Nerds on Segways

Rob, Allison, Chris and I went down to Temple TX one Aug weekend. It’s an annual party hos mom and Step dad host, and several families come for a few days to lay by the pool, play games, and eat very well. This year one of them brought 2 segways! Now keep in mind we are HUGE arrested development fans. As such the segway holds a special place in our hearts.



My brother was grinning from ear to ear as he took off down the driveway on his, and by taking off I am mean he was cautiously moving about 3 miles per hour. Chris was equally as excited, and Allison even tried it out. We all know how coordinated and graceful I am, so I had to pass. I wouldn't want to be the 1st Segway casualty.

Champagne wishes and Vodka dreams

My bachelorette party was this past weekend, and 6 of us headed to Austin for an afternoon spa day, and an evening of fun. I told them I would refuse to wear any type of bachelorette paraphernalia. Luckily for me they agreed, and were pleased they didn’t have to wear matching devil horn tank tops as well
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There was a hitch in our giddy up out of town; it involved a car detail gone wrong and a hanging rear view mirror. Once that was settled, and we hit up both Sonic and Starbucks for some nosh we were on our way. The iPods were loaded for the 3 hour drive, and the cooler was packed with ice, champagne, and vodka. Let’s not forget the strawberries, cheese and “sociable” crackers as well.


We arrived at the hotel we dumped all our stuff with the bellman and headed down the block to Moonshine for some lunch. Then were off to the spa for nail treatments, and had the entire room for manis and pedis, as well as some quality wine drinking. Once that was over we were back at the hotel to our rooms for rest and to catch up on the Olympics. Later we had in room cocktails and snacks before our dinner reservation.


The valets thought we were so cute they drove us in the hotel car to the restaurant, as opposed to making us walk. Our initial reservation of 5 people that turned to 6 seemed to really throw them off so rather than wait, we decided to keep the party going with a pitcher of Mojitos at the bar, followed by another at the table. You can see where I am headed. Apparently when the waiter got smart with us party Meg was in full effect, and she will sass you back.


After dinner we decided to walk to a bar, and had to cross over 6th St and we were at least 5 years over the demographic. Unless one is 21 or a tourist you do not belong on 6th street. Instead of moving onto other bars or clubs we bought mixers we headed to our rooms where the vodka had been chilling in the ice all day. Ahhh. Nothing like the combination of red wine, champagne, mojitos, mandarin with 7up, then cranberry, then fruit punch Gatorade, then back to the champagne. I’m just thankful that it all stayed down, even if I had to plant one leg on the floor to keep from spinning.


The next morning we were up and out the door to breakfast. I needed something that would seriously absorb my crazy cocktail concoctions from the night before. Nothing does that as well as Austin Tex Mex. Once we had our huevos rancheros and tortillas we were on our way back to Dallas. Of course a stop in West, Texas is required. Trust me…if you’ve never had a kolache from West TX you are missing out. It’s a little piece of Czech heaven. I think we were all looking forward to an afternoon nap once back in Dallas.

THANK YOU ladies for the laughs, and years of friendship. Robin, I won’t even get into how many stops were made in your honor because I love you.

Craft Dallas

I never miss a season of Top Chef, and I love Tom…so I was really looking forward to Craft last night. We were ladies dining sans men. I tend to think for these types of events its a little more fun that way. Chris was happy with cereal and the Olympics, he probably preferred that.

We decided to carpool and save on multiple valet fees. It's still $6 even if you dine with them. We wanted to save any extra $ for the vino of course. We waited almost 10 min when one of the Hosts from inside informed us that the 1 valet they had that evening was very busy, we left our keys with the hostess (making our driver very nervous) and entered Craft. They had our reservation and gave us a nice table. Right away I was impressed with the lighting and the décor was modern, yet comfortable also. The restrooms are outside the restaurant next to the elevators and line for Ghost bar so you leave your cozy table, and are immediately thrown into “Da Club” for that little adventure.

The service from the beginning was excellent. We all reviewed the menu and found that the 1st and 3rd courses were selected by Craft to give us “variety”, and that our only choice was the entrée. An item I was not familiar with was on the menu as a selection: Skate wing. We had to ask, and when he used the words “ray family” and “scraped out cartilage” we were out. Selecting instead the braised short ribs, shirt steak, and seared scallops. We also selected a nice Pinot noire and the beverage director was friendly and not pretentious as many are in that role of the house. It is hard to find a decent red for less than $75 so be prepared.

The food was well proportioned, so no one left stuffed to the gills, or needing to drive thru sonic on the way home. We found both meat dishes a bit cool, as if they were mass prepared before people arrived and set under a warmer until served. The scallops received a much better response. The au gratin potatoes with gruyere cheese were oozing and delicious as were the homemade chocolate peanut butter sandwich cookies offered for dessert.

In all it received a rating of 7 out of 10.

Restaurant Week

This is any Dallas foodies’ favorite week of the year. Over 100 of the best restaurants offer a 3 course pre fixed meal for $40. We are talking five star dining for cheap here people. Reservations fill up the day the window opens for accepting them.

This year I was a little slow on the draw, but I did manage two reservations for places I have been dying to try. The first on the list is Craft, in the W Hotel.

The second is Hectors on Henderson. I will have to let you know if they live up to the hype.

Got My Vans On

I hope you all have had the pleasure of hearing the song Vans, by .The Pack I love it. The hook is way to catchy…got my vans on but they look like sneakers. Love it. I tried to get Chris to wear vans in the wedding, but he will never be a vans fan. I thought about wearing ones with sparkle sculls on them (adorable!) but Jimmy Choo won the shoe war.

The song got me to thinking, and on the RSVP we added a line for a song requests. We figured it was a little unique, and might be something fun for the guests to show their personalities. I have to say; so far the results have been mixed. Some didn’t even pick a song, and several that are wrote “anything we can dance too”. Really? Now I will say a few friends have come thru with songs that reflect their personality, and I love those. Some others have picked the usual wedding mush. I want originality, show me who you are, tell me your song!