The Holidays: Happy Valentine's Day Edition

Happy Valentine's Day!!

So since this Valentine's Day included a trip to the park to run and then to run errands and nothing really "valentinsie" here are my creations from last year.  I wrote saint quotes about love on them and individually packaged them and we handed them out to random people on campus.  It was awesome.

MY FAVORITE LITTLE GUY!!

Now pretend that someone randomly gave you a delicious valentine's cake pop with a saint quote attached.  

Don't you feel better?

Glad I could help!

Color Me: Date night with Dad edition!

Last night Dad and I went to Sam Houston Race Track to see the horses race, but actually to go to see the WIENER DOG RACING!  Our neighbor's son had a dog they were entering so we decided this was an opportunity we couldn't pass up!  I haven't been to the race track in years, I'm pretty sure the last time I went was for a Blake Shelton concert in middle school... way before little miss Miranda Lambert and The Voice made him mainstream.  

We walked in the gates and saw the horses who were getting ready for the next race.  Based solely on looks I decided to bet on #4 to win and #8 to come in third place (which I learned in racing terms is to show...second place is to...well... place).  So we went in and placed our bets then headed out to the track to watch!   

First they bring out the starting gate...

then you stare at the board in anticipation of the race and check the clock...

then some horses parade by and look beautiful...

then I get really excited...

 then ITS TIME !!

 AND THEY'RE OFF!

and they are very fast... blurry even !

Its very exciting...and I was jumping... and screaming...

AND MISS SHAKIRA PULLED THIRD!!!! I knew she could do it !!

and I was victorious!!!

 at this point I was officially up 4 dollars and 20 cents... big money!

Then it was time for the first round of wiener dog races...

and they were everywhere...

they even had their own starting gate...

our neighbor helping her dog down the track!

IT WAS AWESOME.  Daisy, our neighbor's dog came in second in her heat.  If you win first you move in to the final round and the winner won about $200 dollars.  Some of the dogs were amazing and would shoot out of the gate straight for their owners at the other end.  Other dogs were less...uh... trained for the job.  They would sit down, run to the fence, run in circles... two even attempted to ...erm... mate.  Overall it was the funniest thing I think you could do on a Saturday night.  

Then there was another horse race so we decided to best on Speedy Judy (number 7) to Win, Place or Show in honor of my mom. So we would win if she came in first, second or third.  

The race began and she was in the top three, then drastically dropped.  It appeared all hope was lost.  Then in a surprise move in the final stretch Speedy Judy came back to pass up 3 horses and pull it in tight for a PHOTO FINISH for third!!!!!

I jumped.
I screamed.
I bit my nails in anticipation.... then it was final...

JUDY CAME IN THIRD!!!

 WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 It was wonderful!

Then we went inside and I collected my $3.40, thank you very much !

So we left on a good note !

We were in need of dinner so we headed to a tapas bar in the Vintage that dad had been to called, 1252 and it was awesome! We had this cheese thing drizzled in honey and walnuts that made my eyes water with pure joy and splendor ! Then some tuna that tasted like glory and victory ... there was more but that's really the take home message from the meal. I could go there everyday. You should go tomorrow.  Or today.  Or now. 

I had such a fun night with my dad- it was so fun to go do something new and different and have an adventurous night in Houston!! I'm so lucky to have such a great dad that I love spending time with! 

p.s.  there's apparently going to be camel and ostrich racing next month at Sam Houston.  I'll be out of town but everyone should go.  Seriously... Camel racing. 

Color Me : KRISTEN EDITION!

Kirsten came to visit for the night on her way to College Station from big girl nursing school.  Uhm, She can start giving real people, like real people shots like now.  That makes me nervous.  Not nervous in a "im-nervous-kristen-is-shootin-people-up" kind of way.  More of a "I'm-nervous-that-I'm-old-enough-to-have-friends-who-can-do-that-kind-of-stuff" kind of way.  Get it? Great.

