My Dearest Dallas, how I love to hate you!

Dear Dallas,

Oh how I love to hate you!

Seriously, having grown up around this town it is sad to see how you have changed. I may add that not all is bad, not all, is deliberate, but it has had an affect on those inhabitants whom we call (actually they call themselves) Dallas-ites! Let me tell you my story, dearest Dallas!

I grew up looking at you from a distance, 23 miles to be exact, but visited your precious core so often for small things like movies, malls, and food! I loved visiting Northpark with her sprawling hallways and spacious stores. I remember when you COULD find a parking spot there anytime of the year and valet was optional at most places (not mandatory). I never knew these thins couldn't last!

I was growing up and it was time for me to head west for college. After being gone for a mere 4.5 years I missed the big needle in the sky and Deep Ellum Music Scene. I returned home after graduation to find my precious town had turned from JR Ewing to Rhinestone Cowboy in a breath takingly quick 4.5 years. Immediately I was stunned by the influx of young people and all their BMW's, flashy clothes, and Neiman Marcus credit cards! I mean.....where did these people work and how could they afford to live in that NEW area called uptown? I was a measly 23, fresh out of college and making less than 20K a year AT Neiman Marcus....So WHAT DID I DO WRONG and where do I fit in now? I was confused, stressed out, and most of all BROKE! It was depressing living in a town where guys actually asked me what kindof car I drove! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? I was a girl...shouldn't I be concerned about that and WHY wasn't I? I definitely didn't fit in! So I started to lie and tell people about my beautiful 1984 El Camino with a V8 Hemi and my career as an interpretative dancer......This lastest a good 6 months when the whole scene got boring and if anyone ever saw me dance my cover was blown. I could no longer even make myself laugh at these perfectly coiffed people.

Dallas YOU drove me away. I left you again....Off to Alabama for Grad School is where I headed. Into the great unknown and steering clear of any banjo music! This place was much more my speed, actually it was a bit slow for me.....But I loved it anyway. People were genuine, nice, they remembered your NAME. What a concept! From Auburn, Alabama I headed to Australia and WHY NOT! It was very far from YOU. Again...people were nice..they didn't check out the label of your jeans or correlate your value as a person to the car that you drove! OH MY I was in heaven....Until that DREADED DAY! DAMN YOU DALLAS! I got the box in the mail from my Parents...YES it was NEIMAN MARCUS cookies and salsa, Texas chips, YES it was the Red River BASKET.....It hit hard and fast and I was homesick for you yet again.

After graduation from Auburn and a quick stint on a Christmas Tree Farm in Dodgeville Wisconsin I was back home with you dear Dallas! And I was employed. But STILL BROKE! Go figure...It was right after the DOT com bust. So I guess the one thing I did have in common with the rest of your inhabitants was that I too was as broke as them...However, BMW's still congested Central expressway which was STILL under construction 3 years after I left it! Dallas, you must do something about that cholesterol.....it will kill you if you don't! But I guess that is why you had Dart come in and try to thin things out! And perfectly coiffed young people continued to rent 1500 a month apartments that were no more than a mere 800 square feet in that metropolis that is now Uptown running around in 240.00 jeans and making 25K a year! Who are they? Where do they come from? How do you attract them? Is it YOU...DALLAS...Do YOU do this to people? Never the less....I wanted to tell you dearest Dallas that I love to hate you! I have been back here for almost 7 years and these people are multiplying faster than the interest on their Platinum credit card!

I just wanted to tell you that I am better now, more secure in my surroundings, more stable in this environment. So much so that I bought a house here and plan to stay a while. But I think you should know the top ten things I have discovered since I have been back.

1.Outside activities almost ALWAYS include Mexican food, a patio, and a margarita. (not bike riding, running, hiking, kayaking, etc. This is not always a bad thing LOL)

2.White Rock Lake is considered a MASSIVE lake by D standards and is often overlooked by those people that live North of 635

3.A BMW is the ONLY car to drive...that is only if your Range Rover is on its last legs (no offense if you have a BMW or a Rover..just a jab at the 30K millionaire)

4.Shopping is considered a sport by both men and women of Dallas…I personally prefer one stop at Target..then stay away from the Mall… working in retail killed all shopping senses.

5.You can wear jeans into just about EVERY nice restaurant, bar, club (LOVE THIS)

6. Fort Worth is considered a day and sometimes over night trip by some Dallasites (who really needs to drive that far to see a cow) I honestly LOVE FW…it has an awesome downtown and is very cool and once again the jeans thing..thats all you wear there.

