Fort Worth Touring

Epic fail, y'all. I went on a trip to visit my favoritest book loving gal pal, D,  in her new home and didn't post a thing. Not one word, not one little snippet since then. Time to rectify the situation!

Tanner and I left work on Friday and hit the road for what should have been a 4.5hour trip. Correction, there is Houston traffic everywhere on a Friday. We took our lumps and settled in, listening to Mitch Hedberg as we sidled out of city limits.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by a very ferocious white furball by the name of Sergeant Doakes but within a few minutes and after a few belly scratches, he was our friend.

Meet the roughest, toughest, ooey gooeyst Srg. Doakes!

The next morning we woke up and traversed to the Giampietro's favorite breakfast spot and chowed down on some killer pancakes plus a Dutch baby which I'm pretty sure is the greatest thing ever invented. Wait, no, that would be Fried Oreos most recently eaten at the Rodeo. Yum, yum, yum!

After stuffing our faces, we were off to tour the brewery! Here's my favorite thing about brewery tours...there's really no tour. You drink. And then you wander. Then they talk about the process for about 20 minutes whilst trying to be heard over the live music and frivolity behind us. And you drink. Let's not talk about the ridiculous line for the bathroom...

Clever, no? And there were some fantastic beards, I tell you.

Disregard the trash can but check out the cutest chick ever. On the right. :-D

My main squeeze and a much better picture taker who said let's NOT be by the trash can. Smart girl...

We were lucky enough (mmm, I go back and forth on the use of lucky) to be there for the beard competition. They have all sorts of categories: mutton chops, GINGERS, length, bushiest, etc, etc. Emphasis on ginger's because who doesn't love a daywalker? With a purchase of some sweet pint glasses plus toting our Beer'd glasses from the tour, we left fully satisfied and definitely entertained.

Our day of liquidity and delicious food surely couldn't end with just beer and pancakes, respectively, so we sauntered over to a nice cafe not far from where my cousin and his now new wife lived to imbibe some well brewed coffee. Mine was with coke! Numnumnum.Then it was time for a pre-dinner dessert...this is completely logical when on vacation. And this also does not negate the enjoyment of post-dinner dessert, either. Boom, logicked.

What a keeper. That guy, on the right. Best TBot in town.

 We sat outside and enjoyed the fabulous weather that despite the wintry month was a cool and comfortable 70*. With some Christmas music to keep us company as we people watched the hours slowly slipped past until it was time for dinner. At a place with a S'MORES FIRE AT YOUR TABLE. Epic. Brilliant. Best restaurant ever?

But why end the fun there? Let's Jenga with absurdly loud live music behind us, but this time let's add in my cousin and his now new wife (note: when this visit happened, they weren't engaged!)

Please note the faces of Sweet D and Fran because TBot really enjoyed playing the jerk and going for the trickiest pieces. Guess who lost? :-D Guess who gloated? :-D

Obviously you cannot forgo the glass to grab the block.

The very nice and safe player, my very own strategy.

The poker. He was nearly as bad as TBot.

The sly one.

Our day in Dallas was done after this and poor Doakes needed a reprieve. Plus, we had to be rested and ready for our delicious breakfast with mimosa's and bacon while we watched Brave. 

The next morning dawned bright and beautiful and we slowly stirred ourselves awake. Apparently D iz far more deaf than she has a right to be and I heard the beautiful gonging of bells for a good twenty minutes as I roamed their very sweet abode. When Doakes and Fran returned from a run, Sweet D was awake and we got breakfast started. With the best griddle from South of the border, Fran whipped up some delicious pumpkin pancakes while I stuck bacon in the oven. We sat down to watch Brave and I just melted with that first accent. There is something about the Celts/Scots/Irish, pick your poison, that just bestills my beating heart.

It was a wonderful way to wrap up our whirlwind trip in Ft. Worth and I was so grateful to have seen my cousin and his wife as well. We made the long drive home with one stop along the way...

Bucee's!!!!! Plus, Beaver nuggets. Must love tradition!

I look forward to visit number two! Get ready, D and Fran...and we mustn't forget the Sarge...

