Texas Lou

Archive for the ‘Pictures’ Category

A couple of years ago, I started posting about the number of blogs I was subscribed too.  This was when I first started blogging myself and was discovering the wonderful world of blogging and Google Reader which suggests new blogs that you may be interested in based on the blogs you are already subscribed too.

Over the years, I have continued to update the number of blogs I am subscribed to which has become astronomical.  I am now subscribed to 759 blogs!

Here’s proof!

While I’m definitely not able to keep up with reading all of these blogs regularly, I certainly never run out of things to read and I have the ability to read them anywhere I have an internet connection: home, work, my cell phone, my kindle fire.  My blog topics range from weddings and cooking to professional development (programming) and companies and organizations that I want to keep up with.  I even have most of them organized within categories which helps when I’m in the mood to read about a specific topic.  I recommend checking out Google Reader if you haven’t already.  It’s definitely one of my favorite things on the interwebz!

Friday afternoon, I met up with my friend/sister-in-law Sarah and my friend Amy to hang out at Fridays After 5.  Sarah and Amy were downtown looking for some last minute items for Amy’s wedding which is in less than two weeks!  I’m so excited for Amy and Joel’s wedding…it’s going to be a blast!

After meeting up with the girls, we stopped by Baggby’s Gourmet Sandwiches and then headed over to the Nook to join Sarah’s parents, Craig and Robin, for some drinks.

The girls and I downtown at Friday’s After Five.

After drinks at the Nook, we headed to the pavilion to watch Mingo Fishtrap play.  I’d never heard of them, but Sarah’s parents were raving about their music.  Plus they are from Austin, so any band from Texas deserves a listen from me.  I really enjoyed their music and they were great at playing several different styles and genres.

Mingo Fishtrap performing at the Charlottesville Pavilion

They even brought their own sign!

Amy and Sarah downtown

After taking the picture above, Sarah and Amy both asked if it was going on the blog.  Well here it is girls!

Ben and I were supposed to get dinner with our friends Cheryl and Dan who sadly moved to Tennessee on Saturday, but their movers came too late and they weren’t finished packing until well after dinner time.  We will miss them, but are planning on a visit soon!

After Fridays After 5, Ben and I randomly headed out to Sarah and Ian’s new house for a fun night with friends.  All in all, it was a perfect start to the weekend!  I hope everyone’s Friday was as fun as mine!

A few months ago, my mother-in-law was doing some shopping at Tuesday Morning and found something really unusual (well unusual for Virginia).  She alerted me of the 40 pound concrete stone in the shape of Texas and I knew I HAD to buy it.  Besides, I am probably the only person in Charlottesville Virginia who has an affinity obsession for items in the shape of the great state of Texas.

I made a quick trip to Tuesday Morning which always has awesome deals and got this Texas shaped stone at a steal for $8.  And as I was buying it, the clerk remarked, “Good, I’m glad someone’s finally buying this.  I’m tired of looking at it on the shelf!”  Well like they say, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure!

Since we don’t have a yard currently, my in-laws are storing it for me in their yard until we have a house and yard where I can proudly display it!

The title of this post is one of my favorite quotes about love and relationships.  I think I really like it because it describes the teamwork, partnership, and cooperation that I believe is necessary for a healthy and lasting relationship.

Speaking of love and games, I wanted to show the cornhole set that I had custom made for my wedding.  The theme of the wedding was Texas and Virginia (mine and Ben’s home states respectively in case it wasn’t already obvious).  We had lots of little aspects of the wedding that went along with this theme like the Texas shaped bride’s cake (yes, you read that right, we had a bride’s cake instead of a groom’s cake) and the Virginia wine and beer served at the reception.  I think this game brought the whole theme together quite nicely, not to mention it was great fun to have at the wedding and Ben and I can enjoy them for years to come.

