Amanda & Kim come to Houston!

My friends Amanda and Kim from NY promised me that when I moved closer, they'd come visit me.  So, when I told them I was moving to Houston, they wasted little time getting a weekend planned.  Luckily, they've got sweet husbands who took over all duties for a fun weekend in Texas.  Wish the weather was a bit better for them...poor girls needed a break from the NY winter!   They arrived Thursday night and we immediately went out for Tex Mex and margaritas.  We hit up El Real, which was my first time there.  Since the rodeo started up, there were barely any people at the restaurant; very rare for Houston.  Then out to drinks at Anvil (no egg white drink for anyone). 

On Friday, we headed to Galveston to hit up the beach and the strand for some Texas shopping

Below are the Hurricane Ike high water lines.....crazy! 

 This guy was not short...probably 6'10" and this is how high the water line was!

On Saturday, after the rodeo run, we headed to the Professional Bull Riding Championships.  Wow!  I felt like I was watching an event on TV.  

 We were driving to the PBR Championships and came upon these guys.  I know, I used to think Texas was a "cowboy" state, but really, normally in Houston, you don't get that.  This weekend was totally different.  Houston pulled out all the stops to show these Yankees a good time!  

 Amanda and Kim in front of the stadium

Inside the stadium, PBR Championships

 The lasso man

 Holy cow!

Turkey legs anyone?!

Enjoying some BBQ

Afterwards, we took them to this artist's area right by our house.  

Since we'd just been at the PBR championships, we were dressed in our most "cowboy" wear. Plus, Amanda and Kim bought some cowboy hats to bring home to their kids, perfect!    

This picture is so fitting as I, personally was a bit nervous moving to Houston not knowing what to expect, but in the end, we really do love Houston.  Life here is so easy and convenient and full of so many things to do and see.  The opportunities are really endless.   We are both thrilled and grateful to have had the experience of living here, albeit short, buying our first home here, and making friends here.   Each place we live convinces me more and more that people are just people, no matter where you go, and as long as you go into a place with a positive attitude, life is golden.  

I'm so happy Amanda and Kim were able to come see us and allow us to show them a bit of the city.   We had a wonderful time and looking forward to your visit to Alasaka :) :) 

Rodeo Run - the Rodeo comes to Houston!

The company Eric works for recently sponsored a Rodeo Run right around the time the rodeo started.  I had friends coming to visit so I didn't sign up for the race, but I went to cheer on Eric run the 10K distance.  

The starting line

 Cutie in a cowboy hat

 I missed Eric finishing the race but he completed it in just under 50 minutes...not bad for no training.  Our crossfit workouts have definitely paid off! 

NY in Austin 2012

We headed to Austin one Saturday night February to see Eric's brother and girlfriend and we also got to see some Spack grads, Danny's friends Jay and Sal Rose were visiting.  It was so nice to see some familiar faces from home in Texas.   Sal Rose, ironically was in Paris one of our first weekends when we moved there and here he is again.  

 Testing out the self timer...still blurry 

 Early

 3rd times a charm 

"You put it down like New York City"....weekend song quote

Way to represent, NY!

Houston Carshow 2012

Houston had a huge car show this year so we decided to stop by one night and check out the cars.  We walked all around, checking out new and vintage cars.   Overheard while walking around was someone commenting on the maroon color of a car, "it's a good red, without being too Aggie red"...too funny!

 This one is pretty cool

 Muscle car

 The new Fiat

 Cadillacs

 This is a truck!

Love the vintage cars

Go NY-Superbowl 2012

Well, our J-E-T-S sadly weren't in the Superbowl this year, but another NY team was so of course we were cheering for the Gmen!   My mom was in town for the occasion and helped us make the menu.  For Christmas, my mom bought Eric a football cake pan so we decided to put it to good use...and went a little overboard.  

 The field

 The football cake 

Then we got the genius idea of making the Giant's logo on the table.  This is wrapping paper!  We definitely made a few trips to Target, which is conveniently right down the street :)

 Go Giants!

The finished products

 Yes, we even made little football players.  Once we started decorating and getting on a role, it took about 5 minutes to decorate each one.  It took a bit of time to get the right shade of blue and the helmet but in the end, I think they came out pretty cute, especially for me and my mom = not good bakers at all!

 Some of the grub :)

 Our friend Jen's Giant's themed cake balls...oh my gosh, delicious!  Red velvet inside, yummy!

 Eric's famous chili on the back table. 

I wish I had stopped concentrating on the food for a minute to take a better pic, but in the end, we had a wonderful time and the Giants were victorious over the Patriots, 21-17!
Until next year...