Win Big With Kenmore at the Iowa State Fair

17 Monday Jun 2013

Tags

1ooth Anniversary, Bobby Dean, Contest, Cooking, Food Network, Honored Harvest Time, Iowa State Fair, Kenmore, Local Produce, New York City, Prizes

The Iowa State Fair is the place to be August 8 through 18 if you are an Iowa resident. And this year, Kenmore is making it even better with a fun little competition!

Do you love to cook with fresh, local produce ingredients? If so, read on because this contest is totally for you!

The Kenmore brand and celebrity chef Bobby Deen are coming to the hotbed of home cooking – the Iowa State Fair – to host a brand new cooking competition this year. To celebrate the Kenmore brand’s 100th Anniversary, Iowa cooks are invited to submit their best “Honored Harvest Time” recipe during a live-judged competition hosted by Bobby on Saturday, August 10.

Bobby Deen 2012

Requirement: Minimum of three, fresh, local produce ingredients (veggies, fruit, herbs, etc.) to honor the pride of Iowa harvests.

The first place blue ribbon winner will win:

A Kenmore kitchen appliance makeover worth $5,000
A three day/two night trip package for two people to the premier food event in the country, the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival in October
The chance to have his/her recipe featured in the Kenmore 100th Anniversary cookbook due out this fall (total value of $8,400)

Seriously could these prizes be ANY BETTER?! They are seriously incredible!

Enter the “Kenmore Honored Harvest Time” recipe contest and find more details here (page 46). In honor of celebrating home-cooks and home-cooking, the contest is looking for heritage recipes and stories that inspired the recipe. A panel of judges will select the finalist based on overall taste, presentation, heritage story and uniqueness.

The entry deadline is July 1, so hurry up and enter today! Entrants and fairgoers will have the chance to meet Bobby.

So who’s in?!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Angela

Photos and information in this post are courtesy of The Zeno Group in Chicago.

{snapshots}

11 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by Angela in Friends, General

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Celebration, Dishware, Friends, Shoes, Skiing, Spring

It’s been a busy week again! Where does the time go?!

Last week Friday we took off from work early and headed north to Boone for some skiing at Seven Oaks. I haven’t skied in four or five years, so it took a little bit to get up to speed again and get rid of my fear of falling! My brother and his girlfriend went with us, and we had a ton of fun.

I have to admit that I did fall once (and it definitely hurt). When you are headed down a blue and aren’t sure which direction to go to avoid the black, sometimes you are end up in panic mode, freeze and take a bad fall. Oops! But I got back up and made it down the, ahem, hill.

This week all of our companies had an all employee celebration hosted at Palmer’s Deli & Market on Ingersoll. We had so much fun eating, hanging out and listening to the dueling pianos. One of my favorite parts of the party was that I won four hours of PTO. Woo hoo!

Some of my favorite ladies!

On another note, I have to share my two recent FAV purchases.

I FINALLY found some dishware that I like (I’ve only been looking for almost a year), courtesy of World Market and the country of Thailand. My new kitchen dishes are literally my “present” for my birthday from last year, so I would say that I am a bit behind!

And I found these adorable bow heels at DSW last weekend. Can you say cutest thing ever?! Now if it would only quit snowing I could start wearing them! Spring, where are you?

Hope you had a great weekend!

Angela

{Photo Life Update}

03 Sunday Mar 2013

Posted by Angela in Friends, GDMLI

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Most weeks in my life are crazy busy. Running here, going there, adding more to my list, it never seems to end! Although most of it is my own doing, so I really can’t complain…

Here’s a catch up with some happenings and photos from my life in the past few weeks.

A few weeks ago I attended a Social Media Club of Des Moines event at Cache Bake Shoppe where I learned how to be official in decorating my cupcakes. This was the real deal! Can’t believe I didn’t know how to do this before.

It was a lovely girl’s night out with my bestie, Ashley!

The finished products. I thought they looked pretty snazzy for it being my first time!

The best part is that we donated our cupcakes to the children staying at the Ronald McDonald House. What a great idea!

Two weeks ago we were supposed to get a mega snowstorm, which never materialized. That same day we were supposed to have class for Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute, so our marketing committee planned to meet before class. One of our committee members is a Sergeant at the West Des Moines Police Department, so when class was cancelled we decided to take a little tour of the police department…including the firing range!

This tour reaffirmed my commitment to never be arrested. Seriously.

On February 22 I celebrated one year at my job! It’s hard to believe it’s been a year already, and I am so grateful for all of the professional opportunities and the wonderful team I get to work with each day. Happy workiversary to me!

