Category Archives: Fort Worth

Merry Christmas 2011

Posted on December 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

The holidays were festive and fun around here!  We kicked off the holidays with a small shindig at our house the weekend before Christmas.  We had yummy food, wine, and cocktails (The Cranberry Kiss is a great holiday drink!).  The party really kicked off the week of Christmas appropriately!

On Christmas Eve we did the annual Day family gathering at my folks house.  Since we did a huge family Thanksgiving party, Brady’s First Birthday, and a family funeral all within a few weeks of Christmas, mom and dad decided to just do our small family on Christmas Eve (10 people vs. 25 people).   The party was great and mom and dad went all out with their menu.  After dinner we did the gift exchange, which is my favorite part!  This year my family used Amazon Wish Lists to help with the shopping and it totally worked.  Also, I was able to order almost every gift online…awesome.

On Christmas Day Ryan and I woke up at 6am to see what Santa had brought us.  Ryan got an XBox 360 and I got a Karaoke Machine and a new workout gadget called the FitBit.  We sang and danced using our new gadgets till 9am when we had to leave for DeSoto.

Ryan’s mom, Karen, was throwing a shindig in DeSoto, but it happened to be the same time as my Grandma’s party (so many parties…so little time!) so we arranged with Karen to come for brunch and leave around 12:30.  It worked out pretty good, we were able to visit with the outta town folks and open gifts with the kiddos.  From there we drove west to Everman, TX (south of Fort Worth).  My Grandparents have been doing this gathering since I can remember.  It’s an awesome lunch spread followed by a chaotic and fun gift exchange.  Each year we gain a few new family members (babies, husbands, wives, etc).  This year we added the new tacky sweater contest element.  I regret not getting any photos of the crew in horrible Christmas sweaters!

From there we drove back up north to Watauga, to open the wine and play with our new toys at my sister’s house.  We stayed way too late, but we were having such a good time!  Ryan had to work the next morning…sorry hun!

Overall it was a great Christmas season.  I got to see lots of family, ate delicious festive meals, and received some awesome gifts.  Below are some pics from the holiday festivities:

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Posted in cooking, Family, Fort Worth, Holidays

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Cowboy Chow

Posted on May 10, 2011 | 1 Comment

For Mother’s Day I took my mom and dad to Cowboy Chow, a cute restaurant in the revitalized downtown Roanoke area.  The restaurant had interesting decor and had a super exciting menu. The downtown area was bustlin’ and crowded, but we didn’t even have to wait for a table!  They also have an outdoor seating area which is a great option.

You can read my full Yelp review here.

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Posted in cooking, Fort Worth, Grapevine, Holidays, Southlake, Texas

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Appreciating Mom

Posted on May 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

Mother’s Day is this weekend…don’t forget!  I’m not a mother yet, but I have a Mom, and have a few friends that are new moms!  So here are a few ideas for celebrating Mother’s Day (specifically some ideas for folks in the Grapevine/Southlake area).

  • Take your mom to your local plant store and let her pick out a few items for her yard.  Then, go to her house (assuming she’s local) and help her plant her present.  It’s a good way to spruce up her yard and spend time together.
  • Cook a new meal together.  Pick out a challenging menu, take all the ingredients to her house and whip up something new and interesting.
  • Try a craft.  Ryan laughed when I told him this idea, I think he had a visual of me, my mom and sister sitting around quilting.  I was thinking more of a DIY project for the home.
  • Afternoon themed movie marathon.  Pick a genre or actor and rent 3 movies…watch them all back to back over a few glasses of wine.  When we were little my mom used to do this (minus the wine) for us.  She’d theme each month of our summer vacation with something like “back to school” or “beach movies.”
  • Did I mention wine? Go to a wine tasting.  A few of my local favorite wine bars/wineries are Cross Timbers, CorkIt, or Into the Glass.
  • Live music!  Who says you have to appreciate your mom on Sunday?  I say make it a weekend goal to appreciate her!  My mom likes to dance and hear live music, so I also thought about taking her out for some live music and dancing.  Not a ton of dancing opportunities in our neck of the woods, so I considered heading out to the Fort.  Billy Bobs is a classic, but also check out Rodeo Exchange in the Stockyards.  I can almost guarantee you’ll catch a mullet, a Texas Flag western shirt, and some lace-up boots…but there are some great two steppers that frequent this place and the live music is typically local country bands.

Happy Mother’s Day!

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Posted in Family, Fort Worth, Grapevine, Holidays, Southlake

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Easter 2011 Recap

Posted on May 3, 2011 | Leave a comment

This post is kinda delayed, but here’s a quick recap on our Easter festivities for 2011.

Originally we had planned to head up north to the Property to spend the weekend in the wilderness with the fam and my new baby nephew.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans for us.  Torrential rain and lovely April thunderstorms held us back from becoming one with nature.  Instead, we spent the afternoon at my parent’s house (Lady YaYa and Grandpa Steve is what they are calling themselves these days).  Mom and Dad made a delicious ham, salad, and potatoes…pretty traditional, and we celebrated my sister’s 29th birthday with a delicious Orange Cake (I’ll share that recipe another time).  My nephew Brady made the cutest Easter Bunny ever!  After dinner, we grabbed our wine/beer glasses and headed outside to the empty lot next to my parent’s house for a game of whiffleball.  The only rule was you had to play with a drink in your hand, which obviously made the game funnier and way more challenging!  Kevin even came into town from McMurray State (Abilene) so it made the night a real treat!  Unfortunately, the Easter Bunny did not visit me this year….maybe next year!

