Well Hello, Kansas City!

If you missed posts last week, I'm telling you about the vacation we just took! Our ultimate destination was out in the southwest part of Kansas, where we met my new great-niece! But rather than driving forevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvver in one day to get there and forevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvver in a second day to get back home, we broke up the pilgrimage and saw some things along the way!

Our second stop on the way out was in Kansas City. I've been through it a million times. And I've "been there" a couple of times as a kid visiting family members, but none of those visits involved touring the city.

I was a bit nervous, because my lack of knowledge about anything Kansas City related meant I had no idea what parts of town were good and safe and which ones were highly questionable. I did my best to research well and hoped I didn't pick scary spots!

We left our Airbnb outside of Springfield, Illinois about mid-morning and spent the driving roughly five hours over to Kansas City, Missouri. This day was the only time on our entire trip that we ran into rain. No complaints, though, because we were in the car! This poor guy, though...

Bad day to ride your bike, I guess!

We stopped in a little town for lunch at a Chick-fil-A, and we stopped for gas now and then, and we stopped when we got stuck behind this:

Every time this happens to us (which is nearly every day of every road trip we take) I begin to envy the RVers. And you can see, I had one close at hand to envy!

We made the most of our wait time by working on Ryan's solo for church on Sunday:

Disclaimer that you have to make when you post pictures like this: the car is not in motion. Totally in park.

We still arrived in Kansas City in good time, and we check into our second Airbnb before heading into the Plaza, which is quite an interesting place. Kept us entertained all evening. (Also allowed us to get in all 10,000 steps - and a few bonus ones - which was a blessing since we'd been in the car all day!)

Our first stop was at Jack Stack BBQ. I learned in my vacation research that Kansas City is famous for its BBQ. I had no idea. I thought that was a southern thing. I picked this restaurant at random based on fabulous reviews, and as we began to tell people our vacation plans, we learned that several of our friends had been there and loved it. Win win!

We got there a little early for dinner (our bellies were still on Eastern time) and it's a good thing we did, because by the time we left, there was quite a pile of people waiting to get in!

We elected to split a platter, and we had plenty of food. It came with two sides, so we each got to pick one. Random fact: this place is not heavy on vegetable selections. LOL!! Still batting a thousand on healthy food options. My word, though. What really exceptional BBQ. We both loved it.

 He wasn't about to leave a single bite behind.

We needed to do some SERIOUS walking after that meal, so we found a little local coffee shop, got some coffee, and headed for the beautiful canal to take a long walk.

Other than being humid (excuse my hair in all upcoming photos), it was a perfect night for walking.

We also stumbled upon an art sculpture garden. We're not really huge into art (mostly because we rarely understand it) but this did catch our attention and reeled us in:

We also found a few other fun things, like this:

And this labyrinth. (We talked about this on the podcast last week.) It was made of glass and was really fun (and occasionally confusing) to walk through.

There were still some things we didn't understand:

Kansas City is apparently also known for its many fountains. I read somewhere that they have 48. We saw two. :)

We sat down by the second one to watch part of the sunset. Many families sat around doing the same, which was refreshing to see in a big city. :)

Before we walked back to the Airbnb, we walked by the place I'd picked out for dessert, but we were too full. Maybe next time.

Despite not getting to try the Waffle Bar, I just so happened to check to see if Kansas City had a Duck Donuts. We learned about those on our anniversary trip last December, and we've been missing them ever since. I knew there wouldn't be one there, since it's such an east coast thing.

Except one had just opened two weeks earlier, fifteen minutes from where we stayed.

SHUT.

UP.

So the next morning...

Oh yeah, baby.

We were busy taking pictures in line and this nice lady behind us asked if she could take ours together. Oh bless her. (She told us she was pregnant and her baby app said her baby was the size of a donut, so she came to get a donut for her photo opp. Wise. Very wise.)

I still hadn't given up hopes of being good with food decisions on this trip, but when you find a Duck Donuts, you decide it's worth it. You just do.

