Last weekend I hopped in the passenger side of my best friend’s mom’s ride, and we embarked on a trip to the big city. It was a weekend with no parents, and we got crazy. I am actually exaggerating most of what I just told you. Yes, we did take Sarah’s mom’s car, but the “big city” we went to was Kansas City. It’s still a city, but it is in no way in the league of big cities like Chicago and NYC. Also, yes there were no parents, but we did not get crazy in the traditional sense of the word. Here, I will just give you the full story.
On Saturday morning, my friend Sarah and I drove the few hours to KC. We headed straight for the plaza to do some shopping. I got some great deals. I bought jeans from Express (the best place ever to buy jeans) for $30 (they were originally $88). Pretty amazing, right? Later, at good old H&M, I found a cute basic t-shirt for $10 and a really cute black button-up skirt for $25. I spent a little bit more than I usually would for a skirt from that store, but I loved it and I knew I would get use out of it. Needless to say, I was very pleased with my purchases. It was also raining the whole time we were walking around, so that was fun. Once we were shopped out, we headed to our hotel at Crown Center.
We valeted the car all by ourselves and checked into our hotel all by ourselves. We felt like such adults. It was pretty great. After exploring our hotel room, we got ready for a delectable dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. There is a parking garage attached to the restaurant. Usually it is pretty full and you have to totally luck out if you want a spot. Well, we lucked out. I am pretty sure we got the last spot in the whole garage. We headed into the restaurant to put our names in. We did that ALL BY OURSELVES I might add. We had about a 30 minute wait and then were seated. When we sat down, our napkins were folded pretty poorly. Sarah and I work at a restaurant, and we fold our napkins in a very nice looking way. I’m not even going to try to explain how we do it or what they look like, but just know that they look very nice. Seeing the poor folding job in front of us, Sarah and I decided to fold our napkins the way we fold them at work. We waited to see if our server would notice. He did and was very impressed. He wanted us to teach him how, so that he could start doing that at the restaurant. We happily taught him, hoping that we had revolutionized Cheesecake Factory forever and would get a discount on our meal. The discount never happened, but I’m still waiting on the whole revolutionizing thing.
An exciting thing I discovered at Cheesecake Factory that fateful day was that they have a skinnylicious menu. I have mentioned that I have been trying to eat healthier, and that did not change while I was on vacation. I was super excited. Everything on this special menu was less than 595 calories. That is amazing for a restaurant, and it was going to make me feel so much better about eating a large piece of cheesecake (my diet didn’t stretch as far as me not getting dessert at Cheesecake Factory of all places). I ordered spicy chicken tacos with a vegetable salad. It was quite amazing. Then it was time for dessert. I ordered the Godiva chocolate cheesecake. It was SO GOOD. I was unbelievably happy with the tastes that had entered my mouth. Then a crappy thing happened. I took a drink of water and Sarah made me laugh. This was a bad combination because water came out of my nose and burned my throat. Suddenly all of the happy tastes were gone and my throat was just burning. Of course that was the time that our server decided to show up with the check. I was holding my napkin up to my nose trying not to look like an idiot. I don’t think it worked. A little bit later, I took another drink. I bet you can guess what happened next; Sarah made me laugh. More water poured from my nose and the napkin was repositioned in front of my face. Once again, the server took this opportunity to bring back our check. It was great. I still enjoyed my time and it was quite funny, but it would have been nice if I didn’t end the night with a burning throat from water pouring out of my nose in a crowded restaurant.
The next day, Sarah and I went to St. Joseph (an hour north of KC) to see her college. We hung out there all day, and I won’t bore you with the details because there is really not a whole lot to do in St. Joe. I think the people who live there agree with me. One thing I will say is that we went to a Red Racks Thrift Store, and I found the deal of my life. I am doing a project in my room that I need empty white VHS cases for. I will tell you all about it at a later date. Anyways, I had looked online for the cases and they are ridiculously expensive. It’s honestly really annoying. I knew I wanted to see if a thrift store would have what I needed. Man did they have what I needed. I bought eight VHS tapes in white cases for only $4.64. I don’t think I will ever shop at a regular store again. That was the bargain of the century, and I will forever be grateful.
We ate dinner at the food court in the mall attached to the hotel we stayed at. You might be thinking, Wow, a food court will not have any healthy food. She really must not be serious about this whole healthy eating thing. If that was you, you would be wrong. We ate at a restaurant called Unforked. Their name is a play on the fact that they don’t have harmful additives and other stuff in their food. I ordered a burger that was only 500 calories (again, that is really good for a restaurant). It was a mushroom burger with brussel sprouts. You might think that sounds disgusting, but it was honestly delicious. It only came with the burger, so I was still hungry. I decided to order some dessert, but no this was not “bad” dessert. I got a raspberry drink that was made with raspberries, non-fat yogurt, and ice. Let me know if I’m wrong, but that is a pretty healthy alternative to pretty much any other dessert I could have gotten. I went to bed that night with a happy tummy.
On Monday morning, we got up and got ready to leave. We checked out and headed to brunch. I chose this cute breakfast place called Eggtc. It was so cute. I was in an adventurous mood and was wanting to reward myself a little for eating well. Maybe that isn’t the best logic, but I’m not mad about it. I ordered a crepe that had salmon and eggs in it. It was topped with hollandaise sauce, capers, and tomatoes. For my side, I got fresh fruit. I know that the crepe wasn’t the healthiest thing, but it also wasn’t the worst thing for me. I did scrape off some of the sauce and capers. I don’t really like hollandaise sauce nor is it good for me, so I don’t really know why I ordered it. I guess I was just in the mood for it, and I did enjoy my food. It wasn’t my favorite, but I did it to myself. We left the restaurant and headed for Kauffman Memorial Gardens. We found this place online, and I’m really glad that we went. It was beautiful. Sarah and I took pictures there and hung out for a little bit.
After that, we jumped back in the car and went shopping for one last thing: shoes. I looked up shoe stores, and we went to a couple that were on our way out of town. These stores ended up being for comfortable shoes, aka ugly shoes. We walked in and out. It was a quick trip. We grabbed some coffee for the ride home. I got an iced almond milk latte, which is something new that I have been trying, but I actually really like it. I got home that night very tired and happy that I had adulted for a whole weekend.
I’m not sure how many people will actually take the time to read this whole thing, but I am writing it because it was a fun trip. I doubt many people really care to read about a trip I go on, but I took away fun memories and experiences I want to share. I also want to remember them. I love to get deals when I shop. I love to eat yummy food that is relatively good for me. I love to hang out with Sarah, my best friend. I love to pretend to be an adult and be proud of my responsibility. It is a lot of fun. This goes back to the little victories in life. It is so much fun to have a positive outlook on every experience you go into. I’m not always positive and I do complain (mostly for dramatics but still). I like to find the funny parts of life and celebrate my successes. It is a fabulous way to live. I hope everyone finds what makes them happy, whether it is finding great thrift store deals or eating all of the hollandaise sauce their heart desires.
Faking It Made 