News from the Chappell House

Okay, really, I meant catch-up, but it’s more entertaining spelled like that, right?   It takes soooo little to amuse me.

We’ve been doing a lot this past two months since I evidently quit blogging.  The first was that we went to McMurry Homecoming in October.  We had SUCH a good time, and, since Adam’s new job at Glenn doesn’t require him to be at a football game on Friday night, he was able to go to Homecoming for the first time in four years!

We saw lots of old friends such as my Anchorman Harvey and Kris Knight and his new squeeze. 

We also got to see Ashley and David Bailey who we only see at Homecoming tragically.  

The best part, though, was the McMurry Alumni Swim Meet which marked the ten-year reunion of the first McM Swim Team which Adam is proud to have been a part of.  The event featured current McM swimmers (in their athletic prime) racing against some of the oldies but goodies!   Adam was doing sooo great until the last five events of the meet.  He was entered in three of them back-to-back-to-back.  I’m pretty sure, “he coulda been killed!”.

My favorite picture is this one of him before starting the backstroke.  It’s my favorite event to watch him swim since I always forget how long he looks in the water!  I think it’s his favorite too; he definitely did the best at it–even beating a current McM swimmer!  Besides the total exhaustion, he had a great time, and they all got to catch up with Coach Ball which is always amazing.  She is truly an inspiration!

After that, we caught up with J.T. and Ginger who were kind enough to let us stay with them and who came to watch Adam swim!  It was a great homecoming, and to top it off, Adam and I went back to the same place where he proposed to me four years ago.

McMurry was always such a special place to us, and Radford is the building you see on all the McM letters, diplomas, etc.   It was in front of this building that Adam’s dad, Steve, proposed to Sheri, and eventually where we got engaged!

I really like this one because it just reminds me of how happy we were back then and how happy we are right now for lots of different reasons!  Okay, enough mushiness!

We also had both Adam’s first band concert and his first two marching events!  I’ve put them together in video here since it takes forever to post all the pics and to get the video to load in anything but youtube.  Also, a word of warning: I only spent around 12 minutes on the whole thing, so my narration is a little rough and there is no background music…but, you get the point.

Also, another BIG warning: My narration is very soft and the music is VERY loud, so adjust your speakers accordingly.

And, in a totally random thought of the day: Don’t you just LOVE this design?

Why I don’t blog much right now.  It’s because I feel like I have to get caught up on my past blogging.  Well, I can’t.  Too much to say, I guess, so I’m just moving on.   I’m sure that you haven’t enjoyed this revelation nearly as much as I have, but I already feel better.

Adam and I have been extremely busy these last few weeks.  Adam started his job as Glenn Middle School band director, and he is so happy with it!  He works soooo hard, but he feels so fulfilled.  He also has Friday nights free which was a huge deal to us both.  He’s had some dealings with parents already and has handled them wonderfully, so we really are positive that this Head Band Director gig at a middle school is where he is supposed to be!

My job has been really taxing.  I have kids in my class that have struggled with reading all of their lives.  It’s incredibly hard to get them invested into “another reading program” but this one is amazing, and they are fairly excited about it (which is huge!).  I’ve got lots of confidence in this program and the kids, but many of them are discipline problems so it takes all my energy to stay on top of everything!

The program requires 90 minutes of instructional time so since we only have fifty minute class periods, I have the kids double blocked into my class.  I teach whole-group for 20 minutes and then the students are split into three different groups (all based on their Lexile levels).  Those groups rotate to three stations: computer zone, teacher zone, and reading zone.  In the computer zone, there is a narrator type guy that tells them what to do.  They can record their readings, practice spelling, watch videos, and play vocabulary games.  In the reading zone, they pick a book and curl up on my couch or shag rug to read.  In the teacher zone, I get some very coveted small group time with them to explain concepts like main idea, summary, etc.  The last ten minutes of the day, we all come back together and discuss some of the concepts learned, questions about their book or the software, and generally just wrap up our day.

