Goodbye Topeka...

Today was mine and Binga's final day in Topeka. It was a very bittersweet day. Though I’m ready to move forward and get things ready for Binga to arrive here in a couple of months and was ready for the travel to end, it was a hard week of saying goodbye to many friends and colleagues that I have grown close to.

When I first joined the State of Kansas project in October 2008 and started to travel to Topeka, there was a lot of speculation on my part of whether I could really work in the town for multiple years. It was the smallest town I’d worked in, the closest airport was 75 miles away, and I was coming from working in DC for a few years (which is literally my favorite city in the country). My colleague Bryan and I joked that it was going to become our mission to find 20 things we liked about Topeka and that it was going to be impossible. Well, it wasn’t impossible (I did include in some of my favorite memories instead of just Topeka landmarks) and I’ll share my list with you now (Keep in mind I was not pregnant during 10 months of this… no judging :) ) as well as some pictures of my life in Topeka (below)

My 20 Things that I Liked About Topeka

1) Tamale Cakes and Wild mushroom and tasso pasta at Brick Oven
2) Drunken Noodles at Tup Tim Thai
3) Having a personal limo driver (Carlos) to drive us to major events such as the Royals game
4) Three card poker at Prairie Band Casino
5) Karaoke at Skinny’s
6) Disappearing at Old Chicago
7) The front desk staff at the Hyatt Place
8) J Roget
9) Bullfrogs
10) The ability to buy breakfast at the dive kitchen in our building (3 egg whites with onions and cheese, two slices of bacon, and 2 pieces of wheat toast – EVERY day) for under $3
11) Lightening storms during the summer time (and not seeing a tornado!)
12) The ability to buy Wizard of Oz items anywhere (good for my collection…. bad for my wallet)
13) Hyvee – Best Grocery Store ever
14) My amazing team and clients
15) The fact that every chain restaurant known to man is on one street (Wannamaker)
16) That the town finally wised up and became non-smoking (though it did take them awhile)
17) Hockey games with $1 beers and $1 hot dogs
18) Ability to drive across town, during rush hour, in less than 10 minutes
19) Pool parties at the corporate apartments (even if it resulted in us never being able to use the clubhouse again)
20) Every memory I have with the FUS (pumpkin carving, never have I ever, dinners, baseball games, things, bullfrogs trips) – Love you guys

Topeka, it’s been real. I will miss you.