The Roads of Twenty17

Twenty17 was quite the year and it's time to share my annual review! It had some major positives and some days weren't all roses and bonbons but I believe those days happen and often at times they happen for a reason.  And as the year ended, I was able to reflect on it and appreciate it more than I imagined I would.  I learned more about myself, what I am capable of, my weaknesses, and my strengths.

This year started with my last ever "holiday break" from college.  As I started my 4th semester of Nursing school, I knew graduation was just around the corner!  No time to give up now! The last semester wasn't easy but it was worth the many hours of studying.  I was voted as Class President, would be giving a speech at graduation, and was offered a Nursing position at Shawnee Mission Health.

February meant a last-minute-leaving-at-midnight-trip to Eureka Springs with my BF.  I took my first test of the semester and after celebrating a friends birthday, we left at midnight and headed on our first adventure of the year! I loved Eureka Springs, it's definitely on the go back list!  My Dad also received the Kansas Bankers Association Award Soil Conservation for 2016, {insert}proud daughter moment.

March brought some warm spring temps and we decided we should start our camping adventures early!  We settled first at Clinton State Park and have visited there since then, spending the weekends with nature, campfires, and tent living.  Camping has made me realize how much I love the outdoors and even though I also love mascara and getting all dolled up, I can hang with the best of them. Dry-shampoo for the win!  Lesson, don't judge a book by it's cover...a long time rule.  We toured the Boulevard Brewery for the BF's birthday and if you haven't done it, add it to your list! The beer is great and so is the food! Plus, it's local!  I made an appearance on Fox 4 KC for Spring Fashion and auditioned for Fall KCFW.

April brought Spring KCFW and I was fortunate to walk Saturday night for Barbara Bultman and made the KCFW Instagram page showing off her amazing designs.  I walked for Noble Native at the First Friday's Alley Fashion Show, also showcasing Amina Marie Millinery and Coki Bijoux Designs.  Camping at Lake Perry and a last minute trip to Florida for Easter to visit my Mom and Stepdad were more highlights!  A photo shoot showing off fitness and running around Kansas City and my last clinical day ended the month off just perfectly!

May brought on Cinco de Mayo, showing off KC to friends from Tulsa, farmers market shopping, taking my Mom on her first KC Streetcar ride for Mother's Day, Nursing Night at the Royals, Memorial Day weekend at the lake, and finally....GRADUATION!  The next day, off to Palm Springs for more adventuring and exploring California!

The Summer was spent mostly at the lake, working, studying for that wretched test...we all remember that...and just enjoying time with friends and family.  I drove to Colorado to visit friends and run my third half marathon, surprised my sister with a long weekend trip to Florida, had a jeep-day with my home girl Heather...cruising open country roads and sippin' on Sonic Route 44's. The very unique Valkyrie photo-shoot with none other than Jonny Hackett and Heavy Metal Heros was super fun and a crab broil with friends which included a slip-in-slide ended the month of July.  A quick trip to St Louis for a local runway show and getting to spend time with two of my favorites designers while they introduced me to "The Hill"...one word, Italian! I made an appearance on KCTV-5 for Fall Fashion with Jana, had minor surgery, and tried to watch the Eclipse...of course Kansas was cloudy and rainy that day! I was also fortunate to be photographed wearing Lucia Sarto gowns and Marianna Haritunian Jewels for a local photo-shoot in Lawrence.

September meant Labor Day and more lake days...by now I was getting pretty used to this lake life and loving every minute of it!  I participated in the Local Runway Fashion Show held in the West Bottoms and we spent another weekend camping at Clinton Lake.  The warm fall temps just meant more of nature and outdoor adventures!  This camping trip was the time the deer almost ran into me, literally...an unforgettable moment for sure!

October...October 4th, the day I found out I passed my NCLEX! I was at my Mom's that day.  I will never forget it.  They took me out for margaritas that night to celebrate...I have never been so happy. Mainly because it meant no more studying and I could finally start being a Nurse!!   I learned how to play Bunco and even won the bank that night...I was invited back, but the "older" people said I couldn't win again!  They were probably all cussing me as I strolled out with my dough! I walked both Friday and Saturday night for KCFW, spent Halloween with my nieces and nephew, and got that 10th tattoo I had been waiting to get.

