Snow Day and Reflections

I apologize for not having written in a while. The truth is, I've been trying to take things slow and figure out what to do with...well, everything really. Sean (and some days, myself as well) is going through some really tough stuff right now, and it's been so terrible to see him struggle the way he is.

I've been told by many that your twenties are the best years of your life, and now that I've been in them for about three years, I can easily say that, no. They're not. Granted, I love where we live and the freedom of being a young adult, but the mind has a way of making all the physical things become nonsense and I have many days when all I want in the world is some kind of certainty or stability. I hate that everything is up in the air all the time, and Sean and I, having such high expectations of ourselves, are so pressured to feel like what we're doing right now is meaningful and worthwhile.

On top of that, it is a struggle to believe in ourselves and to know that we are making the right decisions for us now and for someday. 

Right now, the things that keep us sane and happy are days like last Wednesday. We had a random snow day and since Sean didn't have to work, we decided to head out in the storm and walk to Barnes and Noble on the Plaza to look at some books. I don't know how, but this has become a thing we do. Even if we don't leave there with anything, it's nice to choose a pile of things to look at and watch the snow fall while we drink our hot drink from Starbucks. Plus, the Plaza Barnes and Noble is so old and lovely looking on the inside, I always want to stay when it's time to go. 

Anyway, here are some photos of our walk. Now that it's 65 degrees out, it's funny to think that these pictures were just last week! Still, we've been enjoying the weather lately, despite how erratic it has been, and we hope you have too, wherever you are. 

KC Blogger Meetup!

I had a great time at the KC Bloggers Meetup last Friday! I just wanted share some of my favorite photos from the event! 

D'Bronx & Prospero's Explorations

Sean and I have been taking advantage of the amazing temperatures we've been having this week to go out and explore. These photos were taken of our lunch at D'Bronx and Prospero's Books. D'Bronx is kind of special for us because the first time I ever went was senior year of high school for AP Studio Art (and as you can see from the photos, you can write on the walls there. The photo of my name was what I wrote when we went in high school. You can even see my art teacher's name "Mrs. Cox".) And the first time Sean went was when we began dating. It was our first KC date! D'Bronx is always a treat

Prospero's was very interesting. I'd never been before and I know I'm going to get some crap for this but aside from the aesthetics of the place itself, it was kind of a bummer. All of the books were super boring and you could tell they don't really have a selection process, they just take anything. I expected rare and interesting finds, or even just old 1930s cookbooks or textbooks. Instead, there was just a lot of 1970s and 1980s romance novels and history books (in my opinion, there are no books that are bigger wastes of space than post-1930s/pre-2001 history or science books). Still, the building was very old and charismatic, so it was a successful exploring day, I believe.

I'm really wishing this weather keeps up because I've been loving every moment of it. School starts again on Tuesday and I am really not too anxious about it. The weather should be nice so walking won't be an issue and plus! I only have classes twice a week this semester! (They take up my whole day, but even so.) I'm honestly looking forward to getting classes started so summer can be here. Lots of great plans coming up!

I hope you all are enjoying the weather and season, where ever you are. What have you been up to? Any explorations?

School, Badseed, and Christopher Elbow

Today is Saturday and I have forgotten what the weekends mean when you are in school. (I've spent my day sleeping in and reading blogs. Although, I did vacuum the floor!) As I said in my last post, things are going well and I am enjoying my schedule and classes. Everything seems to be coming into place for now, which is more than I can say about the past year and a half. However, something I am realizing, one of those "life lessons" as my mom and my grandma call them, is that just because things are going right, does not mean they go right in the ways we had wanted or expected.

Yesterday, I went to the advising office to get a technicality fixed on my transcript. Afterwards, I asked the woman if I was still okay to graduate next December. Surprised that I had even thought that as a possibility, she said, "No...let me put it this way. You have to have 120 credit hours to graduate. At the end of this school year, you will have 63." This was a little heartbreaking for me and I wished that they would have pointed this out to me the past six times I met with them this year. I had expected that Sean and I were going to leave the country and teach abroad right after I finished school. It felt like all of our plans were shredded to pieces and the thought of staying in school much longer made me sad. I kept my cool and luckily the woman was very sweet and understanding. She helped me stay positive and we worked out some possibilities for the next years.

