Dallas For the 4th of July

Happy One-Week-After-The-4th-of-July, y'all!  We got in late Saturday evening from our trip to Dallas and as always, Dallas on the 4th of July was full of surprises!

Last time Justin and I went to Dallas for the 4th, we got engaged...needless to say, I didn't see that one coming at all, so it definitely proved to be a surprise!

This year, we decided to head down South again--the plans were somewhat similar to last time.  We would go to a family barbecue hosted by Justin's cousins, stay with his best friend Isaac (aka the "Brother From a Different Mother"), celebrate the 4th, go out and just relax.  Isaac and Justin first met when they lived in the dorms at K-State--Justin was on the basketball team, Isaac was on the track team.  Once they got out of the dorms, they moved into a house with two other friends and they are all super close to this day!  Anytime Justin and Isaac are together, you know there's fun to be had! 

And for the most part, our plans went exactly like that.

BUT--before we left, I felt our house needed to be a bit patriotic...and of course, if we decorated for the 4th of July, maybe people wouldn't think we were gone!  I had given up on buying buntings for our front porch--they're not the cheapest thing in the world and with me working a commission-only job, I didn't feel that we could justify the expense.  Until...Walgreen's had them on sale on July 2nd and I scored four buntings for $10!!!  I couldn't turn down a bargain like that AND we could leave behind a patriotic front porch!

We left Manhattan at 3:00 am on Wednesday morning...and yes, we're crazy!  We wanted to get down there decent time BUT we were worried about hitting the road after we both spent long days at work on Tuesday.  So, after supper we took a nap and left in the dark instead :-)

We arrived in Dallas at 10:15 am!!!  That included stopping in Oklahoma City for gas and letting the dog out to run and play.  Oh--and as it turns out, Mitzi does VERY well riding in the car for long distances!  She just laid in her crate and looked out the front window or she slept.  Guess we didn't need the doggie tranquilizers after all :-) 

Once we got to Isaac's place, we loaded up and headed to Justin's cousins.  They had just moved to a different house 3 months ago but they already had their house put together...it seemed more like they'd been living there 3 YEARS.  Wish I could have said the same thing about us when we bought our place!  Anyhow, we were pretty impressed with the house--especially knowing what the new-construction houses go for in that development.  This house came with a covered back porch, granite counters and professional kitchen, study, theatre room, billards room, and I can't even remember how many bedrooms and bathrooms.  It was great getting to celebrate their new home with all the family!

After the barbecue with Justin's family, we met up with one of Isaac's clients to swim and shoot fireworks.  Isaac told us ahead of time that their house sits on 40-acres in the heart of Arlington and is "pretty sweet" but let me tell you, I had no idea what we were getting into!

We got to his client's house and the kids couldn't wait to get into the pool!  It was actually cooler in Dallas (96 degrees) than in Kansas (105 degrees) but it was still miserably hot...I don't blame the kids for wanting to swim!

This little blondie is Isaac's son, Tristin.   I hadn't seen him since our wedding nearly two years ago and ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, do I love this little boy or what?! As he continues to grow, he just gets cuter and cuter!  I like to call him my blonde Eskimo baby which, eh, probably isn't the most racially sensitive phrase.  Isaac was born and raised in Alaska but he's actually Tongan--which makes Tristin Tongan, not Eskimoan.  If that's even a word!  But anyhow, we feel blessed to call him our nephew!  He has the "Uncle Justin" part down VERY well but he's still working on "Aunt Bria"--but, what kid doesn't struggle with my name?! 

Okay, so the pool at this place was freakin' awesome...check it out!!!  That building behind the pool is literally the "pool house."  There's a small pool in the walkway that flows down into main pool--looked like something out of a movie!

That was the awesome pool...check out the backside of this house!  It's not the best picture, but I was trying to sneak a shot while "acting" like I was looking at something on my phone ;-)  The main level is where the white columns are; the walk-out basement is where the brick columns are AND the upper level is above the railing way up top.  On the far left side of this picture are the stairs that lead up to the balcony and kitchen.  This place was absolutely insane.  The bathroom by the pool was pure marble and I kid you not--the bathroom alone is probably worth more than our entire house!  The "main" kitchen was one of those professional kitchens with a $30,000 gas range that was used by their private chef.  The fridge was one of those built-in all-glass units and at first, Justin thought it was a freezer.  I kept saying, "No, honey--we're not in the freezer aisle of the grocery store!   The thing is really a fridge!" and finally he noticed the pickles, mayo, eggs, whatever and took my word for it ;-)  There were also two other kitchens in the house that I didn't see, and that's probably okay!

