August 7, 2019

A Weekend In KC – How to get there, What To Do, and Where to eat.

There are few things in life better than a weekend getaway, exploring a new city with your girlfriends. Am I right?! Bonus, it’s your birthday weekend, too! To say Meghan, Emily, and I had a great weekend in KC, would be a major understatement. I absolutely fell in LOVE with this city and all it has to offer!! It’s such a gem that is so close to STL, that it basically makes it a no brainer to make a trip there.

I had only been to Kansas City once, 12 years ago celebrating my one year wedding anniversary. We stayed at the The Rafael in Country Club Plaza, and we loved it, but we never ventured into the city. I was so happy we got to stay in the heart of the city this time, but we did make our way to Country Club Plaza twice, because you gotta eat and shop while on vacay!

Let’s get this party started, shall we?!

How to get to KC:

This one was an easy decision because we have Amtrak right at our doorstep, and it’s such an easy and comfortable ride. From Kirkwood, MO to KC it was a 5 hour trip. The train is very comfortable, clean, and you are able to drink, #YesPlease! You sit 2 to a row, and there is plenty of leg room. I had taken the train to Chicago once before and loved the ease of it. You can bring as much luggage as your heart’s desire (hell yeah!), bring any food or drink you like, and most of the time the train isn’t at capacity, so the chances of having an empty seat next to you are pretty good.

A few draw backs to the train: You are on a train track, so if there is delays, there is literally nowhere for you to go. On the way there, we had a train break down on the tracks in front of us and we were delayed about an hour. The second drawback is the WiFi is pretty spotty. It may just be there route to KC isn’t the best for signal, but it was not very reliable. If you plan on working on the train ride, just keep that in mind. Another thing that was a little unnerving, there is no security whatsoever. No one checks your bags, or you, for anything. You literally get on the train with no hassle at all. That is nice, but at the same time, kinda strange. Me being paranoid for safety when I travel was a bit uncomfortable with that aspect. However, everything was completely fine, and I felt totally safe. There are Amtrak workers that are walking through the trains constantly.

Kikrwood, MO Amtrak station

Are you even a blogger if you don’t do this pose?! 😉

 

Where to stay:

 

Since our trip was in collaboration with VisitKC, they set up our accommodations at the Marriott Kansas City Downtown, and we could not have been happier about that. The hotel was in the perfect location, felt very luxury, and had everything we could have wanted or needed. It was close to shops, restaurants, the convention center, and local transit. This hotel gets a lot of convention guests, since the convention center is literally right at their doorstep. They recently underwent a $65 million dollar renovation, and the hotel is absolutely beautiful! They thought of every detail a guest would need or want. Dustin Holcumbrink, the director of sales & marketing, set us up with one of their suites on the 20th floor, and we were in heaven!! 3 mom’s away without the kiddos in a gorgeous hotel suite…. are ya kiddin me?! One of the things I loved about the room was the technology. We all know you go to hotels and watch movies, am I right?! They have Netfilx built in, so you just enter your login info and voila! You can catch up on your shows while away. Brilliant!! The bed was also super comfy. I am slightly high maintenance when it comes to sleeping, and this girl slept great there!

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I thoroughly enjoyed having a beautiful hotel room all to myself! My kids have trained me to be an early riser, as much as I don’t want to haha! So both mornings I woke up around 7am and headed down to the hotel’s coffee bar and enjoyed my Americano in peace and quiet. It was amazing 🙂

My morning coffee in the hotel lobby

 

We had planned on taking the city’s free transit that is a few blocks from the hotel, but it was super hot the weekend we went and wanted to be pampered to the max, so we decided to Uber the whole weekend. We were there from Friday afternoon till Sunday afternoon and we spent 76$ in Uber charges. I don’t think that’s bad at all! I feel like we did a lot too, so it’s definitely reasonable. That’s one of the things I loved about the city, was how close it all is for food and activities. I didn’t feel like we had to drive 30 minutes just to get to a destination. The city felt so safe too. It was also so clean, which was so nice! They have done an incredible job making the city feel clean and safe. Those are two major things I look for when visiting a new city.

What to do:

Friday:

KC has no shortage of things to do. We were there 3 days, and I feel like we still had so much left to see and do. That just means another trip is in store 😉 We got in to KC around 4pm on Friday and went straight to the hotel to drop off our bags and luggage. From there we went to The Crossroads Hotel, which was incredible. I highly suggest checking out that hotel, if only for the decor. They have a rooftop bar called Percheron, and the view is incredible. They have great cocktails and apps, too. From there we went to a new restaurant called Fox and Pearl. You guys. incredible food!!! The decor was gorgeous too. The overall vibe was just so me, and I loved it. I cannot wait to go back there sometime. I got the ravioli and it was divine. It was the perfect spot to celebrate my birthday! Thank you to Fox and Pearl for the meal ♥

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Saturday:

Dream morning at the Marriott!

 

We made our way to The Country Club Plaza ( a must do in KC) and had brunch at Gram & Dun, which was delicious! Something to note: the plaza was only a 10 minute drive from our hotel, which wasn’t bad at all!

 

Country Club Plaza

 

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From brunch we did a little shopping in the Plaza. They have pretty much every large retailer you’d want. You can find a list of their shops HERE. One store we really enjoyed at the plaza was a store called Made in KC Marketplace. It’s a marketplace for all locally owned KC small businesses. We loved it! You could even go in to sit and have a beer at their cute little bar section.

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After we left the Plaza, we headed to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art to play mini golf! Sounds interesting, huh? It was SO fun. The art inside, inspired each hole of the 9 hole course. You can play the course and then go inside to learn about the art that inspired each hole. So cool right?! It was very hot the day we went, but thankfully they had a bar cart and a misting station to cool us off. You can check out the course info HERE and schedule a tee time!

 

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After the museum we headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest before we headed to dinner. We didn’t have anything specific planned for dinner that night, so we tried to find a restaurant with open reservations and came across The Reserve in The Ambassador Hotel. It was the perfect spot for what we wanted that evening. The decor was very chic and they had a great band playing. It was just the vibe we were looking for.

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The next morning (our last day), we really wanted to check out an area called West Bottoms in KC with lots of vintage/antique shops, but they were all closed on Sundays, unfortunately. We should have planned that one out better, but now we know for next time. We decided to head back to the Country Club Plaza for brunch and a little shopping before we headed back home. We ate at the Parkway Social Kitchen and loved it.

Parkway Social Kitchen

 

We walked around a bit more, got our kiddos some presents (maybe a few for me lol), and headed back to the hotel to get our things. We headed to Union Station, which is something to note because it’s gorgeous!! The interior is incredible and a definite must see, even if you aren’t taking the train. You can stop in for some ice cream and see grand central hall to people watch 😉 They even have something called Science City inside Union Station, that the kiddos would love. You can check it out HERE.

Union Station KC

 

We had such a great weekend in Kansas City, and will absolutely be back!! I would love to bring the family next time and go to LegoLand. My kids would love taking the train, too!

A HUGE shout out to Derek with VistKC. He was incredible to work with and set us up with the best KC has to offer! He also gave us the best recommendations for the weekend, which is now being passed on to you for your trip to KC 😉 Big thanks to the Marriott KC Downtown, as well, for hosting us in luxury, and pampering us all weekend!! Our trip was one for the books!!

Please reach out with any questions, or if you want any more info on a particular thing we did. Thanks for reading, and hope this was helpful!!

XO,

Mary ♥

 

 

 

 

November 13, 2017

A Weekend In Chicago – Where We Stayed, What We Did, and What I Bought

How We got There

This past weekend, my sister in law and I, headed out for a quick weekend trip to Chicago. We decided to do things on the inexpensive side so that we could conserve every penny for shopping! Taking the train to Chicago seemed like the best route due to price and ease of getting into the city and not having to rent a car. It was only 69$ roundtrip for one ticket. That’s not bad! I had no idea what to expect because I have never taken the train, but I gotta say, for a weekend trip that’s semi near by, it’s the way to go. There is pretty much no regulation for the train. You can bring however many bags, food/drink, and seating is open and quite comfortable. Way better than an airplane, in that regard. I didn’t have t stress about my bag being over the weight limit, woohoo!! Especially since I’d be shopping, I knew it would come back even heavier lol.

The train going to Chicago was running very late. That was ok at first, but by 2pm, we just wanted to be there already. They left STL late and that pushed us to the lower end of the totem pole and we had to wait for several trains to pass along the way. We finally made it into Chicago around 4. The train home was the complete opposite. It was on time and even got us home early. I would definitely take the train again. It would also be a great option for little ones traveling, because you wouldn’t have to worry about air pressure for their ears, and they could stand up and roam around, if needed. It was a very laid back experience.

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September 22, 2017

Polka Dots & Some Thoughts

Happy Friday, friends!!! We finally made it to Friday! I’ve had some thoughts lately about blogging and yesterday an Instagram friend of mine, Morgan, posted something sharing her heart, and it motivated me to share mine too. I see bloggers on the daily post all their new purchases, and I keep wondering how on earth can they not only afford all that “stuff”, but where do they put it all, if they are buying constantly?

Being a blogger is unique because we share our style, if people love what they see on us, they want to buy it. Well if you aren’t constantly posting something new, people can’t buy it, if it’s not available anymore. So I think a lot of bloggers feel this pressure to buy buy buy, so that they can link link link! Lately it’s been making me feel like I can’t keep up. I can’t be buying something everyday, just so I can have something to link. If you have followed me for any length of time, you have noticed I wear things over and over. I love to get use out of what I buy, and I am just not a “wear once” kind of person. I spend our hard earned money on something, so I’m going to wear that piece several different ways. I think that’s probably what most people do. I don’t know of too many people that only wear something once. It’s just not attainable.

My goal when I started my blog, was to show how to use your entire closet, over and over. I had a passion for showing different ways to wear things that you already have. Now it’s no secret I have a slight shopping addiction, so I routinely add pieces to my wardrobe, but I still find multiple ways to wear it all. This top I’m wearing, for instance. I love this top! I got it last season from Everly Oak, and have worn it (and posted it) several times. I think it’s a great classic top that can be styled multiple ways. I have paired it with several pairs of denim and also with a midi skirt. I’m not going to lie, I love trends. I think it’s fun to try out a new trend, but I also love classic pieces too. I am not one to buy designer labels or expensive items, either. It’s just not me! I have a passion for finding affordable clothing.

My goal is to show you different ways to style something. My goal is not to make you shop constantly, and think you have to have all these new pieces. I hate the amount of consumption on Instagram. It feels like one giant add and I get sick of seeing it, and also, I get sick of being a giant add myself! I know when I see a blogger wearing something, I want that exact item, but I’m sure there’s something similar in my closet that I could try and recreate, and even put my own spin on it. That’s the beauty of fashion! We get inspired and then create an outfit around that inspiration that we feel great in.

If I ever post something and you are dying to have it but don’t want to spend any money or simply don’t have it in your budget to shop, message me and we will come up with an outfit similar with pieces you already have! Or, if you have a small budget, we can find some affordable pieces that make up several different outfits. I’m here to help! However you need it 🙂

I say all this lightly because this post isn’t meant to bash other bloggers or shame their game. It’s not that AT ALL. I think to each their own, and you do you. I am not one to judge. This is just something that I have been struggling with lately and it’s the feeling of “I can’t keep up” with everyone posting all their new stuff on the daily. I also don’t ever want to make you, my follower and reader, feel that way either! I want to inspire you to put together an outfit that you feel great in. Because we all know that when you feel great in an outfit, it changes your whole demeanor!

I am setting a goal for myself over the next few months to not shop. I am starting small, like maybe for 2 months lol. I have plenty of clothes and I want to challenge myself to make new outfits out of what I already have. If you see a piece of mine that isn’t available anymore, I will try and find something that’s similar to link.

Anyone want to take on this no shopping challenge with me?! I could start a Facebook group and we could all help each other pick out outfits with the clothes we already have! Let me know if that’s something you’d be interested in.

Thanks for reading my novel 😉 and I hope that my thoughts came across clearly and not judgy. Please feel free to comment below if you have any thoughts, or as a follower how you feel about bloggers pushing product. I’m curious your take on it!

XO,

Mary ♥

 

Denim HERE / Top HERE / Shoes sold out, similar HERE / Bag sold out, similar HERE

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September 14, 2017

Evereve Event

 

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August 1, 2017

FreeShipping.com

It’s no secret I love to shop…. a lot. It’s also no secret that I love to online shop. It’s become my go to, especially after having kids. The last thing I want to do is drag my kids to a mall and have them sit in a dressing room for hours. I usually try and order anything I can online before I buy it in store. It’s just what I do. Maybe it’s laziness or maybe I choose my sanity over dragging screaming kids out of the store lol.

One of the things I always order online, is my skincare. I buy the same products every time and always order from Sephora, only this time, I was able to get free shipping AND get 10% cash back on my entire purchase. Not only does FreeShipping.com offer cash back and free shipping at thousands of retailers, but they offer free return shipping and any current coupons the retailer is offering that will be applied on top of the cash back! It’s kind of a no brainer.

Some of my favorite places to shop through FreeShipping.com are: Asos, Target, Sephora, Overstock.com, and Macys. There’s so many more though! They offer a free trial period with all the benefits, and if you decide you love it, it’s only 12.97 per month for a membership. If you decide it’s not for you, you can cancel anytime by logging into your account. If you spend only 200 dollars per month online (I definitely spend more than that), the membership pays for itself with the cash back you’ll be getting.

Go check them out and start earning money while you shop! This is one post your husbands will approve of 😉

XO,

Mary ♥

 

 

*This post is sponsored by FreeShipping.com. All opinions are my own.

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