Say Yes to Life

I realize that it has been way too long since I last blogged (maybe 8 months? yikes!) and I don't have any good excuses. So, I'm just going to move forward! :)

The latest thing to happen to me was an awesome four-day weekend with two of my favorite Wisconsonites! Jen McT and Courtney (two of my best friends from high school ... remember that time I lived Up North a long time ago?) came to visit me and we had such an awesome time! We were very, very busy because I had a lot of things to show them!

Here are some of the highlights:

Dallas Day - Thursday


On their first full day in town, we became professional tourists of Dallas. We went to the Sixth Floor Museum and studied the conspiracy theories behind JFK's assassination (so intriguing!), we rode a free trolley through UpTown and saw all of these fun places I need to try, and we went to the Farmer's Market where we bought lots of yummy produce that we cooked with the rest of the time they were here. It was delicious!


Friday

This day I took Jen and Court to Sam Moon. If you haven't ever been here, you should go! It's a huge warehouse type building with every kind of accessory you can imagine. It's a girl's version of heaven on earth. Jen and Court were quite overwhelmed at first, actually they were speechless, which if you know them is hard to imagine. haha. But, they persevered and we spent probably 2 hours in the store perusing hats (I bought a fedora), jewelry, scarves, bags and more. It was great! Then we got lunch and some yummy fro-yo and headed over to DBU so they could see where I work and go to school. DBU is a gorgeous campus and I always love for people to see it! That night we took a chance on an unknown musical and ended up being pleasantly surprised. Bring It On: The Musical was everything we could have hoped for AND more! Danielle came with us and the four of us just grinned from ear to ear during the whole show. The songs were SO good! The dancing was awesome! The stunts were great! It was just fabulous! Seriously!

 
Fort Worth Day - Saturday

On Saturday, I took the girls to Cowtown. We toured the Stockyards, saw cows, visited lots of really cute shops and ate at the Internationally Famous "Cattleman's Restaurant." Then we went over to Sundance Square and walked around. It was a fun, laid-back day! That night we went to Chuy's, which is my favorite Mexican restaurant in town! It is so good! We laughed a lot and enjoyed our last night together. The girls left early Sunday morning. I was so sad to see them go, but so glad we got to spend some much needed time together! I'm so thankful for great friends and I loved showing them a new side of Texas! :) 

Fun in the Summertime

This summer has been fun as I've enjoyed and explored this new city I call my home. I wanted to share some of the fun places that I've been to over the past two months:

The Sixth Floor Museum

My college friend Kate came to visit and we went to the 6th Floor Museum in Downtown. This is a museum dedicated to JFK and share insight into his assassination in 1963. You can even view the spot from the window looking down on the Grassy Knoll where it is believed that Lee Harvey Oswald stood when he shot JFK. Kate and I are secret history buffs and we loved learning more about this pivotal day in American history.

Fort Worth Botanical Gardens

My RA from college and dear friend Sarah Gardner got married at these beautiful gardens in June. It was such a precious ceremony and I loved getting to walk around these awesome gardens! I'd love to go back when it's a little cooler and explore some more!

Buca de Beppo

Last weekend we went to this really fun Italian restaurant as part of Cristal Moreno's bachelorette party! The food was delicious and the atmosphere was lively and entertaining! This was a great place to have a great time!

The Melting Pot

My HPU friends, affectionately known as "The Herd," try to get together at least once a year for a reunion so we can catch up on each others' lives. This year only four of us were able to meet up, but we still had a great time! We went to this really fun fondue restaurant called The Melting Pot in the Arlington Highlands and it was quite a treat. While the overall meal was a little on the pricey side, we enjoyed every minute of the four course meal! It was so laid back and fun as we enjoyed cheese fondue, salads, the biggest meat platter you can imagine and delicious chocolate fondue for dessert! To give you a good idea, we spent about 3 1/2 hours there and loved every minute! :)

Southlake Town Square

My sweet friend Larissa came to visit me from Brownwood one weekend and we found a really fun shopping area called Southlake Town Square. It's only about 15 minutes from my apartment and it is so much fun! We enjoyed roaming around in all of the cute shops and grabbing lunch. I could have spent a lot more time here! I'm looking to going back again sometime soon (maybe when I have more money, haha!).


Rangers Ballpark in Arlington

I also went to a Rangers game with Larissa and my Brownwood small group the weekend she came to town. While it was really hot, it was also really fun! I love the atmosphere at baseball games (shocking, I know!) singing "Take Me Out the Ballgame," eating nachos and people watching is a good time to me! Plus, the Rangers beat Toronto 12-2 that day! Go Rangers!

Well, these are just some of the highlights of the summer. There has been a lot more going on, but that's all I can think of at the moment. I'll try to keep highlighting fun things to do in the Metroplex for all of you friends that should come and visit me! I've got plenty of room in my apartment and I love company! And, obviously, I'm fun and Dallas is fun, so you should come visit! haha. 