Resolutions

February is a month to celebrate black history, your labor of love in a relationship, and that it's the shortest month in the year (hey, Mr. Popular...but only for cogs in the wheel of Corporate America). Fevrièr is not the month to make a life resolution nor revolution.

But that's what I did. I began the month with a plan which consisted of the following:

1) Map out a meal plan for the month because
2) No more grocery waste is to be tolerated and
3) I need to adjust my relationship with food so I...

A. Created an initially overwhelming and constantly changing spreadsheet tracker for Groceries which had a cash tracker AND a meal tracking tab for each month. Phrew, anxiety attack from Miss Perfection over here.

This was definitely the easiest aspect to creating this file.

Then...
B. Mapped out my month of meals through the end of February. I was encouraged because it (object: February) was about one week shorter than the rest [of the months] so if my plan failed I wouldn't feel too terrible and I...

Boom, detailed. Thank you, Pinterest and my brain for coming up with majority of these meals.

C. Broke down my grocery categories into: Fruits, Vegetables, Meat, Dairy, Grains, Canned goods, and Sundry items. Note: Avocados and tomatoes are fruit, garlic is a vegetable, liquid egg whites are disturbing and contact solution is expensive.

Please note the yellow lines and cue the wop wop noise. That would be some waste of mine [but at least only partial!]. Foiled!

I've learned a lot from this tracker of mine. Let's keep going on the lists, shall we?
I. Fruits and vegetables took about 25% of the overall budget but I purchased double the amount as in any other group.
II. Meat and dairy were in a neck and neck race to the bitter end to become the highest % and $ but ultimately meat won. Organic baby.
III. I wanted to keep my canned goods group small and my fruits and vegetables large: mission accomplished.
IV. Living is espensive. Like. Really expensive. Eating for 1.5 people (Tanner hangs around for a few meals) costs a lot. Yes, buying fresh adds up. Yes, buying organic does too. But these are both okay in my book because I'm keeping my future health costs down (hopefully).

I fully intend on continuing this trend of mine. Mapping out meal plans weeks in advance while still remaining open to spontaneity. Scripting my grocery lists for each Saturday on what I will need for the week and what items I can purchase in advance. I only want to see the friendly faces at Kroger's or Trader Joe's once a week and no more than that!

So far so good! Wish me luck in March (I'm going to be cleaning my crockpot a lot.)

Editor's note: I've now updated the spreadsheet to include a Grocery Lists tab because I was fed up with losing/leaving my lists everywhere and re-writing them over and over!

(Potentially) Never again

A while back I visited my parents to pick up a few items of mine lying about the house and garage when my eyes fell upon two cork boards just chillin', mindin' their own business. I immediately asked my dad what their intended use was as the dream that had been niggling in the back of my brain was given legs to run.

"Can I have those?"
"Sure!" And into my car they went along with a horse lamp and some baby blankets. I've since found a new home for the lamp. And it is prominently displayed in my living room. So yeah...I was obsessed with horses for a very long time but that's neither here nor there...

Back to the good stuff.

It took me awhile to sort out my plan. Did I want two ribbon boards? Did I want a new piece of art? Where are these going and what are their intended uses? Once I'd answered these questions, I saw my future bedroom wall art and a ribbon board for the kitchen. Voila!

Oh, so now I have to pick out fabric? The dreaming was the easy part? I worked so hard to think of what I wanted though...

Ok, how much fabric do I need? What's a yard? Hey, this one's pretty and so is that one over there. Do you two wanna hang out, maybe, just a little bit? I think these other two want to too because I'm dreaming of a basketweave pattern that surely isn't going to be a huge challenge to undertake. Oooooh, look at the burlap!

Lessons learned so far:
1) A yard is a LOT of fabric, especially for small projects where you only use a small cut/strip.
2) Jo-Ann's has really good prices on said fabric and really nice ladies to help!
3) There is too much fabric to choose from. Kinda like how you load your plate up at Thanksgiving and your eyes are larger than your stomach...that's how I felt when I suddenly realized I was toting around 6 different fabrics. I was intimidating myself and I was the one that kept stockpiling the fabric patterns!

