Grapevine Main Street Days 2011

Posted on May 14, 2011 | 1 Comment

Last night Ryan and I spent the evening at Grapevine Main Street Days.  We had an amazing time!  We got to the festival around 7pm, found a parking spot right away (we parked in a free spot right behind the Tap In), and began partaking in wine drinking and art shopping.   Right away we stumbled upon a booth by Chloe Lane Studios…and wow, beautiful stuff!  I bought this necklace:

We continued to wander down Main Street.  Ryan was really interested in checking out the Vetro Glass Blowing Studio on Main.  We’ve heard about it, but haven’t ventured out there yet.  To get to the studio we had to walk through the petting zoo, that’s where I saw this little guy:

The petting zoo was hoppin! Actually, the entire kids area looked like a ton of fun!  Kids were running around everywhere, riding rides, playing Simon Says, or playing with Legos.  After we found out the Glass Blowing Studio was not open (bummer), we grabbed dinner at one of our Main Street faves, Big Fish.  We had our wedding rehearsal dinner at Big Fish, so it’ll always be a little special to us!

After dinner we settled into chairs in front of the Bud Light stage to hear some live music.  We were fortunate to discover The O’s, which are two guys playing multiple instruments.  Ryan and I were super impressed with these guys.  The crowd started growing and the lawn filled up quickly with kiddos dancing, couples canoodling, and people enjoying the music.  Next up we headed down to the Gaylord Texan Main Stage to hear one of my favorite party bands, Professor D.  These guys can jam for sure.  At this point in the evening, the crowd was thick and having a good time!  I witnessed some spectacular dance moves and even did a reggae version of the Cupid Shuffle.  Around 11pm the event ended and Ryan and I walked down the now vacant Main Street…it really amazed me how quickly they cleared that place out!  As we are walking to our car we passed by the Pizza vendors again, the guy from I Fratelli asked if we wanted a slice for the road…um yes!  As he reaches into their warmer to pull out a slice he decides to go ahead and give us the whole pizza pie!  Fantastic!  Honestly, I had felt a little guilty that we went to Big Fish for dinner instead of eating Pizza.  Pizza was the theme this year for Main Street Days and they had about 7 different local Pizza places competing for the best pizza in Grapevine.  Well, not sure if I can still vote but I Fratelli would get mine (and Ryan’s)!

Definitely a fantastic evening out!  The folks who organize Main Street Days did a great job, and we couldn’t have had better weather!  Now we begin the countdown to GrapeFest 2011.

A few other faves of the evening:

  • These wine stoppers we purchased from D-Patt Fine Wood Products.  Ryan was so excited that they had a Southwest Texas State University stopper (after he graduated they university changed it’s name to Texas State).  And we bought a TCU stopper to give to my dad for Father’s Day.

  • This sign/concept is awesome:

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Family, Grapevine, Southlake, Texas

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

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.

→ 1 Comment

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

Tagged , , , , , , ,

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!

→ Leave a comment

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

Tagged , , , , , , ,

BYOC – Bring Your Own Creamer

Posted on May 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

Funny topic, I’m aware.  But, as I was traveling this week for work (just one overnight in BOS), I witnessed two different women on two separate occasions whip out their own Coffeemate creamer from their purse/carry-on.  I can hardly remember my phone charger when I leave town, much less my own condiments.  Kudos to these ladies for having it their way!  Coffee at home has such a distinct taste and flavor, I’ve given up on trying to match that while I’m on the road.  I can’t believe I didn’t think about bringing my own creamers.  A few things to remember if you are dazzled by this idea too:

  • The liquid ban still applies to coffee creamer.  One of the ladies I witnessed had 4 little, single serving (I’m fairly certain hazelnut flavored) coffeemate creamers in a ziplock baggie that she got scanned through security.
  • The other alternative is powdered creamer.  This idea isn’t as impressive, because I feel like I can get powdered creamer pretty much anywhere and it never tastes as good as the liquid.  The second lady I observed had a fairly large canister of the Coffeemate Vanilla Flavored powdered creamer.  I’m sure it still tastes better than the generic stuff!

Cheers!

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Airlines, Work

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

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:

    

          

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Family, Fort Worth, Holidays, Texas

Tagged , , , , , ,

Sunday Dinner: Oven Baked BBQ Ribs

Posted on May 2, 2011 | Leave a comment
I found this recipe online here.  It’s truly amazing!  I followed the recipe to a T!  Side dishes were Au Gratin Potatoes (Weight Watchers recipe), and leftover broccoli salad.   Since the ribs took 3 hours and you have to baby sit them, it’s the perfect recipe for a chores-type Sunday.  Next time I’ll invite family over, but wanted to give my first stab at making oven ribs a dress rehearsal first!  Enjoy!
Original Recipe Yield 4 to 8 servings

Ingredients

  • 2 cups sliced onions
  • 2 cups ketchup
  • 2 cups water
  • 4 teaspoons salt
  • 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 cup white vinegar
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 4 teaspoons dry mustard
  • 4 pounds pork spareribs

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. In a large bowl, combine onions, ketchup, water, salt, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, vinegar and mustard. Split ribs down the center between the bones.
  3. Heat a large lightly oiled skillet over medium-high heat. Add ribs and sear until browned. This may have to be done in several batches.
  4. Place ribs in a single layer in two baking pans or casserole dishes. Pour half of the sauce over the ribs, reserve remainder.
  5. Bake ribs in preheated oven for 3 hours. Turn and baste meat every twenty minutes with remaining sauce, using all sauce by two hours. Continue turning and basting ribs using sauce in the pan during the last hour of baking.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in cooking

Tagged , , , , ,

Falconer Family Reunion

Posted on May 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

This Saturday Ryan and I took the 2.5 hour (3 hours including a stop for mini blizzards at the Canton DQ) trek out to east Texas to visit family from my maternal grandmother’s (the Falconers) side of the family.  It was a blast reconnecting with folks you only get to see once every few years.  It’s always a mixed bag of personalities, but it’s so fascinating that we all come from the same place.  Here are just a few of the pics from the reunion!  See everyone at FFR 2012!

Ryan with a Shiner hanging out

BIL Chris and my cousin Chad

Hummingbird Visit

Wine Time with Cousin Sarah!

Kaden playing dress up!

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Texas

Tagged , , , , ,