Earth Day Texas

The City of McKinney had a booth at this year's Earth Day Texas event at Fair Park on April 24th, 25th, and 26th.    We had several thousand people visit us.  Here I am with some of the volunteers on Saturday morning.  We had our spinner wheel game giving away a variety of eco-friendly products for saving water and energy.  

Earth Day Texas (formerly, Earth Day Dallas) is an annual, outdoor festival seeking to elevate environmental awareness and influence the way Texans think, live and work. The family-friendly and free-admission event allows leaders in the corporate, academic and non-profit worlds to unite and show Texans how green lifestyle choices can lower their cost of living, improve their health, and help save the environment.

Flat Makayla on the road again...

Happy Memorial Day Weekend

As the school year comes to an end, it's time to wrap up Flat Makayla's visit with us.  As we looked at the pictures we have taken all over the state, we realized we had not taken her to many places in our backyard, so this weekend we headed south to Dallas.

Here's some of the snapshots around our "backyard" Dallas.

Our first stop was one of the BIG signs... This one is located at Klyde Warren Park and is sponsored by Southwest Airlines.

 

Klyde Warren park is a park built on a bridge.

 

Our next stop as the clouds started to move in, was the Guadalupe Cathedral in the Arts District.  This cathedral is more than 100 years old, we got to attend Spanish mass while we were there.

  

Our next stop was Pioneer Plaza located near the Dallas Convention Center and Dallas City Hall.    The sculptures commemorates nineteenth century longhorn cattle drives

It was about to start raining, but we took at quick picture by Reunion Tower

And another by the JFK Memorial at Dealey Plaza.

All in all it was a fun day.  Micaela got to see some places we've only talked about and now we want to go back when we have more time and hopefully no rain in the forecast.

You can see more of the pictures on Instagram and Flickr by searching hashtag #micaelamakaylacousinbonding.  Thanks for stopping by!

Mardi Gras

We went to Mardi Gras in Shreveport, Louisiana this weekend and had a terrific time.  One of my dear friends lives in the historical district of the city and the parade passes right in front of her house.  We literally drove there and back and were home in 24 hours.  I had not been in more than ten years and hubby and daughter were newbies!  It was especially fun for them.

I tried to explain, the "people are different", "people on floats throw beads at you", "lots of Cajun food" but nothing could have prepared them for....

Parade Vendors.. Look at all this cheesy Mardi Gras stuff.  These carts were going up and down the street. 

Parade Tailgators.  I have many pictures of people like this but this one is my favorite.  Notice the beard matches the gold, purple and green stripes in his hair. 

Here is one of the floats, there were around 50!  It was after dark and very hard to photograph, these pictures do not do the floats justice 

Daughter and Hubby had a great time.  Micaela weighed an extra 10 lbs with all those beads around her neck, poor T had her on his shoulders for quite a while. 

Here we all are after the parade was over and we were checking out our loot indoors.  Look at all those beads.  PLUS, We had an additional 3 bags of stuff...  Micaela of course wanted to keep every single bit of it, who knows what we'll do with it when the newness wears off. 

Hope you had a great weekend. 

Thanksgiving Day & Dallas Cowboys

My parents came in for the Thanksgiving holiday but we didn't do the usual.  Instead we had TG dinner on Wednesday and attended the Dallas Cowboy game on Thanksgiving Day.

This is something my Dad had wanted to do for a long time, so the five of us went.  My Dad got tickets on the 40 yard line, 2nd row so we had spectacular seats. 

The half time show was Selena Gomez, which our daughter thoroughly enjoyed. 


The Dallas Cowboys won which was the best way to end the evening!  (Wish they could do that more often).  Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Autumn at the Dallas Arboretum

Are you ready for some eye candy?  Friday I had a fun work meeting.  The location was the Dallas Arboretum (poor me).    While there I got a behind the scenes tour  and a look at the incredible Autumn display and the new Children's Adventure Garden!  I have been to the Arboretum many times but never during the fall so this was a special treat for me.

The Autumn display has more than 50,000 pumpkins, gourds and squash!  It runs through November 27.  You can visit the Dallas Arboretum website for more information. 

Here are a few pictures I took with my phone (they don't do the place justice, but you'll get the idea).