Board 1: Texas

Board 2: Virginia

The boards were hand made by the extremely talented Derik of Cornchucker LLC .  He did a beautiful job and let me customize the wording, colors, and logos on the boards.  I know Ben and I are going to have these set up in our backyard when we finally buy a house and they will always remind us of our wonderful wedding weekend!

Last night, I went downtown to Fridays After Five, a free concert held at the Charlottesville Pavilion every Friday in the summer time, to meet up with the AMAZING Travis family(Robin, Sterling, and Sarah, my sister-in-law) to see Craig Travis (Sarah’s dad) sing with his former band the Houserockers.

After bumping into some friends and enjoying good conversation while sipping on local Star Hill beer, we went to the front of the pavilion to cheer on the Houserockers and dance and sing along.  The Houserockers put on a wonderful performance and Sarah’s dad is truly talented.

I apologize for the blurriness of these pictures, but we were dancing after all!

Robin, Sterling, and Sarah waiting for Craig’s performance. I love this family!

My sister from another mister and I!

Craig singing front and center.

Go Houserockers!

After the show, Sterling, Sarah, and I stopped off at Miyako for some sushi and edamame.  It was a great way to start the weekend and I’m so glad I FINALLY got to see the Houserockers perform after hearing so many great things about them from the Travis family!

A few months ago, I received an email from Living Social about a deal for a Murder/Ghost/History tour in Charlottesville.  I’ve been wanting to take this tour for a long time since I’ve heard alot of good things about it from friends and I’m interested in history and mystery so I decided to take advantage of the deal.

Fast forward to this week and I received an email that my living social deal I had purchased months ago was about to expire so I had to act fast!  Sarah and I made plans to take the tour which is given every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 8 to 10 PM in downtown Charlottesville.  I wasn’t sure what to expect since Cville is such a small town (at least in my eyes).  I was curious about how many people would attend the tour and how much history and ghost stories there could actually be.

A flyer for the ghost tour I took last night

The tour, given by Rob Craighurst of Tell Me About It Tours, was pretty awesome!  Rob walked us through the streets of downtown Charlottesville telling us the story of a former mayor of Charlottesville, Sam McCue, and his wife Fannie who was murdered in 1904.  His elaborate and historically accurate anecdote was sprinkled with rumors of ghosts sightings at certain area residences and businesses as well as interesting facts about the landscape and history of Charlottesville in the early 1900s.  He also pointed out several buildings throughout downtown Charlottesville that I had no idea existed like the original Charlottesville jail where people were hanged as punishment for their crimes.  Rob was a wonderful tour guide who mastered  the use of humor, suspense, and imagery in his story and held our attentions very well!  I would recommend this tour to both tourists and long-time residents of Charlottesville.  I will probably even take the tour again since I found it so interesting.

A map of the house where the wife of former mayor of Charlottesville, Sam McCue, was murdered in 1904. The house still stands and serves as an apartment building which we passed on the tour.

If you’re ever in Charlottesville (or live here) and are looking for 2 hours of entertainment (and exercise as it was a walking tour), I highly recommend this!  The price wasn’t bad either…only $15 per person!

Last night, I joined my sister-in-law/best friend, brother-in-law, and a friend for dinner at their house.  I brought the wine (of course) and Sarah did the cooking.

When I first arrived, Sarah announced that she was making Tilapia for dinner.  Upon hearing that, I thought that I would just eat mostly sides as I’m not a fan of fish at all.  I really don’t like the smell or the texture of it despite how good I know it is for me.  But I said I would try the fish at the very least because Sarah and Ian have raved about how wonderful it is plus I didn’t want to me a rude dinner guest either.

After lots of laughter and good conversation, dinner was finally ready and Sarah, Ian, Collin, and I sat down to tilapia with a creamy dill sauce, baked asparagus, and baked potatoes.  It was a delicious dinner and I actually LOVED the fish.  I even came home telling Ben (who is always wanting me to cook more fish at home) how wonderful it was and that I was going to make it for dinner in the future.

