thebabyperks

Welcome home, Marzen!

This Saturday we went to visit a puppy at Prairie Paws Animal Shelter in Ottawa, KS (you can check out my recent review of a brewery in Ottawa). Honestly, it was a spur of the moment decision. After a relaxing staycation day-off on Friday, David and I settled down to watch a Halloween movie. I started to scroll on Facebook and noticed the photo of a German Shepard puppy at a rescue named Hot Tamale.

For the past month or so I’ve been sending David links to other puppies’ profiles on rescue websites. I would always talk myself out of submitting an application and soon after many of the pups were adopted so I moved on and the cycle continued. With Hot Tamale, though, I was just taken aback by how cute her photo was, and she was good with other dogs, cats, and kids. The perfect puppy.

After some encouragement from David, we sent an email to see if we could schedule a meeting with her.

I wasn’t sure if they would email me back. Part of me assumed the email would say she was already adopted. But, in the middle of my workout Saturday morning I got the email that we could visit her that day. Like I mentioned in my review of Not Lost, Ottawa is around 40 minutes away and the entire time I was so nervous. We’ve been talking about getting a puppy since my parents got their puppy in the spring, but we hadn’t really prepared for getting a dog. David kept reassuring me that this wasn’t a commitment to adopt, if it didn’t work out it would be okay. 

Then we pulled into the parking lot.

When they brought Hot Tamale out to us (we met outside because of COVID) she immediately ran to our legs and sat down to get petted. She was a little shy, but oh-so-sweet. After a few minutes she warmed up, licked us, and continued to play.

You know how the rest of the story goes.

And immediately went to Pet Smart to load up on some toys, treats, and a crate. Prairie Paws was so kind to give us a gallon of the food she was already on, a collar, and leash.

It’s only been two days but she has done so well. We’ve been working on some basic commands, walking on a leash, crate training, and potty training. She doesn’t whine too much at night in her crate which makes me happy. And she’s been doing so good at going out and going potty. 

She loves walks. We went on six of them on Sunday.

Overall, things are going so well. Obviously she’s still very new to our home but I think she is adapting so well.

Oh—and if you are curious about her name. Marzen comes from the name marzenbier or German-style Marzen/Oktoberfest beer. The German word for March is Marzen because Oktoberfest beers were typically brewed in March in anticipation for Oktoberfest celebrations (although now they’re so popular they’re brewed year-around). We thought it was a unique and fitting name since we adopted her in the fall during “Marzen season.”

And that’s the story of how we got our newest Barberis and Brew addition. Be sure to come back to my blog to learn more about how our lives as puppy parents are going and what we’ve been up to.

Until next time,

Taylor

With the weather cooling down dramatically over the past two weeks we've been able to spend a lot of time outside. We've been trying to break in the hiking shoes we bought at the end of last season and increase our mileage. One way we've been doing that is picking a trail within an hour of our home to explore. Of course, we check for local breweries, too. This week we chose Excelsior Springs, Missouri.

Excelsior Springs is home to The Elms, an allegedly haunted luxury hotel. I had the chance to stay in the hotel back in January during a retreat for work. They have a ghost tour that I did not participate in (not something I'm in to, but some of my coworkers did) and a great spa. I didn't have time on the retreat to explore the city so I was excited to go back.

On our way to walk the Watkins Mill Lake Loop, we had to try Dubious Claims Brewing Company. They have a full menu of food and a good range of brews. While there we split the Hawaiian pizza and I had the nitro milk stout and their blueberry wheat ale. David had two lagers because they were out of the cream ale. I am usually not a stout person, which is quite surprising because I love coffee, but this stout was smooth and easy to drink.

We finished our beers and decided to take some time to walk around their small downtown. There were some cute little shops that we browsed through-- I even grabbed some small Christmas gifts.

After we finished our shopping we took a short ten minute drive to the lake. There was plenty of parking and some boats and kayaks out on the water. This wasn't a challenging hike by any means considering it was paved, but it was beautiful. If we would've arrived earlier in the day we easily could have walked it two or more times before the sunset. We didn't want to push our luck, though, and stuck with doing the 3.8-mile loop one time. 

Throughout the hike there were places with a better view of the water. I used a few of those opportunities to snap some photos.

