party on the bridge!

saturday was the big "margaret hunt hill bridge" opening celebration and it was the perfect opportunity to see the fabulous bridge in all it's glory while taking in some of dallas' local treasures.  i was volunteering with bcworkshop, a nonprofit architectural firm, interviewing attendees about their neighborhoods and communities within the city.  it was such an amazing thing to talk to all of these people and get their different perspectives of dallas, the bridge and how it will affect the city. one of my favorite quotes was from a boy about 8 years old who, when asked what could be done to improve his community, said "stop all the sagging!" ha! indeed. 

i also got to watch my friend and true talent, lauren adelle crowder perform. she was amazing and i was proud to watch her on that stage!

during my break, i enjoyed a scrumptious bbq grilled cheese sandwich from ruthie's rolling cafe food truck.

the bridge at night was incredible. when taking pictures all we could say was "wow it almost looks fake!" because of the contrast of the clear night sky on the bright white cables. truly an amazing structure.

stephen and i went back on sunday during the day to walk across the bridge again.  we really wanted to take advantage of this opportunity, since it will never be open to pedestrians once it is a fully open and functioning roadway.

it was really wonderful to be a part of history in dallas.  bravo, mr. calatrava, you did an amazing job creating a beautiful structure that will forever change the dallas skyline.

(all photos by me, on the ol' iphone)

the commissary

wednesday night mom came in town for a little mom/daughter time, and after a little shopping and a fun pedicure, we decided dinner was in order.

we picked stephen up and headed to the commissary - a new(er) restaurant in dallas' lovely one arts plaza. the food and service were both fabulous.  i tried the special which was tempura fried scallops served on sliced avocados and a delicious sauce. mom got the crabcake burger - it was so good and was mostly just crab meat which was a nice surprise (you know when you get that crab cake and it's all filler? not this one!), she also tried the sweet potato tots which were adorable and yummy. stephen had the tandoori burger - lamb with a tzatziki sauce served in a pita, alongside their skinny fries - delectable.

we enjoyed wine and great conversation, but were just too full for dessert...i guess that means we'll just have to go back, right?! i hope to also go back when it's a bit cooler, as they have a really beautiful outside eating area on the plaza.

if you're in dallas or stopping by, i recommend trying this fun, delicious place, and maybe even enjoy a show or concert or head to the museums afterward, since you're in the largest arts district in the nation!

shock me like an electric eel

last weekend when the fam was in town, we ventured over to city arts and while it was really neat, it was just too hot, so we escaped into the children's aquarium to get a little a/c. what a fun place!! it's a very small but entertaining and interactive aquarium.  we even got to feed the sting rays!!

stephen with the electric eel

the whole fam gathered around the tank,  feeding the sting rays - and stephen being too scared to do it! ha!

 

attempting another time :) 

 

uncle stephen and miss paige and some creepy octopus arms!

and here is a nice little family picture with all the siblings plus paige

of course, at our favorite little taco place

good times with the family :)

meddlesome moth

last weekend (memorial day wknd), stephen's fam came in town to celebrate the twins' 21st birthday.  one of the brothers, nick, came in on friday to have a little extra fun time and i took him out on the town.  his favorite restaurant here is the meddlesome moth (and who can blame him? that place is phenomenal!!). here are some of my fave shots from our delicious dinner.

yay for ordering tasty beers at dinner! 21!

 eating their delicious "moth balls" small balls of ricotta with amazing texture, baked in a brown butter sauce and garnished with fried sage leaves.........heaven.

 the pork belly - it's shredded, covered in a blackstrap glace and served over yummy corn pancakes.

the corn. oh the corn. mexicali creamed corn...enough said.

top it all off with the "moth sundae" using creamy mint ice cream from local creamery wild about harry's, bananas with a crispy sugar glace and topped with ghirardelli chocolate chips and peanuts...it was a sweet surrender and we were stuffed to the gills afterward.

all in all a lovely birthday dinner :) if you ever get the chance to visit the moth, do so and you will not regret it!

record store day

tomorrow is one of my favorite "holidays" - record store day! this is the day to go out and support music at your local record store. many independent record stores all around the world will be celebrating with parties, live music and special RSD releases from multiple amazing artists. to find out what's happening near you, visit the record store day website.

if you're in the dallas area, i am volunteering at good records' 11th anniversary + record store day celebration (come say hi!). the store will be open starting at 8 am and there is a full lineup of bands and dj's from 11 am to midnight along with giveaways and an awesome jukebox raffle.