Immediately after the meeting, I called Sean. I laughed in a frustrated way and told him that we were going to have to stay in Kansas City for two more years. But he was very sweet. He told me that it is okay and reminded me that we like Kansas City a lot. He said he figured it might take me a little longer to finish and that's completely fine, no problem. Because he and I know that we do love Kansas City. So this is what we are working through right now. We are throwing around a lot of plans and ideas at the moment, and I will share them within the next few months when we are able to figure them out more completely.

Sean worked early yesterday morning and ran errands while I went to classes. We had so much time together later in the day and since this is the first Friday in a lifetime that we've both been free, we decided to go to our favorite farmer's market in the Crossroads.
It's called, Badseed and they have the best selection of vegetables, fruits, organic baked goods and pastries, meats, cosmetics and soaps! We were really in luck yesterday since there was a lot of variety and great things to choose from. Eventually, we ended up getting some peppers, potatoes, eggs, spinach bread (nope, I didn't leave out a comma...it's spinach bread! Yum!), a chocolate chip cookie, and the most delicious pears! I highly recommend this place if you live in the Kansas City area! (They also accept food stamps if you have them!)

Afterwards, we walked a little farther down to a chocolate shop called, Christopher Elbow. We've had his chocolates before, but we'd never been to the actual shop which was exciting. The door is large and glass, and the interior is so light and clean-looking. The way the sun came through the front of the store and onto the chocolates was breath-taking. So, just some idea about CE's chocolates; they're super famous in Kansas City. Everyone knows about them and it's like, you haven't experienced KC if you haven't tried CE. Also, they are ridiculously beautiful and very expensive. $2.00 for a piece. That being said, the flavors are amazing and they are definitely worth the price. They really aren't kinds of chocolates you want to wolf down in a couple seconds. The flavors are everything. And hey! Want to try some but you don't live in Kansas City? It's cool, you can order some online.

Here are some photos of Badseed and Christpher Elbow's Chocolates!

Badseed is an indoor thing for the most part. Farmers from around KC come in with their best stuff every Friday from 4-9 and sell their goods. It's really awesome because some people will sell vegetables they grew themselves while others have breads and pastries they made from scratch! We really love Badseed!

Love these colors! August through October is the best time for harvesting!

Sean picks out some veggies!

I decided to get an organic chocolate chip cookie and Sean got the spinach/cheese bread.

Eggplants!

"Best damn veggies in the world!"

Our beautiful pears! They're really yummy too!

Christopher Elbow's Chocolates shop! 

I'd pay $85 for a 48-piece box of Christopher Elbow chocolates. 

These are the ones we got! I can't remember the flavors of them all but the red-ish one is Strawberry Balsamic, the coconut looking one is Coconut and some other stuff, the bottom right is Dark, Dark Chocolate, one of them is Coffee, another is called Persia, and I can't remember the last one.

Happy End of Summer!!

Back-to-School, Fall, and Coffee Shops

Yesterday was the first day of classes and it went fairly well, aside from the disgusting heat and what felt like child on my back all day. (Never again will I bring my math and German textbooks on the same day.) I feel really good about my schedule and my classes this semester, and I don't think I could have asked for better after my year-long break from school. Despite this, I realize how big my workload will be for the next few months. My three anthropology courses are really heavy with reading and writing essays; I think I have maybe twelve to fifteen essays to write and eleven books (plus many scholarly articles) to read. Luckily, I do much better on essays than I do on tests, but I can imagine that after about the fourth essay, I will be sick of it.