Sweet Suite Life

Oh my friends. I have been a bad blogger lately. I think I've been too busy living life to sit down and write about it. I think having a roommate contributes too, because now there is always someone around to talk to, so I'm not sitting alone with time to reflect as much. I do miss blogging, and I hope that I'll get back in the swing of things again starting now.

Today I've lost my voice and so I can't talk. Probably why I'm more inclined to write. Here's a recap of things lately. Two weekends ago I went to Dallas and saw Lady Antebellum in concert with Candice and her parents. It was SO much fun! They are an awesome band (even if they do sing country, haha) and they actually won the Vocal Group of the Year at the CMA's a few days later. After the concert I went over to DBU and stayed with my sister Jamie for the weekend, which was great! We had such a wonderful time catching up, shopping and enjoying the city of Dallas. I love my little sister and am so proud of the amazing woman she is becoming.


That Sunday I headed to McAllen, Texas (way south, practically on the border) for the Baptist General Convention Texas Annual Meeting. This was the last year for my dad to president and to preside over the meeting and I was sooo proud! The convention was actually my favorite one that I've been to. There was such a great spirit in the services, the sermons were great, music was so good and we even had the opportunity to participate in mission projects in the city. I went with my parents to the border to pray on an international bridge. Being that close to the danger and violence on the border was really eye-opening and humbling. There is definitely a war being fought on the border everyday and so we came together as believers to pray for the Prince of Peace to come and heal the land. We prayed for the violence to end and for God to be glorified.

I came back to Brownwood for a couple of days before I headed to San Antonio to celebrate my 26th birthday. Candice and I drove down and spent the day with my college buddy Maria. We strolled the Riverwalk, stopped by the Alamo and then went to a Spurs game. There was an HPU alumni event at the game that night and we got to watch the game from a private suite, which was really sweet! :) I was the photographer, which was fun. The game was pretty exciting and afterward we stayed to watch HPU alum Coffey Anderson perform a concert. All in all it was a really fun birthday! Definitely exciting!


I really will be writing more often from now on! Sorry for the silence. I'm excited about being 26 now and seeing all of the great things God has in store for me this year. 25 was really awesome. I grew so much, had a lot major changes happen and made some great new friends. I'm going to keep delighting myself in the Lord and look forward to seeing Him giving me the desires of my heart.

Blogiversary

Monday is my one year blogiversary. I must admit, I enjoy blogging a lot more than I thought that I would. It's so neat to look back over the past year and see all of the places I've been, the things I've learned, people I've seen and how I've grown.

Believe it or not, here are all of the places I've been in the past year - Orlando, Florida; Galveston, Houston, Amarillo, Dallas and El Paso, Texas; Kansas City, Missourri; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Washington, D.C.; New York City, New York; and Taipei, Taiwan. (I provided links so you can read about the adventures you may have missed out on!)

Some other big changes include a job promition to Director of Media Relations, moving offices from the Harrison House to Packer, moving out of my apartment and into a house with a new roommate and my family moving from Canyon to El Paso.

I feel like this past year I have grown a lot in my relationship with the Lord. I'm learning more about who God is and how He loves me. I'm also working on figuring out His plan for my life. That's definitely a process that I know will continue the rest of my life, but God's given me a new confidence in who I am in Him, which has really changed my perspective.

Lots of new people have come into my life - new friends, a new pastor in my church, a new president at my school, a new Sunday School class.

Not to mention I joined the Quarter Century Club in November - being 25 has rocked my world! I'm in my mid-twenties. Whoa.

It's definitely been a pretty big year in the life of me! Thanks for being a part of it! I look forward to the next year of blogging - sharing about my trips, my thoughts on God and life in general, updates and just for fun stuff too.

So, here follow me as my Tales of Wanderlust continue...

Deep in the Heart of Texas

This weekend I went to Dallas with my friend Candice and we had so much fun! On Saturday we met my mom and sister Jamie and headed to the State Fair! It has been years since I've been the fair and it was fun to be back. It just happened to be the Texas v. OU game, and can I just say, I have never seen so much burnt orange in my life! There were 90,000 people at the game, and I think I saw everyone of them! Whew it was crazy! That night we stayed for the Miranda Lambert concert, which was really good! I've never actually heard her music before, but she was a good entertainer, and she's a Texan, so obviously she was awesome!

On Sunday, we pick up Jamie and two of her new college friends - Allison and Erin - and headed back to downtown Dallas for the grand opening of the new AT&T Performing Arts Center. The entire arts district was free for the day and there were constant performances, so needless to say, we were very entertained. We saw dancers, acrobats, a jazz band and a Grammy award winning flutist. Here's some pictures from the weekend.

Me, Mom, Jamie and Big Tex

Mom and her new ride

Me and J before the concert

Miranda Lambert

J and her friend Allison


These crazy guys from "Anti-Gravity" - an acrobatic team that did amazing stunts!

Candice and I outside the Performing Arts Center