November...let's be real, birthday month!  Celebrated with a little weekend get-a-way to St. Jo and a stay at the Whiskey Mansion with my Mom and Sister...it's tradition for us to have a weekend together.  Got a private tour of the Missouri State Penitentiary and while there had an amazing photo shoot capturing the architecture of the prison.  Spent Thanksgiving Eve with the rent's since I had to work Thanksgiving...my Mom made a special dinner just for me...and consumed way too many noodles! Adventured back to Arkansas, this time staying in Hot Springs, Ouachita National Forest, and Ozark National Forest...camping in 40-degree temps and surviving, a perfect weekend away with gorgeous views.

December...spent the holidays with family and friends and that's what's important. From baking cookies with Mom to an all-you-can-eat crab brunch and bottomless mimosas with our lake friends, to watching holiday movies and drinking a lot of hot cocoa...it was the perfect way to end the year!

{gift from my dad, 2017}

Here's to New Roads in Twenty18!
Shona

Photography Inside The Walls

Sharing some of the shots captured by two amazing photographers during the tour of the Missouri State Penitentiary.  There was great architecture and amazing lighting. It was an experience I was fortunate to be a part of. See my previous blog post to read about the history of the prison and what went down there! Stepping inside the cells was not easy...the thought of slamming doors and once held prisoners here...the thought of stepping into "hell"...it plays with your mind. However, after I talked myself into it and of course had an emergency plan in my head, in case I got trapped, I stepped in.  End goal accomplished.

📸: Emily Lynn Photography-Lawrence, Kansas
📸: Leslie Spurlock Photography-McKinney, Texas
HMU: Yours Truly

⏺Women's Cell Block⏺

{Leslie Spurlock Photography}

⏺Prison Yard⏺

⏺Death Row⏺

⏺One Phone Call⏺

⏺What they referred to as "Hell"⏺

⏺Post Office and Parachutes⏺

An afternoon in prison that I won't forget! 

Shona

Shawshank Redemption Minus the "Roll On One"

Missouri State Penitentiary is the bloodiest 47 acres in America. That being said, I couldn't pass up the chance of getting a private tour of the facility when asked to participate in a photo-shoot. I have never toured any prison...and I was very much interested in the history behind "The Walls" as it was referred to.

History: Opening in 1836 and closing in 2004, it was the oldest operating prison west of the Mississippi River.  The maximum security institution initially consisted of only one guard, one warden, fifteen prisoners and a foreman of the brick making company. The prisoners were employed there and in fact, most of the buildings there were constructed by prisoners using not only brick but also stone that was found on site.  Famous inmates: Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd imprisoned in 1925 for robbery. Charles "Sonny" Liston, cell #33, imprisoned for armed robbery in 1950, learned to box while in prison and was paroled in 1953. James Earl Ray, from 1960-67, until he escaped in a bread box and one year later charged for the murder of MLK. All I could think about was that I was walking on the same concrete floors that these individuals walked on, seeing and walking in to their actual cells, it was an eerie feeling for sure. 

When we arrived there one Tuesday afternoon, we were greeted by a former warden of the prison who is now responsible for the Missouri Penn Tours.  Once we were all present, the front doors slammed.  There was no getting out, seriously. Locked in and he had the only key.  Did I mention we had to sign a waiver and release of liability? The initial entrance didn't seem too scary, after all, it's just a few buildings with jail cells, right? Wrong.  A case of shanks and shives all made by prisoners was displayed...some were pretty impressive too. I wonder if they tried to "dig" their way out or they were mainly used for weapons...

The first building we toured housed the women.  They differed slightly from the mens with shorter jail cells and the bars of the doors weren't rounded but rather more of a triangle-shape.  Seriously, shorter cells, were the women shorter back then? I stood in the doorway and barely cleared it.  The building didn't feel too "creepy"as there were windows all the way around so a lot of light was let in.  Maybe they were being "easy" on the women back then.  The cell's were small, two beds and toilet, that's it.  I would never last there.

The men's cells were taller and the bar's of the doors were rounded, as I pictured all of them would be. Think Shawshank Redemption...as what the warden referred to it as.  Rows of cells, 4 stories high in one particular building.  I just kept wondering how this place ran, what happened on a daily basis.  Phone booths, barber chairs, and a mail box for those prisoners who wanted to send a letter. 

