A Fun Afternoon

Today I went on a big adventure with JJ. First, we had lunch at Fritz's. This place is AWESOME! It's your typical diner with greasy burgers and fries (so of course, I loved the food!) But what sets it into the awesome category is how you order and receive your food.

First, you sit down in a booth, grab a menu and call in your order!

Burger and fries please!

Then, when your food is ready, it comes by a little train!

Here comes your food!

The little train drops off your box of food at your booth. It's so fun!!

Yummy!

The burgers here come with hash browns on top. It was real good!

Then, we had a real adventure trying to find the Rosedale Memorial Arch. After 52 minutes, 4 calls for help, and 2 searches on Google we finally found it!

It's a mini-me of the famous arch/roundabout in France.

This Memorial is at 35th and Booth but doesn't have an actual address so it was really difficult to find. The arch is a memorial to the men who served in World War I from the Rosedale neighborhood. It's up on a hill, overlooking the KC skyline.

Overall, a fun afternoon!

Fountain No. 52-

No. 52- Southcreek office park at 130th and Metcalf in OP

Til next time...Laura

So what do I miss the most from Nashville?

There are going to be people and places and things in Nashville that I will miss. But you know what food I miss the most?

Jersey Mike's!!!

It may be silly, but it's true. I crave Jersey Mike's more than anything else. I tried getting a sandwich from Mr. Goodcent's because I remember really liking it when I lived in Warrensburg. It was good, but just wasn't AS good. So, I went online to see where the closest Jersey Mike's was. I had hope when I saw that Missouri had one location...but it was in St. Louis. Then, I saw that Kansas had 3 locations- the closest was in  Olathe, only 19 miles away! Kansas comes through for me again! Unbelievable! So I trekked over to Olathe and had the most delicious sub sandwich ever.

No. 8 Club, Mike's way, no tomatoes, with mayo

So, last Saturday I had another eHarmony date night. We ate at M&S Grill on the Plaza. When I arrived at the restaurant, the first thing I noticed was that it was all old people there. I knew then it was not going to be a good night. The food was too fancy and the company was too boring. Here's what I had for dinner:

Tilapia and rice. It was just ok.

After dinner, we walked over to Brush Creek for the WaterFire event. WaterFire is where they put bonfires in the creek, light them on fire and add some artistic flare to it. It could have been really awesome but about 15 minutes after we got there, it started storming and they had to cancel the rest of the show. But thankfully, that gave me the excuse to leave!

I couldn't get a real good picture but this is a overview of the creek.

It was real crowded and because of my date, I was ready to get out of there.

Now I just have some more fountain updates:

BTW- these are my least favorite fountains. The ones that shoot up out of a pond. I just think it looks dumb to have a man-made fountain coming out of a pond. 

No. 45- Lichton Plaza (office park) in Overland Park at 7300 College

No. 46- same place, different fountain

No. 47- same place, another fountain (Maybe they went overboard on the fountains?)

No. 48- Black Bob Park at 151st St in Olathe

No. 49- Symphony Hills at 151st St & Greenwood in Olathe

No. 50- St. James Court (right across the street)

No. 51- entrance to St. James Court

Til next time...Laura

Playing Catch-Up

This week flew by after the birthday fun.  I had a follow-up interview for one of the jobs but I didn't get a good feeling from it. I think they want someone more excited about sales. So, I'm still job searching. Boo.

Last Friday, I was looking through the paper trying to find something fun to do. And what do I find???

Here Come the Mummies!

Love them!

They were playing that very night at Beaumont Club in Westport. So I called up JJ and off we went! It was so good! They were awesome and the crowd was loving it. The best part was towards the end of the set, I felt someone put their arm around me. I looked over at JJ to see if it was her but it wasn't- it was one of the mummies!

What a fun night!

I also ate at some good places this past week. Here are my chicken tacos from El Rancho Mexican Restaurant in Westport:

This place is pretty casual but good. They are open really late, til like 2 in the morning so it might be a good stop after a show sometime.

Here I am outside the Westport Flea Market:

Yummy!

I already wrote about this place but forgot to include the amazing car they have parked outside. I would love to test drive this one!

The other day, B. and I went to Swope Park and checked out their nature center and one of the walking trails. 

Nature Center at Swope Park

The nature center had a lot of animals, mainly reptiles and birds and mostly ones that were needing to be rehabilitated. If they received an animal that is not able to go back to the wild, they can live at this nature center and be used for educational purposes. So, while it was a little sad to see all these birds tied up, at least they get to go out and do some classes at schools, etc. They also get to fly around in an enclosed area in the evenings.

Poor little vulture had a cast on its wing!

There were two bald eagles!