I’m sure you can tell that getting those procedures in place so that I can be teaching the small group while other things are going on was very hard.  But, I have lots of confidence that by maybe the end of October (Thanksgiving break at the latest) my kids will be transitioning smoothly and improving their Lexile levels drastically!

On another note, Adam and I had a fantastic time last night at the Deadhorse.  We had never been there and really liked it as their happy hour lasted until nine!  We had a good time hanging out, and we even met a couple of bands: one from Philadelphia and another from somewhere in Cali.  It was fun talking to both bands about life on the road.

Tonight Adam plays with Section 8 at Miss Hattie’s and I’m really looking forward to it.  Adam’s mom and dad are coming into town (yea!!) and are going to get to see him perform.  Then, we’re going to Abilene to listen to Steve preach at his old church.  It’s something like the hundredth anniversary of the church, so they’re having preachers that have served there formerly come back and do a sermon.  It’s really neat, and what makes it cooler is that Adam and Sheri are going to perform some special music as well: her on the piano and him on his trumpet.  Can’t wait to see y’all, Chappells!  It’ll be great to visit Abilene and see J.T. and Ginger as well!

That wasn’t how our trip went…that’s just referring to the amount of pictures that I have.  Adam did his best to repair our camera (it had a crack in the battery compartment) but it was still taking slow, blurry pictures as well.  Sigh.  So, I took Cort’s camera hostage and took pictures until that battery ran out.  Then, we took some with Amanda’s camera.

But, now…I don’t have the pictures.

So, I have the few that I took with my camera and I’ll share those.  We had an AMAZING time though we didn’t get a whole lot checked off our “to see and do” list.  It was mostly about relaxing and enjoying our vacay.

The first thing that cracked us up was seeing our friends, Brian and Sara, at the airport in Angelo.  We had missed their wedding to go to Adam’s reunion, and so we were SUPER glad to catch up with them.  It turned out they were heading to DFW then on to NYC for their honeymoon!  It was a VERY early flight, so we got to sleep on the plane, which was nice, and then had about an hour layover in DFW which wasn’t very long.  My fav part of that experience was deplaning in DFW.  I had never used the steps to get off an aircraft before (having only ridden larger planes) and I thought it was hilarious to do so.  I took lots of pictures of it, while Adam waited with chagrin, but choose to only post one of them here.  You’re welcome.  I have no idea why it was so strangely fascinating to me, but it totally cracked me up!

After arriving in Vegas, we had some problems.  We were trying to do Vegas the cheap way, so we decided to pick up some liquor from the local store rather than buying on the Strip.  So, our cabbie first took us through the tunnel (big scam to make more money), then took us to a liquor store on the end of the strip (not so cheap), then took us to Luxor.  Only problem?  We were staying at THE VENETIAN/PALAZZO!  (Which, by the way, sounds nothing like Luxor!)  Anyway, we finally arrived at the hotel and were met by Cort and Amanda who had already been there for a day.  Life got much better after that!

We went up to our AMAZING suite (grr…where are the real pictures!), changed into our swimsuits and went to hang out by the pool.  On the way though, we discovered that we needed to eat, so we walked across to TI (in our coverups) and ate at a deli there.  Then, it was tan time!   It was soooo nice.  We got a pitcher of mojitos and sipped by one of the gorgeous pools while attendants came by to give us fresh orange slices.  Ah, the life.  After around an hour and a half, it got a tad windy and slightly overcast, so we went inside and walked around the casino and shops just gazing at Vegas and taking in the Strip at night.

