Oscarfest 2018

Another year, another Oscarfest. Since we went to St. Louis last year, mom and I decided it was time to give Kansas City a turn. We left from Columbia on Friday and took our time cruisin' down I70. Unlike our normally planned meals, we even did dinner by the seat of pants, which result in our discovering a very cool brewery/winery outside of Kansas City called Arcadia Moon. Once we arrived in the River Market, we stopped by Farmhouse for a drink before calling it a night!

Our 'fest truly began on Saturday though. We woke up with a little Quay Coffee--a favorite of ours in walking distance from KC Loft Space*. After we were ready, we realized we had some time to kill before our first movie, so we stopped by the Nelson-Atkins Museum for a bit.

For lunch, we went to Char Bar in Westport. We ordered and kindly told our waiter we were on a movie-mission and might be eating a little quickly. The food was delicious--we shared a pulled pork sandwich, fried pickles and a blue cheese wedge salad. As he checked on us and brought the food, our waiter made polite inquiries about what movie we were seeing, how many Oscar movies we had seen, had we heard about the Movie Pass? Finally, as he arrive at our table with the check, he offered to let us pop over the Tivoli with his Movie Pass and use his movie for the day. Delighted, I left mom at the table as collateral and scooted down the street to buy the tickets!

At the Tivoli, we saw "Call Me By Your Name," and proceed across the street to Beer Kitchen, where we cashed our tickets in for free beers! And some tasty pretzels. We headed back to the River Market then and rested/read before our next movie. We took the streetcar to Alamo Drafthouse and settled into our big, comfy recliners for dinner, drinks and our viewing of "The Post." After the movie, we set-up shop at Brown & Loe for a couple of beers.

On Sunday, we got up early and went to the infamous and Instagrammable Made in KC coffee shop. It was actually not as cute in person as it is in Instagram. But the coffee was good and we made good time to hit our next movie for the 10:00 a.m. showing of "Phantom Thread." If you've seen "Phantom Thread," you will understand why it is not likely that I was craving a mushroom omelet...but alas, I was. So, after the movie, we brunched a placed called the Big Biscuit and had my mushroom (and veggie and bacon) omelet.

Finally, we wrapped up our Oscarfest with "The Shape of Water," at this cool retro theater called Screenland. While we waited for the movie to start, we embarked in some of the arcade games they had. I'll tell you this much: Mom kicked my ass at Galactica.

We stopped by Texas Roadhouse (of course) on our way and learned quiiiite a bit about the Olympic Biathlon that was playing while we ate. By the end of Sunday evening, we realized what an excellent job we had done of balancing movies, beer, food, resting and chitchatting...the makings of a perfect weekend :)


*KC Loft Space is an apartment community that belongs to my company and, luckily, has a guest loft they rent out to residents and employees.

#showmeyourtetons

Since, Elizabeth moved to Jackson, Wyoming in 2015, she has been subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) hinting that we might want to come visit her. Finally, in 2017, Abbie and I committed to the adventure and booked our flights into the small, but very welcoming and stylized Jackson Hole airport. I landed on Thursday around noon and was greeted, not only by my dear friend Liz (friends in Jackson Hole call her Liz), but an adorable little mimosa offered by the airport staff...I think I'm gonna like it here!

Liz took me to lunch at one of, what I soon discovered would be many, Thai food restaurants in town. I got a delicious little veggie stir fry dish and sampled her green curry meal, as well. Liz had to pop back to work before we picked up Abbie that evening, so I took the opportunity to roam around the quaint and very manageable downtown. I popped into a couple of cute, local shops and admired crafty cards, Indian American inspired jewelry and everything cowboy. I looped around the little park/ice skating rink in the middle of town, which is corned by these very cool antler arches. 

Photo is from later in the week, but I didn't have any other great ones from the downtown area.

While roaming, we received news that Abbie's delayed flight from Bentonville caused her to miss her Denver layover flight. So she wouldn't be getting in until later that night. Liz and I headed back to the house she is house-sitting this winter--a 60s style, wood-paneled, cabin-esque place with the greatest view of the Grand Tetons!

Then we headed out to meet Liz's friend at a win bar called Bin 22. We bought a bottle of red wine and made a new friend who later joined us at a local broomball game. Finally, we picked up Abbie at the airport and came back to the house to rest up. By "rest up," I mean that Liz and I both passed out by the cozy little stove and Ab shuffled off to bed.

