Nine Months

Before I get to the fun of introducing our new little bundle, I want to take a moment to reminisce on the nine months preceding his birth. When we learned that I was pregnant, I thought it would be an eternity until he was born. Nine months sounds like forever, doesn't it? But as cliche as it sounds, it's nonetheless true that the time absolutely flew by. I was blessed to have a fairly easy pregnancy compared to many, so the months were full of moments that are now happy memories. Sure, sleeping became pretty difficult for the last few months, my bladder became a bit cramped, and some doorways became difficult to navigate, but we still managed to have plenty of fun before welcoming our little guy into the world. So here goes!

First, no pregnancy post would be complete without a few sonograms! On the left is my very first sonogram, when our baby was just a little blob. And next to it we see what a difference a few months can make at our 20 Week appointment when we find out we're having a little boy!

We celebrated the 4th of July! In Paris we watched the Paris Municipal Band and the city fireworks at Noyes Stadium after spending the day with my family. In McKinney, we lit sparklers and watched the McKinney fireworks with our neighbors!

We had visitors! Our sweet friends Kurt and Nina visited from Arizona while Jeff and Jessica came in for a few days from South Carolina!

I threw a baby shower, along with my mom and grandmother, for my friend Alison. She's now a momma to adorable little Mason!

We traveled! We spent a lovely week meandering around Nova Scotia.

We got a porch swing (that still needs to be stained). Does it get any more southern than this? Thank goodness for a husband and father-in-law who know how to hang things.

I turned the big 3-0 and had a lovely time celebrating with family and friends!

 My husband and amazing in-laws painted the nursery! Goodbye horrid blue and tan stripes!

 We went to Frisco Rough Riders games, ate cheesy nachos, and root-root-rooted for the home team!

 We brewed lots of beer, and my husband built a kegerator that lives in our garage.

 My bump got a bit bigger, and Charlie impatiently waited to meet his little brother.

 My family came to town to celebrate Mom's birthday!

We had a blast at the Red Bull Air Races at Texas Motor Speedway. The bump continues to grow.

We drove down to Wimberley to spend a relaxing Labor Day weekend with our friends Jimmy and Laura and their family. The weekend included grilling, time in the hot tub, lazy mornings on the porch, refreshing cool-watered swimming holes like the Blue Hole, generous slices of pie from the Wimberley Pie Co, and a little beer sampling (for everyone else) at Real Ale.

 Ali and her mom and grandmother threw me a wonderful baby shower!

We spent a day in Dallas visiting the 6th Floor Museum and Lakewood Brewing (again, I got to watch other people sample great beer).

We celebrated Oktoberfest in Downtown McKinney!  I indulged in heavenly apricot strudel, bratwurst, and sauerkraut in place of beer.

My company participated in the 2015 Corporate Challenge (in support of the Special Olympics) where yours truly became a Miniature Golf champ (ok, 3rd place, but we still got a medal) and completed her very first 5K!

We celebrated our 5th Anniversary at Neighborhood Services. The bartender made me a fabulous mocktail, my husband enjoyed well-made fully leaded cocktails, and the food was some of the best we've had in Dallas. It was a lovely evening. I'm so thankful for 5 years married to this man, and I look forward to many, many more together.

My last trip out of town (before the doctor recommended we stay put "just in case") was to visit family in Austin. We saw The Martian at Alamo Drafthouse, we had dinner with friends at La Mancha Tex-Mex Tavern, and I spent some time showing the baby around some of Mom and Dad's old haunts at UT.

We hosted our first family Thanksgiving! It was a hit, in large part thanks to my husband's smoked turkey.

Sadly, we sold Clementine, my wonderfully zippy and impractical orange Mini Cooper. We replaced her with a much roomier (though decidedly less zippy) Honda CR-V.

And last but not least, there was plenty of nesting. Most notably, we put together this little air and space themed nursery, complete with rocket ships, stars, and airplanes hanging from the ceiling!  We put in the finishing touches about a week before our little guy's arrival!

Kurt & Nina Come to Dallas

Guess who came to town a couple weeks ago? Kurt and Nina! After a fun visit to hang out with them in Tucson a few months ago, they decided to make the trek to Dallas. We had a great time catching up and showing them around town. Here are the highlights from the weekend (I doubt you'll be surprised to discover that most of them involve food)!