The next morning, we woke up around nine and I wondered why it was pitch black in our room.  Oh yeah, remote control window panels–awesome!  We let a little sun in, and Amanda was not impressed.  SO, Adam, Cort and I went to go to one of our favorite Vegas attractions….Sin City Brew pub.  We had gone to the Flamingo the night before to their Sin City Brew, but the people weren’t NEARLY as nice as at the Miracle Mile Shops location.  We sat down to sample the beers, and started talking to the bartender.  After a few (I heart the Weisse and the Amber), Adam asked a question about some of the brewing stats.  The bartender answered, then asked Adam a few questions about being a home brewer.  Turns out, the bartender was the head brewer, Rich Johnson, former Director of Brewing at Gordon Biersch!  Adam officially had a man-crush.  We sat and talked to Rich for at least three hours about brewing, the business, Vegas, and everything else.  Amanda finally called to ask what the hold up was.  We told her that we would probably be there for awhile and to come on.  She did, and we sat there even longer.  Rich’s shift had ended at eleven, but he stayed around to talk to us (and some of the other locals) for quite awhile.  He was so nice, and even bought us some Irish Car Bomb shots.   Eventually though, he had to go, so we left as well.  Adam and Amanda headed back to the hotel for some pool time, but Cort and I were psyched and wanted to explore the city.

Oh, the pictures that we took.  We went to the M&M factory where I took a picture of me with a life-sized person in the M&M suit, ate $2.50 hot dog and beer meals, met some people from Australia there on their honeymoon, ran into a security guard who gave us the low-down on the good clubs to go to, rode the Roller Coaster at New York New York, got in trouble for having the camera out, went back and put the camera back in the locker only to discover after getting off the roller coaster that I still had the camera in my pocket, went in to Excalibur and found another meal deal, went to Luxor and took pictures with the sphinx and other assorted Egyptian stuff (and burned ourselves while climbing on them), and finally, exhausted looked at each other to call it a day.

Cort: “You know, it’s only a quarter mile more to walk to the Las Vegas sign”.

Me: “Okay, that sounds like fun!”

Cort: “Let’s go!”

Me: “Wait, I think we’ll get heat stroke!”

Cort: “You’re probably right, let’s get a cab and go back”.

We got into the cab’s frosty air-conditioning and almost immediately crashed out.  We rode back to the hotel, went up to see Adam and Amanda who had just come back from the pool, and decided we needed to go eat.  We had hiked 2.5 miles (at least) in 104 degree heat.  We all took showers, changed, and got ready to go out.  We went to Toby Keith’s I Love this Bar and Grillwhich was exactly like a Texas honky-tonk.  We were right at home (and I wore my boots!).  Amanda and I split the Fried Bologna sandwich and then we hooked on back to the hotel where Cort and I drank about two gallons of water before going to bed.  Amanda called it a night too, but Adam, of course, wanted to gamble, so he went off to get us all rich.

The next morning, we woke up semi-late.  We wanted to go see Rich again (who had said he’d bring the donuts today if we met him there early).  I drug myself out of bed, took Adam with me, and we went to go see Rich again.  We stayed around the same amount of time, but then met up with Amanda and Cort so that we could eat at a buffet while picking up our tickets for “O”.  Now, this was Adam’s fifth trip to Vegas, my fourth, and A&C’s second, but we hadn’t ever eaten at the Bellagio buffet.  It will become a fixture on our trips.  It was SOOOOOO good.  We ate, and ate, and ate, and ate until we thought we might explode.  Amanda and I did our best to take down their crab leg bar, and I had some of the best sushi of my life (well, besides Nobu!).  We waddled up and down the Strip trying to work some of our meal off before going back to the hotel to get ready.  We got all kinds of gussied up (PICTURE, GRRRR!) and took a cab (the gals had heels on, ya know!) back to the Bellagio to see “O”.  Adam and I had already seen it on our first trip, but left the theatre then saying that we’d see it again anytime.  It was just as amazing (if not more) than we remembered!

After that, we all watched the Bellagio fountains and took pics (sensing a pattern here?) before splitting up.  I wanted to go to Serendipity 3, so Adam went with me while Cort and Amanda went souvenir shopping.  Serendipity has always been one of my favorite words (“a fortunate accident” sigh) and if I ever get to NYC, I definitely want to go there!  Adam and I had a fried oreo sundae which was just as decadent as it sounds.  We then met back up with Amanda and Cort.  We thought about going out, but instead sat around talking, laughing, and generally just enjoying each other’s company.