The next morning, we took our time waking up and were greeted to windows blurred with snow flurries. At about 1:00 p.m., we headed out to rent skinny (cross country) skis at a little place downtown called The Skinny Ski and made our way into the Grand Tetons National Park to hit up a cross country ski trail. Liz showed us the ropes and after a bit of practice, we were scootin' right along. After about a 1.5 miles, we decided to head back...but not before attempting a slope. It turned out to be an adventure...but ultimately a horrible idea :)

It was on this adventure that we discovered our trip hashtag: #showmeyourtetons. Liz explained that "grand tetons" translates to "large nipples," named by the French explorer who discovered them. The #showme... has always been a theme for our annual girl's trips, and in this particular instance...it just happened to work out particularly well :)

Straight from cross country skiing, we headed out the "hot springs." I'm not sure what I thought "hot springs" would be...but they were a surprise. Firstly, they stink like sulfur (should've seen that coming) and, secondly, the "hot" part is hit or miss. However, Liz's friends were there and some of their friends' friends, who were highly entertaining. It was a great experience--though, I'm not exactly dyyyying to do it again :)

On Friday night we had the most amazing girls night, complete with elaborate taco bar and game night. Liz has the sweetest friends in Jackson Hole and we quickly bonded over What Do You Meme? We finally went to sleep--another late night--and slept soundly until the next lazy morning when the only thing that finally stirred us was the required ski return time at 10:00 a.m. Liz and I went into town to return the skis and I treated myself to a Cowboy Coffee cappuccino.

After picking up Ab, we dressed in our warm gear and headed back into town. On the way, we encountered a traffic jam, the result of some bighorn sheep on the Elk Reserve.

Our next activity for the day was snow tubing :) It was a totally touristy thing to do, but Liz was a great sport about it and we had the best time: spinning down in a group of three, learning the best strategies to win when racing and carefully determining the best photo/video ops.  

After tubing, we took a horse-led wagon tour of the National Elk Reserve. It was pretty amazing how close we could get to the elk (apparently they think the wagon is some of kind of large, friendly creature that may be bearing food). The tour guide had all kinds of elk trivia and Liz even knew a couple of follow-up facts.

We returned home and cleaned up a bit in preparation for our night out. In Jackson Hole, a true night out starts at the local hockey rink. It was essentially like a Friday-night, high school football game--everyone there to socialize because everyone in town was there. The rest of the night was, unfortunately, not photographed...I don't know why...but we hit up the two, go-to bars in town: The Silver Dollar and the Cowboy Bar. They were a HOOT. Especially the Cowboy Bar, which has the most tacky, cowboy-style decor, a local cover band and expert dance partners, a DIY breathalyzer (that we determined to be broken) and a lot of that local beer I bragged about earlier. 

On Sunday, Liz took Abbie to the airport early and I slept in (erhm...fought a hangover). After church, Liz came back to pick me up and we went to the National Museum of Wildlife Art. We had lunch at a little cafe there and then explored all of the exhibits we could fit into our time before my flight that evening. It was an amazing museum, and I would highly recommend it to any future visitors!

Jackson Hole was just the most amazing experience. What I'm most excited about is coming back in the summer, because that is the #1 thing everyone said: come back in the summer! And I can tell, it's definitely worth the return trip!

Memphis "Momsoon"

We usually brainstorm a family event hashtag prior to our leaving, but it wasn't until we were in the car with our first Instagram post primed and ready that we realized we didn't one! A little discussion was had and it was actually dad who came up with the clever pun of "Memphis Momsoon;" a play on the purpose of the trip (to celebrate mom a bit early for Mother's Day) and a tribute to the gloomy weather predicted during our stay (rain, rain and so much more rain). However, it was quickly brought to our attention that when combined and lower-capitalized in the standard hashtag formatting, the message might imply we would be having a Memphis Mom Soon! Not the case...to clarify.

We left Bolivar early Friday morning and, although it was pretty rainy, enjoyed the beautifully green, winding road to Memphis. I had been anticipating this trip for quite some time as I love Instagram captions that are lyrics and "Walking in Memphis," Marc Cohen is just TOO EASY. There had to be one silver lining to all this anticipated rain...and it was the first use of a "Walking in Memphis" lyric:

"Touched down in the land of the Delta Blues, in the middle of the pouring rain."

Upon hungrily arriving in Memphis, we voted to eat at this burger joint called Huey's in Midtown. The burgers were phenomenal, we all took one look at the long list of burger options and had our hearts set on what would ultimately be a uniquely great burger: Sunshine Burger (Mom and Bex), West Coast Burger (Dad), xxx Burger (Sam) and Bluff City Burger (Kait, pictured below).