Fortunately, right now I am pretty happy. I do wish that fall would come sooner. I miss everything about the season: the cool, crisp air; the layers of clothes and my favorite scarves and jackets; the smell of dead leaves burning in the distance and cinnamon candles and baked goods; the holidays; and hot tea in my favorite big mug. Fall is like the pregame to my favorite month December. It's the time that Sean and I remember our first meeting three years ago and the cold nights that we spent together, walking around our small college town, talking and exchanging the first of many kisses and falling in love. Fall is a magical time, and it's hard to remember and notice that when our lives are filled with the everyday stresses of school and work and maintaining a household and other responsibilities. My goal this fall is to stop when I can and breathe. I want to find joy and excitement in the little things fall offers and I want to spend more meaningful moments with Sean and the ones I love.

Although it is still very hot and will be for another few weeks, I have begun doing what I can to create meaningful experiences with Sean. A new coffee shop opened near our apartment and Sean loves coffee and anything bitter, so we decided to stop by today on our walk home. It is so exciting to have a one so close now as the nearest one is almost twenty-five blocks away. If you're in the Kansas City/UMKC area, you should definitely check it out! The shop is called, Crow's Coffee and it is located 51st and Brookside Blvd. We really liked it and the character it adds to the community! I love that the interior is so rustic and modest, and I can definitely see it becoming a neighborhood favorite for us and pretty much any UMKC student.

I am taking German and teaching Sean what I learn as I go along. It's really fun talking to him about the phonetics and structures of languages. He has a great interest in linguistics and etymology so having him to help and make funny jokes about it keeps me interested.
I really hope that I can become fluent in German and live in a German-speaking country at some point. I think Austria or Poland would be wonderful, but we would be happy with Germany as well. So, I am taking my German class very seriously.

Anyway, I hope everyone's week is going well. I know a lot of schools have already begun, so I hope everyone has a fun and productive semester, or season if you're not in school.

I took this on my walk home from my evening class yesterday. I love taking pictures during the Golden Hour. They always turn out beautiful.

This is the drink Sean chose to get from Crow's Coffee. It's called  a Gibraltar (or Cortado in the rest of the world) which, according to Wikipedia, it's an espresso cut with warm milk. Sean is always wanting to try new things at restaurants and cafes so that's what this was for him. He tells me it was a success.  

Crow's Coffee! I really love the brick wall, exposed ceiling, the counter-tops, the decorated lights, the concrete floors, and pretty much everything in this place! I can't wait to come in for some tea or hot chocolate this fall and winter! 

I got an iced coffee with caramel! It was super delicious and we were really surprised that our drinks together was only $6! Take that Starbucks!

I made this board of German words and phrases that Sean and I can use together. I like the idea of having something we can see in our apartment to help us remember, so hopefully it works! 

My First Time at The Color Run!

My sister, my mom, and my grandma, and I all took part in the "Happiest 5K on the Planet" on Saturday morning! It was our first time and as you can see we had such a blast getting all colorful!

Some favorite moments include:

• The free stuff was super awesome! I love my t-shirt and all the little accessories that were included!
• Waiting at the start line, I was regretting my decision to skip the sunglasses. Bad idea. The sun was so bright and I had to squint the whole time. While we waited, a DJ on a tower above us played music and threw down prizes like t-shirts, beach balls, headbands, bracelets, handkerchiefs, and...sunglasses! As soon as we began, he announced that he had some sunglasses to give away. I shouted as loudly as I could muster, which apparently caught his attention because he threw some my way and I caught them! It's silly, but I was super proud. 
• Doing the Color Run with my Grandma was very fun and my favorite part with her was when we went through the purple station. She was very excited because purple is her favorite color, so I told every person I could as we walked through the station and she was definitely purple when we made it out! I loved seeing my Grandma so giggly and happy. She really had a lot of fun!
•  My sister decided to scream, "Woooo!" right as someone was getting ready to throw blue into her face. She was spitting out blue coloring for a while after that. 
• Getting colorful was the most fun, of course! We all tried to get a good amount of each color on us before the end, and I think we pretty much accomplished that.

Visit the Color Run website to see when they are coming to your town! You won't regret it!

Have you ever done the Happiest 5K on the Planet? What made it so happy for you?