Let's get this party started!

Project numero uno, wall art for my bedroom. Some yummy Paris print burlap and a creamy linen to offset.

This should require a license...there were definitely a few *gasp* worthy moments. ALL DIGITS STILL INTACT!

It's working! I'm actually doing this and it's working!

Lessons learned (cont'd):
4) Find a way to NOT have to sit on the cold, hard tile floor for umpteen hours on end without once standing up. The bum gets really sore, just saying.
5) Iron your fabric prior to use (but CAN you iron burlap?)
6) Putting measurement marks in the corkboard frame works...until you cover them with fabric, then you're SOL and left to eyeball.
7) I'm pretty good at eyeballing*.

Finito! *TOLD you I was only pretty good. I'll fix this bad boy eventually...surely.

I was beyond done when I wrapped up this project (get it, wrapped...because I wrapped the fabric all over it?) so I decided to postpone my basketweave.

Dear basketweave, you were a great concept, you were beautiful in my mind, but you did not tell me how difficult you would be. After finishing the Paris piece, I spent a few days mulling over my plan of attack on the weave. But, as with most other things, I planned a little and trudged ahead a lot.

I really dislike ironing, but at least these were very small squares rather than oddly shaped collars and pant legs.

After ironing all four of my patterns (!), I set about cutting them. Which brought me to conundrum #1: how do I layer these horizontally and vertically without overlapping the fabric patterns too often or at all?

And thus began the first of many layouts on the floor of my dining area. Conundrum #2: Does this one work here? Oh, it needs to tuck under...but...that other one on top is blocked by this guy over here. *rolls eyes*

Finally, inspiration (and loss of desire to keep fiddling) struck and I had my pattern!

Up high!

Down low!

And thus began the next two hours of my life. Conundrum #3: If this piece goes here, and this one here, then this one can be stapled now but this one can't. It was a lot of that. I built this bad boy layer by layer both horizontally AND vertically.

Conundrum #4: Trying very hard not to tip all the fabric off the board as I slowly attach each strip. Thankfully all the fabric were super buddies or something because they stuck together like glue! Thank you, static electricity for bringing this beautiful union to fruition.

Yes, that is my pajama pant leg on the bottom of your photo screen. I had to jury rig this picture taking somehow! Granted, using a small Rubbermaid box as compared to my shaking leg was probably best. No cameras were harmed in the taking of this photo! Though not for lack of trying on my part.

The hours passed, my legs waxed and waned sleeping status and my back reminded me that it didn't like being hunched in this position and was sore from bowling a 116 (whatwhat!) earlier in the day. Can you please KNOCK IT OFF? No, back...I rule this roost, you keep working!

Finito! The cards are part of a new system I've devised for myself to 1) cut down on calories and 2) cost during a month's time. Ideally, check out the bottom left pocket that got formed by the end of this process. C'est parfait!

Exhausted. Back, you win. We go rest now.

In all, I really enjoyed this little project of mine and I can't help being immensely proud of myself for actually following through on one of my art projects. I have a terrible track record but completing these two just brought my average up from 1 to 1.2. Game on, life, I'm coming for you!

Who knew?

Apparently...

 I have a thing...

 For all items...

Blue...

And green.

Criss-cross applesauce

I must preface this blog post with the following truth: I don't think there is ANY cost savings in this endeavor of mine. In fact, I bet I spent a smidge more on this than buying regular old organic applesauce from the store. However, getting to make it, have it taste the way I want, be of a consistency I like and hearing Annabelle say that Aunt Becca's applesauce was chunky made this completely priceless!


I began my adventure at Trader Joe's (there are TWO in Houston now, get out!) and discovered the completely inexpensive organic spread of fruits and vegetables. I get it now, people in love with TJ's...I get it.

I bought 8 Gala apples (so sweet and delicious!) and 4 Granny Smith (mmm tart!). I washed them all and got out my handy, dandy apple corer recently purchased for another adventure. After coring the apples, I peeled them and cut them into small pieces (judged entirely based upon how quickly I wanted them to cook through).

There is absolutely no way I can live now without an apple corer. Those little contraptions are fabulous!