So, the rain put a bit of a damper on our plans. Initially we had planned to eat at Dixon Gallery & Garden where food trucks would be gathered. Instead we lucked out on Huey's, grabbed a picture at a mural nearby and checked into the hotel for a quick snooze.

The nap was actually very necessary because the evening plans were to attend the Beale Street Music Festival. Another happy accident, because when we planned this shindig, we had no idea this was going on. It wasn't until a co-worker mentioned it was the same weekend that we even realized why it had been so dang hard to find a hotel. The festival wasn't actually on Beale Street, it was at a little park along the river - which was better. We saw Gin Blossoms / Trampled by Turtles (my favorite), Grace Potter / Panic at the Disco and Neil Young / Weezer. We had a great time and although it didn't actually rain while we were there, the early storms and high foot traffic made the park a dreadfully muddy mess.

Saturday morning, we woke up and ventured to a quirky little coffee place called Otherlands Coffee Bar. It was a good wake-me-up before our tour of Sun Studios. It was a cool experience, but definitely a one-time deal. The building is a snug little space with an upstairs room of memorabilia and a downstairs recording studio. Our tour guide was great, and it was fun to hear stories about some of the artists who recorded there. We even got to sing from the same spot and microphone where Elvis, Johnny Cash, BB King, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tom Petty, Paul Simon and countless others had sang.

After the tour, we made our way to Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken...where the "line" consisted of about thirty people waiting around outside. Yikes. We put our name in and were told it would be about an hour wait. Luckily the restaurant was in a very walkable area, so we wandered around and took pictures before returning for a beer while we waited.

The chicken was delicious - maybe because we had never been hungrier in our lives? Or maybe because the spicy breading was just too good? Either way, we annihilated our food when it arrived.

After lunch, we popped into the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks. It was cute, but more suited to children than for our group. What was suited for our group was where we went next: Beale Street. Very cool vibe, as I'm sure you can image (or know). Being able to take your drinks into the street and between bars really just creates a whole new kind of atmosphere. Here, I claimed my second Instagram with a caption from "Walking in Memphis"...

"With my feet ten feet off of Beale."

We settled in at a place called Silky O'Sullivan's because, surprisingly, it was a BEAUTIFUL day and there's was the most clearly visible patio. Also, they let Sam (18-year-old) in until 8:00 p.m. It was the BEST. There was a live band who played fun covers and we ordered beer after local beer (Memphis Made Fireside, delightful). I think we were blinded by our happiness there in the Silky sunshine because we completely forgot to eat until it was too late! So, for dinner we popped next door to the closest BBQ we could find, Pig on Beale. It was pretty good - they had an interesting seasoning that wasn't really a rub, so much as add after the smoking process. We visited another bar after dinner before deciding we were tired and headed back to the hotel.

Sunday morning we toured the National Civil Rights Museum, which is built into the hotel where Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot. It was a very emotional museum experience, as you walked through the history of slavery in the United States. Definitely one of the better history museums I've been to.

Our final stop in Memphis was for brunch at the Arcade Restaurant - no Sam, there aren't any arcade games there. It was a classic, all-American breakfast and, damn, it was good. The menu was extremely limited (only seven or so items), but everything was reasonably priced and came with a side of biscuits and gravy, so no one complained. Then we loaded up and were back on the winding road home again. It was such a fun trip and I anticipate going back again! On the next trip, I want to be sure to...

1. Spend more time on Beale Street

2. Try a couple different BBQ joints

3. Tour Graceland

4. Wear my blue suede shoes

Until next time, see ya Memphis!

Oklahoma City was OK!

Actually, it was better than OK. It was great!

Because Blair is a girl after my own heart, we had scheduled two Outlook appointments prior to our trip to plan and revise the itinerary.

A little background...

Blair is a fellow Marketeer with me at JES Holdings. She moved to Columbia about two years ago when her husband started residency at Mizzou. She was born in raised in Oklahoma, just outside Oklahoma City, and I have never known a person to be more passionate, positive and dedicated to a state as she is to hers. So, for the last two years, I've listened to her rant and rave about how great Oklahoma is and tell stories of her friends and family there. Next thing I know, she's talked me into running the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon and the plane tickets are already booked.

