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National Night Out 2016

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Last Tuesday was National Night Out. I remembered seeing a flyer about it when I went to pay the water bill last month. Naturally, though, life of being a mommy, wife, teacher, and everything else us women are supposed to be I had forgotten about it. Thankfully I got a reminder as we drove past the park in our small town later than we would have two years ago.

As we drove past we noticed the rock climbing wall and bounce house. The girls asked if we could go and at first I told them no. I am sure I had my reasoning, being tired was probably one of them; however, after getting home we decided to Kendry (our new dog) for a walk. What started out as a walk around the neighborhood quickly became a walk to the park.

fun-at-the-park

I was glad we went! They had trinkets from different people around the city. I even learned that now they say “Stop, Drop, Cover your Face, and Roll!” The Gardians of the Children came by to give us more information about how they help communities and even let the kids sit on their bikes!

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There was pizza from Dominos, hot dogs, and water. The girls, Kendry, and I opted for the Pizza and water. Don’t worry- dog just ate crust!

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In between all the fun I have already mentioned the dog made sure to get lots of love from people, the girls went in the bounce truck, we waited to see if we won a prize, the girls went on a train ride where they seemed a little cramped, and Veah even managed to get a little bit further on the rock climbing wall than she did at the Outdoor School. I am fully convinced one day she will get all the way up!

rock-climbing-wall-at-the-park-on-national-night-outWe came home even more tired but happy. I’m fully convinced we have to live and let live!

 

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Houndstooth Coffee

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One of the best parts of the weekend was getting to spend some time with my blogger friends. They get me in ways that most people do not.

Naturally, to feed our curious souls we had to try out a new coffee place. Anyone who knows the coffee scene in Austin has heard of Houndstooth. Plus, it was a hop, skip, and jump from the Hilton.

We met in the lobby of the hotel at 7:30 and were to Houndstooth by 7:48. So we looked around finding this awesome guitar

The cool guitar in Austin

Across the street we found this gem.

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Is that not beautiful?

By 7:50 we were not the only ones waiting. The man that let us in definitely had that hipster vibe to him. He was informative, telling Carol what everything was as I happily snapped pictures and waited for my latte. Diah ordered a triple shot of espresso… girl must have been tired!

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Carol got an iced coffee and we chatted as the guy on the bench looked over a magazine.

The coffee was okay. I had to put sugar in it which was a but disappointing. Carol and Diah both liked theirs, saying it was better than the coffee they got at Easy Tiger the first day by a little bit.

TV Show Mansion

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Deep in the Valley…

Of Waxahachie, Texas lies a house that one has seen before. In a television show a long, long time ago.

One more clue? It’s Halloween(ish) related.

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If you can name that show you get five extra bonus points. 😉

I will post tomorrow with the answer!

Stonedeck Pizza

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Hubs told me last spring that we needed to check out Stonedeck Pizza’s lunch buffet while the girls were at their grandparents over the summer. I agreed since I knew that once a week I would be able to get away from life at least for a few hours.

Yet, as life is always happening, sometimes the goals get pushed to the side.

In September, the whole family hustled on down to the Invasion car show, where hubs fixed up a car he was working on and we walked through the different events and cars.

Hubby working at Invasion 2016

I have to say, it’s pretty awesome to know people when you go to events and the longer we live here, the more people we know both in the car world and outside of it. I got to watch two of my friends participate in the pinup contest and one of them even won!

Walking and gawking ended up making us hungry though. Originally we saw Serious Pizza which had ginormous pizzas. We considered it but kept on walking, looking to find something at the show. Yet, when we ended up at Stonedeck hubs and I mutually agreed this was the place.

When we stepped in the person at the front told us to find a seat. There was a corner to the right that had a small buffet. Most people think of a buffet as a large area, so I was a little concerned. The waiter came by, took our drink order and told us to head over to the buffet. Once I got over there it was surprising how much food there actually was. They had soups, salads, several pizza varieties, macaroni and cheese (to which my oldest probably ate all of), and lasagna.

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I had some pizza and kale salad. The last time I attempted a kale salad it didn’t turn out too well but theirs was definitely on point. They also brought out several pizzas while we were there, each with their own flavor. The company didn’t stick with the normal hum drum. They even had pizza roll ups which were not much up my alley but the kids loved it.

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The place had skylights and lots of cool pictures. I think having character is important, maybe not as much as the food is, but still important. Who wants to go to a boring place to eat food? Think Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives!

I would definitely recommend it to a person looking for a good place to eat in Deep Ellum during the lunch buffet hours. Giving it a B plus.

BlogHer Food 2016: Friday

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I really wasn’t sure how I was going to navigate my story line with BlogHer Food this year. As I went through my pictures it just made sense to do Friday and then Saturday. Yet, there was a whole other category I wanted to address… the vendors! They help make the event even more fun!

Anyways, back to Friday!

