Babies, Fitness & Grits

It's Monday.

Last week was crazy busy so let's do a recap and remember why we love each other and keep this relationship going.

My good friend from college was in town with her new baby, Nate. We met. He drooled. I played with his hair. I feel like the whole meeting went extremely well. I admire Shelby and her continued wisdom she bestows upon me. One day I hope to have a new baby that can journey with me to Houston to meet her and her family. 

Y'all, I got the baby fever. My body has taken over my brain and all rationale because I want a baby and I don't care about anything else. I always laughed when women would bring up having baby fever and how ridiculous the whole concept was to my robot heart. It's not ridiculous. It's real. And it got me good. That is, until an "evil" child ruins it for all of the other adorable, quiet babies.

I've been using most of my free time to workout. I have Class Pass and tried out a couple new gyms last week so be looking for those reviews later this month. It was Tax Free Weekend in Texas this past weekend so I got some new running shoes. I'm supposed to be training for the Disney Land Half Marathon I'm running over Labor Day but I keep just going to cross training classes instead. My bad. I have high hopes of running this week even if it's on the treadmill instead of outside. It's just too hot. The high over the weekend was 106F and that's just disgusting. It's not even satisfying to go cool off in a pool because the pools are like bath tubs this time of year.

My parents have been getting out of their comfort zone on the weekends and trying new neighborhood's hotspots. On Saturday, I joined them for lunch at Hattie's in the Bishop Arts District. Hattie's is southern-style comfort food. I had the fried chicken. My mom had shrimp and grits because she can't resist grits and my dad had pulled port and grits. I tried everything. Everything was delicious. It's a fancy southern place so I recommend it for special occasions. I was slightly disappointed that they do not serve brunch on Saturdays because brunch is my favorite. Guess I'll have to come back on a Sunday.

I'm in the process of packing up my apartment because I'm moving in September. As I'm packing, I'm trying to purge. I want to live with less and join up in the minimalist trend. I like things. I like clothes. I like shoes. I like make-up. Purging pretty things is difficult for me. So far, I've taken an old computer to the electronics recycle. I have also donated 30 pairs of shoes to Salvation Army. Let's see if I can keep this pace up. This week I have every intention of purging old sweaters and other winter weather clothing. I'll let you know how it goes.

How was your week? Ready for school to start back up? Or maybe your commute to be worse since school is starting back up? I know I'm not.

xoxo,

Liz

Mr. Worldwide & My Hero

"I can be your hero baby..."

I love Enrique Iglesias. This past weekend, Melissa and I went to the Pitbull & Enrique Iglesias concert in Dallas.

We had a lot of fun singing loudly and dancing in our seats and drinking every time Pitbull said "dale..."

Melissa had a very visceral reaction to Enrique singing a cover of "Stand by Me" and I had a very visceral reaction to just being in the same place as that gorgeous, sexy, Latin man.

Spotify Playlist - Dale

I would greatly appreciate someone finding me a man that can sing and dance. It would be an added person if said man is in fact, Enrique. ;)

I hope you did something fun this weekend! Tell me about it in the comments!

xoxo,

Liz

September Favorites

I made this thing...

Hope you like it.

xoxo,
Liz

OKTOBERFEST HAPPENED!

I love holidays that include dark beer and meat on sticks. 

That's what I did this weekend. What'd you do?

xoxo,

Liz

Why I Need a Nap

I worked 65 hours last night. This isn't me complaining. It's just a fact. And then I overbooked myself over the weekend with social commitments.

One of those social commitments was my high school reunion. Have you had your high school reunion, yet? It wasn't nearly as awkward as I expected it to be.

Dinner at Meddlesome Moth

We Fancy

Melissa & I at Community Brewery

Ashlee & Me with her Homecoming Mum

As you can see, I had a great time. I'm going to compile a list of things you can do in order to survive your reunion and make the most out of it. I typed that so I may be held accountable. 

Go forth and allow yourself to be nostalgic on occasion, remembering all the stupid stuff you did and all the fun stuff you did. It's healthy.

xoxo,

Liz

New Orleans, My New Favorite

Even though I was only in town for three nights in the past two weeks, I jumped on board with a quick weekend trip to New Orleans with my best friends. We went because Georgia Tech played Tulane in the Green Wave's new stadium. Historically, Tulane is not the "football school" like LSU and the students have not participated in tailgates and hosting other schools for football games. Georgia Tech, I learned this past weekend, is a school that travels well to out-of-town games. New Orleans was overrun with Yellow Jackets which was quite exciting for us!