Next up, "Death Row"...this is where it really hit me.  The worst of the worst, those who did unfathomable crimes, were housed here...and behind two rows of bars, not just one.  Those on death row were allowed one hour per day to exercise in a nearby fenced-in area.  Because conditions here were "unfavorable" compared to other facilities, changes were made and prisoners were rewarded for good behavior.  Excuse me? You are on death row, you don't get those privileges...I would have been a terrible warden.  Anyway, in 1989, 70 death row inmates were sent to Potosi, a max-security prison for high-risk male inmates.

And finally, we entered what was referred to as "hell", a place where prisoners were basically taken to die.  No light, no toilet, hay for beds, no clothing, meals slid under the door, and 10 men to a cell.  However these "cells" were different. They were made of stone and the doors were solid.  Each prisoner, if sent here, stayed a minimum of 10 days...the record in one of these rooms, 15 years.  Let that sink in. 

The gas chamber. Because of lack of time, I wasn't able to see this area.  But from 1938-1965, 39 prisoners were executed here.  In 1989, George "Tiny" Mercer was the last man to be executed in the gas chamber, but it was by lethal injection. From Belton, Missouri, he was the president of two motorcycle clubs, the Missing Links and the Rancid Riders. Clearly he was missing a few links himself.  He was put to death for the rape and murder of a 22 year-old cocktail waitress. Injected at 12:03, losing consciousness 3 minutes later and pronounced dead at 12:09.  Night night Tiny. Around a dozen people carried candles to protest his execution.  I wonder where all of his motorcycle friends were? 

One last story told by the warden involved a man getting his jugular cut...his comment and I quote, "I have never seen so much blood, and it was just squirting out of him everywhere."  Me, being the nurse, thinking and picturing what that probably looked like to them...because the force behind that vein being cut is like that of a fountain.  Needless to say, that prisoner didn't make it. 

 Women's Prison 

 Cell #33, Charles "Sonny" Liston

{Emily Lynn Photography} 

Death Row 

"Hell"

{Emily Lynn Photography}

Break free...it's a sight worth seeing. 

I will share more of {Emily Lynn's Photography} in my next post!

Shona

Roaming the Streets of Hot Springs

Recently we took a little venture South.  We loaded up the car and took off at 8 pm to start an extended Holiday Weekend in Arkansas.  A few normal stops along the way for coffee and gas station snacks and we arrived in Fayetteville around midnight on Thanksgiving night.  Up early the next morning for breakfast and back on the winding roads to our first destination, Hot Springs.

The weather was abnormally warm for the end of November and the quaint little town was bustling with people as we drove the drag toward our hotel.  We stayed at The Hotel Hot Springs, dog-friendly of course and located at the edge of town. Perfect location to be able to walk everywhere.  We set out to explore, admiring the history and architecture of the town before running into a little gem called the Aristocrat...where they may or may not have let us buy tall-boys with which we were able to dump into styrofoam cups and continue our journey around town.  This is gangster land folks, so it's fine.  We had an escape route if needed.  We did a bit of window shopping where I found the perfect patch for my denim vest, before making a stop at the Copper Penny Pub for a snack and cocktails, after-all it was happy hour.

We checked out the hotel bar, it's tradition, before continuing the evening which consisted of sparkling Christmas lights and filthy martinis at the infamous Arlington Hotel, where it was still nice enough to be on the patio before heading on to find live music.  We started at a place called the Ohio Club, the oldest and apparently most popular place in town, it was packed so we decided to move on finding a place called, Maxine's Live. Jackpot! Live music and informal, the perfect place to belly up to the bar before ending the evening.  Maxine's was named after Maxine Temple Jones, the once Brothel Queen of Hot Springs in the mid-1900's, which was located on the second floor and used to be named the Crystal Saloon.

The next morning I introduced the BF to The Pancake Shop.  A well-known breakfast spot in Hot Springs but worth the wait.  By the way, order the pancakes...along with eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, apple butter, coffee, and fresh-squeezed orange juice. I am being serious too.  You will want it all. One last stop to pick up a few holiday gifts before packing up our bags to head into nature for the next two nights.  Before leaving, we filled up our water canister for camping with the natural water from the springs, it's right in the center of town...Stay tuned for our experience's in the wild mountains of Arkansas!

There is so much history in Hot Springs and it's worth the drive.

Two gangsters just exploring the streets of Hot Springs...
Shona