Friendsgiving

After the family festivities of Thanksgiving Thursday were finished, my roommate and I hosted our first big shindig at our new place- Friendsgiving. 

We had lots of friends in town from all over the world (literally, Los Angeles to Thailand), not to mention all of our fabulous friends here, so we decided it was the perfect time for a party. 

Inviting our friends was a piece of cake thanks to Paperless Post.  

We re-configured our dining room (including raising the light fixture!) for our food and beverage set-up. 

All of the food was simple- no utensils required once your plate was loaded.  Whole Foods has a great choice cheese and cracker tray- yummy, pretty display, no fuss.  We made several simple Longaberger dips (you MUST try the white chocolate amaretto cheeseball and spiced pumpkin dip) and Bagel Bites (so easy, and always disappear fast), and added Lays & spinach dip and some homemade baked goods to give our guests a nice mix of sweet and salty.  

Placards (homemade with index cards and a Sharpie) in my roomie's lovely handwriting let guests know what they were tasting:

Beverages were red and white wine, and beer (in a large bucket of ice on the ground for easy serving). Plenty of soda and water too.   

We found these fun wine glass markers at Bed, Bath, & Beyond.  Funny, even if you {hopefully} don't become any of these things!

And of course, no table is complete without a pretty floral arrangement

We had Pandora pop music playing in the background, and the TV muted with college football on... of course the boys couldn't miss a good game!

Roomie and some of her good friends from high school

High school loves

Best college girlfriends

I have to say, it was a success! Good thing we love being hostesses.

Sunday Social: 4

Linking up for Sunday Social!

1. Name 4 jobs you've had in your life: Babysitter, Copy Editor, Child Care Worker, Special Events Associate

2. Name 4 movies you could watch over and over: Mean Girls, My Best Friend's Wedding, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, Legally Blonde
{I promise I like more than just chick flicks-- but for me to watch a movie over and over, it has to be happy!}

3. Name 4 places you have lived: Cedar Hill, Coppell, Fort Worth, Dallas
{haven't ventured too far away, and right now I'm okay with that!}

4. Name 4 of your favorite foods: Sushi, pizza, chips & salsa, chocolate

5. Name 4 things you always carry with you: iPhone, wallet, Chapstick, keys

6. Name 4 places you have been on vacation: London, Paris, New York City, Chicago

Thanksgiving 2012

Family, food, and football.  What more can you ask for on Thanksgiving?! 

I am blessed beyond measure with a sweet, fun, and loving family.  We enjoyed a delicious, traditional Thanksgiving meal, complete with chocolate pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.  (Yes, just as sinfully delicious as it sounds!)

And, TCU was victorious over UT! Completed my Thanksgiving perfectly. 

Sister and I always have a photoshoot on Thanksgiving.  It's tradition.

A few throwbacks:

2011

2008.... and of course we had to get Jager involved!

2007

And my favorite from this year:

I'm continuing this turkey day break by playing with friends-- more about that on Monday!

Weekend Wrap-Up

My roomie and I hosted our first dinner party in the new apartment on Friday night!

I came home from work and the apartment was spotless, the table was set beautifully, and the delicious smell of dinner welcomed me from the kitchen. I barely had to do a thing, so I told her I'll be in charge of dinner and setting up next time!

We had several girl friends over for a casual (but yummy!) dinner of salad, cornbread, and my roomie's amazing baked potato soup.  So delicious, and it will be even better once the cooler weather decides to stick around here in Dallas.

Jenna (roomie) also just finished a little craft project for our kitchen- wall art to go above our sink!

We have a red and chocolate brown theme in our kitchen and dining room, so this was the perfect piece to add some color and warmth!  She collected beer bottle caps for a long time, then painted them various shades of red.  (That's the part I helped out with!)  She then painted a canvas chocolate brown, glued the caps on, and ta-da! Instant wall art!

I continued "hosting" this weekend by cooking dinner at my parents' house last night as an early birthday celebration for my wonderful Mom! I made spicy baked tilapia, a super-easy and super-good recipe I picked up from one of my TCU classmates, and peanut caramel chocolate cookies for dessert. 

Wonderful to see my parents, as always, and so nice to celebrate my sweet mom's birthday! She's done, and continues to do, so much for me, so cooking her dinner is just a small way to show my appreciation.

