew, it worked. If you’re on a phone and this website isn’t driving you crazy with pinching and zooming, I’ve done my job.
Along with this new look, I’ve decided I’m going to be using this page as a little more of a Tumblr and not just a long-form blog. So watch out for puppy photos and randomness.
Oh yeah, for posterity, here are the previous designs that I’ve had on this site. Enjoy!
Jax’s favorite hobby: staring out the window.
We bought a house!
(Well, we’re buying a house.)
It’s been a busy few months. Lori’s been finishing up her Masters classes, and I’ve been doing the usual 8-to-5 thing. Jax has been keeping us entertained, and we went to Austin for SXSW. But the biggest thing on our minds has been looking for a new place to live.
It’s been a long time coming. We knew that we probably were going to grow out of our one-bedroom apartment pretty quickly. But our decision was expedited when we realized that Jax really would like some room to run and play. So we signed a six-month extension on the lease and jumped head-first into house-hunting.
It’s a mighty intimidating task to scour the entire metro area for the perfect combination of space, a nice neighborhood, price, bedrooms, basement, yard, big kitchen, and everything else we’d put on our wish list. We got ourselves a buyer’s agent, whittled down our list of dozens of houses, and started checking them out in person.
One house begin to rise to the top of the list. Less than 10 years old, fairly spacious floor plan, a wonderfully large kitchen, a finished basement, more bedrooms than you can shake a stick at (3 officially, 4 if you wanted), and a fenced-in yard. It is very close to the luxuriousness of Johnson County and the fun atmosphere of Waldo. It is conveniently near a few major highways, but tucked away in a neighborhood. The price fit the budget, and the house makes us smile.
It’s totally move-in ready, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to change anything. As it is, the house it basically a blank slate. The walls, ceilings, carpeting, cabinets, and everything look brand new, so it’s not a fixer-upper. But we’re excited to put a little of our own style into the place. Top of the list items include: building a small raised garden, installing a fire pit, painting the two bedrooms that currently belong to little girls (green and purple are the status quo), landscaping the front yard a little more, adding shutters to the front windows, and hanging decorations.
I’ll be posting some photos as we go through the process, but I - unfortunately - don’t have a great one right now. We’re extremely excited to have a place to call our own. It’s clean, new, and ready to go, but we want to spend the next few months making it match our tastes. It’s a nice little starter home, but it’s our little starter home.
The Cauldron. #sportingkc
Today was Lori’s last day of class (ever!) so these were waiting for her when she got home.
Resolved
When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, I’m a realist. I know what is most likely an impossible habit to change. However, I do set some goals from time to time and do my best to keep them. A few years ago I successfully gave up pop (or soda, if you’d prefer) for Lent. The next year I said “no thanks” to sweets (with the one exception of a Cafe La Monde beignet during my first time in New Orleans). The competitive - or perfectionist -side in me keeps me going.
In late December, I started thinking about New Year’s Resolutions, like the rest of the world. There has been something I’ve wanted to do for a while now, and January 1 would be a nice, clean starting date. Every month this year, Lori and I will be donating to a different nonprofit doing good in the world. There are hundreds, thousands of such organizations, but we have some specific criteria and are looking forward to researching what they are doing and how they help.
Convoy of Hope is our pick for January. Convoy is based in Springfield, Missouri, where Lori and I both went to college. We both volunteered at the organization’s facility and helped sort donations on multiple occasions. Lori traveled to El Salvador to work with Convoy for one of her dietetic courses, taking anthropomorphic measurements of children in orphanages and helping distribute food and supplies. Our experiences have shown us how Convoy of Hope helps people around the world. Convoy also helps with disaster relief; they were one of the first major organizations in Haiti after the earthquake in January 2010.
Lori and I are excited about researching and donating to eleven more great organizations this year and hopefully many more to come. This is less of a New Year’s resolution and more of a life resolution.
On 2011
What a crazy great year. Below, I’ve reposted Lori’s and my holiday letter that’s been living at tylerandlori.com.
Have a wonderful and safe New Year’s. I can’t wait to see what 2012 has in store!
Tyler
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As this year comes to a close, we thought we would reflect on the past twelve months and let everyone know what we’ve been up to. It’s been a whirlwind of a year with new jobs, more education, lots of fun, and (of course) a wedding!
We rang in the New Year at Disney World with Tyler’s family during the last week of December and had a great time! This was Lori’s first time to visit Mickey, and she desperately wants to go back! Our family rented a large house with Scott, Kelly, Bailey, Blythe, and Hans and spent our time exploring Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Harry Potter World at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. It was a great trip, and we got to spend a lot of time with some very fun members of our family.
Having just graduated with his Masters, Tyler accepted a Delivery Consultant (client training) position at Cerner in Kansas City, starting January 10, after moving to an apartment in North Kansas City a few days earlier. Tyler’s job entailed training staff at physician practices how to use a practice management system (software to register and schedule patients and send insurance claims). This role allowed him to visit offices in Connecticut, Pennsylvania (three times), California, Massachusetts, and Florida (twice) over four or five months.
