Honeymoon Friends {part seis}

Over the weekend, Jason and I were reunited with our Honeymoon Friends at their house in Ankeny, Iowa. Per usual it was a fun-filled weekend complete with plenty of adult cocktails and nonstop laughs. Jason and I headed south early Friday afternoon and were anxious to get the 3.5 hour drive over with so we could see our pals. 

We rolled in to town and immediately picked up where we left off. It's so awesome to have such great friends that time isn't an issue - we hadn't seen Bill & Jackie for a year but it was just as if no time had passed. 

Bill grilled us some delicious kabobs, we settled in, had a drink or two and then hit the road for a bike ride! I haven't been on a bike since our trip to Chicago two years ago, so I must admit I was a tad nervous. But it's true, you hop on it just comes right back to you. Our ride started at the Flat Tire Lounge, a really cool old feed barn that was converted in to a bar.

 I loved the bar so much, I just had to have a tank top from there and Jackie followed my lead. #bikeflat

 After a couple of drinks at Flat Tire we made our way to the High Trestle Bridge where the view was incredible!

 After taking in the view on the bridge we were off to the Whistlin' Donkey for a couple more drinks and some snacks {aka the world's cheesiest Grilled Cheese} and then we headed back and ended our night back at Flat Tire. In all I think we biked around 12 miles. It was a great workout, so much fun and now Jason and I are bike shopping like crazy because we must have bikes. 

On Saturday we woke to perfectly sunny and blue skies - which officially broke the curse of me always bringing crappy weather to Iowa. It was the most perfect day to spend on the boat and so that is what we did! We ate, drank, swam, danced, laughed and had a blast! There isn't much I love more than a day on the boat and to spend it with good friends is icing on the cake. 

After a solid 6 hours on the boat and a sunburn to prove it...

 ...we got showered and ready and went to Wig and Pen for some DELICIOUS pizza. 

After dinner, we made our way to Firetrucker, a really cool old fire station converted to a brewery. I wish I would have taken more photos because the decor and atmosphere was so cool. 

After a couple of Firetrucker original beers, we were back at Bill & Jackie's where we stayed up until the wee hours chatting on the deck while using our newfound favorite app "Star Chart". It's seriously SO COOL! You hold it up to the sky and it tells you what stars and constellations you are looking at! Seriously - hours of entertainment! 

It was another successful reunion and we are already planning and counting down the days until our next! I love so much that we've managed to maintain this friendship because it certainly would have been easy to leave Mexico saying "let's get together" and then never following through. Just think of all the fun we would have missed out on if we didn't make the effort. 

Next up.... Part Siete! 

All New Everything

I don't know what it is but lately I have this super strong desire to start completely from scratch. I have the urge to not only empty the whole fridge and all the cabinets and buy all new food but I want to get rid of ALL my clothes and start a new wardrobe, I also want to get rid of all of my furniture and home decor and get all new errrrthing. Oh, I also want to move but only if it is in to a brand new house that we build from scratch. And, no, this isn't just a witty blog post intro - I very seriously have a strong desire to purge ALL of my possessions {except my Jimmy Choos}. Does this happen to anyone else? I'm so sick of my stuff and I just want a clean slate.  Unfortunately, no matter how strong the urge, I can't afford a brand new house or all new furniture or all new clothes and really I probably can't even afford to waste all the food in my kitchen. And so, for now, I'll stick to daydreaming my way through my pinterest boards where my life is has no budget....

...and my day-to-day outfits look like this:
 

{no, I don't wear color in my dream world either}


...which I keep in a closet that looks something this:



...and wear in my office that looks like this:

...in my house that looks exactly like this:

...and obviously has this:



...and is decorated like this:



all while eating this...

and still managing to look like this...



Sure would be nice, wouldn't it? I'm off to make some Ramen Noodles in my sweatpants.

Why Your Barista Hates You

Many of you already know this, but those who are newer readers may not know that in 2010 with the help of my parents, Jason and I opened our own coffee shop. This wasn't a chain or a franchise, this was our very own labor of love made from absolute scratch - Coffee Buzz. Between owning my own shop, working at a coffee chain for years before and the couple of years I've been moonlighting as a barista after the closing of Coffee Buzz...I have a lot of coffee shop experience. I'm here to tell you today what, as a barista, are some of the things customers do that drive us right up the wall and may even result in us slipping you decaf.

