A Lazy Weekend

March 11, 2015Leave a comment

So I recovered from my foul mood and we ended up having a really nice weekend here in Houston. We didn’t get out of bed until noon on Saturday OR Sunday. Such bums. We really took advantage of the whole free weekend thing, though in the least productive way possible.

To make up for missing out on NYC, we did a dinner and a movie date night on Friday. Went over to Collina’s near the house (BYOB!! with only a $2 corking fee!!) and ate pizza. Which it seems like we are eating a lot of lately. Our waistlines are surely thanking us. We had it last night too… HA. But we were near Pizza L’Vino and I couldn’t resist because it’s my favorite in Houston, even if Pink’s is my go-to. I clearly need to do a post on pizza. Afterwards, we saw Kingsman at Sundance, which we both really enjoyed. Kind of a more humorous James Bond. Typically, I’m not a huge action movie fan because I feel like the “action” parts are too long/boring. The scenes in Kingsman were just right. After the movie, we walked over to notsuoH (Houston spelled backwards) and met up with Katie & Josh. Really laid back, dive-y, bar with good music and friendly bartenders.

Try Coyam!! It was really, really great.

I feel like we need a bikini lady lamp.

After we finally got up on Saturday, we drove out to Katy to check out No Label Brewing Co. The brewery is in an old rice silo with a huge outdoor area and it was packed! They get down to business in the burbs. Lots of kids running around and people hanging out in lawn chairs. A lot of the beers have clever names- my favorite was the Black Wit-O (no surprise there). Dan chatted up the head brewer and is going to join him for a brew day on Friday! Bright and early at 6 AM 🙂 I’m really excited for him to get the opportunity to see the brew process on a larger system.

This little boy LOVED Bar. He kept telling anyone who passed, “Don’t worry- he’s friendly!” and hugging him a lot. Barley was so great with him 😀

And then… MORE BEER. And some food. We are so predictable. A couple at the brewery had told us about World of Beers (also in Katy… the suburbs have some really good things going on) so we went to check it out. Giant selection! I’m pretty sure I could have gotten anything I wanted. But I picked the Belgian flight because I’m adventurous like that.

We also had our first crawfish of the season with some friends at Woodrow’s Heights. 4 whole pounds of hard work and sticky fingers. Sidenote: Woodrow’s is not the same as Little Woodrow’s.

I swear, Barley got more attention on Saturday than ever before. Which really says something. He is such a doll and I’m so proud of how well behaved he is.

We are all on drugsss, ya! (It’s a song, mom. Didn’t really happen.)

Sunday: Shipley’s donuts & kolaches, house/yard work (Dan wore a floor length heavy duty rain coat to mow because it was pouring all day and mowing was desperately needed), church, and pizza.

I was getting really impatient with this line. Why did it take so long for DONUTS? Also, yes, my sticker is expired. Don’t worry, a new one is in the mail.

Disappointment

March 6, 2015Leave a comment

So Dan and I were supposed to wake up in New York City today. We were supposed to be enjoying a super fun weekend with Jenni & Seth. We were supposed to be eating pizza and hot dogs and at delicious NYC restaurants. We were going to go to the 9/11 memorial and the Brooklyn Bridge and the Frick. We were going to see a show on Broadway and breathe in the cold, freezing air. And I’m pouting quite a bit because we aren’t going to get to do any of that and even if we go back next month, the Boyles won’t be there 😦

So basically I’m being a big baby and was a terrible grouch to Dan last night (sorry!) after our flight was cancelled (and we weren’t able to get on another one on Friday… or Saturday…). It’s especially bratty of me because we did just get back from the most amazing vacation and whooo gets to do things like that 2 weekends in a row anyway?! So I’m determined to be grateful for a weekend in Houston where we can work on things around the house (Lord knows our yard needs some TLC) and just generally hang around and be lazy.

Photo (taken by Jenny) from NYC in December with our favorite little niece who I miss so much and CAN’T WAIT to see in just 2 weeks!!

Barley Meets Cows

February 22, 2015February 22, 2015Leave a comment

We kicked off our weekend with Mexican food at Teotihuacan over on Airline. Margs were cheap for HH and food was delish. We had tried to eat here a few weeks ago but it was packed! So we came earlier and had no trouble.

We followed up our dinner with beer. Is anyone surprised?!? 8th Wonder Brewery in EaDo recently re-did their taproom so we had to check it out. Definitely felt less like a brewery since you couldn’t see much of the equipment, but it was nice. Dan chatted up one of the owners and he gave us a little private tour. He’s been researching a lotttt lately about opening up a brewery. According to the 8th Wonder guy, there are about 50 breweries in the process of opening in the Austin area right now… crazy. Anyway, I finally tried Rocketfuel (Vietnamese Coffee Porter) and it was really great. 8th Wonder hasn’t even started canning/bottling yet and they are consistently sold out just selling to bars in the Houston area. Plus they get about 1,000 visitors on one Saturday alone. Booming.

