Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks

This weekend rocked! Mike and Julie came up from Austin for a fun-filled Dallas weekend that did not disappoint! (Except for maybe the opening bands at the show.)

Friday we BYOB’d to Babe’s Chicken Dinner House. That place is awesome! It’s true southern food like your grandma used to make. The biscuits remind me so much of Saturday mornings at my grandmother’s house… Man, they are good!

Saturday was shopping for the girls and the Dallas Comic Book Convention for the guys. Mike and Garrett did their thing at the Con, and Julie and I got pedicures at my fave place that gives you margaritas (yum!) and then went to Sam Moon for accessory overload.

Sam Moon was worth moving to Dallas for all by itself. It’s a wholesale accessories warehouse that I could spend all day in. I’m talking awesome necklace and earring sets that are only FIVE DOLLARS! It’s crazy! If they had shoes, I would hide out in the bathroom at night and live in the store like Natalie Portman in Where the Heart Is at the Wal-Mart.

After wearing ourselves out shopping, we met the boys back at the house for dinner and then the Los Campesinos show at the Granada Theater. They rocked! The two bands before them, not so much, but they were awesome!



The Granada was also pretty cool, too. It’s an old theater with the seats taken out, so there are different levels and it’s painted really cool. It’s very art-deco. Plus, the bands even started on time. Two thumbs up for the venue.

Sunday we went to the regular theater to see District 9. The movie was pretty good! It had a good story line and characters, but it was shot documentary-style and made me a little motion sick. Plus, there’s some gross special effects, so when you’re already not feeling well, that doesn’t really help.

We were sad for the weekend to end, but we’re planning on going to Austin for Labor Day weekend with the Pedro’s and we’re looking forward to that! Woo-hoo!

So Long Sandy Beaches!

I know, I know... We went back to Panama City nearly two weeks ago and I am just now getting these pictures up. Shame on me! We've been so busy since we got back we haven't had much time for reminiscing, but I will say we had an awesome time and it was great seeing everyone again!

Here's some of the highlights from our trip:

Garrett sprained his ankle pretty bad two days before we left for the trip.


So, he was on crutches the entire time. It stopped him from doing some stuff he wanted to (like go to the beach) but he was at least still able to get in the pool for some hydrotherapy.

I got to see one of my BFs, Chelsey and her little bow, Keegan. He's getting so big! I miss him so much. He's the most awesome 4-year-old I know!

I also got to meet Chelsey's new baby girl, Evelyn Willow. She is so beautiful!

Look at that hair and those chubby cheeks! Even Garrett thought she was cute!

Another cutie was Garrett's mom's new TOY Schnauzer. Finnegan weighed in at 1.75 lbs, and I swear most of that was hair!

We got to go out to some of our fave bars/restaurants!

My brother came along...

And Shawn & Melanie!

We had a blast! We were sad to leave!

When we got home, our grass looked like this from all the rain:


Poor dogs... (We've cut it now.)

This weekend promises to be another fun-filled weekend! Mike & Julie are coming in town for the Dallas Comic Convention and Los Campasinos show. We can't wait!!

Who watches the Watchmen?

We had a great weekend at the Dollar Casa! Saturday we saw Watchmen, Director’s Cut. It was only being shown at a few theaters across the nation, and we got it here. We still had to drive about 45 minutes for a 3 hour movie, but it was fun!

After that, we went to a friend’s birthday party in Dallas. We ate when we got there, but by the time we left, it was late and we were already hungry again. We stopped at Café Brazil for some good grub. (It’s kind of like an upscale Coram’s for all you PC folks.) It was goooooood!

This is T.H.E. Sandwich. It has tomato, ham and an egg. Delish!!

Sunday was actually nice weather after all the rain came through. It was a high of 90° which was much better than the triple digits we’ve been experiencing. We took the motorcycle out for an early lunch and then ran errands and did house chores.

I also finished knitting a new top. It looks funny in the picture because the top is ribbed and the bottom isn’t. When it’s on, the top stretches out and is fitted, then the bottom flares out a little. I’ve got to get buttons and then I’ll be able to get pictures of it on.

Oh boy it's HOT HOT HOT!

Greetings from Dallas!

Not much to report this week. We stayed indoors most of the weekend since it was so hot! Today marks the 15th day this season that temps have been in the triple digits. The average is 16 days a year, so I'd say it's a pretty safe bet we're going to exceed that.

Here's our weekend in pictures:

The biggest bug we've ever seen. You know what they say about Texas...

Doggie photo shoot learning how to use our new work camera.

Playing around with Garrett's 'stach. With a great mustache comes great responsibility. (And apparently some mascara, too!)

We also watching Bruno, which was interesting... as well as a few movies out of our DVD collection. Although, we couldn't make it through Blue Velvet. It was just too weird...

