BE WELL, KANSAS CITY.

I barely even know where to start with this one. It's taken me four days to come down from the high of one of the most fabulous getaways I have ever had. Back at Christmas time, Nick secretly teamed up with my fave gal pal and planned a weekend away for just her and I. Nick and I don't keep score, but just let me tell ya that if we did, I'd be indebted to him for a long, long time. When Nick presented me with this surprise, I was blown away and actually welled up with tears. Then I immediately texted Jen and couldn't believe that she was able to hold this secret from me and play it so cool. Nick knew he needed to plan it far enough in advance so that I wasn't to leave a nursing baby behind, and Jen knew just the spot that we had talked about meeting up in someday for fabulous antiquing and yummy food. It was a prefect blend of careful thought and planning, and it couldn't have been any better.

For those of you who don't know my connection with Jen, we met a ways back through social media. Emails back and forth turned into texting, turned into phone calls, and later led to a seize the moment meet up. This past August when Nick and I were crazy enough to drive our family down to Florida, Jen's home was literally three minutes out of our way. I mean, how could we not stop? I was hoping for a casual dinner with our two families, and instead we ended up being overnight guests with a mere 12 hours to cram in as much girl talk as we could. When we drove away from her house that next morning, I felt incredibly grateful, yet saddened and wondered if I would ever see her again. Opportunities like that don't present themselves everyday.

I am so grateful for a husband and closie who know my heart so well. They knew that time away, time together, and a chance to explore a new city, would mean more to me than any material possession tied up with a pretty bow and placed under the Christmas tree would.

Here's a recap of the weekend awesomeness:

Friday.
I woke up at the butt crack of dawn and hit the highway. T minus six hours to Kansas City baby.
I drove six, Jen drove four, and at noon she was knocking on the hotel door ready to give me the biggest hug.
Luckily, Jen has shopped this city before, so she knew where we were going and we hit the ground running.

 Jesus, take the wheel!

 We went straight to the West Bottoms district, which I would compare to a mini-Minneapolis. The weather was phenomenal and it was refreshing in itself to not need a jacket!

Hands down, this was our favorite store. We started and ended here. I found things to buy both times, and I'm sure I would have found even more upon a third visit ;)

 Hi, random fella!

I got this dress for $16 people. Jen claims that when she thinks of me, she thinks of yellow. I wonder why.

It was here that our weekend slogan, be well, found us. And now we have matching friendship bracelets to commemorate the weekend.

The shops were endless levels and twists and turns of treasures. Photos cannot capture all the goodness in the least. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Another store was celebrating it's third birthday, and we had some good laughs with this photo booth.

Jen was patient with me while I took pictures of everything. Literally. I can't help it.

I enjoyed my first food truck experience, which I was initially a little leery of. Turns out I'd eat this all day everyday if I could.

We shopped til dusk, and these are some of the goodies I claimed.



We headed back to our hotel and mosied around the attached mall, before settling on this quaint looking restaurant for dinner. Turns out, the waitress doesn't recommend the fancy lemonade because you don't get free refills and the food is served on paper plates, but hey, the conversation was good ;)

Whew. After all that we had hours of girl talk and crashed to the city lights.

Saturday.

We both got to wash, blow dry, and curl our hair all in the same hour. A special treat made possible with no kids in tow.

Thanks to one of Jen's local friends, she clued us in on a few other must stop shops.  We were off to a good start.

Jen made most of her haul at store #2.

We had the most delicious late lunch, which ended up being our dinner too.

 And then we washed it down with a cupcake. Duh.

We dropped some cash at H&M, before taking the sky way from our hotel over to Union Station.

This place was seriously stunning; jaw dropping. I took a bajillion pictures to show Nick when I got home.

To cap our night, we took some silly selfies and had more endless hours of chit chat.

Sunday.

Grabbed breakfast.

Checked out Union Station in the daylight. (still stunning)

Bought matching shirts and documented it.

Hugged and said our sad goodbyes :(

Made the treck home, and loved up on our babies when we arrived.



Every little thing we did was so wonderfully perfect. I have a special little pocket in my heart for this girl. She is a once in a lifetime find of a friend, and I'm so glad she's mine (and I hers).

Until next time, be well, Kansas City.

*Photos are a combination of ones taken by Jen and myself, all with my craptastic Android and her fabulous iPhone ;)