(If you missed the gushing about our original visit, we love these donuts because they are served warm and have frosting applied fresh before serving. They're cake donuts, which I usually don't like at all, but something about the warm cake with the warm, melty frosting sort of melts my soul into loving them.)

We grabbed a few pictures of our (ahem) half-dozen in process.

Happiness in a box.

But not for long.

Go ahead. Judge. I don't even care.

Ryan wanted a souvenir, which is TOTALLY not like him. He has been drinking out of this nearly every day since:

Thanks, Kansas City! We loved visiting you!!!!

Next up? MEETING THE BABY!!!!!!

The Shafferland Shuffle

Happy August, my friends! Tis the season of returning to routines, whether we want to or not, I suppose! I hope it's going smoothly for you! :)

* Last Sunday was technically our last day of vacation, even though we were already back home. My parents were having a special service at their church, to dedicate a memorial stone, so we surprised them by attending! (We took my friend Amber who was the artist for the stone.) I ended up with the job of photographer, so all my pictures of that day are of the service. After that? All Mo, all day. Three cheers for milking every last minute out of a vacation.

* Monday was laundry day. (AKA the joys of coming home from vacation, right?) I got everything all caught up and back on track. Tried a new smoothie recipe (blueberry...delicious) and both of us got back to our workout routine. I had a much easier time than Ryan did, because I had air conditioning!

* I spent most of the week writing furiously for some upcoming deadlines, and Tuesday I had a helper who just wouldn't leave my side. I guess she was still a little traumatized by our trip. (Even though she had a house sitter who was probably more attentive than we are!) We tried to get back to healthier eating - edamame for lunch! And that night? America's Got Talent! (Any of you watching this season?)

* I was still in a writing frenzy on Wednesday, and I needed to brainstorm. I do my best brainstorming while washing my hair, so I just took paper and a pencil right into the bathroom with me so I could make notes before I forgot anything! My helper got even cozier with me that day - hard to type with a cat hanging onto your arm! And it finally stopped raining so Ryan could start mowing the hayfield formerly known as our yard!

* Thursday was our 68th monthiversary, and Ryan proved his deep love and devotion to me by bringing me a donut. (Seriously won him all kinds of points! That night after dinner, we got coffee and went to a park here in town to enjoy a nice long walk and some really pretty scenery! It was the perfect park night!

* Friday's workout was rough. I was a smelly, sweaty mess after that. But I cleaned up so we could go out for dinner! We had some gift cards to Red Lobster so we went there. (Funny story about the biscuits took place during dinner. I'll have to tell that one on the podcast!) Braeya got some new toys on Friday, thanks to the donation of a friend who no longer has her cat. I hadn't even unpacked them for Braeya yet when she dove right in and got one of the toys out herself!

* Yesterday was my third writing class over at the Marion Public Library. Had a great time with my little crew. They are a wonderful group! We had Phoebe for the afternoon, but it was too hot for her tastes, so she mostly napped. And rounding out the week? My most wonderful husband brought me a dozen roses!! Yep. I'll be carrying them from room to room until they die.

The Saturday Six

One.

I don't know when school begins where you live, but around here it starts next week. This raw, heartbreaking post by Caroline Rothschild is a stunning reminder of why we should lift our teachers and students in so much prayer. This moved me to tears.

Two.

When I bought blueberries this week, they came in a HUGE tub. (I seriously think it was three times as much as I normally get for that price.) I knew they would go bad before I could use them in my breakfast yogurt, so I turned to Dashing Dish for some good blueberry recipes. Among them, I tried this protein shake, and it was delicious. I didn't have the pudding mix on hand, but I used a little frozen fat-free whipped topping and it seemed to be a good substitute in flavor and consistency. This is an open recipe on the site, not a members-only post, so I thought I'd share it!

Three.

This is a TERRIBLE follow up to the healthy protein shake post, but I'm not gonna lie: this looks fun. One of my Facebook friends did this donut trail this week. It's in Ohio, which I've decided has many fun things to visit. I mean, did you hear me? A DONUT TRAIL!!!!!!!!

