ALDS Game 3

Last Saturday, we went to the ALDS game 3 at the Ranger's Ballpark! We were so hoping to watch them sweep the Rays...but, alas...it wasn't in the cards for the Rangers all weekend. Nevertheless, we had a blast!  

We ran into the Rangers t-shirt girls posing with a Rangers super-fan. He was decked out in antlers, a cowboy hat, rally towels, and even chaps!

The energy inside the ballpark was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Everyone was so excited!!

We would have loved to have seen a sweep, but at least the Rangers pulled through in Game 5. Now that we're done with the Rays, it's time to take on the Yankees!! GO RANGERS!!!

Date Night No. 1

October is a crazy month for us. I'm out of town for two weeks, and then David is out of town for the other two weeks. We haven't had to travel very much this year, so now that we're starting to again, I'm remembering how much it sucks sometimes. I especially hate it when our out-of-towns are opposite - I'm out of town when he's in town and he's out of town when I'm in town. Oh well...it's part of our job. 

We recently decided that since we're only getting to spend weekends together this month, and part of next, we needed to set aside some time to spend together! So last Friday was our first official date night. We plan on alternating who plans the date each week, so last week was David's turn. We went to have dinner and drinks at Piranha at the Arlington Highlands. YUM! I was too busy eating to remember to take a picture! I actually forgot to take any pictures at all the whole night...oops!

After dinner, we went to see The Town at Studio Movie Grill. 

I had zero interest in seeing this movie. We work as bank regulators and we're almost always in a bank. So why feed my already ridiculously high paranoia level with watching a movie about bank robbers?!? But for the sake of date night, I sucked it up and went. And it turned out to be pretty good! I don't really like movies that have you cheering for the bad guy, but David says that's the sign of a good movie.

All in all, I'd say that Date Night #1 was a success!! Now it's my turn to plan our Date Night for this weekend...what to do, what to do...!

2-0 on the Road

 Last weekend we went down to Houston for the Cowboys v. Texans game! It turned out that the scheduling worked out perfectly since we had to be in Galveston Monday morning for our annual staff conference! A couple guys we work with and David's friend from college, Andy, also came. We had a blast!!

We had to make something easy, since we didn't have a fridge or a kitchen to prep in, so we settled on burgers! Have you ever been to San Marcos and eaten at the Tap Room? Well if you have, then you know all about their famous queso burger.

A juicy 1/2 pound patty, smothered in homemade spicy queso and guacamole. Absolutely delicious. Well we attempted to duplicate this at the tailgate. I'd never made queso on the grill and it actually turned out pretty good! It had the smoky bbq taste to it, but it was still really good.

One of the guys we work with, Matt, was the one who requested the queso burger. I think he approves!

Tailgating is always so much fun!! We played washers...

Andy broke out the vodka and we took some shots...

Matt & Ricky (from work)

Me & David

Pretty soon, it was game time!! Go Cowboys!!!!

We really went into this game mentally prepared to lose. The Cowboys were 0-2 and we just weren't playing very well. But surprisingly, they put their game faces on and we won!!! I am very proud to say that David and I are now 2-0 on our road games. Last year, we went to the Saint's game and if you'll remember, they were undefeated. And we went into the Superdome and kicked some booty!  Needless to say, we did the same thing at Reliant! So really, all I have to say is...we're going to Green Bay in November, so the Packers better watch out!! Just sayin'!

Here's the group after the game...

A little fuzzy...but to be honest, I think we were all feeling a little fuzzy...haha!

Ricky polished off the vodka for us...

And the boys decided they needed to shotgun a beer...or two...

We had so much fun at the game! Cowboys games are always fun, but going on the road to watch the Cowboys win is even better!!

Le Cordon Bleu: Technique

Today was Todd's (coworker) birthday, so I made Pioneer Woman's delicious carrot cake cupcakes! I made these for Easter this year and they were so good, so I couldn't resist making them again! If you make them, I filled each cupcake half way with batter and baked them for 16 minutes at 350 degrees.

For lunch, Todd chose to go to the Le Cordon Bleu student-run restaurant, Technique. We're working at a bank that's basically in the same parking lot as the culinary school, so we figured it would be a quick, fun lunch.  We should have known that this wasn't going to be a quick lunch because: 1) There were 9 people in our party, 2)When we got there, we found out it was only the second day of service, and 3) There was a notice on the menu that said that if we had time constraints for lunch, we should inform our waiter. None of these raised any red flags in our minds...