Put all your cut apples into a dutch oven, pour about 1/4 cup of water into the pot and turn the heat up to about medium. Listen for the distinctive sound of boiling before reducing the heat to simmer and covering the pot. Now you can "set it, and forget it!"...that is, with a timer set on 30 minutes. At the halfway mark, stir the apples just once around, then close 'er up again!

Into the pot they all go!

At the 30 minute mark, you should see some fairly mushy apples in your presence. If not, keep cooking! Take a potato masher and get to work. What I like about this is that I can leave a few chunky bites of apple in my sauce rather than the completely creamed version at the grocery store. To each their own and now it's controllable!

Thankfully mashing apples takes FAR less effort than potatoes. Phrew!

Here's another great bonus to making your own applesauce at home: you can flavor it any way you want to! The recipe I used as inspiration suggested a bit of maple syrup and cinnamon. Well, I sure do love both of those things (PURE Maple Syrup, only, of course).

Num, num, num. Please ignore the obviously handwritten and not cutely done label.

Using 12 apples, I was able to make approximately 44oz. of delicious applesauce just to Becca's taste. My family liked it too, the happy recipients of my efforts!

So easy and just right!

As I said at the forefront of this post, there's no cost savings here. But getting to say you made it is reward in and of itself. Enjoy!

Writer's note: Cinnamon is really good for you! It helps you digest glucose [sugar] in your system better! ~Dr. Becca

Camping n00bs no more!

I can now no longer say that I have never been camping.

It's true. I hadn't until this trip.

I spent months living in a posh air-conditioned cabin with a 4 toilet, 4 shower stall bathroom attached. Rough living, let me tell you. I was always upset when I had so many girls in the cabin that I couldn't get a second mattress pad. Being a camp counselor was just tough, let me tell you.

But that's not to say I didn't rough it a little bit...I'm not saying I used those showers! But that's a story for another time, perhaps another place...

The day after Thanksgiving, Tanner and I loaded up my car with camping goodies newly purchased from Academy and Walmart and hit the road for the 4.5 drive to Garner State Park. The weather was nice and looked to remain that way for the rest of the weekend and we were excited. I may have been mostly excited for the gigantic Bucee's I knew we'd be stopping at along the way. Bucee nuggets, anyone?

With barely a few miles to drive that wasn't I-10, we made it to the park with only one agitated driving moment...that later I realized was unwarranted and ultimately benefited us. My bad. :-D

Add caption

Honestly, I have no idea if this is normal, so someone tell me if it is, but when we got there we had over an hour's wait before we could sign in for our campsite. Camper Lesson #1. Had I known that, maybe I would have suggested us leaving an hour earlier because we definitely sprinted to put our tent up before the sun set! Dinner was definitely in the dark, haha.

After getting the last site in our little pocket of the park that didn't have a NUT of some kind in the name, we worked together to put up the tent. I say worked together, but really Tanner put the tent up and I merely searched for a better rock to use as a hammer. Because we didn't bring one.  Camper Lesson #2.

Really, my only contribution was photographic evidence that I was actually camping.

Success! And only one bandaid emergency.

I hadn't really been paying attention prior to now but it didn't take long to realize there was zero phone service. Not a bar. Not a sniff of a whiff of radio waves pinging around me. Uh-oh...we said we'd call our parents! Camper Lesson #3/4: Find out where the payphones are and always carry pocketchange.

I really need to make him enjoy taking pictures. That's possible, right?

Tanner: "Hey dad, just calling to say we were here safe."
Dad: "That's great!"
Tanner: "Yeah, so I had to use a rock to set up the tent."
Dad: "Ouch."

Well said, Dad, well said.

We scurried back to our tent and finished organizing our items and locking up the others in my car (parked conveniently nearby; the only way I'll camp).  The light faded fast and before we knew it, it was nearly pitch black! Oh right, no real lights around for miles. Well, I don't really count the one that was on the bathroom a few hundred feet away. It was dark. Firelight guided you. Or a flashlight. We hauled out the food and Tanner and I set to work finding the proper place to set up the grill.

