Exploring Fort Worth..

During an afternoon of complete boredom, Chad and I decided to pick up and see what Fort Worth had to offer. Braving the ridiculous Texas heat, we made it out to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens and Fort Worth's Museum of Modern Art....all while working on our tans! :)

Entrance to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens...

ooooo... pretty....

Japanese Rock Garden

Taking a little break....

To take these awesome rock garden shots...

Awesome pagoda type sculptures scattered about the garden..

Tea Room....

Looking excited... dorky...but excited... :)

Awesome Architecture...

I loved this winged book sculpture!

An actual Andy Warhol self portrait... a little scary I know...

SCARY, miniature grandma lady that looked a little TOO real...standing only about 2 feet tall..

Having lunch at the Modern Cafe...

I was using the napkin to try and cover myself up.. it was FREEZING in there!

Cheese!

Hey LOOK! It's a "Y"!!!

Weird huge sculpture thingy....

Changing of the Guards

So it seems that life has once again thrown us a curve ball… (good thing we are pretty damn good at bat!)
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Late last week, Chad decided to take a leap. A leap into the unknown, a leap into some new and exciting times. It wasn’t exactly fully expected, although months of discontent had brought him to this point… but last Saturday night, Chad left the Oceanaire Seafood Room for the very last time. Knives packed, cookbooks in hand, he and I stood together at the entrance of the restaurant kitchen he had known for the last three years (in Dallas) and said goodbye. Having somewhat prepared for this moment, Chad walked away a winner in his own right. This was our time. This was our time to focus on something that not only made him happier, but made US happier as well. The restaurant industry is hard enough without being the boss. Without having staff that didn’t want to work. Without proper support from above. Without taking on all the responsibilities that an Executive Chef takes on. Chad’s a DAMN good chef. One of Dallas’ finest. You can’t take a multi million dollar restaurant, and keep it successful without being damn good… and he most certainly IS. I guarantee the Oceanaire will NOT be the same without him… but it’s time for bigger and better things. I’m hopeful for a full and bright future. I’m nervous and excited about all the possibilities… but whatever he and WE decide to do, I know it’s going to be AWESOME!!

Stay tuned! :)

Zap, Zap, Zappa...

On our quest to find the perfect bedspread for our new king size mattress set, (arriving any day now), Chad and I took our Sunday afternoon to scour the mall's department stores in hopes of a successful find. Although we didn't find anything that we liked, we had a great time looking at all the things that we hoped to add to our wedding registry.

On the hunt for decorative pillows... Not quite what we were hoping for...

But THIS one on the other hand... might be a winner!! This pillow apparently has multiple uses.. :) :) :) I think Chad likes it.. lol

Orrrrr.... maybe this one?? ;) Who the hell makes these things?!?!

Chad's Sideshow Bob impersonation.. :)

I love my nuthead!

Cutlery anyone?

Whoa there...

Yumm??

Looking for a casual set...

Being goofy...

Fun stuff...

Making sure we made a good choice....

Trying his hand at modeling... lol..

My very own Dallas Sasquatch sighting... :)

Rebel Time...

So after much deliberation, and after a very helpful recommendation from our awesome wedding photographers, we finally settled on our newest toy. We're still a long way from being experts and are still figuring out all the bells and whistles but we decided to take our new camera for a spin around Dallas to see what we could come up with.

Robert E. Lee house..

Taking a gander..

Playing the silly but willing model...

Alright Chad.. enough already...

Close up!

On to our next stop...

Union Station Ballroom...

Union Station stairway...

I don't even know why I was making that face...

So handsome..

the awesome stained glass in the chapel in Thanksgiving Square

Playing with the shutter speed and aperture...

Farmers Market...

Exhausted after a long day out and about... :)

Daddy and Macie...

Mommy and Macie.. hanging out before bed..

Giving her the "look"... lol..

Good Times... :)

I really can't believe that it's damn near AUGUST already?? Seriously? Where the heck did July go? Hell, where the heck did this YEAR go? One moment I'm anxiously awaiting my proposal, giddy and curious about what my engagement ring looks like, the next thing you know it's been 8 months and I can literally SMELL our wedding rounding the bend... Geesh! My only wish about this time right now is that I wish it were going slower.. just so I could savor every last little bit of it all.

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This past week, we took advantage of Chad's entire WEEK off (can you believe someone getting to just lazy around the house for a WEEK?!) Sooooooooo soooo jealous over here... lol.. Anyway, we took advantage of his time off to tackle a few of our last remaining wedding day tasks.

Tuesday, July 21st-
Part of Chad's amazing committment to our marriage was his willingness to do whatever it took to please my family and I by getting married in the Catholic church. With him not being Catholic, it meant jumping in with both feet and delving into unknown territory. The first task of the process took place back in January when Chad and I sat through a 200 question compatibility questionaire (given by the church) to focus in on the important things in marriage like family, finances, kids, yada yada yada. As the second part of the marriage prep process approached, (a weekend marriage retreat at the diocese of dallas), we met with our church contact person to discuss the findings of our questionaire. We were pleased to find out that...we are actually EXTREMELY COMPATIBLE!!! Already knowing this, we focused our discussion with the church lady on the maybe 10 questions (remember out of 200!) that we answered differently. The session went off without a hitch, and left the church feeling pleased by having the blessing of yet ANOTHER person.. Woo hoo! Let's get married! :)


Wednesday, July 22nd-
Next on the wedding day "TackleFest" was to meet with the church's music minister to discuss our ceremony songs and such. Getting more than we bargained for (which included our own personal show of him playing all our possible song selections on the church's piano) we narrowed down our choices for our special day! It was so nuts hearing the song that will be played while I walked down the aisle!!?? Is this true?? lol.. dont' quite think it's hit me yet. lol... There's no turning back now! lol...


Thursday, July 23rd-
Although not a wedding day duty, we did get a chance to hit up one of our favorite restaurants by treating my good friend Chiku to an AWESOME birthday dinner out at Jaspers in Plano. The food was just as we had remembered it, and Chiku had a great time! With all the craziness that has gone on in her life these last few weeks, Chad and I were thrilled to take her out and hang out with her again. The food was incredible and we left there with full and happy bellies!... Jaspers is highly recommended! :)

Happy Birthday Chiku!!

Lip smackin' Good Ribs!

Giving Chad a raspberry.. .