The next morning, Amanda and Cortney had to leave on an early flight.  Adam went to go play cards and/or craps while I packed our bags and listened to a Michael Jackson tribute show.  We checked our bags downstairs, went to Mirage where I gambled $1 then won it back (that was my only gambling of the trip and it was on slots)and went to eat at the Mirage buffet.  It was very good, and a great way to say goodbye to Vegas.  We flew to DFW, met up with our friends, Sara and Brian, AGAIN , and, after an hour and a half delay due to airplane maintenance, we boarded to go home.  The best part about that flight?  Being behind the attendant’s station so that we had extra legroom!

The flight from DFW to San Angelo was really neat.  It was July 3rd, so we flew over some of the fireworks displays!  It was awesome to look down on fireworks instead of looking up!  We also noticed lots of Angelo sights as we flew to the airport, and were very excited when we landed since we had only a two-minute drive to get home!  It was a great trip-and a fantastic way to celebrate our birthdays and anniversary.

So, okay, I didn’t love the high school that I came from.  I was a pretty big nerd who lived for debate tournaments and one act play season.  I hung out with kids that were almost always older than me, and so when they graduated I had a weird Senior year.  It wasn’t bad…just different.

Anyway, I had no plans to go to my ten-year reunion, but Adam thought it would be a hoot to go to his.  Since reunions for my high school are in the fall of that year (with the homecoming football game of course) I didn’t expect his to be in the summer.  It was, and it was right on the day of my friend’s wedding which made me not want to go.  But, it was important to him, so we went.   Bandit sure didn’t want us to go as witnessed by this picture (“Take me with you!”).  But, we dropped him off at his Aunt Katy’s (thanks, Mock!) and were on our way to Roswell for the good ol’ Goddard Class of ‘99 Reunion.

It turned out to be the best time.  People embraced me like it was me that went to school there ten years ago.  We started out checking into the hotel, where Adam’s best friend, Chris (and his brother Devin) got there at the same time.  We had HUGE adjoining rooms, so we changed clothes and got ready to go to Farley’s to meet some of the class there for a pre-reunion party.  It was tons of fun.  I sat there talking and drinking with the organizer of the event’s husband and learned lots more about Roswell and what it was like to live there.

After that, we headed to the bowling alley where Adam and I made a VERY wrong turn and went into the Tejano bar part of the building.  We should have known when we had to consent to a metal detector but, we didn’t, and didn’t notice until EVERY eye was on us and there were no bowling lanes.   In our defense, the bowling alley was called the “Rock n’ Bowl” and so we figured that there would be loud music.  We left, and since I have no shame, I asked for our cover back explaining that we were in the wrong building.  He laughed, gave it back, and told us to come by after we finished bowling.   Um, sure.

Finally finding the RIGHT place, we had a great time with Devin and Chris, who hadn’t gone to Farley’s and had bowled lots already.  We bowled one game before they kicked us out (evidently they close at eleven…wha?).  We were wondering what to do for the after-party, and we heard a few people talking about going to this bar.  Low and behold, it was the bar that was inside our hotel..yay!  We got there and were too late to see the band, but that only meant we didn’t have to pay cover…yippee!  I called it a night around one, but Adam stayed up later than me talking and reminiscing. 

The next day, we got up and got dressed to do a little more sight-seeing after having a yummy lunch with Crystal (another one of Adam’s friends).  I’ve already shown you some pictures from my last trip, but I wanted to actually walk around.  There was a VW Bug Festival too, so there were lots of people out on the streets (though Adam said it’s nothing like when the U.F.O. Festival is going on).  I took a couple more pictures of the scenery including one of the band from the hotel that we didn’t get to see (yes, they have on kilts) and another of the alien footprints that they have all over the sidewalk.

My favorite find though, by far, was the most AMAZING scrapbook place that I have EVER been to.  It was huge, gorgeously decorated, had the biggest crop room I’ve ever seen, and housed it’s own mini-photography studio.  There was even a snack bar by the crop room.  I’m sooooo jealous that we don’t have something like that back home.  The name of it is Imagine That, and if you are ever ANYWHERE around that area of NM, you should stop in.  I could have spent DAYS in that store (luckily for Adam they had a wine tasting shop right next door!)