On Saturday, we got up early for a drive to Waco to see my littlest sister presented as an AXO! While the presentation may have been incredibly boring (sorry Abby), it was neat to see the third of the Box girls as a part of the sisterhood 🙂 Us girls spent the afternoon shopping in Waco. We also stopped by Joanna Gaine’s shop (the host of Fixer Upper on HGTV that I love) called Magnolia. Which was of course adorable, even if minimal.

While the ladies were out, Dan introduced Barley to some new creatures at his grandparents house. The cutest, oh my. Grandfather let me feed the sheep 🙂 who are incredibly shy. Or should I say sheepish? 🙂 🙂

We also got to see a bunch of Dan’s cousins and aunt & uncle, which was a nice treat. However, the drive home wasn’t fantastic as I was hit by allergies and Dan is currently throwing up in the bathroom (fortunately we made it home before that started…). SO we are enjoying a lazy Sunday in bed while I pity poor Daniel and his temperamental tummy. At least we have an excuse to stay in and watch the Oscars!! We’ve seen several of the nominees so it should make for a fun show. My favs were The Imitation Game and Wild!

Dan is currently giving me details on the state of his vomit and I’m trying to ignore him. ENJOY THE OSCARS!

A Lovely Weekend

February 16, 2015February 16, 2015Leave a comment

Well, we had a very successful first Valentine’s Day as a married couple!! Dan gets an A+ for his nesting doll of Valentine’s cards… and yes it started with one of those super large, cheesy $7 cards. I’m a big fan of the cards portion of any occasion. Who doesn’t enjoy hearing nice things?! He also got me BANJO!!! We are going to be an adorable folk group in no time. ACL here we come.

We started a little early on Friday trying out a new pizza place… can I say yum? And a great deal? Because it was great. I love Pie Five and I love that it’s so punny. It’s like the Subway/Chipotle of the pizza world and I don’t know how a place like this hasn’t existed before.

Barley explored a new dog park near our house and made some friends. But was the slowest of the bunch. All legs but no speed.

Buffalo Bayou released a Valentine’s beer (only at Creek restaurants, with rose petals and honey) so we had to go try that out and it was pretty darn good! We also made the BEST sandwiches ever. I’m not kidding… it was the best I’ve ever had.

On actual Valentine’s Day, we spent all day outside, walking the heights trail with Barley and just happened to wind up at Onion Creek (again) who just happened to be having a “green” valentine festival and I had the yummiest sno cone ever (lime basil and 100% fresh). We met 3 more people who had met Barley before (he really gets around). We were lazy on our back patio in the beautiful Houston weather (but it’s supposed to drop to the 30’s… I swear, the “seasons” here…).

Dan surprised me with reservations at Underbelly where we feasted on charcuterie, pork thit ko, braised goat with dumplings, market veggies with caramelized fish sauce, and smoked oysters. I was in heaven. I have a very long list of Houston restaurants I want to try and this one was at the top. The chef, Chris Shepherd, is a James Beard award winner too! Cool stuff.

After dinner, we went over to Poison Girl and played pinball! Which was a blast. And we now want a pinball machine in our house. Too bad they are a lot of dollars. But they did already steal a lot of our quarters…

Now I’m off to learn the banjo!! Right after I finish off that pan of truffle brownies… a box from Trader Joe’s… I’m not the biggest baker. Still home made, right?

Tour de Dog Friendly Bars

February 10, 2015February 10, 2015Leave a comment

My in-laws came to town! 2 weekends in a row of hosting! Getting lots of practice. I’m very lucky and really enjoy my in-laws. We always have a great time with them. Plus, they gave me Dan which is the best gift ever in my book. We definitely wore Barley out this weekend!!

Dan’s dad just LOVED Taboo (He didn’t love it. Not one bit. But he obliged my new game love and played a round because he’s nice). Also… I think this picture is precious. We made “The best chicken ever” and drank a bottle of wine Dan’s mom brought back from California that I really liked- Ventana Pinot Noir. Dan made a chai porter a few weeks ago so the boys worked their way through that keg.

Also, Barley is officially a giant dog. But I can still pick him up and that makes me happy 😀 😀

Saturday was pretty much a day for the dog! It did start with me attempting to make beautiful, delicious pancakes. They were delicious, but not beautiful. But I got to use my brunch plates again and that made them beautiful. Hooray!

^^ Mine vs. the pro’s… really no comparison^^

We finally got to go to the new dog park on Buffalo Bayou! Barley loved it, of course. And I love his ears in the running picture. There were also a dozen adorable bulldogs, which Dan and I both agree would make the perfect pal for Barley. ALSO- we had a girl come up to us and tell us she had instagramed Barley and recognized him! He is such a super star! Dan decided we should start using #beerwithbarley from now on.