Because we Dallasites had a later than preferred start to our journey, Bourbon Street had to wait for us to go out around 1:30 in the AM. And we did indeed go out. You can't drive all eight hours to Nola and not go out for at least a night cap. The late night experience was also humbling because everyone else on Bourbon Street was, well, three sheets to the wind. #scandalous 

Our little group kept it calm and reserved. We had iced Irish coffees at Molly's. 

Saturday was greeted with tired eyes and sore bodies but also excitement for college football and yummy food! Chris and Rik took is ladies to Mother's for meat. So. Much. Meat. And a Bloody Mary. 

After lunch, we jumped in a streetcar to take us to Tulane for the game. Our friend Daniel is an alumnus and got tickets for those that wanted to go to the game. We made it to campus early enough to tailgate and watch college kids be college kids. 

While the game was going on, I hung out with one of Daniel's friends who I am going to say is a free-spirited, hippie of New Orleans. She is super sweet and we had a lot of philosophical discussion. Not my personal forte but I tried. I met some of her friends which just confirmed my first impression. 

And yes, I decided the best way to capture my time in Nola was by taking selfies with drinks. I'm not sure why. Maybe I just wanted you to know I was having a fantastic (not at all sober) time.

I was rescued by my friends after the game. We showered and napped and Melissa encouraged me to get clothes on so we could go eat oysters!

It's my birthday this Thursday so they pinned money to me. Tradition in Nola is for people to pin a dollar to the birthday person and the money is sign so people wish you happy birthday. It was really nice. I felt special. 

Because oysters aren't super filling, we had to get late night yums yums. 

Dat Dog is amazing. Eat there. After eating, we power walked down Bourbon back the hotel because we had accomplished greatness. I wore my new booties which are incredibly comfortable and if you're looking for that type of thing, you should invest in these. I typically don't wear heels but these were like pillows on the bottom of my feets. 

On Sunday we at brunch at Jimmy J's which is a super cute, super tiny cafe. But look at the fooooooood!

Yum! 

And now, I can't travel any more this year. I'm spent. But we all know that's a lie. I'll probably go somewhere next week. 

Laissez le Bon temp rouler!

xoxo,

Liz

Bumbershoot 2014, A Quick Recap

Because yesterday was Labor Day, I took a day off. So, Mondiary is now Tuesdiary for the purpose of this blog. What did you do over the three-day weekend? I went to Seattle for Bumbershoot and it was fantastic. Exhausting, but fantastic.

My cousin lives in Seattle because he is a fancy man so I am incredibly grateful for the free place to sleep and shower and play Mario Kart and eat piroshki made by my cousin's fiancé.

Saturday was a full day of music and teenagers and comedy and standing in lines and eventually a bus ride home. 

On the floor for Panic! At the Disco #terrifying

Space Needle at Night

Sunday we saw Doug Loves Movies, the podcast I am most loyal to and love the most. I actually won Doug's Twitter contest to guess who the panel would be. Score!

The "ghost" panel for Doug Loves Movies
Doug Benson, 'Werner Herzog,' Rory Scovel, W. Kamau Bell & Ken Jennings (L:R)

Free Lattes at the Starbucks Gold Lounge

Monday we saw Capital Cities and they put on an amazing show. Their energy and ability to keep the crowd engaged made seeing them an awesome experience. They got the crowd to jump and grapevine and also to take their shirts off. No lie.

Capital Cities

Next we went to Paul F. Tompkins portray H.G. Wells in his podcast where he interviews other comedians impersonating authors. It was pretty funny. He did break out in to a chorus of "Skyfall" which rounded out the whole thing quite nicely.

Queued Up for Dead Authors Podcast with Paul F. Tompkins

We also saw Neon Trees and Foster the People but evidently I only took video and my phone was in a constant state of almost dead. I am currently trying to piece together a vlog post on my YouTube channel with snip-its from the shows we saw.