In other Dallas news, Jessica and Tony broke up! So sad!

Happy 4th!

We spent the long weekend with Mike and Julie in Austin and had a blast! For those of you that don’t know, they are some friends of ours from Florida that moved to Austin a few years before we moved to Dallas. It’s been so nice having some peeps out here, even if they are three hours away!

We drove down on Friday afternoon in time for dinner and watching Transformers at the IMAX Theater. We got there about an hour before the showing, and there was already a decent sized line. So we waited…

And waited…

And waited…

About 10 minutes before the movie was supposed to start, they finally let us in. After the attendant thanked us for coming and warned us about the motion sickness people had been experiencing, they started the movie…with no sound.

They finally got the sound working, but then it wasn’t synced up. They restarted it a few times with no luck. People were starting to get up to leave, so we did too. Right after we left, they cancelled the movie and sent everyone out for refunds. Luckily, we’d already gotten our refund and were spared the long, pissed off line everyone else had to wait in.

Saturday was pool time, then out for lunch and some shopping. The boys did their thing and went to Mike’s office and comic book store. (Mike works as a concept artist for Sony entertainment making video games. How cool is that!?) Julie and I headed out to IKEA, the happiest place on Earth. Awesome!!

That night, we went to a show at Esther’s Follies in downtown Austin. The show started out kind of slow for the guys, but it ended up being really good! The magician was amazing!

After that we listened to the fireworks on 6th Street (never actually saw them) and went to a few of the bars for fun.

After spending some time at Coyote Ugly (taking photos that will never see the light of day) we decided to call it a night...after getting our cards read, of course! Thanks for being DD Julie!!

Sunday was pool time again and some delish burgers grilled out by Mike with seriousness of the likes Garrett’s never seen in all of his years filming chef shows.

We had a FUN FUN FUN weekend and can’t wait to go back! Neither can Rowdy, whose new BFF is their cat, Fox.

Trucks & Chili's!

We got Garrett’s new truck last night!!


After spending about an hour and a half at the dealership to do five minutes worth of paperwork, we finally got to take it home. He got a 2004 Ford Explorer Sport Trac, which was exactly what he wanted, so he's happy!After that we were starving, so we ate dinner at a Chili’s near the dealership in North Richland Hills. It turns out it was the oldest existing Chili’s restaurant in the world! It was actually the 14th Chili’s ever built, but all the other ones before it have since been torn down.

Garrett, of course, had to ask the girl if they’re still using the original French fry oil. I don’t think she shared his sense of humor.


The building was pretty weird, though! We couldn’t really figure out which door to go in, so we just picked one, and went in it. Luckily it was the right one. The big canopy was over a door that said “To-Go Orders Only” so it was a little confusing. (Not to mention we were brain dead from waiting at the car dealership...)

Pancho, jump on it!

This weekend can be described in one word – HOT! Despite the triple digit temps, we did manage to get out and have a pretty good time.

On Saturday we went to Garrett’s Comic Store, Zeus, to see Greg Rucka. He’s a comic book writer and had a big book come out last week about Batwoman in Detective Comics. The store had him come into town and sign books for people. He was pretty cool!

After that we went to the Studio Movie Grill to see Hangover. It was so good! The movie was hilarious! Plus, that was our first time going to the SMG, and it was really fun. It was a little expensive, but the food was good and it was nice to be able to eat a burger and enjoy a beer while watching a great movie!

On the way to the movie, though, there was a really bad wreck on I-20, and EVERY lane was closed. We didn’t see the wreck, because we got off the interstate, but it must have been pretty bad for them to have to close everything off. There was so much traffic having to detour, that what should have been only a 20-minute drive was an hour! We walked in the theater just as the beginning credits started to roll.

Sunday morning we took the bike out for a ride before it got too hot. We’re riding down the street and the left mirror just breaks off the bike! Luckily Garrett caught it, and no real damage was done, but we do have to order a new one to get it replaced. It was so random!

We’ve also been car shopping online for Garrett a new truck. He knew he wanted a Ford Explorer Sport Trac, so we found a dealership that had one at a good price and went to take a look at it. (We sign the papers and pick it up tomorrow, so more pictures to come.)

On the way there, we stopped at Pancho’s Mexican Buffet. Garrett’s always talked about this place, because they used to go to one when he was little and they lived in New Mexico.

It was his brother’s favorite restaurant because instead of going up to the buffet and fixing your place, when you want more food or a refill, you just raise this little flag at the table and the waiter comes over to see what you’d like.

It was so much fun! Yes, the food was good, but that flag was a blast! I’d raise it really slow, and by the time it got to the top, the server was already over to us. Nice!

This weekend, we go to Austin to spend the Fourth of July with Mike & Julie!! We're so excited we can hardly wait! Have a good (hopefully) four-day week everyone!

