Simple Summer: When Meg and Cait come to town

Hi All!

Today we are giving you a recap of Megan and Caitlin's quick trip to St. Louis!

Oh and if you don't know Caitlin, you should probably get to know her!

This is Cait! 

She is one of Annie's best friends and quite possibly the coolest person you'll ever meet! 

5 Things you should know about Caitlin:

1. Our mom likes her more than us sometimes...

2. Megan and Annie consider her another sister.  The 3rd Simple Sister!

3. Annie and Caitlin are practically on the same wavelength at all times and like all the same things- Panera Hazelnut coffee, white chocolate popcorn, and TJ Maxx/Home Good to name a few. 

4. She's a Nursing Student.

5. She lives right behind us in KC! We all went to grade school and high school together!

Okay now onto our recap from their St. Louis visit.    

There is nothing we love more than a cute shopping and lunch date.  So when Megan and Caitlin decided to come in town for the weekend, Bowood Farms was the first place that came to mind.  Bowood Farms is a greenhouse that has an awesome selection of home and gift items.  If that isn't enticing you at all, then you have to stop in for breakfast, lunch or brunch at Cafe Osage.  They have tables inside the space and outside among the plants and flowers. If it's not blistering hot then we definitely recommend dining outside among all of their pretty blooms.  Bowood Farms has everything you need to have a perfect afternoon.

 Pretty sure this place was sent from heaven.  

Annie got the Moroccan Chicken Salad and Caitlin got the BrieLT (we ate it too fast to take a picture :/) which they split.  The BrieLT was hands down the best sandwich we've ever consumed.  We could eat that sandwich everyday and be very happy!

Megan ordered her typical, yet delicious, turkey club! 

We then did some shopping at Nordstrom Rack and Anthropologie and ended the night the only way we know how... with froyo.

Outfit Details:

Annie- Dress: Anthropologie

Shoes: JCrew Factory

Sunglasses: Ray-Ban

Megan- Jeans: Madewell 

Blouse: Loft (old)

Vest: Sanctuary via Marshalls 

Shoes: Gap Factory

Caitlin- Dress: Loft (old)

Shoes: Old Navy

Sunglasses: Ray-Ban

We seriously love spending time together and thank God everyday that he blessed us with such wonderful friends and sisters!

-Annie and Megan

What's up with our Random Blog Posting Schedule?

Woohoo it's MONDAY!!!!!!!!

Did that motivate anyone? Sure didn't motivate me... I gagged typing that.  Let's just all get through today because that means we are one day closer to the weekend!

On to the next topic...

~Blog posting and why we don't post very much :/

Simple Sisters is a place where we can be creative and express what we are learning in school- I'm a Strategic Communication's Major and Megan is a Fashion Merchandising major. We also wanted it to be a place where we could post about our little adventures, fun outfits we've worn, and overall just a space that could serve as somewhat of a public diary. We've been planning on creating one since I was a freshman in college, but it didn't make sense at the time because we were four hours away from each other.  Once Megan decided to join me in St. Louis to attend Fontbonne University we decided it would be perfect; however, we ended up having a super busy school year and never could find the time to create one.

When we were on our family vacation in Florida, Megan decided it would be a perfect time to start one.  Awesome timing Megs :)  I was kind of worried because she moved back to KC for the summer and I was staying in St. Louis... how were we going to do this living in two different cities?  Well yeah, you could say we definitely struggle.

 BUT thats okay!!

We're still trying to find a way to post at least once a week, although we are looking forward to August when we will be back in the same city on the hunt for new little adventures. Hopefully in the mean time you'll follow along and see how we jam some major sister time in whenever we do see each other!

Moral of the story- We are so excited to get back in the same city and share what the Simple Sisters are up to!

Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive of Simple Sisters!!

--Annie

Trifle Recipe

Hi everyone! Over the weekend, we decided to make a fun desert for Father's Day. We decided on a trifle, because it's not too much of a guilty pleasure and it's easy to whip up!
QUICK STRAWBERRY TRIFLE

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup of sugar (Divided use) 
• 2 pints fresh strawberries, stemmed and halved
• 4 ounces softened cream cheese 
• 2 cups whipping cream 
• 1 store-bought poundcake 
• Melted raspberry jelly to taste 
• Sherry (optional) 

Recipe: 

• Fold 1/8 cup of sugar into the sliced berries; set aside. Beat the remaining 1/8 cup of sugar into the cream cheese. Whip the cream until stiff peaks form; then fold the cream cheese into the cream. 

• Cut the cake into about 1/3-inch thick. Arrange a layer of slices in the bottom of a glass bowl; sprinkle with a teaspoon of sherry and spread with melted jelly. Then put in a layer of strawberries and a layer of cream. Continue layering, ending with a layer of cream. Garnish with a whole berry.  
• We would recommend serving it cold!  We set it in the fridge for about 4 hours before devouring it! 

The Process: 

You could say we inhaled this dessert. Hopefully you give it a try! A great idea for the Fourth of July! 

-Megan and Annie 

Father's Day

Okay we decided that Monday didn't count and the week starts today! We're still crying that the weekend is over.  Annie traveled back to KC for a long weekend and we packed it full with friends and family.

We had so much fun celebrating our dad on Sunday!  He has been such an inspiration in our lives and we can't imagine having anyone else coaching all of our basketball teams or giving us the history behind anything and everything.  

Growing up, I've realized that almost everything my dad does has been for my mom and my siblings. He is the most selfless person I know and I'm glad I'm at an age where I can be friends with my dad and realize how good of a person he really is. 

Another standard my dad has set is his love for my mom. His love for her has become a great example for how a man should treat a woman he loves. 

