I have the internet at my disposal!

And that means...more adventures from Bruce and me!! I know you are so excited! I sure am!

It has been a busy time for me after I came back to KC from the relaxing Thanksgiving weekend at m and d's.  On my drive back, I went through St. Louis and stopped at Faust Park. I mean, I couldn't pass that up! What an awesome name for a park!

Faust Park in St. Louis

So, of course, I had to find out why it was named that. It's definitely not named after my family, as our branch of Fausts are from Oklahoma. Apparently, a Chesterfield, MO, couple named Leicester & Mary Plant Faust  donated over 200 acres to create the park, thus the name. They wanted to preserve the site because it was also includes the home of Missouri's second governor, Frederick Bates. 

I really wish this park was in KC, because then it would be the awesome place on earth.

My next couple of evenings were filled with helping out B, J and little J move into their new house! The best part was when we had the challenge of getting the washer and dryer out of the old basement, up the stairs and into the u-haul. They had a dolly made for it, but it was still going to be a little difficult. B's dad apparently did not have any faith that myself and my friend Melissa could accomplish this task by ourselves. He bet us $50 to see if we could do it! Well, if you know me, you know I love to take on a good bet! So, we did it! And we took our winnings to Kennedy's and bought everyone drinks and burgers! Thankfully, Kennedy's was having half-off burgers and $2 bottles so we fed 5 people for $40. It was pretty awesome.

This weekend ended up being pretty fun too. I got to hang out a lot with friends, watch the Chiefs win and used my new membership at the Quality Hill Y. The best part, however, was Friday night. We scored $10 tickets to see Enrique Iglesias  at the Sprint Center! Now, you may think that I would not be up for such a musical event but that is not the case at all! I'm always up for a good dance party and that's what it was!

So this was my first time inside Sprint Center for an event. I didn't see the whole building, obviously, but it was nice. It is only 2 or 3 years old and definitely doesn't get used often without a sports team. But, far and away the best thing about it is the fact that it has QuikTrip INSIDE THE ARENA! And the prices for the food and drinks are normal! So you can get a drink for $1! Not $5 like normal arenas! And I got a delicious italian wrap for only $3! 

Absolutely brilliant! I hope heaven has QuikTrip in it!

The night was also fun because we continued the dance party across the street at Power & Light's Shark Bar. I loved this place because they only play awesome 90's dance music and showed Saved by the Bell on the tv screens.

In other recent events, I got to see a play at the KC Repertory Theater which is actually inside the H&R Block building downtown. This is a brand new building for the world headquarters for the company that was founded by KC brothers Henry & Richard Bloch in 1955.

H&R Block headquarters, downtown KC

So, I got to the theater a little early and had time to scout around the lobby area of the building. It was so awesome! First, they offer free parking in their garage when you are there to go to the theater. But check out the lobby:

Interesting sculptures

Fountain! That's No. 59!

Trophy honoring H&R Franchise of the Year

Founders of H&R Block

 Ok, this was the best part. They had this amazing light-up hallway that honored employees who had excellent community service initiatives from the year.

And it changed colors!! It was seriously cool!

 They had a huge, awesome looking cafeteria for the workers. Plus it had a cute little tea shop, "Tea Drops."

They had amazing root beer!!

The play we went to see was "Harriet Jacobs." It was really good! It told the true story of a slave girl, Harriet, who escaped her owner and hid in her grandmother's attic FOR SEVEN YEARS before she ran away all the way to the North. While she was in the attic, her grandmother was raising her two children and Harriet wrote a book about her life. It spoke to me because I was thinking about my own problems (Bruce's break-in and my job) and realized that they are not anything close to being as bad as what Harriet had to go through!

Here's a picture of a mishap I had with my oven:

The top scab looks like Australia!

Fountain Update:

No. 60 inside the KC Zoo at Swope Park

I enjoyed a nice day at the zoo a couple weekends ago. The zoo was free to all KCMO residents during the months of October and November! The best part was definitely the polar bear. I'll try to describe what she was doing: Nikita (that's her name) has a pool that she can swim around in. So, she was swimming against the glass window, stopping at the corner, pushing off the window with her hind feet, doing a backstroke and then twisting around to go forward, swim in a little circle and do it all over again. It was crazy! She looked like Michael Phelps out there doing the backstroke! It blew my mind.

Alright, that's my story for now. But stay tuned because I'm working on some really interesting stories from KC's past including the mob and a massacre! Crazy stuff happened here in the 20's and 30's, I'm telling you right now.

Til next time...Laura