Road Trip Day One

The start of Friday morning meant saying goodbye to beautiful Seattle and hitting the road for Portland, but not before we made a few notable stops in North Bend and Snoqualmie, where the Pilot episode and establishing shots were filmed for David Lynch's early '90s cult TV show, Twin Peaks.  Now, before I convince you to watch the show for yourself, I will be completely honest and inform you that it is absolutely not for everyone.  If you know anything about David Lynch, you probably know he's a weird one.  His style is completely unmatched, the Dali of motion pictures.  His films, and Twin Peaks, are very outlandish, but created in an impeccably classy and dreamy manner.  I am currently re-watching the show right now, because the first time Jason and I gave it a go, I lost interest halfway through the second season.  I wish I hadn't because apparently right after I stopped watching, it got super creepy and amazing.  I just started the second, and final, season for the second time, and I am loving it so far.  It's even better now that I've been to the "RR Cafe" or Twede's Cafe, as they call it in real life, and tried a "damn fine cup of coffee" and a piece of pie, albeit we tried the chocolate instead of the cherry - still delicious.  The inside of the cafe has changed quite a bit since 1991 due to remodeling after an arson incident, but it was still pretty neat to be there.  The scenery in North Bend, where Twede's is located, is breathtaking.  There is a calmness in the air that you just don't come across in most places.  After lunch, pie and coffee, we drove down the street to see the famous log in the show credits and then up to Snoqualmie to steal a glance at Salish Lodge & Spa, or The Great Northern hotel, as it's called on the show.  Post Twin Peaks geek-out session, we made the three hour drive down to Portland.  I must say, the drive from Seattle to Portland significantly beats the drive from Austin to Houston due to the unbelievable scenery....just look at those mountains and trees!

We Went To The Beach

In the midst of all the hustle and bustle Jason and I are both currently experiencing at work this summer, we were able to escape to the beach for a couple of days.  We drove into Galveston Sunday afternoon and met up with my mom, sister, brother, aunts and cousin for dinner at Landry's on the Seawall.  My family lives in Houston which is only about an hour away from the island, and, to my delight, they decided to take a little trip to spend some time with us at the start of our mini-vacation.  Monday, we treated ourselves to breakfast at Waffle House and then spent a couple of hours in the sand and sea before wandering into town to browse the shops, have lunch and pick up some treats at the famous La King's Confectionery on The Strand.  After a few more hours down on the shore searching for seashells and enjoying the breezy, overcast day, we made our way back down to the east end for dinner at The Spot, where I had the most delicious coconut shrimp!  The trip was short, but oh-so-sweet, and it made me even more anxious for our trip to the Pacific NW in September where we will spend EIGHT days away from the madness!

xoxo

Peek-A-Boo!

Happiest of Wednesdays, friends!  Now, I thought today would be the perfect day for a catch-up post, and let you all in on what I've been up to over the past week and a half.  As I mentioned before, Jason and I went on a little one-night trip down to San Antonio which is just a little over an hour south of Austin.  As much as we love Austin, it was nice to see some new sites and eat some REAL Mexican food at Acenar on the Riverwalk.  The restaurant was a little ways down the Riverwalk, sort of away from all the hustle and bustle, which was really nice, and we got to sit out on the patio overlooking the river - really relaxing and lovely.  The coconut margarita there is top notch, as well as the fresh fish ceviche and the little-bit-of-everything platter that Jason and I shared.  I highly recommend it if you ever find yourself hungry in San Antonio.  After dinner, we strolled along the river back to our hotel to drop off our leftovers before checking out some bars in our vicinity.  Pat O'Brien's quickly caught our attention because it's a staple on our New Orleans trips.  This location, however, not so much so we found ourselves meandering over to Teddy Roosevelt's old stompin' grounds, The Menger Bar, which was surprisingly super interesting and beautifully constructed with mahogany accents.  Following a few beers, we stumbled upon the Alamo where we took some pictures and read some historical markers/plaques.  Neither of us had been to the Alamo since we were kids so it was neat experience.

A couple of days later, we made our way north to the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex to visit friends and family.  We got to meet our friends' Chris and Evelyn's new little addition, Nathan, who is absolutely adorable!  I'm so excited to be able to watch him grow into a little gentleman!  We got to spend some quality time with Jason's Uncle Jimmy and his maternal grandmother, and Wednesday night we got to see pretty much the entire family at dinner in Arlington.  I got to meet two of Jason's cousins that I hadn't met before, and it was so nice to be around so much of his family all at once because that's what I'm used to with my large family always getting together.

On the way home from Dallas, we obviously had to stop at the Czech Stop in West for fresh-baked fruit kolaches, and we finally tried Quality Seafood in north central Austin for dinner.  Delicious raw oysters!  Mmm mmm.

Speaking of food, tonight I'm making a healthy version of chicken and broccoli alfredo with a creamy Greek yogurt sauce.  Hopefully it fills and warms our bellies deliciously!  I'll be sure to letcha know.

xoxo

Queen of the Highway

Oh, hi there.  Just thought I'd pop in and give a quick little hello.  Today I am off to the Houston area for the Christmas week.  I am so excited!  I can't even remember the last time I was off work or in my homeland for more than just a few days.  It's going to be a week to remember - that's for sure ;)

I've already got a few things lined up.  I might be seeing some old high school friends tonight, tomorrow I'll be attending brunch (!) with my all-time favorite ladies and tomorrow night I'm meeting up with my good friend Amanda.  Sunday kicks off a few days of much-needed family time.  It's tradition that I celebrate Christmas with my dad, stepmom and my dad's parents on Christmas Eve, and then I get see all of my mom's family on Christmas Day.  I'm definitely looking forward to experencing all of the festivities, food and, most importantly, all of the precious faces.

I'll return after the holidays with (hopefully) tons of pictures!  Whatever your holiday plans may be, I hope they are as magical as I know mine will surely be.  MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY UPCOMING 2013!!

Many hugs & more kisses.
xoxoxoxo

Bathing Beauties

My sweet cousin, Sarah, graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University this past weekend with a Bachelor's of Business Administration degree in Economics - Summa Cum Laude, might I add.  I'm so, so proud of her.  She's come a long way from that adorable, doe-eyed little blonde chasing Esther and I around to keep up with our erratic, girlish antics, but she is still as selfless and giving as ever.  The entire weekend was a wonderful treat - getting to spend some much-needed quality time with Esther on the road to Nacogdoches, seeing my sweet Nana, goofing around with my mom, hearing Aunt Kelley's infectious laugh, chatting with Aunt Kandace, eating Aunt Kim and Uncle Dale's always delicious food, giggling with my sister and younger cousins and, of course, seeing Sarah walk across that stage, stepping into that new, terrifyingly uncertain phase of life with the world in ruffles at your feet.  After the ceremony, we all gathered around the table for Frito pie and gelatin salad, and I felt myself get lost in the moment, melting into the eyes of these people surrounding me, every fiber in my body feeling nothing but unconditional love for my family.  This is it.  This is what it all comes down to - family loving and supporting each other to no end.  It's so overwhelming in the best of ways.