The Life and Times of...Us

Our Latest Adventure (Part 1)...

2009-10-26T17:37:00.004-05:00

So, we finally made it back. After two solid weeks of traveling and adding quite a few miles to our frequent flyer (and train rider if that is possible) accounts saw the sights and took pictures. Below is a quick rundown and some pictures, if you want to see all of them I'll post a link at the bottom for to view all of our pics.

I have also decided to break this up into two separate posts. There is quite a bit to cover in each one, and thought I would do both justice.

We left about mid morning on a Thursday (thank for the lift Al). After checking in we had a short flight to Newark. There we exchanged some money, which I wouldn't do again, and waited. The initial wait wasn't so bad, we even had a chance to swing by the Brooklyn Brewery pub in Newark. It was ok, but I wouldn't recommend it. After that we boarded a plane to Bristol, UK. Yes, I realize this was our Italy trip, but our very first stop was the UK.

Above is the town of Dunster, we actually stayed with some friends (Sam and Bethany) near here in a village called Withycombe. It was a fantastic, very much your "traditional English countryside".

Our first day there we got to explore the countryside a little and neighboring villages. Since Sam had the car, we couldn't get too far from the house. But something else had us tied near our temporary place of residence, jet lag. This was my first flight overseas and I wasn't quite as prepared for it as I thought.

Our flight had brought us to the UK overnight so we arrived early the next morning. This was originally a great idea, but I didn't factor in that sleep on a plane is not really sleep at all, but just closing your eyes for a bit to pass the time. So, when we arrived we had been awake for close to 18 hours or so, nothing too crazy. It was the next 12 that were tough. As you can tell from my expression below...

As we explored in the towns and countryside, we happened upon the Dunster Castle. Although we did not take the official tour, we did walk around and look at surrounding areas.

We also stopped in for a tea and snack. This was not your traditional "cream tea", just something to tide us over (and keep us up) until later. Something to note, the English do offer a cheese sandwich, which as it turns out, is not heated at all, just some cheese between two slices of dry bread. All in all, it wasn't too bad.

Despite the jet lag we finally made it through our exploring, with a short nap, and went out to a traditional English pub in the countryside. I keep referring to most of these places as "in the countryside" because to be quite honest, Sam drove or Bethany led, so I have no idea where we were half the time.

The pub food was great, I had the fish and chips of course and Heather had the "fisherman's bake", think chicken-pot-pie. However, the one item that completely threw me off was the beer, or rather ale. What the English term as "proper" meant, to me at least, "no bubbles". Apparently carbonation was something that prohibits the folks across the pond from consuming as much beer as they would like before they become too bloated to consume anymore. I enjoyed my drinks, but still missed a "bit o'the bubbly".

Our second day was filled with traveling all around the moore's and coastal villages. I had my first "propper" cream tea. And, as it turns out, I really enjoy clotted cream, in Devon. For those of you that have had clotted cream you know what I am talking about, but for those of you that have not, imagine the best butter you have ever had slathered all over a scone or biscuit. That, my friends, is amazing.

We also visited Sam's parents home, hiked to the highest point in the area (all are in the full set of pictures), and had a nice Thai curry for dinner.

Our final day was spent catching a train to Paddington Station then to Heatherow and then flying to Milano...

Link to All Pictures

I used Shazam to discover I Want You To by Weezer

2009-09-15T21:03:00.001-05:00

	Hi, I used Shazam to discover I Want You To by Weezer and thought I'd share it with you.
Shazam users on iPhone and iPod touch, tap here to add this to your Tag List.

-Steven

Google fast flip...

2009-09-14T22:14:00.001-05:00

So, it seems that our attention spans are getting shorter every day. Google labs just introduced something known as Google fast flip. The idea is that it takes news stories from all over the web, puts them in logical groups (topics, sources, most popular, etc...) and then displays a visual snippet of the story. You can scroll through these groupings to see if there is anything that seems interesting enough to devote several more seconds to. It's a great idea, and I'm pretty sure it will hold my attention for quite some time to come.

http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/

Your "go to" places?