Last week Friday we finally met baby Braxton, the son of our good friends Quentin and Ashley. He is so adorable and precious! We brought them dinner and enjoyed the night cuddling with the little guy.

I had to share this beautiful photo that I took in the East Village downtown Des Moines. Reminded me of God’s simple beauty in our world.

Well there’s my photo update to share the little life happenings that I haven’t had a chance to post in the past few weeks!

Enjoy your Saturday!

Angela

A Hard Goodbye

26 Tuesday Feb 2013

Posted by Angela in General

≈ 4 Comments

I’ve never been very good with goodbyes. And this weekend was no exception. Our dear friends, Mark and Meg Nicolet, are moving to Denver, and I have to admit I am pretty bummed about it. Happy for them. Sad for me.

I worked with Meagan at America’s Family Coaches for almost a year and became very close to her. She is one of those friends where it just automatically clicked. Luckily my bestie from college also lives in Denver, and it’s a cheap and a quick flight from Des Moines, so now I have two excuses to visit the great state of Colorado!

On Saturday morning our small group had a going away brunch, and it was picture perfect. Our good friends just bought a new house, and it’s so perfect for them! She was the perfect little hostess and decorated the table so perfectly.

She even had chalkboard nameplates. Seriously adorable! The table looked like it was out of a Pottery Barn catalog.

We had way too much food paired with mimosas (I was dreaming of being on a beach in Mexico)…

Love this girl!

Meg and Mark, we will miss you!

Angela

Back to the OC

25 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by Angela in Family, General, Travel

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Last weekend we made a fast trip home to NW Iowa, as I was invited to speak at the Northwestern College Business Alumni Forum with 6 other alums (check out the sweet rating NWC just received from CBS Money Watch!). I had a great time sharing my professional experience with college students. It seems like so long ago already that I was a student at Northwestern! Time goes way too fast.

Here were some of my top tips to the students:

Create your own personal brand. Know who you are professionally, what makes you unique and own it.
Create a solid online presence for yourself. If you like to write, consider blogging. Network with other professionals in your industry through Twitter. And most of all, have a solid LinkedIn profile! That’s a must.
Network, network, network. Reach out to other Northwestern grads and leverage those relationships.
Don’t be afraid to take risks. Apply for that job you think you don’t have a chance to get and sell yourself when you get an interview.

After the forum, I headed to the NWC women and men’s basketball games with my parents. I ran into a couple friends from college that I haven’t seen in a long time…it’s always so good to catch up and see old friends!

Saturday night we went out to dinner at The Hatchery with my parents and finished the night off by watching The Lucky One (LOVE that movie). And all too soon it was Sunday afternoon and time to make the trip back to Des Moines. It was a super fast trip home, but I am so grateful for those trips home to spend quality time with my parents. Having four kids in our family, its delightful when we all get together, but I cherish the one on one time I get with my parents in my childhood house. There is just absolutely nothing that can beat it.

On the way home we enjoyed the beauty of our Iowa skies.

How was your weekend?

Angela

Celebrating Baby J!

17 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by Angela in Family, Travel

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Baby Shower, Celebrate, Dinner, Dutch, Family

Last weekend we spent Saturday in Pella to host a baby shower for Kayla, my sister-in-law. So this means I have big news (that I don’t think I have shared yet)…I am SO EXCITED to be an aunt! Can you tell?! And it gets even better…the first baby in my family is going to be a baby girl!! I. Just. Can’t. Wait. Baby J is going to be so spoiled by me and my family! Baby tutus, sparkles and loads of pink are seriously calling my name.

I was in charge of games for the shower, so I had lots of fun creating some nasty diapers before the drive to Pella. Don’t worry friends, they really are just candy bars in the diapers, but it makes for a darn fun guessing game!

My sister had the brilliant idea to hold the baby shower at The Tulip Time Tea Room in Pella. It was such an adorable little place to hold a baby shower!

They had a great menu to chose lunch from…

I had delicious ham balls, mashed potatoes and a side salad, complete with an almond bar (I love the Dutch) and an almond flavored scone with some kind of special whipping cream that I cannot remember the name of. It was so scrumptious. And it was even better because we didn’t have to stress over any of the food prep!

My sister and I had a lovely time throwing a shower to celebrate my sister-in-law and brother’s soon to be new baby. She is due in April and seriously looks incredible. If I ever have kids I sure hope I look this good!

After the shower we headed back to my brother’s house to hang out and play some games. It’s always so good to have family time! Luckily, we all live close enough that we get to see each other quite a bit.