More Anniversary

Garrett has a client shoot in Austin all week, but since yesterday was our anniversary he was able to come home to spend the evening with me. He has to go back this morning, though, to finish out the week.

We had dinner at David’s Seafood, one of our favorite restaurants of all time!!

David is always so good to us, and made us this BEAUTIFUL crème brulee. It was delicious!!

After dinner, we just relaxed at the house since Garrett’s been out of town the last few days and then had to go back today.

We’re watching the first season of True Blood on DVD and it is awesome!! The second season just started on HBO and I’m seriously thinking about subscribing again.

Well, another great anniversary down and sad to get back to reality, but at least my flowers are still gorgeous!!

P.S. Here's Garrett in his anniversary present from me. Some kickin' new crocs!

Happiness Times Two!

Well, today is our 4th Anniversary! Yeah!!

Garrett got me 100 miniature roses, and they are b-e-a-u-tiful!

Also, my best girlfirend, Chelsey, had her second baby this morning at 2:12 a.m. Baby girl, Evalyn Willow Rowe weighed in at a little over 7 lbs and was 20 inches. (I think. I'm so bad at remembering numbers!)

Welcome to the world Eva!!

Girls' Weekend

It’s already Monday! It was so hard to come to work this morning after the 4-day Girls’ Weekend I had with my mom and Aunt Sharon.

We got manicures and pedicures, did some shopping (including Sam Moon, of course), and did even more eating. We also did some impromptu house hunting and went through a few model homes just for funsies. We had a blast!

BTW - The sweater I have on in the picture below is a recent finished knit. You can't tell from the picture, but it's sleeveless. I love it!

Garrett was a trooper, too. He worked most of the weekend on a project with his comic store owner and then saw a friend’s band, Sobriety Starts Tomorrow, which was in town play last night.

Today, Garrett leaves to go to Austin for a big client for work. He’ll be back on Wednesday for our anniversary, but then he’ll have to turn around and go back on Thursday through the weekend.

It’s sad going from a full house to an empty house overnight, but at least I have the dogs to keep me company!

P-p-p-poker Face

We’ve got a big week ahead! My mom and Aunt Sharon come into town tomorrow and will be here through the weekend with us, so I’m excited!!

Knowing that we’d be busy this weekend though, we decided to take this past weekend pretty easy. We did go out Friday night to Family Karaoke, which was awesome!! It was Rich's birthday (the guy that owns Garrett’s comic shop), so we met a bunch of people there to celebrate in out-of-tune style.

Below is Rich (on the left) and Joe, who will sing anything! Joe is a former radio DJ and comic book lover who does a killer version of N'Sync's "I want it that way." I can't remember if that's what they were singing here, though. It could easily be Britney Spears' "Toxic."

Here's Barry (on the far right), who also works at Garrett's comic store and only does cool songs, but is really good at them!

Family Karaoke is a super-fun place. They have private rooms so you’re not singing on a stage in front of a bunch of strangers. It’s an Asian place, so they have Asian food and drinks, and they’ll bring everything to your room for you. We had such a great time, I even did some karaoke!

I have to say, too, that Garrett and I did a few pretty mean duets together. My favorite being “Time of my Life” from Dirty Dancing, but Lady GaGa’s “Poker Face” was pretty awesome too!

John Does Dallas

Sadly, Memorial Day weekend is over and it’s back to “normal” again. My brother, John, visited this weekend from Florida and we had such a blast! I was so sad to say goodbye to him this morning, though.

He got in Thursday evening and we went straight to the Flying Saucer in downtown Ft. Worth for dinner and drinks. After that, we went to the H-3 Ranch in the Stockyards for a few more drinks and dessert.

On Friday, we met Garrett for lunch at the World’s Largest Hooters in Dallas. Then did some shopping at the Galleria, and off to Top Golf for some electronic driving range fun.

Saturday morning Garrett got John on the back of the motorcycle and took him for a tour around town and the lake.

He loved it so much we had brunch and then went to the Harley dealership to look around. They always have a party up there on Saturdays, so it was a lot of fun. After that we did some shopping and then went to one of our favorite local restaurants for dinner, then another one for drinks and pool.

Sunday was Six Flags over Texas. We had a blast! Garrett and John went on every roller-coaster they had.

Garrett and I won these.

John found a souvenir in the gift store.

Then it rained and we got SOAKED!

Yesterday we just took it easy and did some more sight-seeing and shopping. Garrett and John kept “posing it out” for shoppers at the Parks Mall. They would stand in random poses without moving and see if people noticed.

One family did notice after walking by a few times. They eventually sat down on a bench and watched them to see if they’d move. For some reason it was hysterical!

Although we didn’t get to enjoy the $5 martinis at Ferrari’s, we had a blast! I’m ready for the next visit! When are you coming back John??