9.01.2010
Some Austin THETA Love
It was so good to see these girls a couple of weekends ago before all the chaos and busy schedules of Tech and Longhorn football season consume our lives! We braved the 100+ degree heat and enjoyed dinner on the patio and some margaritas and mudslides courtesy of my dad (the grill-master/bartender of the evening) and his new Margaritaville blender contraption. It was quite the show! Can't wait to see everyone again!
8.31.2010
Ode to Restaurant Week
This is one of our favorite weeks! KLRD hosts restaurant week in Dallas where many of Dallas best and favorite restaurants participate. Each restaurant creates a menu with 3 or more courses specifically for this week for $30/pp. Most of the restaurants will add a wine paring with each course.
This year we went to Tillman's Roadhouse with the Easters. It was a little bit of a hike for us since Tillman's is located out in Oak Cliff, in the Bishop Arts District, but it was worth the drive.
The food was delicious. The girls ordered the chicken fried hanger steak with mashed potatoes and green beans. The boys ordered the short ribs with white chedder mac-n-cheese.
I love Tillmans because you can order smores for dessert and they are made right beside your table. The girls had the smores and the boys got the cupcake! It was so good and it is always good to see Myn and Chris! Good times!
This year we went to Tillman's Roadhouse with the Easters. It was a little bit of a hike for us since Tillman's is located out in Oak Cliff, in the Bishop Arts District, but it was worth the drive.
The food was delicious. The girls ordered the chicken fried hanger steak with mashed potatoes and green beans. The boys ordered the short ribs with white chedder mac-n-cheese.
I love Tillmans because you can order smores for dessert and they are made right beside your table. The girls had the smores and the boys got the cupcake! It was so good and it is always good to see Myn and Chris! Good times!
8.20.2010
Cali Swing - Part II
On our way out of SF, we rented a convertible and drove down the Pacific Coast Hwy, aka (The 1). Whomever suggested we get the convertible and try to cram golf clubs and two suit cases in it were crazy, but we figured out how to make it work. The 1 hugged the coastline and was a beautiful and relaxing road trip with the wind in our hair.
Securing the luggage. The wind was blowing quite strong.
Our destination was Carmel, specifically Pebble Beach. Along the way we stopped in downtown Santa Cruz for an Italian meal at Kianti's Pizza & Pasta Bar. It is home to the 5 time world champion pizza dough spinner. The food was so good! We enjoyed the pepperoni pizza roll and the veggie sandwich with artichokes, sundried tomatoes, feta cheese, olives and pesto. The artichokes were incredibly fresh.
We arrived to Carmel late afternoon and toured the 17-mile drive. This tour is amazing and our hotel, The Inn at Spanish Bay, was on the tour. The 17-Mile Drive is widely recognized as one of the most scenic drives in the world. The famous coastal landmark runs through Pacific Grove to Pebble Beach, from the dramatic Pacific coastline to the majestic Del Monte Forest.
The drive is amazing with gorgeous view of the ocean as you wind through the mountains and trees.
And the views along the shore were beautiful
This is one of our favorite pictures that caputres how breathtaking it was.
After the tour we checked in to our hotel and had a bottle of champagne waiting for us to celebrate our anniversary. The hotel was fabulous! We went down to the terrace for a sunset serenade from a Scottish bag piper at dusk. We enjoyed a glass of wine and then went to Roy's for dinner. It was such a memorable evening for both of us.
We went to bed early that evening to prepare for our golf adventure on the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course in the morning. This round of golf really needs its own blog post. We woke up at 5:00am for a 7:50am tee time. When we arrived to the course, Austin took the shuttle to the driving range to warm up and I explored the Pebble Beach Resort, from the fancy market to all the boutique shops; it was amazing. Amazing probably doesn't begin to describe it. They also had cameras of certain parts of the course, the first tee and the 18th hole that you could view online. It was fun for our family to be able to see us on the course at the beginning and at the end.
We met back up to meet our Caddy for the day, Gene. Pebble is great because the caddys are all old men with great stories to tell you along the way. Now, we've heard the thing to do is walk to course. Austin walked it but insisted I get a cart just in case I didn't want to walk the whole time. Great Idea!
Austin teeing off
Just a flock of geese to distract you, no worries.
The course was gorgeous! I still can't describe how wonderful it was.
We will just round it out to the 18th. I only took 600+ pics of the course...
And some seals to cheer us on the 18th! Final putt!
Getting cleaned up! Nice!
After we finished this amazing round of golf, we had a late lunch in the cafe, that overlooked the first tee. Nothing like a hard days work!