Isn't that incredible!  I'll share pictures of the Children's Adventure Garden in the next few days.  Hope you are having a great Monday!

Quilt Shop Review

Last week on my way home from San Antonio I made up my own quilt shop hop.  I stopped at three stores on my way home.  All three were terrific but Valli & Kim in Dripping Springs, Texas southwest of Austin took my breath away.

Here are a few pictures I snapped with my phone.  These pictures do not do the place justice.  It's a good thing this place is more than 4 hours away or I would go broke!

Enjoy!

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

When Micaela was a baby I purchased a used VCR tape of the Mary Poppins movie at Half Price Books for one dollar.  We have watched it a million times, let's just say it was a dollar well spent. When I heard Mary Poppins was coming to Dallas, I knew I HAD to get tickets. 

Last night Micaela and I had a Mommy & Daughter Night Out.  I took Micaela to see the musical at the Music Hall at Fair Park in Dallas.  It was terrific!

We dressed up, had dinner and went to the musical, she loved it.   There was a few back drops around the lobby area and we snapped a few pictures.

I've taken Micaela to lots of shows and plays but this was our first time to go to Dallas Music Hall which is the largest venue in the metroplex.  I had hesitated because it's about an hours drive each way but now that she's older she can totally handle it and loves it.  I think it's time for us to be regulars and get season tickets to all the shows.  Hope you have a great Easter weekend, ours is off to a great start!

Texas Citrus

Please allow me to ramble a tad bit.  Last week I got a care package from my parents, they sent a great big heavy box full of oranges and grapefruits from their trees in the backyard.   Have I ever mentioned that my home town, Mission is the Citrus capital of Texas!  Yes, indeed!

Citrus growing is one of the major industries in my hometown, we even have a huge festival every January to celebrate the harvest.  Obviously, I can buy fruit at the grocery store or even the Farmer's Market, but it just isn't the same.  This is the Rio Ruby variety, I am in heaven!  I love citrus, especially when its from my parents own trees.  Thanks for reading this far...lol.

Dallas Blooms

Good Morning,

The Texas Daffodil Show happened over the weekend at the Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Garden.  While there I snapped a few pictures of the gorgeous gardens.

Dallas Blooms runs March 2 to April 7.  More info here. 

Visit Local Quilt Shop Day

Today is "Visit your local Quilt Shop Day".  This should be a national holiday as far as I am concerned.  We must support local businesses, they are the bread & butter of our communities!  Had I known in advance I would have scheduled the day off.  

In McKinney, we are extremely fortunate to have THREE (Yes 3) quilt shops. Not many cities can top that!  All three are locally owned and incredibily different from one another.  I plan to make it to all of them. Luckily two are very close to my office....  The Quilt Asylum off Central Expressway & Virginia and Happiness is Quilting in our Historical Downtown McKinney Square.  Lastly,  Stitched with Love which is brand new (just opened this month) is very close to our home off Custer Road & Virginia.  

If you don't have a local quilt store in your community visit mine online, (tell them I sent you) many are having specials!  Enjoy your day, I better get some sleep and rest up for tomorrow-- it's a big day! Thanks for stopping by!

Dallas Arboretum Chihuly Exhibit

My parents and aunt & unlce were in town this week.  I took them to the Dallas Arboretum Chihuly Exhibit.  It was incredible. 

 

It was a cold and overcast day but here are a few of my favorite pictures.  Average age of these folks is 75, I hope I am that active when I am thier age, here they are in front of this incredible sculpture. 

 

This is my favorite picture because it looks like it's one continuous body of water but it's not. 

 

Two of my favorite three ladies in the world, my Mom and my Tia Lala.

 

A little more about the artist: 

Artist Dale Chihuly creates free-standing sculptures, large-scale artwork installations and drawings, which have been exhibited at museums, gardens, architectural environments and galleries throughout the world. Ninety-seven exhibitions in seven countries have presented Chihuly artworks during the last decade, which have been enjoyed by more than 10 million visitors.

Trying to be a hip Mom

This weekend we went to the Allen USA Celebration on Saturday.  This is a huge event in our neighbor city that draws 75,000+ people.  We went last year and loved it.  This year the big band before the fireworks show was The Bangles! I listened to The Bangles all through high school and loved them, I was so excited to share the music with Micaela-- our 7 year old.