After we got done sight-seeing, we had some free time to kill.  We went back to the hotel and went hot tubbing for a  while.  It was nice and relaxing but soon we had to get ready.  Chris has this amazingly long gorgeous rocker hair.  It’s slightly wavy though, so the night before I had asked him if I could straighten it.  He said he didn’t mind, so I hurried to fix my hair, got dressed, and went to dry and straighten his.  I was so impressed with how well it cooperated.  I totally wish my hair did that, though I’m sure that I could NEVER stand for it to be that long.  He talked to his sweet gf, Melanie, several times while I was straightening and I felt like quite the little hair stylist (though it wasn’t hard with hair like that!).

Adam and I then left Chris to finish getting ready, and we drove out to the Roswell Country Club.  We wrote out our nametags, and drifted to the bar area where EVERYONE was crammed in!  We got a couple of drinks and started chatting with people from the day before.  There was a formal dinner planned in the next room, so after Chris and a lot more people had arrived, we went into the other room to eat.

The meal was steak or chicken with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables.  It was very good (though my steak was too raw for me and Adam gladly ate it) and we were all relaxed by the time dessert was served.  Adam had brought his yearbooks from junior high and his senior yearbook, and TONS of people had a great time looking through them.

We danced, Adam danced the New Mexico two-step with some of his former classmates, we drank, we talked, we laughed, we drank, we told old stories, we danced some more, we walked outside, we drank, and then…

someone climbed the fence into the country club pool.  I climbed over too (Adam was inside dancing) and held shoes, wallets, purses, etc. until all 8 or so of them had done a victory lap in the pool.  It was hilarious….until I got pushed in clothes and all.  I remember distinctly saying, “Ididn’tgotothisschool, Ididn’tgotothisschool!” but that, apparently didn’t matter.

I walked in the country club dripping wet, and Adam burst out laughing.  Several others followed us outside where around twenty of us got into the pool.  It was hilarious.  The poor pregnant wives were sitting on the side laughing at their husbands, but the rest of us were having a grand time swimming around and playing Marco Polo.

We got out pretty soon afterwards, and as I had made lots of friends that I didn’t want to leave, we inquired where the after-party was.  Turns out, it was the same as in high school: at someone’s parent’s house since their parent’s had gone away for the week!  We talked and laughed until around three in the morning when we finally MADE ourselves go back to bed so that we could wake up for church the next day!

Church was a blast as always (though it WAS hard to get up and pack everything) and we got to see lots of old friends there as well.  We went out to eat afterwards with the Mattlages and Eldon Hodges and had such a good time.  We hated to leave, but we had to be back in San Angelo in order to get Bandit back.

It was a great time, and even made me think about attending my reunion (shh…don’t tell anyone).

Adam and I have been to New Mexico several times lately and had lots of fun!

The first time was for Adam’s Nana’s 80th birthday!  We all loaded up and went to Las Cruces (where Adam’s grandparents live).  We made it in on a Monday and went that night to eat at a Japanese steak house in El Paso.  It was WONDERFUL!  Adam’s cousin Sarah and her boyfriend Dave schooled us in sushi so we tried lots of interesting things.  Our absolute favorite was the yellowtail…it’s like butter in your mouth–so yummy!  I didn’t get many good pictures at all (our camera has been acting up because the battery compartment has a crack in it ) but here’s one of Nana and Papa at the restaurant.

We hung out at the hotel, sunned by the pool, went shopping downtown, ate at a WONDERFUL restaurant called La Posta.  It was fabulous (and you know how much I talk about food, so I’m an expert, right?!).  We also had Adam’s cousin Tom-O, Sheri, and his uncle Rob cook us supper the last day.  Tom-O was a chef in Ruidoso (and the other two are FANTASTIC chefs even if they don’t work in a restaurant!) so you can imagine how good our stuffed tenderloin with balsamic reduction, risotto, and garlic bread were!   Here’s a few more pictures we took that week at the hotel:

Steve and Adam

Steve, Adam, me and Sheri

This next one cracks me up.  There was a stuffed shirt and pants that looked like a little kid.  Adam was talking to his Papa and reached over to right the fake cowboy.  So cute!

