Texas Lou

Archive for the ‘Seasons’ Category

Good morning!  Spring is actually FINALLY here and we’ve been having beautiful weather so that is definitely something to be thankful for!

In addition to my gratefulness that spring has arrived, I’m also thankful for the following:

1. I’m so thankful that Ben and I close on our new house this week!  I can’t wait to live in a house again…it’s been 8 years since I’ve lived in an actual house!  So long apartment living!
2. I’m very happy for my cousin Jennifer and her new husband Eric.  They got married in Florida this weekend and I’m extremely thankful for Facebook and all of her friends and family who posted pictures of the beautiful event and lovely family so that I could share in the celebration.
3. I’m thankful for the new friends I’ve made at work who have made working here feel much more comfortable and happy.
4. I’m thankful for all of the wonderful people who have offered to help us move and fix up our condo to get it ready to rent.  We are lucky to have such kind and generous people in our lives.
5. I’m thankful that in less than two weeks, I will be a first-time home owner AND I’ll be in Texas visiting my family!
6. BONUS:  I’m thankful that the Farmers Market is finally back in season.  I went early Saturday morning to enjoy it and missed it so much!  I’m glad its back for another 9 months!

Have a wonderful and beautiful week.  I hope everyone is lucky enough to enjoy some warm and beautiful spring weather (sans allergies of course)!

Good morning and welcome to this week’s Thankful Monday blog post!

I’m thankful for the following (and lots of other things not listed here as well):

1. I’m thankful for modern medicine, especially allergy medicine.  It’s spring time and with that time of year comes seasonal allergies.  Mine are as bad as ever so I’m very happy to have some Allegra, Zyrtec, Flonase, Nasonex, etc. for some sweet relief.
2. I’m thankful for my in-laws, especially my mother-in-law  Virginia Mom, who helped us celebrate a lovely Easter Sunday with a delicious lunch, great company, and Easter egg dying!
3. I’m thankful that we were officially approved for our mortgage loan on the house we have under contract.  I’m also very thankful for the wonderful inspection and appraisal that it received, the great deal we are getting on it, and the nice and friendly couple who are selling it to us and have taken such great care of the house.
4. I’m sad that one of my favorite shows, The Walking Dead, is over until October, but very happy and grateful that its Sunday night spot will be replaced with another one of my favorite shows, Game of Thrones.
5. I’m thankful for another Monday and a new month to start fresh!

Happy April, happy week, happy everything!

Good morning and welcome to my Thankful Monday post!

Today, I’m thankful for the following:

1. I’m thankful for a wonderful day with friends yesterday.  First, we had breakfast at the Tavern on the James and then we went to the James River Brewing Company that I’ve been wanting to try for a long time.  It was great company, great food, and great fun!
2. I’m thankful that I have amazing women in my life who are all willing to put in the effort to keep in touch.  Friday night, I met up with several of the ladies I used to work with at VGT for dinner and drinks.  It was so nice to catch up with everyone and I’m always grateful to have another Girls’ Night to look forward to!
3. I’m thankful to have so many friends who are pregnant or who have recently had babies.  Not only am I thankful that their pregnancies all seem to be going well, but I’m also so happy to see so many wonderful friends bringing new life into this world.
4. I’m thankful that Spring is here!  Although we had about 3 inches of snow last night, we had a beautiful, sunny, and warm day on Saturday that Ben and I enjoyed by running 5 miles along the river.  I think this is the last of the snow we will have this season.
5. I’m thankful again for the opportunity to work from home today.  As I mentioned before, we had snow overnight and it is supposed to continue to snow until this evening so I’m very glad I have a job that allows me the flexibility to work from home so that I don’t have to risk my safety and others’ on the roads.

Have a terrific week!

Good morning and welcome to this week’s Thankful Monday blog post!