2009-08-26T12:08:00.001-05:00

Last night Heather and I met a couple of our friends for dinner at a new restaurant on Henderson called Park (more on this later). During the meal, I made a comment that 1) I felt like this place was going to be extremely busy when the weather cooled off and 2) this would be a great place to come to more often.

That got me thinking about my "go to" places. You know, the first place you think of when you're craving Tex-Mex, coffee or pizza. Given the multitude of restaurants we have here in Dallas, most people (myself included) tend to frequent the same establishments. This in and of itself isn't a bad thing, in fact some people encourage it. It's a way to build relationships with the staff there, a way to find your "favorite" dish, etc. But, I do enjoy the occasional new place. Trying out a new restaurant, bakery or even record store is always an adventure.

The Dallas Observer is currently running a poll or their Best of Dallas 2009 (http://polls.dallasobserver.com/polls/dal/bestof2009/) but I figured I would throw up my own list and see what my friends thought, or could add (please feel free). So, sit back, relax and enjoy.

Go To for something completely different...
Park (on Henderson)
http://www.parkhenderson.com/

Go To caffeine supplier...
Pearl Cup (with Crooked Tree coming in a close second)
http://thepearlcup.com/

Go To caffeine supplier delivered to your door...
Oak Cliff Coffee
http://www.oakcliffcoffee.com/

Go To for the new indie album of your choice (vinyl or cd)...
Good Records
http://www.goodrecords.com/

Go To when you need random ravioli
Civello's Ravilismo
http://civellosraviolismo.com/

Go To when conventional isn't an option for your apples... (disclaimer: I work for WFM)
Whole Foods Lakewood
http://www.wholefoods.com

Go To when ice cream just won't do...
Paciugo on Abrams
http://www.paciugo.com/

Go To for more than rice and beans...
Mia's for the Brisket Tacos
http://www.miastexmex.com/

Go To when you want to have breakfast in Austin, but don't want to drive through Waco...
All Good Cafe
http://www.allgoodcafe.com/

Go To for that really random book on the cheep...
Half Price Books on NW Hwy
http://www.halfpricebooks.com/

Go To when you're craving curry...
Bangkok City on Greenville
http://www.bkkcityrestaurant.com/

Go To for the best pancakes with bananas and granola with warm praline sauce...
Legal Grounds
Map to

Go To for great atmosphere, food and drinks...
Trinity Hall
http://www.trinityhall.tv/

Hope this short list helps, and if you can think anything else I might have missed please feel free to comment, I love finding new places.

-Steven

I used Shazam to discover Fireflies by Owl City

2009-08-20T18:56:00.001-05:00

	Hi, I used Shazam to discover Fireflies by Owl City and thought I'd share it with you.
Shazam users on iPhone and iPod touch, tap here to add this to your Tag List.

-Steven

Anna's Big Day...

2009-01-30T11:00:00.004-06:00

In case you have not met her before, this is Anna.

We recently discovered that Anna likes to eat things. And, by recently I mean over the course of her 5 years here on Earth. It is not uncommon for her to ingest socks, underwear, paper and the like. By ingest I mean, whole, not shredded but swallowed. For most dogs this would be a death sentence, and we have tried to curb her appetite for these things. Keeping doors shut, and clothes off the floor has helped, but she is persistent. Well, yesterday she bumped it up to a whole new level.

Let me give you a little more history. I started shaving with a double-edge safety razor about a year ago. I really like it and am trying to get my friends interested in it as well. I purchased a "sampler pack" of blades a few months ago, tried several of them, and had several left. I asked, and my friends wanted to try them as well, so I figured I would share. One of said friends lives out of state, so I need to mail them to him. I am extremely forgetful, so I thought it would be a good idea to place the zip top bag with the new, unused, still in their wrapper blades on the table so I would see them on the way out. Well, they stayed there for the better part of the day yesterday.