Next blog: Adam’s ten year reunion!  (He’s OLD!)

a LOT!  I’m pretty tootin’ proud to be from there.  So, I had a fantastic time going home to visit my parents early in June.

When I was a sophomore in college, my parents moved from their house in the country to a more convenient location in town.  My mom gave it her absolute best for around 25 years (how would you like to drive 30 minutes each way to and from town?), so they decided to make the move.

I absolutely adored growing up in the country, though I admittedly appreciate it more now.  I had such a nostalgic week going through my childhood things to take back to my own house.  It made me want to go riding around, and we had heard that there were real reindeer on somebody’s land, so we went for a Sunday Drive (although I think it was Friday or Saturday ).  I took tons of pictures, because it felt SOOOOO good to be back home.

My grandma has been with her Father for two years now, and I miss her terribly.  The pictures from the house in the video below are from the place that she and my Dado made a home.  This was the first time I’d explored the house since her death, and it was very emotional for me.  I cried happy tears though, especially when I got to the white bedroom where my cousin Serena and I use to “play school”, and the markings on the wall by the garage where we all measured our growth.  I love that my Dado would take out his knife and carve our initials and the date in the wall.  With your grandparents living less than a mile away, you spend a lot of time with them, and I am so thankful for that opportunity.

I don’t think I’d want to live there again, but I truly love the feeling of going back.  It’s like listening to a song that instantly time-travels you back to where you were.  If you aren’t my family or from here, you will probably be bored out of your mind with the video below.  That’s fine.  Wherever you call home, I hope you get this much genuine pleasure from being there.

P.S.  The video is around seven minutes (reallllyyy) long, plus one of the song says something about “I like to drink that Shiner Bock beer” so you’ve been warned.

Oh, and Mom, Dad, and Walt?  Thanks so much for the perfect childhood.  It was an absolute blast, and I know you worked your butts off to make it so.

Love, Karla

Sorry, Cort.  But, in my defense, you have been keeping me busy with traveling!

Right after school got out, Adam left for a week to go to Washington D.C. with the band.  He and Mike drove 28 hours with a trailer full of equipment to get there while the rest of the band flew.   He said it was still fun, because he and Mike get along so well, but he was definitely exhausted when he got back.

Because I’m a big baby and have to have people around at all times , I decided to go see Amanda and Cort for 1/2 a week and then to see my parents for the other 1/2.  I had TONS of fun of course with both!

I got lots of Adler time in, including a trip to the Discovery Center! (You know we love that place!)  It was so fun (well until we had to leave-Adler was NOT happy about that!).  I have a ton of pics, so I decided it was easier to just make a video.  Other things include Cortney cooking brats and hot dogs while the tornado sirens were going off, a trip to Target, hanging out at the Amarillo Maskat Shrine building, and an adorable bit with our friend Paul teaching this kid how to perfect his soccer skills.  Hope you enjoy!

My next stop was Vernon where I took tons of pics as well.  ‘Till next time!

So I’ve heard. 

  It all started last year.  My sixth graders last year had me bet them that if they got 90% passing overall (every student on my team) that I would streak my hair pink.  I was up to the challenge.  We all worked our butts off, but sadly they came in at 88%.

This year, with my winning record, I was up to the challenge again.  I really wanted them to succeed, but I had lots more kids that were struggling with reading, around four or five more students per class period, and seven minutes LESS class time.  So, I set the bar at 90% again.  This time, I had several students ask if the dye was going to be permanent.  My flippant response, “Sure” had them asking to see picture documentation of the journey.  I was slightly hesitant knowing how serious they were, but I figured it was for a great cause.  Either way, I won (even if I did look ridiculous).