Today I am thankful for the following:

1. I’m thankful that Spring is almost here and we are already starting to see some pretty purple and yellow flowers blooming.  Although we haven’t had a ton of snow this winter, it has felt so dark, cold, and long so the idea that Spring and longer days are on the horizon makes me so happy!
2. I’m thankful that our longest training run for the Charlottesville Ten Miler is finished.  We did 11 miles yesterday (ok I only did 10.8). and it feels so good to know that the race will be shorter!
3. I’m thankful that we finally have a house under contract.  I know it is not ours yet, but it’s the closest we’ve gotten so far to finding our new home.  My fingers are crossed that inspection, appraisal, and closing all go as planned.
4. I’m thankful for a weekend that was filled with fun and many friends, including Nita, Sarah D., Collin, Sarah W., Scott, Kennith, Courtney, Deb, Robert, and Crystal.  I also got to see lots of family this weekend including my sister-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law, and nephew.
5. I’m thankful for sunshine because it makes me feel so good and happy!

I hope you have a great week filled with lots of sunshine!

Saturday night, I was in the mood for some pumpkin themed activities, so we headed over to Ian and Sarah’s house for dinner, pumpkin carving, pumpkin seed roasting, and pumpkin beer tasting!

Sarah cooked the amazing dinner and I provided the pumpkin ales and pumpkins for drinking and carving.  Sarah made white bean vegetarian chili which was delicious.  It had the consistency of potato soup but the taste of chili and it was perfect for a breezy fall evening.  I brought over Rogue Pumpkin Patch Ale, Williamsburg Alewerks Pumpkin Ale (a Virginia beer!), and Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale which I picked up from Beer Run which always has an amazing beer selection!  Rogue and Smuttynose were both kind of spicy with hints of pumpkin and nutmeg while Williamsburg Alewerks was more sweet like pumpkin pie.

After dinner, we carved pumpkins with the help of Amy, Joel, Collin, Ian, and Ben.  Sarah opted for an awesome design created using the power tool pumpkin carving method.  She used a drill to create decorative holes all around the pumpkin’s surface.  I of course had to go with a Texas theme!  Due to my lack of artistic ability, I had Ben draw the shape of Texas  freehand.  It looked great but we were worried it would be too difficult to carve, so he drew me a Texas Longhorns logo instead.  It came out great and the Texas themed jack-o-lantern is now being proudly displayed outside our front door.

Sarah with her lovely pumpkin!

My Longhorn pumpkin!

The cool longhorn pumpkin cut-out.

We used the seeds from our pumpkins to roast cinnamon sugar pumpkin seeds and garlic pumpkin seeds and ended the evening feasting on them while watching Netflix.  It was a great night with great friends and the perfect way to celebrate Halloween weekend!

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!

We are getting dangerously close to the end of summer, and although I LOVE fall and all of the beautiful colors and changing leaves and cool and crisp air it brings with it, I dread the shorter days and decrease in sunlight.  The fall colors are something that I never really saw growing up in Houston that I’ve really come to apreciate here in Virginia.  However, the shorter days where it gets dark around 5 PM is also something  that I never saw growing up that I really can’t stand.  It brings on a serious case of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD 🙁 ).

With these last few days of summer and late evenings still filled with dwindling sunlight, I’m trying to soak up as much of it as I can get before the time change.  The Meade Park Farmers Market that takes place every Wednesday afternoon from 3 PM until 7 in Charlottesville is about to come to a close for the season next week so I suggested to Ben that we go for a run to the market after work.  After a beautiful 2.75 mile run to the market in perfect temperatures, we arrived at the market where we bumped into some friends, got to sample some delicious and nutritious bread from the Great Harvest Bread Company, and ended up buying some fresh and local green beans and swiss chard.  We than ran the 2.75 miles back home along the Rivanna River where I cooked barbecue chicken (with authentic Texas Rudy’s barbecue sauce – thanks to Cheryl and Dan), asparagus, and garlic parmesan sauteed zuccini.  After dinner, Ben and I watched 21 Jump Street, the movie and laughed our butts off!  I highly recommend it especially if you’re looking for a good laugh.

It was a great day, made even better by the fact that rather than going and sitting in front of a computer all day, I got to spend the work day volunteering with my company for the Thomas Jefferson Area United Way Day of Caring.  We organized closets, separated donated childrens’ clothing, and made goody bags for young families in the area at the Child, Youth, & Family Services in Charlottesville.  It was wonderful to learn about the organization, help out my community, meet lots of new people, and give my time and effort to such a great cause.  And you should have seen the amazing lunch they provided us!!!

I’d have to say it was definitely a summer day to remember!

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!

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!

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