Kansas City Girls' Weekend, Part 2

(*Photo by Allison Marshall.)
As promised, here is part 2 of our girls' weekend in Kansas City, MO.  If you need to catch up, you can see my first round of dining and attractions right here.  Okay.  Here we go!

After we left the craft fair, I took my ladies to 39th street to do a little shopping and eating.  Our first stop was Donna's Dress Shop.  Jess has never been there before and I knew she'd ADORE it.  I was so right.  She was basically in heaven.  Donna's is where I found that magical mint dress, btw.



We got some very pretty things at Donna's and by that time, we were all ready to sit down, cool off, and eat!  I was excited to take the girls to Blue Koi while we were close by.  That place is my FAVORITE and I knew they would have great vegetarian options for Jess and Amber.  I basically don't visit KC without eating at Blue Koi at least once.


My favorite things here are vegetarian dumplings and tofu lettuce wraps.  So, so good!

Once our bellies were full, we headed down the street to Mud Pie Vegan Bakery for treats and coffee, and then popped in Retro Vixen for just a little more shopping.


Isn't that place darling?  Jess found the cutest retro bathing suit and Amber found a dress that looked like it was made for her body.

Once we were pretty much shopped out, we headed back to Hotel Sorella for some quiet time.  I LOVE shopping and I LOVE being social, but I was in desperate need of being alone and zoning out for a short while.  I'm sure many of you can relate.

Hotel Sorella is so beautiful and peaceful.  I had no problem plopping myself into my big comfy bed to rest.  Thankfully, my friends were ready for a bit of down time, too.

  Once I regrouped, we got dressed and headed to a pizza place called Coal Vines for dinner. I mean, you can't really try a bunch of new restaurants and not throw at least one pizza place in there, right? Well, I can't anyway.


Coal Vines was delicious.  We got a cheese pizza with basil and ate the whole thing.
After dinner, we hit up a cute whiskey bar for cocktails called Julep Cocktail Club.  It was a nice way to end a busy and exciting day.

Jess and I went to Hotel Sorella's breakfast cafe for coffee and chatting the next morning, while the other girls got ready and packed up.  We decided to try Bluestem for brunch and then wrap up the rest of our trip with some antique shopping!

 
(I'm not the best food photographer, so this is where you get to use your imagination and picture a delicious omelette full of broccoli.)


Allison met up with us for some more photos at a place she suggested called River Market Antiques.  She was SO RIGHT about how great that place is.  It's 4 floors of beautiful vintage treasures!  Jess found the sweetest dress for Fall that we basically wouldn't let her leave without.


(Almost all of the antique market photos are by Allison Marshall.  You should definitely check out her blog Wonderlass-- it's so good!!)

We had such a great girls' weekend, but it was time to wrap up and head home.  Getting back to my family felt wonderful.  I'm so thankful to have a husband who's so good about taking care of Hope and Poesy while I go and explore with my friends.  He's a keeper.

There was so much more we wanted to do in Kansas City that we didn't even get to!  I can't wait to go back soon.  Another giant THANK YOU to Visit KC for sending us on such a fun trip.  You can visit their blog to read about more awesome places in Kansas City, and see more photos of our trip!  xo.

Kansas City Girls' Weekend, Part 1

A few weekends back, I had the pleasure of taking some of my gal pals on a weekend getaway to Kansas City, MO.  We seriously had SUCH a fun time!  I don't get to travel with just the girls all that often, so my friend Jess flew in from Atlanta for this special trip.  Here's a peek at some of our favorite KC area dining and attractions:


The first thing we did when we got to town was pick up Jess from Hotel Sorella (more on that swoon-worthy place in my next post!) and hit up Little Freshie-- a gourmet soda fountain and snow cone shop.  I'm not one for overly sweet treats like traditional snow cones, but I was really excited to try this place.  Little Freshie DID NOT disappoint.  I got a serrano pepper and pineapple snowcone and it was SO GOOD.  It was the exact right amount of spicy and sweet.  Jess chose the flight of snow cones, and look at how precious they are!  Even the coffee was delicious.  I will definitely be coming back-- it's a new favorite!

Once we finished our treats, we headed back to the hotel to clean up and get ready for dinner.  My sweet pal Allison (aka: Wonderlass) was meeting up with us to work her magic behind the lens.  We decided Mexican food and tasty drinks sounded perfect that evening, so we spent our first Kansas City meal eating at Port Fonda.

*You might remember part one and two of my shoots with Allison from last year.*


It was a gorgeous night and Port Fonda was hoppin', so we started with drinks outside while we waited for a table.  I got a classic margarita and it was solid.  Jess got some sort of pineapple-coconut fizz and we were all pretty much drooling over her drink.  So good!

We finished our drinks and headed inside this packed Mexican restaurant.  Once we got our food, we totally understood why they get so crazy-busy.  The food was great.  Three of us got the fried avocado tacos, and man... was I sad when they were gone.  My favorite part of traveling is always the food.  **I should note: two of the girls I was traveling with are vegetarians, so I made sure that every place we went had plenty of options for them outside of salads.


**All Porta Fonda photos by Allison.

We had the best seat in the house, in my opinion.  Would I like to sit under the giant marquee letters while we eat our delicious tacos?  Um, yes please.

After dinner we went back to Hotel Sorella's rooftop pool area and soaked up the cool night air.  They have tables and chairs all around the pool, in addition to fire pits you can light up.  I was content enough just chatting with my girls and catching Lauren and Amber up to speed on how I met Jess-- the internet.  Yep, that's right.  I actually met Jess in real life much earlier this year after being online pals for a while, and we just completely hit it off.  I guess that's just one of the many ways the internet can be so great...

The next morning we headed out to Heirloom Bakery & Hearth for some tasty breakfast before we started day two of exploring.  I was there for one thing, and one thing only: HOMEMADE POPTARTS.


Heirloom was delicious, darling, and exactly what we needed to wait out the rain before we headed into some serious shopping.  I was super excited because we happened to be in town for the Strawberry Swing Indie Craft Fair.  If you know me, you know I am a lover of all things craft fair.  The icing on the cake was that some of our friends were selling their wares there!  (Hi, Culture Flock and Kwanalee!!)


I bought some Harry Potter prints from my pal Kwanalee for Hope's birthday.  She made that adorable photobooth backdrop (above) and who were we to let it go to waste?  ;)  I acquired some pretty special handmade things, so I'll probably need to give them their own post.  We didn't stay at Strawberry Swing for more than an hour because it was unbelievably hot, so once we wrapped it up there, I took my girls to my favorite part of Kansas City for vintage shopping and treats: 39th street.

I'll be back on Monday with part two of our super fun trip.  I want to give a giant THANK YOU to VisitKC for allowing me to take my friends on such a lovely getaway!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!