We left work a little early to take the 2:40 p.m. flight to Dallas, then Dallas to Oklahoma City where we landed at about 6:30 p.m. Her sweet mother picked us up and was a spitting image of the Blair I've come to know and love here in Columbia. Friday night we spend grilling and sitting around the bonfire in their beautiful backyard. This is Blair's favorite thing to do when she's home and I can definitely see why. Their family was kind and welcoming, I felt like I had been sitting around that firepit every Friday night for the last 25 years.

Saturday morning the Oklahoma City tour began. We drove into downtown and have breakfast at an adorable little place called Kitchen 324 near where Blair used to work. Then we walked down through the small city towards the expo center where we do out packet pick-up. Along the way, we toured/walked through the Devon building, Colcord Hotel and Myriad Gardens. The city was so clean and well maintained with beautiful landscaping and sculptures on every corner. The Myriad Gardens was a little park right off the city with delicate flowers, trees, walking paths and a small pond - so quaint! Our last stop downtown was the art festival. It was early and we had already eaten, so we just wandered through and looked around a bit before walking to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. As upsetting as it was to be here, I am so grateful we went. There is so much hype and excitement to running a marathon, but this particular race means so much more, not only to the individuals who were directly affected by the lives lost in the bombing, but to everyone in Oklahoma and in attendance this weekend. The memorial was beautiful and heartbreaking.

After our tour, we picked up our packets and headed over to Classen Curve for some shopping. Little did I know this strange word "Classen" would be my WORST NIGHTMARE by mile 22 of the following day's marathon. We got (matching) running tops from Lululemon and stocked up on Clif Blok Energy Chews in preparation for the run. For lunch we at Republic Gastropub...where we enjoyed painfully cool views of all the beers they had on tap, which we couldn't have pending the marathon. After lunch we popped over to Whole Foods (my first time) and bought Nana some flowers. We drove out of the city and into the suburb of Edmund, where Blair grew up. It was a cute little town and she had a story for every corner we passed.

When we arrived at Nana's house, we walked in to find her at the computer watching Purple Rain! She laughed at everything and sweetly asked all about our day, travels and on-goings back in Columbia. Being as that most of Blair's stories involve Nana, it was good to finally meet her.

A rest was much needed at this point in the day and we were ready to recover before a bit before gussying up to pop by a bridal shower her parents were helping to host. Here, at this party, I am fairly certain that I met everyone in Oklahoma. But we were in and out and off to dinner at Pizzeria Gusto where we allowed ourselves ONE beer and then headed home to bed.


We woke bright and early, got dressed, pinned on our numbers and had a filling breakfast before Blair's dad drove us off to the race. Although our timing for drop was perfectly planned...there were some unexpected road closing that resulted in our jogging three blocks to arrive at our corral as the first corral took off. We had plenty of time (about ten minutes) to recover as we walked along the other 25,000 people to the start line. And then we were off!

Here's a play-by-play...

Mile 1: Basically retraced our steps Saturday morning by the Devon building, Myriad Gardens and the expo center.

Mile 2: Here we entered Bricktown, which was a really cool part of the city with brick streets, fun restaurants, renovated buildings and the neatest little river running right through the middle. Firefighters are walk/running the half marathon and if you think about it too much you start to get a lump in your throat.

Mile 3: Boring...this was kind of through the OU Medical School. Hilarious signs from spectators: "If Trump can run, so can you!" "Remember, you paid to do this!" "I trained all week to hold this sign!"

Mile 4: Bathroom break! The lines were long early on, so this cut us back on our pace a bit

Mile 5: Mmmm, smells like bread...

Mile 6: We are feeling soooo good! This part is a neat little neighborhood with small, old houses and a nice little park centrally located. Definitely the most fun spectators: serving beer, jello shots, donuts and gummy bears.

Mile 7: Gorilla Hill! Not actually that difficult as far as hills go, but they've erected an inflatable blue gorilla and the route is lined with people in banana costumes handing out bananas.

Mile 8: *Photo Op* See ya, half marathoners! It is scary how strong the wind is at our back, knowing we'll be running into it on the return route...

Mile 9: Blair's parents meet us with high-energy spirit, Blok Energy Chews, ibuprofen and encouragement.

Mile 10: We turn into Nichols Hills, a little tiny town surrounded by Oklahoma City - beautiful houses and big trees, lots of spectators who've wandered out of the homes looking very comfy and glad not to running.

Mile 11: Nichols Hill still, we're feeling great!

Mile 12: Still Nichols Hill.

Mile 13: HALWAY!! Blair's parents are waiting for us again with a couple of her friends and stop quickly to refuel and take pictures.

Mile 14: Now...we're on the Lake Hefner: beautiful view, WINDY AS HELL. I see Hannah finally! It is impossibly hard to find anyone when there are so many people on the course.