The house sat on 40 acres of wooded land in the heart of Arlington and came with its own 9-hole golf course! It had multiple guest houses that put any house where we live to shame...there were also 20-foot tall stone gazebos scattered throughout the property.  And they had their own outdoor living room complete with a built-in fireplace and retractable window covers!  Did I already mention this place was insane?!  lol...

Our friend Isaac, with his son Tristin (the blondie)--and Tristin's brother, Braden, by the outdoor living room

Again, not the best picture because I didn't want to look like a tourist (!!!), but the super bright green area in the far back was where the golf course started!

Now, if a house has such a dramatic back-side, what can the front look like??? 

Isn't the front freakin' insane?!  If you walked out of the basement, you would come out through the little wooden door in the middle.  The driveway was all brick and as you can see, it's fairly large--and that's just HALF of the front parking area.  The driveway also forked over to the garage and then curved up the hill to the gated entrance.  Plus, if you can see on the left edge of the picture, they had a fountain!  Why would I be surprised?  Of course, they'd have a huge fountain out front!  When I told my friend Angie that this place was a "mansion," I wasn't kidding!  When she pulled up to meet us, all the two of us could do was laugh!  I mean, seriously--two Kansas farm girls spending their 4th of July at a mansion?!  Who woulda thought!  Oh, and should I mention I was wearing a $15 sundress from Maurice's?!  Ha!

Behind Justin's right shoulder you can see the archway to the garage...the little windows are also part of the garage structure!

Eventually, it was time to call it a night and reflect back on the independence that our country takes for granted and celebrate the sacrifices our service men and women make every day.  Right now, we have a good friend on his fifth--yes, fifth--deployment to the Middle East...with having a good friend currently deployed overseas, you really start to realize that how easy we have it here in the United States.

Anyhow, enough sappiness.

The next day, Justin and Isaac went to Six Flags.  You couldn't pay me enough to go there so Angie and I decided to hit up some thrift stores in the Dallas proper area.  Most of the stores were pretty lame but then we found the Salvation Army near the University Park area and holy cow--this place was like it's own little mall!  It had showrooms of furniture, home decor, home appliances, a whole room dedicated just to Women's Clothing...it was uh-mazing!!!  And the stuff was in great shape--now wonder the parking lot was jam-packed when we got there!

Finally, we just kind of spent Friday hanging out and running errands.  I had some work to get done so we made a Starbuck's stop and then--out of nowhere--popped up a Whole Foods grocery store.  Hello, danger zone!

I told Justin he could sit in the car and fry or come inside with me...and since it was hotter than Hades in Texas (but still 10 degrees cooler than Kansas), he agreed to tag along with me.  And he was glad he did!  We stocked up on our usual non-perishables (ie $2.99 bottles of wine!) and then we tried some new salsa and homemade peanut butter cups (only because they had his name on them--literally!).  Turned out, Justin LOVED both the salsa and peanut butter cups.  In fact, before we hit the road on Saturday morning, Justin requested one last stop at Whole Foods!  And then when we got back home, he said "Man, I wish we had a Whole Foods here."   Guess I won't have to fight him on going to the crunchy, granola-y stores anymore :-)

While we were out and about Friday, we ate at some awful Barbecue joint . Looking back, I should have trusted my gut--barbecue joints in nice buildings usually suck. It's the holes-in-a-wall that crank out the best food!

Once the sun set, we headed to the Uptown District to have drinks with some friends.  I could act like I know all about the Uptown District, but honestly, I don't know much about it!  It's in the heart of downtown Dallas and it looked like it was once the original business district.  The place kind of reminded me of Aggieville, but on steriods and a bit less trashy.  That said, is it even still comparable to Aggieville?!  lol...anywho, they had some really neat bars, valet parking (for only $5!!!) and fans with misting hoses, too! 

All in all, it was a great trip!  We never feel like we see enough of our friends and it makes the long drives worth every minute.  In just a few short months, Justin and Isaac will be back together for their former roommate's wedding.  We're already counting down the days until we see each other again and hopefully, Tristin will join us too!  Happy Week-After-The-4th-of-July, y'all!

