Summer Bucket List Review // 2013

We're back to school (preschool :) )... so it seems like time to review the summer bucket list..

Here's what I did this summer!

1) watch Funny Face  (so good!)

2) open a safety deposit box

3) take a road trip, short or long (Omaha / Ozarks)

4) make a s'mores recipe from my s'mores pinterest board

We made these s'more cookies. YUM! - a lot like a regular chocolate chip cookie, but with a scone-y texture! Try them! Image credit to Crazy for Crust blog.

5) order a rivet and sway try on kit

I ordered two try on kits, please vote! I have one more coming soon! :) Try on 1. Try on 2.

6) read 5 books, 2 must be classics 
- I read 5 books, but only 1 classic.

7) see the Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera exhibit at the Nelson (I won tickets!)

8) buy new potted herbs and plant them
I bought lavender seeds, and then non-herb plants (viola seeds and a tomato seed plant)

9) play in the rain

10) try a new margarita recipe

11) start my travel scrapbook

12) go to a flea market ( a big one! )

13) Host 3 gatherings
-game night, dinner with each set of parents, several double dates out. :) 

14) have a sleepover with my sisters

15) make a recipe from Rustic Fruit Desserts

16) sketch
-ideas for our new place

17) find an apartment

18) finish reading Curly Girl

19) make plans for global movie nights

20) make inspirational wall art

21) experience somewhere completely new

22) try a new lemonade recipe

23) have a picnic

24) sew something

-Lots and lots of felt flowers :) 

25) see 5 new places in Kansas (glace, back road to new apt.,)

26) watch BBC's Persuasion

27) see Celtic Woman

In Omaha!

28) publish 15 blog posts (on this blog) (15)

29) make fresh angel food or pound cake to eat with strawberries and homemade whipped topping.

30) do something I wouldn't normally do

Went to a Royal's game. And it was actually fun! The experience was nice... not so much the baseball.. :) 

31) participate in the Lawrence Public Library's summer reading program

32) see a fireworks show
-at the Royal's game

33) go swimming
In the Ozarks!

34) see the ocean

35) make kebabs! (or just eat them..)
-do fruit kebabs count?? :) 

36) go to Schlitterbahn

37) go to birdies

38) try gelato

39) send mail 

40) meet 3 new people and get to know them!
-The couple we ate with on the cruise and three of Kyle's friends :) 

How did your summer bucket list go? Leave a comment with a link and I'll check out your list! :) 

Looking forward to fall, and making a list of things to do! :)

All for now,

Alexandra

Snapshots of Boston // Cruise // July 2013

Because our cruise departed from Boston, we had time before and after the cruise to explore the city.. or so we thought.

Before we left our house for the airport we got a call that our first flight (from Kansas City to Detroit) was delayed. We left early so we would have a better chance of making a change and catching our connecting flight (to Boston). 

On the drive in, we got another call that it was delayed an additional period of time. It was chaos for a while... we had to cancel things and change things and it was pretty terrible... in the end our flight was delayed 4(!) hours. 

We finally got to Detroit at about 11pm E, with a voucher for a free hotel (thank you, Delta). We took the shuttle to the hotel and finally got up to the counter, only to find out that they were full, and our voucher wasn't worth anything to them. The very nicely helped us contact Delta and got a new place for us to go. Their shuttle got us there and we checked in.. (without a new voucher..) and finally got to sleep at about 1 AM E. 

Luckily our flight to Boston was swapped for one the next morning and there were no delays on this leg of the trip!

So, we really ended up just having free time at the end of our trip.. but that's ok... because it was AMAZING!

We got off the boat and checked into our hotel, the Harborside Inn, which happened to have a pretty cool mermaid painting behind the reception desk... :) We took a nap and then walked over the the New England Aquarium where we saw that they had WHALE WATCHING(!) tours that were associated with the aquarium! 

We decided to go for it and booked a tour for the next day early in the morning, so we could still make our late afternoon flight. The aquarium + whale watching tickets were just $45 each! :) It was such a great deal! (the cruise excursions for whale watching were at least $100 per person!)

We spent the afternoon at the aquarium and saw the right whale skeleton, so huge! and not even a fully grown whale! The size is baffling, the fact that they have a juvenile whale skeleton.. is pretty sad. But, at least it is helping people learn.

