Thursday, January 5, 2017

UMKC Basketball

Tonight was my first night of exploring more of Kansas City. A friend is a New Mexico State graduate and the UMKC men's basketball team was playing them tonight at Municipal Auditorium. I've never been to a UMKC game before, so it was a great chance to check them out. Tickets were only $10 for general admission and sadly, the place wasn't super full. They did do a good job of trying to make the atmosphere exciting, even with the meager crowd. I'll give KC that it is a bitter cold night and kind of snowy, but I sure hope more people go to games regularly. I really enjoyed the intro video the school showed. It featured all kinds of KC landmarks. The game was pretty sloppy, but pretty fast paced. Unfortunately for me, UMKC lost, but at least my friend left happy! A night cap of lobster rolls at Bristol rounded out the night.

Also tonight I added two more KC adventures to my list: the College Basketball Experience & going to a show at the Folly Theater. Now off to determine what next week's adventure will be! Also, a note of reminder to myself that I should take pictures of future adventures.

Monday, January 2, 2017

2017

I think I do this every year. I go through the year thinking about how much I should blog, then I do a few posts and quit. I can't promise this year will be any different, but I'm thinking it might be. Part of it is I like knowing what I did each day.

Today I pretty much finished my 2016 travels book. 2016 was all about domestic travel. I visited my brother on both coasts, saw SportingKC play in three different cities away from KC, went to a wedding of a friend I haven't seen in forever, visited another friend at school and went to wine country again. Somehow in 2016 I broke my own rule of not using all my vacation days. I ended up with extras at the end. I resolve not to do that in 2017.

My word in 2017 is going to be EXPLORE.

I get out and about pretty often and have eaten at most of the new restaurants around town, but there are more things I want to do. I'm making 2017's resolution to be a tourist in Kansas City. The list needs to be drawn of the places to go, things to see, but I'm resolving to do one thing new each week. That may be aggressive, we'll see, but I'm up for the challenge.

Somehow in 2016 I got complacent with myself when it comes to working out. It's hard to think I did that since this year I ran more long races than I've run ever. I did multiple 10Ks, Brew to Brew, a few 5Ks and was going along pretty well until half way through the year. Then I mailed it in. I'm paying for it now. I resolve in 2017 to eat better and get back to feeling strong and happy with my own body. I resolve to feel comfortable in my skin and sleep better.

Part of the feeling better is drinking less and eating at home more. I need to harness my creativity in the kitchen more, make an effort to make myself meals and have leftovers to have at home instead of default going out all the time. It will save me money, but it will also just help me feel better and eat better. Part of that is just planning what to eat and when to make it. I'll have to focus on it and make sure I'm paying attention to it.

Somewhere I lost my creativity in 2016. I constantly felt like I had writer's block and couldn't put together sentences. My brain was distracted and full. I resolve to work harder at releasing it in 2017. That can be through my goal of reading 22 books, writing blog posts more often, practicing the piano, or just taking more pictures and seeing the beauty each day. There are walls to fill and photo books still to build.

I'm encouraged by all these things because they aren't drastic changes in my life. In fact, at one point I already did all these things, I just need to get back to it. 2017 better be the year, but it better continue on well into the future.