Justin and His "Forever" Birthday

Yesterday was a big day in our house--it was J-Money's birthday!  And just not any typical birthday, at that.  But rather, it was his "forever" birthday...You know, the birthday where you stop counting???  For some people, the forever birthday is their 21st--for others, it's their 30th, 40th, whatever...but this year, Justin seemed to think this was his forever birthday and he wouldn't "age" in numbers beyond this point.  From this birthday on, he is always "29" years old!

If you follow my blog, you already know that Justin got his birthday present early.  In fact, only 2.5 months early!  Long story short, the smoker I was going to get him went on a major sale so I couldn't resist ordering it...and giving it to him as soon as it arrived.  I'm the absolute WORST at keeping surprises secret!

 This year, Justin's birthday fell on Father's Day and early on, we tried to figure out how we could celebrate BOTH occasions but without making one "guest of honor" feel slighted...After hearing that there would be a free concert in our City Park the eve of Father's Day Sunday, we knew what we had to do...we would throw a Blues & Barbecue party that Saturday night and we'd show-off Justin's birthday gift!

We gathered the family on Saturday evening and chowed down on pulled pork sandwiches.  After spending 18 hours in the smoker, they had an incredible flavor!

Then, we headed down to City Park for the grand finale of the annual Juneteenth Festival.  Of all the years we've been in Manhattan, this is the first time we have made it to ANY part of the festival and I'm so glad we could enjoy it!  The third Saturday of every June, people throughout the US come together to celebrate the end of slavery.  Even though the Emancipation Proclamation became official on January 1, 1863 it wasn't until two and a half years later (on June 19, 1865), that Union soldiers sailed into Galveston, Texas, announced the end of the Civil War and read aloud a general order freeing the quarter-million slaves residing in the state. It's very likely that none of them had any idea that they had actually been freed more than two years before. It was truly a day of mass emancipation. Thus, this date has become known as Juneteenth.  Only about one-half of the states recognize Juneteenth and I have to say that I am most grateful that our community has coordinated such a strong and vibrant celebration!

 

But back to the story!  The Juneteenth festival brought in the Daddy Mack Blues Band from Memphis, TN for their grand finale.  Daddy Mack is definitely your old-man electric-blues musician but between him and the three other guys in the band, they rocked the house!  AND the concert was free!  It's crazy to think that people travel to Beale Street to hear him play, but he was in the heart of the Little Apple jammin' for us :-)

Finally, the show was over and our guests headed home.  We called it a night because in just a few short hours, it would officially be J-Money's birthday!!!  That morning, we went to church and celebrated his big day by putting money in BESS.  BESS (which stands for Blessings Everybody Shares Spiritually) is a piggy-bank that members of our church contribute to anytime they have a blessing or thanksgiving to share--then, the money is sent to our sister-church in Haiti to help with outreach projects in their country.  It's pretty cool to think that celebrating Justin's birthday with our church family also helps out those in need!

After church, we watched the movie Acts of Valor--it was an amazing movie but I don't know how you could end that movie with a dry eye!  It really isn't the best movie to watch on a birthday because it shifts your mood from celebratory to reflective...all I could think about was how I was glad all our friends and brother-in-law have come back safe--and how I continue to pray that our friend who's currently deployed will come back safe.  In other words, don't watch it unless you have time to decompress a bit!!!

Once the movie was over, we took a quick nap and then got around for supper at Houlihan's.  Did you know that if you go online and sign up for their birthday club, they give you $15 off any entree during your birthday week?!  And as luck had it, their appetizers are discounted on Sunday nights so we ended up saving more than we spent!

Usually, we both want to face the door when we go out to eat but last night, Justin wanted to face the bar---???  Turns out, the NBA finals were on and he had a direct line of sight to the television if he faced the bar.  Go figure!!!  lol...

After Justin devoured his steak dinner, it was time for birthday cake!!!  Thank you, Coldstone, for making my man happy :-)

And to be sure that no other Justin walked out the door with our birthday cake, I made sure they personalized it just a bit more than usual ;-)

"I have frosting on my face???"

"Oh, yeah--I do!"

All in all, we had a great day and great weekend celebrating Justin's "forever" birthday and showing off his birthday present!  As the saying goes, he's another year older and another year wiser :-)

The Most Precious Marcella Elizabeth!

