Steamboat Arabia

In the middle of River Market (a farmer's market in Downtown KC), there is the Steamboat Arabia Museum. It is a collection of artifacts from the Steamboat Arabia, which sank on the Missouri River in 1856. The boat was not recovered until the 1980s.

Buttons and Native American
Trading Beads

The museum is a very popular location for elementary school field trips, but my class had never gone. Joey had been, but he was so young that he didn't really remember much. So, after breakfast one Saturday morning, we decided to check it out. I really had no idea what to expect. If I'm being honest, I really didn't expect much.

I was pleasantly surprised.

The Steamboat Arabia was packed full of cargo when it sank, making the museum the largest collection of pre-civil war artifacts in the world. Pretty cool, right?

More buttons. There were so
many buttons on this ship!

The Arabia was actually recovered by five private citizens with zero excavation or preservation experience, funded with their own pocketbooks. By the 1980's, due to the movement of the Missouri River, the Arabia was actually now sitting underneath a corn field. Luckily, the farmer that owned the land was open minded when five strangers approached him and ask if they could dig on his land and find the Arabia. The farmer had grown up hearing stories about the ship from his father and grandfather, and the family had always suspected the Arabia was somewhere buried beneath their fields.

When you tour the museum, the diggers are there to answer questions and talk about their experience bringing the Arabia to the surface. One of the diggers explained that they spent $1 million dollars of their own money, without really knowing if they would find anything of value.

The pickles, still edible! 

The Arabia was underground for so long, without any oxygen, that most of the items were totally preserved. It was an artifact  goldmine. The one exception was cotton, so many of the clothing had been destroyed, but even canned pickles and jams were as fresh as the day they were canned. The men that dug up the Arabia opened up the museum in 1991 (ish) and still own the entire collection. They have not sold a single artifact.

There were so many artifacts on the Arabia that items are still being cleaned and preserved. It is expected that it will take another 10 years before every item recovered from the Arabia is cleaned and ready for display.

Doorknobs and supplies
for building homes.

I would definitely recommend the museum to anyone. It is way better than the boring way I have described it in this post. I couldn't believe I had never been there before. It's a tad expensive at $14.50 per person, but definitely worth the money.

This blog/list of mine has really gotten us to do new things and learn more about our city. There are even more things that we've added to our own list of places to see in Kansas City. And we have tickets to our next destination for Monday.

It's Legoland! That's right, two grown adults are going to Legoland, without any children (on a SciFi themed night, no less) and couldn't be more excited.

We are super nerds. And I love it.

Oh hey....

I finished my graduate degree. Holla! I now have a Master of Arts in Communication and Leadership.

What does that do to improve my life?
     Absolutely nothing. I have the same job, for the same pay. But now, I have more student loan debt.

Coffee & Beer Tours = Fun.

Coffee + beer = two of my favorite things in life.

So, when an opportunity arises to combine the two, it is an awesome day in book. Unfortunately, I did not experience both in the same drink (but I will soon, I'll get to that). Instead, we toured both a local coffee company and a local brewery today. In fact, the two are right around the corner from one another.

Our first stop was The Roasterie, a local coffee company known for having an airplane on the roof of their building. On our tour, we learned that this is an actual airplane, not a replica. It was being flown regularly before being purchased by The Roasterie, and could fly again.

At The Roasterie, with their iconic
roof-top airplane in the background.

The unique thing about The Roasterie is that their coffee is air roasted. Only a handful of companies use this roasting method instead of the traditional drum-roasting method. We actually got to witness the air roasting in action, so that was really awesome. We were even able to touch the beans as they swirled around in the cooling mechanism.

After our tour, we spent some time just lounging in the cafe, and I enjoyed a delicious latte.

We learned about the cupping process,
which their basis for choosing which coffee beans to purchase from farmers.

Rockin the hairnets.

Latte art 

 We were then off to experience a tour of Boulevard Brewing Company. Boulevard is a craft brewery, and their most popular beer (and my absolute favorite) is their Unfiltered Wheat. I've always been a fan of this hometown brewery, and have been wanting to tour their facility for quite some time. It doesn't hurt that just a few weeks ago, an announcement was made that Boulevard has become an official sponsor of my beloved soccer team, Sporting Kansas City.

The Boulevard Brewing Company's
icon is their smokestack. 