Breakfast Challenge Update

You all remember my breakfast challenge.

I know that my eating habits aren't exactly a hot topic, but I did want to update you on how my attempt to eat "the most important meal of the day" went.

My breakfast of choice was either toast with peanut butter or my favorite cereal, Raisin Bran.

The first couple of mornings were hard because I wasn't used to eating anything, and then I was starving by lunch.  Then I got used to it and found myself eating less at lunch... I guess they weren't lying about it jump-starting your metabolism!  

I'm proud to say that I completed the challenge and had breakfast every day for a week!

Implementing this new three-meals-a-day plan into my every day life is a challenge.  What I do know is that on the mornings when I skip breakfast, I do end up feeling hungry, and I think it negatively affects my morning.

My friend Heather (who's a fantastic baker, by the way) just might have been right.

But don't worry-- despite all of this breakfast business, I still make regular morning Starbucks visits.



Baby steps, right? : )

Breakfast Challenge

While I am a morning person, I am not a breakfast person.

I know, I know, they say "breakfast is the most important meal of the day," and they're probably right.

And don't get me wrong, I do love traditional breakfast foods. Sometimes on Saturday mornings I like to make biscuits and bacon or pancakes with my parents, and late-night breakfast food with friends can be the best!

But, during the week, I can honestly say that I never eat breakfast anymore. I would rather savor a few more minutes of snoozing than wake up earlier just to prepare and eat something.  I'm never hungry right when I wake up.  And, on the mornings when I've brought breakfast with me to the office with good intentions of eating it, I always get caught up in my work and forget!

What I do have every morning is coffee, whether I bring it from home or stop at Starbucks.  So many mornings, my "breakfast" is a mocha frappucino (no whip) or a large cup of iced coffee.  Not healthy, and I should really cut back on the Starbucks trips to help my wallet, but it does the trick until lunchtime!

I am used to my breakfast-free lifestyle, but my friend Heather gave me a challenge that I've decided to accept. She dared me to eat breakfast every morning for a week. If it doesn't change my life, she'll let me continue with my two-meals-a-day lifestyle.  The only restriction is that it has to be somewhat healthy-- i.e. oatmeal, cereal, fruit, toast, eggs, etc.  No Pop Tarts or donuts.

I think I can totally do this.  

Day One starts tomorrow.

I'll be sure to report back on how it goes, but wish me luck... I may have to wake up early to work up an appetite!

Any other breakfast skippers out there?  Any of you that swear your entire day is thrown off if you don't eat it?

Dallas Dining: Lucia

My most recent Dallas Dining excursion was to Lucia, also tucked in the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff.  It is completely unassuming from the outside (I am not kidding when I say it's on the edge of the ghetto- there was a police car with flashing lights at the house across the street when we arrived, and the hostess specifically made sure we were headed in the opposite direction of the neighborhood when we left!), but the inside is cozy and inviting, and the food is what makes this place truly worthy of all my praise!

I first heard about Lucia last spring from a woman at a baby shower, who raved about the food but warned that it was a tiny restaurant and you had to call at midnight on the first day of the month and leave a message to get a reservation for that month. She wasn't exaggerating! Marissa, my Dallas dining partner in crime, called the morning of December 1 to snag our January 7 reservation! It was completely worth the wait, but this dining destination requires advanced planning!

As I mentioned in my post about Tillman's, allow extra time for parking if you go to the Bishop Arts District on a Saturday night. It took us a few extra minutes to search for parking, wait to park our car in the valet lot (I won't go into it, but we didn't have the best experience with the valet company that evening!), and then walk to the edge of the district to Lucia.

Outside of Lucia-- totally unassuming!

Lucia only seats 36 people at a time (hence the advanced reservations!), so it feels cozy and inviting right when you walk in.  I have never been to Italy, but the decor makes me think of the Italian countryside. There are antique mirrors and bookshelves with cookbooks on the walls and a dresser for the hostess stand when you walk in the door.  The kitchen is open so you can see everything being prepared.  It feels like a home and does not give off any vibe of a stuffy restaurant.  The same is true of the waitstaff.  I wasn't sure what to expect since I knew it was such a small restaurant, but our waitress was very down-to-earth, helpful, and explained everything on the menu.