Notice I said better part, not the entire day. At some point they made their way down to the floor, I assume with a little help from the canine pictured above. At this point, I'm not really sure what occurred, but I have a good idea. When I got home around 3:30, this is what I found (see picture on right.) Actually, this is a recreation on the table, but you can imagine what it would look like on the floor. Apparently, our dog has a death wish and this was a cry for help. She had chewed on and presumably swallowed razor blades at some point during the day. A sense of panic went over me when I realized this. Anna, on the other hand, was just as happy as she could be. In fact, she ran out to meet the mail man when I came home, an act he was not too excited about by the way. So, what to do?

I called the vet, they asked how long ago she had gotten into them, "at some point during the day" I replied. "Well, you should bring her in, just to be safe" they replied. Ok, here we go. This is going to be expensive. We arrived at the vet, Anna smelling around at everything. If I had just chewed on and swallowed razor blades, I wouldn't be quite this inquisitive. But, as I mentioned before, she has a history. We got in to see a vet much faster than ever before, something about razor sharp (literally) metal passing through a digestive system that conveys a sense of urgency. The vet laid down two options. Option one, the cheap way, observe her for the next several days and if she stops eating, or vomiting bring her in. Option two, the expensive way, take an x-ray. Of course, being the paranoid hypochondriac that I am, I opted for option two. Ten minutes later, and with much yelping (from Anna of course, she has separation anxiety) x-rays are done and the vet returns with the news.

No blades or metal of any sort. Woohoo!! He even examines her mouth. No cuts on her gums or tongue. Crazy, our dog has chewed on razor blades and lived to tell the tale. Just for good measure, he takes two x-rays (one of her throat and one of her stomach), both are clear. While he's poking around he checks to make sure there is no joint damage (due to old age) and there is no tartar on her teeth. Anna comes out with a clean bill of health.

So what has this taught us? Well, for starters, don't trust Anna and don't leave things out. I'm pretty sure if we left something she wanted on top of the fridge she would figure out how to get up there. So in case you ever wondered if they embellished a little with the making of Marley and Me, please refer back to Anna's Big Day.

It's about that time...

2008-12-12T12:06:00.001-06:00

Well, here you have it. This is our extent of decorating looks like. Not too shabby eh? And yes, that is a real tree. Merry Christmas everyone.

No Shave November...

2008-12-02T10:02:00.004-06:00

Day 1

This year it finally happened, I remembered about No Shave November before it was actually half way through November. As you can see from the above photo, I started out with a nice clean face (thanks mostly to my Halloween costume this year requiring a baby face). Where does NSN come from? Well, the original idea was brought to my attention by my lovely wife. Some of her friends in college would not shave for the month of November to raise awareness and funds for testicular cancer. I am sure that over the course of the past several years she has mentioned this when she mentioned NSN, but I completely forgot about it. This little tid-bit of information would have made much more sense as to why I was not shaving, compared to my usual answer, "it's No Shave November man."

Day 8

As the days began to accumulate, the novelty started to wear off and the fact that I was actually growing a beard, on purpose, started to set in. It wasn't really that unusual for me to grow a beard, but usually it involved me going on a trip for a week or so and refusing to shave. This time, was obviously a little different. I actually had to go to work with this thing.

About two and a half weeks in, people at work started noticing it (as you can see by the above picture, it was pretty obvious before then). One of our store leaders came by and informed me that because I work around food, on occasion, I would have to wear a beard net if the length was over 1/2". Although the idea of wearing a beard net was very appealing, I opted to keep the beard nice and trimmed (read less than 1/2").

