dallas – bewitchered

I’ve gotten to head home and visit my family twice over the last month, which has been great!! When I moved to Houston, I kind of resigned myself to never living in the same city as my parents again, so visiting lots help make that feel a little less depressing. I was able to see best friends from high school, celebrate at a baby & wedding shower, shop for house things with my mom & sisters, and explore Dallas a bit. Having grown up in the suburbs, Dallas always feels new and now that Tara has lived in Deep Ellum for the last year, it’s fun going with an actual local 😉

Some pictures from the weekends, even though I slacked a bit:

^^ Laura & Alex’s wedding shower at my parent’s and Ash’s Baby shower

^^Barley hated every second of learning to swim.

Lunch with mom’s at Celebrity Cafe

^^He’s gotten huge. To scale: Dan is 6′ 4″.

Dinner in Ft. Worth (whoops, not Dallas) for Tara’s birthday

^^ My parents treated us to a really fun night out at Trinity Groves, which lots of great restaurant concepts. We tried LUCK (Local Urban Craft Kitchen) for dinner, which only serves beers from DFW, and Off Site Kitchen for games & drinks.

Barley had a great time too 🙂

It was SO good to spend the long weekend at home. Can I call it that anymore? I haven’t even really lived in that house except for a few weeks at time, when home on college breaks since they moved into it after I was already at UT. Either way, it’s the same place I grew up, off the same road as before. And my sisters were there, so I think I can still call it home for a little longer. Maybe I’ll stop after I have my own kids.

I’m rambling, but it was a fantastic weekend filled with gorgeous blue skies, sunshine, lots of food & beer, and quality time with family.

FRIDAY>> Deep Ellum Arts Festival. Tara moved into this Dallas neighborhood for grad school and it’s changed immensely. Very cool area. Artsy and modern with older building mixed in. Only purchase was a hat for dad! None of us were prepared for the intense sun and all ended up with sunburns. Glad we got it because it’s supposed to rain for a week straight here in Houston. We all really enjoyed lunch at Brain Dead Brewing. Chips and salsa were to die for and the beer menu was really diverse. And Deep Ellum Brewery was awesome! Fun place to hang out, both inside and out.

Nanny nanny boo boo, I’m taller than you

Bar LOVED this. Obviously.

A 200 lb, 5 year old Dane, named Admiral

SATURDAY>> Shopping with the girls and lunch in Ft. Worth at The Bearded Lady. Also, Easter egg dying. What do you expect from a family of girls? We even got Dan to do a few 🙂

It wasn’t our best year…

Mine & Dan’s favorite eggs

SUNDAY>> Easter! A day of celebration. We went to the church I grew up in for the service and afterwards my mom made a delicious lunch. Home cooked food from your mom can’t be beat. And my mom still puts together a killer Easter basket. Then we headed down to Waco for Easter with Dan’s family. The little ones did great at their egg hunt- Ellie would intentionally skip eggs to only get the pink ones. And we got to make our pizza’s in Dan’s Aunt’s brick oven! So nice that all the cousins, aunts & uncles, and grandparents are within a couples hours of each other. Makes me wish all mine were closer!