Head out on the highway- Looking for adventure in whatever comes my way

So how was your Labor Day weekend? I had probably one of the best weekends I’ve had in a while.  Friday, my honey and I drove to Oklahoma on the Harley to visit a few days with my brother, Sarah, and my nieces.  From our place to their place is almost 250 miles one way.  We got a late start and didn’t leave until 11am which was not my preference because it was going to be hot but my BF had some work stuff to get done before we left. We stopped a few hours up the road in Gainesville, TX for lunch and we ate at the FRIED Pie CO & Restaurant.  I’ve been there a few times and it’s so yummy. I had the coconut cream fried pie and my honey got a peach one. I didn’t think about taking a pic until after we ate them.  Todd (yes my honey has a name) also had to catch a conference call during lunch so I had time to people watch.  I just love to eat at local restaurants during lunch hour in little small towns. Gainesville is very rural with lots of farmers and ranchers around. Living in Dallas, it’s not every day you get to see people wearing spurs. The whole place was filled with old guys wearing overalls or wranglers and boots (with spurs). 

When's the last time you saw spurs?

We arrived at my brother’s around 5 after we got stuck in rush hour traffic in Oklahoma City. It was frickin HOT peeps on the bike and I was not too happy with the ride. My backrest was not high enough and the bike had pegs for the passengers which is not too comfortable.  When I mentioned to Jeremy that I dreaded my ride home he just happened to have a back rest that fit my bike and it was a huge improvement. His was higher up on my back and I could lean back on it more. I didn’t take a pic of it but I can later. I was not going home without buying some floor boards and switching out the pegs so that was our ride for the next day. Jeremy’s buddy at work loaned him his Harley so that we could all ride together.  Saturday we started off our day with breakfast at the sweetest little place called Marketplace in Meeker. I think I mentioned it last time I went there. It’s a family owned café that is decorated with bible verses. They even have an Ark room for special events. The meals are named after biblical characters and they are huge quantities. I really was excited to take Todd there because I told him all about the place from last time. When we were done with breakfast, we dropped off the girls at the house and we got ready for our ride. Jeremy and Sarah hopped on the street glide that was a loaner and we jumped on ours and went west to Reno,OK. We stopped at a Harley dealership to buy the floorboards and Jeremy brought his tools to put them on for us in the parking lot. YAY- free labor.  We stopped in Bricktown which is in downtown Oklahoma City for lunch and at a sports bar called Brix. I really enjoyed spending my day riding side by side my baby brother. Y’all I seriously get choked up on the love I have for him.  I am blessed to have the relationship I have with him. Jeremy is not just my brother but one of my best friends. Jeremy’s wife Sarah is unbelievable and  they are the just the cutest darn couple you can come across! I’ve mentioned a gazillion times how much I adore my nieces and just spending time with them makes me smile for days afterwards.  Ok, back to my weekend- my A.D.D just kicked in.  After we returned from our ride , Jeremy gave the girls a ride around the block too. They are both naturals and love being on the Harley. We start ‘em young in our family. Hehe.  Sarah made a yummy chicken casserole from Pinterest recipe and my stepdad came over to  eat dinner with us. My stepdad is in poor health and I haven’t seen him in a while. When I saw him the other night it caught my breath. He appearance has drastically changed and he’s lost too much weight. One thing is that he still has that spark in his personality and as he says “piss and vinegar”. I am very glad that I got to spend a few hours with him during my visit too.

Cafe in Meeker, OK

Ark stage

Maci,Sarah, and Brynna

Maci at the Ark podium

My new floorboards (equals happy feet)

Sportsbar in Bricktown, OKC

Honey and me at red light (Sarah took pic)

Jeremy and Sarah- aren't they cute?!

Todd and I did not want to be riding in the hot hot sun so we got up early on Sunday and left Jeremy’s around 8am. We stopped at McDonald’s in Moore (home of Toby Keith for those country fans) to grab a quick breakfast but we had a  good head start behind us.  We rolled into our garage right at noon and I was ready to get off the bike. We stopped twice to give our butts a break and to gas up so we made great timing. After vegging on the couch for a few hours watching season 4 of Sons of Anarchy on DVD, we took Todd’s parents and both his kids to dinner. Now my honey and I both got some good family time in this weekend.  Yesterday we met a few of our riding buddies for a breakfast run that we like to go.  Mary’s Brazos Café in Weatherford (west of Ft Worth) is a little hole in the wall restaurant but has the best food. Good southern cooking like grits and biscuits and gravy is just what I like for a long ride. There was 9 of us total in our group -4 couples and a friend in their car. We were all done with breakfast by 9:30am so of course we decided to ride for a while.   The  location we were at was perfect for riding. We went through Weatherford, Mineral Wells, and all the small towns in between.  Some stops were included here and there for refreshment breaks and parked in the shade. I think by the time we got back yesterday we rode around 200 miles.  I have a funny biker tan and sunburn behind my neck that is a little uncomfortable from the rides. Riding the Harley 4 days in a row for miles and miles each run has also made my butt a little sore. Seriously!  I had a blast and I love being on the bike but dang my hiney isn’t as tough as it used to be.  All I can think of is that I actually rode all the way from Dallas to Sturgis, South Dakota years ago and I don’t remember being so sore. Getting old sucks!  Good news is that I watched the rest of the episodes for Sons of Anarchy last night and so I’m completely caught up and ready for the new season to start this month. WOOHOO!!

