Wes & Erica's trip to Kansas City, KS. (pt.1)

My actual wedding anniversary is April 27th... my more important "El-versary" (aka when Wes & I took a road trip to Las Vegas to get our vows renewed by an awesome Elvis impersonator) is October 8th. A few weeks ago, we decided to take another road trip to celebrate our El-versary. We didn't go as far as Las Vegas, though. Instead we drove to Kansas City.

Wes saw an episode of Anthony Bourdain's show that highlighted a bar-b-que restaurant in Kansas City, KS. The restaurant was Joe's Kansas City (formerly Oklahoma Joe's) BBQ. One of their star attractions is a plate of burnt ends of brisket. Wes was sold & I'm always up for going out of town, so off we went!

Looks like I'm at the airport but it's just a gas station.

Kansas City was a very manageable five-hour drive. (words I never thought in a million years would be put together: "manageable" and "five-hour drive" LOL) Maybe it's because I've never driven to Kansas before so the scenery was interesting. Or maybe it's because the Kansas Turnpike has zero cops so everyone got to drive 90 mph. Or maybe it was the Travel Plazas we encountered every 20 miles or so. They are ginormous gas stations with a connected Dunkin' Donuts/Hardees. I got a raspberry iced coffee at one of these Travel Plazas. One of Wes' friends is always talking about how tasty coffee is with raspberry syrup added. No one believes him but I had to try it for myself. It wasn't bad. It tasted like raspberry iced tea. I don't know what happened to the coffee flavor.

Anyway, we finally got to Joe's around lunchtime and the line was out the door! It was totally worth it when we got our food. We both got the lunch special- a plate of burnt ends on toast and one side. I got it with their Kansas Caviar, which was a cold vegetable salad with lime dressing. I actually liked my Kansas Caviar more than the burnt ends. But the burnt ends were still really good. I had some leftover and it was still good when I reheated it a few days afterward. Wes enjoyed the food, too. (I asked him for his insight and his opinion and he just answered with "It was good.")

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We finished lunch around 2pm but our hotel check-in time wasn't until 4pm. What to do for two hours? I wanted to go to the Farmer's Market but it closed at 2pm. I also wanted to go to the Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens but it was 1. hot outside, 2. half an hour away, and 3. closing in a few hours. We decided to drive the five minutes into Missouri and hang out at the Country Club Plaza. When we drove across the border, the GPS on Wes' phone welcomed us into Missouri. I found it amusing.

The buildings are modeled after architecture of Seville, Spain.

The Country Club Plaza is a huge 15 block long shopping district. This is where people with money go to buy their wares. High end retail shops EVERYWHERE... Michael Kors, BCBG Max Axria, kate spade, even a Tesla Motors with fancy cars on display on the sidewalk. I enjoyed window shopping but was not in the financial state to splurge. The Customer Service office offered out-of-towners a Passport shopping guide that promised a free souvenir tote bag if $150 in purchases were made.  I bought a few things here and there but only spent $100. 

We walked around and explored a good handful of stores. I didn't buy anything crazy or exotic. A few of my favorite stores was Three Dog Bakery (because I am obsessed with buying things for Sadie & Athena) and Better Cheddar. The Better Cheddar had sooooo many samples of cheese and it took so much will-power to not try them all. Luckily, we had just finished lunch so I wasn't very hungry. The store was filled with meats & cheeses, jellies, salsas, chocolates and wine. I wanted to buy some of everything but I figured nothing in that store would travel well. 

 Oh the delicious cheeses!!

Delights for Sadie & Athena at the Three Dog Bakery. I got them some "RRRRRRibs."

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After our afternoon of shopping, Wes got himself a coffee at Scooter's (and I placed a business card on the bulletin board, see above) and we headed to the hotel. Wes booked us a room at the Intercontinental... a really plush hotel literally across the street from the Country Club Plaza. There were at least two weddings and another formal event being held at the hotel that same weekend. We were the most casually dressed couple. LOL  

A complaint I always get is that I overbook our vacations. I'm always trying to do and see every tourist attraction and the vacation no longer is a vacation because we're never relaxing. For this trip, I barely planned a thing so we got to spend the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening in our nice hotel.

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Later that night, we headed back out to the Country Club Plaza to grab dinner and explore the night life. Warning: there is no night life. LOL All of the retail stores closed at 7pm and all that was left was a few restaurants and coffee shops. We grabbed a quick dinner at Potbelly and took an evening stroll. Even though all the shops were closed, the streets were still lit up and beckoning window shoppers. We also managed to catch some live music. 

