Thanksgiving

December 3, 2015December 3, 20154 Comments

Oh my goodness do I have so much to be thankful for. Thanksgiving is such a good time to enter the holiday season with a grateful heart. This was definitely one of my favorites yet in terms of getting to see so many of our loved ones in the span of just a few days. Being in the car was definitely worth it! We spent Thanksgiving with my family in Colleyville, with my dad’s side visiting from Mississippi, then spent the weekend in Georgetown with Dan’s family, including a day trip to Waco to visit his extended family. Our holidays are never relaxing, but they are very full of all the best things 🙂

I hadn’t been home since the beginning of August and it felt SO good. My mom is a superhost and kept us all well-fed at a beautiful table. I also really cherish any time I get to spend with extended family since it doesn’t happen as often as I’d like. I still can’t believe how big my cousin’s little girls are! They probably spent half their time cuddling up with Barley, which he greatly enjoyed. My grandparents also treated us to ICE at the Gaylord where we wrapped ourselves in parkas to endure the 17 degree temperature. The theme this year was Christmas Around the World and I thought it was really well done. It’s amazing the time that goes into the sculptures considering how impermanent they are. The Gaylord has the best Christmas decorations I’ve ever seen in one place. It’s pretty magical.

Then at Dan’s parent’s we finally got to meet our new niece!! Holding babies gives you a feeling that can’t be beat, and this baby was just the sweetest. She looked really cute in Dan’s arms too 😉 And Ellie & Robbie were so much fun- it’s awesome to see their little personalities. I’m looking forward to having Dan’s sisters back in Texas (I know his parents are loving it) and can’t wait to have them all visit soon in Houston! This weekend, Dan asked if I was sure I was ready for kids. I responded with, “Yes, one… not three.” In Waco, we built our own pizzas (Dan was really proud of his cheese stuffed crust) and spent time chatting next to the fire with all his family. It was lovely! Another thing to be grateful for- marrying into a wonderful family.

Now we can officially start celebrating Christmas! We picked up & decorated a tree last night 🙂

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Tuscany

November 24, 20151 Comment

In order to really experience the Italian countryside, you need a car to get around. We picked up our rental car, a Fiat Panda, at the Florence airport and had a slight panic attack when Dan straight up didn’t fit in the car. After pushing the seat back as far as it would go, his head was touching the ceiling and his knees were up at his elbows, no joke. We went in to see if we could get a larger car but it was going to be significantly more expensive to upgrade. We headed back to the Panda to debate… and then Dan found a magic lever that further moved the chair back! Phew. Off we went.

On our way, we stopped in San Gimignano, which we had a lot of fun learning how to say. This is the most charming town and was packed with visitors! But it’s a hit for a reason. We started the day off with lunch overlooking the Tuscan hillside and spent the afternoon walking the streets and eating gelato. It was the first of many walled, hilltop towns that we would explore over the next several days and maybe my favorite.

I researched hundreds of places to stay, no joke. There are SO MANY options! But, many require a week long minimum and others can be quite pricey. With our $100 budget, I was looking for a place with history, a nice view, and a pool. Oh man did we enjoy having a pool. We ended up at Foresteria il Giardino, about 20 minutes from Arezzo. It is smack dab in the middle of a working orchard in a building from the 1700’s. We stayed in what used to be the tabacceria. There was even a truck that came by each morning with fresh baked goods! When we arrived, we were greeted by the sweetest woman who gave us a handdrawn map of the area and circled the few places to eat with 15 minutes of us. This was the beginning of no air conditioning and very limited wi-fi for the next week. FYI, Italy in late August isn’t much cooler than Texas.

After we settled in, we went over to Civitella to take in the sunset, took a dirt road down the side of the mountain, and ended up at a butcher’s shop for dinner and the best biscotti ever.

In the morning, we drove out to Siena without a plan, which may have been a bad idea! We kind of just roamed the town and ate some food. The was a church there was stunning! But aside from that, the drive was a bit long to justify the trip. We probably should have stayed by the pool all day 🙂

To celebrate on our actual anniversary, we just bought some food at the local grocery store and cooked up an Italian meal in our kitchen. Almost felt like we were at home 🙂 We dined at the picnic table outside our door and reflected on the last year of marriage, soaking in how lucky we both felt to have each other. The answer- very, extremely, lucky.

The next day, we spent the morning in Arezzo and the afternoon in Cortona (where Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed). Arrezo felt much more like a real city after the tiny towns we’d been in- shopping and people and flags! Then Cortona was just beautiful. We somehow ended up walking all the way to the top… in not great shoes with the sun beating down our backs. Dan and I kept seeming to work long hikes into our days, not on purpose!

