It's Raining Men

Another year older and I really realized how far my youth is behind me when I got weirdly excited by the purchase of a new eyebrow pencil. Seriously? Eyebrow pencil? I’ve always had a complete lack of eyebrows, and was once even questioned as to why I would shave a slit on the side of one eyebrow like a gang member. FYI – I didn’t shave my eyebrow off. I just have a total of 2 hairs making up the entire width of my eyebrow. Anyway, this purchase occurred during the week of my 29^th birthday and made the almost-out-of-my-twenties feeling feel worse. It’s here. I’m old.

Nevertheless, Jeff took it upon himself to get in touch with my dear friend Erin and arrange a fun birthday night out a couple weekends ago. It was going to be perfect: A night at the Grapevine, Texas, annual Grapefest where we would taste tons of wines, nosh on little breads and maybe even compete in a grape-stomping contest. We had a dinner reservation at a BYOB Italian restaurant nearby, and planned on buying a few bottles at the wine event to drink at dinner. Nature wouldn’t make it so easy. If you haven’t heard, Texas is in a severe drought. Texans have been praying for rain at their mega-evangelical-super-huge churches for weeks. Jesus must have finally understood the congregations’ southern accents because we got it.

We went to pick up Erin and Cory for our Friday night out, and despite the semi-dark sky, scary radar map and a few rand-o raindrops, we decided to head all the way out to Grapevine anyway. If all else fails, we can still enjoy our Italian dinner, right?

About 2 miles down the highway, it starts pouring. Raining like it hasn’t rained in months – because it hasn’t. Traffic is stopped and the amount of rain on top of dry, dead earth made the streets flood in a matter of minutes.

We finally make it all the way to Grapefest because I still refuse to be defeated. We realize there’s no way we’re going to park, walk to the festival and taste any wine in the middle of the storm. Down but not out, we decide to find a booze store to grab a few bottles and see if we can get into the restaurant early. We first stop at Walgreens, where an employee tells us they can’t sell booze because they’re located too close to a school. He points us to a convenience store, which turns out to be a drive-thru liquor store. If only we had this on video! 

Jeff pulls up, rolls down his window, talks to what looks like a 10-year-old Asian boy and asks if they have red wine. The kid looks at him and says “Like what?” Jeff replies (no joke), “Like a Robert Mondavi?” Silence. Jeff says “Should we just come inside? Yeah, we’ll just pull around here and come inside.” Erin and I were laughing so hard I could’ve almost wet my pants. We go in and they have two cheap-o brands of red wine and I’m just not having it. I tell Jeff I really wanted a “Texas” wine, and that buying the cheapest wine in the world at a drive-through beer shack was not really what I had in mind. Thankfully Erin and Cory are just quietly staring at the white wines, assumingly thinking the same thing. 

We leave, and find a grocery store down the road. I’m slightly excited because I assume they’ll have a little local section that might just carry some of the Grapevine winery wines. Nope. The “local” section consists of one brand of wine from Lubbock, Texas. I could care less at this point. I grab two bottles and we finally venture off to find our restaurant.

It’s still pouring and Jeff drops us off at the door and I run in with my bottle of Texas red. The hostess inside greets us and even says it’s fine that we’re about an hour early for our 9pm reservation. I’m pumped. Then we all look around and realize something’s not right. One – it’s freaking hot as balls in there. Two – the candlelit tables are so dark we can’t even see the people sitting at them. Feigning cheerfulness and with a smile, the hostess says, “Our power just went out, but don’t worry – the kitchen is still running and our manager just went out to buy some fans.” As Phil Dunfee would say, “why the face?” Meanwhile, a server walks up to the front sweating and angry, and a few male patrons walk out with wet shirts. Grody. Reminder - we’re still dealing with the 100 degree temps in Texas. Cory, Erin and I quickly decide there’s not a chance in hell we’re going to eat here, so we ask the hostess if we can get a table at their sister restaurant across town. She calls, we can, and we go. In the rain. Again.

We get to restaurant numero dos and run inside. At this point, we’ve given up on umbrellas and we’re all semi-soaked. We tell the host we’re the 4 from the other restaurant and ask for 4 wine glasses and a corkscrew. They happily oblige and we’re all elbows up with wine in the packed lobby in a matter of seconds. 

