Two weekends ago, we decided to celebrate our first weekend at home in almost a month by hitting up The Tasting Room- City Centre Friday evening for drinks & dinner.

This whole area has been so transformed and I’m just amazed.  I love the architecture, the landscaping, the layout of this whole shopping area.  The Tasting Room has a prime spot on the end of the the shopping center, so the inviting and cozy porch warps about on three sides.

The large patio is lovely & mostly shaded, which is a necessity in the Houston summers.  They had live music on the night we were there & some much more cozy/intimate areas around back that would be perfect for a party.

Inside they had some fancy wine system they were trying to hustle, but we just opted for 2 bottles of white instead.  The inside is large & very spacious, like the other Tasting Room locations.

The large bar in was the centerpiece & many people were gathered around the kitchen-facing bar or near the windows watching the shoppers pass by outside.

They have quite a lovely menu with some delicious items on it, but we opted for a meat & cheese plate to start and then decided to order 2 appetizers to split for our dinner, which were all delicious!

After our meal, we walked around the City Centre area, which is becoming quite popular these days.  They have lots of events, specials, music, and often shut down the main street.   I’m happy to have a snazzy new place less than 15 minute from our house, filled with fabulous restaurants, tons of outside seating & great views into the park area.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY:  Headed to Philly today to see my BFF and attend Bloggy Boot Camp with The SITS girls tomorrow.

After 3 nights at the Sheraton Mendoza with 2 days of tours (Andes & wineries), we hopped a plane a little south further into the Andes as we landed in Bariloche.  It was much cooler & very windy when we arrived, but otherwise things looked lovely, although a bit cloudy when we arrived.

 I was giddy to finally be into the  mountains & ready to explore those beautiful peaks and spires.  Although things appeared a little cloudy, we weren’t too worried as the weather forecast was lovely for the next few days.

 After checking into our hotel, we headed downtown for some lunch and exploring.  Bariloche instanly reminded me of a campy ski town back in the states- perhaps Steamboat or Veil.  So many little shops and stores, tons of young hippy types looking for something to do until ski season returned, and a half dozen chocolate shops that beckoned me at every corner.

 We popped into the cozy & funky Friends restaurant where I snagged a delicious salad, a few bites of pizza, and of course another bottle of wine.

 The next morning, I woke up early & went for a fantastic run- I loved the hills, the breathtaking views of the lake at every turn, and of course the nice cool weather.  So energized and inspired, I did a mini-session of yoga and stretching when I arrived home & hubby snapped these fun photos of me from our porch. Great view, eh?

I have such mixed feeling about Bariloche- I absolutely adored the town and almost every minute here.  It reminded me so much of Lake Tahoe or Queenstown, New Zealand.  This was the view from our room every morning, except for the day we were set to depart and we were greeted with a ominous “fog” of volcanic ash that would wreak havoc on the final week of our vacation.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Margaritas and fajitas with the girlfriends tonight.

Our 4th and final winery on our 2nd day of vacation was Bodega Benegas, a very cool old factory building with a lovely vineyard and winery.  The building was remodeled as a fantastic dining room and personal artifact collection.

In addition to the old antique farming & winery equipment, there was an impressive collection of hand sewn panchos, and then the amazing dining room table across from the largest fireplace I’ve ever seen.

We went down into the cellar to check out their wine, and I was blown away by all the stockpiled bottles of wine aging gracefully.

Finally, we  headed into the tasting room for our final presentation of wines for the day.  To day I was wine-ed out was an understatement, but I was still impressed with the beautiful artwork on the labels and some delicious wine.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Getting to do a little something fun & exciting today for my job that I’ve never done before.

*FINALLY* getting back to blogging about my my troubled trip to Argentina & Chile back in February.  I’m still technically on day 2, our wine tour, and have got hundreds of more photos & stories to share.  Our next winery was at Club Tapiz, where we started out by entering an exquisite old barn that had been remodeled to resemble a party room.

