Dallas for the Holidays Part 1

Nick and I were home, in Dallas, for eight straight days. It was absolutely wonderful! It had been 7 months since we had been home and we were ready for family, friends, holiday festivities, and some good ole Mexican food.

A lot happened over these eight days so I'll give a short re-cap of everything!

We arrived late Friday night (23rd). My mom picked us up for the airport and we made a quick stop at Taco Bell for some chili-cheese burritos. One Mexican restaurant down and lots more to go! We chatted for a while and then made our way to bed.

Christmas Eve morning started early. I don't know what possessed Nick and I to get up with my mom and go workout at 8am but we did! It was so great seeing Johnny and his new space. I sure do miss his workouts. I keep telling him to just pack up and come to New York! After our workout we met up with my dad and Evan at went to eat at Ham & Eggs (I think that's the name). This place can serve up some breakfast... lots of food! I think mom beat us all with what she ordered (I'm pretty sure she had no idea).

Can you believe how big those pancakes are! We hardly made a dent in them. We even had a man who was sitting in the table behind us ask if he could take a picture! Only in Texas!



Next we saw Mission Impossible 3. Pretty good movie... might be my favorite of the series. Later that day we headed over to Nick's dad house. Mike and Sandy had cooked calm chowder in a bread bowl for dinner. I hadn't really had calm chowder before but it was pretty good. Still love lobster bisque the best!

Christmas morning arrived and surprisingly my brother was fast asleep at 8am. Even though he doesn't believe in Santa I still thought he would be up early to open all the presents he had! While mom and I were waiting on everyone to get up I decided to make a breakfast dish that I found on Pinterest. Blueberry breakfast cake! It turned out great... everyone LOVED it!

Evan finally made his way out of bed and we proceeded to gather the presents and create all the piles. Evan made a fort of his presents...





We all received some great gifts. My favorite had to be the Northface jacket from mom and dad. I've been wearing it since I opened it! After presents we made our traditional Christmas morning breakfast... eggs, bacon, grits, fruit, and now my blueberry cake. Delicious!


This picture does not do it justice!

Later that day we headed over to Nick's moms house. His sister Natalie and her finance, Cory, were over there as well. We had to make it in time for the Mavericks vs Heat game. Mavericks lost bad... Nick was not happy. So we opened some more presents. Lots of gift cards... gotta love gift cards! We had a nice home cooked meal that night and watched basketball for most of the night. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep early.

The next morning (which would be Monday 26th...Nick and I lost track of the days) Nick, his mom, and I headed out to the mall. Did a little damage with the gift cards and the day after Christmas sales. I bought some new Uggs and some clothes at Banana Republic that I just couldn't pass up!

Next we met up with Natalie and Cory for lunch at Pappasito's! Heaven! This is the place Nick and I have been waiting for. It just doesn't get any better than their chips, salsa, queso, fajitas. It was wonderful! And I was entirely stuffed after leaving the restaurant.


YUM!

Tuesday Nick had lunch with his dad, Sandy, Natalie, and Cory before he left to go back to Austin. Mom and I did some errands during the day... we stopped at DSW.

There is a funny store to go along with our DSW trip. On Christmas morning I opened a present from mom and dad and noticed it was a shoe box. It had the brand name on the top of the box. I was familiar with the brand because I had gotten a pair of flats from mom last Christmas by the same company. I opened the box and took the shoes out and just sat there for a minute. I didn't know if I was being pranked or if this was a joke... the shoes I held were the exact same shoes mom bought me for last Christmas. It wasn't a joke.... mom didn't remember giving me those shoes at all! It was really quite funny. So she simply said we will go to DSW and exchange them. We did exchange them and instead of walking out with one pair I walked out with three! At this point Nick was ready for me to stop shopping!

Later that day mom, Evan, Nick, and I went and saw We Bought A Zoo. The boys weren't exactly excited for it but after the movie was over I think they both thought it turned out better than expected. I liked it a lot! We met dad for dinner and On The Border... another one marked of the list!

Wednesday, I think it's Wednesday at this point. I met up with my oldest friend Lauren for lunch at Northpark. She had lived in NYC for the last 5 years and just moved back to Dallas 6 months ago. It was great to see her and catch up. It's like we have completely traded places! Nick met up with our friend Drew for lunch in Ft. Worth and got all the details on his life!

Later than night we met up with David and Sloan. Nick worked with David before he left for New York. We were so excited to see them because David was the proud father of 7 week old Georgie. We met them in Uptown at a place called Swig. It was the first time Nick and I had met Sloan and she is just the sweetest person! And Georgie was so precious! We had a few appetizers and decided to get our main course to go since Georgie was getting a little restless.

We went to David and Sloan's house and just talked and relaxed. I think I held Georgie the entire time. I just love babies! It made me want one but not just yet... a few more years. It was really great seeing them and we wish them the best!


Isn't she just too cute! I hate the picture of me... focus on Georgie!

I wish I had more pictures to go along with the post but I wasn't the best with taking them... especially as the week went on. Well that's it for Part 1. Part 2 will follow shortly!!