1. You don't tip. While tips are always optional and are an acknowledgement of a job well done, it seems as baristas are frequently getting the short end of the stick in the gratuity department. My favorite example is this - would you EVER not tip your bartender? He may just be pouring you a beer from the tap or maybe is mixing up a super involved martini...either way I'm willing to bet you are leaving a minimum of $1 as a thank you. Explain to me how this is different than what a barista does? I'm either pouring you a drip brew coffee or I'm mixing up an elaborate espresso drink. I try to be fast, accurate and friendly as any good bartender would be....so why don't you leave a lil sumthin' to thank me for starting your day on the right foot? AND, if you don't leave a tip every single time - that's OK. Maybe once every couple of weeks throw a $5 in the jar. Believe me, we notice and like a bartender take extra special care of the customers who take care of us. 

2. You can't hang up the phone for 2 seconds. If your phone call is so dang important that you can't put it on hold for less than 30 seconds while you order your beverage than maybe you shouldn't be taking this call at a coffee shop. Your rudeness and lack of attention often leads to you forgetting a piece of your order which leads to us making the incorrect beverage and finally results in you sending it back to be re-made and now everyone {including you} is annoyed. Take a second to give your order your undivided attention. And also, just don't be rude. 

3. You don't pay attention. #1 greatest barista pet peeve is this...there's a line of people and 10 drinks on the screen waiting to be made. We make your nonfat half/caf latte with half a shot of sugar free vanilla and one pump of caramel with no froth and whip on the side and announce as loud as we are able to be sure you hear us "I have a medium nonfat half/caf latte with half a shot of sugar free vanilla and one pump of caramel with no froth and whip on the side for Ashley!" and you - Ashley - are not paying attention which then leads to another customer, let's say - Joe - to see a medium drink on the bar and because he is also not paying attention he grabs your latte. Well now Joe is mad because he has the wrong drink, and you are mad because you've been standing there for 5 minutes and haven't gotten your drink yet even though it was ready for you 4 minutes ago. Wanna avoid all that? We do too. Pay attention.

4. You have no earthly idea what you're ordering. I know not everyone knows what the difference is between a latte and a cappuccino or what the difference is between a real macchiato and a Starbucks "caramel macchiato" but when you just order something out of the blue and then complain that it's wrong because you don't know what you are ordering - sorry, not my bad. I am HAPPY as a clam to answer questions and educate customers on what the different drinks entail - so just ask. Also, be aware that not all coffee shops are the same they use different names, different sizes and different recipes. If you learn what you are ordering at one place you will be able to easily ask for any other place to replicate it.

5. You pour hot coffee in the trash. Hi. Let me tell you something. If you order a coffee with room for cream and we don't leave you as much room as you would like so you decide to pour your piping hot coffee into the trash to create more room it WILL 100% burn the trash bag in the trash can causing the trash to leak, spill and maybe even completely split open on whoever the poor bastard is {me} that has to take it out. If you need more room kindly ask us and we will dump some of your piping hot coffee down the sink and we may even hug you in gratitude for not pouring it in the trash. 

There you have it. A couple of super easy steps to follow to make sure your barista stays happy and your coffee stays caffeinated. :)

Parker's Birth Story {01.24.15}

My name is Kaileigh and I write a little blog called The Osbott Spot which currently documents my life as a new mom!  I gave birth to our first baby, Parker Scott back in January and he has been lighting up our lives ever since.

At 35 weeks pregnant, I was not ready to deliver.  I had been feeling more uncomfortable, but I loved being pregnant.  So when I started getting pains across my lower stomach in the middle of the night, I assumed I had a UTI.  I didn’t sleep hardly at all that night, but went to work the next day anyways.

By 10 am I knew that I wasn’t going to last all day.  So I paged my midwife and she told me that I likely had a UTI and should come in.  I told my boss I would be back in an hour and a half.  The midwife did a cervical exam so she could decide which antibiotic to put me on and told me that I was 2cm dilated and 80% effaced.  Not what I was expecting!  She said I could deliver that weekend, or it could be 3 more weeks, but to prepare myself for having a baby by 38 weeks. 

As my blood pressure was high, she suggested that I not go back to work that day.  So I went home and sat in my nursery while my mom did baby laundry and organized my nursery.