I had an excellent weekend being a festival person even though I am continually terrified by teenagers. Before the past couple of weeks with the No Filter Show and then Bumbershoot, I didn't understand why YouTubers would be overwhelmed or freaked out by a mass of teenagers. Now I understand. I'm on the same page, people. Teenagers all fangirl crazy are terrifying. I need to stick to 21 and up shows so if they can make a festival that is 21 and up, I'm in. :)

I hope you had a magical Labor Day and I guess it's time to put my one white dress in the closet until spring... maybe. It's summer in Dallas until October so I may bend the rules a little bit.

xoxo,
Liz

Korean BBQ & Singing Songs Loudly

Jose's birthday is this week so we celebrated with lots of meat and lots of singing. A tradition for Jose's birthday is Family Karaoke which for those of you not familiar, is when you and all of your friends are in a private room and you perform for one another. Or in our case two people have the microphones but everyone ends up singing every song anyway. Prior to karaoke, we went to Koryo Kalbi for Korean BBQ which was excellent. We decided to get a combo platter of meat to cook at our table. It was very interesting. I have never been super adventurous when it comes to food but with the help of friends, I have tried so many things in the past few years. I would never have chosen to eat Korean BBQ by myself. 

Beef

Our Server Cutting the Meat with Scissors

Kevin who sat next to me, was incredibly enthusiastic about trying everything. I think his general excitement helped me to be excited. 

The Whole Crew

And here's a shot of the whole table but unfortunately, you cannot see everyone...

And here's Jose with his cake.

Megan made a peach cake from peaches bought at the farmer's market because she's ultra-fancy. Megan is our group mom who bakes cakes and buys birthday cards and keeps everyone happy. I am always thankful for her and her generous spirit!

At karaoke, people got in to it. There was singing and dancing a lot of soju. What's your go-to karaoke song? I think my go-to song is Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me" or if we are going classic, Madonna "Like a Prayer" because I'm an incredibly classy lady. :)

As a group, we enjoyed "Stereo Heart" and "Wonderwall" and "Moves Like Jagger."

I hope you had an excellent weekend and are looking forward to the week. It's a holiday weekend which should make this week move really slow but I'm hopeful it won't be too bad. 

xoxo,

Liz

Instant Regret

Do you ever crave something {or someone} so badly that you must have it {him} and then you get it {him} and instantly know you made the wrong choice?

Welcome to the constant struggle of my life.

On Saturday night I found myself alone, watching "Tangled" on ABC Family and craving ice cream. This is a true story. Because I did not want to put on clothes to go to the grocery store, I went to Sonic and ordered a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Master Blast. This treat is new to me and I must say it was delicious... at first. Two hours later, I laid in bed trying to sleep as my body metabolized all of the sugary goodness of my late night treat. I basically did not sleep. My brain was at war with my body in a fight to stay cool and comfortable which just didn't happen. Instant regret.

Similarly, on Thursday I craved something a little different but did not actively pursue anything. I know that if I had pursued something, it would have happened and the whole weekend would have been full of feelings of regret. Definitely not peace. Not contentment. Not happy. Not satisfied. Not special.

Instant. Regret. 

I'll gladly take the feeling of food regret over the disappointing, disapproving feeling of emotional regret. I guess this is one difference in maturity. Often, I think I have not matured in the past few years and then a stumbling block appears. And I choose differently. I choose myself over temporary relief.

"We all have regrets, but it's important to learn from them and not dwell on the things you cannot change." - Hannah Hart, "My Drunk Kitchen"

What a positive note to start the week off with! Or not... I'm not quite sure. Here's to making choices that are not followed by instant regret. I hope your weekend was full of mature, happy choices or at least fun choices!

xoxo,
Liz

Weird & Beers & Work

This past week was weird. Work was not necessarily busy but at the same time, I was incredibly anxious. It was a busy week for after work activities which always throws me off my routine which in turn, makes me grumpy. I like to work my normal hours and then go to barre class and then watch TV and search the Internet for all of the gems I missed during work. Happy hours during the week annoy me more than they should which I suspect is because I am no longer 22. If I drink in the middle of the week, I want it to be wine and I want it to be from my couch so I can promptly crawl in to bed once the perfect level of tipsy has been achieved.

My team at work went out to lunch and then to get pedicures on Wednesday. I'm on a team of all women with the exception of one man who is considered a technical expert. We all got our toes done. Pedicures are my favorite and they are more my favorite when I don't have to pay for them. I am obsessed with Color Club's neon colors. I got Mrs. Robinson on my toes and evidently did not take a picture.