On November 22, I became an aunt to a baby for the very first time!

My brother and his wife welcomed to the world their first child, Marcella Elizabeth.

It goes without saying that our entire family was beyond excited to finally meet the bundle of joy.  After all, she is the first grandbaby for my parents and when Justin and I married, I inherited teen-age nieces and nephews (who I happen to think the world of).  But getting to watch my niece grow up will be super special!

Marcella's name is French--just like her mother.  And that's not the only reason why the name is so special--we have a dear family friend named Marcella, it's the feminine version of Mark (my father's name) and it also deviates from Marcene (my father's mother's name).  Marcella's middle name, Elizabeth, happens to be a family name on both my dad and mother's sides...AND it's my middle name, too :-)   But do you know what else the two of us share?  We were both born with a head full of black hair!

It's been almost two months now since Marcella has been born and we have enjoyed every minute spent with her.  Like I said earlier, I can't wait to watch her grow up!

Baby Marcella--just moments after she was born!

We made it back from spending Thanksgiving in Louisiana and went to go meet Marcella.  She was already 5 days old--and it was a LONG 5 days until we got to meet her! 

Look how tiny she was compared to Uncle J!  Everytime we look at this picture, she reminds us of a baby doll.

And she slept away our visit!

Marcella was born 3 weeks early--here she is arriving for her Baptism (also her due date) on December 10.

Nikki is a natural Mommy!  Here Marcella is in her Christening Blanket (made by my mom) with her Mommy and Great-Grandma pat

After Marcella's birth, my brother will finally show his face in pictures!

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Marcella slept through her Baptism and the entire Mass!

And here she is on her 4-week birthday! 

If you haven't had enough baby pictures just yet, you HAVE to check out her professional newborn pictures HERE  They are absolutely freakin' adorable and the photographer did an amazing job capturing just how special a newborn baby is!

How To Make a Jar of Good Luck!

Every year, I struggle with coming up with gifts to give co-workers and friends.  It's always such a conundrum--I don't want to go overboard on the gifts and make people feel bad...some people love sweets, other people would kill me if I gave them more candy or carbohydrates...and I would prefer to give something home-made...but usually, I draw a blank and/or run out of time so I just don't do anything!

This year, however, I finally figured out a gift that EVERYBODY should appreciate.  I bottled up a lil' bit of  good luck and prosperity and put it in a jar!

By this point, you may be asking yourself, "And exactly how does she do that???"

It's easy.  All you need is black-eyed peas!

And how do black-eyed peas equate good luck and prosperity?!

Walk into most any Southern kitchen on New Year’s Day and there’ll be a pot of black-eyed peas on the stove or a dish featuring some form of black-eyed peas on the table. The peas are thought to be African in origin and have been a mainstay of the Southern diet for over 300 years. One popular theory on the marriage of black-eyed peas and good luck dates back to the Civil War, when Union troops stripped the countryside of food, crops, and livestock, and destroyed whatever they couldn’t carry away. At that time, Northerners considered field peas and field corn suitable only for animal fodder, and didn’t steal or destroy these humble foods, thus leaving food for Southerners to eat during the conflicts bleakest days. And that’s good luck.

The jars of good luck are easy to prepare.  All you need is a quart-sized Mason jar, a pound of black-eyed peas, various dried seasonings and a way to attach a recipe.  And then it's time to spread the love!  Errr, luck! 

Most often, black-eyed peas are prepared as Hoppin' John on New Year's Day...but, knowing most of the recipients are true Midwesterners, I changed up the attached recipe some.  I included a recipe for Black Eyed Pea Soup--but whenever we make it, we throw in some pig and then drain off the excess liquid and serve it over white rice...nothing beats a big old bowl of soul food!

In case you're interested in bottling up your own bit of good luck and prosperity, the detailed directions and recipe are below!

GOOD LUCK & PROSPERITY IN A JAR

3 1/2 cups (1lb) dried black eyed peas

For Seasoning Packet:

1/2 cup dried minced onion

6 T. chicken bouillon granules

2T. dried parsley flakes

1 T. sugar

2 tsp dried minced garlic

1 tsp chili powder 1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Add 2 cups of the peas into a wide mouth 1quart canning jar. Mix and place the seasoning in a small plastic bag. Place the packet on top of the peas. Add the remaining peas.

