Grab Your Dauber

Tonight you brought a little extra cash, purchased a dauber, and got ready to win, because it's girls night and you're playing BINGO! This is the dauber you need—it says "The Winners Ink" and you're a winner for sure.

Buy one sheet—because daubing two sheets is a mega stressful for a newbie like you—and try not to talk, or laugh too loud or the BINGO lifers on both sides of you will politely shush you as you try to stifle your stressed out giggles that come out as snorts instead. The announcer is going so fast you feel the rush of adrenaline. What if someone takes your win because you're not fast enough!? What sheet are we on? What number did he just call?!?

You daub, daub, daub away. BINGO isn't like it used to be. All ones are wild? You have to get two rows to win plus a full corner? What? You accidentally got daub happy and marked the wrong space! NOOOOOOOO!!!

Alas, your dauber lied to you. It was not the winner's ink. All that craziness amounted to nothing on paper.

But that's perfectly fine with you…time spent talking and laughing with the girls is all a winner needs from time to time and you totally scored on that count!

Thanksgiving in Texas

The day was a little crazy. Adam's brother, Nathan picked up their sister and arrived in the afternoon. We had enough time to play one hand of cards, then Nathan had to leave to help a friend. Then as soon as he got back we had a VERY quick dinner so Nathan could get their sister back for work. And that was it!

Cooking started to Christmas music around 12:00 on Wednesday and didn't end until we sat down to eat the next day (well, we did sleep). A million versions of Chestnuts Roasting, four desserts, five sides, and one main dish later we were stuffed. Now we have leftovers for eternity.
Would you like to know how much butter I used? No. That should be your answer. No you don't. I don't want to know either. Heavens.

In columns:
Pecan Pie from The Pioneer Woman I don't like pecan pie. But after having this one, I LOVE IT. That's how awesome her recipe is.
Rolls with Honey Butter—20 minute rolls from an Anna family recipe, Adam's request. We munch on these all day.
Strawberry Pretzel Salad — his side, family favorite.
Cherry Raspberry Hand Pies
Cesar Salad—gotta have green in there somewhere right?
Sweet potato pie bites—pie filling piped onto gingersnap cookies, topped with maple whipped cream and cinnamon.
English Apple Pie
Sweet Potato Mashed Potatoes
Honey Tamarind Ribs—from the hog Adam personally stabbed to death.
Stuffing—my only recipe fail. It was an inedible, clumpy soup. Don't worry. It won't happen again.

Preparing for Thanksgiving ALWAYS makes me lonely for my family. So, I am glad some of Adam's siblings could at least be together.

I am grateful for so much that I don't want to make a list because it will break the internet. So…let's just say…I AM thankful everyday for a lot.

An Evening in Excellence Tea Party

Our 16 and 17 year old girls were in charge of Young Women in Excellence this year, so picked an Alice in Wonderland theme.  I went on an exploring expedition for ways to tie it into Personal Progress. I found this perfectly fitting quote by President Monson:

Let us not find ourselves as indecisive as Alice. You will remember that she comes to a crossroads with two paths before her, each stretching onward but in opposite directions. She is confronted by the Cheshire cat, of whom Alice asks, "Which path shall I follow"
The cat answers, “That depends where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn’t matter which path you take.”⁷Unlike Alice, we all know where we want to go, and it does matter which way we go, for by choosing our path, we choose our destination.

So we had our tie in! Personal progress helps us choose the right path. One of our speakers used it as her topic. Our second speaker used a quote from the Doorknob character (see further down) as his.

I suppose you can't have an Alice in Wonderland meeting without transforming it into a tea party. Squeal! Of course THAT idea was a hit with the girls. A week before the event they cut out the decorations. Then on the night of the meeting one of them came early to help set and decorate the tables, another brought floral arrangements she had made herself. Also one of them dressed up like Alice! It pleases me so much to help the girls find unique ways to participate, contribute and enjoy themselves.