I tried to prepare Micaela for the concert by downloading their most popular songs off iTunes so she could become familiar with them.  She loved Walk like an Egyptian, Manic Monday and Eternal Flame. 

When the concert started she begged me to take her closer to the stage. Trying desperately to be a hip Mom, I walked Micaela all the way to the stage to see The Bangles up close. We had to tip toe around thousands of people to work our way to the front.  In the end, we got about 15 feet from the stage.  Here's a picture snapped by someone in the crowd,  that's Vicki Peterson above our heads.   (you can see we are pretty close). 

Micaela was so excited to be so close but I burst her bubble when I had to say no when she asked me to put her on my shoulders. No way I could handle 50+ lbs!   I am hip but I am not that strong...lol.  Thanks for letting me share!

Dallas Children's Theater

We've been back from the valley for more than a week and were busy with end of the school year festivities the first week.  To celebrate the end of the school year my friend Kristi and I took our daughters to see "Diary of a Worm, Spider and a Fly" at Dallas Children's Theater over the weekend. 

The show had great music and was very educational because it profiled not just the worm, spider and fly but also the monarch butterfly, bee and ant.  We sincerely loved it, this was our first time at DCT and we will definitely we back for more shows.

Here are some pictures of the girls with the spider, fly, bee, butterfly, ant. and of course the four of us. 

  Hope your weekend was great.

Pinkalicious!

Pinkalicious, The Musical was in town a couple of weeks ago and Micaela and I went to see it with another Mother & Daughter 'couple'. This was Micaela's FIRST time at the Eisemann Center in Richardson and she loved it.

We debated about what to wear and in the end chose a dress I purchased for her 3 years ago. I've patiently been waiting for her to grow into the dress and the day finally came. I was so glad this dress was PINK and not another color...lol. I have so many outfits I have bought way in advance of her being able to wear, I am glad the timing on this one worked out perfectly! Thanks for stopping by.

Adoption Day

We have a new member of the family, meet Oreo- our new dog. We adopted him from our SPCA center over Thanksgiving and Micaela is "over the moon" excited. Oreo is an early Christmas present from my parents. He's a daschund, my family's favorite breed! Thanks for stopping by!

Quilt Store

Yesterday Micaela and I had a little day trip to visit family and friends in Fort Worth. Before leaving, I googled quilt stores to see if any there was a store in the immediate area of where we were going to be. Sure enough, a store 3 miles away from our first stop to visit friends.

After visiting our friends, we went to Cabbage Rose, a quilt and fabric store in southwest Fort Worth. We walked in and a little girl greeted us and invited Micaela to play in the play area. Micaela was happy to be occuppied and I got to browse in peace, it was lovely! I had to use alot of restrain because there was so many cute fabric patterns. They had a wonderful selection of fabrics... many seasonal ones and boy do I love seasonal stuff!

I got these three... Tree one, just had to have because you know I am all about saving trees, the orange dot was just cute for something fallish, and the purple stars & moons I thought would be cute for something Halloweeny.
The other thing I got was a bunch of ric rac in colors I can't usually find unless I buy a bolt at a time. Got 30 yards total-- I am set for a while.


It was fun store and I certainly plan to go back when I am in the area again. I was a happy camper as we skipped over to see family for our 3rd and final stop of the day. Hope you have a great Sunday!

Memorial Day

Hope you had a great Memorial Day.

We made a quick stop at Texas Woman's University as we passed through Denton. Micaela had not been to my old stomping ground before. We enjoyed walking around the campus, mainly the gardens. She had never been so close to squirrels before, I guess they are used to being fed by the students. Here are two snapshots... one of a little girl very impressed by the tall high rise building Mommy used to live in when she was attending college and of the squirrel that kept getting closer and closer thinking we would throw something her way.

Micaela at the fountain in front of library. You can see Guinn & Stark high rise residence halls in the background. I used to live on the 17th & 21st floor-- ahh the good old days...

And, Mr. Friendly Squirrel, he was just feet away.

Hope you have a wonderful day. Please say a prayer for our troops and the families who miss them everyday.