Anyway, the highlights of the tour were the bottling line and the tasting room. I also learned a little more about the brewing process, but I was already pretty familiar with how Boulevard makes their beer. I did learn, however, that Boulevard makes one last addition of yeast during the bottling for a second fermentation process. This enhances the flavor of the beer and  prevents the quality from deteriorating over time.

I was really more interested in their commitment to the community and sustainability. I learned that Boulevard has a no-landfill policy at their facility. Not a single piece of waste from their brewery winds up in a landfill. I also didn't realize that they were responsible for starting Ripple Glass, a huge glass recycling effort here in Kansas City. I utilize this service all the time, often recycling Boulevard bottles, but didn't realize that they played such a huge role in making that happen. They also have two electric car ports, which are still pretty rare in Kansas City.

The Boulevard bottling line.

Hibiscus Gose & Dry Stout

The best part of the tour, and any other brewery tour, was the tasting room. We had four bottle caps each that we could cash in for samples of different brews. I made it a point to try the brews that I hadn't ever tried before - those included their Hibiscus Gose, Dry Stout, 80 Acre Hoppy Wheat, and the Single Wide I.P.A. The Hibiscus Gose is unique in that it was actually created for Boulevard employees only and cannot be found anywhere outside the brewery. It had a salty taste, and it was actually VERY good.

Both of these tours were FREE! So if you live in Kansas City, or ever find yourself in Kansas City, check out these awesome local businesses! They are both great, responsible local companies that sell great products. AND these two have actually joined forces to create a coffee ale. They haven't provided a release date yet, but it is supposed to arrive sometime this month. Yummm!!

Year in Preview

So this is obviously late since we're more than a month into the new year - but I started this post and so I'm going to finish it anyway. Better late than never, right?

I really love ringing in the new year.

There is a just something about a new beginning, a blank slate, a new adventure, that is just so exciting. And while a new date on the calendar doesn't actually change anything, I still love the idea of a fresh start.

So what do I expect in 2013?

• I will turn 26. (Note: This actually already happened on January 23rd) The slow crawl to 30 is becoming more of a fast-paced jog. Yikes! (The husband will turn 27 - why does 27 sound so much older than 26?) 
• I will finish my master's degree. While I have already completed my coursework, I still have to defend my project in front of my committee. This has been tentatively scheduled for early March.
• A new tattoo - maybe two. I have a few designs rolling around in my head. 
• A new soccer season of epic proportions for our local team. The national team will be playing to qualify for a little something called the World Cup. 
• We will celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary! 
• Our lease will be up on the house we are renting, and even though I'd rather not move, I'm pretty sure that we will be moving. 

So those are things that I'm pretty sure will happen this year. 

And here are some things that I hope will happen:

• We hope to go on a few road trips, which will hopefully help us meet our goal of visiting two more presidential libraries. 
• We should be able to pay off our credit card balance. 
• We plan to start seriously saving money to purchase a home. 
• I would REALLY like this to finally be the year that I get down to a healthy weight. 

I'm sure we will set more goals as the year goes on, but I wanted to go ahead and get this posted since I've procrastinated for so long already. 

I am really looking forward to all that this year has in store. It is going to be a great year, I'm sure! 

Year in Review

To 2012... 
     So long, farewell, auf Weidersehen, goodbye...

Overall, it was a pretty stellar year in Kayla-land. 

• I celebrated by 25th birthday. Yes, I am a baby. 
• I started a new job. I didn't switch companies, I didn't even really switch departments. I just got a title change, a raise, and moved up the stairs in the same building.
• I went to Italy. I visited Rome, Florence, Bologna, and Venice. (I also spent 7 hours on a cold tile floor in Madrid.) But anyway, visiting Europe = success. (Read about the trip here and here.)
• We drove to Nebraska on a whim. We made the decision at 9pm, took 30 minutes to pack, and walked out the door. We spent the next day at the Omaha Zoo. It was the best spontaneous road trip ever. (Read about it here!) 
• Draco turned two. And yes, I am crazy enough to include my dog's birthday on the list of important events of the year. 
• We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. 
• We moved out of our apartment and started renting a house. We'll probably move again in 2013. 
• We became Sporting Kansas City season ticket holders. And we won the US Open Cup. That is a big effing deal. 
• The US Men's National Team came to Kansas City. We sat in the front row, right at midfield and watched them practice, and then watched them beat Guatemala in a World Cup Qualifier. 
• My department at work went through a huge restructure. I moved back downstairs and had to learn a lot more new stuff and have more responsibility. 
• There was an election and the results in several states made me very happy. (And no, I'd rather not elaborate.) 
• We went to the Wizard World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, Orlando. 
• We started to get more serious about our financial goals. 

