Texas Lou

Archive for the ‘Pictures’ Category

Well Texas IS my #1 passion and the blog IS called Texas Lou!

A couple of weeks ago, Ben, my mother-in-law, and I attended the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello and I spotted these two gems:

Texas Blue Bonnet Seeds…Ben’s mom bought some

A Texas Bird Pepper plant…I wonder if any of my Texan friends and family have one of these?

Texas is everywhere I look folks!  I must have Texas On My Mind!

Saturday, Ben and I went to the Top of the Hops Beer Festival downtown.  It was a beautiful day to be outside and we enjoyed it while bumping into friends and tasting lots of new and different beers.  Some of the more unique brews we tried were Fish Paralyzer BPA of RJ Rockers Brewing Company (BPA stands for Belgian-Style Pale Ale), Chipotle Ale from Rogue Ale which had a very smokey taste to it, and Jacques Au Lantern of Evolution Craft Brewing Co. which is a seasonal pumpkin ale that Ben described as being very nutmeggy!  We also tried several ciders and cask ales.

Chris (Ben’s best bud) and Ben…check out Chris’ awesome pretzel necklace!

The ladies: Caitlin (Cara’s sister), Cara, and I

Ben and I after lots of beers!

After all that beer, we desperately needed some food, so we headed to the Whiskey Jar for some southern style cookin’!  Ben and I both had the Courthouse Sandwhich “Hicory Smoked Pork with a spicy Pepper and Onion blend topped with Housemade Cheese Sauce on a Po Boy Roll and served with Fries”.  It was delicious and we washed it down with a famous Moonshine Punch!

Afterward we spent some time sobering up while playing cornhole at Chris and Cara’s house.   It was the perfect Saturday spent with good friends!

And by “Winter Is Coming”, I’m not just referring to one of my favorite shows, Game of Thrones, which I am really excited to see the third season of beginning in March.

Today is the last full day of summer and tomorrow is the Autumnal Equinox, or official beginning of fall.  And as fall leads to winter, I started thinking about my first winter here in Virginia.  It was my first real winter and my first real snow storm I had experienced.  We received 6 inches of snow in Charlottesville in early 2006 and the next day, I was like a kid on Christmas.  I headed outside with my camera to view the landscape covered in white powdery snow.  I think it was pretty obvious to others that I’d grown up someplace far away that never experiences such phenomenon.

I wanted to showcase one of my favorite photos from that day.  I lived in an apartment complex that had a lake, really a large pond, that often provided a sanctuary to local ducks, geese, and swans.  The reflection coming from the sun on the water as the geese basked in the sunlight after a long night of cold and cloudy snow really lets you feel the calm after the storm.

I’m hoping we get some snow this winter, especially after the uneventful winter we had last season.  I’m not a huge fan of winter time, but if it’s going to be cold and dark and dreary, I’d rather had some beautiful snow to go with it.  After all, when everything’s white, the world looks a little bit brighter!

A couple of weeks ago, September 8th to be exact (I know I am really late posting about this), we attended the wedding of my friends Amy and Joel in Crozet, Virginia.

The wedding was outdoors at the beautiful home of Joel’s mother.  About an hour before the ceremony was to begin, a thunderstorm rolled through the area which gave the bride and groom and their bridal party a scare, but thanks to awesome bridesmaids, groomsmen, and ushers, everything got put back together just in time.  I think the storm was a blessing in disguise because it brought in some cooler air which made for a perfect night that wasn’t too hot.

The wedding was beautiful and the bride was gorgeous.  You could see all of the hard work that Amy and Joel put into planning the event with every little detail and personal touch of the ceremony and reception!  We had a great time dining and dancing with friends and celebrating the beginning of Mr. and Mrs. Harrigan’s new life as a married couple!

Check out a few of the lovely pictures from the evening below!

The lovely couple just after the ceremony!

Ben and I enjoying the evening

Sarah, me, and Cris…lovely ladies in blue!

My sister-in-law and I!

The Davidsons!

Lovely cake with the most adorable cake toppers made by the bride’s sister!

I also want to give a shout out to my sister-in-law/best friend/sister, Sarah, and my brother in law, Ian.  Today is their two year wedding anniversary and I still remember their beautiful wedding like it was yesterday!  Here’s to countless more years of happiness and love for both Sarah and Ian and the newlyweds, Amy and Joel!

I found this neat red feather outside today and thought I’d share.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday!

I just wanted to share a lovely picture, courtesy of a friend, of my husband, the love of my life, and I at a wedding this past weekend (more on the amazing wedding coming later)!

Ben and I

I love him and I love us!

Bloody Mary from Beer Run

Doesn’t this look like a work of art?  One of my favorite drinks to enjoy on a Sunday or with any breakfast, brunch, or lunch meal is the delicious Bloody Mary!  I personally like mine with worcestershire sauce, olive juice, horseradish, lime juice, and LOTS of hot sauce!  Sunday, Ben and I had no breakfast food in the house so I thought it was a great excuse to go to Beer Run, one of my favorite local places for food and beer for brunch.