My dad always knows just how to soothe Annie during a meltdown.  And to be honest, Annie probably has a meltdown every other day...

Father Daughter dances growing up were our jam!  Our dad was not afraid to bust a move on the dance floor... I'm talking the sprinkler, chicken dance... we're still trying to teach him the Soulja Boy though.  

Thanks for always being the goofiest and coolest dad around. You're the greatest dad and our family is blessed to have you constantly taking care of us. 

-Annie and Megan 

Simple Sister's Summer Playlist ☼

Happy Saturday! It's in the 90's in St. Louis and Kansas City and the only way we can deal with the heat is a pool day!

One of our favorite things to do growing up was going to our family friend's pool, bringing our speakers and jamming to our favorite summer songs! We use Spotify to make our different playlists. We love that we're able to listen to each others playlist and add as many songs we want.  If you guys have Spotify, go follow Spotify Discover Weekly now!  Every Monday they come up with a playlist of random, mostly alternative and new artists and put it on their discover weekly playlist.  We get so excited to listen to it every Monday!

We decided to share our love for music with you guys!  Megan is awesome at finding cool new bands and is always going to cool hipster concerts. So most of these songs were found by her, go follow her on Spotify- @megmck15-  she won't disapoint!

Here's the Simple Sister's Summer Playlist for you all to jam to for the rest of your summer! These songs always get us energized and ready to tackle the day. We can always count on one of these songs to boost our mood!  

SIMPLE SISTER'S SUMMER PLAYLIST:

-Amerika - Young the giant

-Free - Broods

-Drugs - Dreamers

-Arm’s Length - Kacy Hill

-Worry - Jack Garratt

-Spirits - The Strumbellas

-The Emotion- BORNS

-My Trigger - Miike Snow

-ILYSB- Lany

-The Heart of Me - Miike Snow

-Worlds On Fire - Zerbin

-Drive- Glades

-House on Fire- Black Taxis

-Warning Call- CHVRCHES

-Ain't No Man- Avett Brothers

-Pretty Pimpin- Kurt Vile

Annie and Megan's favorite song of all time: Come to Me- Lily and Madeleine

SIMPLE SISTER’S FAVORITE NEW ARTIST: MAREN MORRIS

OUR FAVORITE SONGS-

-RICH

-DRUNK GIRLS DON’T CRY

-MY CHURCH

-80’S MERCEDES

-I WISH I WAS

-Annie and Megan 

Thursday Daydream

Waking up this morning was not easy.  My body doesn't understand the concept of sleeping in! Even though I don't have my alarm set for my 6:30am Cross Country practice, my body still wakes up between 6 and 7am every morning. Don't get me wrong I love being a morning person, but sleeping at least one day sounds divine.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I had to be at work (Anthropologie) at 5am to do inventory, so I was totally looking forward to a good 10 hours of sleep last night... didn't happen.

I was dreaming hard about this view last night! Megan took this scenic shot while on Rosemary Beach in Florida.  Isn't magical?! I would give anything to be sitting on that beach with my mom and Megan sipping on a cocktail. 

Also, isn't this town so adorable!?  I feel like this place could be set in Europe somewhere.  All the restaurants have seating along the sidewalks and people are riding their bikes everywhere.  Such a charming little beach town. 

I'm also daydreaming about a Sonic cherry limeade and that might be the most attainable at the moment... so that't probably going to happen today. I'm also going to act like I didn't just get one yesterday either... #summerprobs 

-Annie 

Simple Summer: Megan's Birthday Weekend

This birthday weekend was an amazing time to remind myself how blessed I am to have such amazing friends and family. There are always expectations that come along with a looming birthday. Today, I kept in mind that the people surrounding me on this special day are what really matter. A present will never give me the same joy that I feel when my three year old second cousin comes up to me and screams "Happy Birthday Menan!". It's so easy to take for granted the people who are always there and are constantly caring about you. Getting multiple heartfelt birthday wishes and spending time with people I care about made this birthday one to truly remember.

Saturday: A fun day with good company! We explored downtown Kansas City, The River Market and various eclectic stores.

Megan's dress-Old Navy (sale!). Shoes-Birkenstocks

Sunday: Family filled Birthday celebration!

Megan's top-Old Navy, Jean shorts-J.Crew


Guys, I was way to excited about the classic McKenzie yellow and chocolate frosting cake.

-Megan 

Thank God I have you as My Sister

Today is a very special day because Megan turns 19!

I'm super bummed that I'm not able to spend the day with her since I'm living in St. Louis for the summer.  I guess this and an Instagram post will have to be enough.  Sorry Girl!

I'm so blessed to have a sister like Megan in my life.  This girl seriously gets me. She always knows how to calm me down and make me laugh when I'm having a tough day.  She should seriously be the next comedian- Mindy Kaling... She's coming for you! I seriously wonder how she comes up with all her witty comments.

Sometimes I get worried because I think my friends like her more than me, but honestly I don't blame them because she's the bees knees!

The Mckenzie Fam would be lost without ya sis!

Happy Birthday Girl, I hope your day is filled with a Dean and Deluca sandwich,  Kettle Cooked Chips, and an Arnold Palmer!

Love you to the moon and back Megs!

Annie

Memorial Day Weekend

This Memorial Day weekend, our family traveled a grueling 17 hours to Destin, Florida. We spent almost everyday relaxing on the beach, but decided to wander over to Rosemary Beach, Florida for the afternoon! We roamed around the town and ended up sipping on lavish drinks on the rooftop bar at The Pearl.

Megan's tank-American Eagle; shoes- Old Navy ; jean shorts-J.Crew

Annie's romper- Nordstrom Rack; Espadrilles-Nordstrom Rack

We hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as we did!

-Annie and Megan 

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