There was a group of performers named Battery Tour. They were a DJ, MC/beatboxer/singer and a few dancers. They performed "professional karoke" (I believe that's what the lady at the Customer Service desk called it). They basically did cover songs and danced around and got the audience moving. It was a fun show & they were talented kids. Being an old lady, I was sleepy by 11pm and we walked back to the hotel. It was an easy-going day of food & shopping. El-versary Day 1 complete, Day 2 to come next week!

RagsReborn's first charity auction.

I had an absolute blast at my first Quarter Mania auction!! I will be participating in the next Quarter Mania (they happen quarterly & the show organizers are currently looking at available dates for the next one) and I highly encourage you to come. All proceeds benefit a different charity each time. 

Before I start, I want  to let you know that if you are looking for a home in Oklahoma, you should totally check out the city of Mustang. The houses are nice--aka new, large and in a quickly developing suburb, the people are beyond friendly and their community center is the nicest thing I have ever seen. 

       In the middle of town, there stands the Mustang Town Center. It is a ginormous complex that includes a library, fitness center, park, and multiple banquet halls. The auction was held in The Great Room (one of their larger banquet halls that had a kitchen). I've never been to Mustang, let alone the Town Center, so I parked on the entirely wrong side of the building. I must have looked bewildered because the first person I happened upon offered to help (she, unfortunately, didn't know where the auction was, either). I then wandered into the fitness center and the girl at the front desk gave me very detailed directions to The Great Room. She offered to walk me so I wouldn't get lost but her supervisor wasn't around to grant her permission and she couldn't leave her post. I found the room with no problem and checked in. The women running the auction were incredibly friendly and helpful. I dropped off my quarters & chose my table to set up my items for sale.

       Then came the task of hauling all my items in. As I was walking to my car, I saw two teenagers wearing shirts that announced they were "staff." I asked if they could help me carry in my trunk of pillows and they had no objection!! (I'm always stunned when I come across nice teenagers.) They were very polite and informed me that there was a much closer parking lot where I could move my car to unload the rest of my items. I parked right by the doors and managed the rest of the unloading on my own. Like I said before, Mustangians (or whatever they call themselves) are beyond friendly.

I set up right in front of the west window at sunset. Not smart.

Okay...back to the auction. This was my first Quarter Mania and didn't know what to expect. Luckily, I set up between two veterans. I was in between Brandy, who sold Pink Zebra and children's book author, Carly Cartmill. (Shout out to these lovely ladies!!) Doors opened at 5:30pm and patrons flooded in. All of our auction items were set up on a long table for viewing. Patrons could purchase paddles and quarters. There were so many in attendance that we ran out of paddles and the show organizers asked for people to sell their paddles back if they had bought multiples. There wasn't much time for shopping but vendors had tables along the walls just in case shoppers wandered by.

Pink Zebra to my right and Carly Cartmill to my left. She was promoting her latest book, Stuffed.

Patrons browsed & shopped, ate yummy Frito chili pie and mingled until about 7pm when the auction started. Here's how it worked:
1. The MC announced an item--which vendor the item is from, a brief description and how many quarters it cost to bid. Ex. OU themed tote and pillow gift set from RagsReborn. Two quarters to bid.
2. A volunteer (vendors were volunteers for the night) would grab the item and walk around showing it to all the tables.
3. Then the bidding would start. Each item cost either 1, 2 or 3 quarters per paddle to bid. If you wanted to be entered, you would drop your quarters into a little Tupperware that runners (that was my job) would pass out and collect. If an item cost 1 quarter and you bid 1 quarter, you got to raise one of your paddles, 2 quarters for two paddles, etc.
4. Once bidding ends and all the quarters are collected and all the paddles are raised in the air, the MC draws a number from the hopper.
5. If the number corresponds to the number written on your paddle, you win!

The OU basket was my highest grossing item.

It was simple & fun and everyone participated. It was crazy! I was on my feet all night running around everywhere collecting quarters and depositing them to the bank. What a riot! Everyone was in high spirits and items were flying off the table. After the first hour, we had a 10 minute intermission. I used that time to have a quick bite and make a few sales. I was able to network and meet some new friends.

Then the second half of the auction started and it was just as busy as the first. At the end of the night, I had a bag full of quarters and eight pillow sales! (That doesn't sound impressive but there was barely any time to for making sales, so I believe that was an accomplishment.) And more importantly, I passed out all of my Spring Craft Show schedule flyers & a lot of business cards. I talked to almost everyone in the room and gained some interest in custom orders. I even got invited to be a vendor at an event next weekend! I had to decline since I am participating in D.U.C.K Week.

I posted short videos of the auction on my Facebook and Instagram pages. I'm really glad I was a part of this and I am already signed up for the next one. I hope I see you there!