So in celebration of Kristen growing up and well on her way to be a real person, I made her this.

 I figured its all her favorite colors, has sparkles and flowers and really says "grown-up" !!!

World Traveler: Colorado Edition - Part 2

Sunday morning we woke up at went to Lucile's for breakfast and met the Lafitte's. Its a cajun restaurant that is open only for breakfast and lunch and it is amazing. Everything on the menu looks incredible.  It was all fresh and beautiful and just incredible.  Not to mention that the restaurant itself is the cutest thing you'll ever see !  I had a cheese omelet that came with a giant biscuit and cheese grits.  I could eat that meal every day. Forever. And always.

My cafe au lait !

adding more sugar... because there wasn't enough !

My omelet, cheese grits and biscuit.  All things good.

I was sad to leave Lucile's.  I wanted to stay there forever.  Roll around in a pool of cheese grits... 

ALAS, life goes on. With my full, fat belly in tow we headed off to Golden for Geocaching!
 If you've never been Geocaching before, its amazing and you should get on it !  Anyway, Golden is a super cute suburb of Denver nestled in a valley.  I couldn't handle the cute.

outside a candle store

The main street in Golden, welcoming me with a HOWDY!

Kyr digging through the loot bag from our first cache

Then we were on to our second one.  It was tucked into the underside of a picnic table, Stephanie found it!

Kyr opening our second cache, it was a lot smaller and harder to find !

signing the scroll

Looking for cache #3

Cache #3 turned out to be a little tricky...aka we gave up.  I don't think anything was really there!

Jason taking out his anger...

After cache #3 we headed back to the car then drove up Lookout Mtn. and stopped at a rest point. Steph and I attempted to find a cache but the ice and arctic winds drove us a way before we were successful.

retreating from cache attempt #4

 That night, Adge and I went to mass with her roommates then had dinner with them back at their house.  Her roommate made us pupusas which were awesome!


Monday-

Kyr was still sick so we let her be.  Adge had an appointment in downtown Denver, so while she was there I walked around.  I went to the Cathedral for a while and prayed and took in its beauty.  I did seem to forget to take a picture though...

The capitol

and the other side

 When Adge was done we went to lunch at an Irish pub named Katie Mullin's.  It was adorable and really made me feel like I was in Ireland.  I naturally had fish and chips.

After lunch we went up to the Augustine Institute for communion service at 3:30.  The school is housed on the top floor of a building that used to be a convent (i think).  I loved it . The building is old and really cool. The light wood floors made it feel like it was the school from Step Up...

The whole AI!

Especially this room...

The view when you walk outside, so stinking beautiful!

Me, beholding the school!

Adge and I went to hang out with her friend, Tamara, who turned out to be an old friend from college of one of my best friends.  Small, Catholic world moment!

For dinner we went to the cute shopping center where out Corner Bakery  adventure was and met Tyler and Steph for pizza at Mellow Mushroom!  I freaked out at how cute it was with the twinkle lights everywhere.  There was also a really cool outdoor fireplace.  I love it.

 Dinner was wonderful and the company was better.  We sat and talked for a while before it was time to roll out. Bed time comes early for people with responsibility!

Later that night I said my goodbyes to Adge since she had work the next morning waaaaay before I would be awake !


Tuesday-

IT WAS SNOWING!!!!!! I was so excited that we had a little snow while I was in CO.


Kyr was feeling much better today (whew! & yay!) so we headed to downtown Littleton to walk around the shops since they were open and have lunch.  We had hot chocolate at a really cute shop named Chocolate Therapy (my homeland) and then lunch at Merle's.  Everything was great and all the boutiques are adorable and make you want to be really fashionable. 

Alas, the time passed and before we knew it we needed to head off to the airport.  We had a nice 45 minutes en route to say our goodbyes though.  I'm so happy I got to go visit everyone in Colorado and have such a great time with them.  Its crazy that we're done with college and spread across the country now.  I still refuse to believe we are growing up.