{Double Date: Greenville Ave.}

New York/New Jersey, Dallas, Seattle, Dallas, Boston, Dallas.
Annnnnd done.
It’s been 3 weeks of marathon travel.  Some for fun, some for work – regardless Pete and I have been missing our home and our friends, so it seemed only fitting to get out of house on Friday and let someone else pay for our A/C for the night.

We met up with our friends Angela & Bryan to enjoy some time exploring the ever-growing Lower Greenville to enjoy some grub and drinks.

{HG Supply Co.} provided real (and delicious) food with a beet-infused tequila cocktail.  Oh, and there was a “sunset toast” for the whole restaurant at 6:30pm.  Don’t miss it…it was awesome.

Date Day: {Coffee House Cafe, Dallas World Aquarium & Taco Ocho}

Aren’t 3-day weekends just the best?
They make me feel like I can actually relax and just enough the day rather than trying to cram in all the chores and errands to make the week less hectic.

Memorial Day came in just the nick of time – the weekends have seemed endlessly packed and time to explore and eat and do the things we love has been lacking.  So, we committed Saturday of this long weekend to fun – fun in new brunch locales, with sea creatures and topping it off with some delicious tacos!

{Coffee House Cafe} was a life changer.  Why it’s only 10 minutes from our house and why we hadn’t been there in the two years of living in it’s proximity?  I’ll never forgive myself.

The Signature House Latte was a perfect start to a feast filled with rancheros and benedicts.

Our stuffed bellies made the drive to the {Dallas World Aquarium} late in the morning to avoid the crowds and strollers that were inevitably going to take over the place by noon.

Throwback Thursday: {Date Night: Mockingbird Station}

Yeah, I get to date this stud.  We try to make it a point to go on a date on a regular basis and a lot of the times we fail because we get busy and other dumb human things.  And then we try to make up for it with super fun, out of our routine date nights.  This fall we spent an evening in Mockingbird Station for that very reason.

Date Day: {Dallas Coffee Shops & Pecan Lodge}

A few weeks back I decided to take a much needed 3-day weekend.  The months after the holidays always drain me as the there are no longer countdowns to the next few days off, no more anticipation or excitement surrounded by family, no holiday parties to look forward to and a general lack of the cheer and joy found around town during that time.  As I was staring at my calendar and my next holiday or vacation wasn’t going to fall until Memorial Day, I figured it would be good for the soul to catch up on some much needed R&R and spend some quality time with Pete.

I love trying new food and drinks but exist in an odd sort of introversion in that I hate crowds.  Trying a new restaurant on a Friday night?  Count me out.  The wait and drones of fellow dinner-goers about pushes me over edge and can pretty quickly ruin a culinary experience for me (see also my review of {The Blind Butcher}).  So over the years I’ve accumulated quite a list of places I’d like to try “someday” and by “someday” I mean during I time when I can comfortably find a seat and enjoy my company.

Having some free time to check some locations off the Dallas Eatery Bucket List?  Sounds like a winner date to me!

We started the morning with a trip to {Ascension Coffee} off of Oak Lawn.  Wood decor filled with bright red chairs, chill music and tons of folks having business meetings, I was informed by the barista that they had taken a step “back to basics” so there wouldn’t be an specialty lattes or frozen drinks in sight.  I stuck with a class chai latte and HOLY SMOKES it was so amazing.  The rim of spices perfectly complimented my cream cheese danish and made for freakin’ amazing morning coffee!

And what would be a date day in Texas without BBQ?  We made our way over to the {Dallas Farmer’s Market} to stand in the long line down Shed 2 for the much raved about {Pecan Lodge}.  The 1-hour wait (arriving 15 minutes after opening) wasn’t even close to a waste once I tasted The “Hot Mess”.  Chipotle mayo…and that’s all I have to say about that.
Pete took the classic route and ordered some of their handmade sausage which was out of this stinkin’ world!  We were so stuffed (even without sides) that we both took 1/2 our meal home.  And, go figure, it made totally amazing leftovers too.

And to successfully finish the day?  More coffee of course!  We headed up Lower Greenville to the gothic-esque {Mudsmith} to enjoy Caramel-Vanilla lattes and espresso.  The hip crowd was perfectly complimented by the animal busts lining the walls and beers readily on tap for afternoon visitors.  Not quite as friendly and fun as Ascension but the stellar coffee, quiet atmosphere and small porch area made up for shortage of amazing customer service.

Stuffed and highly caffeinated, Pete and I decided to call it an early afternoon.  And a date done before 3:00pm on a Friday?  That’s a win in my book!

Happy coffee drinking, friends!
{Devin}

{Paint Nite}

On the list of “100 Things Devin is Not” – artist is about #3.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of being an artist.  But getting the ideas into real life has been a risk not worth taking time-and-time again.

So when we got an awesome {Groupon} from my parents for our first anniversary, I was both totally pumped and secretly dreading my perfectionism rearing its ugly head in my pre-conceived art disaster.
Then I found out it was at a restaurant with margaritas and suddenly Perfectionism was wearing a sombrero and not giving a lick ’bout nothing.