Jovers

It’s sad to think that Andrew and I will be leaving Kansas City in just a few short months. It will be bittersweet to graduate and move home; we’ve made a lot of friends here and have grown to love this city. So, we want to do as much as we can in the last couple of months before we move back to St. Louis.

One of the placed I have always wanted to visit is the downtown central branch of the Kansas City Library. Andrew suggested going between classes yesterday; it was a bit gray out but it wasn’t supposed to rain and it wasn’t too cold, so we decided to go. While visiting a library sounds boring, the downtown library is very unique. The south side of the parking garage features the spines of classic novels that are as tall as the garage itself, so it looks like a gigantic bookshelf!

Right Book Shelf — The east side of the bookshelf.

Left Book Shelf — The west side of the bookshelf.

It was hard to take a good picture of all of the books in one shot because the streets are so narrow, so crossing the street didn’t help much.

Me standing next to Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury.

The inside of the library is just as amazing. From 1906 to 1999, the building was actually a bank. They remodeled it and turned it into the library. It has such a classy feel inside with marble floors and beautiful architecture. Their children section is so cute, too, with large pages of famous quotes from various books framing the entrance.

Children's Area

We wandered around for a while, just exploring. I couldn’t get over how huge the library was. They have just rows and rows of books, as well as conference rooms and tons of computers. If I lived a bit closer, I could find myself spending a lot of time here. They have a grand reading room, with tons of tables and lamps in a large room, where you can study or look through books. It reminded me of something from a movie! I didn’t take a picture though because there was a sign that asked to turn your phones off and put them away. I had to tell Andrew not to talk through that room because he cannot whisper to save his life.

Downstairs in the basement, the library is currently turning one of the old bank safes into a movie theater. It was open, and looked finished to me, but apparently they aren’t having any showings yet.

Bank Vault turned Movie Theater

It was a great afternoon “mini-date,” and I can’t believe it’s somewhere I’ve not been before. I’ve lived in Kansas City for three and a half years and I’m just now going to this awesome place with books!

Later, we had friends over for dinner. We ordered pizza from a local pizza place called Minsky’s that we hadn’t tried before. I’ve been compiling a list of restaurants as well to try before we leave, and this was on the list. Numerous friends have recommended it — including the ones we had over! — so we gave it a go.

By the time I remembered to take a picture of the pizza, we ate it all. :P — By the time I remembered to take a picture of the pizza, we ate it all.

By the time I remembered to take a picture of the pizza, we ate it all.

The price wasn’t too expensive; we paid about $40 for two large pizzas and an order of bread sticks. We normally just order from Domino’s or Papa Johns because it’s cheap, but it was very good. Andrew and I couldn’t say we liked it more or less than other pizza places, so we probably wouldn’t order their regularly. However, they have a huge menu, so I would like to try some other things besides their pizza in the future!

Last weekend I had three days off in a row because of the Presidents’ day holiday. I actually didn’t realize until Friday at work that I had Monday off. I didn’t even know businesses closed on Presidents’ day! It was a pleasant surprise, and I was mentally thinking about all the things I was going to get done and all of the reading I would be able to do with my time off.

Come Monday, I couldn’t believe that two whole days had already passed and I hadn’t crossed anything off of my mental checklist. I didn’t clean or do any homework, and I didn’t even read! I honestly could not tell you what I even did with my time. So Monday morning, I took out a pen and a pad of paper and wrote down not everything that I wanted to get done, but everything that I needed to get done. When I finished, I had a list of at least fifteen things that I needed to do in about six hours.

To Do — Not my list from Monday because I trashed it, but you get the idea.

Not my list from Monday because I trashed it, but you get the idea.

So I got to work. I started with a couple of easy things, like responding to some overdue emails and submitting some assignments for my online class that I had finished two weeks ago and just never bothered to submit yet. I crossed two things off the list. Then I cleaned the whole apartment since we were having company over the next day. Crossed that off the list. I dug through our pile of important documents and sent some of our tax information to my dad. Crossed that off the list. I was so motivated to cross everything that I could off of my list before my class that evening, that there were only two things that I didn’t have the time to do. But I was so proud of myself that I spent my whole Monday being productive instead of wasting it away like I had the previous two days.

And then I wondered why I don’t create to-do lists more often. It’s actually one of the first things I do when I get to work. I keep a list of all my ongoing projects and break it down into what I need to get done for that day. It keeps me on track and keeps things from slipping my mind and it helps to see the due dates written down all in one spot. Since it’s so helpful at work, I realized how productive I could be if I started doing it at home. And then I thought I could by a cute notebook and designate it as my “To-Do Book” and jot things down in it that I wanted to get done.

So I went to the store while out grocery shopping and picked up a cute little notebook that I would use solely for my to do lists. I found journals a bit too big to carry around with me, so I opted for something simpler and smaller. I thought that if I do this daily, then I could use my time more effectively and get more things done. So I went home and wrote out a list of things that I wanted to do in my notebook. By the end of the day, I had crossed everything off! I started this on Tuesday, and by Saturday, I’ve found that I’ve been so much more productive with my time! Plus, I just like crossing things off.

I’ve tried something similar before with planners and digital apps, such as Wunderlist, but they never really helped. The tasks would sit there and I’d eventually just forget about the list until I checked back a week later and realized I never updated it. I only ever used planners for school, and while they helped me remember that I had assignments due, they never motivated me to actually do them. Yet, physically writing down my tasks and being able to cross them out with a heavy black marker gets me moving.

It’s really satisfying to look back at the end of the day and see everything that I’ve accomplished. It helps me face the next day, too, knowing that I have that much less to do. It’s certainly not the fanciest process, but it works for me!

(New) Kansas City Adventures

My To-Do List Notebook