Todd's ready for some breakfast

My weed mustache drooped (me and Bobbi)

Place we pulled over for a water break

So glad that this is a short work week~

Football and stuff, M'Kay

Oh the love for football.  So I’ve mentioned on a few occasions that I love me some football. I am a born and raised Texas girl and you know we take our football seriously. High school football on Friday nights, College football on Saturday’s, and NFL on Sunday’s. It’s a fun filled weekend everyday for a few hours.  When I was in high school in my small country town, Friday nights at the games would be filled. I was on the drill team and couldn’t wait to dance in the halftime performances.  The sounds of the marching band coming out from under the bleachers would start the excitement and then we followed them on to the field. We also had certain dances we had to do during the game while sitting in the stands. We had to watch the game closely to determine which dances we would do, like for defense or celebration, etc.  That’s how I learned about football by having to know when to jump up and down when we scored.

Last night my honey scored some free tickets (5 tkts exactly) to go to the Cowboys preseason game against Miami. I was so excited to go simply because I had never been to our new ginormous stadium yet.  They offer tours and stuff like that but I’ve never had the time to get over there until last night. Y’all it was beautiful! I just cant believe how huge it is and the biggest screen I’ve ever seen in my life. I tried to look down at the field but i caught myself staring at the screen more than anything.

Our seats were about 5 rows from the most very highest top of the stadium. They gave whole new meaning to nose bleed section.  My honey drove out of town to pick his kids up and I invited a friend of mine to join us. My friend Vicki met me at our place, then we met honey and kids (A and C) at his office then we all took one car to the stadium.  We stayed until after half time and then we headed out.  We parked at a go-cart place a few streets down the road and the owners of the place give us a ride in his pickup truck to the stadium.  It wasn’t too far but  add the walk from where are seats were, it was quite a hike.  I got my exercise in for sure.  I needed to walk off my 10$ chicken basket and 5$ bottle of water. The concession stands are crazy expensive!! One good part was if you buy their 10$ bucket of popcorn you got free refills. We filled that baby up 3 times to get our money’s worth.

Cowboys stadium

Pic taken from my seat

Vicki and me ( dang i need some lipstick)

me, A, honey, C

So who are your fave teams you cheer for? My honey’s son “C” plays freshman ball for his high school so I’ll be cheering them on, my fave college is University of Texas Longhorns, and of course The BOYS are my NFL team!

I’m taking a day of vacation tomorrow and we’re supposed to be heading to Oklahoma on the Harley. We’re going to visit my brother and all the girls (sis-n-law Sarah and my sweet nieces) and I am so excited to see them. Do you have any special plans for this Labor Day weekend coming up?

Have fun y’all!!

sidenote: i love Mr. Mackey from SouthPark. You'll get the M'Kay....

Bricks in the Wall- Go see them!

Last Saturday , my honey and I went to House of Blues to see a Pink Floyd tribute band called Bricks in the Wall.  I had won the tickets a few weeks ago at a Bike Night.  My honey didn’t want to go at first because we had been so busy and had plans almost every night (including seeing Willie at the same place a few nights before).  You see we always get the General Admission tickets which means you stand down by the stage for close to 3 hours.  You gotta make sure you’re wearing some comfortable shoes to do this.

  There is a small area for seating but you have to spend 100$ to sit there and you have a waitress that brings you your drinks.  For some reason we never asked what the rules were to sit there and assumed it was reserved seating. Another couple came in behind us and saw us looking for a place to stand the whole night and they asked if we would be interested in joining them at a table and we could split the bill.  We agreed because it doesn’t take much at all to run a 50$ tab for 2 people there. Their prices are pretty high for a drink. The seats are so close to the stage. Come to find out, the couple worked in the exact same industry my honey and I do.  We even knew several of the same people.  They were so nice ( Karen and Bill) and it was perfect seating behind the sound engineers.  AND no standing the entire time. From now on, that’s the way to do concerts at HOB!   