Fast forward another week and a half. My mom's side of the family likes to have their Thanksgiving lunch the Saturday before and here in Dallas (well, technically McKinney). Up to this point we had not mentioned to anyone in my family that I had a beard. Partially for shock value, but mostly because it just wasn't generally a topic of conversation. Heather and I arrived at the same time as my parents, my father made the first comment. "Heather must be pregnant." Words can not describe the look on my wife's face when she heard this. Ok, bit of a back story, the only time my father has ever had a beard was when my mom was pregnant with me. The day I was born, he stayed through the delivery, went home, cleaned up and shaved, never to have a beard again. Needless to say, Heather is not pregnant at this time, but she was also not aware of the origin of my father's comment. As you can imagine, it was very very interesting for a few minutes.

Finally, Day 30. The last day of the beard. Quite honestly, it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I was expecting it to itch and drive me crazy, but not so much. After about the first week or so, I grew accustomed to the little itch around my mouth and under my chin. The first full shave in nearly a month was interesting, but not that unusual. I did not carve any crazy designs, or shave everything but the mustache (check here for that), just your normal, everyday shave. Did I learn anything from this little experience. Sure, if I do this next year, make sure to raise money for a good cause and don't let your beard get over 1/2".

Day 30

Heather's Birthday

2008-10-27T18:05:00.003-05:00

So, here are some pictures from Heather's birthday in Ft. Worth. Nothing too exciting. I suppose we need to work on taking more pictures.

Well, It's Not Summer...

2008-10-16T17:28:00.002-05:00

So, in most parts of the country, there are distinct seasons, four of them to be exact. Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Here in Texas we have two, hot and wet. You think I'm joking? Ask anyone who has lived in Texas for any stretch of time and they will tell you the same thing. Poor Houston generally just stays hot year round. Sure, there is the occasional cold spell, but generally no discernable slow change of seasons. It's hot one day, it rains that night, it's cold or cooler the next. A week or so later it will be warm again. Then this process repeats itself.

Exhibit A. Month to date the highest high here was 92 degrees, currently it is 65, this weekend it's forecasted to be up near 80 again. No wonder I have sinus problems.

Heather and I are both huge fans of cooler weather. One of the main reasons is because I can do exactly what I'm doing now, sitting outside with a mug of hot cocoa and not sweating (at all). Another, looking in Heather's direction on this one, is that the bugs tend to either hibernate or die off completely. Always a plus if you ask me.

But finally, Texas seems to be one of the few places that more people go outside when cool weather finally arrives. It's odd really, most people dread winter. Here we (at least our household) dreads summer. In winter you can bundle up, light a fire and drink warm drinks. In summer, except for spending the entire time in the pool, there are only so many clothes you can take off in public before you run the risk of getting arrested.

So, to end, I guess I'll leave you with my newly created recipe of hot cocoa. When I say newly created I mean, I looked it up in my edition of Joy of Cooking. This is a little more labor intensive, but it's well worth it.

Hot Cocoa
makes one large cup

2 tbl Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 tbl Sugar
1 1/2 C Milk
1/4 tsp Vanilla extract

Combine cocoa powder and sugar in sauce pan. Pour in milk and whisk until somewhat combined. Place over medium heat and stir occasionally until combined and bubbles start to form. Remove from heat, pour in vanilla extract and stir. Pour into your favorite mug and enjoy.

Quck Tomato Update...

2008-09-12T15:45:00.003-05:00

So, here they are, the famous tomato plants. Well, famous to me anyway. From the 50 some odd seeds that I planted, these are the only 4 (only 3 pictured) that I kept and put my hope in. As you can see, a couple of them are doing really well. One of them is doing ok, and the other is just barely hanging in there.

Sadly, there are no tomatoes yet, but hopefully soon. If there is anything that this has taught me is that growing your own anything takes time and a lot of patience. I'll make sure to update you when the first tomatoes start to sprout. Hopefully the hurricane won't blow them away.

She said yes!!!

2008-08-28T19:53:00.004-05:00

Well, exactly one year ago today, she did just that. It was on that day that Heather changed my life (well, both our lives for that matter), forever. For those of you who don't know the story, it went a little something like this...

