Dallas Vacation :: The Hotel

We stayed in a hotel this trip, which we normally don't do. It was nice to have access to a pool every day though! It enabled me to get the worst sunburn of my life! Over a week later and my back is still super sore! My mom brought a portable grill to the hotel and we grilled burgers by the pool, had some friends over, did some swimming and laying out....it was a nice vacation and a relaxing week!

Dallas Vacation :: The Food & The Sights

Every time we go to Dallas, we spend half of our time eating. That's the #1 thing I miss the most about living in Dallas....the FOOD! This time we tried quite a few new places that neither of us had been to before...

The first thing we ate was Jack-In-The-Box! I'm going to start a petition to bring Jack-In-The-Box to Ohio! I miss it SOOOO much. The first one we saw was just outside Nashville, so of course we had to stop and get some tacos!



We met my friend Katie at Ra Sushi Bar in Plano. There's a new area called The Shops at Legacy that was built after I moved away, so I had never been there before. So, we went to Plano and ate at Ra and visited a few other bars. We stopped at Sambuca....hated it. Then we went to Ringo's Pub, which was much better. I only got photos from Ra, and a few photos of the area on the walk to Sambuca.





















Saturday night, we went downtown to the West End with my friend Lisa, and there we met up with my Ohio friend Stacey for dinner. She and her mom were in Dallas for a Mary Kay convention, so we decided to all get together for dinner. We went to Gator's Croc N Roc in the West End, which was a good choice. I have to admit, it wasn't as good at Razzoo's, but it was still good nonetheless. We had fried pickles for our appetizer, and then we shared a platter of fried gator tail and fried catfish. Dee-lish!











We also ate at Pancho's Mexican Buffet, which I think was Jamie's favorite of the trip. I grew up eating at Pancho's, so it's one of the places I really miss eating at! I was so full when we left that I had to roll myself out the front door, and I was so interested in eating that I forgot to take photos!

Dallas Vacation :: Blue October @ HOB Dallas

Of course, a trip to Dallas included seeing one of our favorite bands, Blue October. This time was special though! We had 4th row tickets to their acoustic show at House of Blues in Dallas. House of Blues was built after I moved away, so this was my first time to go there. We had dinner in the restaurant before the concert, and then went inside to our seats. Here's some photos and videos!



















This video wasn't taken by me, but I had to share it anyway! The lead singer of Blue October, Justin, had someone thrown out of the concert for being belligerent to him. This guy was yelling and shooting the bird, and Justin happened to notice him from the stage. The house lights came on, Justin had a conversation with this guy, and then he told security to remove him. The entire place went crazy, I've never seen anything like it! Thank goodness someone got a video, because I wasn't fast enough!



And here are my videos.....we had awesome seats!!

Calling You (Acoustic)


Come In Closer


Everlasting Friend


How Long


Into The Ocean


Jump Rope


Say It


Should Be Loved

Dallas Vacation :: The Drive

We just got back from another Dallas vacation. It's always fun to see family and friends, I just wish we could go more often! I snapped quite a few photos on the drive there and back. We've got the trip down to 17 hours now, and we drive through some pretty countryside. One of these trips I'd like to stop in Nashville and Memphis to spend some time....or maybe that should be a trip all on it's own!

Cincinnati, OH


Cincinnati, OH


Florence, KY


Louisville, KY


Louisville, KY


Nashville, TN



Memphis, TN


Memphis, TN


Dallas, TX

Bar Symon for Dinner

We had dinner with some friends at Bar Symon this week. One of them (Cory) is a Marine, and he came to dinner in his uniform. During dinner, two different tables in the restaurant bought him a beer. I thought that was so nice. I love the town we live in....

I threw caution to the wind and ordered the daily special, which was lobster. Little did I know...it was a WHOLE lobster. I guess I imagined tails that were already prepped and easy to eat. That's not what I got. I got a whole lobster, split in half. It was tasty, but I've never worked so hard for a tiny bit of food in my life.

Columbus with the Kids

Last week we went down to Columbus for the day to see Jessica and Josh. We had lunch at Abuelo's at Easton, which is always one of my favorite places. Then we went to the movies and saw the new Twilight movie, Eclipse. Candy and popcorn and soda... and lots of it! After the movie, we went to Rita's in Westerville for Italian Ice. It's not like the shaved ice I'm used to from home (Texas), but it was ok. I swear, we ate all day long!

After all that, Jamie decided we should take a walk around this nearby park. There was supposedly an "observation deck" where you could watch the deer. So, we hiked and hiked, through goose poop (in flip-flops) but never found it. It was like the endless trail through the woods. Many mosquito bites later, he finally gave in and decided he didn't know where the "observation deck" was. So, we hiked back.