Finally enjoying a glass of Texas wine in the restaurant lobby, albeit a little drenched (those are raindrops, not wine splashes, on my shirt).

Four great friends, 3 booze stores, 2 Italian restaurants and 1 flooded wine festival. Pretty hilarious. Here’s to hoping the remainder of my 29^th year goes a little more smoothly than my 29^th birthday night.  

Walk Like an Egyptian

Jeff and I took our first flight as stand-by employees to Vegas over the Labor Day weekend and it was a complete success. We made all the flights and connections as planned and even got to sit together for one leg of the trip. Woo hoo!

Me on Sunday after our trip. Notice how small my carry-on bag was - impressive.

It was a true last-minute trip. We booked our hotel at the Luxor Thursday night and flew out Friday afternoon. Why did we decide to go to Vegas for the weekend? Reminiscent of my senior year in college when a small group of us decided to drive down to Florida the weekend before Thanksgiving and even had t-shirts made with our answer: Why the hell not? Here are some of my other reasons:

I was thirsty for a $1 Miller Lite:

I had never seen an Elvis impersonator:

I loooove the Bellagio fountains that play to music:

I love all the mega casinos and fancy pants shopping and dining. I somehow forgot to get a picture of our Egyptian pyramid hotel, so here are a few pics of  hotels/casinos I did take:

Caesar's Palace

Paris

New York, New York

Venetian

Excalibur

Jeff wanted to go to Vegas to play blackjack, and even won a little money. Late Friday night we were at a table at the Bellagio with a true cast of characters: another couple who I suspect were from Jersey or somewhere along the East coast (not Snooky-like or anything, but I just had a feeling they were from Jersey), a middle-aged Asian woman (although Asian ladies all look so young she could've been 85 for all I knew), and a woman we later simply called "Exotic."

Exotic was stunning, probably around 40, dark shiny hair, fancy red dress, dark skin, jewels on her fingers and lots of chips. Exotic drank champagne and espresso while she played (and won). Exotic spoke with some sort of accent I can only describe as "sophistication" and broke out in French at one point. Exotic would quietly sit out a hand (or more) if she didn't like how you were playing your cards. Pretty soon the whole table caught on and one poor guy was playing all by himself until he finally got up and left. We learned Exotic is fluent in 6 languages and is a trial lawyer in Hawaii. Of course she is. Next time I go to Vegas I'm going to pretend to be Exotic.

It was my third time in Vegas, and while I didn't run into Leonardo DiCaprio (despite drinking red bull and grey goose cocktails all Friday night hoping he would magically appear) or dance in any clubs like I did for Katie's bachelorette party, I had a blast. I love Vegas.

Bears and Elephants, oh my

It was a big day in the Novota household today. The start of real NFL football. After a little bit of man-panic, two trips to Best Buy, a few cuss words and a jerry-rigged and not-so-legal computer to television hook-up later, Jeff got to watch his Bears. Whew. I was getting a little nervous and wondering where I could hide if he missed the game. Especially since Jeff was ready to go back to Best Buy to "chew the punk teenager out" for initially selling him the wrong cable and then having the nerve to tell Jeff he wouldn't be able to make it work. Watch out. (I can appreciate my hubby's frustration, but if you've ever met him you'd know that just about the last thing he would do is actually "chew" someone out, let alone make a special trip just to do so.)

I was dealing with my own issues, though. I woke up with the dreaded elephant eye this morning. At least that's what I've come to call it. I don't know if it was the failure to wash off my eye make-up Friday night or if a Texas dirt bug nestled in my eyeball during the night, but I've got a bad case of a swollen eye bomb. Yucko.

Look away. I'm hideous.

 I've been nursing it all day by alternating hot wash cloths on my left lid and trips down to the pool to relax in the sun. I don't need any of my fancy friend doctors to prescribe that remedy thankyouverymuch. I occasionally suffer from elephant eye, and it's come to hit me just about once a year. Hopefully it will go away tomorrow morning so I don't have to wear my goggles to work.