I kept getting the stomach pains sporadically for the rest of the day.  But it wasn’t cramping, it was more like a sharp pain.  They got more frequent until about 9:00 when I downloaded a contraction timing app and started timing them.  They were about 6-8 minutes apart.  At this point they also started causing pain in my lower back which radiated around to my belly.  I still wasn’t convinced they were contractions, I thought my antibiotics just hadn’t kicked in yet.  I tried to sleep, but couldn’t and got up to watch a movie.  Contractions were about 5 minutes apart and 45 seconds to a minute long.

At about 3 am I went to the bathroom an there was a lot of mucusy blood.  I immediately paged my midwife.  While on the phone, my husband woke up and asked if I was ok.  I told him that he might want to get ready because we might be going to the hospital.  While waiting for my midwife to call, I quickly packed a bag because I hadn’t gotten around to that yet!  When my midwife called me, she told me it was probably my bloody show.  I was convinced it was way too much blood, she was convinced that it was normal.  By this time, contractions had spaced out a bit.  She told me to call back in an hour if they got worse, or to call her in the morning regardless.

I called her the next morning, still contracting, and she asked me to meet her at the hospital.  She wanted us to meet her at the hospital in the next city, which is where her office is, rather than the one that I was supposed to deliver in.  I found out later that it’s because at 35 weeks pregnant, that hospital could handle a preemie.  Had I gone to the hospital I planned to give birth in, they would have sent me to a hospital over an hour away.  So we headed out with the bags that I had quickly packed at 3am, totally expecting to be sent home once we got there.  She examined me, told me I was 4cm and that I was having a baby that day.

Because I was only 35 weeks, she had to share care with a doctor.  I was just happy that she was still permitted to be involved.  I was admitted and taken to a labor and delivery room.  I also had to have a fetal heartbeat monitor the entire time I was in labor, so I was confined to my bed.  My midwife asked if I wanted the epidural and told me that the anesthesiologist was available now, or I could wait for an hour.  I had hoped not to have an epidural, but told myself that if I felt I needed one I wouldn’t beat myself up for it.  Because I was confined to my bed anyways, hadn’t slept in 2 days and needed antibiotics for at least 4 hours before my water was broken (because my GBS swab results weren’t back yet), I decided to get the epidural.  The relief was instantaneous and I was very happy with my decision.

At that point, things got a bit boring.  I couldn’t feel anything so we were just waiting around.  My contractions spread out to 6 minutes apart.  At 4:00 my water could have been broken, but the doctor was busy and wouldn’t let my midwife do it.  This was so frustrating!  Finally at 5:30 she came in and broke my water.  We were told it still might be awhile but we should have a baby before the night was over.  My husband was told to go grab something to eat while he had time and the nurse and the midwife took turns getting something to eat as well.  Before Ryan was back, I texted him and asked him to hurry because I felt like things were really progressing.  Right as I sent the text he walked through the door.  He could tell I was feeling things again and went out into the hall to get the nurse, because of course at the time nobody was in the room with me.

The nurse came in and said I was 10cm.  My water had only been broken about 20 minutes before!  She had me do a test push and said I was definitely ready to go.  All of a sudden there were 2 midwives, a nurse, 2 pediatricians and the doctor in the room.  Luckily the doctor let my midwife deliver and she just observed.  The midwife and our amazing nurse Andrea coached me through everything and were so encouraging.  Ryan held my hand.  I could feel pressure when I needed to push but I wouldn’t say that it hurt.  I think I could feel exactly what I needed to feel.  At 6:40pm Parker made his way into the world.  He cried and they placed him on me for as long as they could.  Then the pediatrician checked him out.  He weighed 4lbs 3oz and was 17 inches long.  They gave him back to me for a few minutes on request of my midwife. 

Then he was taken away to the nursery.  We were at the hospital for 2 weeks with him while he learned how to eat.  Luckily he never needed a ventilator and was only on monitors for a few days.  At the time it felt like the longest 2 weeks of my life.  In hindsight, 2 weeks is nothing.

My birth experience is not what I expected at all.  Pretty much everything went the complete opposite of how I thought it would go, but it’s our story and I wouldn’t change a single thing about it.  Looking back, the whole experience seems unreal to me.  Until Parker was born I don’t think I fully grasped the fact that I was in labor!  Everything went perfectly and I think that Parker’s birth was the most beautiful and special moment of my life.

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To share your birth story, please email me at mamaandmou@gmail.com