We watched the penguins, which was so fun! They couldn't get one to eat, finally we had to walk away because he was kind of sad.

Then we saw the various tanks including one with these two silly yellow fish that kept spitting out dirt toward the people watching. They were very expressive, and it was hilarious. They were probably angry, though no one was tapping on the glass.

The seals were very fun, one in particular was playing with a torpedo pool toy and it was so entertaining to watch! He played for about 5 minutes! There were also other seals in front of the aquarium outside, which swam a lot and were very fun! It was too hard to take a picture because of the glare. I love the seals they are so chubby and have funny little feet. :) 

After the aquarium we sat on the steps by the harbor and watched the boats and had some ice cream. It was so nice by the water, breezy and cool. :)

After that we relaxed a bit before a late dinner at a brewery called the Granary Tavern, one block over from our hotel. It was so nice outside, so we sat on the patio and ordered delicious flat breads (mine: Margherita, his: Hawaiian). 

We also had dessert, Kyle got chocolate torte and I got apple crisp. My crisp seemed like it had been sitting a while before baking, all of the cinnamon was in the bottom... but it was still good. Kyle's was yummy! Location was the most important part! (we were tired!)

The next day we got up and walked to the Starbucks before getting ready to whale watch. It was SO exciting!

We got on the boat and got a spot on the front, I had a jacket and a hat and lots of sunscreen so I wouldn't burn. 

The water was great and the the catamaran was so fast (look at Kyle's hair!)! We sailed for about an hour and a half before we got to Stellwagen Marine Sanctuary, where the whales come to feed in the summer. They spend the winter in the Caribbean with their calves and then come up to Boston in the summer to gorge themselves on lots of fish! 

We got to see the three main whales that live in that area!!! 

First we saw a Humpback named Nile, she was beautiful! Humpback tails are like human finger prints, and our marine biologist was able to identify her! So cool!

Sadly, the boat favored the right side and I was in the middle so I didn't get a ton of great shots, but seeing them was my goal.. and I did and I was AMAZED!

Then we saw a Finback Whale, which is the second largest animal living on earth! 

It was GIGANTIC! 

It was longer than our boat, which was so incredible to see. I got much closer looks and better pictures at/of that one. 

Then we saw a Minke Whale which is the smallest one in that area, about the size of a dolphin. Kyle laughs when I say "the little whale" because it is still 20 feet long. :)

When we were on the cruise, we saw maybe 20 whales in the distance, it was my first sighting and so breathtaking. I asked the marine biologist on the whale watching ship about them based on what we saw etc. and she said that they were probably Humbacks, which is so cool, because they are my favorites! Seeing them was so out of the blue, one of those perfect moments!

When we were done I realized that I was TOTALLY sunburnt.. :( So the way home was not super fun.. but it was very very worth it! I would definitely recommend this trip and hope to go whale watching many more times in many more locations in the future!

As you've seen from my Saint John, NB post, my Halifax, NS post and this post... this was pretty much a trip of a lifetime for me! And I had no idea in advance, so it was so exciting to happen upon so many whales, mermaids, good food and beautiful sights! Click the links to the other posts to explore the Canadian ports!

Up next: some of the Cruise pictures.. since none of these photos were actually from the ship :)

Have you ever been whale watching? If so, please share the details!

All for now,

Alexandra

Snapshots of Halifax, Nova Scotia & Peggy's Cove // Cruise // July 2013

The second port on our cruise was Halifax, Nova Scotia.

We decided to spend the morning exploring the city by foot, including the public gardens and booked a tour for the afternoon.

We started off walking through the city on our way to the Public Gardens. We passed the oldest government official live-in residence, where the queen stays when she visits Nova Scotia.

We also passed what I think was an old Loyalist burial ground that had an incredible lion sculpture on top of an arch and some beautiful old grave stones. 

That's not normally my thing, but just seeing something that old was really interesting. 

Right across the street was a beautiful old cathedral.

Next we passed through a shopping district on the way to the Public Gardens. The gardens are called the "City's Crown Jewel", and are one of the oldest remaining Victorian gardens in Canada. Since we have not spent time in botanical gardens or landscaped gardens on our other trips, and since it was free we figured it would be a good addition to this trip. 

The "Crown Jewel" was enclosed by gorgeous wrought iron gates that opened up into wide paths that wound through the gardens.