Before we knew it, it was dinner time! Kayla had made reservations at Monarchs in The Royal Amsterdam Hotel in downtown Pella. I was excited to check out this new restaurant!

Saturday nights at Monarchs they have a lovely all you can eat buffet for $14.99, complete with prime rib. Because I’m not a huge prime rib fan (I know, can you believe it? Not really my thing.), I opted to order off the menu…and instead settled for a delicious sirloin and baked potato. It was so delicious, and I was really happy with my dinner choice while everyone else stuffed themselves silly from their multiple trips to the buffet.

After dinner I had to snap some quick shots of downtown Pella. I absolutely love the Dutch character in this town, and growing up in a Dutch community myself, it always feels like home.

It was such a great weekend of family time and celebration. Any tips for this soon to be aunt? I cannot wait to meet Baby J!

Angela

Master Painters

11 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by Angela in GDMLI

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I feel exhausted. That’s not how I am supposed to feel at the end of a weekend, right? This weekend was packed full of activities including a baby shower (post coming later!) and a work day for our Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute class project. This means I didn’t have a lot of free time to recharge, but it sure was a weekend packed full of fun.

On Friday morning we had some sad news in regards to our project — someone broke into the house Thursday night and stole a couple thousand of dollars worth of tools. KCCI did a great story on the theft — watch it here. It’s heartbreaking when people steal something that isn’t theirs, especially when it’s for an organization that helps so many people! The theft did set us back a little ways as it delayed our contractor’s work on Friday, but we powered through as a class, as we had a work weekend planned to get a lot of painting done!

Today I learned how to be a master painter with some of my classmates. It’s such a blast getting to renovate the new building for Amanda the Panda with everyone, as it provides a great opportunity to get to know each other and build this project together.

I do have to say that my hands are quite sore tonight from all the roller painter (apparently I don’t paint often enough), but my classmate Joe and I had to paint a room in the dark (no electricity in the room yet), so we had to be very meticulous. I think the room is nicknamed “the Ten Clay room” by those who were working today, so let’s hope it looks fantastic in the light!

Learn more about Project Panda here and how you can support the project. We appreciate your support to complete the project for a very important organization in our community!

Have a great week!

Angela

{sequin love}

08 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by Angela in Fashion, General

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Fashion, JCPenney, Sequins

I absolutely love sequins. Anything sparkly is basically my best friend. The dad of one of my childhood best friend’s even nicknamed me Sparkles. And to this day, that’s still my name whenever he sees me! So now you know it. I’ve been obsessed since I was a child.

And this year has been the prime shopping season to find sequins. They are literally everywhere!

When an item is ultra sequin-y, I tend to not want to wear it to work. A little too flashy, ya know? But then again, sometimes I wear it anyway!

Because some sequined items can be uber expensive, I’ve been holding out to find a few bargains. And it was worth the wait.

I nabbed this adorable skirt for TWO DOLLARS, yes $2 at jcpenney. You may not shop there often, but I love that store. Lots of fun, new styles and they have the best customer service and return policy.

Thinking holiday parties next year. It’s absolutely perfect.

And who doesn’t love clearance at Target? I nabbed this clutch for $10 and can’t wait to use it. I always buy black clutches, so it was time to change it up with a little brown!

Do you own any clothing items with sequins? Which ones are your fav?

Angela

I was not paid or contacted by jcpenney or Target to say anything on behalf of their clothes/accessories. This is solely my own opinion.

An Event Filled Night

28 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by Angela in GDMLI, Marriage

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Tags

Date Night, GDMLI, Networking

Thursday night was a double event night for me. At the end of a long week after a 24 hour journey to Chicago the weekend before, I really just wanted to head home and sit on the couch. As always, I am glad I didn’t as it was a great night full of friends and laughter!

My first event of the night was for The Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute with the current class and all alumni at The Embassy Club Downtown. It was on the 34th floor of the Ruan Center. What a view!

Suzanne and I at the GDMLI Event.

I was only able to stay for an hour, but I am so glad I took the time to go, even for the amazing view! It’s not often that I visit The Embassy Club…

My next event was at Valley Church for America’s Family Coaches Date Night Des Moines Event! It was such an awesome event, and we had a fantastic turnout of over 450 people. I worked the event by manning the live social media, and Michael was a “geek” for the night helping people download the app (get it here: http://gloo.us/get/purpose).

My hubby and me at Date Night Des Moines.

Me and Meagan, my AFC co-worker.

The Challenge at this event was simple: four dates in four weeks.