Pedicure at Cowboy Nails in Frisco

Friday the interns at work went out and did a sampling of Dallas things. They went to fancy dinner and then the Pocket Sandwich Theatre and then, Cowboys Red River. I enjoy country dancing sooooo much. I wish my friends enjoyed dancing and could dance so that I could go more often. I only get to go like every 6 months. I danced with everyone once they had enough drinks. I also spun around the dance floor with strangers. There was a nice looking cowboy that had danced with lots of girls so naturally, I asked him to dance. Only once we were dancing did I realize that he had neon yellow bracelets around his wrists marking him as under 21. Good job, me. Dancing was fun none the less. 

Saturday I met up with work friends at a hip place and had cocktails out of mason jars like the true hipsters we are. I had a delightful time and caught up with a friend that I had not seen in a while and his boyfriend. They're precious. I look forward to seeing them in Seattle over Labor Day for Bumbershoot. We are going to laaaaaaugh.

I hope this week is better than last week as far as my stress level and ability to sleep. Cheers to the last week of July bringing us closer to my favorite time of year, autumn. 

xoxo,

Liz

A Nearly Thirty Teenager Style Look-Book

On Sunday night, I went over to my bestie's parent's house for dinner and wine. Her soon-to-be college freshman sister had just gone through her closet and so we took the opportunity to "shop." Here are the looks I walked away with. I believe I made some solid choices. Some of them are age appropriate and some, not so much. But what the heck, might as well have fun!

The first look captures my love of some cities as well as my love for leggings. The second look is a little sexy while still being girly, you know, because of the lace. The last look isn't fully captured because the sweatshirt actually has fringe which is why I paired it with the cowboy boots. My facial expressions show my true feelings about the outfit. It's obvious that I feel empowered as well as totally ridiculous.

Basically, dress how you want. Be confident. Even when you're almost thirty and still shop at BP in Nordstrom as well as Urban Outfitters. I mean someone has to buy those clothes...

xoxo,
Liz

Karaoke & Shellfish & Running

:a weekend in review:

This past weekend a tradition of sorts took place with the interns from work and Family Karaoke. My coworkers love a good ole sing-a-long at this dive of a karaoke place in Korea Town.  I am nearly 10 years older than our interns now as a group. It’s interesting to see what songs are still relevant to those kids and what songs go completely over their heads. For instance, one of my peers put in “Pretty Fly for a White Guy” which was super popular as we were coming of age. I think it was lost on the interns as a collective. But, “Wonderwall” was a hit. Everyone knows that song and loves to sing it when consuming alcohol. It just makes sense. I think all singing together in a group and letting you be vulnerable in that way is kinda nice. It is especially nice when you work with the people and rarely see them let loose.

No one was this bad, but this video is classic and hilarious.

On Saturday, the crew ventured out to a new restaurant in search of shellfish. For Ben’s birthday, a group of us went to The Boiling Crab and ate as many crab legs as we could shell. There was also shrimp and corn on the cob and potatoes and bibs. You don’t want to make a mess on your clothes while you’re going to town on all that yumminess. This particular restaurant is very popular and line forms before it opens for lunch. We got there early and posted up. As a special treat, a couple of people brought Steel City Pops popsicles so we could have dessert first. This was my first time trying the popsicles and while I see the allure, I’m not a huge fan of dairy in my popsicles. I had the Buttermilk flavor which tasted like cheesecake but I much prefer fruity flavors so I will have to try one of those the next time. I hear the Blood Orange is really good and I would probably really like the Watermelon. All in all, lunch was fun and I recommend the experience to anyone who enjoys working for their food!

Steel City Pops Menu

The Boiling Crab

Ben’s birthday celebration continued Saturday evening and I put together this ensemble for a night in Uptown Dallas. We bar hopped and made sure the birthday boy had an excellent time!

: Madewell Skirt, TOMS Sandals, Coach Purse, Stella & Dot Necklace :

And then somehow by the grace of God, I got up Sunday morning and walk / jogged a 15k with my bestie. The annual Too Hot to Handle Race goes along White Rock Lake and it is a popular race. Almost 1,100 people ran the 15k in the 100 degree heat on Sunday morning. We wove along the lake and avoided being clipped by cyclists. It was not my best performance but I am still proud that I was able to run after not really training for a few months. Running and I have a love-hate relationship that stems from my knees not always cooperating. My legs took a beating while I played competitive soccer in my youth and they just cannot keep up with me sometimes.

How was your weekend? I hope the summer isn’t going by too quickly for ya. Now, off to look at #mcm posts…

xoxo,

Liz