Love and Food in the Big D

Monday, May 26, 2008

Our second date...





I think it's safe to say that things were pretty much done for after our first date. From that moment on, we were inseperable. :) I was loving every minute of it... I just couldn't get enough of him! Our second "date" started with a very unusual trip to this GI-NORMOUS Asian market he wanted to check out. Going along for the ride, and not really caring where we were as long as we were together, I found myself enthralled by just watching him wander the aisles of unusual ingredients with the fascination of a baby first descovering their toes. lol.. It was fantastic! I STILL love to just sit back and watch him as he roams the grocery store looking for that perfect ...SOMETHING.. We ended up hanging out at his apartment where he worked his magic on a stunningly simple, yet oh so tasty home cooked meal for two. It was the beginning of the weight gain.. lol.. What a life! :)



Although not a very good picture, you can see the scallops with broccoli rabe that Chad prepared. It also came with a yummy crab salad....mmmm... you're jealous, I can tell. :)



It's obvious that I was trying to play hard to get... lol..
Who are we kidding here???

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Chef Kelley.. :)

May 25, 2008 (The day changed my life…awwww.. ;)

I have to start this by saying that the decision to pick up everything I owned to move to a city I had only been to once in my entire life… to start a job where I didn’t know a soul… to live in a city where I had no friends, was actually an EASY decision to make. Moving to Dallas was the best thing I’ve ever done. I actually realized that BEFORE this particular day…but on this day, it all of a sudden became clear as to WHY I had actually found myself in Dallas. His name was Chad Kelley, and on May 25th, we met for the very first time.

If anyone reading this blog knows of anyone working at Match who also might be in need of a success story, I’m volunteering Chad and I for any commercial you want to star us in. :) How 21st century of us to find each other online!! ;) As lame as it may seem to some, Match.com was a perfect fit for us. Two years ago I landed in a strange city in a new job at an Architecture firm where the average age of our office staff, was close to 50!! Balding, big bellied, divorced men was NOT my ideal future husband!! So it didn’t take me long to realize that I needed to take matters into my own hands. I soon joined the other 3 million people on Match in search of my one and only. I know now that it was the BEST IDEA EVER! :) :)

I’m going to go ahead and take FULL credit for the incredible bliss that Chad and I are in right now. I was the one that found him… staring back at me so handsomely in his hottie chef coat. :) Two winks exchanged, and a few emails later… and we were all set for our first date!!

Right from the get-go, I knew this date was going to be unlike any other I had ever been on. I still remember the giddiness I felt while deciding what to wear… I remember driving around the parking lot of the mall across the street, wasting some time before meeting him so I didn’t “seem too eager”. When I finally did get the nerve to park and walk into the waiting area of the Galleria (where I was to meet him outside of his restaurant), I still remember the first moment I laid eyes on him. It literally did feel like slow motion. How cliché right? BUT IT’S TRUE!!! :) Our first date was my LAST first date and it was INCREDIBLE!!

Hanging out at Lone Star Park on our first date!!
If my parents had realized I had driven from Dallas to Grand Prairie with a "stranger", this date wouldn't have gotten very far at all.  Needless to say, I'm glad Chad wasn't a psycho... eekkkk!! Watching our winnings dwindle...Hanging out in a fancy suite, munching on yummy food and watching our money go down the drain. We had no idea what we were doing but we had the best time doing it! :)  It was cute to see Chad so nervous around me.. I think it made me feel more at ease seeing his nerves (almost) get the best of him.  ;)
After the track we headed to downtown Dallas.  One of the sights before heading to dinner : The famous Cattle Drive

When I told people later that he had taken me to Fearing's for dinner that night, I think I saw more jaws drop than ever before.  Funny thing was...sitting in that restaurant....it was OBVIOUS it was uber fancy, but I never felt uneasy with Chad.  He took charge, sweetly pointing out the menu items I might not recognize and made suggestions as to what to order.  It was heavenly!  My only question:  With such a fancy restaurant right off the bat, WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE?!!?!  Settin' the bar high Mr. Kelley, settin' the bar HIGH!  ;)


What a CUTIE!!

Monday, May 05, 2008

New Stomping Ground...


Sometime in the beginning of May of 2008..
So along with all the hooplah of waiting for Addie to arrive, I managed to run around town with my realtor attempting to claim my FIRST little piece of real estate heaven. And boy can I just say...WHAT A TASK!! I must have seen nearly 20 or 30 properties… and although most of them proved to be an easy dismissal, I can honestly say I was having a tough time finding “The One”. My luck finally changed sometime around Addie’s birthday when my realtor found this quaint little gem in Carrollton and….it was a STEAL!! I would've been nuts to let this one go so... there were two attempts at a bidding war and another test of my patience...BUT it finally proved to be successful for me. I had FINALLY closed on my VERY first TOWNHOME!!! 1,800 sq. ft. of MY very own place…. Almost THREE times the size of my now seemingly cell like apartment. It was BEAUTIFUL and all M.I.N.E.!!! So much work still to be done, but here's a glimpse of Home-Sweet-Home! :)

Saturday, April 26, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Addie!



April 26, 2008 (HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADDIE!!)

If there was ever an ultimate test of your patience, it would have to be the ever ticking time clock of pregnancy. I'm not even pregnant... nor have I ever even BEEN pregnant so I don’t even know what’s worse… being the mommy to be, or being the AUNT of your very first NIECE! I guess that’s a silly question, but I must admit that I was as much of a giddy fool as Christi was while we all waited for little Addison Grace to show her beautiful face. After nearly 9 months, the scheduled C-Section day had finally arrived and we all couldn’t have been more excited. Omar and Christi made it to the hospital on April 24...and Addie didn't arrive until April 26th at 1:07am weighing in at a very squeezable 9lbs 2 oz!! And although she did have to spend a week in the nicu being poked and prodded due to some minor complications, she's now a happy, healthy and ever growing 9 month old!! :) Here are a few pictures of her first few months...stay tuned for posts as she gets older!! She's such a DOLL now!!! :)

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Taking Flight...

Being ever so diligent about keeping my outlook calendar up to date, I’m going to rely on it now to give you a quick run down of the last few FABULOUS months of my life…



March 30, 2008 Taking the leap! (LITERALLY)

So, aside from meeting my future hubby (Mr. Chad Kelley)…whom, I might add, I had yet to meet at this point, March 30th was the most THRILLING, death defying day of my entire life… and it was AMAZING!! On a whim, and completely lost of ALL my sensibilities, I decided to join my CRAZY co- workers SKYDIVING!!! I must have lost all my crackers that day… but boy was it a RUSH!! It was nothing like you would expect it to be. Here are a few pictures of my free fall!! WHEEEEEEEEE!!!





 











KISSES!!

WHHHEEEEEEE!!!




Look MA, NO HANDS!!


















MADE IT! Whew!!