Memorial Day.

Tonight my family went to this thing called Celebration at the Station at Union Station. The Kansas City Symphony performed and there were fireworks. My brother Joel covered Union Station and the entire evening on his blog and was way more informative and well-versed than I could ever be, so you should read about it here. As for me, what I loved about the evening:

1. The symphony. Holy cow... I've been wanting to go to the symphony for a while now and this was awesome. I still say that the moment the new Kaufmann Center for the Performing Arts open, I will be there enjoying the amazing music of the Kansas City Symphony.

2. The patriotic-ness (uh... I feel like there has to be a better word for this but I can't think of it.) I'm not always big on all the red, white, and blue, salute your flag, scream the Star Spangled Banner at the top of your lungs thing. But tonight, I was reminded of how cool it can be when everyone comes together... especially to celebrate all of the men and women who have served and are serving our country.

3. The fireworks. Fireworks are always fun... Especially when they are displayed right above a one of a kind World War I Memorial.

4. The company. I went with my parents, brother Joel, and aunt and uncle. Always a great time and lots of laughs with them. Plus we played games while waiting for the show to start, and I won, which is great! (Plus there were 50,000 other of my closest KC friends there.)

5. The weather. The whole evening everyone was convinced it was going to start pouring rain... but it didn't. It ended up being perfect!

Here are some pictures of my splendid night. Happy Memorial Day!

Magazines.

I love reading magazines. Something about them is so frivolous and fun (that's probably because I don't read anything deep like Time, or the New Yorker, or anything like that.) I love looking at the pictures and reading about how lavender is the fingernail polish color of the season, and taking quizzes on what color fits my decorating mood and shamefully enjoying snippets about what Justin Timberlake's drink of choice is. All totally unnecessary information... but sometimes it's just fun to read.

My friend Mary and I play this game when we're together and I happen to be reading a magazine (which happens more than you'd think.) I take a page of outfits, we both look at it and in our heads decide which is our favorite and which we think the other's favorite is and then compare out loud to see if we know each other's style. Such a silly game but it's one of my favorite things to do involving magazines.

(My favorite on this page! Go

figure... it's kind of mustard. )

Another thing I love about magazines is that there are times when their presence seems so natural. At a nail salon (it's a given that while you're getting a pedi, you're reading the most recent issue of some fashion magazine, actually it's probably more common that it's NOT the most recent issue). On a plane (and I'm not talking about Sky Mall, purchased at the airport then read on the plane.) And for me it's when I make a small purchase at a grocery store and feel like I can afford the spending little extra money for a magazine. I love those days.

Anyway, getting a new magazine, whether in the mail (which I didn't even mention, but I also love; what a great day when you open the mailbox and see the most recent issue of Real Simple!) or in the check out line at a grocery store... is one of those little things that I really love.

Rose Garden.

I know it probably seems like I mention Loose Park about every other day. I went back today though... with my mom, and saw a part of it I haven't seen yet: the Rose Garden! It was great...

Here are some pictures from my mom and I's adventure. We decided it probably wasn't prime rose time but that they were still beautiful... and for sure worth a little highlighting on the ol' blog here.

(Mom's favorite)

(My favorite, named "Julia Child",

maybe because they're the color of butter?)

Reality.

A couple of summers ago I interned for a youth group and became really close with a couple of the kids that were in the youth group. We haven't really hung out consistently over the past couple of years because we've all been at different colleges in different towns but we try to hang out when we can. Tonight we got together and our conversation was a bit unique to most conversations people have...

Although we hadn't seen each other in a while, we started our conversation with the intention of being real with each other. When I asked my friends Becca and Nathan how they were doing, I said something like, "How have you been? I mean how have you really been?" So often someone asks, "How are you?" you say, "I'm good," and move on whether you are really doing good or not. Tonight our entire evening was based on real conversations, hard stuff, great stuff, and everything in between. It was just refreshing to me.

I guess I just love when people are real. In a day, I'd rather have one real conversation with someone who told me what was truly going on in his or her life and heart than ten conversations where someone answers "good" when asked how they're doing then we move on to further meaningless discussion. I love real friends, real community, and tonight was a demonstration of that... I loved it. (Plus we were at Loose Park at sunset... you can't really beat that.)

The Oven Light.

I've got to say, one of my favorite inventions (after, you know, electricity, the internet, the cell phone, the iPod.... and a few other things) is the oven light! I can't bake without it. Sometimes I'll wait a few minutes to turn it on and get all anxious until I can't bare it any longer and have to turn it on to see how my precious baked goods are doing. The days where the light comes on and they look like crap: cookies are flatter than they should be, cupcakes are overflowing, etc.... I resent the oven light. But days like today, where my cupcakes are rounding out perfectly (no thanks to me, don't tell anyone, but I used a cake mix), I turn it on, and a big smile comes to my face. It brings me peace (in my shallow, the only thing that matters is baking, world that I allow myself to live in for a couple hours every couple days.) Today, I love the oven light.

(Here's the finished product, in case you were curious. I had some leftover frosting from the graduation cakes, hence the teal.)

I'll always and forever be LOST.

LOST remains Number 1 as my favorite TV show. The finale tonight didn't disappoint (I'm ashamed that I ever doubted it...). I cried almost nonstop but overall I'm content with how it ended. I'm pretty sure I haven't wrapped my head around it all yet, but that's the beauty of LOST. It's a gift that keeps on giving...

Fountains!

I love fountains. It comes with the territory, I guess. Recently I read an article in the New York Times travel section about Kansas City and it said that we have more fountains than any city in the world (ok, so we're second to Rome, but still...) I guess I like them so much because they combine water, light, and creativity. And they are a symbol of my favorite city... so why wouldn't I love them.

One of my favorite fountains in Kansas City is the fountain outside of Crown Center. When I was little, my mom would always take my brothers there to meet my dad, who worked for Hallmark at the time, for lunch we always ran through the fountain afterward. Wonderful memories... I went with my friend Jessie last night to the fountain to take some pictures of it. We had a great time! Here are a few...