Here are a few pics:

    

          

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Posted in Family, Fort Worth, Holidays, Texas

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Working Remotely

Posted on February 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

With record snowfall in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, I’m working from home today.  It’s not an incredibly odd event for me to be working from home.  My job is almost completely mobile, so I’m not necessarily chained to my cubicle (and if I were…I would be miserable)!  Our leaders are pretty flexible about where we do our work (as long as it gets done).  But I have a few FAVORITE things about working from home:

  • Jack Bauer is by my side constantly.  The little guy gets so excited when I get my laptop out, he sits by me and watches me type – super cute.
  • MUSIC!  Due to cubicle etiquette and the respect I have for my cubemates I usually listen to music with headphones on.  At home, I can crank it super loud.  Currently streaming on Pandora: Love Lockdown, Kayne West.
  • Sunlight, vitamin D, and a window.
  • There are almost zero distractions at home.  I park in the garage, so no one even knows I am home to sell me cookies or bibles.
  • Movement – I can get outta my seat to stretch, do high kicks, work on my squat form…whatever.   I mean, honestly, I can do that at work too…it’s just I don’t get weird looks at home.
  • I can put in a few extra hours without feeling like I’m working extreme overtime.
  • I consciously try to be better about calling/emailing people back.   Therefore, my work automatically improves.

Where do you do your best work?

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Posted in Fort Worth, Hurst, Work

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Two Years of McDay

Posted on January 24, 2010 | Leave a comment

Ryan and I celebrated our two year anniversary this weekend.  It started when he called me at work on Friday afternoon to let me know he had made RESERVATIONS (!!) at a new restaurant in Fort Worth.  He had conspired with our neighbor, who is a wine distributor, to pick the perfect location.  He took me to Lanny’s Alta Cocina Mexicana.  Totally amazing date!  I’ve reviewed the establishment on yelp.  Ryan did a great job by taking me to a 5-star restaurant (and I mean 5 yelp stars!).

A little background on Lanny, from their web site:

Lanny, the great-grandson of the legendary restaurateur Joe. T. Garcia, was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas spending most of his time in a restaurant. He has traveled extensively through Mexico cooking and learning what a meal means within the Mexican Culture. Rooted in Mexican Cuisine he began to explore the ideas of Mexican and Haute Cuisine. It was the passion behind these ideas that led him to study at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York where he had a more formal understanding of Classic Fundamentals. He spent three years developing a concept and cuisine within the walls of Joe. T. Garcia’s before opening the restaurant on July 27, 2005.

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Posted in Fort Worth, Texas

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The Lose It App

Posted on January 10, 2010 | 2 Comments

Just like everyone I know, I’m on a mission to lose weight in 2010.  Hopefully, this year, I can stick with it.  When I was in college, I danced all day and night (on TCU’s Dance Team).  We were required to make weigh ins and look our best all the time.  Once I graduated and moved on to a “desk” job the New Job 15 really hit me.  At work there is never a shortage of catered lunches,  happy hours, and of course honey roasted peanuts.   It’s time to change things around.  In the past, I’ve tried Weight Watchers.  It worked well and taught me the power of calorie counting and portion control.  I paid $16 a month for an online subscription.  The hard part was, Weight Watchers did not have a robust mobile site or app.  We all know if your goal is to keep track of the food you consume, it’s best to do it right after you eat…which isn’t typically at a computer.  I ended my Weight Watcher’s contract a few months ago.

I regularly scroll the “featured” apps in the app store on my iPhone.  One that popped up this week was the Lose It app.  This app is basically a handy dandy calorie counter.  I entered my current weight, then entered my desired weight and it told me how many calories I can consume per day.  During the day I enter the items I eat and the app calculates approximately how many calories I’m  taking in.  I can also get “calories back” by hitting the gym.

So far I’m super impressed.  The app was FREE and does everything I was paying the Weight Watchers web site for.  The app is also super social.  If you are comfortable sharing your progress with your Twitter followers you can link the app with your Twitter account.  Not sure if I’m ready for that yet.

For other motivation, I’ve signed up for the Fort Worth Cowtown 5K.

Time to stop writing and hit the gym!  Laters!

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Posted in Fort Worth, My Faves, TCU

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Jack Bauer Knows His Name

Posted on January 9, 2010 | Leave a comment

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Posted in Fort Worth, My Faves

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TCU Bowl Game 2009

Posted on January 5, 2010 | Leave a comment

Some photos from my Fiesta Bowl game experience!

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Posted in Fort Worth, TCU, Texas

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Snow in Fort Worth

Posted on December 27, 2009 | Leave a comment

We had a white Christmas here in Fort Worth!  It was beautiful, exciting, and record-breaking! Here are some snow shots from Eagle Mountain Lake in Fort Worth.

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Posted in Fort Worth, Hurst, Texas

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