We were both off of work that day, so we decided to go for a little run. You see, at this point we were training for a half marathon. I say "at this point" because I believe this was the second (and last) time we ran. I had it all planned out. We were going to run, then come back to my apartment, Heather was going to find the little surprise I left for her, I would propose, she would say yes, ofcourse, and we would go out to celebrate with a very nice breakfast. Well, it didn't quite happen exactly like that.

After our run, Heather and I were both hungry, although I think I mistook nerves for hunger because I wasn't able to eat a thing. We arrived at a little place called Legal Grounds in Lakewood, which is oddly enough very near where we live now, and ordered. As I just mentioned, no food for me, just a wee little bit of coffee. After a nice, short breakfast, we headed back to our apartments. We were going to look at West Elm, which just opened up. After dropping Heather off at her place, I ran home and set everything up. There were roses, notes, riddles, everything. It was perfect. But, I had to figure out some way to get her back to my place without raising any suspicion. So, I "accidentally" left my wallet at my apartment when I went to pick her up. "Oh no! I left my wallet, we have to go back to my place." was the line that started it all. When we pulled in the parking lot, I told her that she had to come up because Tommy, my roommate at the time, had cleaned. This was partially true. As she walked through the door, I ran into my bathroom, where the ring was waiting. Heather came around the corner and asked, "who got flowers?" Then she began to realize what was going on. As I came out, ring in hand, I told her that there would be no crying. That didn't last long, for either of us. Each of the boxes in the picture to the right, had a little note, and they are each very special to us. After she finished opening each box, I took her over to the couch (the very same place I first told her I loved her) sat her down, got down on one knee, and asked her to marry me. Her initial response, "I love you!", which as most guys will tell you, is great, but not the exact answer you're looking for at the moment. So, I had to clarify, "that's a yes, right?" She shook her head and gave me a huge hug.

So there you have it, our engagement story, not as exciting as proposing on a mountain in Alaska or something like that, but we were both very happy with it. It's hard to believe that was a full year ago now, but how times flies. Of course, a large portion of the past year has been filled with wedding planning. More to come on that later.

*all photos courtesy of Paul Golangco

Chi-town...post 2

2008-08-08T14:18:00.002-05:00

Ok, more pictures...

Chi-town...post 1

2008-08-08T14:00:00.004-05:00

Well, we finally made it back in last night. Needless to say, Chicago is one of my new favorite places. The weather was amazing, they actually have seasons there you know. The food was great, Greek, Italian, coffee, chocolate, pizza, how can you go wrong? The people were friendly, although terrible drivers, and the city actually had some culture.

I would also like to note that public transportation is a great thing, that is much needed in Dallas. I know we may have a bus and DART rail (that goes from point a to point b, and not much else), but they would make life so much easier if only there was a bit more emphasis placed on the use of public transportation and it's benefits. Ok, end soap box. Time for the pictures.

It's Raining in Chicago...

2008-08-04T11:27:00.001-05:00

Apparently it's raining in Chicago. That means we're sitting at the
airport, waiting to board the plane (for about 2 hours, with at least
one more to go). I must admit, with me being the seasoned traveler and
all, this is my first long delay. At least I have a book, and we're in
the a/c. More to come later.

-Steven

And We're Off...

2008-08-03T20:20:00.001-05:00

To Chicago that is, in the morning. Get excited. We have our boarding passes, and tickets to the Cubs game. What more do you need really? We'll make sure to take lots of pictures and post some. Until then...

Sprout!!!

2008-07-11T16:49:00.003-05:00

Woohoo!! We have a sprout. I know it's not much, but it's a start. That is all really, more updates to come. Enjoy.

-Steven

Our First Netflick...

2008-07-02T12:53:00.003-05:00

Is that considered the singular form of NetFlix? Oh well, we recently signed up and our first movie came in yesterday. It is....(drumroll sound here)...The Darjeeling Limited by Wes Anderson. It has been quite enjoyable so far, then again, we have only watched about the first 30 minutes. What I can tell you is that it is the usual Wes Anderson humor.