Interior

We started off with an assortment of olives (not my thing, but I still tried one) and some delicious bread. To drink, I ordered my usual favorite, prosecco.   

Delicious bread

The menu is in four sections-antipasti (starter), primi (pasta), secondi (entree), and dolci (dessert). One of the interesting things about this restaurant is that the menu changes often- perfect for frequent visitors to always taste something new, but difficult to recommend items because they may not stick around for long! You can check out their January sampler menu, http://luciadallas.com/menu.php, to get an idea of what we were given to choose from.  Apparently their salumi is a must-have, so Marissa and I will have to try it during our next visit.

Salumi, which I will try on my next visit!

Rather than stuff ourselves and be miserable, we decided to split our selections and be able to sample more dishes! The first two courses come in small or large sizes, which is very helpful for those with smaller appetites or who are sharing.  Marissa had heard that their pasta was amazing, so we selected the potato gnocchi with a Niman pork ragu.  It was delicious! There was one element that was especially unique to my taste buds, but before I could point it out, Marissa confirmed that she was also tasting it- cinnamon! Splitting it as a first course was definitely a wise decision. We then moved on to our main entree- the veal chop with escarole, sunchokes, and bagna cauda.  The man at the table next to us proclaimed it "beautiful!" when the waitress set it down.  Although I normally don't refer to my food as beautiful, it was very good! I like to think of myself as an adventurous eater, so veal was definitely out of my usual diet! It was a little on the salty side, which I didn't mind but did notice myself drinking more water in response, but very tender and had a great flavor, along with the sunchokes and sauce it was served in. Other than navigating around the large bone, it was fairly easy to split as well. 

Since we paced ourselves, we went for dessert- spice cake with caramel gelato and red wine stewed prunes. I was skeptical about the prunes, but should have known that the whole dessert would be excellent. We polished it off and could have gone for more!  

My rating for Lucia: Delicious food, inviting atmosphere, and friendly staff? Sounds like five out of five to me!

Tips: Make a reservation at the beginning of the month (must plan ahead!), allow extra time for parking, check out the sampler menu for that month online, share plates or come hungry so that you can experience all courses, and be ready for a cozy and delicious dining experience at a little Bishop Arts District treasure!

Lucia
408 West Eighth Street, Suite 101
Dallas, TX 75208

(214)-948-4998

Dallas Dining: Tillman's Roadhouse

My good friend Marissa and I share a love for trying new food and exploring new restuarants, so early this year we decided to pick a different Dallas restaurant each month to visit. Most of these restaurants are higher-end and therefore a little pricey, so once a month is easy on our wallets and also gives us something to look forward to! It's fun to get a little dressed up and have a girls' night out with a delicious meal!

I am by no means a food critic, but I want to start posting about my Dallas Dining experiences and let you in on all of my favorite spots! My favorite thus far is still the very first restaurant we went to, Nosh, but for my first post in this series I will start with our most recent adventure-- Tillman's Roadhouse.

There is also a Tillman's in Fort Worth, but Marissa and I went to the one in the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff. The Bishop Arts District itself is adorable, and even though you have to go through a slightly unsavory area when you exit the highway, it wasn't too bad. I definitely want to explore more of the Bishop Arts District during future visits!

We made a reservation for a Saturday night and only had to wait a few minutes. One thing to keep in mind if you visit Tillman's--there's a little shortage of convenient parking. If you want to keep it simple, pay the $5 for valet. Otherwise, there is a lot at the end of the street and a few smaller lots around the area. After losing the battle for a spot in the big lot, Marissa and I got lucky and found a spot near the restaurant.

Tillman's decor was very unique. The best way I can describe it is "rustic meets elegant." I've posted a few pictures below from their website, but the inside basically included fake animal heads and other items that made it live up to its roadhouse name, combined with huge chandeliers in the center to up the elegance of the restaurant. They had a movie projected on the wall of the bar area, which was neat. The whole restaurant is very open, and we were seated close to the couple next to us. They also had Christmas music blasting so it was almost difficult to maintain conversation at some points. This restaurant wouldn't be ideal for an intimate, private dinner experience, but if you are looking for an upbeat atmosphere or an energetic group dinner setting, Tillman's is the place for you!