Four.

One of my Facebook friends linked to this post this week. It's written by Tessa Afshar, who is a Christian fiction writer, but I loved her idea of taking a road trip of the heart, even if you can't take an actual trip. I'm pondering this one.

Five.

For all my fellow coffee lovers out there...a PSA for you. :) I found a new creamer! When we travel, I generally try to take along a box of single serve coffee creamers, because I can't always find creamer in hotels. (And powdered creamer is not my first choice, which is what hotels usually do have, if they have anything at all.) This time, we found a new flavor from International Delight: Reese's Peanut Butter! Now to be fair, depending on your coffee-to-creamer ratio, it may not taste like a fully melted peanut butter cup, but if you have enough in there, it will! (Or at least it did to me.) Looks like the full bottle version is coming soon. YUM.

Six.

Source

New book alert!!! Oh, I'm excited to tell you about this one. I actually read it several months ago, via the delight of my author-friend saying, "Hey, will you read my new book and tell me what you think?" Twist my arm. I loved it. But it wasn't published yet and I couldn't tell you. Sigh. BUT!!! It's fully available for purchase now, so sit right back while I tell you all about it!

First I have to brag on the author. Marissa Shrock went to the same high school I did, and she published her first book a few years ago. It was a young adult dystopian novel that I read and told you about...and then she published two more books in that trilogy. Marissa is a middle school teacher and wrote those books because she sensed a need to provide quality, clean, non-cheesy books in that genre for that age group. Even though I'm not a dystopian fan, I loved the books and thought the did a great job.

So I was even more delighted when I found out she had a new series in the works, and this one is for adults! The first book is called Deadly Harvest, and appropriately, it's been released to the world just as our Midwestern harvest season looms on the horizon. Perfectly crafted timing.

This book is a mystery, and it was such a treat to enjoy Marissa's writing in a whole new way in this genre. (I've learned that sometimes writers are really great in one genre but not so great in another. Not so for Marissa! Wide range of talent.)

Here's the true-but-embarrassing part. I think you all know I spend too much time for my own good watching documentaries and movies of the crime variety. Dateline, anything on the ID channel...you get the idea. You would think by now that my sleuthing abilities would be pretty slick. Nah. I'm a failure. No future for me as a detective. Even so, every time I pick up a mystery, I'm convinced this will be the time I figure it out. And I thought that with Deadly Harvest. And wrong again. Didn't see it coming.

One of the things I love about this book is it's set in Indiana! (That's so rare for fiction. This is apparently not really a book-destination state.) Georgia Rae Winston lives in the fictional town of Wildcat Springs, which happily resembles exactly where we live, so it was an easy visit in my imagination.

Georgia Rae is single and looking for love. The biggest excitement in her small-town world is figuring out how to win the heart of the guy she likes. But when she finds the body of one of her former students in the woods at the edge of a field, her focus on winning Evan's heart takes a quick shift. You know...to figuring out who was responsible for that body.

It's not the first time someone near to Georgia has died a suspicious death. Her own father's murder nine years earlier remains unsolved, and this new death stirs up all the emotions and questions all over again. Determined to find answers for both, Georgia begins doing some digging, which puts her own safety at risk and lands her much quality time with a police detective...who just happens to be single.

I have to say, I really loved Marissa's accurate attention to the single life. Her characters were realistic and not TV-movie perfect. She crafted the relationships well, which is something not always done in books. The struggles of the single life were so realistic, complete with multiple heart-tugs-of-war.

Though the book had quite a few characters, I never felt lost or confused, which is also not something I can say for every book I've ever read.

When I reached the last page, I was ready for the next book, which is the best compliment ever for an author, I think.

If you haven't read Marissa's writing before, give this book a try! (And if you're from the Hoosier heartland, this book is home!)

Thanks, Marissa, for sending me an e-copy of this book. This is a keeper!