"i think it’s high time the mentors, big brothers, big sisters, parents, guardians, and neighborhood ne’er do wells, start taking younger people that look up to them to a real record store and show them what an important part of life music really is."
- jack white

hey, if jack white says so, who are we to argue?! so get out to your local record store and support music!! trust me, it will be awesome.

toulouse soufflé

going through my pictures this morning i came across this delicious beauty! when my mom came in town a few weeks ago, we ate at the lovely french restaurant, toulouse, and of course had to try the soufflé! we ordered the grand marnier soufflé first and then realized there is no chocolate with that one (for shame!) so we ordered the chocolate one as well...just for the three of us...they were both divine. in fact, we found that taking a bite of both at the same time was really the best way to enjoy them! if you are ever in the area, i highly suggest toulouse, a true neighborhood favorite. 

i have always wanted to try to make a soufflé but alas, i am intimidated by horror stories of just how much they can be messed up. 

do you like soufflés? can you make one?? i am dying to know someone who has been successful...

it's a sign.

just a little tuesday morning funny for you.  taken in front of saint ann restaurant & bar.

hope you all had a great weekend! i had off yesterday for president's day so i'm feeling relaxed, refreshed and a little accomplished today after a nice, long weekend!

surprise date night

last night stephen surprised me by going on a fabulous little date! we started at oak cliff neighborhood gem, nova, which i highly recommend if you live here or are visiting dallas.  i mean, where else can you get salmon potato skins?! delicious. i had the shrimp pesto pizza (goat cheese? yes please!) and stephen devoured a most yummy bison burger.

salmon potato skins

shrimp pesto pizza

bison burger

then we ventured over to pinkberry for some dessert - may i recommend the new hazelnut crunch topping? droooooooool. 

after rolling out of our chairs, we wandered over to the magnolia theater to see true grit. now, i had high expectations for this movie - i'm a huge jeff bridges fan and love pretty much everything the coen brothers have ever done (yes, even the ladykillers) - but this far exceeded any of those expectations. it was amazing... and even if you don't think you'd love it, go see it, you will (i promise). 

it was the perfect little date night...and it still makes me swoon when stephen opens the car door for me :) 

a very dallas weekend

did everyone have a good weekend? i had quite the fun weekend and feel very 'dallas' today...on friday night we had our girls' night at the mavs game (we beat the suns, woo hoo!) that's us with our reindeer antlers :)

then on saturday some friends came in town from las vegas, we ate at the Y.O. ranch steakhouse, which was so delicious (highly recommend the sea bass, yum!!). on our way out, while passing the neiman marcus downtown, we saw an insane amount of santa clauses. come to find out it was the dallas santacon! here's a photo of the scene we saw, found on their flickr account.

it was hilarious and crazy, i've never seen so many santas!!

after our fun night out at cameo, stephen and i got to go with our friends to the cowboys game! it was our first time to see them play and they beat the redskins so a good time was had by all. however, i felt like a little bit of a traitor cheering for the 'boys since i'm such a huge saints fan...and my saints lost...oh my. here is a view from our awesome seats:

so that was our dallas whirlwind adventure weekend :) kinda made me fall in love with this city all over again...

looking forward to an easy week at work and CHRISTMAS this weekend!! eeeeeep!

feelin' lucky

just a little snapshot of one of our favorite lunch spots, lucky's cafe. if you're in the dallas area and have a hankerin' for some home cooking, look no further.  might i suggest the fish & chips (catfish, naturally) and the baked squash, simply divine. and who knows, maybe you'll get just the cutest little lemon wedge in your broccoli.

have a delicious monday. xoxo

date knight

can you guess what we did last night?! stephen surprised me and took me to midieval times!! we had tickets i won in a silent auction about a year ago and i'd kind of forgotten, so stephen noticed they were about to expire and made reservations :) we had SO much fun!! we were on the yellow knight's team (see him below? he was also the most handsome knight, i must say). he didn't win, but i did get a flower from him!

after our midieval experience, we wandered over to the design district and saw a neat little restaurant called the meddlesome moth. we hopped in to have a drink and were very pleasantly surprised! they had a beautiful wall of taps (literally, beautifully designed, see the pic below) and from looking at their menu, great food! i can't wait to go back and try it out for lunch or dinner.

so that was our little date! here are some photos from the adventure:

see the taps? the wall behind it is covered with neatly placed quarters. i thought that was a really clever design idea!

hope you all have a lovely weekend!

xoxo

snow day

on friday, my office and stephen's school were closed so we had a nice little snow day.

we got to play in the snow

& build a snowman

it was so much fun!

...but roxy grew tired of the snow pretty quickly :)

snow!

well it snowed today in dallas, if only for a minute.  it was gorgeous and fun while it lasted but that wasn't very long at all. if you're not from or familiar with the region, you should know it hardly ever snows here, and when it does it's usually some wintry mix mess of a storm (which makes for fun commuting, considering everyone panics at the thought of ice).  today was different, there were big, fat snowflakes and it seemed like the ground would be covered at any moment. alas, it has been much to warm here for snow or ice to stick to anything.  so as i type this, it is already sunshiny outside and merely looks like we had a little drizzle this morning. however, i came across the cutest picture on twitter from dallas morning news.

how cute is he?! roxy wouldn't step a paw out in that mess, but this little basset is apparently much braver. hope you all are having a cozy day.

xo