Spring Breaks - Part 1

In case you missed my Story Keeper rant, here's why I'm telling you about Spring Break from my freshman year of college:

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So, I got to thinking. I have a lot of stories that I don't want to forget. Not like, ultra cool, life-altering stories, but they are stories and they are mine. Some are funny. Some are sad. Some taught me something. Some are lovey. Since I don't want to forget my stories, I have decided to compile them here. Maybe it will be like a 50 First Dates kind of thing and someone will read them if they get amnesia or dementia or something. I don't want that to happen, but it's plausible, I guess. Also, maybe my babies or babies' babies will read them. I would l-o-v-e love to read stories from grandmas or mom when they were in their 20s. (If you don't know me, folks, it seems that I have to have a reason to do something. Not just a 'Hey this seems like fun. I'll do it.' reason. Weird. I think I just learned that about myself.) Anyways, #storykeeper, y'all.
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Y'all. When I was in college I had Spring. Breaks. Like, good unforgettable random spring breaks. I don't ever want to forget them for a lot of reasons, but one of them being that we did kind of silly, spontaneous things, and they are absolutely some of my favorite times. Here's the first. I'll split 'em up though, because some will be longer.

Freshman Year:
My bestie from high school, Shannon, was engaged (maybe just dating at the time, but I think engaged) to this guy (not 'a' guy, rather her now husband) whose family lived in Tampa, FL. We drove there and stayed with his family for the week. We went to the beach a lot and shopped and I ate a Cuban (sandwich) for the first time. It was great. I don't remember too much else, other than someone thought we were in Jr. High when we were at one of Andrew's cousin's basketball games or something. Cool. A couple pics: (I can't find any more. Hmm.)

Kansas City

Well, I received a text from my friend Chelsea saying, "Write a blog. What are you doing with your life?"

Ha. So, here I am. Writing a blog. Telling all 26 of you what I'm doing with my life. :) I might even cue a few up, so I don't drop off the face of the earth again.

We just got back from Kansas City yesterday, after spending a few days there with only each other. We love hosting people and having friends over and people staying with us, so we do. A lot. Because of that, we have to be very intentional about finding time for us. We obviously need time where we can't be reached or talked into doing something. :) So, we peaced out! And it. was. awesome. We loooovvvveeeee just being with each other despite the amount of time we spend with other people. Granted, I could do nothing and just chill while Justin likes to plan something for every single minute. We find a happy medium.

I think the only pictures we took were at the zoo, but here are some highlights/what we did.

• Shopped at the Plaza. H&M, y'all. Love it. Of course, we went to Anthro and Urban Outfitters too, but I'm too cheap for those stores. 
• The Zoo!

 Otter. For Rachel.

 "Take a picture of me. I'm dying." 

 Only picture of us together from the trip. 

 Making the same face as the camel.

 We rode the ski left that went over the zoo. Yes, that's a thing. And yes, it's awesome. 

I. Love. Polar bears. 

• Ate BBQ (Gate's, which I was then told by my local friend, Erin, that Gate's is not the best compared to others. Bummer. Just another reason to go back!)
• Ate California Pizza Kitchen - where our waiter, Alan, told Justin they had sugar you could add to tea to make it sweet. He also got sassy and even pointed out that it's the same sugar in sweet tea.
  Excuse me, Alan, have you ever tried to mix a million sugar packets into cold tea? It doesn't dissolve. He was obviously not southern. We tried to be gracious. 
• Ate at Grinder's, which came highly recommended from the guy we stayed with. It was alright. We obviously love to eat. 
• We rented an apartment to stay in from a website called airbnb.com, and it was super. This freaks some people out. This is the 3rd place to stay I've found on a sight like this, and so far it's always worked out great. Maybe I'll blog about that later....Anyways, he loved Asian art, but had awesome brick walls and high, open wooden ceilings. Also, concrete floors. Not my fave (they were in the bedroom too, since it was a loft), but fine. 

• I got to see my friend, Erin, like I said earlier. I was giddy. She moved from Fayetteville to KC area with her fam a few months ago. I was thrilled to be in my Wed. morning scripture memory group with her for a time. And thrilled to babysit her sweet boys a few times. And, much sadder than I anticipated when she moved. Seeing her was so. wonderful. She's so wise. 

We're back now, and I go back to work tomorrow. Booooo. Not really, but I am way thankful for time off. Also, I cannot stop thinking about how incredible this video is. Grab a kleenex and watch it.