Date Night is designed to challenge couples to go out and connect on a date once a week for four weeks to strengthen their marriage. As a part of this challenge you will follow America’s Family Coaches’ mobile content accessible on the gloo app (http://gloo.us/get/purpose). If you don’t have a smartphone you can still participate with the paper version (Click here to download the Date With A Purpose document).

Starting January 24th and ending on Valentine’s Day, use the content in the app for a unique date experience each week!

Will you join America’s Family Coaches and take the Challenge? There’s nothing better than setting aside time in the craziness of life for date nights. So I hope you say yes!

Happy Sunday!

Angela

The 24 Hour Chicago Trip

24 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by Angela in AMA Iowa, Friends, General, Travel

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

AMA Iowa, Chicago, Conference, Development, Friends, Learning, megabus, Networking, Pizza, Retreat, Travel, Zebra Cake

What a weekend! Friday and Saturday were a whirlwind.

I was up early Friday morning to catch an early megabus to Chicago with some of my favorite AMA Iowa peeps, and it is best described as an experience.

Of course it was freezing cold with a strong wind, and there was no shelter as we waited for the megabus (because someone kindly broke all of the glass windows out of the shelter). Regardless, I was excited to head to Chicago for an AMA Iowa mid-year retreat!

Our bus finally came after a long wait and we were finally off!

It was a long ride to Chicago…eight and a half hours of riding in a bus to be exact that didn’t go over 55 mph and seemed to be at least 80 degrees inside. So not fun.

Luckily there was Wi-Fi on the bus, so I could do some work and life catch up.

We passed the time by eating plenty of Zebra Cakes.

We finally made it to Union Station! I couldn’t have been happier to finally get out of that bus. We quickly grabbed our luggage, as we arrived three hours later than planned into Chicago and headed straight to the blue line. Of course, our conference was out in Rosemont, so it was a 45 minute train ride out to the ‘burbs by O’Hare. At this point, I was so over public transportation. Luckily we found seats and had a smooth ride, plus I had some great company with me!

Girls on the El.

Me and Ash.

We were the chattiest people on the El. I forgot that in Chicago people just don’t talk on public transportation. Oops! Riding the El brought me back to the good ole days of living in Chicago, but I do have to say that I don’t miss public transit one bit.

As soon as we arrived at our hotel it was time for the networking/social hour with the 12 other chapters that were attending. It’s always so fun to meet people from other AMA chapters and hear their best ideas! After socializing, our team of five headed out to Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill for dinner. We had such a blast…loved this bar and grill! A must see if you are anyone that has one close by.

Delicious food and a 50% off any app Foursquare deal (yes, friends it pays to check-in)!

Our lovely group of AMA Iowa peeps.

I had a delicious hamburger. It totally hit the spot after riding a bus for eight and a half hours…

This restaurant was huge!

Girls at dinner.

The bar and grill was in the coolest little area in Rosemont!

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and went straight to bed, as we were all wiped.

Heeeellllooooo huge room! A bedroom and a sitting room, all for me.

Saturday morning came way too early. I felt like I hardly slept at all, so I literally forced myself out of bed to head to an early breakfast at 7:30 (I know, not that early but I hate mornings!). We loaded up on food and headed to the conference room. Let the conference begin!

For the next seven hours we listened to presentations from chapter leaders and shared ideas with other chapters. And I won a networking tips guidebook (I love winning), which I can’t wait to dive into.

We left the conference a little early, as we needed to head back downtown to catch a 5 p.m. bus at Union Station. Back to the El we went!

Luckily we arrived downtown a little early, so we grabbed a quick bite of pizza at Beggars Pizza and took in a few sights.

This view never gets old.

So beautiful!

Our bus took off on time (cheer!), we actually went a normal speed on the way home, our bus wasn’t over 80 degrees and we made it home earlier than the time on our ticket! Woo hoo! But, the wind was blowing at 30 mph on the way home, so we did ride on what we termed “megaswerve” on the way home!

It was a quick trip to the city (minus the drive out there), but I had a blast hanging out with some of my favorite AMA Iowa peeps and learning some tips on how to be a better chapter.

How was your weekend? Have you ever had a megabus experience? Hope it was better than ours!

Angela

Iowa Farm Grown

Win Big With Kenmore at the Iowa State Fair

{snapshots}

{Photo Life Update}

A Hard Goodbye

Back to the OC

Celebrating Baby J!

Master Painters

{sequin love}

An Event Filled Night

The 24 Hour Chicago Trip

Follow “Iowa Farm Grown”