It just goes to show that if you try new things, you might just be surprised and find a new favorite!

A picture of the tilapia from scissorsandspatulas.com

If you’re interested in the recipe, check out Scissorsandspatulas.com.

I was reading an article titled Google Autocomplete Reveals the Fattest, Boringest, and Most Racist States in the Union on slate.com that explains how a researcher used Google Autocomplete to draw conclusions on the biggest assumptions about each state based on the most popular Google searches.  It’s a pretty short read and quite fascinating but what really got me excited about the article was the top most popular Google search about Texas shown in the interactive map of the United States in the article.

Screenshot courtesy of slate.com

“Why is Texas so awesome” was the most popular Google search about Texas at the time the research was done for this article!

Anyone who was born and raised there may not be able to articulate the answer to this question, but they can certainly feel it!

This weekend, Ben and I drove 366 miles to FINALLY visit my brother Mikey in Columbia, South Carolina.  The drive wasn’t bad at all…we drove through Lynchburg and Danville, Virginia, Greensboro and Charlotte, North Carolina, and finally made it to the beautiful state of South Carolina.  We made the trip in under 6 hours and that was with two stops for gas, bathroom breaks, and snacks.

When we got to Columbia on Friday evening, Mikey took us to one of his favorite brewpubs, the Hunter Gatherer, for dinner and drinks.  We each had delicious gyros and many microbrews.  We also finally got to meet Mikey’s South Carolina entourage (or part of it).  Ross, Katherine, and Josh met up with us for drinks and shared lots of crazy stories!

Saturday morning, we got up and went for a run around the University of South Carolina campus.  I did about 4.5 miles, but couldn’t keep up with Mikey and Ben who at a much faster pace, ran around 7.  It was really cool to see the campus and I also got a taste of the USC Gamecock school spirit from Mikey’s awesome roommate Katherine.  After our run, we hit the farmers market in Columbia, but soon it started raining, so we detoured to the Cock n’ Bull for what Mikey deems the best burgers in Columbia!  He was right…we all had delicious burgers while we watched the Olympics.

Later that afternoon, we got dressed up in our Texans gear and headed to Charlotte with Mikey’s buddy Josh who was gracious enough to drive us.  We stopped for sushi once we got to town and then continued on to tailgate before the game.  Much to our surprise, we realized that drinking on the streets in Charlotte on game day is legal accepted by the local police so we met up with some of Josh’s friends and enjoyed a few cold ones.

Mikey and I tailgating in our Texans jerseys!

Mikey and Josh enjoying cold beer in a hot parking garage.

The hubby and I getting ready for his first pro football game!

The guys at the game.

View of downtown Charlotte from the stadium.

The game was great!  The highlight was in the first quarter when Trindon Holliday scored an amazing touch down!  The night couldn’t have gone better with the Texans beating the Panthers 26 to 13.  Even though it was a preseason game, we made sure to out yell all of the Carolina Panthers fans surrounding us in true Texas spirit!

Sunday morning, we met up with Mikey’s friends for brunch at the Thirsty Fellow where I sampled the bellini, mimosa, and a bloody mary (the Sunday brunch trio)!  Food was great, drinks were awesome, and the company was the best.  But like all great weekends, this one had to end, so Ben and I loaded up the car and headed back to Charlottesville.  The trip was so much fun and I was sad it had to end.  I love getting to spend time with my brother and it was really cool to meet his friends and see where he spends his time.

I can’t wait for another trip back to South Carolina.  Next time I’ll make it a three-day weekend (or longer) and we’ll check out Charleston!

Greetings on this beautiful spring Mother’s Day!

First and foremost I’d like to wish a happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms out there, especially my mom! Since both mothers and spring give birth to new and beautiful life, I thought I’d post some lovely pictures of all the blooming flowers, fruits, and vegetables growing in my future in-laws’ garden!

Lovely Blooming Peonies