i’ve been meaning to post these pics for waaaaaaaaay too long! november was a wonderful [and busy] month… i’ll let the photos do the talking. :) i have so much to be thankful for!
{this is victory park… mom had extra tickets to a mavs game so mike and i joined her!}
{the american airlines center}
{thanks for the ticket mama! [i love her so much and am grateful for her every day.]}
{my parents sent us this pic one evening – they were sitting by the fire table in their backyard. doesn’t it look just lovely?}
{“therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” – james 5:16. these are guatemalan worry dolls given to me by a dear friend who has been a faith inspiration and prayer warrior for me, and a paper crane from years ago when our church group joined together and made 1,000 paper cranes, saying a prayer as we made each one, for one of our members who was suffering from leukemia and going through a bone marrow transplant. he was healed and is still with us today. these are reminders that with diligent prayer, petition, and thanksgiving, God will answer our prayers. don’t underestimate the power of prayer! today and every day, i am thankful.}
{on the left, this picture accurately describes my day this one saturday: t-shirt, jeans, moccs, crazy hair, sitting on the couch. all day. it was so nice to relax! added a scarf and jacket when i finally got my booty out of the house that evening.}
{i’m extremely satisfied with the choice of local grocers i have in my area, and royal blue grocery is one of the good ones.}
{isn’t it fun??}
{oatmeal cream pie for the win!}
{another gem, monkey king noodle company.}
{give me allllllllll the noodles please.}
{this was a lazy, gray weekend and i loved it.}
{i joined mike and a few of his friends who were in town visiting at sissy’s southern kitchen for brunch.}
{the southern peach: grand marnier, belvedere mango passion, peach sorbet & moët chandon.}
{sissy’s signature fried chicken with a buttermilk waffle, honey butter & steen’s cane syrup. no holding back!!}
{on the left, a lunch trip to the korean mart for some new pairs of chopsticks, my favorite asian gummies [in honeydew and lychee flavors], some exotic fruit [dragonfruit and fuyu persimmons], and pumpkins for my doorstep! [well, calabaza squash actually, but they look like pumpkins.] and of course i ate dumplings for lunch because they are the best. these types of adventures are my favorite. and on the right, FALL.}
{autumn in texas}
{and some fall decorations too!}
{noelle was in town and we tried out a new restaurant, grayson social. we decided that we want their interior designer!}
{super cool vibes here.}
{oh hello rosé sangria, nice to meet you! kung fu girl rosé, house-made lavender syrup, house-made rose syrup, fresh raspberries. oh, and some champagne gummy bears on the top. it was so good!}
{selfies}
{yes, i know. all i do is eat. this is goat ricotta + tomato on garlic crostini at wayward sons. and we sat outside by the fire which was glorious.}
{i got to go to the aggie game this year! we played ole miss, and even though the ags didn’t win, we had a great time!}
{that aggie band is something else.}
{my favorite tree.}
{two different looks: all black, and a flower in my hair.} :)
{on the left, when you discover that your classmate owns your pen’s girlfriend. [haha.] and on the right, lunch + studying at noodle wave.}
{i had plans of going to the grocery store… and then decided that there’s no need when one has popcorn kernels, butter, salt, and TRUFFLE PASTE on hand. truffle butter popcorn is heaven on earth and can suffice as dinner in a pinch.} ;)
{“i planted the seed, apollos watered it, but God made it grow. so neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” -1 corinthians 3:6-7. i brought in my littlest plant babies before the cold front came through. winter is coming so i imagine they’ll be here to stay for a while! my desk feels a bit crowded now, but i love that i have these constant reminders of God, He who makes things grow, sitting on my desk. they can keep me company while i drink my coffee and read scriptures in the morning.}
{i love cozy blogging evenings}
{this crackling fire was my lullaby on this night.}
{a brother-sister date at saint ann!}
{this patio}
{we had some pretty fantastic truffle mac & cheese here.}
{not the best photo but we don’t get enough pics together so it will have to do. we’ll pretend that i don’t have some kind of weird shadow that looks like a spot on my chin!}
{i can assure you that neither mike nor i would have minded going home in this car.} ;)
{we got caught up, we nailed down some christmas gifts, and we tried two new spots. and shared that truffle mac which was DA BOMB. i’ll call this night a success.} ;)
{these views}
{on this day, it was shopping and lunch [two of our favorite things!!] with these ladies. i’m thankful for our time together!}
