Happy

I am slightly obsessed with this video and may have teared up while watching it. Mississippi is such a misunderstood place. Great things are happening here and I'm happy to call it home!

Weekend Update

 

Art means more to me if I know the artist. Two of my faves. Morgan and Raina

Joanna Gaines makes me really want to remodel a house

I sometimes wish I rode my bike everyday...this tip would be helpful

My new favorite Spotify playlist is the Starbucks Store Playlist. You should check it out.

So proud of my friend and her jams

If I can revive my fern, I should be able to grow veggies right?

Day two of Soothe and already loving it


We are planning to hit up the local Farmer's Market today (because we missed Livingston again this week). Hoping to find some good stuff. Have a wonderful weekend!

Iron Horse

One of our favorite places to eat in the Jackson area is the Iron Horse Grill. There are several reasons. It's loud enough to drown out any of the noises our children could possibly make. You never know, right? There is always a band that the kids are mesmerized by and that we enjoy. The food is consistently good (can't get enough of the chips and salsa) and it has that "out of town" feel. Upstairs is my favorite place to sit so that we can watch the trains go by.

The last time we were there Addie noticed a man sitting at a piano upstairs across the balcony. She kept running back to our table telling us that she was watching the man get ready to sing. The band was gearing up so we were like oh ok, neat. Then we heard the lead singer which was a woman...not a man. 

Addie insisted that a man was going to sing. She finally pulled me over there to see what she was talking about. 

Looks legit right? Turns out it's part of a Blues Museum that they are working on. The manager noticed that Addie was interested in this so he came and told us all about who this piano man was and the plans for the museum. Makes me love it even more. 

Notice Momma and Baby Pony came with us to dinner. Pick your battles right? 

Football season

Football season is almost here! Yes, we love the Rebels and are really looking forward to watching my brother play. But our love for football season is not just about football. (I'm known to go to the square instead of the game...most of you know this about me. I'm working on it.)

Oxford is where we dated and got married. It's where we get to relive our date nights and walks through campus. We get to see our college friends almost every weekend during football season. 

There is something magical about sharing our special place with our kids. Let's be real though. On a crowded game day, it's really, really hard to take a double stroller with three kids through the grove. You have to channel your inner MacGyver. Dodge trees and trashcans, break up packs of teens without getting evil stares, wheel through a stranger's tent, find a place to warm up a bottle, the list goes on and on. Making the rounds can be daunting. 

We've done it with kids for 4 football seasons so far. 

First halloween in the grove - Addie wasn't thrilled. 

One child was pretty easy (note the single stroller)

Then we added Elle and it got a little harder

And then she started walking 

The key to a successful Grove Day is to pack everything you own. Oh, your Ole Miss face sticker "accidentally" came off when you peeled it? There's no reason to cry because I have 47 extras. You're hot? Well, I have a fan for you if you can keep it away from your hair. I'm sure there will be balding pom pom issues as well so we will have extras. 

Nevertheless, we will all be there. And we will all be happy about it. You may see us walking around looking for any open space to run around because the stroller can only hold Elle back for so long. Wish us luck. 

Super Fan

Highland Park

For years we have had visions of our older selves happily roaming the streets of Highland Park. We could live there. 

It's always a fun place to visit. This past weekend we used it several times as a safe haven. After the horrid Dart experience, we ended up going to one of our favorite restaurants. Mi Cocina. We had no plan other than never riding Dart again and we knew that Fair Park was not happening. 

So we sat and had dinner. Elle got her hair caught in our battery operated fan. Andrew took her to get her paci and calm down. I had a margarita. We listened to a guy at the table behind us talk about "mom butts." (I'm not sure this guy will ever find anyone to marry him but his conversation was entertaining.) It was lovely. We really did enjoy it.

Eventually dinner ended and we had to find somewhere to go. Andrew thought he saw people setting up lawn chairs on our way to Mi Cocina so we drove back by to see if there was some fun family event that we were missing. There was, but we weren't invited. So we drove around some more. 

Our little car adventure led us to a goldmine. Hundreds of cars were lining the streets of the Dallas Country Club and people were propped up in lawn chairs and on blankets all around the premises. You better believe I found an awesome parking spot and we dumped our crew on the curb. 

Some fellow watchers gave the girls glow sticks, we listened to music from a parked suburban beside us, and the girls were mesmerized by the fireworks. It was the best firework show that we have ever seen. And a pretty awesome night. I may or may not have teared up. 

We may be crazy but these little snippets of time are worth all of the sweat put into the trip. Not many husbands would go along with these shenanigans. I've got a keeper. 

Dallas Dart

(To our moms, don't freak out...we lived.) 

Raise your hand if you have ever used the Dallas Dart system? No? No one? 

That's right. No one uses the Dallas Dart system. Let me tell you why I thought it was a good idea and why no one uses it. 

We stayed at the Hyatt attached to Reunion Tower in Dallas. Very nice hotel, downtown, easy access to the interstate. While I was researching our trip we planned on going to Fair Park on the 4th. For those of you that don't know, Fair Park is where the Texas State Fair is. They open the park for the 4th and have a giant firework show. Neat. 

Well, the hotel has a tunnel that leads to Union Station which is the hub for the subway system. It would have been awesome not to have to deal with parking at the park. We assumed it would be very crowded. 

We fed BC, got all of the kids ready and loaded and started our trek to the Dart station. I stopped by the concierge desk and got a map from them and everything. Not a typical move for me but hey, I just wanted to double check.  

After struggling to find the down button on the elevator (it's hidden for a reason) we wondered why the tunnel was COMPLETELY empty. As in, no one was in this tunnel but us. 

We finally made it to the platform and there was a dad with his two sons. They looked normal and then there were some homeless people that were mumbling to themselves. We have traveled in several big cities and this is not a big deal to us. 

The ticketing screen was all scratched and we couldn't read it. A really nice man (that we thought worked for Dart) came up to us and helped us with the ticketing box. Very helpful and chatty. 

Here comes the twist.  He turned out to be a homeless veteran and helps people with the rail system in order to get tips. We thanked him for his service and gave him a $20 bill because that's all we had. He told us that God would put a blanket of protection around us and the girls. (I'm pretty sure he did!) Again, so nice but a little strange. 

We wait 15 minutes for the next train, hop on to a dirty rail car with a few scattered passengers and go one stop to switch trains. We probably rode a total of 5 blocks. 

When we stepped off the train, we joined a gnarly crew on the platform. We stuck out like a sore thumb. A man that I like to refer to as "One Eyed Charlie" had his eye locked on us. While I'm standing there I google "Dallas Dart" and an article about a mysterious death TWO days ago is the first thing that pops up. I'm sure my eyes were popping out of my head and I looked crazed but I looked at Andrew and he knew. We calmly walked down the platform, passing a drug deal, and basically sprinted all the way back to the hotel threatening Addie that if she tried to get out of the stroller she would get in serious trouble. 

Never once did we see a police man in this whole span of time. It was the 4th, maybe they were all at the Park? I'm not sure but they need to be on those rail cars. 

It took all of me not to go all crazy mom on the concierge when we got back to the hotel. (I at least waited a day.) But we got in our car and fled to Highland Park. More on that later. 

Our kids should turn out well rounded right?! 

Happy Fourth

Happy Birthday America! I wish I had gotten invited to this girl's party because she looks prepared. 

I hope you all find a body of water to play in this weekend. We will be sporting our American flag tattoos and hopefully not having mental breakdowns over fireworks. See y'all Monday!