The band was absolutely incredible! They played for 2.5 hours straight and the vocals were awesome. They really did sound just like Pink Floyd. They are also based out of Dallas. They had this trampoline looking thing hung on the stage and they played cool videos to the songs the whole time. There were a lot of lights and laser show effects that added to the coolness factor.  The 3 women backup singers really added so much to the songs. We had such a great time and glad we went. If you see this come to your town , I highly recommend you going. They play at all the House of Blues locations and other places too.

Laser light show at concert

Bricks in The Wall

Honey and Me. Look how close we are to stage.

Blue skies smilin' at me, Nothing but Blue skies do I see

I went to see Willie Nelson this past Tuesday at House of Blues in Dallas. We were SO lucky to get tickets because it ended up being a sold out show and there were scalpers begging for tickets instead of selling them.  If you paid any attention to the news you would have heard that Willie had to cancel his concert in Colorado and went to the hospital because he couldn’t breathe.  So we were a little nervous that he would cancel our show too.

I’ve seen Willie perform at least a dozen times or so but it had been at least 15 years that I saw him recently. He always starts all his concerts with Whiskey River and it’s perfect tempo to get the crown going.  I couldn’t believe Willie’s stamina and energy during the concert. He was fantastic and played tons of his old classics. He even broke into a few gospel hymns. It was probably one of the best concerts I have seen of him.

My honey had Willie on his concert bucket list of people he HAD to see and my friend Panda had never seen him perform either. The 3 of us got to HOB early and had dinner before the show.  There was an opening act who was this young guy named Drake White. He was awesome!!!  He was a cross between Amos Lee-Jamey Johnson- and Chris Robinson from Black Crowes.  Drake’s from Alabama and I hope to hear more from him –preferably on the radio.

honey and me

Drake White w/me and Panda

Tomorrow night we’re going back to HOB to see Bricks in the Wall with the free tickets I won a few weeks ago. Busy weekend!!

Dear God- Jam With Me Thursdays

I’m linking up with Bonnie over at Faith Barista. Every Thursday she has Jam With Me Thursday’s. She post’s a topic every week. This week is a letter to God.

Dear God,

I feel your presence most of the time and I’m grateful for that.  I know you must think to yourself ” whoa I got a live wire here” as I ramble on to you all throughout the day. That’s what I love about you the most. I can talk and talk and I know you’re there listening. I’m never alone.  I do sometimes feel that you must be distracted listening to the rest of the world when I’m praying to you about my Dad.  I understand that you have a plan and then you’re in control. I get that.  Why are you ok with me getting so sad then to the point where I’m mad at you? My Dad is so full of life and he has a purpose in my world. To watch him continually struggle with his lung disease and be confined to a wheelchair is too much for me to take sometimes. Dad is only going to be 63 in November and he’s looking so much older now.  My stepmom is amazing by running the ranch, taking care of Dad fulltime and also working as an account manager fulltime in her career.  She told me last week that she also feels that you are ignoring her pleas and prayers for healing. I know you were  right next to me when I responded to her with “Be patient and Trust in HIM”.  I  was thinking to myself, I’m telling her to Trust but I am not doing that myself. I feel guilty when I get so mad at you but I also know you have thick skin and you can take it.  Luckily, my anger doesn’t last but a few minutes and then you’re there to remind me how blessed I really am.  

I cant even imagine what life would be like without you in it.  What I’m asking is for you to speak louder.  I’ve practically been slapped in the head by you a few times when I was asking for you direction and I listened.  What am I doing wrong now? Am I not being still enough to see or hear you? My family is in such despair and desperation and you’re our ONLY answer. That’s a lot of pressure but you’re the Miracle Worker. We’ve used up all the resources for treatments and so now we are just putting it in your hands totally. Not like we didn’t already. I know that you were there to provide what he’s received so far.

 This month has been really rough physically, emotionally, financially and all around. It’s because of my Faith in you that has kept my chin up. I’m just telling you that I adore you and worship you but that doesn’t mean I cant have a temper tantrum every now and then and talk back to you. It’s not like I ever win any of our arguments.  You and I have our best talks every day on my way home from work so we’ll continue this conversation later.  By the way, I love you so much.

Christian groups- we're not perfect either

I’m seriously struggling today. My mind cant slow down from running in every direction.  I am so torn from reacting like I want to instead of how I should. Last night, I actually walked out of an officer’s meeting in a Christian organization I belong to.  You see, my group has a monthly newsletter that the officers are expected to submit the articles too.  I was asked numerous times to turn in my article specifically about the women’s retreat that I had just attended a month ago.  I don’t know if I mentioned it or not but let’s just say that it was not the best experience for many of us and we didn’t want to discuss it.  Simply because we didn’t want to come across negative it was better to keep quiet. I wrote my article about my personal experience and even said that I needed the weekend to focus on God but that Satan knew it and took it from there. I mentioned that it was not a complete flop and the speakers were very good.  I added many verses from the bible that truly spoke to me about the situation and said that I know we were there for a reason. God is in control no matter what and HE has his plans for us that we don’t have to understand but just TRUST in.

