Memorial Holiday Weekend

Jay and I had a little getaway to Fort Worth this past weekend! We went for a close friend's wedding reception and turned it into the chance to see some other friends, eat well and relax. Basically a win/win/win. Warning: this trip (like many others) was not well documented in pictures. I really despise myself!

We arrived in Dallas at 3:45 on Friday afternoon and got our rental go cart...I mean car. It was a Chevy Cruze and it shook the whole time! 

Here we are 'cruzing' to FTW. 

We got to FTW and went to dinner. Jay insisted on Joe T Garcia's and even called ahead to ensure that they had gluten-free options. I knew they had gluten-free options bc most of their dishes are corn tortilla based but I can't eat grains of any description so it didn't help me much...I ate fajita chicken and gaucamole. I didn't tell jay though bc he was a. Being thoughtful and b. So excited about the food. 

After dinner, we went to West 7th and sat on the patio at Waters and had drinks (hot tea for me :( ) while waiting to meet up with one of my best friends from college and her boyfriend (who I had not met yet!)!! We met them at AF + B and they had more drinks while I guzzled water (pity party for one). Celia and Aaron were all I had hoped for. He's got my vote! Sadly...no pictures of that get-together. 

Saturday was amazing! We slept until 10:00am...it was really more like 6:30am and then forced ourselves back to sleep. It worked! We got up and walked from our hotel to the Reata and had lunch. My amazing bun-less burger deserved a food pic but another failure on my part. Then we went to Nordstroms so that Kay could find some new jeans. He didn't find jeans but I found shoes and he found freshly baked cookies. We both win! We headed back to the hotel and got ready for the Cyrier Reception. The reception was about 30 minutes away in Bedford. 

Waiting on valet:

Zach and Sarah got married in April in LV and I wasn't able to make it so this was a must attend for is! Sarah and I go waaaay back to our Outback Steakhouse hostess days and Sarah and Zach actually met at OB! They are expecting their first baby (GIRL!) in September and Sarah was even starting to show...a little. Adorable!! 

And just because girls need options...our selfie!

Love her, mean it!

After the reception, Jay took me to Ruth Chris for dinner. They were full so our concierge suggested that we say that it was our anniversary. We did and it worked...except they referenced it all night and spread confetti hearts all over our table. Oh well, it was worth the facade! It was amazing!! We went from dinner back to West 7th to meet up with the Pabody's (long time couple friends from Jay's Midland days). They recently moved to the DFW area and were in town for the Colonial golf tournament. They started drinking around noon so it was quite the show by the time we met them and their friends. Then it started pouring rain and that broke up the party pretty well. We were in bed by 11:30...which I consider a victory. 

Our flight home was at noon on Sunday so we got up and had breakfast at The Cowtown Diner and hit the road. I LOVE eggs Benedict and was thinking that I would have to give them up until my stroke of genius! I ask for sautéed spinach instead of an English muffin and it was incredible!! Let us say 'amen'. 

We made it to the airport and grabbed some coffee for Jay. The barista asked for a name so I have her mine and then when she realized that it was for Jay she handed him this...

We got home and Jay invited a friend over to grill and play washers. My best childhood friend called me and told me that she thought that she had punctured her eardrum with a q-tip. I met her at the office to survey the damage and although she severely abraded her ear canal, thankfully she didn't puncture the drum. Warning--graphic picture! She was cleaning her ear with a q-tip when she hit her arm accidentally and pushed the q-tip all the way down. She completely skinned her canal stopping right at the ear drum. This is why q-tips are dangerous!! You never know what will happen when your holding one in your ear! Let this be a lesson kids...

I got home around 10:00 and Jay decided that it was time to shave the dogs. Poor Stella and Job...they look pretty bad (especially Stella). Much cooler though and much less hair to deal with!

Monday was GLORIOUS!! I began my day off by having coffee with Alyson. After coffee I went to Sprouts and did all my grocery shopping. I unloaded everything and settled onto the couch for a Criminal Minds marathon with my pug and a steady slow rain. Can't get much better than that!

Lush. 

Then the slow rain turned into the hardest fastest rain that I've ever seen and flooded everything in the neighborhood. It was all fun and games until Jay went out to his nursery/office and found that his office was flooded with about 3 inches of water from front to back. Not cool but still really really thankful for the rain!! Thank you Lord!

While Jay and Carpet Tech were working on the flood zone, I continued my marathon and cooked several things for the week. I'm really good at being strict with my diet but having foods prepared and ready for lunch and dinner makes all the difference in the level of stress that comes at meal time. After about 9 hours of serial murders marathon style...I was thoroughly disturbed and went to bed. It really was a perfect day full of all the things I love: coffee with a friend, home, pug, husband, weim, pointer, marathon tv, and the best...RAIN! Let's keep praying for more!

ht

Favorite Things

I am bursting with a few new favorites. Most are related to my new 'lifestyle'...but I guess there are some perks to major changes. 

Synergy Kombucha

Kombucha is a fermented probiotic drink made from black or green tea. I drink one a day to help replenish the good bacteria in my intestines. They make it in a ton of different flavors. My two favorites are Strawberry and Chia Seed Raspberry. Water and herbal teas are the only things that I'm supposed to be drinking so this is like a 'treat' for me...sad, I know! You can find this for about $3.50 at any natural/whole foods type grocery store. 

The next favorite is probably the best one! I bought myself a Blendtec blender. I did quite a bit of research between the Blendtec and Vitamix and landed on the Blendtec because of it's digital features and ability to travel well. It is INSANE!! Talk about amazing smoothies and anything else you might want to blend. This thing was a little pricey...it retailed for $599 but I found it on sale for $379. A little crazy, I know, but I am using it ALL the time and it does not compare to a 'normal' blender. Embrace the impulse buyer in you and get this blender...if you do a lot of blending of course! This isn't the model that I got but I couldn't find a picture...

I'm a long time lululemon lover and was pretty excited to see a new track short. This track short has wide elastic cotton waist band but are still long enough to wear in public which is why they made my 'favorites' list. Seriously the most comfortable shorts on the planet. Not cheap ($54) but you need these for summer!

RMS Beauty is a new organic makeup line that I'm giving a try. The primary ingredient is coconut oil and all products are 'liquid/cream' and come in a little pot. So far, I'm a HUGE fan of the concealer, a moderate fan of the blush/lip gloss and not loving the eye shadow or highlighter. The concealer has excellent coverage and it's the only base product that I'm using currently. The blush doesn't blend as well as I would like but does stay really well so that's good. The eye shadow creases even with a primer underneath and the highlighter I just can't seem to really need. I would definitely recommend giving the line a try though if you're looking to get away from unnecessary chemicals. I can't remember the exact cost but I think that I got the four pots in a special package for $125. 

My last favorite an amazing cookbook called Against All Grain. It contains 150 grain-free and dairy-free recipes that are delish! There are a lot of recipes in the book that I can't get into yet but it has definitely helped me expand my mind and meals since taking on this very strict diet geared towards healing my gut from the damage that the gluten has done over the years. The lady who wrote it (Danielle Walker) suffered from severe ulcerative colitis for years and years and finally cured and healed herself after taking on a completely grain-free diet. It was around $25 and I think it would be great for anyone trying to eat better, not just those of us with restricted diets!

Enjoy!

ht