First up was one of our favorite downtown McKinney combos: Pie Night! To start things off, you get yourself a couple pizza pies at Cadillac Pizza. Then you follow that up with heavenly dessert pie at Emporium Pies (favorites this time around were the Cherry Bomb cherry pie and the Mellow Yellow lemon chiffon pie). And that's it, simple as that!

We spent a little time enjoying the warm summer air out on the back porch (and I finally got to light the mason jar lanterns that we made)!

There was TexMex to be eaten and margaritas to be sipped at La Hacienda Ranch in Frisco. Because you can't visit Texas without indulging in a little TexMex!

We made the trek into Dallas so we could poke around the Bishop Arts District. It's such a fun neighborhood, and we discover something new each time we visit. This time, we meandered around the neighborhood, sampled delicious (and sometimes delightfully weird) homemade chocolates and toffees at Dude Sweet Chocolate, cooled off with icy cold Topo Chico at The Wild Detectives (a cute coffee shop with a quirky book selection), sipped glasses of locally made cider at Bishop Cider, and we cozied up to a table at the wonderfully divey Ten Bells Tavern for local craft brews and bar snacks.

 Here we are out and about in Bishop Arts!

Finally after a long, arduous afternoon of food and drink....it was time for dinner at Stock and Barrel! Gosh I love this place. Favorite dishes of the evening were the avocado toast topped with chorizo (I don't care how trendy it is -- it's delicious), the goat cheese dumplings, the duck confit, and the ribeye.

One morning, we had a laid back breakfast around the kitchen table thanks to Rudy's and their brisket breakfast tacos (talk about killing two birds with one stone for out-of-state guests -- BBQ and breakfast tacos)! Another morning, we drove across town for breakfast at the oldest restaurant in McKinney: Bill Smith's Cafe! While it's hard to go wrong with anything on their menu, I love to get the chicken fried steak and eggs or the taco omelette. Or you can go my husband's route and get pancakes, eggs, and bacon...with a side of biscuits and gravy! So much food!

Kurt and Nina were also nice enough to go with us to the Local Yocal to participate in their Steak Class! A cattle rancher husband and wife team who believe in high quality meats that are raised properly (you know, eating grass and stuff like that without exposed to hormones or antibiotics) started their own meat market to butcher and sell locally raised meats along with some other locally made products.  The class involves a "lecture" from the owner himself about the meat industry, a tour of the butcher shop, a tutorial on all of the different cuts of steak along with where they come from on the cow, and finally (they save the best for last) they grill 17 (seventeen!) different cuts of steak for you to sample! I don't think I've ever had so much steak in my life. It was so fun to compare the different cuts, and they were all the best bites of steak I think I've ever had. It was a really fantastic experience. It was educational, fun, and delicious (also note that the class is BYOB, so feel free to bring your favorite beer or wine along)!

 That's a big side of beef (and I don't mean Kurt)!

After all of the steak was gone and the class drew to a close, we piled into the car and drove 45 minutes north to Sherman to hang out at 903 Brewers for their 2nd Anniversary Party! So far, they're our favorite brewery in the area, so it was fun to introduce them to Kurt and Nina, fellow craft brew enthusiasts. Throughout the party they were constantly tapping new beers brewed solely for the anniversary party. Some were amazing, some fell a little shy of expectations, but they were all fun to try!

 Hanging out at by the taps (these three are beer festival pros)!

For their last day in town, we went to Snug for their breakfast sandwiches. Snug is just the coziest, cutest little local coffee shop on the square in McKinney, and we always try to take guests there if we can!

Finally, we played a little golf at Top Golf (I came in last, as usual, but it's still surprisingly fun) followed by lunch at Freebirds before we had to make the trek back to the airport.

Such a fun weekend with sweet friends! Who wants to come visit us next??

A Night with Gemma

A couple weeks ago, my husband and I made it into the big city for a date night at Gemma. It was a chilly, drizzly evening (as so many have been this month), but inside the restaurant was cozy and warm. We sidled up to a little table for two and started with a round of cocktails while browsing the menu.