Mirrors, mosaics made of tiny dots and jewels, cellars of wine, funky chandeliers, swanky couches all made for the perfect party environment.

Since many of the vineyards also grew olives, olive oil was a popular product & we did an olive oil tasting at Club Tapiz before lunch.  I loved the old machinery, which was still in use for pressing the olives &  tasting olive oil is quite an interesting experience- hubby wasn’t too impressed with the ordeal.

Lunch was one fabulous course followed by another.  We were seated at large table, met fascinating new people, indulged on more wine, sawed away at one of the most impressive slabs of meat I’ve ever seen, and then I attacked my dessert so ferociously that I accidentally cracked the glass.

All in all, this was a beautiful property. I think they had a small B&B attached to the vineyard & restaurant.  The view from upstairs at the ramshackle wooden building was beautiful!

Like before, the day was still a bit cloudy & I imagined we’d see towering Andes mountains from this view on a clear day, but it was still quite stunning.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: It’s a 5 flight week- 1 work trip, 1 working fun trip, and then off to Philly to see my BFF!

Sunday Scribblings #319- In the Beginning 

I believe that in the beginning was God.  I believe that science can explain the physical origins of our universe with the Big Bang, but that still doesn’t explain the origins of the Big Bang or the trillions upon trillions of things that had to happen for us to be in this incredibly complicated state of existence that we have arrived at today.  I’m perfectly satisfied that the limits of our understanding of God and science don’t exactly meet and there’s room for faith to bridge the gap.

In the beginning of my life, I was sick & hospitalized as a baby, was born & raised in Houston, spent the first few years of my life living with my amazing mother & grandmother, and happily played with Hot Wheels & loved gymnastics.

In the beginning of my career, I was overly eager to impress, set out to constantly accomplish new things professionally, and my dedication to work was above almost anything else.  Almost 10 years later, things are changing a little bit, and I’m trying to figure out how to keep doing the things I love at work while spending more time doing other things that I find more personally fulfilling.  Just like when I started, I have an amazing job that I find fascinating and I’m incredibly good at doing.

In the beginning of my marriage, life was the things of fairy tales- we were both in love, busy with successful careers, surrounded by fabulous friends & family, happy to have found a spouse so perfect each other.  It’s been a whirlwind 5 years filled with more memories, adventures, and love that I could ever even begin to document on the blog.   Lots of things have changed, but the most important things have stayed the same- we’re still totally in love with each other & have  the best friends and family.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Wrapping up a rowdy weekend by cooking for our fabulous mothers today & then getting reloaded for another action packed week.

My sister Haley has had quite the busy spring.  I didn’t make it out to her big spring performance, but was lucky to snag a few of these pictures from her facebook wall of the drill team and their competition.

At competition, she danced a solo all by herself & I was so proud that she had the courage to get out there all by herself.

A few random spring break pictures thrown in here.  She got a car, working on getting a job, and this is going to be her next to last summer in high school as she will be a Junior next fall.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY:  A day full of yoga, photography & parties (graduation)- going to be a blast!

Several weeks ago, I met up with the lovely Megan of Greetings from Texas (go check her out- she’s awesome!) at the Houston Press Menu of Menus downtown on a Tuesday night.  I was a bit nervous as the line snaked around the entire building, but we were quickly inside & off trying out some delicious food.

The warehouse was huge & divided into 2 main rooms, and each was filled with booths handing out a crazy variety of dishes.

So- purse on arm, plate & wine glass in one hand, I only had the opportunity to snag a few photos when I could set something down & free up a hand to grab my camera.  I tried so many different things that evening & was amazed at how many people were there.   I wish more restaurants had their location and a menu visible, but I still managed to find a few that I’d like to try soon.

It was a great night out & I enjoyed visiting with Megan as we eagerly stuffed nibbles in our mouth and made our way through the lines to round up quite the hodgepodge of a dinner.  I’ll confess that my favorite was the cupcakes above- we both went back for a second sample!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Got another party weekend ahead of us & even a house guest!

