a girls’ weekend

i know it’s basically the weekend, but i still have yet to catch you up on last weekend.  so here it goes…

given the circumstances of the previous weekend and the absence of our beloved papa in our lives, we surprisingly had quite a swell one [“we” being my mom, mimi, and myself, as my poor dad had to fly and mike was in austin].  i think the two main things that contributed to this were that 1.) we took full advantage of having a girls weekend in every way! and 2.) we were all the more grateful to spend time with loved ones and, in the case of mimi and mom, appreciative of getting out of the house.

on friday, i had the day off from work, which meant sleeping in a bit [yippee!] and cleaning up my apartment in the morning, which wasn’t actually very messy [a straight miracle, people].  then i met mom and mimi in the design district, where we had a delicious lunch at bridge bistro and antiqued for a couple hours.

{strawberry mint tea}

{apricot and field greens with key lime vinaigrette and spicy pecans}

{shrimp/crawfish enchiladas}

mom and mimi had brought overnight bags so they could stay the night at my apartment, and they had also brought lucky.  we were nervous about how he would do, because he has severe and dramatic separation anxiety when he’s left alone anywhere other than home.  thankfully, the weather was perfect – not too hot – so we could leave him in the car while we shopped.  he did SO well – we couldn’t believe what a calm, easygoing attitude he had that entire weekend.  we left the windows cracked, but he would nap while we were gone and was very go-with-the-flow when we came back.  we were so proud of him!

{what a sweet boy!}

after antiquing, we went to my apartment and got settled, then headed over to the shops of park lane for the rest of the afternoon.  before leaving the shops at park lane, we stopped at whole foods to grab some bits and bites and wine to bring home for dinner.  we set up an itty-bitty feast on my coffee table and chatted late into the evening, finishing our mini meal with a slice of key lime pie that i made in culinary school for dessert.  oh yeah, and we had a couple of fashion shows.  because that’s how we roll.

{look at that smile from the little brown dog!}

{i spy…some tired feet, a little puppydog face, a random easter decoration, a dog bone, and lots of tasty nibbles!}

saturday morning was leisurely – not like our usual shopping-day mornings, but this weekend, we had no time restrictions.  we felt oh-so-free!  we drank coffee and hot strawberry tea and ate fruit and pumpkin bread and english muffins with biscoff spread [my new OBSESSION] and sat around the table talking.  when we finally got out the door, we headed to northpark to get our nordstrom fix.  of course, we couldn’t leave without lunching at the nordstrom cafe, where we all ordered our usual cilantro lime shrimp salad.

{the usual, along with ginger-peach tea}

by the way, nordstrom’s home decor section is right up there with anthropologie on my favorites list.  the stuff they have is too cool.  

anyway, after northpark, we went up north to ikea, which is always a fun time.  [does anyone else think of tom and summer’s ikea date in (500) days of summer every time you go there?!  i just love that part of the movie.]  i got a white cabinet thing that will be handy for storing the excess of paperwork that tends to take over my little apartment.  next it was the shops at legacy.  i had never been there, and in all honesty, i don’t know that i would make the trip up there for the shopping [it was nice, but limited], but we did stop at a cute little place called main street bakery for tea, coffee, and dessert.  we sat outside and enjoyed the divine weather and our sweets that we shared.  i live for these moments, seriously.

{people-watching and such}

{heaven on earth}

{a beauty of an apple pastry}

{this chocolate bomb was an explosion in my mouth.  but really.}

we took a scenic route back – there are some beautiful neighborhoods in dallas – and although mimi and mom had been planning to go home that evening, i convinced them to stay another night so that we could go to church together on easter sunday.  we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner, then went home, had a couple more fashion shows, and went for a lovely evening walk on the paths around the ponds in my neighborhood.  i tried to put together my new cabinet with no luck… building things/following instructions that have no words/using things likes screws and bolts have never been talents of mine.  eh, it was worth a try.  thank goodness for dads!

we ate popcorn for dinner, the fresh-popped kind with real butter and salt [every time we eat it, we think of papa, the Popcorn King], and drank wine and talked late into the evening, just like the previous night.  perfection.

{any wine called “j” has to be a good one!}

and lucky decided that shopping made him exhausted.  but i think he fully enjoyed it. :)

{after shopping day #1}

{after shopping day #2}

{he shopped til he dropped!}

the next morning, we went to church together at holy trinity – it was the most beautiful easter mass with the most beautiful easter music – and we left with our hearts feeling full.  we ate a final lunch of caprese with a slice of key lime pie, and then it was time to say goodbye.

thank you ladies for the wonderful weekend!  i love you very much.

xoxo