So, we got our TAKS scores back on Tuesday, May 19th.  We only got a spreadsheet of “yes” or “no” answers, so I hurridly went through and found all the kids on my team.  Amber (my co-teacher who busted her tail way more than me) and I went through and counted everything.  Then I counted again, then again, then again!  I had a passing rate of 94% overall!  Could this be true?  I counted twelve times total, then had another co-worker, Christina do the math for me.  It was correct!  93.7 or 94%!  Wow!

I had gotten permission from my principal to do this at the first of the year, but thought I’d ask again to make sure I had no “out”!   She was excited about it!  So, I scheduled the appointment for that Thursday the 21st.  Bentley, my stylist, was super pumped.  Adam was excited for my kids, and though we were both apprehensive, we knew I had to go through with it.

So, here’s my transformation:

It was a great journey, and I’m happy that I did it.  My kids were SUPER impressed.  A lot of them didn’t think that I would actually go through with it, but I told them, “A bet’s a bet!” and they were super pumped.  My hair IS back to normal now (due to cutting the tips off and an all over chestnut brown) but I won’t forget that experience for awhile!

That was a great time in my life.   I really have no excuses, but I do have LOTS to blog about!  Let’s start with our last Dallas visit!  Adam and I went up to see Sheri and Steve in May and had a GREAT time!  We left late Saturday night because of Adam’s band banquet.  Adam drove and I’ll admit I slept (thanks, babe!) and we got there around one in the morning.  We stayed up talking until around three and then slept in the next day.

Sheri made a wonderful breakfast for us, and then it was off to see another live theatre performance!  I know I’ve blogged about Theatre 3 before, but that place is fantastic!  Here are a couple of pictures of us and the theatre. 

The play that we watched was “Lost in the Stars” and was amazing.  There were some POWERFUL voices and some cute child stars!  After that, we decided to go stuff our faces!

On the way in to the Galleria, we saw a Bentley Convertible.  Wow.  This HUGE muscley guy came out while we were staring and was very nice to us.  He and his friend carried Louis Vuitton shopping bags and radiated money.  We figured that they were Dallas Cowboys or something and wished that J.T. or Ginger were there to tell us!

We ate at The Oceanaire which is amazing and praised for their mouth-watering crab cakes.  We all ate until we were absolutely stuffed!  I wish I could remember what we had, but that’s what happens when you don’t blog for a month and a half!  Steve and I particularly enjoyed the pickled herring that they bring out to you in your appetizer plate.

We had the “food sleeps” when we got back home.  We talked for awhile and then decided to call it a night.  The next morning, Sheri made us breakfast with some of our leftovers from Oceanaire!  Steve had ordered a big plate of hash browns that we had eaten maybe half of.  It was wonderful the next morning with bacon and a side of fruit!

Sadly, we had to leave that day (we had the day off for a school “weather” day that we never used).  We decided that since this was our last trip to Dallas, I still needed to get my eyebrows threaded which is something I’d been wanting to do for a while.  We went back to the mall so as to get it done quickly.  Here’s the video:

It was quite an experience.  It did hurt more than waxing, so I’m not really sure what the hype is about.  Basically, the guy loops the thread around a “line” of hair and then pulls it out quickly all in that line.  It does make for even “rows” of hair, but the chick that waxes my eyebrows does the same thing.  The worst part was that since I chose to go to someone in the mall they sat me back on a chair facing the skylight.  SO, my eyes were watering like crazy the whole time, and then of course the pain made them water a bit more, so it was a big soppy mess (which thankfully you can’t see in the video).  I felt like a ginormous baby since I never even have a bit of tear in my eyes when I get them waxed.  Whatever.

After that, we ate at Which Wich which I had never eaten at before (like how I threw that extra “which” in…ah, English nerds).  It was great!  Sheri and I split a sandwich and felt pretty cool check marking all the options we wanted. 

I love this one of "surprised" Steve!

 We hung out there for a little while, and then it was time to pack up and go home.  It was a fantastic last trip to Dallas while Sheri and Steve lived there, and we tried to spend as much time as we could with them.  Thanks for the fun, guys!