The move to Kansas City brought him closer to Lori, who was in her first year at the University of Kansas Medical Center working on her Masters and Dietetic Internship. After working in a clinical rotation at Children’s Mercy Hospital during the fall semester, Lori saw a little different side of dietetics with her management rotation at the Kansas City Veterans’ Affairs Hospital in the first half of the spring semester and her community rotation at HyVee in Liberty in the second half. She also got to choose a rotation in the summer, when she worked at North Kansas City Hospital across the street from Cerner.
All throughout the spring, we were busy wedding planning. Everything from major decisions like locations and wedding party to minor ones like the design of our save-the-dates and the shoes we were going to wear in the ceremony had to be decided. We had been attending Platte Woods United Methodist Church off I-29 and decided to have the wedding there. Our friend Kristen took engagement photos of us, and Tyler designed our website, save-the-dates, invitations, and programs. We also put down a deposit to have our reception at Screenland Armour in North Kansas City. At that time, we did not know that something different would come along.
In April, a career change opportunity came along for Tyler. He found a job opening for an Online Marketing Specialist at Cerner (in his department and even on the same floor!). After talking to the proper people, he was able to set up an interview and learn that the position was perfect for his expertise and interests. After three internal interviews and gaining the approval necessary to change jobs after four months (an unothodox move), Tyler was offered the role and accepted. Following a transitional period, he quickly settled into the role running social media accounts, developing online marketing strategy, producing video, and designing graphics. He also began going to the active Kansas City chapter of the Social Media Club, meeting lots of great people in similar positions.
Another surprise change came in May. We had heard that Union Station and Mix 93 radio station were giving away a royal wedding-inspired reception, and - on a whim - Tyler entered an essay into the contest. After being named a finalist and staging a social media and word-of-mouth campaign among our friends and family, we were thrilled to be named the winning couple. Wedding planning launched into high gear after this news. We had about two months to modify many of our established plans. The reception package was quite a blessing, giving us a much nicer reception than our budget had previously allowed.
More good news followed in June and July as Lori was hired for two part-time jobs. First, she was hired as a Nutrition Assistant at Children’s Mercy, screening patients at risk and collecting vital information for nutrition follow-up. Children’s Mercy requires dietitians to have their Masters, so this position is a great foot-in-the-door for when Lori earns her Masters degree in May 2012. She was also hired to be a Graduate Research Assistant at KU Med for the 2011-12 academic year. This position is in the organization’s Breast Cancer Survivorship Program. She teaches a class of breast cancer survivors about the basics of nutrition and how to use nutrition to prevent cancer reccurance. She also consults the same population on a one-to-one basis.
In early August, our wedding day came. Through lots of hard work that summer, we were prepared for the day. We had great family, friends, and vendors helping us out, making August 5 a fantastic day. Lots of wonderful people showed up for our wedding and even more made it to the reception at Union Station. It was great to see many friends who we had not seen in a while. We hope everyone had as much fun as we did: eating, dancing, and laughing the night away.
Two days after the wedding, we headed up the highway to KCI and flew to Cabo San Lucas (via Phoenix). We had found an all-inclusive deal on LivingSocial at a hefty discount and decided to purchase it. Cabo, and our resort, were as wonderful as could be. Located directly on the beach facing Cabo’s famous arches, our room was less than 50 yards from the ocean. During our five days there, we swam with dolphins, snorkeled in the ocean, and went on a sunset sailboat cruise. It was an amazing trip, and we hope to go back!
After the honeymoon, Tyler headed back to work and Lori started back at school. Besides the regular schoolwork, Lori had a big test to study for: the Registered Dietitian exam. Because she had completed her internship in July, she was able to register for the exam. She did, and passed with flying colors, in early October, officially adding “RD” to the end of her name.
Over the next few months, Lori was able to completely move into the North Kansas City apartment, and we were both able to spend time with friends like Ben and Laura, Adam and Kelsey, Nick and Annah, and Andy and Kristen. Additionally, we were able to hang out with some of Lori’s friends from class and Tyler’s friends from work. (In addition to Lori’s parents and siblings just up the road in Kearney.) Tyler and Kristen also started taking photos together, shooting engagement sessions, weddings, and family photos throughout the fall of 2011.
We were able to spend time with Tyler’s extended family during a long weekend in October. For the second year, we rented cabins south of Branson and relaxed, playing games, cooking, and spending time with each other. We were also able to see many family members during Thanksgiving and cannot wait to see them again for Christmas!
We did get some bad news in November: Tyler’s dog at home was hit by a car. A wonderfully sweet basset hound, Flash was a part of the family, providing years of laughter with his antics. After meeting Lori the first time she came home, he was infatuated with her, watching her every move and requiring her to pet him on every occasion. He was an incredible dog, and he will be missed.
For almost as long as we have been married, we have been talking about getting a puppy. After visiting shelters and adoption events multiple times (and checking online daily), we found the perfect puppy at Wayside Waifs in early December. Jax is a two month-old black shepherd-lab mix with four white paws, a white chest, and a white tip on his tail. He is a very sweet puppy who loves people, sleep, and playing with his numerous toys. We cannot wait to celebrate Christmas with him: his first and our first together.
It’s been a wonderful year, full of lots of ups and only a few downs. But we can’t wait to see what 2012 brings! Thanks to all of you who have blessed us in some way during this year; we are so thankful to have you in our lives. Be joyful during this Christmas season and all through the year to come! Merry Christmas to all.
Tyler and Lori
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