Let me backtrack on this grill...a few weeks ago, Tanner's parents realized that they couldn't find their camping grill (propane). I said, no big deal, we can buy a charcoal one (I don't mess with propane, it makes me nervous) and I did. Fast-forward to the morning of camping and lo and behold, we have a propane grill. I said bring it because I hadn't even taken the charcoal grill out of the package and was feeling pretty lazy.

Back to present...propane tanks need to sit on a flat surface. Our campsite was sufficiently lacking in clear cut flat surfaces that were convenient for cooking. We noticed on our fire pit that there was a grill (albeit a slanted one, considering the pit was dug into the side of a hill or something) that was moveable up and down. Perfect! We'd found our grilling area, just one that required someone to always hold the cooking gear so that it didn't slide off the edge into the firepit. I pulled out my mom's leftover jambalaya and potato salad and set to work heating it up in my dad's old camping pot. I should have taken a picture because I'm in love with this cooking gear. It's blue and white speckled tin and it's adorable. ADORABLE! I had fun cooking merely because of how great the piece was.

I started to stir and before long the vibrant red of the jambalaya and the mustard yellow of the potato salad married and created a pink substance that at first looked unappetizing but after realizing it was pitch dark and neither of us much liked using propane, we dug right in. Let me tell you, it was glorious. I will never again make jambalaya with rice in it because it was WAY better over potato salad. After making that mash, I realized I did not have it in me to heat anything else up and it was cold and we were hungry so we chowed down on cold ham, turkey, stuffing and potatoes.

Still totally awesome and delicious. With a cheater fire courtesy of Duraflame (Camper lesson #5: always bring Duraflame logs), we enjoyed the chilly evening for a bit before a quick jaunt to the bathroom to wash up and we hit the hay early. Hey, when it's pitch dark outside, your phone is turned off to conserve the battery and you didn't bring a watch, you honestly have no clue what time it is. 8PM could as well have been 11 by my droopy eyes!

Who DOESN'T love staring at a flame for hours? So mesmerizing!

We banked the fire (love using that term) and made sure the embers were dead before retiring for the evening. Now, here's where things started getting funny.

I am a dragon. I generate enough heat to run a turbine and often am unsuccessful sleeping in any enclosed space without constant air movement.

So....tent + sleeping bag + another human body + a bunch of stuff = one hot dragon and one very cold Tanner. While I was struggling in one sleeping bag wearing shorts and a t-shirt, poor Tanner was bundled in jeans, underarmour, a t-shirt, a hoodie, a MUMMY sleeping bag, its hood AND a blanket wrapped around his face. I'm surprised he didn't suffocate himself in the process. Unfortunately, I do NOT have photo proof of this, but it was hilarious to wake up and see that image first thing in the beautifully cold morning. Camper lesson #6: it's going to be very cold at night, be prepared.

With the dawn we awoke with the barking dogs and general camp noises indicating fires starting and coffee brewing around us. It was so refreshing for those to be the only noises. No cars zooming past, no blaring radios, just birds chirping and people stirring about. I guess a lot of nylon sounds, too. And zippers. Still soothing.

After enjoying a small Duraflame fire once again, we freshened up and made our way to the trails for some hiking.  Let me let pictures convey the great scenery and even greater effort that went into this...

Note hair and clothing. This must have been before climbing the rock wall as our STARTING POINT. I stood at the bottom of the wall, stared up and said, "Seriously?"

Look at that cool cat (and note difference in hoodie). I think water bottles on the belt are the next fashion trend, no? Maybe not?

Great sun and all except when I'm hiking and I start sweating on a cool day.

I was standing straight when I took this. Walking this was disorienting, I tell you what!

Painted Rock! The pseudo-top of the big hill, if you will. Note hair and clothing. It was WARM!

We sweated our way down the other side noting the upswing in the number of people walking towards us. Had we gone the wrong way? Oh wait, no, we just started at the HARDEST TRAIL. Camper lesson #7: Start smart and wear less clothing. With the sweating, the clothes dropping, and the overall tiredness for these two financial nerds we decided to head back to the camp for lunch and a nap (for him) and some Game of Thrones reading (for me) before taking an afternoon hike.

