Let's Art Party

April, Jenn, Lauren and I bought a LivingSocial deal recently for a painting/art place in Fort Worth and headed over there one day to redeem our class. It's the kind where you all paint the same thing and your instructor guides you through the process (with some wine as liquid courage). The place we went to is called Let's Art Party and they have locations in Plano and Fort Worth.

Here is a sampling of some of the designs that they do.

We decided to go on the night that they were doing a "Texas-y" one - a scissortail bird on barbed wire. The picture on the easel below is what we were painting. Then the instructor does each step along with us on her blank canvas.

As you can see below, they start you off with your own canvas with the design sketched on it already. (Thank God!)

Here are April, Jenn and Lauren getting started!

Oh, and at the place, they give you a free glass of wine with the class.....

I was more excited about operating their wine dispensing machine than about the actual wine!

You put your 'wine card' in the slot at the top of the machine, then you put your glass under the kind that you want and push the button for that bottle. It dispenses the exact amount you need for your glass. SO FUN!!

Here's the manager of the store - introducing our instructor and telling us how to do everything.

Here we go - these are some shots of my progress.......

And now it's done!

April was insanely meticulous, so she was always a few steps behind everyone else....but hers looked amazing at the end!

Here's Jenn blow drying her finished product!

April is finally finishing up..... :)

This is the teacher's rendition.....

And here's me and my rendition!

They even had Sharpies so we could sign our masterpieces.....

It was a really fun night! I think that our teacher should stick with art (she was awesome), and I should stick with Finance, though. Mine was kind of warped! hahaha

Bikers and a Band

A couple weeks ago, I met Cindy and our friend Ryan at a biker bar in Grapevine - Wilhoite's - to see our co-worker's band play (Sabrina & Gypsy Bleu). Oh wow - that was weird....I typed "OUR" co-worker, but in the past 2 months both Cindy and Ryan have left the company. SO SAD about that. Actually, just sick over it. I miss them both so much.....but I'm glad I can still do Wednesday lunches with Ryan since he just moved across the freeway from me! Gotta look on the bright side, eh?

Anyway, here's the band getting set up - Marino is the one with long hair and black t-shirt.

While we were waiting for the band to start, I saw this light near our table - it was the Budweiser clydesdale horses in it and it and they were spinning inside the light! Cool!

AMEN!! True to Texas!

Here's the band getting started.....Marino changed into his black leather pants, like usual.

If you look closely, you'll notice that there is an antique car ABOVE the salad bar!!! That is awesome!

I think they hired Fabio to be their bassist...hahahaha - actually, their old bassist is the guy who painted the common areas in my house. Too funny.

Every got out on the little dance floor and danced the night away....

Here's Ryan visiting Marino on stage during a break....

Me and Marino during the break - his hair smelled SO GOOD!

Here's Fabio again - he was just odd looking.....

Can you tell it's a biker bar?! LOL

Ummmm....yes. Bikers and more bikers.

Ryan and Cindy singing something - I forgot the song, but it was HILARIOUS!

Here's the proof that it's a biker bar (as if we weren't convince inside or something....)!

My two fantastic friends - Ryan and Cindy! I miss them terribly at work......

List Friday

Top 10 Things I Miss About Minnesota Summers

1. Temperatures that are about 25 degrees cooler than Texas!

2. Varying temperatures - some higher, some lower (not 100 degrees for months on end)

3. Being out on the lakes

4. Seeing all of the RV's and boats on the roads - heading up north

5. Camping at Crow Wing Campground with all the neighbors as a kid

6. "The Great Minnesota Get Together" (AKA - The Minnesota State Fair)

7. Going tubing down the Apple River

8. Going to Raceway Park (stock car racing) in Shakopee

9. Enjoying mowing the lawn (I don't now because it's so freaking hot)

10. Walking around Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriett in Minneapolis

Soccer Fanfare

This is the 'outtakes' (random weirdness) post from the FC Dallas soccer game. I love their slogan!

This is the cheering section (diehards) for the team:

And the team mascot, hanging out with the cheering section...

The kids next to us had a vuvuzela - I had never seen one in person!

I would definitely go to another game - just not in the super hot summer heat. How about a fall/spring game???

Hats off to their marketing team - I love the logo, colors, slogan, etc.! And everything was printed AND announced in Spanish as well. Here's the banner in Spanish - Somos Futbol (We are soccer).

Ouch - man down!

He's either in a ton of pain or a good actor....

Long time gettin' up......

I thought the neon green outfits were hilarious!

Gotta make sure Texas is represented in the flags!

Kickin' The Ball Around

About a month ago, I experienced my first professional soccer game - FC Dallas against the Sporting KC! I know almost nothing about soccer, but I bought the tickets for Jenks' birthday in June (he's a huge soccer fan).

FC Dallas (Futbol Club Dallas) play at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas.

It's a very pretty place - I was VERY impressed with their field/park/facility.

Here we are, sweating our brains out! He really needs to re-think when his birthday falls on the calendar.....oh wait, mine's in AUGUST. Yuck! lol

I love their logo - very TEXAS!

It wasn't very crowded since the Dallas Mavericks were in the NBA Playoffs that night.....and it was about a billion degrees out too.

Here are the players coming onto the field - they apparently always get escorted by kids/fans.

Um, I LOVE the color of their uniforms! Way better than the blue ones on the Kansas City players or the neon green refs. :)

They are ready to go!

Here's some of the action.....

The team on their bench....

Here's the sidelines 'flag guy' (not sure what his official title is - Jenks, this is your invitation to finally leave a comment on my blog!)...

They look tired - they are doing a LOT of running in extreme heat!

There go the referees....

After half time, we found a place in the shade to watch the rest of the game - THANK GOD!

Here's the team bench again....

I thought it was interesting to go to my first major league soccer game - although I probably should've experience one of them in Europe when I was studying abroad. After all, that's where the sport is much more popular!

Big kick!