My husband sipped on a Fennel Rickey while I tried a Muddled Kumquat Caipirinha. I wished for a little more sour kick from the kumquats, but it was very good!

The food was the real star of the show, though (along with the wine on tap)! I started with a beautiful shaved vegetable salad. Crisp romaine leaves were topped with creamy-tangy dressing, parmesan, and paper-thin but still crisp shavings of carrot, a couple radish varieties, and kohlrabi. We each opted for one of their homemade pasta dishes for our main course. I honestly didn't think we would find good homemade pasta after leaving Boston, but both the pappardelle and the ricotta cavatelli tossed with rich, braised meats were wonderful. Along with glasses of red wine, it was perfect fare for a chilly evening.

A Reunion in Dallas

This past weekend, our friends Nate and Kate came to town to visit us along with our friend Joseph! As I've mentioned before (and again here), Nate, Joseph, and I came to be good friends while studying abroad in Toulouse, France. We even gave ourselves a cheesy nickname -- The Trio!  We've been scattered across the country over the past few years, but upon our recent relocation to Dallas as well as Joseph's, we figured it was high time for another reunion. We had a great time catching up and exploring our new home together.




McKinney
We kicked off the weekend in McKinney. We took them to some of our favorite spots, tried a few new ones, and spent some time at our house playing with Charlie and mixing cocktails in the kitchen.

• We sipped wine at a cozy corner table at Lone Star Wine Cellars.
• We devoured breakfast sandwiches at Snug on the Square. The spinach mushroom melt with their homemade green salsa is the best.
• We brosed shelves piled high with rare and vintage books (including some cool signed first editions) at The Book Gallery.
• We had pie for lunch at Emporium Pies. Our favorites from the winter menu were the Father Christmas (peppermint cream pie with chocolate cookie crust), Buttermilk Blitzen (chai-spiced buttermilk pie), and Merry Berry (cranberry pecan topped with a layer of chess pie)

• We went wine tasting at Mitas Hill Vineyards right outside of McKinney in a little town called Squeezepenny.  We loved the "Sip and Savor" deal where you could try four different wines while chatting in the tasting room and admiring the lovely grounds.

The whole gang at Mitas Hill:

Dallas:

Next, we headed into the big city. It was time to explore Dallas with Joseph's apartment as our home base. We rolled into town just as the sun was setting Saturday!

• We explored the Bishop Arts District! After reading about this trendy part of town flourishing in the Oak Cliff neighborhood, we were excited to see what all the fuss was about!

• We snacked on appetizers and clinked cocktail glasses at Stock and Barrel. This place was phenomenal. We loved the goat cheese dumplings and the caramelized Brussels Sprouts doused in chili oil. I can't wait to go back for a full meal sometime soon!

• After sampling the BBQ at Lockhart Smokehouse, we sipped cider at Bishop Cider Co. The boys preferred their peach and pecan-laced cider, but Kate and I loved the OC Funk, an unfiltered and wonderfully funky (as the name implies) cider.

• We poked around the crowded shelves of M'antiques. What a cool antique store, targeted toward the men-folk, but just as enjoyable for the women.

• We took a little hike along the Katy Trail on Sunday morning and stopped for breakfast at the Katy Trail Ice House. The outdoor tables are plenty warm thanks to blankets, heaters, and wood fires, and we loved introducing our Buffalo friends to breakfast tacos! The classic bacon, egg, and cheese was great, but our favorite was the brisket, egg, and cheese that they made for us upon special request. The Paloma cocktail was pretty delicious as well!

• Lunch found us back in Bishop Arts at El Corazon de Tejas for our TexMex fix. Along with $1 mimosas (!!), my lunch combo of a sour cream enchilada and a cheese taco (doused in queso) was ridiculously good. The atmosphere is also lots of fun for TexMex newbies and veterans alike.

• After lunch, we popped into the Zoomos Pop-Up Shop where we posed for photos with their fantastic "You + Me = Love" mural. Super cute, right?

This was our last stop before delivering Nate and Kate to the airport, and what a perfect way to wrap up a fun weekend with such special friends!  I'm so glad they came to visit!