The afternoon hike was much cooler but our tired legs gave us only an hour before we decided to head back to the camp. I had to make sure I made it to a spot near our campsite where there was a great view of the sunset. Priorities, people!

Ah, blessed shade!

At least this time the sideways path is not sunny!

Sunset! I felt like I was on a safari. Lovely getting to watch the sun set behind these hills.

We traipsed back to our campsite and prepared for a real fire. No Duraflame magic tonight! But there was some lighter fluid involvement.

And it was the MVP of the fire night.

It only took three fireball explosions, but the wood caught! Our fire had started! Camper lesson #8: maybe learn how to start fires? I figured if juvenile delinquents can figure it out fairly easily, surely I can in a proper environment. False.

We supped on chili dogs and later s'mores and I finally felt like I was camping. I'd done the drill properly! I'd hiked, I'd walked, I'd drunk a lot of water. I'd cooked over an open flame and played with propane and lighter fluid (not together). And I sat and did nothing in front of a warm fire for hours. Check, check, check! Success!

The morning seemed to come from nowhere and we were up and cooking breakfast before I knew it. We enjoyed one last small fire and loaded the car for the trek home. With a stop to Bucee's on the way home to get my customary order of Dippin' Dots, I considered the weekend a great memory to be kept forever!

No stop to Bucee's is ever complete without these delicious dots of goodness!

I can't wait to go camping again! Perhaps with a hammer...and a knowledge of fires. Oh, and a working charcoal grill. And proper hiking clothes...apparently the list goes on and on. Lessons sufficiently learned!

Montréal: Part Last

We woke on our last morning just as the others, bright and early with the rising sun. So it goes! We packed all our bags and scoured the room for chargers and accessories and flung about socks and finally felt satisfied that we were clean and clear.

We enjoyed our last breakfast at the hotel by nibbling on some more cheese and ham before going for our last coffee at our newfound favorite stop. This time we made sure she put the chocolate powdered star atop our coffees! Really, made them taste umpteen times sweeter.

After wandering by foot to this venue we all agreed that riding a bike for a couple miles might prove to be the end of us, so we decided we would walk the canal rather than ride!

As we were crossing the roads, a cop car cruised past slowly...I may or may not have also been jaywalking and the girls immediately harangued me for doing so in FRONT of the cops. At that point, it was too late, if I was going to be cited, it was going down whether or not I stopped walking. But the cops drove past, didn't slow or stop and we continued our walking.

Jess cleverly had me move to block the car parked in the background. Now it's just me and leaves!

The feeling of fall was hard to miss or overlook.

As we walked across another street, suddenly the cop car was back...I tensed and got a bit nervous, but again, they just drove past. Surely, they're just doing their rounds. No big deal. And we kept walking.  The canal was pretty with the falling leaves in an array of colors and the weather was just crisp enough to enjoy strolling.

I glanced back once or twice while we were walking and noticed that our friendly neighborhood police were sitting at the crosswalk we had just passed...just sitting. I glanced again...sitting. Were they watching us? I have no idea! But I was certainly offguard, I tell you what!

After reaching the end of the canal where the locks were (think Panama), we turned around and started walking back. And there were our friends again! Okay universe, we get it, you're funny with the happenstances. We cut off the canal and wandered up some side streets, taking in the great architecture and cobble stone streets. Oh, and the traditional horse-drawn carriages with the driver in a top hat and tails. Too fun!

We ventured back to the Notre Dame and enjoyed watching a plaza full of tourists take pictures before going in to the cathedral. With one last stop to a tourist shop for a few more goodies, we were ready to get our crepe on.

Boy howdy, I did NOT anticipate the size of the crepe. Stuffed to the brim with bananas and chocolate and topped with ice cream I knew I wouldn't be able to finish it. Which is sad, because it was definitely delicious.

Lookit! Severely delicious.

After this we were spent, so we made our way back to the hotel, grabbed our suitcases and made the trek back to the Metro for our last ride.

To sum it nicely and succinctly, this was a great trip with great friends. It was beautiful weather, it was crisp wind, it was delicious food and lots of fun.

Where shall we venture to next, my friends?