{on the left, this baby is a mess, but a cute one. ;) and on the right, STREAMERS! and man this was a cold day in tejas.}
{sleepy boy}
{pompoms seemed to be everywhere this christmas season and i was pretty excited about that little fact. and yes, i’m a tree hugger.} ;)
{speaking of christmas decorations, this is that moment when you see your initials at home goods in the form of stocking holders for the mantle, arranged in the right order and everything!! and then you just have to take a photo…}
{my pizza purse. is a celebrity. i got it in the little girls section of j.crew and i’m telling you, everyone stops me and wants to look at it, asks where i got it, etc. aaaaaaand if my pizza purse is a “he,” then he met its match at nordstrom rack. her name is betsey.} ;)
{after going shopping with mom and mimi that one saturday, mike joined us at gemma for dinner and i had this: cavatelli with poached octopus, cured chorizo, fennel, tomato, and red onion. it was delicious!}
{a mike and shiner selfie!!}
{sunday morning at the dallas farmers market with my friends linda and noel!}
{i love this friend and her sweet husband! i’m so glad that we finally got to have our farmers market date!}
{on the left, the reasons that i shouldn’t have fake nails: i’m too hard on them [so they break off] and i wait too long to fill them… also, they drive me crazy because they hinder me from doing mundane things like picking a piece of paper off the floor. but dangit, i still kinda loved having them. and on the right, i took this photo looking into a kaleidoscope at mimi’s house! cool, right?}
{when your phone autocorrects “oh nice” to “oh bucephalus!” umm, WHAT? who the heck is bucephalus?? had to take a photo of that one! and sometimes you send “mean mugging” selfies to your man when he refuses to send a selfie back…} ;)
{dreary evening in dallas}
{MY LOOOOOONG CAPTION FOR THIS PIC: “my parents have raised two decent kids and two sweet dogs, but this little guy sure is giving them a run for their money. he’s put his paws in paint and ran through the house, he’s chewed up countless household and personal items… about every other time i’m on the phone with my mom, the convo is interrupted by a loud and panicked shriek, ‘SHINER!!!!! NO!!!!’ because he’s gotten into something. last week it was a pair of earbuds that he had eaten… at least they weren’t beats by dre earbuds like the last time. and then he proceeded to throw them up 5 minutes later… gotta love the play-by-play! ;) anyway, his latest stunt was to find a packaged ink bottle in my parents’ closet, tear the box to shreds, and put teeth marks in the bottle so that the ink poured out onto the carpet, which my parents were, by some miracle, planning to have replaced in a week. i’m a little worried about them having new carpet though… this dog sure is keeping them on their toes. good thing he’s extremely cute, because when he’s good, he’s very very good, but when he’s bad, he’s horrid!!”}
{a pre-thanksgiving girls night with these lovely ladies!}
{i took this while lying in bed at my parents’ house. love seeing those beautiful leaves!}
{yep, he’s spoiled.} ;)
{this was at our thanksgiving eve dinner [which was actually on thanksgiving day since we celebrated thanksgiving a day late because my dad had to fly]. we had honey-baked ham at mimi’s house!}
{pumpkin pie and coffee}
{breakfast}
{hors d’oeuvres by the fire table before thanksgiving dinner!}
{i love these women}
{cute pic of mother and son}
{it was really sunny out there, haha}
{well, he IS pretty adorable.}
{the “kids”} :)
{i have the cutest grandmothers! they coordinated unintentionally on two different days!}
{just before we ate!}
{i made the dessert – an apple tarte tatin! i used my favorite tart dough recipe for crust and it turns out that it was probably a too short [all that butter!] for a crust that isn’t pressed into a pan. it was a bit crumbly but honestly oh so worth it for the taste.}
{playing tripoly}
{silly dog}
{okay, i admit it – despite all of his shenanigans, we are smitten.} :)
{on the left, my christmas tree [with no ornaments or tree skirt], and on the right, mom’s christmas tree in all of its glory!}
{this was the first day of the season of advent, in which many christians anticipate the coming of Jesus in three ways: as a little baby in bethlehem over 2,000 years ago [by celebrating christmas!], in our hearts daily, and in glory at the second coming of jesus as proclaimed in the new testament. as christians, we are called to prepare for the coming of jesus through prayer, vigilance and focus on resisting temptation and sin, and the reconciliation of the heart. these are things to strive for every day, but especially during this time awaiting the birth of Jesus. He is the reason for the season and advent is a wonderful time of year!}
hopefully it won’t be long before the next post as i have tons of photos to catch up on! happy new year everyone :)