You're So Vain

People say Las Vegas is like Disneyland for adults or like walking into a giant candy store. Having just been to Vegas, I can understand this comparison. However, I was even more recently at my brand new dermatologist and I have to admit, that office is going to be my Disneyland and candy store for awhile. I walked in with my preliminary list of ideas (some might call them "issues"), and after a few minutes browsing brochures and advertisements in the spa-like waiting room, I knew our insurance company would regret allowing me to meet her.

 

I walked out with a couple of bandages (what can I say, I love the sun and pool), a few prescriptions (my doc claims she can help take the "red" out of my big red nose and clear up my nasty face that has suddenly become far too reminiscent of being 15 again), a cream to help the weird red spots on my left elbow (no matter what she calls it, I will forever deny any reference to having eczema), another appointment to remove an unsightly blemish on my leg, and dreams of future appointments for leg vein laser therapy (why not attack now before they get even more gnarly???).

 

And this is just my first round. I feel like I finally understand what my Constitutional Law professor meant when he was going on and on about a "slippery slope." Finally.

 

I've also been on the hunt for Dallas girlfriends ever since our plane landed at Love Field that warm July night. My dermatologist is just a few years older than me, newly preggers, and has gorgeous skin. I don't mind having to pay a little for a friend that can give me a beauty boost every time I see her. She'll be a bestie in no time, even if she doesn't realize it.

 

~M

Almost home

We flew down to Dallas and moved into our temporary furnished apartment on July 22nd. Three days later, we woke up with no A/C and a disgusting ant infestation. Disgusting. As most of you already know, Jeff quickly loaded our car in 105 degree heat, got on the phone with our relocation people, and had us moved into a new apartment building that afternoon. He's figured me out in less than 2 years of marriage! We lived in the beautiful Uptown neighborhood of Dallas for just over 3 weeks before we had to move into our "permanent" apartment. We're now in north Dallas, just a tad south of Addison. We plan to stay here for anywhere from 6 to 12 months (probably closer to 12) as we look for a house/neighborhood/town where we want to settle down. It's been quite the journey, but we both finally feel like we're (so super close to almost) home.

Our current (and third) apartment is amazing! It's built very resort-style, with a giant balcony overlooking the pool and palm trees. I love it. We don't have a ton of living space, even though it's an upgrade to a 2-bedroom from our 1-bedroom in Chicago, so we put our kitchen table and chairs on our balcony. Why the hell not? The balcony is over 100 square feet itself, and comes equipped with lights and a ceiling fan. We're taking advantage of every single inch of space here. We've already dined outside many times, listening to the fountains below, and find it quite enjoyable. So here are a few pics:

View from the front door

Second bath

Best view ever!

Dining area on the balcony

Master bedroom, with access to balcony

We've moved a lot in the past few weeks. The two items Jeff and I have been the most worried about were our money trees - law school graduation gifts from the Schuberts. Jeff hand-packed them himself in Chicago and shipped them to meet us at our apartment in Dallas. We then had to scope out a gardening store on our gps the next day to buy new potting soil and pots, since the original pots were in storage for 30 days. On the day we moved into our second apartment in sweltering heat, he lovingly packed them into our rental SUV and tried to make sure they didn't get too hot while we were homeless for about 6 hours. He's since taken to watering and caring for these little guys in our new place. They look pretty bad, but just tonight Jeff brought them over to me one by one as I sat on the couch to show me how they each have new sprouts. He's so proud. He needs a real lawn with real trees so badly. 

What's even funnier is that Jeff has always noticed that the health of our money trees is a pretty direct correlation to our financial status. Mine was d-e-a-d when we got married and I moved to Chicago with no job. He nursed it back and it's been pretty healthy since I got the position with my law firm. Jeff's was always thriving in Chicago. Then we decided to move to Dallas for Jeff's new job, and we were both out of work for a few weeks. When they arrived in Dallas, they were pathetic. Jeff cut the branches down and hoped that they would bounce back. Here's what they looked like about a week after our move:

Mine's on the right, obviously

We've both been working, and they seem to be getting adequate sunlight and water in our new place, so hopefully they make it. This isn't the last you'll see of the money trees - I'll provide routine updates as soon as the newest sprouts are visible without the zoom function on my camera. 

What's even more exciting than a long rant about money trees is that our bed for the second bedroom will be delivered this weekend - that means you can come visit us! I'll make the drinks and provide the beach towels. Jeff will grill. See you soon!