There were some sad moments, too. We lost our friend, Shawn, entirely too young. He passed away in January - his last Facebook post was about what he would wear to my line-dancing birthday party that weekend. We also lost another friend in October, our friend Julian. We had met both of them through work several years ago, and it was a rough year for the company (husband still works there, I do not). 

We also struggled with the husband's maternal grandparents being very ill and his paternal grandfather fighting cancer. But all three of them are still here, and we are incredibly blessed to have had this year to share with them. 

So, while 2012 was not without heartbreak, there were so many positive things that happened to us this year - and we're excited for what 2013 has in store. 

Next up: A 2013 preview! 

Price Tag.

Would you rather spend your money on material items or experiences?
For example, would you rather buy a shirt (that you can wear until it no longer fits) or go out to eat?

Like many people, I used to think that I'd rather have the shirt. It lasts much longer than a meal out, after all.

Or does it? 

That meal is an experience. It is a memory.
At the end of your life, are you going to remember that shirt, or are you going to remember that night out with your husband or friends?

I think I would rather spend money on experiences. So, we don't own a home. And we probably won't for several years. Instead, we buy season tickets to support the team and the sport that we love so much. And we make new memories and meet new friends.

And we travel. We see the world, and we see our country.
We spend our money on memories, not things.

Right now, we need to pay off our credit card, so we have to hold-off on spending money on travel until that is paid off. We just turned down a trip to Philadelphia. And it sucks - but we know that it's the right thing to do at this moment.

But that honestly doesn't change my mind - when I have the money to spare, I would much rather spend it on travel/new experiences. Even if that means purchasing a home later in life than most people might choose or forgoing other material possessions.

Am I crazy?
Where do you prefer to spend your money?

Progress Report - Part II

In yesterday's post, I pointed out all of the things I've managed to accomplish on my 101 in 1001 list to date.

It's hard to believe, but the timeframe to complete the list is quickly closing. I only have approximately 8 months left before the clock stops ticking.

Yes, I realize there is no possible way to complete everything left on the list. Some goals were just too lofty, while others could have been accomplished if I'd started working toward them just a little earlier (like running a half marathon).

But there are many things on this list that would be really easy to accomplish. And now that I am almost done with my graduate degree, there will be extra time to read, watch movies, and basically do whatever sounds good at the time!

So here are the items that have yet to be accomplished:

1. Lose 20 lbs 
2. Complete the C25K program 
3. Run a 10k 
4.  Run a half-marathon 
5. Run a marathon 
6. Climb a rock wall 
7. Go kayaking 
8. Find a dentist 
9. Complete the 30-Day Shred 
10. Take a Dave Ramsey course 
11. Write a personal mission statement 
12. Pay off my credit card balance 
13. Pay off my (undergraduate) student loans 
14. Establish an emergency fund of at least three months expenses 
15. Visit at least two more Presidential libraries (0/2) 
16. Go to the Wizard of Oz Museum 
17. Get a professional massage 
18. Sit on the patio and read a book 
19. Watch 10 movies on the AFI 100 list (2/100) 
20. Watch 10 of AFI’s Top 25 musicals (0/25) 
21. Send flowers to a friend just because 
22. Send a letter via snail mail to a friend 
23. Give Blood 
24. Present a paper at a conference 
25. Earn my graduate degree 
26. Read 75 books in one year (18/75) 
27. Read five classic novels that I haven’t read (0/5) 
28. Complete a jigsaw puzzle 
29. Learn and be able to identify at least three constellations 
30. Read a book of poetry 
31. Read a memoir or a biography 
32. Grow my own vegetables 
33. Get a professional photography session w/ Joe 
34. Send a Christmas card 
35. Fly in a hot hair balloon 
36. Fly a kite 
37. Buy an original piece of artwork 
38. Get a caricature of myself 
39. Go ice-skating 
40. Go sledding 
41. Get another piercing 
42. Build a snowman 
43. Make a gingerbread house 
44. Go through a corn maze 
45. Go on a brewery tour 
46. Get a tarot card reading 
47. Go camping 
48. See an I-MAX movie 
49. Learn all the lyrics to Ice Ice Baby 

Some are will be incredibly easy, some have lost my interest, and some will be practically impossible. But I'm looking forward to trying to best to tackle as many as possible in the 8 months remaining!

Here we gooooo!!!