One of the best evenings of the trip was a tour of Baracchi Winery. So glad this was recommended to us. It ended up being just us and a Cardiologist from Brazil, who knew much more about wine than we did, with a personal tour by the owner. They make a sparkling rose out of sangiovese grapes that was fantastic- we brought some home and I can’t to open it. After the tour, we had our wine tasting on the patio with charcuterie. When it came time to open the rose, the owner proceeded to pull out a sword… then told me I would be doing it! Of course, I somehow managed to break the bottle, which he said he’s never seen happen. Of course. He said it had to do with the bottle being bad, not me. Still embarrassing. I did succeed on the second try ☺

On our last magical day, we did a winery tour at Palazzo Vecchio in the Montepulciano region, followed with a homemade lunch. We just died more and more with every dish they brought out. My goodness, the deliciousness was out of this world. They gave us their recipe for the sage bread but Dan and I have yet to try it. These pictures are going to make you hungry… be warned! The winery had served many purposes in it’s past, including a convent and an orphanage and the grounds were just gorgeous with the typical stunning hillside views. We also had a couple friends join us for lunch in the form of 2 sweet labs. Dan and I were really missing Barley, so we loved their company 🙂

Then that night, we were beyond spoiled again!! The place we stayed prepares dinner one or two nights a week but it depends on whether there are enough people staying. Thank goodness it ended up happening, because the food was fantastic. Each couple had a table set up for them on the patio with candles and the sunset in the background, making it incredibly romantic. This was definitely a full day of eating. We were bursting at the seams in the best possible way.

We were so sad to say goodbye to this little slice of paradise. It worked out really well to have a slower pace in the middle of the trip to give us some relaxation. What I would give to be laying by that pool again…

OH and for lunch on our way out, we stopped at the best winery of the trip- Avignonese! We brought back a bottle of their merlot but seriously debated splurging on the 50&50.

Austin City Limits 2015

November 12, 20151 Comment

Just a few pictures from our Austin City Limits weekend last month! We missed Friday because I had to work late, but we made up for it by arriving early and staying to the end on Saturday and Sunday. I really love the earlier shows because the artists tend to be awesome but the stages are muchhh less crowded. My favorite of the whole weekend was a 12:00 show on Sunday, Marian Hill. Dan and I both adore the duo and can’t stop listening. They’ve known each other since middle school 🙂 We also really enjoyed Father John Misty, Lord Huron (can’t believe it, but our 3rd time seeing them!), Hozier, and Florence + the Machine (who is such a blast on stage- she skipped around the whole time!).

Dan had been to ACL 8 or 9 times in a row up until ’13 so I’m glad we made it back to Austin this year! We didn’t even try to get close to the stages and lounged around most of the weekend with Dan’s sister and it was perfect. Much different experience than the ACL’s of college years 🙂 We also got to stay with excellent hosts and had lots of fun with them. All around an A+ weekend.

Cinque Terre

October 27, 2015October 27, 20151 Comment

With Florence as our base, we took a day trip out to Cinque Terre, or “The Five Lands”. It’s 5 small, hillside, villages along the coast, in the middle of what is now a national park and UNESCO World Heritage site. We chose to use a tour company (Walkabout Florence) for the convenience of transportation- it’s about 2 hours from Florence. After planning every piece of our trip, it was nice to just have a tour guide and not worry about what train/bus to catch! We also really enjoyed hearing about the areas we drove through on the way out- past the mountains where Carrera marble comes from (the peaks looked like snow!) and through the region where they grow a lot of plants for the nurseries. I’d really been looking forward to this piece of the trip because neither of us had been and I’ve heard so many friends RAVE about it. So my expectations were incredibly high. Maybe just a little too high- while it was absolutely beautiful, the trail was packed and I just couldn’t get as into it as I thought I should be. I kept wanting to get off the path and just go swim in the blue waters with the Italians. Guess that’s the negative of going with a tour group, ha! Regardless, it was still an awesome day, our group had fun people, and the views were so picturesque! Plus, it was nice to get a good hike in considering the massive amounts of pasta and wine we’d been consuming. We did end up getting to jump into the crystal clear, cool, water in the middle of trek and that was my favorite part of the day. Talk about refreshing after being a sweaty mess.

