Dallas, x 2!

We had a great weekend!  It started Thursday night when Shelby came in town from Colorado.  We were supposed to get together with everyone, but due to it being a Thursday night, it was just SP, Shelby, and I.  She was nice and met us halfway in Colleyville for dinner at JR's Grill.

On Friday, we went to dinner with Jack and Sheryl in Keller at Café Medi!  This is a Mediterranean/Greek restaurant that has been around for years.  Only, not in Keller.  It's actually the restaurant where SP took me to meet his parents for the first time...ever!  The original location is at least 25 minutes away.  Jack and Sheryl went there a few weeks ago, and when they looked at the cover of the menu, it said "New Location: Old Town Keller"...WOW!  We all couldn't wait to try it!

We were so happy to see it packed!  There have been so many different restaurants go in and out of this building.  We sure hope this one sticks!  The food was just as good as the original.  We are soooo excited!!!!  They even have a huge back patio where you can smoke hookahs!

Chicken Souvlaki w/ Veggies, Rice, & Green Beans

On Saturday, I drove up to Flower Mound to play "embroidery" with my cousin, Jennifer!  We got an itch to make some LSU hats for the game this weekend!  We went to Hobby Lobby and found these hats.  They are pretty dorky, so we took a picture and sent it to our husbands asking them if we were cool?

OH, and PS - we never got our hats made, HA!

Saturday evening we drove to Dallas to Komali for Cooper's 30th birthday (Alison's brother-in-law). Komali was voted Best Margarita in Dallas.  And I must say, they were sooo tasty!

Birthday boy, Cooper & his wife Lauren :)

Squash Blossom Quesadillas

Chicken w/ Mole & Black Beans

TX Red Fish with Peaches

Tamarind Margarita (my fav)

After dinner we went to the Gingerman for one quick drink, in the heat, so we could get sweaty, and hot, and gross, and SWEATY...before hitting the road back to Ft. Worth (and don't worry, SP only had 2 drinks the entire night).

On Sunday, we got in a cleaning mode!  It all started when we went to hide a few wires in our living room.  We noticed how dusty our baseboards were!  So, then this happened...

SP w/ the ShopVac

After some good deep cleaning, we showered and headed back to Dallas.  This time we went to the Hooper's for dinner!  The whole gang was there, and it was really good to see everyone, as I hadn't seen the majority of this group since before summer!

Sean, Me, Hooper, Kelly, Brad, Jaimie, Jonathan
Ryan, Melanie, Shelby, Lori, and Baby Ian 

Kelly, Lori, Shelby, Me, Melanie

Aaron and Lori moved into a new house this summer, so we enjoyed getting to see it. We are going to try and start a supper club once a month...fingers crossed it'll stick!  SP and I are supposed to host in September. We are going to do a cajun theme!  I love preparing a menu and I'm already thinking about it!  Did I mention they are coming at the very end of September, ha!

Last but not least...I just have to share this funny picture!  My little 4 yr old neighbor Brynlee loooooves to text message me!  One night, SP thought it would be funny to dress up and send her this picture!  

Gotta love him :)

What's on my mind?

HOUSE GUESTS!!!!  I am sooooooo excited to host the majority of my family at our house next weekend!  But, there is just one little problem...

Yea.  So those are our 2 guest rooms.  I know.  Disaster!  Don't worry family...Château Parks will be soooo straight and sparkly by next weekend you won't know what hit you!

We are gathering together at my cousin's house for the LSU v. TCU game!  GEAUX TIGERS!  But boy are we SCARED.TO.DEATH!!!!!!

See y'all next weekend :)

Friday...Saturday...Sunday

Friday was a busy day!

We worked all day and then we went to Flower Mound (FloMo) to have dinner with my cousins at Anamias. After dinner we drove across the street to Boyd, Carol, and Claire's house for some swimming and hot tubbing.  In all the times SP and I have joined the FloMo folks for dinner at Anamias on a Friday night, we allllllllwayyyyys forget to bring our swimsuits, knowing what the night will bring (POOL!)!  Thankfully I remembered and sure enough...we were in the pool by 7:30 (yes we do dinner early...otherwise we'd never get a table!).  It was such a beautiful evening and that hot tub felt amazing!  We were home by 10 :)

Saturday morning, Sean was busy showing.

I got up and went to yoga at 9:15.  I had my Norah Jones Pandora station on, which was pumping some particularly good tunes that morning :)  And check out that temperature!  So lovely (and shocking!).

