Good morning!

Yes, I’ll admit it. I woke up at 9:30. Mmm, nice. I’m leaving with a group from my internship tomorrow to go to the Dominican Republic. I’m excited! The flight’s at 7:30 in the a.m. And I’m also a little sad. I’m going to miss Matt and Sam, since this is the longest Matt and I have been apart (8 days) and certainly the first time we haven’t been in the same country. But adventures make you stronger and will get us excited to see each other again. (Pathetic? Possibly.)

We had a day together yesterday and enjoyed every minute of it…shopping, lounging, eating and playing with Sam…it was a good day. We also tried out some fun places, too!

 Dillard’s Clearance Center

We didn’t really know what to expect when we pulled up to an abandoned mall (named Six Flags, ha) with a giant Dillard’s attached and the only mall shop with its doors still open. But, oh Lordy, it was like a giant clearance clothes party! Technically, they have men/women/kids’ clothing, shoes, and housewares, too, but who’s counting? We entered through the men’s clothing doors, and my dorky laughing ensued as we passed racks and racks of Dillard’s markdowns…not like one rack of polos for guys but 6 long aisles. For places that lack a lot of men’s clothing variety (20% of the store for men, 88% for women) :), this is the place for guys to feel important, style-wise. I kept giggling during our entire time there, referring to the “men’s swim trunks room,” the “women’s scarves room” and the “women of the night shoe rooms.” (Sorry, the last one is only inferring that ladies parading under the moon have steel ankles that can handle 8-inch stilettos.)

Cowboy Chicken
I was craving some comfort food, which I know is equivalent to “not healthy.” We don’t really cook this kind of food at home (mostly because I rarely buy real butter…Paula Deen has just gasped) because it’s just not that great for you. But it was fun to indulge this once. Cowboy Chicken, a Dallas chain of rotisserie chicken happiness, was where we went. It was DELISH! They roast hormone- and antibiotic-free chicken, so I enjoyed it thoroughly. For $16, we got a whole rotis. chicken and two large sides. We chose twice baked potato casserole (oh, yessss) and creamed spinach (Matt adored it, very cheesy). And we went all out with a large peach cobbler on the side…it tasted so much like my Aunt Helen’s cobbler…cinnamony, soft peaches, buttery soft crust, and a brown butter/caramel top. Mm-hmm.

So now it’s time to go and enjoy the day with my hubby, two days in a row! No recipes today, but I promise to put up lots of pics from the DR next week. Happy weekend and Joyful Living!

~Laurel~

We’ll be moving twice this year, one down and one to go. The first was from Waco to Dallas, and the next will be…well, who knows?

I’m not a great mover. I like new adventures and all that, but my massive amount of stuff is an inevitable fact when I’m trying to box it all up. Despite this annoying fact (and totally self-inflicting), there are some really funny things about moving. We snapped a few pics on our first night here. I mean, come on, how can you not laugh?

So we ran to the grocery store because we had only pantry-type food and no clue where our pots were. We grabbed frozen dinners only to realize we had no clue there the utensils were…why not giant wooden spoons?? Yes, we actually used these and felt like cave men/women.

And no can opener in sight…but we had a bottle opener!

 Moving didn’t faze Sam…he got a squeaky “cheeseburger” toy for his troubles. Sam, AKA “the great destroyer,” promptly held it in his front paws like a human, and chewed it to pieces in 5 minutes flat.

 Perhaps my favorite picture of this week. We live near a pretty awesome mall (I know, a mall…) with some fun food.
Tin Star Taco Bar is a fun, casual little place. I’ve been eating almost 100% vegetarian outside of cooking at home because of my stomach’s weirdness with meat lately. Getting the traditional veggie _____ at a restaurant can be really boring, and I feel for veggie heads everywhere who do this all the time. Restaurants often concentrate so much on the prep and quality of meat dishes (b/c we Americans eat a truckload of it compared to produce & rice/legumes) and, therefore, vegetarian options are on the back burner. Not at Tin Star!!
These veggie tacos are sliced, grilled portabello mushrooms, grilled corn, a spicy sour cream, cilantro pesto, grilled bell peppers & onions, and “sweet potato straws” on top. Yum! The tortillas and salsa are quite awesome, too. Cheap, tasty, quite a few locations in Dallas only. Come visit.

Okay, that’s all I’ve got for today. Happy Saturday!!

~Laurel~