The charter bus dropped us off in Manarola, the 2nd town and smallest village. From there we worked our way through towns 3-5 and ended back at town 1. We took a train to Corniglia where we ate lunch at Ristorante Cecio with stunning patio views and fresh seafood and pasta. It’s the only town that doesn’t directly touch the water. From there, we hiked 3.5 km in the hot sun to Vernazza where we swam. Dan jumped off the little cliff and I was impressed 🙂 Afterwards, we took another train to Monterosso, the largest town, where we had the best puff pastry stuffed with cheese. I also got to ogle the umbrellas I’d seen in all of Gray Malin’s Cinque Terre photos. Finally, we took a boat to Riomaggiore, which allowed us to see all the towns we had just visited from the water.

SO glad we got to visit, but I do think I would have fallen more in love had we actually stayed in one of the towns and gotten the full experience. Which is the case with most places in the world 🙂

Great American Beer Fest

October 21, 2015October 21, 2015Leave a comment

A few weeks ago, we were able to attend the Great American Beer Fest, thus fulfilling one one of Dan’s dreams. He’s been wanting to go for years and when he was able to score tickets, we were off to Denver with his dad and sister. Personally, I’d never pass up a chance to visit Denver because I love it so much. But the unlimited beer was a perk 🙂

The fest is held in Denver’s Convention Center, downtown, and there were almost 400 breweries in attendance. They had the booths divvied up by region, and had other activities going on as well, like a silent disco and karaoke. We had a blast chatting with brewers, checking out the booths of some of our favorite Texas breweries, and trying hundreds of different beers over 2 nights. Dan listens to a brewing podcast called “Brew Strong” regularly and got to try the guy from the podcast’s beer and meet his wife 🙂 Several booths even tapped special casks at certain points, so were able to try beer would never be able to get at home. Don’t worry, you are given a small glass and the pours are tiny! On the second night, Dan wore his Karbach shirt and was congratulated over and over again on their win for their Oktoberfest. So funny to hear him continuously say, “Oh it’s just a shirt, I don’t brew for them.”

Other than the fest, we drove out to Mt. Evams and climbed up to the peak, which I believe is the highest in Colorado? The air was thin, but it felt amazing. Plus the drive the out was just gorgeous. The yellow leaves were amazing, and something we don’t see much of in Houston. The best part was all the wild life! Definitely wasn’t expecting that. And since I forgot a sweatshirt, I had an excuse to run over to REI and finally buy a patagonia pullover 😀

We also got to have brunch at Root Down, which I’ve eaten at too many times considering I don’t live in Denver. Ugh, it’s just the best. They have a place in the airport, so we had it for dinner too!! We had plenty of time before our Sunday night flight, so we were able to check out the Denver Botanical Gardens, which were AMAZING! I would visit all the time if I lived there. It’s in such a cute neighborhood and every section is so well planned. Mini adventures around every corner.

It was such a fun and easy going trip. Now that Dan has been once, I have a feeling we will be going every year. I’m okay with that 🙂

Firenze (AKA Florence)

October 15, 2015October 15, 20151 Comment

We caught a train from Venice to Florence and checked into Hotel Spadei- down the street from the duomo and brand new, this was the most modern & updated place we stayed during our trip. And it had robes which make a hotel top notch in my book. They also had a little spiral staircase up to the top with a viewing room of Florence, which was a nice touch. Some how, we once again ended up with the only room a balcony. Not complaining.

We kicked off the afternoon with a quick bite to eat then explored the Boboli Gardens, behind the Pitti Palace, which were designed for the Medici family. Not nearly as beautiful as Versailles, but expansive. We started at the lowest point and worked our way up, ending at Belvedere Fortress which had a panoramic view of the city on one side, and olive trees and estates on the other. After the long walk/hike we were able to hang out at an awesome restaurant at the fortress that had a pop-up/outdoor club feel. It felt so strange in such a historic place, but we really enjoyed it.

That night we ate at Coquinarius (recommended by a friend) and had one of my favorite dishes of the trips. My stomach is growling just thinking about it!! Pear ravioli. Buttery and perfectly cooked, with just the right amount of cheese. The owner was very knowledgeable on wine and made great suggestions from the area. (At this point in the trip we were still ordering bottles of wine, instead of cheap house wine.) After dinner, we checked out a local brewery, Mostodolce, which was very cool, but the beer was just meh. If the beer isn’t on par somewhere, trust me, Dan is quick to point out what they did wrong. I loved that the walls were plastered with drawings and the cozy vibe was really nice.

We spent the next morning at the Uffizi (I finally learned how to pronounce it) surrounded by madonnas. There had to be dozens. Maybe hundreds. The word Uffizi means offices in Italian, which was the building’s original purpose. The amount of art the Medici family collected is amazing. I can’t imagine living in that time, going in for a meeting, and walking past works by Botticelli and Michelangelo. Stunning! The place is enormous… we thought we had reached the end only to continue on and on. We rushed through the last bit because it started to become overwhelming. And we were hungry for some pizza. So we found a cute patio at Trattoria Garibaldi then followed it up with some gelato at Perche No. Mine had fresh cherries in it. Dan’s was stracciatella…which is what he ordered every time. Boring.