Now, the most important part...the food. Tillman's serves Southern comfort food that fills you up and satisifies you, but it is taken up a notch from what you expect of your traditional chicken fried steak. They start you off with a little bowl of kettle-cooked popcorn, which was the perfect pre-dinner snack. With many restaurants that serve a basket of bread, you fill up before you even order your dinner, so little bite-sized popcorn pieces were an excellent snack to take the edge off of our hunger. Marissa and I ordered our classic favorite cocktail, prosecco, and debated about our entree selections. Tillman's has many delicious-sounding options, so I would love to go back and sample something else!


I went with the coffee-crusted prime rib and my only regret was that I didn't have more room in my stomach! The prime rib itself was delicious, just a huge slab of meat that I had no chance of finishing! The wild mushroom ragout and asparagus it came with were also tender and delicious. Asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables, so I am a tough critic! Horseradish cream was served on the side and made a cool, flavorful dipping sauce for the meat. They don't have a picture of my entree on their website, so here is one I took on my phone.


Marissa ordered the chicken fried steak, served with garlic roasted mashed potatoes and poblano cream gravy. I sampled a bite of hers and it was also delicious and a more manageable portion!


Although they charge a small fee for splitting plates, I recommend it so that you can save room for dessert! We were too full to try any, but the couple next to us had the huge slab of red velvet cake, and they also have tableside s'more that I would love to try!


My rating system-- I will rate each restaurant on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being a terrible experience and 5 being an excellent experience that I recommend to all of you.


My rating for Tillman's Roadhouse: 4 out of 5

I definitely recommend this restaurant if you are looking for a satisfying meal in a unique area--great for groups of friends or an energetic date night!

Tips to remember if you dine at Tillman's: Come with cash for valet or be prepared to walk a little, share entrees or come very hungry, and don't plan on an intimate dining atmosphere!

Tillman's Roadhouse – Dallas
Bishop Arts District
324 West 7th Street
Dallas, Texas 75208
214-942-0988

Going the Distance: My First Full Week in California!

Several weeks ago I took an entire week off of work for the very first time and went to visit Alex. This was the best decision I made in a LONG time! Normally my visits go by way too quickly and we are rushed to fit everything in, but having a whole week allowed to just relax and spend time together while also doing all sorts of fun things! Here are the highlights from my trip:


Saturday
I arrived in Los Angeles bright and early Saturday morning. Alex had training for the outreach program he's involved in, so I took a nice long nap and relaxed until he was done. Later that afternoon, we went to a barbecue with Erik and Alaina, Alex's roommates. I learned to play ladder ball...has anyone else ever heard of this game? Apparently people play it at tailgates, but this was my first time playing. Basically, you have two ladder-like contraptions and small ropes with golf balls on the ends of them. You stand at opposite ends of an open area facing one of the ladders, then throw each rope and try to hook it onto one of the rungs of the ladder. The top rung is worth one point, the second one is two, and the bottom one is worth three. Once you've made your three attempts, one of your opponents next to you has their chance and tries to sling theirs onto the rungs for points, while also trying to knock yours off and reduce your points. You have another teammate and opponent on the other side who try to do the same thing with the ladder on your side of the "court." Hopefully that explaination wasn't too confusing, because it was really fun!
We also had some delicious food, and it was really nice to meet Erik and Alaina's friends. From there, we went to the LA Dodgers game....my first one! The tickets were cheap, it was a nice night, the fans did the wave about 10 times in a row, and the Dodgers won! All in all, an excellent start to my trip.


Sunday
I love Alex's church in California. I blogged about the first Sunday's sermon in my last post, so check it out if you haven't already. I think about it every day and need to keep repeating to myself, "Better than I deserve."
After church, we had a really yummy brunch with our friend Clayton and his girlfriend, Tala. Alex and I went to high school with Clayton and Alex played in a band with him, so it was great to catch up and also meet Tala. The last time I saw Clayton was when we both happened to be in the exact same museum in Paris in 2008...it is crazy how small the world is!
After brunch, we headed up to USC because Alex played in a saxophone quartet for someone's doctoral recital. USC campus is so pretty, and I got to meet some of Alex's saxophone friends and hear him play. His awesome friend Ben took this picture of us that I really like!