I didn't get a good picture because let's face it, I was setting up and decorating right up until the meeting started….so I illustrated it instead.
We hung decorations to make them look like they were "falling down the rabbit hole." And I was excited to use my snack set collection! (I almost had enough…I borrowed some from my mother-in-law.)

Other decorations included signs pointing in all directions on the walls. And I put this quote on the programs:

I enjoy doing this for the girls—especially when one of them says "I thought it was going to be boring like all the other ones, but this was WAAAAY better than I thought it was going to be. This was my favorite one!" Hah hah. I can always count on her to speak her mind. Plus she was very involved this time, and that makes a huge difference in attitude.

But every year I am glad when it's over. Its takes preparation (for all of us adults, not just me, there's no way I could do it on my own) and I tend to worry and think a lot about it, so much that I loose sleep over it. Ugh. So check mark for the year 2015! (Now how are we going to top it next year….?)

Click here for the pinable post with a downloadable link for the cutouts 

Tacolandia!

Tacolandia was simply: Pay an entry fee, drive to Dallas, eat all the tacos you want, and vote on the best! And that's exactly what we did.

Our friend Nick invited us but we were on the fence about the event because of the price—Adam and I finally decided to go last minute (which means the price went up, ugh.) But tons of unique tacos and good company? Yeah. Let's rearrange the budget and make it work.

There were 27 vendors on the list (see below). I calculated we each should eat at least 12 tacos to make the entry price it worth it. So I did.

All participants received a wooden coin with which we used to vote—we didn't stay to learn who won taco king of the land.

Basically the evening went like this: Stand in line, get a taco, find another line and eat taco while waiting for more tacos. Wish you brought water because some tacos are fiery tacos.
Wish there were other Landias….Donutlandia, Pizzalandia, Icecreamlandia….

At the end we pulled out the selfie stick. A photographer from the Dallas Observer took a picture of us, taking a picture of ourselves. Funny!

Favorite vendor? Hands down all of us liked Urban Taco. Great flavor, the meat was crispy and soft and the toppings simple but perfection.

P.S. If you are going to eat multiple tacos with variable sauces and spices…you may want to plan to stay home the next day. Just sayin'.

Turning Megan Texan

My wonderful friend from California attended a conference over at the Gaylord Hotel in Grapevine. That's only 20-30 minutes from me…so Megan allocated some extra time too play! I was THRILLED. We haven't had ANY visitors from out of state since we moved here—so I've felt cut-off from my family and old friends. But a visit from Megan shortened the psychological distance and we had a lovely time!

DAY 1
Poor Megan told us she'd had a rough travel day. A bit of confusion left her running to her gate and her bag didn't make it. Consequently, after gathering her up from the airport, we went to Cane Rosso (Featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives) for lunch while we waited to hear if her bag had arrived on the next flight. Alas, we couldn't get word of it. So we took her home and decided to spend the afternoon in Fort Worth and watch the longhorns walk through town. It's a total touristy thing to do but still. Plus shopping at the stockyards is entertaining, especially for a couple of goobers like us. Furthermore, you can't be in Fort Worth Texas and NOT go to the Stockyards. It's as country cowboy as you can get.

PS. The horns are hollow. Which sparks the question…what if they get holes in them and fill up with water? Do they get infected? Do mosquitos lay their larvae in them…and then what? So on and so forth. Yes. Deep thinking went on over here. Deep. Thinking.

We discovered some interesting treats. These are the "original" worm snacks, whew…I HATE eating knockoffs—they don't taste quite right. And the suckers are sugar free, so you won't have any health concerns to worry about while you lick away at them. Just be careful, don't want any "added flavor" to get stuck in your teeth.

One of my favorite shops are olive oil and vinegar shops. Delicious. Megan is seen below licking the oil. Never thought I'd say those words together.

While Megan was in Texas she ate a lot of jalepeño. I could tell she was doing her darndist to become Texan. Was there a jalapeño vinegar, Megan?