There were flowering trees, rose covered trellises, bridges over small rivers and ponds filled with water fowl. 

There were lovely classical sculptures and fountains throughout and a very intricate gazebo. 

For someone botanically-inclined this would be a dream. We appreciated the history and the beautiful displays, but honestly know nothing of gardening or plants. 

It did end up being a very nice way to spend the morning.

After we left the gardens we stopped at a store called Jennifer's of Nova Scotia, where they sold local hand crafts. It was a wonderful place to pick up souvenirs that we were lacking as well as a few more treasures for ourselves. Kyle got a tartan tie (Nova Scotia means "New Scotland" after all) and I found some cookbooks and a pewter mermaid spreading knife. I was enamored with the pottery, but couldn't choose what I liked most. It's the kind of pottery that is so earthy and organic that it looks like it came out of the clay fully formed. I would have loved to pick up every piece and replace our (sadly) terribly quality dishes from our registry.

After we were done there we walked across a different part of the city on the way back to the pier. We saw a cute lighthouse and Canadian tall ships sailing. We stopped at Pier 21 where they have an immigration museum. We did not have time for the museum itself but had heard great things about it's gift shop. We collected a few more treasures and then sat down to lunch before our tour began.

We got on our tour bus and took off for the town of Peggy's Cove, about an hour and a half away. The town is home to less than 20 people year-round and is home to one of the most photographed lighthouses in Canada. 

We learned a little on our tour, but our tour guide was very loud, and we were right below a speaker, so that was too bad. The view was lovely, on one side of the bus was the coast and on the other were mirror-like fresh water lakes. It was gorgeous. 

We finally arrived and I felt a little sick from the ride, and I'm guessing a change in altitude. I quickly perked up though and we explored the area for a little less than an hour. 

We saw the lighthouse and carefully climbed around on the rocks. Apparently it used to be a glacier! 

The view was beautiful and it was so fun to see a rocky coastline!

We got back on the bus and headed back to the city. On the way we learned more about the area and then about the Titanic, because we were on the way to the Fairview Lawn Cemetery, where many Titanic victims were buried.

When the Titanic sank in 1912 it was 200 miles off the coast of New Founland and 700 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia. Because Nova Scotia had easier access to the US and the Canadian mainland, they got the task of coming to the rescue. There were over 2,200 people on board the ship and just over 700 survived in life boats. On the four ships sent out to the victims they recovered 328 bodies (some of which were buried at sea), and brought 209 bodies back to Halifax. The victims who were believed to be Protestant were buried in the Fairview Lawn Cemetery. The tour guide described several stories in detail, including the story of the unknown child. 

The unknown child was a two-year-old boy found floating in the water without a life jacket. He was dead and alone, and unidentifiable. The crew was so saddened in finding him that they decided to pay for his gravestone if he was not claimed. Sure enough, he was not claimed (because his entire 3rd class family had perished in the sinking) so they paid for his gravestone, making it more personalized than what the cruise line would pay for. At the time they had not identified who he was, but later through DNA testing they determined his identity Sidney Leslie Goodwin. And added that to his gravestone. Visitors leave toys and coins on his grave, which are periodically donated to children's charities. 

One other story was that of a first-class couple and their maid. The husband wanted his wife to board a lifeboat, but she refused over and over. He was not pleased with her so she began to quote Ruth 1: 16-17 (our wedding scripture) and said that she would stay with him. She gave her fur coat to her maid, who boarded the lifeboat and survived to tell their story. At this point I was crying like a baby, I mean... I had some serious tears going. Kyle turns around all of a sudden and looks really alarmed, "What's wrong?!" "Why are you crying?" "What's the matter?" (because, he's not been listening to this tragic story)... to which I replied very composed, *sniffle* "Ivvts nuvthing," *sob, sob, sob" *sniffle* "Iv'll be fihne" *sniffle* *sob, sob* This went on for a while until I finally calmed down.

After the tour we returned to the pier where we walked through the booths of vendors, not finding much, and then re-boarded the ship. My mermaid knife set off the metal detector.. oops, but I got to keep it after it was inspected. 

Overall I liked Halifax less than Saint John, it had more of a commercial city vibe, but it was still beautiful. I am sure that there is more to see and do as well. I am glad that we got to see so much and learn so much about the history of the area and the Titanic.

Have you ever been to Halifax?