Well last night in the meeting, I wasn’t there 5 minutes when I was informed that my article was too negative and that the newsletter editor was going to edit it and change it around. I then said to yank it because it’s either my own words or nothing at all. I am not going to have someone alter my feelings I was writing about.  Then as the meeting got started, our chapter president announced that nothing negative will ever go in our newsletter and if anyone wanted to vent, the officers meeting is the place to get it out.  Myself and another lady who was there at the meeting and also the retreat  was asked to discuss what happened. The chapter had noticed that 5 of our ladies came back from retreat but not one person wanted to gush about it instead we chose silence.  The president still never actually read my article before he told the editor to change it.  What happened next was that he mocked me in front of all 20 people in the meeting. I’m already taking the longest time to get to my point and I’m not going to get into all details.  The bottom line is that I have always kept it real folks.  We’re always wanting our chapter to grow with new people and many of our members are new Believers.  Our mission is to witness to the biker community and anyone else that could use a prayer.  I don’t know about you but I would think for a new person, it would be refreshing to know that every day is not rainbows and unicorns.  My article was sharing that Satan had a firm grip on me and that I fought everyday to beat him and see GOD  next to me.  I don’t see that as being negative, I see it as being real.

My heart just hurts that in a Christian group and surrounding last night, I was ridiculed and mocked. I am so ANGRY! My reaction is to sell every single shirt, vest, hat, etc from the group and walk away. I know deep down that I need this group because they normally surround me with prayer and love. It’s too soon to attend the bowling tournament we’re having this weekend but I’ll go to the group’s monthly meeting next week. I know that our president is human and Satan attacks anyone he wants. I have to calm down and forgive more than ever.

On a good note, I’m going to see Willie Nelson tonight and I’m very excited for that. 

Sorry for this post if it seems negative but it’s my blog and I will cry if I want to!

It's Ok

It’s Ok that I refuse to share my political views with anyone. You know me enough that it’s NOT because I don’t have an opinion.

That I saved money this week on breakfast by buying a bag of mini donuts and I’ve ate them every day. Good on the wallet but bad for my waist line.

It’s Ok that for my birthday I was given a gift certificate for Boston Proper online store. I received my 2 dresses (on sale) in the mail yesterday and I’m just as excited about my 16.00$ dress from Ross as I am for these much more expensive dresses. I’m not ungrateful its just that I could have bought triple amount of dresses from Ross than the 2 dresses I got from BP.

That I am ECSTATIC for the rain we are finally getting in Dallas. I purposely did not bring a rain jacket to work today. I want to feel the rain on my skin.  It’s worth my hair being frizzy.

That I’ve been home for 2 weeks and I still have a few boxes to unpack.  Not in a hurry now that I’ve got the majority done.

I’ve had 2 of the best evenings this week hanging out with a few of my closest friends.  My friends truly nourish my soul and I smile for hours afterwards.

I’m excited that I have a new fave wine that my friend introduced to me the other night.  It’s called Poppy and it’s the Pinot Noir. Yummy!! Your welcome! J

I got my Save the Girls necklace yesterday in the mail. I’m so excited!!

This weekend is our Tax Free for back to school shopping and I’m staying far away from the shops.  It’s not worth the crowds to save a few dollars on the taxes.

I signed up to take a meal tonight for a friend that has pneumonia. I don’t cook so I’m calling in an order at Salt Grass for some baked potato soup.  Oh my, it’s delish!  I will be joining her for dinner too.

I had to attend a funeral yesterday that made my heart heavy.  I spoke a few posts ago on Doc Molhusen that passed recently.  He died while trying to save his wife Margie who was in a wheelchair due to her stroke. Margie had been in ICU and never knew that her husband had passed. She passed on last Friday and joined Doc at the pearly gates. Their kids ,Amy and Kurt have lost both their parents in this tragedy and their childhood home.  It’s OK that I know they have tons of friends and family to help them with this and that I’m Ok knowing that Doc and Margie are reunited.

Its OK that I didn’t mean to be a downer on that last comment but its’ what’s on my heart.

That I’ve eaten Mexican food pretty much every day this week except yesterday.

That I STILL don’t have an iphone because I’m impatiently waiting for the iphone 5. I seriously feel so behind without Instagram. I have mentioned this before but nothing has changed.

That I’m only 10 followers away from having 100 and I am challenged on fixing my email subscription.  (note to all reading, if you’re following me that way, sorry it’s not working).

I’m so excited tomorrow is Friday.  It’s an approved day for my team to work from home. Joy to the World!