It was such an exciting trip for both of us and I hope we can go back again and play the other courses. Austin did a great job on the course and it was one of our favorite experiences thus far that we will cherish forever!
Securing the luggage. The wind was blowing quite strong.
Our destination was Carmel, specifically Pebble Beach. Along the way we stopped in downtown Santa Cruz for an Italian meal at Kianti's Pizza & Pasta Bar. It is home to the 5 time world champion pizza dough spinner. The food was so good! We enjoyed the pepperoni pizza roll and the veggie sandwich with artichokes, sundried tomatoes, feta cheese, olives and pesto. The artichokes were incredibly fresh.
We arrived to Carmel late afternoon and toured the 17-mile drive. This tour is amazing and our hotel, The Inn at Spanish Bay, was on the tour. The 17-Mile Drive is widely recognized as one of the most scenic drives in the world. The famous coastal landmark runs through Pacific Grove to Pebble Beach, from the dramatic Pacific coastline to the majestic Del Monte Forest.
The drive is amazing with gorgeous view of the ocean as you wind through the mountains and trees.
And the views along the shore were beautiful
This is one of our favorite pictures that caputres how breathtaking it was.
After the tour we checked in to our hotel and had a bottle of champagne waiting for us to celebrate our anniversary. The hotel was fabulous! We went down to the terrace for a sunset serenade from a Scottish bag piper at dusk. We enjoyed a glass of wine and then went to Roy's for dinner. It was such a memorable evening for both of us.
We went to bed early that evening to prepare for our golf adventure on the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course in the morning. This round of golf really needs its own blog post. We woke up at 5:00am for a 7:50am tee time. When we arrived to the course, Austin took the shuttle to the driving range to warm up and I explored the Pebble Beach Resort, from the fancy market to all the boutique shops; it was amazing. Amazing probably doesn't begin to describe it. They also had cameras of certain parts of the course, the first tee and the 18th hole that you could view online. It was fun for our family to be able to see us on the course at the beginning and at the end.
We met back up to meet our Caddy for the day, Gene. Pebble is great because the caddys are all old men with great stories to tell you along the way. Now, we've heard the thing to do is walk to course. Austin walked it but insisted I get a cart just in case I didn't want to walk the whole time. Great Idea!
Austin teeing off
Just a flock of geese to distract you, no worries.
The course was gorgeous! I still can't describe how wonderful it was.
We will just round it out to the 18th. I only took 600+ pics of the course...
And some seals to cheer us on the 18th! Final putt!
Getting cleaned up! Nice!
After we finished this amazing round of golf, we had a late lunch in the cafe, that overlooked the first tee. Nothing like a hard days work!
It was such an exciting trip for both of us and I hope we can go back again and play the other courses. Austin did a great job on the course and it was one of our favorite experiences thus far that we will cherish forever!
8.19.2010
Cali Swing - Part I
We planned a trip to the beautiful California coast for our 3rd wedding anniversary. We absolutely love it out there and couldn't wait to go back. We flew in to San Francisco Friday afternoon and stayed with our good friend Josh. He has an amazing house in the Marina District, just a 5 minute walk to the Golden Gate Bridge. Josh has been the best tour guide every time we visit SF. We have toured every square inch of this beautiful city and love and appreciate it as much as we do Austin.
We decided to hang out in the Marina District and get a feel of how the locals live. On Friday evening we went to the California Wine Merchant for a cocktail and then picked up some from Pizza Orgasmica & Brewing Co. (a local favorite). The pizza was phenomenal!
On Saturday morning we took our usual jog to the Golden Gate Bridge and the jogged over to our favorite brunch spot in SF called The Squat and Gobble. Just to be out in the fresh air on the bay is breathtaking.
There was a lot of fog and it was much colder than usual for SF in August. Here we are in front of the GGBridge and Alcatraz.
After brunch we headed out to wine country. We have vistied Napa and Sonoma before and loved it; but this time we ventured into Zin-country and went to the Russian River Valley in Healdsburg, CA. We were not very familiar with Zinfandel before this trip, but we will order it more often in Dallas now that we know all about it! Most of the wineries in the Russian River Valley are family owned, which gives the customer a more personal, hands-on feel such as tasting from the barrel.
We toured Dry Creek Vineyard, which has won several awards for their Zinfandels with ratings of 93 points and higher. This winery had some similarities to a Fredricksburg winery. Although it was absolutely gorgeous, it had a laid back Texas charm with an acustic band to entertain us on the lawn outside the winery.
