My Personal Museum

Took this baby to Kansas City over the weekend to visit her Aunt Jayne and Uncle Dac:

We had a great time!  What a fun city...I think Nora is pushing to move there soon to hang out with Aunt Jayne all the time.  Especially after seeing their amazing new house and meeting Dru, Leslee, Laney, and Austen too!

So today we are recovering from our travels and cleaning.  This sums up how most of the house looks right now:

Lots to do!

Also, our little Tony Danza last week:

Eleven weeks old today!  I can hardly stand it.

IHWSH - KC!

This week's "I'll Have What She's Having" is something we both actually get to have this weekend... Kansas City! Katie, Henry and Nora are coming to visit Dac and I and experience KC for the first time. It's Nora's first flight - this is big time! Here are a few of the things we hope to do in the quick couple of days we have together:

1. The Plaza Art Fair

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This was one of my favorite weekends in KC last year, so it's perfect timing for visitors! Local and national artists set up shop in my favorite shopping area, the Country Club Plaza. So not only will Katie get to check out Hall's (an awesome department store owned by Hallmark) and all of the other stores we love, we also get to check out some cool art and food stands from awesome restaurants around the city. 

2. Nelson Atkins Museum

Source (this is a great post about KC stuff!)

Alright, we probably won't do this one. Nora wouldn't find an art museum very exciting I'm guessing. But we can at least take a pic by the giant shuttlecock! The Nelson is a pretty outstanding museum, and we're lucky to have it here as something awesome and free to do! There is a great new contemporary wing too called the Kemper.

3. Oklahoma Joe's

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Duh. This is the best bbq in KC, and Henry is really only interested in a barbeque tour so we have to do this. The Z-man is where it's at. And their fries are legit too. The original location is inside a gas station. Super fancy. Anthony Bourdain named it one of the top 10 places in the world to eat before you die.

4. Eggtc.

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This is my new favorite brunch place. Banana-nutella french toast is all you need to know. There are a million other restaurants I want to take them to, like Spin Pizza, Beer Kitchen, Port Fonda, BRGR and Gram&Dunn, but there are only so many meals in two days, so we shall see.

5. Little Freshie and/or Glace

This sweet little shop with delicious snow cones, italian sodas and sweet treats like macarons used to be a food truck in the Crossroads called Fresher than Fresh Snowcones. 

We also of course need to go by the City Market, the awesome farmer's market in our neighborhood. And we get to take them on a tour of our new house too! Could not be more excited for the K, H, N weekend in KC. Here's to many more (I'm going to convince them to move here).

What Happens In Vegas, Leave It In Vegas

That's the phrase on the cheap shirt Dac picked out for me in Vegas. We saw a t-shirt shop on the old strip downtown with t-shirts 4 for $10. We each had to pick one out for each other. He picked that one for me because the phrase, while it makes sense I suppose, just slightly missed the mark if it was going for the ever popular phrase "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."

So, some highlights from our trip. I had a blast on my first trip with Dac. He was there the whole week for a conference, and I joined him Thursday night. We stayed at the Bellagio (where he was the whole week), which is just perfection. 

1. We ate at Olives (Todd English's restaurant at the Bellagio) before seeing "O" (also at the Bellagio). Olives looks out over Lake Bellagio, so we had a nice view of the fountain show. Would highly recommend both. O is amazing.

By the fountains.

At O.

2. Random Exploring at casinos I hadn't been to, like Aria. 

Me making an... Elvis face? Not in the slightest.

3. Characters were out in full force trying to get you to tip them for a photo. We saw about 10 different Hello Kitties. We decided these guys probably make a pretty decent amount of money in tips, but it still wouldn't be worth it in 110 degree heat. (I actually took this picture for Katie, because she loves Jesse.)

I actually took this for Katie, because she loves Jesse.

4. Exploring the old strip. We originally went there to do the zip line, but the line was long and it was HOT. So, we settled for some drinks, a little black jack, and that cheap t-shirt buying I mentioned above. It's pretty much the anti-strip... opposite in so many ways, and much, much less expensive. I don't think we'll go back, but I would have liked to see the "ceiling" lit up at night.

5. Shopping at Fashion Show (namely Zara and Topshop, neither of which I have in KC). As an early bday present I got a couple lipsticks (in Rio Rio and Satorial) and a sweatshirt blazer from Topshop.

Everything else that happened, we left it in Vegas. Just kidding. Viva Las Vegas!