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Dish Pan Hands

We pretty much sit at the table for dinner every night. The only exception is a pizza night (which was made for eating in front of the tv, right?) I think it's a good habit to get into to sit down and visit with one another, and I'm glad we're making it a priority in our home even now before we have children. To that point, I enjoy setting the table, and every night we eat off of the real stuff--no paper plates. And, I take some housewife-ly pride in that fact because my husband can't say we don't use all those dishes we (um, I) registered for.

But yesterday, it was all I could do to keep from picking up some paper plates.

You see, my dishwasher bit the big one on Saturday.

It was only 16 months old. Seriously. And seriously out of warranty.

And after washing all the dishes sitting in the washer at the time of death, along with the others that had piled up since then, my hands can't take it anymore.

So we hied ourselves to Sears yesterday and ordered a new one. It will be here Wednesday, which can't get here fast enough. I had no idea it was so critical to the orderliness of my household until I was dishwashing deficient. If I had to make a list of my favorite kitchen gadgets, I would say this is a kitchen gadget my hands cannot live without.

What's your fave kitchen gadget? I'm always looking for suggestions. A close second to the dishwasher for me would have to be my pineapple corer that I picked up in Boone, NC, and I can't remember the store name now. It rocks only slightly less than a working dishwasher.

Date Night

Over the past month we have been incredibly busy--both of us have been going in different directions, 90 miles an hour. Last weekend we were in Texarkana for Brad's high school reunion, which was busy, but really fun. We decided we needed one more night to put off cleaning the house and unpacking, so tonight was declared a date night. It was a wonderful time to hang out just the two of us. (We spent 8 hours in the car this weekend, and we still wanted to spend time together. I think that's a good thing!)

I saw a mention in the Dallas Morning News a few weeks ago for an Italian restaurant in Fort Worth that was listed as one of the top 5 places this particular reviewer would recommend to visitors to the area. That's all we needed to decide to check out Brix Pizza located near Hulen and Vickery.


We both had a salad to start and split a pizza. It was more than enough food for the two of us, and we will definitely go back. The crowd was a little sparse (everyone but us was on the patio), but the atmosphere was perfectly romantic for us. Here's my hot date! (Pardon the dark pics--my camera is under the weather.)


We rounded out the night with a trip to the Apple store and a lap through Williams-Sonoma. For dessert, we sampled their pumpkin spice waffles and the apple cinnamon cider. Yum-o! We just finished laughing at Penny trying to capture a frog (unsuccessfully.) She cracks us up.

Here's to a trillion more date nights with the love of my life.

Where I've Been, What I've Been Up To

I am finally home from my recent work trips for good. Last week was Atlanta, and when I left on Monday morning, my suitcase from San Francisco was still sitting in the middle of the bedroom floor. As a general rule, I don't like unpacking because it means that some really fun trip is over with, but in this case I was extremely glad to be home and both of my suitcases are now put away. Of course, in place of those is a big giant pile of dress clothes that either need to be dry cleaned or laundered, and I just can't bring myself to take care of it. No fun.

I was in Atlanta for approximately 4 days and saw about 45 minutes of a mall where I ate Chick-fil-a and picked up some makeup that I had run out of (at Bloomingdale's though, so that was a little fun, and I got a 'little brown bag'.) Otherwise, I saw zero of the city outside of the airport and a classroom where I sat for 8 hours a day. I'll have to go back someday.

One thing in my travels over the last 2 weeks that I have come to appreciate immensely is free WiFi. Other cities have free hot spots everywhere. I was even able to video iChat with Drew from the PHX airport. What's the deal, DFW? Other than Panera and the Toyota dealership, we have no free WiFi love around here.

While I was gone, my husband went on a mission trip with some men from our church to help victims of Hurricane Ike down in the Beaumont area. From what I understand, it was quite a trip. The devastation down there is wild, and it seems to me the news media has barely reported on it. I don't get it. The trip definitely opened our eyes, and we are praying so much for those affected.