We both had the El Guapo Breakfast Burrito:

El Guapo Breakfast Burrito
Scrambled local eggs, organic black beans, pepper jack cheese, sauteed red bell peppers wrapped in a flour tortilla. Served with spicy house-made Pico de Gallo and Texas Frites. 9.95

They were served with a slice of watermelon and honey dew.  Brunch was delicious, the company was great, and we snagged the last outdoor table so we could enjoy the first beautiful fall-like day of the season with our meal!  It was the perfect start to our Sunday!

Today’s lunch was a giant bag of carrots.

Why, you may ask, would a person eat a giant bag of carrots for lunch?  Well, for one thing, it’s healthy.  But really, I ate them because I desperately need to go to the store and this was one of the few acceptable lunch items I had in the house.

So as I was enjoying eating my giant bag of carrots for lunch, a thought struck me.  Could I turn orange from eating too many carrots?  I know I’ve heard this before but wasn’t sure if it is a fact or an old wive’s tale.  So  I decided to turn to my trusty old friend that knows the answer to every question, Google!

And of course, this questions is a commonly asked one (I’m not the only one)!  I found this article which confirmed that yes indeed, you can turn orange from eating too many carrots.  Just to make sure I wasn’t being fooled by the many false facts on the interwebz, I turned to Wikipedia to make sure the information I had found was correct.

Wikipedia also confirmed that there is a harmless condition called Carotenosis that includes the symptom of turning orange (see baby’s nose in screen shot above) and is the result of eating too many carrots (or any other naturally orange food like pumpkins).

So folks, consider that your interesting science lesson for the day and try not to eat too many carrots unless you are working on your Halloween costume!

On Saturday morning, I ran the Charlottesville Women’s Four Miler for the 5th year in a row.  The race takes place every year on Labor Day weekend, and the money raised goes to support the University of Virginia Cancer Center Breast Care Program which helps  to fund breast cancer research and support local women fighting the disease.

I was really excited about my performance this year.  Despite it raining during the entire race, I beat my record for the course and crossed the finish line in just under 45 minutes.  In addition, I ran the first mile at 9 minutes and 19 seconds which is a HUGE record for me (I usually run between an 11 and 12 minute mile)!  Below are my results from the past 5 years and they definitely show what an improvement I’ve made!

2012 Results

2011 Results

2010 Results

2009 Results

2008 Results

To get ready for the race, the past couple of years, my friends Sarah and Wendy and I have made shirts to wear on race day.  This year, mine said:

T-shirt…$4

Race Registration…$45

E Racing Cancer…Priceless

Sarah and Wendy’s shirts quoted lyrics from the Young MC song “Bust A Move” (get it…bust as in boobies…haha!).

Me, Sarah, and Wendy before the race sporting our creative T’s!

Ben even came out to support us and I want to say a special thank you to him for holding all of our bags and waiting for us in the rain.

Ben and I before the race

Sarah and I waiting for Wendy to arrive with our race bibs.

Ben and I…check out all the pink in the background!

One of the best things about this race is all of the support it gets from the local community.  People come out rain or shine to volunteer and cheer on the runners and everyone gets all decked out in pink.  We even saw a man with three kids who all had their hair dyed pink (including the father’s beard) and were wearing pink shirts in support of their wife/mom running the race!  It’s the number 1 most popular race in Charlottesville and race registration has closed out in under 12 hours the past couple of years.  I was really lucky to get a spot this year since race registration was on my wedding day.  Lucky for me, my pal Wendy signed me up!  I love this race and I plan on running it every year as long as I’m able.  And one day, if I have daughters, I hope to have them run it with me!

Back around Easter, Ben’s mom decided to buy some chicks.  As a 4th grade teacher, she had hatched many eggs in her classroom over the years and then brought the chicks home to raise as pets.  These are the first set of chickens that she has raised in a long time and we have all been eager for them to start laying eggs.

There are 3 roosters, Big Red (the alpha male), Roger, and Adam (he was originally Ms. Pretty until we discovered he was a male).  The 3 hens are named Briana, Evi II (aka Evi 2 or Evi Too named after our cat Eva who we call Evi), and Henna.

Sunday, when we were visiting Ben’s mom, we discovered that one or more of the hens had laid their first eggs.  We found four eggs spread out in various spots between their hen house where they sleep and the fenced-in area where they eat and roost underneath an old Concord grape vine.  Unfortunately, before we were able to get to the fourth egg, the chickens all pecked it and devoured it.  That seemed like strange behavior to me, but I’m sure it’s not the first time it has happened in the history of the world.

Two of the first eggs laid by the Davidson chickens. We assume they came from different hens since they are different colors.

The chickens gathered together possibly hoping for us to give them food.

It’s been really cool watching them grow and mature over the past few months.  I remember how exciting it was the first couple of times we heard Big Red crow!  And I learned that roosters will crow at any time of the day, not just in the mornings.  I’m looking forward to lots of eggs from these beautiful birds!

A couple of roosters posing for the camera.

Looking for food

Underneath the grape vine

Beautiful Rhode Island Reds!

Big Red and his beautiful iridescent green tail feathers!

Roaming the garden