Really, though, this goes back to BlogHer 2015. What is most funny about that event was that the people I consider my “crew” are people that I met online after the event. One was an awesome retiree who lived in New York City. She informed me in April that she had signed up to go to Austin. When she told me that, I quickly followed suit!

The original plan was to meet up Thursday night and go see the bats; however, we were unable to just leave from Hubbard and head straight to Austin. Instead, we had to come back to the Dallas area and run a few errands. We did not make it into Austin until 10.

Which meant I slept in until 7, knowing that I had to be at the Conference by 8. Trust me though, I thoroughly enjoyed that extra sleep. Thankfully my mom was there with the girls so she drove me to the hotel as I put my make up on and we chatted like two teenage girls who hadn’t seen each other in six months. When they let me out, I walked into the entrance area, then up the escalators to this…

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Where the excitement begins…

I very quickly went to get my badge where the sweet girl getting my stuff together said, “I love the name of your blog” and she chuckles before saying, “I’m hungry”. I told her I hope she got a break soon because the breakfast was supposed to be great. She explained she was reading my badge.

Really? I had them put “I’m hungry”? And then I remembered why. I’m hungry- for food, for excitement, for change. I’m hungry could mean so many things!

After gathering my stuff and putting my badge on, I went to the main area. My friend, Carol, greeted me with a “I’d know you from anywhere!” Another awesome friend I met only a few days before, Diah, welcomed me with a sweet smile and warm hug. It was a feeling like no other, knowing I had a tribe! I remember having blogging ladies talk about their tribe and wondering what it felt like. Let me tell you, it’s AWESOME! What’s even better, we don’t stop anyone from talking and hanging out, we just blended… I hope you all understand. Also, I hope you all understand that I had to take a selfie of us cute ladies…

Which you can find on my Instagram. The picture was to pixel-y.

Next up, people talked to us as a group. One of the best Power point parts I had to share.

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We were talking about the issues food bloggers have. Number two is completely surprising to me. How can people not be food obsessed weirdos?!

I will tell you all that the biggest thing for me was getting to interact-from afar- with Irvin Lin from Eat the Love.

I went to his panel at BlogHer and followed him pretty regularly. I find it odd that I can talk to celebrities like they are everyday people but you get me around a full-time blogger and my knees go weak. Seeing him at all the different events was scary awesome.

After the general session, I went to a few sponsored events. One was with Riedel Wine Glasses and let me tell you… I could not believe the difference a wine glass makes! The lady sitting next to me and I were shocked how different the wine tastes depending on the glass it was in. I hope to do a video on their glasses soon.

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The second one was from Food Insights and it combined a cooking lesson with mindful eating. The pickled beets were amazing! Yes, you read that right!

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Afterwards, I met my “tribe” at their Facebook lesson. It was so inspiring! I am hoping that starting next week I will post a live video on Tuesdays and a video made beforehand on Thursdays. And this inspiration came from me witnessing the five minutes of the session!

We went to some of the vendors (coming later, I promise) and then watched the Smollett family cook some mashed potatoes and chicken and talk about their ratings with one another.

The ladies and I didn’t stay for all of the welcome reception, but grabbed a few nibbles and headed to watch the bats. The view and the sense of friendship was the perfect way to end the day.

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diah-and-the-girls-rocking-austin

BlogHer Food Day 2

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The night before, after we had left from seeing the bats and were headed back to the hotel, I got a text from my friend in Dallas whom I met after BlogHer in New York. The text said, “Good news is I’m in Austin, bad news is I forgot my wallet.” I was super excited, I gasped. That, of course, got the attention of my family. How exciting to have another writer friend to make the weekend even more memorable!

That night I could barely sleep, waking up at 4 AM and just lying there in the hotel bed. I probably should have gotten up and been productive but that just didn’t happen. Instead, I flipped through Facebook and tried to crash next to Veah, who is the big snuggly type thank goodness!

The excitement that kept me from sleeping all night also allowed me to be the first one in the Lobby at 7:30 for coffee. We had decided the night before we would head to Houndstooth.

breakfast-at-houndstooth

The conversation was going so well, we might have slipped up and even talked politics!

After a fabulous cup of coffee, we went to breakfast, which was not nearly as impressive as day one. Tekisha showed up and I introduced my friends. I was so excited for Tekisha and Carol to meet because I had talked about Carol to Tekisha many of times at our meet ups!

Then they began the morning with the Pitch. The Pitch is similar to Shark Tank but we are not mean. It’s women supporting women. I will be honest though, it got boring for me. The first woman talked of an oatmeal style poptart for breakfast, the second was for an app that could help people looking for a private event bartender, the third a woman that created a spray for fruits and vegetables to help them last longer and the fourth was a woman who owned a food truck in Austin that served grilled cheese with 10% of her proceeds going to help end slavery…

Wait! I know her! Okay… it’s a bit of a STTTRRREEETTTCCCCHHH (big deep breath) but here goes: My high school English/Journalism Teacher whom I still love to this day, her daughter (who was about 6 years younger than me) joined a mission group after she graduated college. The mission group went around to different countries for a year and spread the gospel. During her time there she met Avery and decided to move to Austin when she got back. She roomed with Avery and helped her build the business. I was friends with my teacher and was watching her daughter’s exciting adventures and finally added her on Facebook. I talked to her last year about doing a blog post on SAvery food truck but at the time it just didn’t pan out. Maybe, I hope, it will soon!

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The Oatmeal Poptarts Won. Hmph.

On Day Two I had already planned to go to Working with Brands and Grad School for Bloggers: How to Take it to the Next Level.

Biggest take away from Working with Brands? I need more readers… But I guess that means I need to put out more content and better content as well. It’s a full circle kinda thing, like tires one keeps the other rolling.

Then, lunch. RecipeLion decided to host a few of us who sent them a message on the Facebook page. We all met up and walked together. One girl, sitting across from me, I kept saying “I know you. I’ve seen you from somewhere…” Totally stumped. Then she mentioned haven been at BlogHer Food in 2014. Oh yes! I Instagram Stalked her for a short while when I saw the picture of her and Ree Drummonds (aka the Pioneer Woman) and read how funny she was!

The girl sitting next to me is currently in college to become a FACS teacher. She was asking for pointers and I’m over here going “Whoa! She’s asking me for pointers!” And I think I might pitch to speak at BlogHer Conference this summer… Life’s too short not to, right?

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Lunch was held at El Sol y La Luna. The decor was cool but my food was not to hot… I asked the girls around me what their thoughts were and each of them agreed. The two that had alcohol did say that their drinks were good though. On our way back almost everyone in our group decided to go get a tattoo… drops mike. Yep.

Okay, back to reality.

aarti-giving-us-a-great-speech

Next up, grad school. The panel was pretty stellar. It included Aarti from Aarti’s Party (who also happened to win Season Six of Next Food Network Star) and some other awesome ladies. I took inspiration but nothing too concrete home from that panel discussion.

Naturally, being the hungry girls we were, we had to hit the vendors up for one last hoorah before the event was over.

tekisha-and-myself

Once that was over, we separated for a bit. Carol and Tekisha went back to their rooms, while Diah and I went shopping and got some coffee. Man that coffee was good too!

The closing party was not at all what I expected. It was very chill. I have yet to go to a BlogHer Conference party which  I hear are a bit more exciting.

Then again, there is always Orlando…

Memphis Lights at the Zoo

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I’ve been waiting to write this post since December 27th last year. It’s October 29th. Way to procrastinate, Tiffany!

Obviously I will not remember this the way I did ten months ago.

I do remember how extremely warm it was and everyone of us were a little concerned…

then we got the texts. Three or four “Are you okay?”

“Yes, we are in Tennessee”.

The tornado that hit Dallas came about 1/4th of a mile from our house.

Yet, we are safe and warm in Memphis, at the Zoo. Here’s a little bit of a recap:

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I took this picture for my friend Carol, I am fairly sure. Even though I am a Christian, I respect other religions and absolutely loved that the Zoo made sure to remember everyone. “Treadle, treadle, treadle… I made it out of clay, You realize that Christmas ain’t the only holiday” (You can thank Straight No Chasers for that one).

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There were moving lights, which was pretty neat. Santa’s fishing pole moved with the fish on it!

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We didn’t go into the petting zoo but opted to take the train ride around the petting area instead. My nephew was with us and he really loved the train ride! Hubby and I managed to take a cute photo before we began rolling too…

the-occasional-good-picture-of-hubs-and-me-on-the-train-at-the-memphis-zoo

The best picture of the night had to be the lights on the bridge that we went under. The littlest one of ours was a bit tripped out by it though and daddy carried her.

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This was just the tip of the iceburg. They also had reindeer and an ice skating area. Very cool place! If you live in west Tennessee,and want to walk among pretty lights, the Memphis zoo is highly recommended!

Halloween 2016

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Seeing as it is only a few days before Thanksgiving and I never even talked about Halloween… Well, there is no time like the present, right?

We had a fun day at school, watching Hocus Pocus and preparing for/relaxing after our lunch party. The lunch party was filled with cool things like a watermelon brain and swamp water.

The real fun started after work, though. The girls and I went to get my Starbucks treat I try to get every year. Did you know that Starbucks has a drink special that they do only on Halloween? This year is was Frappula. Strawberries and dark chocolate in a vanilla base. It was pretty good. I liked the Frankenfrapp that they did two years ago better though. It had a not overly strong minty taste.

Then Linkette and Princess Peach (from Mario) got ready to go. We decided to go to Waxahachie’s big event this year. All of the churches got together and held one big event versus having several separate events. This was a really smart idea because it meant there was more going on, from games, to bounce houses, to a rock wall and small carnival game! There were people there with snacks for sale.

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The girls really enjoyed playing games. We went to several, probably around fifteen. With each game booth giving the average of three pieces of candy, they came home with a decent amount but not so much that I had to worry about them getting cavities!

waxahachie-knows-how-to-make-halloween-fun

The main thing is they had fun and created a good memory. Now, let’s bring on the next great memory- Thanksgiving 2016. What are you thankful for?

Me: I am thankful for my family, my friends, my job that allows me to do what I love, my passion and the future that is headed with that passion, God, and YOU! Thank you for all that you do!


Twisted Root Burger- Waco

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I had seen the quirky sign several times on our way to “chill” and do whatever in Waco or Austin. And yet, this burger joint was still not on my radar. I wanted to go there one day but this time, Magnolia Markets was on my mind.

Hey- Chip and Joanna are cool, and don’t say if you didn’t live in that area you wouldn’t go at some point. Plus the place is loaded with food trucks, which means everyone could get something different.

But when we went it was the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. Needless to say, the place was packed! So I turned around in a car repair shop and asked my fellow teacher if she wanted to go somewhere else. She agreed it was a bit too packed and we were on a tight schedule (each having things that we had absolutely had to get done now that school was out). I told her, “Well, you know Waco better than me, so you pick.” She mentioned somewhere I didn’t hear but I eargerly  said, “Let’s Go!”

I totally trust her. And for good reason… we ended up here:

Just off of Baylor University, this burger joint was as fun on the inside as it was on the outside.

My girls fit right in.

They ordered a unicorn shake, since they did not get to try the unicorn frappiccino. I had heard that the unicorn frappiccino was disgusting. This was not.

And I don’t know if you noticed in the picture but on the table next to the shake is the name Rachel Green. Please tell me you know who that is! (Hint: I’ll be there for you)

Anyways, this is how they call your order out. They have other cool names, like Chewbaca and other movie names. I have to say, they might have done it on purpose, they might not have but Rachel Green was the perfect name for my group. Three of my dear friends!

Nevaeh opted for the Western burger, topped with Jalapenos and fried onions.

Bre went way more simple with the All American meal. We all ate some of the fries. It was simple though, with bacon on a cheeseburger. Either I didn’t take pictures of mine and my teacher friend’s lunch or they have since been deleated.

She had the baby kale ceaser salad. She was so sweet and let me try a bite, it was delicious. I opted for a fattening Big Tex, complete with avocados and fried onions as well.

The girls and I opted for the typical hamburger but we coul have had variety of other exotic meats, such as vension, elk, and rabbit. Their condiments are all cut in store and even the ketcup, mustard, and mayo are made in house. They try to purchase everything locally but opt for sustainable over local. That gives them BIG bonus points in this sustainable food systems grad school student!

It’s not a wonder this place was on an episode of Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives (season 6, episode 4: A Burger, A Bowl and a Slice).

My verdict? Five out of Five. Go ahead, give them a shot. You might even see me there!

4th of July Weekend Part 1: Kemah Beach

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I am fairly certain I have spend more time in hotel rooms in the past six weeks than I have in the past three years and believe me, there is no complaining. I LOVE traveling (hence, the name of the blog).

The weekend before the 4th of July, the hubs and I went on a little vacation of our own. We went to the coast of Texas and had a pretty good time…

We left Friday night really late… around ten-ish. He got off work around seven and we went to get dinner down near where we used to live. Then we had to drive another forty-five minutes to the new place and get packed up which made for a late start.

That meant we didn’t get as much driving in Friday night into Saturday morning. I think we stopped a little bit before we got to Austin. Guess what hotel we stayed at? I am totally digging their Texas shaped waffles!

He didn’t give much guidance as to where we were going, so I began to look at stuff near Austin. There is a lot of graffiti art I still want to go see down there.

Instead, we headed south towards Houston. I didn’t get to view much of the scenery because I was working on a paper for school (ah, the joys of grad school) but the stops at Buckees was always a nice retreat.

Geez, I haven’t done a blog post on Buckees. I have got to change that. Maybe an adventure for this coming weekend before I head back to Tennessee!

Anyways… back to the story.

Yes!

Yes! You have officially been invaded with Snapchat pictures! I feel my life has been a success. No, seriously though, I thought that filter was just about spot on with the background.

I had never been to Houston before that picture so naturally I loved getting to see a new big city.

Still not as pretty as Dallas… or New York City. But, hey, you can’t win ’em all.

We got through Houston really quick which hubs noted was because they have highways with eight lanes (Dallas’ biggest that I have seen had five). On the other side of Houston though it began to go slow, so we opted to take a different route which meant instead of going to Galveston, we headed towards Kemah Beach.

I am telling you- one day I will be able to surf. I don’t care how long it takes me.

Hubs was ready to eat before we got into downtown Houston (he spotted a Smashburger) but we managed to make it to Kemah before I got hungry. Once we got there though, I got hungry quick. But there were other things that had to be done first.

Like looking at all the big boats that were meant for the gulf and, quite possibly, the ocean. We walked around the docks and then boarded a free farry in order to get to the board walk.

I didn’t think much of it but hubs said as we were getting off that the reason why they didn’t just create a bridge to take us along that short of a path was so the boats could get in and out of the docking area. The captain of the ferry was very impressed with the fact that hubs had figured it out. He said a lot of people end up asking him why they have the ferry.

I don’t have any pictures of the board walk because I didn’t find it very impressive. I mean, I guess when you’re used to places like Ocean City or even Biloxi, Kemah’s board walk was very unimpressive. They did have one cool looking wooden coaster.

After walking the boardwalk for a bit, we decided that something simple would be good now and we would get something big later in the day. We opted for the Cadillac Bar, which was a Mexican restaurant nearby.

We scarfed down some chips and ordered our drinks. B had salsa and I had what I am guessing was supposed to be a waterdown version of guacamole (it wasn’t bad though). For drinks, B got an unsweet tea (his usual) and I ordered a water and we split an adult beverage that had grapefruit in it. I am not a grapefruit fan but it was pretty good.

Earlier in the week I had a bout of baby fever that was very quickly squelched by the kid sitting with the family next to us. Don’t get me wrong, he was cute as a bug but he talked the entire time they were there and every other word out of his mouth was mom. I did find it humourous though when he was watching the boats and a sail boat with the black flag that marks a pirate ship drove past the restaurant. He was mesmerized by the pirate ship.

Despite the fact that we had scarfed down the nachos (I like saying the word scarfed) and salsa, we ordered a plate of nachos as a meal to split. The chips were actual cut up thick tortillas shells that had been deep fried. It was amazing for the empty stomach. It also paired really well with the drink.

Here might be why the Cadillac Restuarant got its name. There is car stuff all over the place. It was right up B’s alley and, to be honest, this restaurant I would recommend if you are going to Kemah.

If you want to go to a good boardwalk, I recommend Galveston…

Overflow Coffee in Hillsboro

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One of the things I absolutely love is going to coffee shops. I probably spend way too much money on coffee.

And you know what? I don’t care.

Some people smoke, some people purchase alcohol more than they need. Hey, we all have our vices. At least mine is going somewhere local and supporting our local economy.

Did you know that for every one hundred dollars spent locally, you are keeping twenty-five more dollars in your local economy? Yep. Check it out here.

Anyways, back to the topic at hand.

Overflow opened in mid-July. I can’t give the exact date but I do remember kind of thinking I could work there and then telling the owner a few days after that thought that I had an interview in Rio Vista…

You know, the interview that lasted five minutes before the principal asked if I wanted the job. I love my school.

To which she told me most locals call it “Rye Vista”. Glad she told me before hand!

She was right… kind of. The older people in the two call it that, there are some that call it “Ry-o Vista” and most people at school call it Rio Vista or just Rio.

Anyways, I have been going there on and off ever since.

This morning I went in and she showed me a cookbook she had either been given or purchased. It was an old Home Economics cookbook featuring food from around the world. So cool! I love old cookbooks.

To be honest, that’s what I love about this store the most- the customer service. They do a great job of making you feel like you belong and you’re at home- no matter who you are.

For example, I was a bit bummed when I found out that they are doing art work from the local schools and then giving t-shirts to the kids who were featured. Don’t get me wrong- it’s a great idea but my kids don’t go to Hillsboro Schools so they would not get to participate. When we talked about it, she handed me a shirt and said “Here, give this to your little one”.

She wears that shirt like it’s going out of style.

The food is fabulous and they have a pretty good selection as well.

I will say the only downfall is the coffee is hit or miss. I blame this on the fact that they have a manual espresso machine and they are learning. The daughter of the owner made this beautiful artwork this morning.

Even better, I let her pick the flavor of the espresso this morning and it was the best coffee I have had there so far. I will be ordering the vanilla latte for sure next time.

Who would have thought something so simple.

So if you find yourself in downtown Hillsboro and are looking for something besides Starbucks- here’s your sign. They pride themselves on their friendliness and they will make you feel like a local. Might even make you want to stay!

See you tomorrow, Overflow!

We’re Going to VidCon!!!

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I just had to shake my head.

In 2011 all I wanted to do was go to Blogher Conference. I spent hours at the tanning salon I worked at daydreaming about going.

In 2015, I went to the one in New York City and it changed my life.

In 2016, I went to BlogHer Food in Austin.

Now? It’s a double kind of day! This morning I signed us up for VidCon- a vlogger’s conference in Los Angeles this summer.

AND? I signed up to be a speaker at BlogHer Creator Conference this summer.

Will I get it? I don’t know. But it never hurts to try!

The whole reason I shook my head though- I can’t figure out how a day or two ago I whined about every aspect of my life?

I’m getting somewhere… slowly.

This blog, in many ways, is a representation of that journey.

I’m so glad you are here.

Now? We plan for LA in June and NYC in August!!!

Rolled Ice Cream

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Nevaeh, the oldest girl, has been asking me for a while to take her to get rolled ice cream.

After ice skating lessons last night we finally went.

The ice cream was very creamy and, to be honest, not to my liking.

I guess I am a bit stuck up after my first rolled ice cream experience last year at Chills 360. It could be that the ice cream didn’t have as much extras in it either.

I don’t know.

I just know that it wasn’t for me.

The girls enjoyed it though and I am happy to be able to give them the experience.

Although this summer I will take them to Deep Ellum so they can have all the fun of their names being written in the ice cream and all the goodies placed on top.

For the time being, here’s an overview of what rolled ice cream is.

The first thing they do is pour the ice cream base onto that super cold pan and move it around a bit with the metal spatualas. By the point in which I took this photo, they had been moving it around for a few seconds and you can see it was already getting chunky.

Once it reaches a consistency they are happy with, they roll it flat. Here’s where the people at 360 write your name or whatever in the ice cream. That is fun to watch!

Next they take their spatulas and roll the ice cream up, hence the name rolled ice cream!

Afterwards they pick it up with tongs and add it to a bowl, this store drizzles it with syrup if you want and will add whipped cream. Since the girls opted for an Oreo ice cream, they got one on top as well.

Yes, we love Oreos in this house.

As far as the rest of Orchid City Cafe, we will be coming back. They sell boba tea as well as burgers with fries that look drool worthy.

Count me in!

The Ultimate Road Trip 2025: 2,736 days

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This is probably my first time talking about this but for some reason hubs and I cannot get it off our mind.

Our youngest girl is inching up to Junior High. This is a sad day for momma.

Until Nevaeh was a year old, I wished for things to speed up. By her first birthday she was walking, talking, and acting like most toddlers. Smart girl.

It taught me to enjoy every step of the journey.

Which includes having adult children.

Before I know it that day will come, for Nevaeh first and then in 2025 for Bre.

Once the baby has flown the coop, momma and daddy will as well.

We plan to take a year off and travel the USA in a teardrop camper looking for things like this:

Yes, the World’s Tallest Chair!

Or whatever we find.

We plan to do it all in our Ford Country Sedan Station Wagon and a Teardrop Camper.

Goal? To be in New York City for Christmas.

Sigh. Love.

The Grind Mac N Cheese

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I have to make sure to put mac n cheese because I have a coffeeshop review coming up called the Grind as well.

When we went to mom’s last week the one place I wanted to try was the Grind.

They had crazy looking milkshakes and fresh burgers. What’s not to love?

http://coffeelovetravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/img_1272.mov

If you saw a milkshake like that, wouldn’t you want to go?

It seems most people from the area do, as we got there around noon and had to wait for forty-five minutes.

Waiting was quite nice because instead of staying there, they give you an approximate time and then take your phone number, calling you when they are ready.

During our wait we went to Kirkland’s in downtown Martin.

http://coffeelovetravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/img_1256.mov

The place is quirky, from their decor to their menu.

It screams let’s have fun. Being across the street from a university, this only makes sense.

The burgers only egg it on, having neat varieties such as the Big Kahuna Burger that Veah and I split. This burger has teriyaki sauce, pineapples, cheese, and a burger.

Mom got the So Cal burger that has avocado and bean sprouts on it. Plus bacon. Almost every burger should have bacon on it.

I will say, the Luther is not a burger I really want to attempt. If you have, please let me know your thoughts!

My recommendations when coming to the Grind?

  1. Split it. The five of us split an appetizer (fried mac n cheese balls- picture below). Veah and I split the burger, fries, and shake. I was overly full.
  2. Ask for the milkshake to come out after the burger. It’s truly a dessert and should be savored. I was worried we would not be able to eat our burger with the milkshake coming out first.

All-in-all, great trip. It comes highly recommended.


Fun in Austin: Picnik, Graffiti Park, and Modcloth

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Alright, so it’s been a few days since I last wrote.

That will be the last time for a while because I have big, BIG plans coming up (more on that in a later post).

Anyways, the reason I chose to take a few days off from writing was because my family and I went on a mini-vacation to Austin.

Hubs went for a Chop class. He enjoyed it immensely and at least got hands on experience from the event.

The girls and I explored the area. I’m going to break down the events as we did them and I hope you enjoy!

 

We started our day off at Picnik.

I have been dying to try this restaurant out since I went to Blogher Food back in 2016 and was so grateful to get to go this time.

I must say, it will be on regular rotation when we come to Austin.

Yes, it’s seven dollars for a cup of coffee; however, it’s bulletproof coffee and has no sugar, no milk. Still tastes close to what you’d get at any other coffee shop.

The food is all local and gluten free which gives them a one-up in my opinion.

Added note: Their chipotle aioli is the most amazing sauce I have ever tried. It’s on my list of things to make now!

I had originally planned to go to Modcloth after Picnik but we still had almost an hour and a half before they opened.

My kids had no idea what to do since nothing was really opened so we went to Walmart.

Yes, Walmart.

We bought spray paint and then headed to graffiti park.

On our way there we stopped by some artwork and took a picture. We haven’t hit up hardly any of the art throughout the city but it was fun to stop and pose when we found something worth stopping for.

Austin is known for it’s art.

Sadly, they are turning this area into apartments. They are relocating graffiti park but it won’t be the same, with the beautiful views.

My narwhal loving artist spray painted droopy the narwhal while Breanna and I got a little bit sappy. She’d kill me if I showed hers and I prefer to live, so we’ll move on.

From there we went to Goodwill Boutique and looked for some pinup clothes (hey- we’re in Austin, you never know what we’ll find). Nevaeh found a dress but it was a bit too small. Not having much luck, we headed to Modcloth.

I am not sure how to describe the store. The workers were super sweet and very helpful, the atmosphere was funky and fun but I struggled to find what I was looking for at the store. I tried on a ton of stuff and only ended up liking a sweater and a pair of shorts.

I did, however, find an outfit that I want to purchase and set aside for the road trip of 2025. Or wear it on our summer road trip to California.

But the upcoming car show seemed to take over my thought process for this trip and we ended up going to San Antonio.

More on that next time….

VidCon 2018: Day 1

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Before we got to VidCon, Veah had figured out exactly what classes she wanted to go to:

We quickly realized that this was not going to work. At first because she had done the work herself but did consider what Bre and I would want to go to as well. Internet food was mine and Creator Choreography was for Bre, for example.

As the day went on though, the girls found they were having a better time in the Expo hall so we spent most of the next few days there. I made them each go to two more classes and went to several more by myself. Next year, they are going to pick out a minimum of two classes/day to attend.

The expo hall is great for those going as true community members- the ones who are just there to see YouTube celebrities. If you want to grow your YouTube channel though, attending classes is important.

Anyways, we loved our walk over, marveling at the beautiful palm trees and almost perfect weather.

After getting our wristbands we headed outside to get a picture by the Vidcon sign (which, to Veah’s giddiness, had gradient this year).

One thing I mentioned in our Tips for Vidcon post was that there is no point in waiting in that long line, in my opinion. This in between time was when we reconsidered the classes we were going to that day, as well as when we rode the ferris wheel. By the time we were done with that, the girls and I could enter the expo hall.

To the girls’ excitement the very first booth on our left when we walked in was the Animal Jam booth. Next to them on the left? The Hubert’s Lemonade booth. Both of these booths were large and had a lot to do in them. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time in these two booths.

Originally the reason I bought tickets was because Veah was gaining a following as an Animal Jam gamer and, likewise, enjoyed watching the “Jambassadors”- the kids who played, YouTubed it, and had 10,000+ followers. The picture above is of her a Bepper.

If you have never heard of Animal Jam- it’s an online game owned by National Geographic. I love it because the girls are not able to share their names or any personal information. They have people who moderate the game 24/7. As a matter of fact- I don’t even know Bepper’s real name.

When she started researching the other people at the expo hall, Hubert’s became a bit of an obsession as well. She has always liked lemonade and Hubert’s is no different- except they give you stuff for your lids. She got enough at the event that she will be getting a free Instax camera and EOS lip balm.

As you can see, Bre liked the ball pit.

There were other drinks there as well, including the Almond milk based Califia coffee. Being a coffee lover, I had to check out this booth. It was very smooth and blended well together, my favorite being the black and white, but the samples were small- I went back several times and tried every flavor. Found out the next day that another booth had 8 oz espressos… but we’ll talk about that tomorrow!

For food there was the popcorn at the Genius Kitchen booth, which you’ll see in the video.

Speaking of food, the Internet food class was fabulous. If you’ve never heard of Nerdy Nummies– click on the link and check her post out. She is GREAT!

We finished the day off with YouTube on stage. We were not originally planning to go to this but we won the “lottery” they did and were able to attend. It was so much fun- getting to see Rosanna Pansino (Nerdy Nummies) and many other acts on stage. We also caught a light up ball.

Well, that’s it for today. See you tomorrow with another great post. 😉

Bye loves!

Southern Illinois’ Hippie Hollow

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Can I tell you a secret?

I have a love of waterfalls.

Growing up I was such an indoors kid. I did swim team in the summer but that was about as outdoorsy as I got.

As an adult, I am making up for it! I enjoy hiking, stand up paddleboarding, camping, and swimming (even with the fish).

Needless-to-say, this was a treat.

Growing up in Southern Illinois, I never knew places as beautiful as this existed eighty miles from where I lived. Heck, if we went that far south it was to go to the mall in Marion (which, by the way, is in a sad, sad state at the moment) or Carbondale.

No matter if you are a friend from my childhood, just happened to stumble upon my blog and live in Southern Illinois, or are planning a trip to that area- welcome!

Be sure to take the next Southern exit (before or after) exit 36- Lick Creek Road. Hippie Hollow is off Regent Road. Take a right off the exit and then the next right after that.

Hoping next summer to camp out here for the night!

Two Guns, Arizona: A Ghost Town History

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I grew up knowing I was a bit different. I crave adventure and excitement.

One of the reasons I got married at a young age was probably that adventure and excitement. You know what though? I knew that my husband was no different than I was.

It’s not a wonder then that when my husband was researching our Route 66 trip from Dallas (not on the Route, but that was Day 0) to LA and he found Two Guns we had to go visit.

And, yes, our kids objected. One even refused to get out of the car because she was afraid a ghost would get her.

It was in the middle of the day!

Given the history though, I can’t blame her.

The address itself now sits within Winslow, Arizona territory because when the original owners of the land applied for a zip code they were denied. Really, though, we need to start at the beginning.

In 1878, the Apache attacked a Navajo encampment killing everyone but three girls who were taken into captivity. Naturally, the chief was upset and sent his men to find them. They found the Apache’s in a cave because of the smoke to cook and keep warm.

The Navajo men went back to their chief who sent them with more men to attack. The men used sage bush and driftwood to start a fire at the front end of the cave. The Apache men begged for mercy and were going to be spared until the Navajo asked about the girls they kept. After hesitation, the Apache understood the girls were murdered. Therefore, they shot the men and then used the ammunition to shoot into the fire, causing the flames to get worse and the men inside the cave died as well.

The two set of indians never fought again and both have warned that the cave and surrounding land was cursed.

Naturally, the story doesn’t end there though. In 1922, Louis and Earle Cundiff purchased 320 acres around the cave and put in a gas station for travelers along the Sante Fe Highway (which would eventually become Route 66 and then I-40).

Stopping there, Henry Miller saw the potential in the area and rented the space from the Cundiffs. He created a zoo, a restaurant, and tours into the cave where the Indians had passed. He had cleared it out and started selling the skulls as well.

Naturally problems arose from here. After an argument in 1926, Miller killed Earle. After getting out of prison he continued to live there but was hostile to the customers.

His building burned down in 1929.

Louise and her new husband continued to live there and run the place, rebuilding the burnt down place. It grew given the new Route 66 and in 1950 they sold it.

The new owners built an improved gas station and the KOA campground came in (hookups are still there by the way); however, the station burned down in 1971 and has been abandoned since then.

Here’s a video of our journey:

Sources of information include:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/two-guns

https://www.abandonedspaces.com/towns/two-guns-arizona-cursed-ghost-town-full-of-history-and-mystery.html

2018 VidCon Day 2

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I took a break for a few days from the vidcon posts to do some other posts. I’m still hoping for some balance but we are stuck with travel posts for a while. Such is life!

Anyways, VidCon day 2 was just as epic, if not more so, than day 1.

We knew to leave a little later and decided to do the Hollister’s booth outside before going in. Veah and I had to stand on one foot while eating a fruit by the foot (video below and on youtube) and Bre had to put a swedish on her forehead and get it to her mouth while playing a ukulele.

They had this really awesome 3D picture area right outside of their activity booth. Of course, the girls had to get a picture!

Afterwards we went inside where Veah got to talking to another Animal Jam fan, only to find out it was Snowy Claw (a Jambassador)!

Here’s a picture of her with Snowy Claw and Bepper.

Since it was still early, we decided to hit up the Beast. It comes by it’s name naturally as it is the largest inflatable obstacle course in the world. To say that it was killer is a bit of an understatement. At one point I genuinely didn’t think I was going to get through it.

It reminded me how much I need to get into shape!

What do you do when you need to get into shape? You go get ice cream!

This ice cream was special though because it reminded me of my childhood when my mom would take me to the ice cream stand after swim practice.

The stand sold this kind of ice cream. The girls got cotton candy flavored and I got mocha!

Afterwards, we headed back to the AJ booth where Veah met Bepper’s brother Appari as well at Sethyy.

Little did I know the best was yet to come!

After leaving the Animal Jam booth, we went over to the Cheez booth where Bre sang “A Million Dreams”, Veah and I sang, “The Greatest Show”.

Somebody got a video of that.

Scary.

Then the girls decided they wanted to go to the Mars Candy Booth- which had a little community inside the show room. I happened to find the best part of the community- the coffee shop, where Twix was shelling out small (but yet not enough to keep you begging) espressos with our picture on it!

Seriously- that’s so cool!

I went to a class after that on YouTubing for families and the girls headed over to the Hasbro booth to play their games in order to spin the wheel at the end.

Even after I got back though, the girls were only two games into five games.

Knowing that this was our only night with daddy, I told them we would come back there first thing Saturday morning.

We were headed to dinner…

 

P.S. Want to see it live? Check it out here:

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