Other Movies of Interest:
Bottle Rocket
Rushmore
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Sorry, back to NetFlix. This, so far, seems to be a great idea. We were never really big movie watchers, but then again, this service seems to take all the hastle out of renting a movie. Just que up a few movies online that you would like to watch, wait a few days, pick up your mail, watch, return and start the process over again. Pretty simple and convenient if you ask me.

-Steven

Tomato Plants...the beginning

2008-07-02T11:34:00.005-05:00

As many of you may (or may not) know, we recently decided to start growing our own herbs to use here at the house. Nothing major, just the usual. Basil, oregano, parsley (which didn't quite make it), mint and thyme. To our surprise, those took off fairly well (with the exception of the previously mentioned parsley). Fast forward a few weeks. Heather and I are at Whole Foods getting stuff to make guacamole for a party and we picked up a few heirloom tomatoes (wikipedia has a much better explanation of what they are exactly here) to chop up and put in the dish. As we got to the register, our prized little red globes rang up to around $8. Wow! Two tomatoes at about $4 each, even with my discount this is pretty pricey. That launched me into the quest to grow our own tomatoes from these heirloom seeds.

Step 1: Collect and Prepare the seeds
Sadly, I don't have any pictures of this for you guys. It was quite the interesting process. First you salvage the seeds from whatever pulp you don't use, place them in a container, add a little water, stir, set in a warm place and wait. For three days. Seriously. Then, after a nice layer of mold/scum builds up on top you scrape that off, add a little more water and stir (again). At this point the "good" seeds settle to the bottom and all that is left to do is remove what's left. Now you are left with seeds and a little mush that is hanging on, which is washed off with the help of a fine mesh sieve. At this point you should have just seeds (which we did) which are to be spread out on a paper towel and dry for about 3 days. Total time invested: about one week

Step 2: Gather the seeds
This step is a little less involved, just collect the dried seeds and place in an envelope for easy transport. "Make sure to label the envelope", they all said, I'm sure I'll get around to it soon.

Step 3: Plant the seeds
This part is what I'm sure most of you think of when you think of planting tomatoes. I went to a local garden center, picked up some seed starter soil. Which, on a side note, apparently dirt is no longer just dirt, they actually have soil that has been blended for all types of specific purposes. Weird, I know. Also, when I decided to start this project, I had the foresight (which is unusual for me) to save a couple of egg crates to start the seeds in. I added a bit of this patented organic seed starting soil to the bottom of each little egg holder, and carefully placed 3-4 seeds in there. On top of this, you guessed it, more patented organic seed starter soil, with a little water just for good measure. Then wrap the whole thing in plastic wrap, to create your own little green house and there you go, done. Tomato plants in no time. Well, not quite. There is the continued watering and maintenance, just to make sure local critters don't completely disturb our new little plants.

Step 4: Wait...
Yeah, pretty much self explanatory, I'll keep you updated on any happenings.

-Steven

We're Going to Chicago!!!!

2008-06-29T11:39:00.002-05:00

Hello Chi-town, here we come. More details to come later, but what I can say is that I was finally able to use up all of those "thank you point" and get the tickets this morning. Woohoo! My first trip to the windy city. Ofcourse, Heather has been at least once, so that qualifies her as a tour guide. The main reason for the trip is to, well mostly get us out of the Texas heat in August, but also visit Heather's plutonic life partner, Heather. Yes, it's just as confusing as it sounds. Needless to say, we're pretty excited. I'll try to make sure to post plenty of pictures for those of you out there that might be interested in those sorts of things.

-Steven

Our Thursday...

2008-06-29T10:33:00.004-05:00

So, yesterday started off normal enough. I had a store meeting, Heather had the day off. We went to power yoga at the Y, which I still think is a form or torture, and tried a new restaurant. Sometime during the middle of the day, we invited Paul and Al over for dinner, and started getting ready for that. We planned a menu, Italian was the theme. Heather wanted to make a white sangria, and I decided on lasagna (my mom's recipe) and tiramisu for dessert.