After yoga, I received a text from Shemele to come hang out at the pool.  Sean was now heading to Dallas for his fantasy football draft for the rest of the day, so I came home, whipped up some yummy breakfast tacos, then headed to the pool for a few hours.  I headed back home around 2...laid on the couch for a few, then put my coverup back on and headed to FloMo (yes, again!).  It was my cousin, Zach's birthday celebration.  It was just a lot of family from his other side over.  We had lots of pool time and Pope Poison (Greg and Jennifer's drink concoction with lots of RUM!).  Aunt Mary brought brisket and we had potato salad and coleslaw.  SP ventured back to Flower Mound around 8ish.  We hung out a little longer, and were home by 11pm :)

Sunday was a busy day b/c it was Sean's 37th birthday!!!!!!

Yay for birthdays!  The morning started with Sean doing a little work in the office and me cleaning the shower, ha!  I know...exciting.  But it really was...he was writing some contracts (always a good thing...and our shower needed cleaning :) )!! Don't worry, we had some fun soon after!

We headed downtown Ft. Worth to one of our favorite spots, Taverna.  We heard they had a yummy brunch, but had never tried it.  I must say, it was just okay.  Nothing to write home about....but they have $1 mimosas and bellinis, so that was well worth it :)  I had polenta with sausage and 2 eggs over easy.  Sean had eggs benedict with lump crabmeat.  Again, it was just ok.

Just before brunch was over, I asked him what he wanted to do the rest of the day? He immediately said, "Let's go to the Omni."  Totally random.  Completely spontaneous.  Awesomely genius!!  We headed down the street, champagne buzzed and all!

Here we are, waiting on our IMAX movie, "Dolphins" to start :)  We really enjoyed the theater and doing something different on a Sunday afternoon.

After the movie we went to Target to get stuff for his birthday "cake".  I made him nutella pie strawberries (yes, the same one I made on the mountain a few weeks ago!).  Then we came home and he opened his presents from me ;)  I got him a roller suitcase, a pair of sunglasses, a hat, a wooden spoon, and a sweat towel for his yoga mat!  

Then, it was nap time...for the birthday boy anyway :)  I watched Project Runway and he snoozed on the floor.  

At 6 o'clock Jack and Sheryl came to pick us up and take us to dinner!  We went to the new Bonefish Grill in Southlake.  It was really delicious!  My favorite was the bang bang shrimp appetizer and my fresh peach martini!  

I know, pic overload of us!  Boo!

My in-laws, Jack & Sheryl

After dinner, we came back to our house for dessert!  I think even though SP wouldn't let me throw him a big party, he really enjoyed our relaxing day of randomness :)

I can't believe it's almost time for the weekend again!  WOW!

Me & My Mom on the Mountain!

Where were we...hopefully you read my previous post or you might be lost!

I think we left off with me dropping my mom off at work on Thursday (the day my cousins and aunt left).  Remember me saying the roads were flooded and they couldn't leave until the afternoon?  Check out these pictures of how powerful the flood was!

See all the debris under the bridge?

The water destroyed this farm gate

...and pushed this fence over!  

I picked my mom up at 5 and we met a few friends (Janie and Becky) at the Press Room on the square. They have really good cocktails, coffee, and appetizers!

Tom Collins, yum!

After a few drinks, we thought it'd be fun to go eat somewhere for dinner!  We walked through downtown Bentonville, stopping to window shop of course :)  We ate at a new little italian restaurant called Tavola.  It was very tasty :)  I ordered cavatappi with pesto and shrimp!

It was a lovely evening.  We went home and watched So You Think You Can Dance before bed :)

On Friday, my mom worked until noon.  When she came home, we fixed bacon and tomato sandwiches and then carried ourselves upstairs to clean our a few closets!  We got a lot done and I know it made her feel good to be able to check some things off of her to-do list!  We cleaned out the guest room closet and some of my dad's closet. Around 4:30, we loaded the car up and took a load to Helping Hands for donation.  

We found an old box of my grandfather's (my dad's dad).  I found these things that I liked very much...

My grandparents, back when they were just dating.  Look how happy they are  :) 

That's my grandfather on the right.  Seriously, stud!

A magazine clipping that I'm sure my grandmother cut out for him.

After dropping our donations off, we hit the grocery store to buy stuff for our simple chalupa dinner and also for Saturday night b/c we invited the Reynold's and the Peterson's over for dinner.

Friday evening we fixed our dinner and then settled in with a good movie...

  

I'm pretty sure after the movie was over, we found something sweet to eat and then watched Project Runway.  We went to bed relaxed and happy :)

Saturday morning we woke up and enjoyed our coffee, then started dinner prep for the evening!  We made Nutella pie with strawberries, Spinach stuffed chicken breasts, salad, and garlic bread.  It all turned out so good!   We asked the guests to bring the appetizers.  Jim brought me my absolute favorite, fried shrimp :) And Alicia made artichoke dip.  All delicious!