7.Oktoberfest is always in September. ( I have found this perplexing, but it will allow me to participate in the "fest" here and then catch it in another city during October).

8.Downtown Neiman's is considered a museum

9. During St. Patrick's Day you would think Dallas was of Irish decent and so do the 60K people who descend upon lower Greenville for the day.

10.The "Ghost Bar" is a hunting ground for the Cougar so be wary!

I did not say OH' MY!

The story for the Post title is directly related to a great game of Texas hold em...Read on to learn the truth....However I NEVER said "OH MY"

Well, as I mentioned the other day, some friends and I went to Banff for a quick ski trip! Originally we were going to have 8 of us going....the it dwindled to 6 and then there were four! Seriously we even had a cancellation the DAY of my flight! DAMN that flu this year! Of the final four 3 of us were flying in from Dallas and one driving down from northern Alberta. This was going to be an interesting trip considering non of us have ever traveled together before or knew each other all that well........That being said....we ended up having a blast! My friends from Dallas were old colleagues of mine and they flew in before I did on a Wednesday. I flew in that evening and they picked me up at the airport and off we went to Banff, meanwhile in Northern Alberta, my Canadian friend has been driving for 11 hours just to ski for 3 days! Funny thing about him is that I met him last year at the hostile and thought what the heck..he should join my friends and I on our trip this year. With that the motley crew was formed!

We arrived at the cabin that night around 10ish and were all exhausted from traveling, so we cracked open some wine chatted and stayed up to late..........We stayed at the Hidden Ridge Resort in Banff, which was absolutely awesome....Did I mention the 30 person hot tub which we enjoyed every night along with 25 of our now newest friends! I can honestly say that I have never run around in a bathing suit, UGS with my hair frozen in ice cycles!

Thursday morning, we got up headed to the mountain and got our lift tickets and ski's. We skied Sunshine Village all 3 days. What is so great about the resort is that the you have to take a gondola to get to the base of the mountain. The first day was nice and cold...no major news to report except that Amy had the fall of the day/trip....which non of us could even see since we were in a complete white out!

BOO!

Pics from Day One

Day two was much more eventful and we couldn't have planned a better day. The weather was awesome! We started on the top of the mountain in the morning where it was Semi-sunny, which is all you can ask for in the Canadian Rockies and hit teh backside in the afternoon which also was sunny! I think we skied over 2 dozen runs that day! It was PERFECT. So perfect that I thought I would gather a little video while we skiied....ok...so I was a complete moron and skied with only one glove liner on, no poles, and down blacks just to get some good footage. I had to edit it a bit since the original cut was over 7 minutes......But it was fun.....Brian in the video actually decided he would go down a double black without knowing it...leaving me to film noting but white! I apologize in advance about the language, amateur video and wind sound....

After that run, my legs were exhausted and my hand was actually NUMB so I went in after one/maybe two more runs and had a beer! That night we went to dinner at the fondue place where we cooked wild boar, buffalo, venison, ahi tuna, salmon, etc on a HOT rock! It was the most bizarre and fun thing ever! We also had a telephone at our table! Why??? I have no idea! After dinner Brent continued to teach me how to play Texas Hold'em...go figure a Canadian teaching a Texan, Texas hold'Em. Which I was quite good at...and if you are wondering about the title of the post it is direct quote from that evenings game....where Brent actually dealt me an Ace and a King and under my breath SUPPOSEDLY I said "OH MY"...in which he immediately folded and I won the whole pot! Then he tried to lecture me on the importance of NOT saying "OH MY" whilst playing poker...I immediately argued not realizing I said it..and to this day I claim innocence on my mumbling....I know I never said "oh My"....I am much to smart for that.

Check out the pics from Day 2!

Pics from Day 2

Day 3 was kind of a wash considering it was already -17 before we made it to the base of the mountain. I hhonestly don't think I have ever been that cold before. My left leg went numb sitting on the chair and I think I got a little frost bite on my cheek. None of us lasted too long that day and we decided to call it early. Brent had a long drive and Brian, Amy, and I wanted to drink! SO we headed to the Banff Springs Inn. It was absolutely amazing! I must stay there when I grow up! While we were there we enjoyed a couple interesting cocktails around a Bar made of ice from Patron Tequila, in which now Amy and I are famous and featured on the Patron Website as well as in their "Patron Social Club Email"...but shouldn't we be since we are "Simply Perfect!"