Monday
Monday was a lazy day, which was just what I needed! Alex and I did some errands, and while he was in class, I worked out in his apartment gym. That evening we watched School of Rock, one of our favorite movies!

Tuesday
I spent a large portion of Tuesday taking it easy (which I was so thankful to do for a lot of this trip--I needed a break!), worked out again, and then cooked dinner for Alex. I made pork chops, asparagus, new potatoes, and sourdough bread. I still have a lot to learn, but I really enjoy cooking and baking, especially for him! : ) We ended the lovely evening by watching our favorite movie, I Love You Man. I can never watch it without Alex and am pretty sure we quote it daily.

Wednesday

Wednesday was an epic day! Alex and I crossed a major item off of our bucket list and went hiking! We went to Solstice Canyon in Malibu and hiked for several hours before deciding it was time to eat lunch. The weather was gorgeous, the views were incredible (as you can see from the pictures), and it felt like such an adventure. We had never done anything like that together and I loved it!

After meeting our exercise quota for the week, we had lunch at the Malibu Country Mall and saw a horror movie being filmed! We walked in the back of the shot and hung out there for a bit before we were asked to move. It was cool! We then took a stroll along Malibu Beach.
That evening, we went on a fun date--Barnes and Noble, one of our favorite places, and Indian food. It was delicious!


Thursday
I relaxed and read a ton on Thursday. I love reading but hadn't been doing much of it because of "life" getting in the way. My trip allowed me to read again, and I've been making more time for it in the several weeks that I've been back home. Sometimes it just takes a little vacation to rejuvenate you!
Alex cooked for us that night. He made his amazing stir fry, and then we finished the evening with Jersey Shore and smores.

Friday

Alex and I hit up a different beach on this day that is just a few minutes from his apartment. It was gorgeous. I wish I could go to the beach all the time! There are all these homes/apartments right along the beach, and we were wondering just how much it costs to live there. If you're curious, too, we saw a sign that had an apartment (or maybe it was just part of apartment, who knows?) for rent for $3,000 per month...unreal!
We made Tex-mex that night and called it an early night because saturday was going to start bright and early..

Saturday
Saturday was VERY epic! We woke up at 5:45 a.m. and got all dressed up for my childhood friend's wedding, then hit the road for San Diego! We stopped in Irvine at Cars and Coffee, which I've enjoyed attending in Dallas with Alex, and now we've been in California too. I think we should take some serious roadtrips and try to hit up others around the country too! ; )
From there, we drove the rest of the way to San Diego and made it to the naval base for the wedding. The ceremony was beautiful, right on the water, and Rachel looked gorgeous and so happy! It felt surreal to be there. Rachel and I were best friends as little girls, and her family moved to Michigan when we were 7, followed by California. We lost touch for a while, but had reconnected thanks to social media. I literally hadn't seen her in 16 years until her wedding day! Thank you, Rachel (now Mrs. Rosner!) and the Bourne family for including Alex and I in your special day!

After the wedding, we headed to Pasadena for dinner with Alex's community group. They were all so nice, and it was great to see the kind of support system he has there. We finished the day by stopping by a party in Beverly Hills, then finally headed home and crashed after our epic day!

Sunday
My last day : (
We went to church again, and it was another great sermon...I want my next blog to be about it and how it applies to my life these days. I also met a former Horned Frog next to me, which was so cool! After church, it was time for lunch and then Alex dropped me off at the airport. It was so hard to leave him after a wonderful week together, but he will be home in a month and I feel so fortunate to have had all that time with him. An exciting thing happened while I was in the airport...Gerard Butler was on my flight back to Dallas! I was staring at him and was literally five feet away from him at the gate... I could have been a crazy fan and touched him, but I played it cool. Still wish I had gotten an autograph or photo, but oh well...celebrity sighting success!

Alex asked me what my favorite part of the week was, and as far as activities, it was definitely our hiking excursion. I felt so alive and got to marvel at God's beautiful creation. The best part of my visit, though, was just getting to essentially live with Alex for a week and everything that our days encompassed. I hope to never take him for granted, even the little things in our daily routines, because I know what it's like to be apart, and it's hard.

Looking forward to my next California trip!