The estimated time for the hike was around 1:55 which was pretty accurate, we finished in a little under that. 

Are you looking for a short road trip? Not Lost Brewing Company is perfect for just that. Located in Ottawa, KS, it's ~40 minute drive from Overland Park.

It really began my final semester at Drury when David and I participated in the Ozark Tap and Pour Beverage Tour. It was a great way to be introduced to all the local breweries in the Ozarks. Since then I've been hooked on craft beer (you can check out the highlight on my Instagram @thebabyperks to see where we went).

Once I moved to KC we began to explore the brewery scene here. While we haven't participated in any official KC brewery tours, I created another Instagram highlight to track some of the places we've been. 

While we sat in quarantine and I stared blankly at my blog not knowing what to share, I played around with the idea of discussing beer here. Why not? It's my and David's biggest "hobby" so why wouldn't I share? At first I thought about discussing individual beers, and while we've tried a lot of them, I still don't know the ins-and-outs of all the technical elements of beer. Instead, I thought it would be fun to delve into our tap tour rating system so you all can explore breweries, too! In the beginning many of the places I'll be discussing will be previous breweries we've visited, but *hopefully* as things with COVID get better we will be able to road trip to new places outside of Missouri/Kansas. Just know that we are taking all of Kansas and KC's precautions very seriously and if we do go somewhere we always sit outside and socially distance.

I was hoping to release my first brewery review this week but I'm going to take more time to work on that post and get it up next week. I am so excited to have a more creative way to share my brewery experiences with you all. I hope it inspires you to shop local and support the breweries in your community.

Until next time,

Taylor xx

Between now and my last blog post a lot has changed. As I was just coming to grips with post-grad life, COVID happened. Like so many others, what I planned for 2020 was thrown out the window. I was going to take weekend trips with David across the Midwest, explore new breweries, and visit friends and family. As more of 2020 unfolded and it became clear that COVID wasn't budging (in the USA) I finally accepted that I had to accept these changes. Unfortunately, that lead to me being at a loss for the purpose of this blog. I've been writing on here since 2013 and whether it be new recipes I was baking on the weekends in high school, or adventures in college, I always had a clear vision of what I wanted to share. Again, like so many others, operating within "the new normal" of the COVID-world was exhausting and uninspiring-- and lead to confusion on what this platform should be post-grad.Other positives include getting to finally walk in August for graduation, the weather cooling down which means more after-work walks with David, reading in the nearby park, and grabbing some socially-distanced, outdoor beers at local breweries.

It's been almost a full month since I graduated from college. This past weekend I went back to Springfield for a quick trip and it honestly had felt like I had been gone for over a year. Within the past month so much has changed and it feels like college was so long ago.

My last semester at school (as far as class is concerned) was fairly easy. I spent a lot of my spare time writing and re-writing my resume and cover letter. I went to coffee shops. I explored lots of breweries. I had lots of fun and it ended with me getting engaged (not too bad of a semester if I do say so myself).

When I reached graduation I had already accepted a job and nervousness set in. Did I make the right decision? Did I rush into post-grad life? Will I like post-grad life?

Over the past month those nerves have settled and I can honestly say I've adjusted pretty well. I've gotten into the rhythm of working 8-5. The things I'm doing at work are things I hoped I would do (social media, writing, Photoshop/InDesign, event planning). My co-workers are great and supportive. The industry I'm in is completely foreign to me so I have had the chance to learn a lot of new terminology.

It's nice to no longer have class and be able to pursue hobbies that interest me. Right now, I spend my time working out, planning the wedding, reading, and hanging out with David. I want to give myself a little more time to embrace this new routine before I start volunteering and filling my schedule up again.

For my friends who are still in school but are preparing for graduation, my advice is to give yourself grace. It is weird being so far away from friends after spending the past 3 1/2 years walking distance from everyone. Working at a desk for 8 hours a day does take some time to adjust. But, for the most part, post-grad life is great. I'm eating healthier than in college, working out for longer (and getting stronger), and don't feel stressed by extracurriculars. It's different, but different is good.

I am excited to see where this new chapter of my life takes me and to see how I establish myself as a young professional.

Until next time,
Taylor xx