We arrived at noon and were promptly seated. Then the waiter took our drink order and brought us bread. Then he brought us more bread. Then he asked if we were ready to order. It was 12:30.  Everything on the menu sounded delicious. I had a hard time deciding what to get. There were 3 appetizers to choose from - fajita pizza, margherita pizza, and fried goat cheese salad.  There was also a duck soup.  For the entree, the choices were roasted chicken with goat cheese risotto, lamb rack chop with mashed potatoes and zucchini, and pasta carbonara.  Dessert was either brown sugar cake or raspberry sorbet.  I got the fried goat cheese salad, lamb rack chop, and raspberry sorbet.  The salad was delicious. There's nothing better than fried goat cheese!  And the lamb was cooked perfectly, seared on both sides with a tasty grill crust.

The raspberry sorbet was also good, but I could have done without it. The prices were pretty reasonable, $5 for an appetizer, $8 for an entree, and $3 for dessert. I don't think there's another restaurant in Dallas where you can get lamb for $8! They also serve dinner and you can get a 3-course meal for $35. My only complaint would be...from the time we sat down to the time we left, it took TWO HOURS. Talk about S-L-O-W service!! But the food was delicious and the experience was definitely one of a kind! I'd go back. And I'd recommend you to try it sometime! But make sure you have plenty of time for lunch. Or wait and go towards the end of the semester...

Le Cordon Bleu Dallas

11830 Webb Chapel Road

Dallas, Texas

Reservations: (214) 647-8500

Casey the Water Dog

We took Casey swimming at Aaron's house this weekend. She loved it!! We've taken her once before, but I forgot my camera, so I made sure to bring it this time! She had so much fun with her friend Zoe!

Getting the hang of it...

Trying to get her tennis ball back from Zoe...

We had such a good time swimming and hanging out with the doggies. It's kind of sad that this is probably our last weekend to go to the pool, but we're so ready for the cooler fall weather!! And I'm sure Casey's hoping to see her long lost friend, "snow", this winter! :) Hope everyone had a relaxing Labor Day weekend!

Riley . . . AKA the Starving Kitty

We put Riley on a diet about a year ago. The vet told David that if Riley didn't lose weight soon, he'd be diabetic and require insulin shots. So now, Riley gets 1/3 cup of food twice a day, instead of 1/2 cup of food twice a day. And I swear, you'd think we were starving the poor cat. Riley gets fed at 6:30am and at 6:30pm. And you better believe that starting around 5:30pm (sometimes earlier), he's meowing like crazy and pacing back and forth in front of the pantry. As soon as the food hits his bowl, it's gone. I don't even think he chews his food. We usually feed Riley first and then go back into the pantry to fill Casey's bowl, and by the time we come out of the pantry with Casey's food, Riley's done eating (and trying to find a way to sneak some of the dog's food)!

Anyway, when David and I are both out of town, we fill Riley's food bowl with as much food as he would get if we were there. It's up to him whether or not he portions out his food correctly or not. For all we know, he eats all his food the first day and he starves for the next three, five, or seven days. But it's his food, he can do whatever he wants.

So on Friday morning before David left for the airport, he filled Riley's food dish with enough food that *should* last him until Monday when we got back. Hard to say how long that food lasted in the bowl. We came home to this...

Suffice it to say, Riley wasn't very happy when there wasn't anymore food left in his bowl. Either that, or he was so excited to have more than 1/3 cup of food in his bowl, he knocked it off the ledge...and he spent the rest of the weekend eating all the food off the ground. Either way, he was meowing and begging for more food as soon as we got home Monday afternoon.

DFW to DCA to DTW to DFW

Last Sunday, I flew to Washington, DC for a training class at the FDIC student center. The class itself was pretty darn boring (as expected), but lucky for me, it was over by Friday. When the class ended on Friday, I flew from DC to Detroit for David's cousin's wedding!! I was exhausted after all my flights. I flew from DC (eastern time zone) to Chicago (central time zone) to Detroit (back to eastern time zone). By the time I landed, I wasn't sure if I was in the air or on the ground, much less what time it was supposed to be. I've never gotten sick, or even felt remotely sick from flying, but Friday was horrible!! 

Saturday morning, we met with my Uncle Mike and Aunt Margaret for dim sum. I meant to take a picture of all the delicious food, but I was so hungry I forgot!! I'd been craving dim sum for a while, so I was glad to finally satisfy that craving! Now I want to go to San Francisco to have dim sum with my sister... :)

Saturday evening, we drove out to MacRay Harbor in Harrison Township for Kim and Adam's wedding! It was absolutely beautiful. 

Kim's sister-in-law giving one of the readings...

The sand ceremony...

Kim's mom (David's aunt) made their wedding cakes!! Don't they look great?!?

She also made the centerpieces...

And I'm guessing she made the name cards, too! :)

Us!

And finally....Mr. & Mrs. Adam Pokowski!!

We had such a good time at their wedding!! Congrats to the happy couple!