They say you have to try a new food at least five times before you can truly decide if you like it or not. Maybe not five, but at least more then once. I think places are the same way. I think of the number of times I'd been in the Kansas City area. It was always for a concert and I never stayed too long or long enough to really see anything. It was never even a pin in our "where we want to live someday" map. Something about the word "Kansas" made my body clench and it's true that the Kansas side of the city can have this effect on me. But then I got to know this town. I gave it a chance. Now when I look around, I see tiny bits of other places I love. New York City. Portland. They're both here.

Part of the practice of taking my camera every where I go, is not to improve my photography skills (that's just play). I do it as a reminder to look up and notice and see the crazy world I live in. This practice has taught me to see and find things in unexpected places. Even though every museum we wanted to go to was closed on Mondays, I knew I could find enough eye candy to fill our day. In a way this made things even better. It allowed the Jens to see the city without being tourists. It gave me the opportunity to show them a few pockets of cool. Not all of them, but enough of them. The last time Jen T was in KC, her dreams and hopes were smashed to smithereens. This trip erased all of that for her. I love that she was able to come here and find herself again and that I could be the one to show them around this fantastic city of mine.

Happy Love Thursday!