We went shopping, spending a small fortune at the local Whole Foods, and were finally ready to start cooking. First we got the cold things ready, the dessert and the sangria. Then decided to take Anna for a walk. This is where things go went down hill very quickly. We walked outside and realized that we forgot the keys. I went back in to grab them, however, when I did, I moved some of Anna's "bags" from one pocket to another. For what ever reason, my brain perceived this as "we have the keys, let's go." You see, we have the type of exterior door that you can lock while the door is open (without the key mind you), then shut. And that is exactly what I did. The instant the door clicked shut, I realized what I had done. It was 3:30.

Well, panic didn't quite sink in. "It's an old house," we thought, "I'm sure the door will open right up." It didn't, neither did any of the windows, our place was on lock down, and we were outside. Now most normal people would have hidden a key outside when they moved in, we didn't. Also, these "normal people" would have left a spare with a trusted friend, we did, she is currently in Africa (strike two). Finally, we called our landlord. To our surprise, he picked up. He was in Lubbock, about 5 hours away. Luckily, he was about to board a plane, to fly back to Dallas. This would cut the trip down to about 45 minutes, we could handle that. At this point we figured we might as well go on that walk, we had some time to kill.

Summers in Texas are always one thing, if nothing else, and that is hot. About 4 pm during the summer is usually the warmest part of the day, and like I mentioned earlier, we were stuck outside. The walk wasn't all that bad, a bit warm, but bearable. Anna, on the other hand, might disagree. When we returned to the house (with about an hour to go before we were let back in) she ran straight to the door to get in first (as is her usual custom). Today, she would have to wait. This did not go over very well. After about 5 minutes of waiting, the whining began. Then the burning stare, as if we were doing this on purpose. Heather and I kept ourselves occupied by rolling an old skateboard down the sidewalk (we're pretty creative, I know).

Finally, after two and a half hours of waiting, our landlord called to let us know that he was back on the ground in Dallas. Woohoo!!! This excitement quickly faded when he called back a few minutes later and informed us that he had a flat and would be a little later than expected. So we waited, again...

When he arrived finally, it was pretty anticlimatic. He just walked up and opened the door, nothing fancy, no trumpets sounding in victory, nothing really. I quickly ran in and began preparing dinner, Heather was watching Anna and Buster (the pomaranian next door) play in the back yard. Dinner went off without a hitch though, and we got to spend some great time with great friends. And the white sangria was amazing, tiramisu not so much.

The End.

-Steven

Song of the moment...

2008-06-23T07:47:00.000-05:00

Lost!
Coldplay

Go out and give it a listen.

-Steven

Winding Down...

2008-06-22T20:16:00.001-05:00

Lazy Sunday Morning...

2008-06-22T14:48:00.002-05:00

Today was one of the first few days we have had off together in quite some time. It is really great to be able to wake up and get a great breakfast. We decided to visit a new place we found in Deep Ellum a few days ago called The Allgood Cafe.

This place is really great because they try to use ingredients from the local farmers market, which is just a couple blocks away. Heather opted for the oatmeal with fresh blueberries and I went for the Breakfast #2, which included two pancakes, two eggs and another protein (I decided on the peppered bacon), and we both had mimosas and coffee (as pictured above). The food is amazing, as I mentioned, very fresh. The mimosas were strong, but good and the coffee would fetch an average rating (although, I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to that sort of thing.)

That's it for now, off to a party. Will try to post more later.

sp

Initial Post...

2008-06-22T14:45:00.000-05:00

Well, I suppose this is where most people note that they decided to start a blog, or have been mulling over the idea and finally just did it. I guess we fall into one of those categories. Here is the first post. Nothing profound, or too terribly thought provoking, just a place for us to post pictures, thoughts and happenings of our day to day lives. I realize that we have friends and family that are all over the place (or soon will be) and thought it would be a good central location to keep them updated on what we are doing.

Cheers,
Steven and Heather