Just me writing to you: July 2014

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Shakespeare in the Park

Hubby & I love live theater! We almost always celebrate special occasions by finding a local theater putting on a play :)
Hubby was a drama nerd in high school, so I guess this is how we stay connected to that side of us ;)
So for the past two years we have gotten season tickets to Shakespeare in the Park. Believe me, I don't understand Shakespeare any more than you, but seeing it live (with Hubby next to me to answer questions) really brings it to life!
This year they brought the "B" & "G" out to Shakespeare in the Park, so of course I had to take a picture! There are big things going on in Dallas! I'm glad we are here to enjoy them!

If you are looking for something to do in Dallas check out other things Hubby & I have been up to!

Tourist in Dallas

Tourist in Dallas Again

Falling in Love with Dallas

and please share with us your favorite things to do in the Big D!

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Happy 30th!

This weekend we threw "the crazy lady who no longer lives downstairs" a surprise 30th birthday party! Excuse me, why are all my friend's turning 30?! We aren't that old yet!!! I refuse to believe it! ;)

The theme was "Math" she's one of those weirdos who actually likes math ;)

I made my chocolate peanut butter cheeseball :) It was completely gone once we started digging into it!

That pink stuff was so much fun!

I think she had a great time & was sufficiently surprised :) We stayed up to late, because that's what you do when you are still young like us... right?!

Happy Birthday! Have a wonderful 30th year of life! We love you!

Friday, July 18, 2014

Book 19!

The 19th book on my Empty Shelf is "The Facebook Effect" by David Kirkpatrick. The cover of this book says "The real story behind The Social Network". I was worried from that headline, that this book would be an argument against the movie, instead of just a standalone book. I have read a book that was written to argue against another book, & that's exactly how it came across, as a bitter argument.

This book, however, did not suffer from that :) It was a well written account, from the people involved, of how Facebook came into effect, & how it is changing society. I really enjoyed the book & found myself on more than one occasion, bringing it up in conversation. I even mentioned to my mom at one point that I do enjoy reading fiction, but that I find myself discussing nonfiction much more often :)

How about you, do you enjoy fiction or real life better?

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Christmas in July

For my mom's birthday we had a Christmas in July party :)

Hubby was so wonderful & got the tree out in July :) I found glow sticks at the dollar store! I thought they married Christmas & Summer together quite well hanging from the tree!

Can you see my Empty Shelf behind the tree ;)

Graham crackers, Frosting, loads of candy...everything you need for a build your own gingerbread house!

What's a party with out cheeseballs?! I found this recipe on Pinterest for a Peppermint Chocolate Cheeseball. I didn't use sugar free chocolate or sugarfree peppermints though. I was afraid of having that many sugar free items at one time! That's just my little warning for you ;) Also, I covered my finished cheeseball in chocolate chips (obviously) instead of crushed peppermints, because you can never have enough chocolate!

The base for this adorable snowman cheeseball is the same base I used for Luke's baseball cheeseball I made for his baby shower :) But instead of bell pepper tracing the stiches for a baseball, I used black olives to make eyes and a mouth, & a carrot for the nose.

Hubby decided to get creative with the camera :)

Happy birthday Nanny!

Ghost is always excited when we have little people visit! Then he sleeps really hard after they leave!

We all made our own gingerbread houses (graham cracker houses?) Luke wanted to help :)

I bought way more candy than we ever needed, but that just leaves more to snack on right?!

Luke & Lanier had a good time playing together :)

Everyone's gingerbread houses turned out so cute, & everyone had a different take on how to put them together! Here is Danier & Cassie's houses :)

This is Sharon's house! By the way did you know they make chocolate graham crackers now?!

Here's my house :)

This is Jamie's house! I love the icicles!

Here's the birthday girl's house!

and here's the birthday girl's house post-earthquake : /

Happy Birthday Mom!!! We love you!

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Aparently I'm a List Person

Don't you hate it when you discover you are one of "those" people, you know the kind of people you used to not understand...

I've always thought making list's was a waste of time, just something else to add to the list of things I need to do in a day. I had heard people talk about how satisfying it is to physically check something off your list, I thought that was the silliest thing I had ever heard...

Hello my name is Krystle, and I'm apparently a list person.

It all started because my sister asked her sister & I to so a month long squat exercise with her. I wrote each day's allotted squats on my kitchen calendar so I didn't have to keep going back to the website to see what to do. I started checking off the day as I did it & realized I was looking forward to doing it so I could check it off! "Really?!" I argued with myself... but if it works, then I guess I'll give into it :)

So then I decided I needed to make a list of things to get done on the days I'm home. I am blessed with a Hubby who allows me to only work part time, so I can stay home 3 days a week and take care of our home & theoretically, make things to sell over at ScrappinArt! But I haven't been great with time management, which means the house isn't very clean, & I haven't made something, either to sell or just to be creative, in way to long! So I've made lists!

Eventually I will type them up so I can print them each day to check off, but our printer is on the fritz. So for now I will deal with terrible handwriting :) I'm sure I will tweak the lists as time goes on, but for now they are good to get me started!

Are you a list person? If not, have you tried it? Maybe you are and didn't know it ;)

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Falling in Love with Dallas

Several weeks ago I bought a D Magazine to get ideas on what to do for our anniversary. Last year we walked around downtown & had a great time! So I thought I could find more fun things to do! I have enjoyed the magazine so much that I bought a 2 year subscription to it! So as we find fun new things to do I'll tell you about them :)

We ate lunch at Lockhart Smoke House. The mag recommended the Shoulder Clod for a leaner alternative to brisket. Leaner equaled tough in our experience, but our jalapeno cheese sausage was worth going back for! Also, their jalapeno macaroni & cheese was amazing, and the guy told us at dinner time they have a habanero macaroni & cheese, we will definitely be going back to try that!

For dessert we walked down the street to Emporium Pies. This came as a recommendation from a friend :) I got The Smooth Operator - French silk chocolate with pretzel crust (sweet & salty, one of my favorite flavor combos!) and Hubby got Java the Hutt - A flaky all butter crust filled with a crunchy and salty toffee layer and topped with smooth and bold espresso filling. He loved it!

I love him!!!

Today my mom wanted to go to the Dallas Farmers Market. So we went with her & then took her out to Bishop Arts for lunch. We went to Hunky's for burgers, very good chili cheese burger BTW, and then directly across the street was Emporium Pies! So you know we had to introduce her to our new favorite pie place! This time I got Java the Hutt, Hubby got The Cherry Bomb - Traditional flaky pie crust filled with plump, tart cherries, he got it with ice cream, he liked it but said Java the Hutt was better. Mom got Mellow Yellow - Lemon chiffon pie with crumbly ginger snap crust, the first bite she took made her mouth pucker! She said it was super lemony & she loved it!

I forgot to take any pictures all day! :( But once we got home I made a yummy fruit salad from my Farmers Market goodies!

Red plums, nectarines, blue berries, strawberries, and the cherries we already had from WinCo (I love WinCo!). Just fruit, if you want to make a great fruit salad in my opinion, all you need is fruit! :) And my great-grandma's red Pyrex bowl to mix it together in is a huge plus!