So much to say about this….I guess I’ll start with Why.  As part of my One Little Word project, our assignment for April was a self-portrait.  I’d been recently obsessed with working on my headstand for yoga, so I thought it would be the perfect pose to strike.   I decided to go for a handstand instead because the grass was still wet & I didn’t really desire the top of my head to get all middy.

What?  Well, I had a few minutes to spare the other weekend before husband was to start on his fried chicken, so I didn’t have a chance to put on any decent clothes was left suspended upside down in my new running shorts.  Yes, I’ve given into the fashion rage, but I can’t say that I’ve ever actually gone *running* in them- mostly just wear them around the house….and do hand stands in them.  Next time, I’ll remember to focus on fashion for 30 seconds before attempting my photo challenge.

How?  One of my absolute favorite features of my camera is the multiple timed frames.  I can tell it to take up to 9 shots in a row at any interval I want, so I’d set up the shot & then go flailing around the backyard trying to time my handstands perfectly with the shutter.  You can see I ended up on the ground several times in a fit of laughter and had numerous hysterical outtakes with my concentration face on as I attempted to beat the timer & be in the correct spot in the correct position at the correct time.   In the end, just silly fun time with my camera & trying to document my new adoration of all things yoga related.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Got the back end of the blog all cleaned up and secured so it’s as pretty as the front end.

STINK! I’d typed this all out and lost it all…  Anyway, husband has been very excited to finally try fried chicken.  He searched YouTub high and low for just the right video recipe, and we soaked the drumsticks overnight in buttermilk.

He’s usually very serious when he first starts, and I only get to start taking photos once he’s gotten into his cooking groove.

I was in charge of important things, like wine & appetizer platter, putting the Zac Brown Band song Chicken Fried on the radio, and then documenting the whole awesome ordeal.

I’m loving Sunday evenings when we are both home & sprawled out across our enormous island.  I’m usually on my laptop, furiously working on photos or catching up on emails.

Unfortunately, the fried chicken and mashed potatoes didn’t quite come out as planned, but we still ate a lovely meal.  I really enjoy watching how excited he gets as he learns his way around the kitchen and tackles a new meal each week.  Now we know that frying foods make a huge mess and adding extra milk to the potatoes makes them a dog meal.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: The crazy has started around here & I’m kicking busy into high gear.

Two weekends ago, we headed down to Galveston to soak up the sun & hang out with some of H’s coworkers since one of them has a house just a few blocks off the water & we’d had a blast when we’d visited 2 years ago.

It was a lovely day- not too hot, lots of clouds to keep the sun away, tons of wind, not crowded at all on the beach.

One of his coworkers has quite a few hobbies, so although the waves were very big (by Galveston standards), H tried he hand again at surfing since he’d been so successful at learning in Costa Rica.

As you can see, it didn’t go too well!  He had fun trying though & I had a blast watching him.

The little boy at the beach was so stinking cute!  He was only 2, but could throw a frisbee like a champ.

On to the next hobby-  kite surfing.  They didn’t actually get the board out & were only playing around with working the kite.  It was VERY windy, so the kite could have quite a kick.

Seems easy enough- they even manage to bomb H’s boss with the kite.   H decides to give it a try…..

….and the wind about took him over the dunes!  So glad his friend grabbed him or he’d have done a face plant into the water.

After all that fun, we headed up to Roger’s house & started working on the food.  We picked up some fresh shrimp and fired up the huge boiler.

We ended the evening back down by the water, watching the sunset, having fun and generally enjoying a very relaxing day.

We both love being by the water & always hop at the chance to sneak away to Galveston.  I wish the beaches and water were nicer, but it’s still great to have it so close.  We’re hoping to go back a few times this summer- again with friends & maybe taking the dogs again.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: So excited to be going to the grand opening of the Athleta store in Houston tonight!