Mile 15: Still on the lake. Still windy as hell.

Mile 16: We turn away and follow the edge of the lake through some trees and by some baseball/soccer fields. *Photo Op* At this point, I say out loud, "10 more miles. 10 miles is easy," but I'm breathing pretty heavily.

Mile 17: Ok, we're feeling less great than the first half of the marathon. It's clear we'll be running into the wind from here on out and the runners around us have started walking.

Mile 18: Back into Nichols Hills, lovely houses and we're along the prettiest road through a little park. Someone handing out water says, "Thank you for running..." and I think I'm gonna cry. But it hurts too much to breath when you're throat closes up for crying, so I just keep running.

Mile 19: Still along the park road. We stop for our final bathroom break and the lines are much shorter. I have to start talking myself down through the miles now...Seven more miles. Just seven more miles...

Mile 20: This is the last time I can remember what happiness feels like, because now we're on Classen Boulevard: long, straight road; boring, commercial storefronts; slight incline and that mother...loving WIND. Six more miles. 

Mile 21: Five more miles. Five miles is so easy...you run this all the time. Why are we on this road? When can we turn and run on any other road in this whole damn city??

Mile 22: THAT WAS THE LONGEST MILE OF MY ENTIRE LIVE. HOW CAN THERE BE FOUR MORE MILES?!

Mile 23: I think I just turned off my brain at this point. We're running through "The Village," which is really cute and people all have their signs and are cheering really spiritedly, but I HATE THEM. No. I don't. I just don't appreciate them as much as I did in miles 1 through 14.

Mile 24: Blair is like killin' it. I don't know what drafting is really...but I think I might be drafting off her for the remainder of the race.

Mile 25: THERE IS ONLY ONE MORE MILE. HOW IS THIS SO HARD?? DON'T TELL ME IT'S THE "HALF MILE AISLE," JUST SHOW ME THE FINISH LINE!!

Mile 26: And there's the finish line...just let your legs fly, just like when you're little and you run the last 100 meters of a mile... *Photo Op*

Mile 26.2: Are the green finisher shirts for the marathon or the half marathon? I really want a green shirt. I'm gonna cry if they hand me a gray shirt...

I got a green shirt and a pretty green medal, which I wore all day and to work on Monday. Blair's parents and friends were there at the end to hold our things (like ziplock bags of ibuprofen covered in butt sweat) and take our pictures and generally help us recover enough to walk to the car.


When we got home, we showered and assembled ourselves best we could to milk another day out of this sweet city. Blair's mom took us to The Garage Burgers & Beer for some delightful burgers and much needed beer. We met up with a group of Blair's high school friends there and then made our way over to The Bleu Garten: a cool open-air patio/bar surrounded by food trucks and yard games. From here, we went straight to the airport, hopped from OKC to Dallas and then landed in Columbia at about 9:45 p.m. I came home and crashed so hard, like 26.2 miles hard.

2016 Academy Award Best Pictures [ and a Running Tour of KC ]

In anticipation of the Academy Awards, the Roweton girls assemble in Kansas City or St. Louis to watch through each of the Best Picture nominations. We call this event Oscarfest and it is a wonderful weekend spent lounging in reclining chairs ordering off a menu and settling into little indie theaters where they don’t butter the popcorn (Rag Tag Cinema, I’m looking at you).

We woke up Saturday morning and went for a run. I did 7.5 without mom, then picked her up back at our loft and did another 2 miles to review the sites. Here are all the cool things you can see in a 9.5 mile radius of downtown Kansas City...

Anyway, this year’s Best Picture nominees are…

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ The Big Short
Woah. This movie is very, educational and entertaining. It explains the crash of the housing market through the story of three individuals/groups who were the first to bet against what was consider the most stable thing you could invest in. You'll have to excuse my poor vocabulary on the subject: while I left the movie feeling pretty competent about what went down leading up to the crash, I can't remember all the terminology associated with investment banking. GREAT movie, though.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ Bridge of Spies
Bridge of Spies poses an intriguing question of if America should give the same rights to non-American individuals (spies) arrested in our country, particularly in regards to a trial. I really enjoyed the characters in this movie and would definitely recommend, though it was a bit slow for my taste.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ Brooklyn
Brooklyn was a cute little love flick that I really enjoyed. The main character spends most of the movie looking very sad, but the ending is nice and happy. Mom and I were both enthralled by her love interest who is the sweetest, most charming, charismatic guy in Brooklyn...probably. As I heard in a podcast, it seems a little out-of-place for a best picture nomination, but it was still a really great movie with some pretty beautiful shots. 