And cute little owls!

Overall, it was a pretty nice place and it's free.

Had a fun night last night playing Body Body. I was a good killer my first time but got caught red-handed the second time. I much prefer being a townsperson because being a killer makes me too nervous!

Looking forward to going to WaterFire tonight at the Plaza, where they set Brush Creek on fire! Will try to take pictures so you see what I'm talking about.

Til next time...Laura

Birthday Trilogy Weekend

A big thank you to everyone that sent me well wishes on my birthday yesterday. It was awesome getting to see everyone this weekend. I am so blessed!

I don't have a lot of pictures, unfortunately, because I was too busy having fun! But here are a few and a quick recap of the weekend:

Friday was Rock the Red day in support of the Chiefs opening weekend so some of the fountains turned red!

Ok, so it turned out a little pink, but 'A' for effort!

Another fountain on the Plaza rocking the red!

I spent Friday afternoon at Crown Center. They have a lot of fountains! They also have lots of shopping and eating places. The shopping is a little pricy for my budget, but I enjoyed walking around. The store, Finishings, might be my favorite accessories shop ever. When I finally get a job, I'm treating myself there! I already have what I want picked out. :)

Crown Center was created by the founder of Hallmark cards, JC Hall, who came up with the idea in 1955 to create a neighborhood in KC to headquarter his company and offer people a place to shop and dine. The buildings were opened in 1973.

Hallmark Cards headquarters.

No. 40- main fountains at Crown Center. The fountains are part of a music show that plays on the hour.

No. 41- Crown Center

No. 42- Crown Center. (The white tent you can kinda see is where you can ice skate in the winter.)

No. 43- Crown Center

I got this carrot cake muffin from Big Momma's Bakery. It was a little dry but the icing was good!

Holly, I got this one for you! :)

Across the street from Crown Center at  Grand & Pershing is the Washington Square Park. I never knew this existed. There is a ginormous statue of George Washington. Apparently, it's an exact replica of a statue in New York. I'm not quite sure of the significance of what George has to do with KC but, anyways, it's here!

Larger than life George!

The park also offered some incredible views of the downtown skyline and a KC landmark.

Skyline on an overcast day.

The famous Western Auto sign. Lights up at night-looks pretty cool.

Then, right across the street from the park is Union Station.

I'll have to check out Union Station by itself on another day. They have a new exhibit on dinosaurs!

Then, there was another fountain. This is in front of the Liberty Memorial and then, Union Station is right behind it. If you look closely, you can see the Chiefs arrowhead logo, just to the left of the fountain.

No. 44- by Union Station on Pershing Rd.

On my way home from this adventure, I stopped by my favorite place, QuikTrip! And I was amazed at this new product:

A cheeseburger that is a hot dog! I've got to try it!! Too bad I was full at the time but I think it looks amazing! And it's only 99 cents!

Saturday was fun because my friends Anna and Daniel came up for a quick visit for my birthday. We met up with them for dinner in Westport at the Foundry.

I had fried chicken tacos and they were delicious! Sorry I forgot to take a picture of it. Westport was also hosting an arts festival so we walked around a little. I did get the opportunity to practice my modeling:

Strike a pose!

Afterwards, we went over to a friend's house for our friend, Stew's birthday. We played Body Body, which is an acted-out game of Mafia. It was pretty fun, even though there was a lot of yelling. I also was scared the whole time because it involves you walking around in the dark, trying not to get killed!

Sunday started off with church at Jacob's Well and then we ate at Westport Flea Market. This place is awesome. It's a bar, restaurant and flea market. Plus they have pool, shuffleboard and darts. Here's an example of a flea market booth:

Ok, so it was mainly junk but still fun to look at!

Even though we had quite the issues with our dr. pepper (first, it was flat, then we got diet and our server was not happy with us), the burgers and fries were good!

Then, after lunch, was the Ultimate Jersey Shore Foursquare Competition. It was so much fun! We really lucked out on getting the shelter at the Waldo Tower Park and the weather was awesome! But more importantly, lots of people came! We played foursquare for like four hours! I was sore the next day! 

In the Situation Square!

Jason may have been the Foursqaure winner but look at his outfit!

We also had the most delicious cookie cake ever!!! Thank you Jessica Judy for baking this amazing goodness!!!!!!

Amazing! And it was soooooooooo good!!!!!

After the fun afternoon at the park, I was treated to an all-you-can-eat shrimp fest thanks to Bree's dad!

Yesterday, we topped off the birthday celebration with a few friends by eating yummy chili and bean dip and watching the Chiefs play to victory on Monday Night Football!

Go Chiefs!

Whew, that was stressful watching that game at the end. It was close!