The Sugar wall was another favorite. I liked the lime sugar. I think Megan tried…you guessed it; jalepeño.

A few hours later we drove across Fort Worth to Steel City Pops. It had been a HOT day and we were in no rush, so we each tried two flavors. Guess what one of the flavors Megan tried? Pineapple mixed with jalepeño.

We then couldn't wait any longer to hear about her bag. The airline's site had been down for the entirety of the day (for everyone) so there were no updates to be had. We went back into Dallas—lucky us, her bag had arrived! On our way home we ate at Chef Point (yet another spot on DDD.) Megan ordered the lobster bisque and LOVED IT. And then to bed.

I believe I've previously shared the story behind Chef Point but I'll do it again. When the owner of Chef Point went to the bank to get a loan to start his restaurant, he was rejected. But he WAS approved a loan to build a gas station. He built the gas station and then put his restaurant inside. It now serves award winning 4 star food, and is still a gas station. Good story huh?

DAY 2
The next morning we headed toward Dallas to visit a favorite accessory spot of mine, Sam Moon Trading Co. It has EVERYTHING, as you can see. We spent quite a bit of time laughing as well as shopping. Megan found a lot of Christmas presents, yay!

Then, into the city for lunch at Twisted Root (another DDD…and Megan promptly ordered jalapeños on her burger. Ha!) And after, we visited Knox street for additional window shopping. Megan found some fun dishes at Crate and Barrel which she took home. I found a fun cage which I left there.

Then off to Steel City Pops (again—this time the Dallas location) to end our day, and I took my friend to her hotel, which was AMAZING by the way. It has a glass covered atrium inside complete with rivers, running trail, gardens, and restaurants.

DAY 3
A few days later, when her conference was over, I retrieved Megan and she treated us to a tour of Jerryworld! I was excited, I've been wanting to tour it since construction completed.

What is a girl to do while waiting in the gift shop for the tour to start? Why this of course.

The stadium is incredibly massive inside.

I mean…look…there's a SEMI down there and it's itty bitty. And that screen? No matter where you sit it's in your face. It's ENORMOUS. The engineers designed the ceiling so that once the screen was installed it wouldn't cause the ceiling to sag more than 11 inches. It only sagged 5.

Where's all the grass? You'll see. They were setting up for Taylor Swift's 1989 concert tour to take place two days later.

Though we didn't take the art tour, we did pass by some of it. It's MASSIVE and covers foot upon foot of wall space. What fun those artists must have had. I would enjoy creating something like that.

Below: this was a gift from Mr. Jerry to his wife. Permission was obtained from the FAA before the piece was installed because the side that faces the sky is a convex mirror. Whoa! (That's the Rangers baseball stadium across the way.)

About to enter the Cowboy's locker room OoooOOOOoooohhh!

Fancy.

Tony Romo. Of course.

Aaaaaand no tour would be complete without seeing the cheerleaders' locker room. I think it's funny the girl's life-size photos are above the lockers—seems a little narcissistic. But after some thought, perhaps the pictures are there for those of us touring the facility. Yeah. That's it.

Here I am giving a passionate news conference to Megan.

She is an attentive reporter.

Pictured below are the rolls of grass. Each strip is 5 yards wide and they are latched together using Velcro. Some teams also store their own end zones here.

When the players leave the locker room for game commencement, they rally through this hallway and onto the field.

We finished off our day with lunch at Pepe's and Mitos (a DDD too.) And then I hugged my Megan and left her at the airport. It was sad.

I am SO GRATEFUL to Megan for coming. I have been looking forward to her visit for a while! It was fun driving us all over town (can we say I went into Dallas 4 different times that week, each from a different direction? I am now a pro! Thanks Megan for trusting me with your LIFE on these freeways!) I VERY much enjoyed her happy company. Together we are a couple of spazzes and I love it!!!

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