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the meal!    I forgot to photograph this because I had probably had a few too many Scarlet O'Haras at this point :/  

In between dinner prep and company arriving, we did yard work and cleaned the house!  We were very tired by the end of this day.  I raked up the grass that my mom cut on the mower.  OH, and I learned how to drive the tractor :)  I definitely think this is the way to go.  SP, I will start mowing our yard if you get me one of these!

Sunday morning came, and it was time for me get packed up.  My mom fixed me this yummy breakfast (excuse the paper plate!) of dippin eggs!

I helped her do a few more things around the house, then we headed off to the airport.  It was hard saying goodbye, but it helps knowing I will see her again at my house in a few short weeks to watch the LSU v TCU game!

Thanks for a great weekend, mom!  I love you and can't wait to do it again!  Maybe next time SP will join, as well as some brothers, so we can knock some more things off of your to-do list!  :) :)

Phew!

Where have I been?  Not motived to blog apparently!  Not to worry, you know me...I have plenty of pictures to track what we've been up to around here :)  I am not sure what I ever did without my iPhone's camera!

July ended with Sean not feeling well :(  I made him 2 yummy soups to help him feel better.  He was having trouble with swallowing, pain in his esophagus.  It was no fun, but he is all better now :)

I got to go on a last minute trip to visit my mom on the mountain!  My cousin Jennifer and her boys have been wanting to get up there before school started. Jennifer drove me, her boys Andrew & Zach, my Aunt Mary up to Arkansas!  We had such a great visit and I'm pretty sure my mom enjoyed having a house full for a few days :)

She greeted the ladies with Scarlet O'Hara cocktails and veggie shooters!  For dinner she made delicious chicken enchiladas with black beans!

We were soooo lazy!  Literally not getting out of our pj's until afternoon each day!  My mom worked until noon everyday, except for Tuesday.  She took that day off because it was Zachary's 11th birthday!!  The weather was a little crummy, as in wet and cloudy, so that put a damper on being able to do too much outside.  We still managed to have a great time, though :)  We got to see a movie, eat at The Station on the square, see a cool art installation all lit up at night, visit Crystal Bridges, make pizza, brave a crazy storm that flooded the roads, eat hibachi, bake a birthday cake, watch the history of LSU...and managed to get in lots of good visiting :)

Watching the history of LSU

Zach's birthday present from Aunt Linda and me...my dad's old helmet!
He fell in love with this thing, so funny!

Zach wearing his helmet to protect him from the storm, ha! 

Beautiful temperatures!

Droooooool!!!  The famous green cheetos tub!

At Shogun for Zach's birthday dinner!
Aunt Mary, Jennifer, Zach, & Andrew

Can't believe how close to the house these deer were!

Crystal Bridges - art museum

Admiring the Buckyball - LED lit ball based on geometry
(Crystal Bridges installation by Leo Villareal 

Sarah Jane relaxing in her new favorite spot

I successfully made pizza dough!  Jennifer helped :)

Homemade pizza! (check out that dough :) )

The plan was to leave on Thursday morning.  Wednesday night rolled around, and I just wasn't ready to leave!  My mom and I did a little sweet talking to SP, trying to convince him to come up for the weekend!  He just wasn't interested (rude!)...j/k!  He had finally slowed down from work and was looking forward to doing nothing, which I totally understood.  But...it still didn't help me in my situation of wanting to stay longer on the mountain.

That evening, while we were enjoying a glass of wine on the front porch & watching the boys attempt to catch fireflies in mason jars, I snuck inside with a brilliant idea!

I have airline points!  I texted SP to make sure he was ok with me being gone for 3 more nights, which of course he was fine with (isn't he the best?!)!

Soon everyone came in from outside and when my mom walked into the living room where I was sitting, I simply said, "Hey mom, what are we doing this weekend?"  She looked at me with a puzzled look, only to be very surprised by my purchase of a ticket!  I think we were both pretty happy with this decision.  And Sean of course said he knew the second we tried to talk him into coming up that my mom and I would conjure up a way for me to stay through the weekend, HA!  He thinks he knows us sooooo well ;)

Thursday morning we were stuck on the mountain!  The travelers weren't able to leave until noon because the roads were flooded so bad from the storm on Wednesday night.  My mom switched her hours that day and worked from 1-5 so she could see them off!

Up next...mine and my mom's weekend together :)