Sidebar: I do have fun watching football and if the Chiefs have a decent season I will definitely enjoy that but I think that football is just a huge conspiracy to have more commercials. Football is a 60 minute game that takes 3+ hours to watch. Hockey is also a 60 minute game that takes less than 2 hours. Therefore, there is AN HOUR MORE in football of breaks and commercials. Less action= more money spent on food + more attention to commercials.

So, that wraps up my busy and fun weekend! Now, if only one of these jobs would come through for me, I'd be all set!

Til next time...Laura

And the eHarmony fun begins!

Yesterday was full of adventures. First, I ventured over to Kansas to go to a 1950's all-electric house. This house was built to showcase all of the possibilities that electricity in the home could provide. I enjoyed seeing the house, but it was a little awkward because I was the only person on the tour!

Outside of the 1950's home

This pic is from the website. No, there were was not a live model present.

This was the best feature of the house- the TV was hidden behind a picture!

I then toured the Johnson County Museum, mainly because it was right there and it was free.

Going through the museum, it told the story of the county starting when the white settlers came and the Indians in the area had to choose between keeping their own lifestyle or becoming farmers and integrating with the whites. Of course, now we know how that turned out.

Spoiler alert: I kinda get on a soapbox about suburbs here so you may want to skip down a couple paragraphs.

Then, it went through the history of the county, all the way up to present day. The whole exhibit kinda made me sick to my stomach and reaffirmed why I don't like Johnson County. It was all about how Johnson County was "The Good Life." But in reality, it was only the good life for white, middle class and up, families. The white flight into suburbia in the quest for the "Good Life" has caused inner cities to crumble and the cities are just now turning it around. The entire county is nothing but a huge suburb, full of cookie-cutter houses and manicured lawns. They tried making it sound better by calling places like Overland Park "Edge Cities", which means it can function on its own, without the main city. OP does have places to live, work and be entertained. But, I guarantee that if they want more cultural entertainment and sports or anything that's original, they still have to commute into the city.

And I know that people move to the suburbs because of the schools. It's true, the KC public school system is terrible right now. But why do you think that is? Because all the people that pay a lot of taxes left the school district!

Anyways, I'll talk about more pleasant things now...

After the museum visit, I saw this structure and just had to know what it was for. This was a tribute to Chief Blackfish, who lived in this Kansas valley for 40 years, until he was forced to move to Oklahoma in 1870. His grandfather captured Daniel Boone in 1778. It's located on Blackfish Blvd in Shawnee Mission.

Then, I saw a sign for the Shawnee Indian Mission. So, I had to check it out! This mission is the reason that Kansas has a city called Shawnee Mission. This is where they taught and Christianized Indians in the 1880's.

Girls dormitory

Now, enough with the history lesson, let's get to the good stuff! I had my first eHarmony date last night!

So, I joined eHarmony a couple of weeks ago because I thought it would be a great way to meet some people here in my new city. And I'm not going to lie, I figured that I would be taken to some great restaurants! 

Last night, I met my first date, Steve, at Thai Place in Westport. The restaurant was beautifully decorated and had a great atmosphere, especially for a date. I ordered Thai Cashew Chicken. It was really good. It's about the only Thai dish that I like, since I can't eat spicy stuff, but I really like it! 

The conversation went very well. We found a lot to talk about. So, overall, I'd say for the first date, it actually wasn't too bad! The best part of the date, however, was the fact that I had spies there!

I convinced Bree and Jason to have their own date night at the same restaurant. They didn't need a lot of convincing because they wanted to check this guy out too. Well, much to my surprise, the host seated them at the table right next to us! I could barely contain myself! And of course, I could see Jason in my line of vision and had to fight the laughter the whole time!! 

Trying not to laugh!

Poor Steve had no idea what was going on! 

Here's your fountain updates:

No. 35- Wedgewood & 75th, Shawnee Mission

No. 36- Fairway Hills subdivision, Hauser & Blackfish, Shawnee Mission

No. 37- Antioch Park, 6501 Antioch Rd, Shawnee Mission

No. 38- Westwood Hills at State Line & 50th St. A sign said "Westwood Hills is the Most Beautiful Little City in Kansas."

No. 39- Notre Dame School at 39th & Gillham

Finally, to wrap up my history lesson from yesterday, I learned that in the 1900's, most of KC's millionaires lived on Troost, in between 26th and 32nd, in what was known as "Millionaire's Row." Unfortunately, much of Troost is very run down and is need of major help. Who was Troost? He was the first resident physician in Kansas City.

Here is what is at Troost and 31st today:

A really cool mural depicting the history on Troost.

Til next time...Laura