That night was another amazing meal at Il Santo Bevitore. It was pretty busy, but they were able to squeeze us in. While we were waiting, we sat along the river and watched the sun set and it was so cliche and magical. Then the restaurant itself was romantic and THEN the duomo was stunning at night, the white reflecting the moonlight. Such a solid date night. We attempted to take a good photo, but weren’t successful. You’ll see.

Then we were in bed, to wake up bright and early for our Cinque Terre trip the next day!

French Fries

October 7, 2015October 7, 20151 Comment

I had french fries for 3 meals this weekend. And Chinese. And pizza. And hamburger(s) and a hot dog. I was feeling pretty miserable. This remodel has got us like, woa. Calories don’t count, we can eat whatever we want, we don’t have a kitchen, whatever! Yuck. Don’t eat that many french fries y’all. Even if they are DELICIOUS.

Bad, delicious, food breakdown. (Maybe just try them once in a weekend instead of all at once?)

Stanton’s City Bites- How have we not tried this place?! It’s right next to our church and now I know I’ll feel it calling to me every Sunday. Waffle fries and bacon and fried egg and Texas toast. Delightful.

Kam’s Fine Chinese Cuisine- A pick by Josh, who I’m going to consider an expert in Chinese restaurants, solely based on the fact that he used to live in Chinatown. Very tasty. And just so nice to actually be in Houston enjoying a meal with friends.

Good Dog- Large variety of creative hot dogs. Locally sourced ingredients. Patios in the front and back (dog friendly, wahoo)! Lots of TX beers on draft. And it’s just darn cute.

Brother’s Pizzeria- I relented and let us get Brother’s instead of Pink’s. Regretted it. While I love all pizza, Pink’s can’t be beat. Although Pizza Hut’s new pizza with the crust that pulls off so you can dip it in marina gave it a run for it’s money. That was real yummy (we also had Pizza Hut last week… don’t judge me).

FYI- I went to Central Market and got only healthy things and we are going to eat super well this week. Almost redeeming? Probably not, but we can try.

FYI #2- I’m writing about food because I still can’t face the rest of our Italy photos, and I REALLY can’t face the remodel at the moment, because it is consuming every other aspect of our lives. Because our house looks likes this:

36 Hours in Venice

October 2, 2015October 2, 20152 Comments

Oh Venice, you were just amazing. This was Dan’s favorite city of the trip and because he was so excited, it made me more excited about seeing the city for the 2nd time. He even wanted to wake up early to explore! Considering he’s a dude who loves his sleep, this was a big surprise.

We flew into Venice in the early afternoon and took the longgg ride on the Vaporetto (AKA Venice’s water bus) from the airport to our hotel, near St. Mark’s square. We somehow ended up in a room with a canal view and our own private balcony. Luck was with us. And then we ventured off for our first bout of exploring, with a requisite stop at St. Mark’s Square to see all the pigeons and then further on, some good seafood at a new spot called Local. Sidenote- make dinner reservations in Venice!! I had tried before we left but every one I spoke with was on holiday while we were there (like most of Italy- Agh to live in Europe) and I gave up. Luckily we found a place. Our server at Local was awesome and recommended a bacaro for a good beer selection for after dinner- Bacaro Risorto. Locals were spilling out into the streets with a drink in hand and the bartenders were surprisingly knowledgeable on beer. We tried several collaborations between Sierra Nevada and an Italian brewery outside Padua, Crak. It really topped of the night.

The next morning we went to Ca’ d’Oro- I’ve always found the gothic style to be a just stunning. As beautiful as it was on the outside, and while the museum was nice, I wouldn’t recommend it if you have limited time.

Afterwards, we went on a free walking tour. The stories of the history of Venice were great, but what I really loved was hearing about everyday life in Venice. Living in a place that isn’t easy to get to and has limited supplies, a place that floods every year, and what do they do with their trash?! Life styles are much different without cars 🙂 After the tour, we tried some cicchetti (Venetian tapas) at a local place near the Rialto bridge and the owner was just the friendliest.

With daylight left to burn, we hoped on the water bus to Burano. Famous for lace making, I was in it for the colorful houses. I kept thinking… wouldn’t it be odd if people from all over the world kept taking pictures of your home? I still took pictures… but at least felt a little bad about it 🙂 We also stopped into a grocery store where they poured wine out of a keg for 2 euro. You were supposed to bring your own jug. Whoops. Luckily they had a spare, giant, water bottle hanging around for us.

