Escape // Breakout KC

Hi everyone! Happy Wednesday!

I wanted to recap something really fun we did a few weeks ago!

My SIL Kels and her boyfriend Jacob love to do escape rooms. They are recently popping up all over the country, and rapidly gaining popularity here.

The idea is, you enter a locked room with a group of people and you have to use the things in the room as clues in order to escape from it. Rooms typically have themes and/or scenarios attached to them. You have one hour to break out of the room and the establishments typically keep track of the time it takes to break out and the success rate for a given room.

Kels and Jacob have been to escape rooms in Kansas City, Lawrence, and in Pittsburgh, PA. They have actually been to every single room at the place we went to, Breakout KC. The room that we did together was the last one on their list. (no pressure! :P)

We had no idea what to expect, so I will share a little bit about how an escape room works. :)

(this photo was provided by Breakout KC - thank you!)

The room that we visited had a casino theme and a 33% success rate. That's right, only one of three groups escape in 60 minutes.

While I cannot explain WHAT we did in the room, and I certainly could not take photos in the room..... I can give you some unspecific examples on the process and how a clue might work.

You start the room with a video that gives you the scenario or story that exists around your particular space. Sort of like a mystery. You then start roving around the room looking for any sort of clue that might solve your prompt. You might be looking for similar items across the room, words written on objects in the room, etc. As you go, you will end up with sets of numbers or letters that might unlock something in the room, a door, a safe, a window, etc. Anything that might need a combination. As you go, you often don't know which numbers will be the right ones, or what they might unlock. As you move through the room even more details and areas become obvious. You get more and more clues as you go, and eventually you (hopefully) break out of the room.

At Breakout KC you get 3 clues as well. So if you are feeling stumped, maybe trying the numbers or moving objects about but nothing is happening you can ask for a clue. Then someone behind the scenes will give you a clue via the TV screen. That usually helps groups get un-stuck. Kels said that she thinks using the clues at the right time is really important. For example, don't use them too soon, or you'll be out of luck later.

We were in a room with Kels and Jacob, and four other people, none of which had done an escape room before either. We ended up escaping, and making it out in the quickest time for the week! Not too shabby for beginners.

Overall it was really fun, definitely a creative date night or group activity. It wasn't too pricey for a full blown activity either. It was only $28 per person. That's pretty good for a unique hour of entertainment if you ask me! :)

As if this wasn't already fun enough and a great value, Breakout KC has offered a coupon code to my readers!

When you book online, use coupon code: KCCONVENTIONS to get 10% off your total!

This is not a sponsored post, all opinions are my own, but thank you to Breakout KC for providing a coupon code to you guys!

What do you think? Have you ever been to an escape room? Do they have them where you live?

Would you be interested in trying one?

XO,

Alexandra

Vance Joy @ Afentra's Prom // May 2015

Well, with life slowing down on the career / crazy entrepreneur endeavors front... the first weekend off would be packed full of social plans. It was great, and a little tiring... but so worth it.

On Friday KC and I met a bunch of our friends in Kansas City for Afentra's Prom. 

Prom is a concert thrown by our alternative station every year, because one of the main DJs was not able to attend her high school prom. So every year, she throws her own prom. It's a free show, but you have to make it in the door before it's full, and you have to dress up.

This year Vance Joy was headlining.. and I have been swooning over his dreamy lyrics since July! (am I alone you guys?) And was a bit distressed after I found out he would be world touring with T-Swift for the rest of forever. I love T-Swift as much as the next person, but it will make his shows more difficult to see live for this album. Leave it to the Buzz, to book him right before he is unattainable for years! ;) As soon as it was announced, I knew we had to go!

Turns out several of our friends were also getting really into his music, and/or had recently bought great dresses ... and had no where to wear them.. :)

It was an extremely busy week still, so I grabbed my red dress I wore as Cruella DeVil (thrifted, $6) and my new Target necklace ($20) and dashed out of the house. We got dressed up, drove out to KC, managed to eat in line without spilling on ourselves, and made it inside despite the amazingly long line!

We found a decent spot in the middle and stood through the opening bands (Hembrey, Joywave, The Kooks). I don't have too much to say about them, other than they had good energy. I don't particularly like Joywave, I'm not familiar enough with Hembrey (but they did a great cover!), and The Kooks are a little hit or miss for me. They didn't earn points with me for going way past their time slot.... Then we had to sit. 5 hours of standing on concrete is rough on the feet! (no I didn't wear heels this time!)

We found some seats in the balcony, and waited for Vance Joy to go on. He was great. His songs sounded just the same as they do on the album, and he picked a few of them up in speed as well, which I think engaged the audience a little more, I wouldn't be surprised if many were unfamiliar with some of his album. He also played Emmylou, which is on his EP... which was just recently released on US iTunes. I love it, so that was a great surprise. Thank you 96.5 the Buzz for bringing him to KC.

I got a T-shirt that says Georgia on it, and threw it on over my dress. We walked back to the car, and I was so tired on the way home. It was a long night, but very worth it.

It had all the artists talking about their real proms. Most of them weren't great, and most of my friends didn't have the best proms either.... I went to four, and most of them were pretty fun! :)

So... here's what I'm wondering... how was your prom? 

XO,

Alexandra

Wish I Was Here // At the Movies // DVD Release

Seattle pictures... are being edited... but holy cow do I over photograph... so here's something else I've been thinking about. :)

Over the summer KC and I saw a LOT of movies.... at a LOT of different theaters in Kansas City. One of my favorite movies we saw was Zach Braff's 'Wish I Was Here.'

I have been a Zach Braff fan since Garden State, so I knew that I would want to see this movie too.

The movie is about a man who's life is more-or-less falling apart. His marriage is lack luster, his career is stagnant, his brother is a bum, and his father's cancer has returned (which consequently leaves his kids unable to continue attendance at their private school). -Sounds like a bummer right?

Luckily this plot also contains a lot of humor and triumph. As the story develops the theme quickly turns to hope. The main character does his best to take care of his family and repair his crumbling life. In turn he helps himself in the process. They realize and achieve dreams that they didn't know they had.

More than anything I like that this movie makes you think about how you live your life. It had KC and I talking the whole way home about how we spend our days, and how we shouldn't waste it. It isn't every day that you think about your 'dreams'. -We should do this more often!

If you are looking for an offbeat and thought provoking movie this is for you. (though this movie is pretty mature, not for younger viewers!)

'Wish I Was Here' is now on DVD, Netflix, and iTunes in the US.

Have you seen this movie? Did it get you thinking about how you want to be living your life?

I should mention that before the movie we had dinner at Blanc Burger (delicious!).

And after we had ice cream and glace!

Thank you for reading!

Alexandra