Dan & Barley being cute at West Alabama Ice House. They both have sleepy eyes (maybe it’s the beer :))

Next stop: Hans! With a pit stop at Maine-ly Sandwiches for lunch. The lobster roll was so good.

The big, sleepy baby at Saint Dane’s.

Time to say “bye”! Dane vs. Mini Chihuahua (Dan’s sister Kim’s pup).

We still wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather, so we walked to Petrol Station & then to Cottonwood (via the railroad that runs behind our house- living life on the edge). Bar got more than a little tired on the way home. And this little girl loved him. Can’t wait to see our own kiddos with him.

Per usual, the weekend went by too quickly! Thanks for visiting Witchers!

BarMan

February 6, 2015February 6, 2015Leave a comment

Barley is half a year old today! A bit crazy how much I adore him. So glad Dan talked me into a great dane because I can’t imagine having any other! Plus, I will always remember the face he made and his joyous shout/ double fist pump when I told I was okay with getting one. One of my favorite memories- I hope he does the exact same thing when I tell him we’re pregnant (don’t worry, we’re not trying… yet).

He was 7 1/2 weeks and 21 lbs when we got him. At 6 months he is already 80 lbs and still growing! I think I love him more with every pound even if he does eat us out of house and home. After he’s grown I’ll post a picture of the height chart we’ve been keeping in the closet door jamb 🙂

On the way home when we first picked him up 🙂 Last one of the litter and we can’t ever understand how.

and at 6 months!

And now an ode to our sweet Barley boy:

Happy half birthday Barley!!! We love you so.

The Witcher Stalkers

February 4, 2015February 4, 2015Leave a comment

We found out who is buying the house next door! So we of course immediately facebooked creeped them because good neighbors are a big deal (shout out to Bill & Allie who brought us a really nice 1978 bottle of wine last week for no reason- thankful and can’t wait to open it and I hope it’s still good).

And guess what?! They went to UT, are our age, have a big dog, and we have lots of mutual friends (which is how we found out about them). But YAY! I hope they are as cool as they seem in their Facebook profile pictures (like I said.. we are creeps). And I hope they like us too 🙂

Hopefully it will have a good cleaning before they move in, because older men living alone aren’t always the tidiest folks.

Welcome to Garden Oaks Section I!!

A Visit from the Boxes (weird that’s no longer my name…)

February 4, 2015February 4, 2015Leave a comment

My family came into town this weekend! It was the first time they’ve all visited since Dan and I got married and it was extra special because they all stayed in our little house. I loved playing host, cooking for them and showing them little bits of Houston. I have a lot to live up to considering my mother is the absolute best hostess (hopefully I won her approval this weekend :)) It went by so fast! It always amazes me how quickly a weekend can pass. My favorite part of all was just having them spending time in our home that we’ve been working on since the wedding. It felt really great to share it with them, even though that also meant sharing one bathroom, ha. It surprisingly wasn’t much of an issue! After all my complaining to Dan about how we NEED, HAVE TO HAVE, 2 bathrooms for when company visits, turns out it was fine. But I still want 2 bathrooms. Just in case. OH and we played Taboo (thanks Amazon Prime) which is my new favorite ever since playing at game night at the *future* Hilburn’s home.

Breakfast! I made a bacon & brie quiche that turned out pretty tasty. Still working on actually making in the time the recipe estimates it takes… this one took me 3 times as long to prepare. Also- brunch plates. Didn’t know they existed until we registered for the wedding, but they are adorable and I love them. Biggest hit of the weekend, food-wise, was the sweet potato salad I made when we grilled out.

My family brought Barley a treat! How cute is this?? He loved it, needless to say.

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Sisters are the best! This is from St. Arnold’s Brewery, the oldest craft brewery in Texas (but the 1990’s really isn’t that old ha!) Dan and I went on a date here when they first moved to this building (over 2 years ago, what?!) and I was SHOCKED at the amount of people this time… the popularity has definitely boomed over the last couple of years. Although who can argue with hanging out in a beer hall on a cloudy afternoon?? The parentals are not super into beer, but I think they still enjoyed the tour (aren’t they cute?). And Abby is apparently taking after Dan in her drinking preferences, although she only got sips 😉 My fav is Weedwacker.

We also decided to go ahead and tack on having lots of people in our house by inviting friends over for the Super Bowl. Super relaxed night with good friends. Dan put the projector up in our teensy living room and it worked out really well! Now I want to have a weekend long movie marathon in our pajamas with a floor covered in mattresses. We made chili, queso blanco, and pizza bread (YUM).

Gah look at our pup. He was really intrigued just long enough for me to take this picture. Maybe we should put him in football lessons. Airbud?

bewitchered

loving life in Houston, tx

Category: Life