Since he left on Wednesday for that trip, and I got home on Thursday, that left me with some time on my hands. I stayed with Alisia on Thursday night, took a vacation day Friday just because I could, hosted a Girls' Night In at my house on Friday night (husband away = chick flick movie madness) with some friends, and my brother came to spend the rest of the weekend with me. (I should insert a note here for myself that in the future, when I make chicken salad, I should half my recipe. I forgot, so when I made it for Friday evening, and it made enough to feed the neighborhood. For several days. )

I was so glad when Brad got home Saturday night! We have just about readjusted to sharing a bathroom again, the dog recognizes both of us, and the laundry is piled up in the usual locations.

In the words of Dorothy, "there's no place like home!"

Golden Gate City

If you're going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
--Scott McKenzie

This evening we went out for dinner over the Golden Gate Bridge in Sausalito at The Spinnaker, over the water in San Francisco Bay. These pics were taken with my iphone as we went over the bridge.

This Ain't NorthPark, Y'all

It's not Southlake. It's not even Knox-Henderson.

It's University Park Village in Cowtown, home of the largest Apple store in Texas, according to the Apple Genius who was helping me yesterday. And of course he said it with a bit of pride in his voice.

It is quite palatial. To be quite honest, it makes NorthPark's Apple look like a closet. And you know I love me some NorthPark.

I am considering taking on a part time job so at least I will make some money being there. I can't get enough.

Now we need Anthropologie in that shopping center, and 5--nay, SIX of my favorites will be in one place.

Resourceful

Not all technology at a camp out is a bad thing. As you can see, an iPod cord can be used for more than transferring music.

S'more.com

This past Friday night we went camping with the McElroys. They are very experienced campers, so I spent most of my time downplaying my lack of outdoor adventure prowess.

I did not complain about the spiders. I did not complain about the smoke from the fire (much). And I sure did not complain that I got cold (mostly because Brad let me have his warm sleeping bag, and he took the thin one. I think that's true love right there.)

But I did complain when a cold front came in during the night, and the trees overhead started swaying, and then I started thinking about one of them falling on top of us while we didn't have a roof over our heads, just a tent. And then I thought I heard a wild animal or maybe worse, some weird person breathing. So then Brad got up to check and see what was out there, and the breathing stopped, so then I thought maybe, just maybe, it was just him breathing. It remains a mystery to this day.

But we survived, and I had fun! Here we are on the fancy overlook overlooking a bunch of trees during a Saturday morning wilderness excursion.



(We will not speak of the fact that this particular state park had a WiFi hotspot, and my phone had a full signal, and I carried my Mac since I was on call and checked weather.com in the middle of the night because I was scared of a little bit hurricane force wind. Let us not mention it. But I will go on record as saying that my preferred camping setup includes s'mores and WiFi.)

Hope you had a great weekend!

Apples for Christmas

At this early stage of our marriage, we are still attempting to make it over the river and through the woods to both families at Christmastime. At the same time we like to celebrate Christmas between just the two of us so, every year we choose the best night of the week before we leave on the Christmas pilgrimage to celebrate Christmas. It's pretty much a Christmas date night. Due to other activities this week, tonight was that night!

After a fabulous fajita dinner for two at Los Vaqueros, we came home where our lovely tree greeted us in the window. And then, we exchanged presents. Brad got an iPod classic! Now that he's done with school, he has time for modern technology.

And as for me...well, I scored big time!

What could it be?
A MacBook!
My very own MacBook! Thank you Santa!

Reason I Like My Phone #513

I just realized I can blog from my phone. Let the games begin!

Ode to My iPhone

Oh my dear iPhone,
How did I communicate before thee?
With your screen so clear and amazingly button free!
Your features so intuitive,
Your internet abilities so sprightly,
I fear my husband might try and steal you
So I will lock you up nightly.
Steve Jobs, I do appreciate
the keen insight and R&D
You Apple folks put into
making this lifestyle device for me.
I can check my e-mail anytime!
I can know the weather too!
I can look for directions when I'm lost on the road,
And you double as my iPod too!
You're my fun camera.
You're my favorite alarm clock.
You're my kickin' new gadget.
In short, dear iPhone, I think you rock.