Once we were back in Venice, we did like the Venetians and had an aperitif. Everyone typically stands either in, or outside, the bars, so we joined. Spritzes are really popular drinks but after we tried one, we decided to stick with wine. Then we headed on to dinner to try some risotto- according to our walking tour guide, it’s their best dish outside seafood. And yes, it was delicious. He also warned that the pizza in Venice isn’t as great as the rest of Italy since they aren’t allowed to have wood burning ovens! News to us.

And then some last minute walking around before our train to Florence… Those doorbells! And that light on the canal! Insert lots of emojis with heart eyes. Mm, love mornings.

Over all, we didn’t do many can’t miss, traditionally touristy things. And it was fantastic. I think if you’re in a place that makes you ohh and ahh just by walking around, it can be great to just stroll and take it all in. I say that having already done some of the touristy things and really enjoying them 😉 ha! I do think Venice gets a bad wrap- people think it’s only tourists and just packed to the gills. Which is kind of true if you stay in the main areas. But if you manage to get off a bit, it’s magical! Oh and we loved the pharmacy with the counter of actual Venice residents- when we visited it was around 52,000.

20 Hours in Istanbul

September 22, 2015September 22, 20151 Comment

After a lot of research over a couple months, the best deal I could find on a flight was with Turkish Airways. They all flew direct from Houston to Istanbul which was several hours past Italy, but several hundred dollars cheaper. One of the options had a 20 hour layover in Istanbul and since Dan and I wanted to visit anyway, it worked out! Unfortunately, we got there too late to do pretty much any of the touristy things. We still managed to take advantage of our brief adventure and enjoyed our one night in Istanbul.

I knew I wanted to stay in the middle of everything and not waste time on getting around, so we picked Cheers Hostel, just a few blocks away from the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia (or Aya Sofya). Baggage claim took quite a while and caused us to miss entrance to both 😦 Luckily, you can look at the outside at any hour! And we were just really excited to finally be there after the 12 hour flight. I’ve always thought that the best way to see a city is to walk it (with the exception of Houston- don’t try). Unfortunately, Dan twisted his ankle a couple days before we left, so he was still mending- I’ll spare you the photos of his bruised, swollen ankle, but it was pretty bad. After debating a taxi, we still ended up walking quite a ways, across the bridge and over into the younger, more modern side of town where we had dinner. Below the road part of the bridge, there are dozens of restaurants, I’m assuming overpriced for location, but maybe still good? We took a pass. But it was neat to see locals fishing was the side- when you walk on the lower part, there are a ton of fishing lines dropping down next to you into the water.

: Blue Mosque

: Hagia Sophia

: Clearly we need

: a selfie stick.

We ate at Karakoy Lokantasi, which was fantastic. I was in love with the turquoise tile covering the walls of the entire place. It was definitely a good meal to kick off 2 solid weeks of eating. They had a tiny balcony that people took turns leaning out of to take a smoke.

After dinner we perused the street shops where I bought some turkish towels (yay!! these were SO much more affordable than the ones I had been wanting online) and we tried the local liquor, Yeni Raki. I kind of had to force that down… I’m not the biggest fan. I also HAD to try a turkish kebab. Even though we just dinner. Don’t judge, they are one of my absolute favorite foods. Apparently I should have done more research on where to find a good one, because the one we tried was kind of a let down

The next morning we had just enough time to go into the blue mosque before we had to leave to catch our flight. SO glad it ended up working out- I know that there is no way to see everything in a city when you have limited time traveling (even if you live there for several years!) but this was one thing I didn’t want to miss. It was just beautiful. Women have to have their heads covered, hence my scarf.

Istanbul is such an interesting city- the history behind it is unbelievable. In terms of visiting, just because it is so conservative, but they also have this huge nightlife scene. Chances are good we won’t make it back, but I’m glad we had the opportunity to stop by 🙂

Life Update

September 19, 2015September 19, 20151 Comment

Holy cow, has life been whirlwind-y lately!!! We got back from Italy over a week ago and have been going almost non-stop since. I haven’t even gotten a chance to look through all the photos yet… kind of dreading it but also looking forward to reliving it. I think we probably took over 1,000. Dan and I (together) are probably in 3. I get so awkward asking people to take our picture! And then half the time, they don’t turn out anyway. ANYWHO. We had friends in town last weekend and the weather was basically the best, so it was really nice. Plus, we had some great food at Local Foods, Provisions, and Cedar Creek. Some photos from the good times: