Painting with friends

Hey all, I hope wherever you're at- you're staying warm!!  My poor husband actually had to fly into Chicago yesterday for a business meeting this week. One of his meetings have already been cancelled for tomorrow so he's going to try to fly home tonight. I cant believe the crazy cold temps going on there.
So last weekend was a super busy one. I had a birthday party last Friday and she wanted a group of us to go paint at one of the Painting with a Twist locations. That means we can drink wine while painting. This was my second time to attend a painting party and they really are sooo fun. As long as you know your limits , you wont be too disappointed. HAHA! I am terrible. I just don't have the skills to pull it off but I had fun doing it so I didn't care. I have the painting in my Goodwill bag in the garage as we speak.

Saturday morning, we went on a close breakfast run on the Harley and it was 35 degrees. We met a new couple at church a few weeks ago that also ride so we invited them to go with us.  We just rode a few miles away to the closest Cracker Barrel  which is always a great idea in my mind. I love their French toast! 

Later in the day, I  volunteered at an event in Denton to represent Refuge for Women of North Texas that i'm a core volunteer for.  That was for a few hours and it was great! I want to talk more about that on separate post regarding Human Trafficking.  A guy was there who was a producer for an independent movie on that topic and it was being released that day. There was also a young lady there who spoke about being a survivor of Sex trafficking and how she was sold to the mob by her own father because he was a gambler.  It was heart breaking but also empowering to see her strength!

We had dinner with some friends later that evening who we haven't seen in a few months so that was nice. 

Sunday, we went to church and after lunch, Todd rode the bike some more because it was a beautiful day but I went home and finished a book I was reading and took a nap.  It was a great weekend. This week, just focusing on work and taking care of my pups while Todd is out of town.  Kinda boring post today. LOL 

I'll talk to ya soon!! 

Tis the Season

Hey all, I got busy last week and didn't have/make time to blog .  I didn't want to NOT have one last post for the year and wish all of you a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS.
Last Sunday, Todd and I went on our annual DFW Texas Toy Run  and it was a great time as always. It was a long day for us because our friends we ride with live in Ft Worth so we get a 45 minute ride in before it even starts. So how the ride works, we have a meeting place in Dallas and a meeting place in Ft Worth. At same time, we start our ride and meet at the same time in a middle city Arlington where our Cowboys and Rangers stadiums are.  It was estimated around 4000 bikes in attendance.
People pull over on side of highway to watch every year and we throw out candy to the kids. Todd wore a hoodie which was perfect holder for my bag of candy. LOL.  The weather was perfect and I was so happy it wasn't as cold as previous years.

helmet hair

THIS my friends is 2 bicycles strapped to a motorcycle with helmets

I have met Santa a few times recently.  I went to see a friend a few days ago who was selling her jewelry at a outdoor market . There was a Santa there for Santa Paws and you can take your dogs for a picture with Santa. I didn't know beforehand or I would have taken my babies for their pic.
I was able to grab a photo with Santa and my friend Shari.

Todd and I went to one of our metroplex Harley shops and guess who was there? Yep, Santa!! So what else is a girl to do but get picture with him again.  

And to top off some Christmas spirit, have you seen a truck painted with chalkboard paint and an inflatable snowman in the back in your town? 

I have really enjoyed the last few days being at home with Todd and the dogs and not getting up at 5:15 am.  Really really enjoying it!!  I hope that all of you are taking some time for you to soak up time with your loved ones. 

This is my last post for the year and I am so happy that I picked up blogging again in July after taking a few months off. I've loved catching up with my old friends and have made some wonderful new friends on blogs this year. Merry Christmas and  Happy New Year and i'll be posting soon. 

Hill Country ride 2018

Hey there, so its about to get crazy busy so I thought i'd post now to get one in this week. Last Friday, Todd and i hosted a ride to one of our fave places in Texas with some good friends and new friends.
Todd has made some friends in his work industry that are riders and he rode to Georgia back in July and went on long ride with them. Theres a big work convention that takes place every year and this year it happened to be in Dallas. It changes every year. So since the guys were going to be in town , they also rented bikes and extended their stay to go with us including a couple that live near us and our very good friends of ours.  So there were only 6 of us total - 4 bikes which is a nice small group that is manageable.
We went on the same ride last April with a much larger group and we had so much fun but its hard to organize large groups on bikes- with gas breaks, eating , etc to be on same schedule.
We ride all back roads and stopped at one of our regular stops when we're in that neck of the woods for some awesome BBQ!  We also happen to come across a very very long caravan of army trucks, Humvees, etc heading to the border. In fact, it was so big, they also went long way on back roads because it would be a huge media storm if they went main highway. Todd asked them on one stop if they were heading to the border and one soldier replied he wasn't at liberty to confirm but he didn't deny. Then sure enough, it ended up on the news later that night that Trump had released 1000's of troops to secure the borders.
We HAVE to include a stop to Luckenbach when we're in town . Its soooo fun and i love the vibe of being there. Live music, beer and wine, fun atmosphere.
I have tons and tons of pictures so this may have to be in a few separate posts.
I really enjoyed the ride and it was perfect weather! Id much rather wear a jacket any day then ride in the hot hot sun.
I flew into St Louis last night and i'll be here for the next 9 days to support the conversion here. ( remember i just did a conversion support back in August in Salt Lake).  This is the last one for the year and for the company until we tackle our sister side in Canada.
So here is picture overload:

Salt Lick in Driftwood, TX

An old phone booth

Have a great day and i'll try to post again soon.

This and That

Good morning y'all!! How is it already Thursday ?  I am swamped at work and it's going to be even worse next week.  Remember how I've mentioned that my company merged into our competitor 2 years ago? Well now, it's time that we start merging our computer systems and it begins next week.  The good news is that on Thursday next week, I'll be on a plane heading to Boston.  I have mixed feelings about my vacation because I am so ready for it and desperately need it. So does Todd.  We've had a lot going on lately.  I just feel bad leaving right in the middle of things at work.  My vacation was approved months before we had set dates for the conversion.  They always get pushed back, etc so we were told on our team  to just schedule the time off.  Oh well, I can't change it now. 

Labor Day weekend was great. It was relaxing and we didn't have every day planned . We had lunch with family one day, and had dinner and drinks with some friends last Friday night.  That was a lot of fun to just hang out and laugh.  

I even got a little painting in over the weekend. 

I went to HomeGoods a few weeks ago and saw a table that I fell in love with. It was a little bigger than I wanted and I really I couldn't afford the price of 150$. 

It did inspire me though to paint the table I had in our guest bathroom.  I also painted a huge birdcage red and gold but I forgot to take a picture.  I'm going to put fake snow and make a little Christmas scene in it.  

My table I painted has a bright pink line in the center and in the grooves of the legs. It's hard to see from my terrible pic.  

My friend Scott flew in from Florida with his girlfriend Amy over the weekend . They stayed with the other couple in this pic. I met the other couple that lives here last year when Scott was in town.  We had so much fun all getting together and laughing . A few margarita swirls were consumed.   The crazy thing I can't believe we did was all eat a cricket. Yep , you read that right- Amy had bought a box of bacon cheese flavored crickets in Ft Worth and brought them to dinner.  

After we ate dinner and finishing our last drink- we ate the cricket. Lol

Still can't believe we did that but it DID taste like bacon and cheese!!! Lol

We got in some time on the Harley and had a nice ride.  All in all it was great weekend. 

This week at work has been hell and very stressful .  This week is also my 21 year anniversary with my job.  Crazy!! 

Gotta run but I hope y'all have a great week and I'm going to try my hardest to post next week. I still have plenty of unusual questions to post.  

My last day in Sturgis

Can't believe it was a week ago already that I was cruising along on the Harley with my hubs and good friends.  Sigh. This week in Dallas has been awful crazy hot and I want out! Triple digits every day up to 106. It's still 89 degrees at 9 pm! Nooooo.

This year is the 75th anniversary of the Sturgis bike rally. They are expecting over a million people to have attended this years rally. We go days before it "officially" starts and head out the weekend it does start.  All the vendors and events are there and we don't miss out. We saw a huge increase of people on Friday and Saturday. By Saturday, we could barely get anywhere because it was so crowded and lines everywhere. 

I was flying out on Saturday so we had 2 places we wanted to be. I wanted to start the day in Sturgis and then wrap up at the Rapid City Harley shop before I go to airport.  They had tons of vendors there and lots of big events at RC Harley. 

In Sturgis we walked through the Harley tents and saw the new bikes.  There were games you could play and sign up to win prizes. I got some junk like a coozie, rain poncho and beer opener that's flat and goes in wallet. Lol! 

Every bike brand was there. Honda, Victory, Indian, Kawasaki, custom builders , you name it!!   I like seeing the new models and the paint jobs. My favorite part is walking down Main Street and seeing all the bikes and the paint jobs they have.   

We ate lunch in Rapid City once we got there from a grilled cheese food truck. I love me some food trucks yall! They put Mac n cheese on their sandwiches and it was delish!  I bought a few souvenirs there and then Todd and I headed to airport.  My plane was delayed AGAIN!!  They have a bar and grill upstairs and it's before you get through security so Todd and I had a drink together before he left.   I got so sunburned!! I applied a few times but when you're inching along outside with no shade , it's going to happen.  I'm currently in peeling stage.  

I had such a great time!!! I had told Todd that I didn't want to go to Sturgis anymore. I may have lied.  I will go back I just don't want to go next year. I need a break. I love Deadwood too much not to ever see it again. 

Pappy and Pearl were the rally founders of Sturgis

Its carved into the tree- very cool!

The little chuckwagon had a Wienie dog in it.

I have pictures of this lady and dog from last year. So cute!

Parking lot in Rapid City- must have been thousands of bikes

Have a great Thursday!