What's Happening Lately

Hi everyone!  Hope you've enjoyed your weekend.  It was such a nice weekend here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.... until today.  Went from 80 to 25 degrees in less than 24 hours.  Texas weather for you, I suppose.  I should be used to it by now.

Part of our drive today

Now that I finally caught up on the blog about our updates, it's back to the regular weekly posts.  However, I am working on an apartment decoration post so you can see what we've completed in our new home and what still needs work.  Although, I feel like nothing is ever 100% complete.  I want to buy everything!  Such is life.

I've been doing some traveling lately, some for work and some for pleasure.  I went to Chicago early last month on a work trip to check out our host hotel for our upcoming conference.  I experienced my first Chicago-style deep dish pizza, and found out how much I enjoy flourless chocolate cake.  I wish I did not find out the latter.

Amazing views from my corner room

Team dinner at The Palm

I then went on a trip to Boston to visit my best friend Da-Nell aka Nelly.  She recently made the big move there for a new job, so we spent half of the trip in the suburbs (where she lives and works) and the other half in the city.  I've been to Boston several times before so I was not that much of a tourist this time around, although that did not stop me from taking pictures.  There was a snow storm the week before and a snow storm right after I had left, so I went on a perfect weekend!  It was a little over 50 degrees and sunny on the day we ventured out to the city.

Dinner at Kenichi's near Shrewsbury - in the 'burbs!

I woke up to cinnamon rolls that Nelly kindly made before she went to work... yum.

A local restaurant in Shrewsbury.

This was only $9 and I had the rest of it for dinner.  The food isn't as pricey as I thought on the East Coast.

Beautiful apartment homes on Beacon Hill in the city

This picture has no filter at all.  It was beautiful.

First time at the Haymarket - local fruits, vegetables and fish every week.

$1 each - amazing deals!

Reminded me of the local farmers market in Kazakhstan.

"Order your fresh killed goat."  Am I back in Kazakhstan?

The Boston Commons

My boots weren't made for walking :(

It was National Margarita Day so I HAD to find a Mexican restaurant.  The food was sorely missed, but the drinks were good!  I couldn't expect good Tex Mex on the East Coast really, but nice effort.  

The queso was horrible.  We guess that it was made out of shredded cheese and flour... not like the queso we are used to in Arizona (where she's from originally) and in Texas!

The fajitas would. not. stop. sizzling.  The meat was dry by the time we got to the bottom of it.

I finally got my Banh Mi (vietnamese sandwich) fix in Chinatown.

Nelly took me to a really popular brunch place on Beacon Hill called The Paramount.  Known for their hot, fresh food and freshly squeezed juice, it was well worth the hour wait.  The line is always out the door because they do not have restaurant style seating.

I got the Southwestern omelette.

Nelly got the caramel banana french toast, which was also popular with a lot of guests there!

Heath had an opportunity to go speak at a FCA meeting at Edmond Memorial this last week.  He hates small talk and phone conversations, but he said he enjoyed talking in front of over 30 students.  He said he felt very comfortable, so our prayers really did help!  I would've loved to see him in action, but the meeting was late in the middle of the week and I had to be at work early the next morning.  He told me I would've made him nervous anyway, so maybe it's a good thing I wasn't there :)  He talked about toughness - both spiritually and physically.  He finished a book on toughness by Jay Bilas, so it helped him prepare that encouragement to those high school FCA members.

So proud of him!

For those of you who follow me on other social networks, you already know Heath and I had our niece and nephew for the weekend.  Since we've moved in to our new place, we haven't been able to see them so it was exciting to get to have them to ourselves this last weekend!  I swear they change every time we see them; they're both getting so big.  We enjoyed our living room sleepovers, playing games and cooking our meals together.  The kids loved that we took the time to prepare our meals for them.  Breakfast was their favorite both mornings.  They have to get that from their Uncle "Heef"!  I can't get myself to be hungry enough to eat so early in the morning.

Not part of the #KidWeekend, but we loved the one-ingredient banana ice cream recipe!  We added peanut butter, and it tasted amazing.

Heritage Park in Flowermound

My sweet babies

Heath was spinning only Nevaeh at first, but then all the kids wanted to join!

They have so much fun together.  Nevaeh loves her Uncle Heef.  He is going to make such a great dad... one day!

Technology babies

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup and grilled cheese on Ezekiel bread

Saturday morning walk on The Mills trail behind our apartment

Jay loved the museum!  He was so interested in telling me what everything was made out of.

Food Trucks

Klyde Warren Park.

Heath and I can't wait to come back here for a day date... especially for the food trucks.

Dinner at Chuy's.  My half-Mexican babies love their Mexican food!!  Neveah loved the jalapeno ranch just as much as I do.

It's now very quiet at our place, and we are not complaining one bit about it.  We love our niece and nephews, but we are definitely not ready to be a forever Mommy and Daddy!  We are excited to plan our meals for the week, and catch up on some TV shows.  I will be sharing our thoughts on meal prepping sometime this week on a blog post, and hopefully have a post with lots of pictures of our apartment too.  Stay tuned!


Until next time,