Well that was my trip in a nut shell....Till tomorrow.....

It's a New Year!

Well, it seems that I am back to continue my conversations with any who like to read. I must say that I have had a wonderful break from digging in the yard, taming the grass, and battling with rodents!

I apologize for being away for so long. The past few months I have been busy trying to be social, traveling on quick trips, going on bad dates, eating too much, drinking too much, recovering from the holidays, partying on trolly's, learning how to fly fish, going on great dates, and taking a quick ski trip to Banff!

After my last post in early November my social life picked up tremendously. I became thoroughly busy gearing up for the holidays that approached way too quickly. Thanksgiving came and went with many a game of scrabble with the folks (I will say that I won quite a few of them.). A few weeks after turkey day my family and I headed to Chicago for a quick family reunion. It was so great to see the family again and how all my cousins have changed. I think it had been atleast 9 years since I saw many of them and now they all have kids and GRAND KIDS! Below are some pics that were taken throughout the weekend! The first pic is of my aunt Patti and Uncle Bud. It was their 50th! Then my cousin Susie and I followed by my little brother, me, my cousin JAMIE's DAUGHTER Katie, Sam, and then Jamies son Able! It is still insane for me to think that Katie is headed off to college next year! Surely I can't be that old! The final pic is of Sarah, Susie's daughter and I. REALLY..I am getting up there. I had never met her until this weekend! I can also say that this was my first introduction to The American Girl store as well. Note to ANYONE paying attention....Don't EVER go into that store with the slightest hangover.

After Chicago, it was time for me to be in my 10th wedding for my friend in Austin...Yes I said 10th! The wedding was wonderful and everything went off without a Youtube moment!

Now it was closing in on Christmas time and NO I didn't start my shopping until the 23rd! I did survive though! Christmas was wonderful..once again another family holiday filled with Scrabble challenges and wine!

Surviving Christmas, the New Year was quickly approaching and my friends and I thought that renting out the McKinney Ave Trolley was a grand idea! And it turned out to be a fantastic holiday! With 25 of my closest friends and a trolley driver we welcomed in 2008! I won't elaborate because this post is already getting so long, but I promise more details to come in the future. I promise you stories of leaving people on the side of the road, near collisions, ugly sweaters(see below), crazy cajuns, a good fight, and two people walking over 10 miles home! Oh did I mention I LOST my phone, so I was seriously at&t in lakewoods 3rd customer on the first day of the year!

BREATHE easy we made it into 2008! And now it was time for the real drama to happen....I guess this is when I went out with a guy we will call CASHMERE SWEATER....It was probably the most comical date ever...Seriously, where to these guys come from and why is there an influx of them in Dallas? Cash McMogul would have been a more down to earth date..not to mention that I was doing what I could to get the guy to not like me...including getting hammered and referencing my fear of midgets, love of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and quoting Shrek...Yes all in one date! I'll elaborate more when I talk of my dating experiences in this town!

After cashmere I went on a dating freeze and focused completely on my upcoming trip to Banff. I did meet a great guy however and yes we are still seeing each other...I'll go into more of that later..as in everything else....I am just getting tired......But as I digress...my trip to Banff, was amazing, however cold, and well....3 of the original cast bailed last minute.. Last Minute = within 3 days of the trip! UG..oh well..more room for my big caboose in the 30 person hot tub, referred to 30 person butt stew......The highlight of the trip was the weather of course. It was 30 below zero...how do people function in that...I'll put up pics and a home movie(not Paris style) up in the next couple of days!

But now back to the original reason I started this blog...My house and gardening adventures! My green thumb is out and ready for action after we had our first 70 degree day in Dallas. This past weekend, I started to assess the damage that Mister winter had on my landscaping that I put in last summer....and well....the outcome was not good. It seems that my dwarf buford holly needs ALOT more light than they were getting...and that my crepe need to be MAJORLY cut back! With that mom and I headed to the Big Orange Box called Home Depot. We decided that the regular holly was doing well and doesn't need much light so we replaced ALL 8 Bufords added in another Nandina (I guess you can't have too many Nandina?) Gathered up some Sage Bushes, something called a Jberry, and the fabulous Purple Queen. Somewhere between the annuals and perenniala, I made my mind up that I would DIG yet another bed in the corner of the yard...to add some more color. My back hated me on Sunday....so all in a days work..

Till tomorrow!

This next weekend I will start laying the walking path from the front door to the driveway, extending the original bed, and breaking out the front yard to add a Jasmine bed........Pray for my back....