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ Mad Max: Fury Road

This was one of those movies where I somehow never managed to see a preview or really hear about the plot, because when I finally stapled Aaron to the couch and started watching this…woah. It’s a seriously creative story, told in a wildly imaginative setting by some very aggressive, mechanophilia minds (men). I still need to see this one again in order to decide whether I really liked it, but the more I think about it, the more I think I’m gonna love Mad Max after my next viewing.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ The Martian

Unlike Mad Max, this was exactly the kind of movie I expected it to be: classic story of solo space survival. It's a great story, though! Matt Damon is a little bit funny (or a lot fun, according to the Golden Globes) and it's very interesting to watch all the problem solving he does in space. I liked it, but I think it's kind of been done.

⋆ ⋆ The Revenant
This movie is just NOT my style - I knew it wouldn't be. I don't want to spoil anything but if I could describe this movie in three words, they would be: exhausting, disgusting and shocking. 

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ Room

This move was really incredible. Such a unique and tragic story, with an emotional (if not stressful) climax and a painfully real ending. Both of the main actors were great and their chemistry, which was essential to this story, was so believable. It was such a well-told story, and although it was upsetting, I really enjoyed the movie. 

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ Spotlight
My favorite movie the bunch was Spotlight: a story of The Boston Globe's exposure of the horrific number of Catholic priests involved in child molestation and the neglect of acknowledgement by the Catholic church. To say the story was extremely upsetting would be an understatement, but it was well-told and I think essential to generate awareness of such a appalling controversy.

Unfortunately, since the Academy Awards are on Sunday night, we can’t spend the night watching with Mom. Even more unfortunately, we don’t have cable…so, if not for the kindness of the Anderson, I couldn’t watch the Oscars at all! I’ll drag Aaron along under the pretenses that “we’ll probably play some games too.” When the Best Picture winner is finally announced, there is no doubt in my mind that even though I’ve seen more of the movies than anyone else who filled out an Oscar voting ballot—I will still lose.

Soulmates in the (NEW YORK) City

You should know by now that Abbie/Abigail Loveall and I are soulmates (see photo below from December 1, 2012).

That gingery blur in the background is me. Obviously.

So, back in July when we found out one of our favorite bands (discovered together at True/False Film Festival) was having their farewell concert in New York City on Thursday, November 19, it was only right that we be there together. Flights were scheduled, plans were made and sleeping arrangements (friends) were called...

We did a horrible job of taking photos. Was there ever a place where you feel more in everyone's way than New York City? Well, we did...often. So there was some valuable photo-taking time that we lost to moving quickly and shuffling around. And that's just how it goes sometimes. Here are all the photos. If you aren't all that interested--FINE--this is mostly for my mom anyway.

Flew out at 4:30 a.m. from KC to STL to NYC

Papaya King hot dogs and the Met Museum

Show me the Monet!!

Walk through Central Park at night

The view from our room each morning -
thanks Richard for letting us shack up with you!

Skyscrapers that disappear into the sky

Picasso sculptures at the Museum of Modern Art

Starry Starry Night!

Rockefeller Plaza!

Pretty person at Radio City

View from the steps of the New York Public Library

Selfie at the library!

The New York Public Library was my favorite building

Washington Park on New York University campus

Dinner with Richard at a delicious Italian restaurant

The original subway tiles! We took the subway...a lot.

Cheek kisses at the Pearl and the Beard Concert

Post-concert en route to pizza...

Richards apartment was a block off Central Park

Central Park

Central Park

View from the High Line - that's the Statue of Liberty you're looking at!

Met up with Teagan at Chelsea Market - the COOLEST craft/foodie place

Look at all the restaurants at Chelsea Market! Told you it was the coolest.

Chelsea Market...wins again!

SNL Exhibit

Wayne's World! Party Time! Excellent!

Tehehe.

Matilda on Broadway!

Coney Island exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum 

Met up with Maggie in Brooklyn

Fancy drinks in Brooklyn too :)

Slowing down for our last night in New York
with a little wine and Sex in the City 

One of my favorite parts: brunch and bottomless mimosas at The Winslow
That salmon eggs Benedict was DELICIOUS

And that's a wrap! We had a great time even though we stayed out a little too late and slept in a little too long. Thank you again to Richard and Teagan for putting us up for a couple nights and giving us the locals tour. I can't wait to visit again!!