Attach this to the Jar:

Black Eyed Pea Soup

Remove seasoning packet and set aside. Rinse peas and place in microwave safe dish. Cover with water, 1 to 2 inches over the top of the beans. Cover the dish loosely with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 15 minutes, rotating after 7 minutes. Drain and rinse beans. Place beans in a large soup pot. Add 12 cups water, 2 (14oz) can of diced or crushed tomatoes & Seasoning packet. Cover, bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until beans are tender. Stir Occasionally.

Our Life the Past 5 Weeks--In 40 Pictures or Less!

Man, life has been hectic around our house!  I can't wait until the holidays get here and things slow down some...yes, I did mean to imply that the holidays will be slower than our schedule as of late!

Our weekdays have been crazy and our weekends full...but we did manage to do a few fun and/or interesting things during the past 5 weeks!  Here are the highlights, in 40 pictures or less...

On September 25, we celebrated our 1-year wedding anniversary!  We went to church, spent the afternoon at home, went out to supper and caught a movie...

I did something I never thought I would do--at least not within the first year of marriage--I bought my husband a self-serving gift...wireless headphones for the TV in our bedroom. He can stay up as late as he wants watching TV (if he even stays awake...) and I can sleep without being disturbed :-)

The other half of my present to Justin was tickets to Bill Cosby's performance here at Kansas State University on October 9.  Bill is not the "young" Heathcliff Huxtable that he once was, but he's still just as funny!  Ironically enough, most of his "stand-up" (if you can call it that, considering he sat down the whole time!) was about married life...

Historically, Justin isn't a creative gift giver.  In fact, he's more the type to give you money and let you pick out the "gift" yourself.  Not that I'm complaining but it's not always the most romantic/considerate way to go about gift giving.  So when he surprised me with a band to go with my wedding ring I was quite shocked!

Here is my engagement ring that then became the wedding ring:

And this is what it looks like with the band...we had to have the band custom-made but it turned out gorgeous and looks like they were meant to be together!  For a girl who didn't want any diamonds to begin with, I have to admit I was pleased with Justin's taste ;-)

The following weekend, we removed a tree from my late grandparents' farm house.  Justin was in charge of climbing the tree and doing all the cutting; I was responsible for running the porter wrap, lowering the limbs down to the ground and dragging the brush away.  I kinda knew what I was doing...but donning a bright yellow Hard Hat definitely convinced everyone else that I was a pro at tree work ;-)  The only part that made me nervous was at the very end.  Justin was getting ready to "notch & drop" the main section of the tree down to the ground...and I had to hold onto a rope tied around the tree.  If I didn't hold on just right, we ran the risk of the tree falling onto the garage or even worse, onto Justin.  Talk about nerve-wracking!

Then the weekend after that, we dog-sat my sister's wiener dogs!  It was a hoot!  They had a hard time accepting that their parents weren't coming back right away...

Poor Bennie spent most of his time laying in his crate...

While Rudy just made himself comfortable...

But after a while, they were finally okay letting Mitzi chase them around and attempt to stir them up!

Then last weekend, we decorated the outside of our house for Halloween!  It had already been decorated for Fall....

But it just wasn't scary enough for Halloween...So we wrapped our front porch in a giant cobweb complete with spiders (that really move!) crawling in it; our flowerbed was transformed into a graveyard and; a rising skeleton can be found awaiting visitors by the front steps.  Then to top it all off, Mom found my motion-activated motorized "swaying" broom that cackles like a witch--it will be going right by the front door come All Hallows Eve!  If you can't tell, I get just a tad excited for Halloween...

And FINALLY, this past weekend, we celebrated the marriage of our friends, Ryan and Joanne, in Wichita!  Ryan and Justin met when Ryan started working for Asplundh in Manhattan--the two of them are like two peas in a pod!  Ryan has since been transferred to a different city but there's always fun to be had when Justin and Ryan meet up. Or, as I like to tease the guys, near-death experiences to be had...that story might require its own post!  But back to the story--we wish Ryan & Joanne a lifetime of happiness together and we had fun catching up with everyone.

It's crazy to think that next week will already be November...and our weekends in November are already full of church activities, meetings, a baby shower and our annual trip to Louisiana.  I know the month will fly by and to me, that's a good thing.  Because come December, my new niece or nephew will finally be here!  I just hope my brother and his wife are as ready for the baby to be here as I am :-)