We also toured Bella Vineyards, which was a cave tour we had never done before. It was amazing and the Zins were full of flavor. They even had a dessert wine (a petite sirah) paired with these amazing chocolate brownie bites. Some of the vines are 85 years old. We enjoyed a couple of bottles of our favorite Zin on the estate, while listening to live music.
That evening we went out on Chestnut to Izzys Steaks & Chops. It was one of the best meals we have had in a while. We had calamari, oysters, shrimp cocktail to start and the boys had the bone-in ribeye and I had the Tiger Prawns. When we are in SF, we like to take advantage of all things seafood because it is so fresh! You can't get that freshness in Dallas.
We decided to hang out in the Marina District and get a feel of how the locals live. On Friday evening we went to the California Wine Merchant for a cocktail and then picked up some from Pizza Orgasmica & Brewing Co. (a local favorite). The pizza was phenomenal!
On Saturday morning we took our usual jog to the Golden Gate Bridge and the jogged over to our favorite brunch spot in SF called The Squat and Gobble. Just to be out in the fresh air on the bay is breathtaking.
There was a lot of fog and it was much colder than usual for SF in August. Here we are in front of the GGBridge and Alcatraz.
After brunch we headed out to wine country. We have vistied Napa and Sonoma before and loved it; but this time we ventured into Zin-country and went to the Russian River Valley in Healdsburg, CA. We were not very familiar with Zinfandel before this trip, but we will order it more often in Dallas now that we know all about it! Most of the wineries in the Russian River Valley are family owned, which gives the customer a more personal, hands-on feel such as tasting from the barrel.
We toured Dry Creek Vineyard, which has won several awards for their Zinfandels with ratings of 93 points and higher. This winery had some similarities to a Fredricksburg winery. Although it was absolutely gorgeous, it had a laid back Texas charm with an acustic band to entertain us on the lawn outside the winery.
We also toured Bella Vineyards, which was a cave tour we had never done before. It was amazing and the Zins were full of flavor. They even had a dessert wine (a petite sirah) paired with these amazing chocolate brownie bites. Some of the vines are 85 years old. We enjoyed a couple of bottles of our favorite Zin on the estate, while listening to live music.
That evening we went out on Chestnut to Izzys Steaks & Chops. It was one of the best meals we have had in a while. We had calamari, oysters, shrimp cocktail to start and the boys had the bone-in ribeye and I had the Tiger Prawns. When we are in SF, we like to take advantage of all things seafood because it is so fresh! You can't get that freshness in Dallas.
8.04.2010
EST. 08.04.07
Today marks three years since we said "I DO." It has been such an amazing, fun and crazy ride. Just to think we have survived several major DIY kitchen and house remodel projects! It always makes us laugh when we tell someone we are working on a remodel project and they say, "If your marriage can survive a remodel project, it can survive anything." We've heard the same about traveling. We have been put to the test!
In the last couple of years, we have received great advice about marriage from random people to family and friends that we will cherish always. One of our favorite bits of advice is "A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person." ~ Mignon McLaughlin
We want to thank our family for all of their love and support that helps to make our foundation grow stronger every day. We have learned so much about eachother these past three years and look forward to the next 100 years of marital bliss! We can't wait to celebrate this weekend, Cali-style!Cheers!
In the last couple of years, we have received great advice about marriage from random people to family and friends that we will cherish always. One of our favorite bits of advice is "A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person." ~ Mignon McLaughlin
We want to thank our family for all of their love and support that helps to make our foundation grow stronger every day. We have learned so much about eachother these past three years and look forward to the next 100 years of marital bliss! We can't wait to celebrate this weekend, Cali-style!Cheers!
8.03.2010
Holly V Check Up
We drove out to Wylie this past weekend to put some new tires on Holly V. She is ready to go for opening weekend! The boys will take her out to the lease in a few weeks. One day (maybe very soon), Julie C. and I plan on giving Holly a little makeover and put in new curtains and upholstery.
Making sure the tires are in good condition and placed correctly
Luckily, on our way out to Wylie we hit two birds with one stone and picked up a vintage 1960's dresser I found on Craigs List that I cannot wait to refinish! It will look fabulous in one of our guest rooms.
Making sure the tires are in good condition and placed correctly
Luckily, on our way out to Wylie we hit two birds with one stone and picked up a vintage 1960's dresser I found on Craigs List that I cannot wait to refinish! It will look fabulous in one of our guest rooms.
Dinner with the Roys
It was so good to see Amber and Nick this past weekend! It has been a long, long time and we had so much to catch up on. If only there was more time! We went to Mico after a long, exhausting day at work for all of us, but we had a great time! Mambo taxis all around! Can't wait for the TECH/BU Game!
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