Great Weekend

Richard and I had a great weekend in Dallas. The initial reason we traveled to the Big D was to attend the wedding of my college roommate's sister, Amy Blackwelder (now LaValle). It was absolutely GORGEOUS! The wedding was in St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church off of Abrams, and the reception was at the Crescent Hotel...fabulous! We had a cocktail hour while we waited for the bridal party to take pictures and then we all made our way into the beautiful reception room for a sit down dinner of a scrumtious salad (with spinach, arugula, avocado, feta cheese, bellpepper and lots of other yummy tidbits), dinner baguettes, a main course of lamb chop, steak, and a delicious either veal or pork (we never figured it out) sausage, to-die-for steamed veggies (fresh green beans, carrots, and mashed potatoes), and wedding cake for dessert! The band was probably the best part of the reception...apparently a local swing, 40's-style group that were fabulous!

Another highlight of the trip was getting to see my parents and visit with them. The bride's father and my dad were roommates and in the corps at A&M together, so we all get together once a year for a reunion. This was the second time this year we've gotten to see everyone and we had a great time! We also got to see some extended family; my dad's brother and his family and his sister and her family all live in Highland Park, so we were able to visit with all of them and stayed the night at no cost (yay, gotta love that)!

Also, we made a rather large purchase on something I've been waiting for for a long time! This Christmas I asked for nothing but gift certificates to World Market and cash! So, Rich and I took my loot (along with the help and company of Mom) and bought my BUFFET and HUTCH! I'm so excited! Now, it isn't the one I had originally planned on getting. I actually liked this one best, but didn't like the color, so I was going to get a glass cabinet instead. It's not the color itself, just that it doesn't really go with the other things in our house (although our kitchen appliances are black and stainless). Well, we started thinking and decided we could easily distress it a little more and then either repaint it or do some sort of finish on it. I was a bit more reassured because Mom, the artist was there and it wasn't just Richard trying to convince me "we can do this." We had all of my gift certificates (thank you, fam) and cash as well as a 40% off coupon my sister-in-law, Amy told me about! So, we got a great deal and bought this:



I absolutely love it and can't wait for Rich to get home so we can start working on it! Oh, and that's the only sad part of the whole weekend...we drove to Dallas in separate vehicles because he went on to Austin for a whole week! Listen to this crazy scheduling...he will get back Friday evening late, late. Then, he will be home for a week but I will leave Tuesday for Austin for a technology conference and won't be back until Friday. Then, Monday, Richard turns around and goes back to Austin for more training! So, besides weekends, we will be in exact opposite places for 3 weeks! I'm trying to see if I can find a one-way ticket from Austin to Amarillo so I can stay with him that second weekend and then fly home. We'll see if that works out or not!

I just thank the good Lord for Maggie and Marlee because they are keeping me company while their Daddy is gone! Thank you Jesus, for baby shnauzers!