Coming up next: Boston featuring something BIG and SPLASHY, and AMAZING!! :)

All for now,

Alexandra

Snapshots of Boston & The Maritime Provinces // Cruise // July 2013

When we started planning our summer trip, we tried to think of something that would be completely different from the trips we've taken recently (The Southwest, Texas, The Midwest). We decided that after a lot of long driving trips it would be nice to do something that required less planning. We also wanted to try to go somewhere where it wasn't so hot, because in Kansas the temperature usually hangs between 90 and 100 degrees all summer long... 

We decided that a cruise was the most cost effective way to get somewhere with cooler temperatures (i.e. far-ish away) so we made it happen! 

We decided on the Canadian Maritime cruise vs. the Alaskan one because Alaska is at the top of both of our lists and there was WAY too much pressure! Having been to Canada several times before, we figured visiting more provinces would be fun.

We flew out of KC to Detroit and then from Detroit to Boston where we got on our ship, and headed to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Canada. At the end of the trip we spent a bit more time in Boston.

Here are some snapshots of our trip! 

(detailed posts linked into location titles!)

Saint John, New Brunswick

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Boston, Massachusetts 

We saw so many beautiful things; historical places, nature filled areas and did some really fun shopping. We took in the culture of the Atlantic Coast, enjoyed the food... the art and architecture. Oh, Canada! You're such a wonderful place!

Detailed posts coming soon! -linked in above!

Have you ever been to Canada? Or the Maritimes? 

What is your favorite place in Canada?

All for now,

Alexandra

23: Birthday Festivities!

Another year has passed. I can't believe how quickly it went! But I have to say that my 22nd year was a very good one. If the beginning of 23 is any indication, it will be an even better year! 

Here's what we did!

The night before my birthday Kyle took me out to get Panda Express and see a movie at the Legends in KC. We saw The Heat and it was pretty funny. Much less raunchy and profane than the last few movies we thought would be funny. Still had a TON of profanity, but at least there was more of my kind of humor to balance it out. Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock are great together! :)

Kyle made me this whale card, because I love whales more than pretty much everything in the world. How cute is it?!?!

Then I gave myself a birthday mani. I wanted dark shimmery polish so I used a burgundy and a golden/silvery polish as well (all random, sorry you won't be able to find it in the stores!) I used Lauren Conrad's book Beauty, to learn the half moon technique. I think it turned out ok. I would like to try with some lighter colors sometime soon as well!

On my birthday Kyle and I both took off work and started the day with breakfast at Milton's which is now open again! :) I missed their veggie hash so much! A perfect way to start the day!

After that Kyle and I played games and spent time together before he sent me off with Juliet. We went to Kansas City and stopped in to Birdies for a little shopping! I love these boxes!

When we'd finished shopping we headed to Glace, Christopher Elbow's ice cream shop! The ladies in Birdies said that we could use some celebration ice cream. I had been wanting to go to his ice cream shop for a while, but never really knew where it was, so this was perfect!

I sampled several flavors, but I ended up getting cherry almond and Broadway Roasting Co. Coffee. I will note that the Blackberry Chocolate Flake was also amazing! It was really hard to decide! Both flavors that I got were so tasty! It put our favorite local ice cream shop to shame. Run don't walk to Glace. You will be in heaven! 

That night Kyle surprised me by inviting over a bunch of people for a game night. He made s'mores pie and a seven layer dip and I got to see so many faces that I didn't expect to! I don't have any pictures, but it's worth mentioning! Thank you to everyone who made my birthday special! And thank you to Kyle, who planned it all and kept it a secret! You are the best husband ever!

On the 4th we went to my family's house for our annual b-day/independence day celebration! My mom, sisters and Kalor surprised me with a sign that they hung on the wall saying "Happy Birthday Alex!" It was so fun! 

We also had a yummy cookout dinner. Olivia helped Kyle and I make fruit kebabs which was fun. After that my extended family joined us for dinner and fireworks. We had some pretty good ones this year, but a few tipped over for the first time ever! Scary! We had cake and everyone surprised me by popping those streamer poppers when I blew out the candles!

I got a lot of fun little presents from friends and family. I'm excited to move them into our new apartment, NEXT WEEK!

The next day Kyle and I hit the mall for a little bit. I found some cute t-shirts at Aerie and a fun infinity scarf. 

How did you spend the 4th?

All for now,

Alexandra