Spinning Above Dallas

Last weekend, I went to the top of Reunion Tower for the first time! If you look at the Dallas skyline, it's the big skinny tower with the ball of lights at the top (see below).

When I first moved down here last year, I wanted to go to the observation deck at the top, but when I got there, it was closed for renovation until 2009. So when my college friends came to visit in March of this year, I thought it was done since I had heard that the restaurant was open. Oh no, the observation deck was still not finished (and it still isn't done now!).

But anyway, the restaurant at the top is Wolfgang Puck's Five Sixty. Last weekend, I went up to this restaurant to have drinks and dessert on a date.

It is very 'swanky' up there - very trendy, very "Dallas". It was also pretty pricey and the hostesses/waitresses run around in the skankiest little dresses that barely cover their rear ends! Anyway, the dessert was great.

What I was MORE impressed with was the view - it was spectacular and you could see all of Dallas and beyond. Absolutely gorgeous!

The restaurant spins (at a very slow rate) so that you can see all views of Dallas while you sit there. It's kind of weird because if you were to set your purse on the ledge by the outside windows, you would slowly be moving away from it before you know it! We were there for about an hour and I think we almost spun around one whole time.

Brewin' in Cowtown

About a week ago, I decided to go to a meetup.com event in which we were going to tour the Rahr & Sons Brewery in Fort Worth. I don't drink beer (I think it tastes nasty), but I have toured a couple breweries before and I thought they were really interesting, so I decided to go. Well, the description of the event was a little misleading....

Basically what it turned out to be was a beer party in a warehouse (I guess I didn't realize that this brewery was pretty tiny!). In this warehouse, they had the tanks and equipment and then next to them was a little tiny gift shop and then a huge bar area. You go into the gift shop and buy a glass (there were a bunch of designs and sizes to choose from) and then they give you 3 'poker' chips for free beer at the bar.

Oh, and one more detail - there was NO A/C in this warehouse and it was 98-100 degrees and very sunny that day. The only airflow was from a couple fans and the open overhead door on the side of the building. They even had a tiny little stage with a band in there! So needless to say, it was very loud. After about an hour, I asked the other people when this 'tour' was going to happen. Turns out it is just a guy who tries to scream over the noise of the people, fans and the band and tell us how they make their beer.....

The lines for beer were quite long and at one point I looked over and saw this guy in a kilt!

I really liked his shirt, though....."Brotherhood of the Kilt"!

And once it got packed in there, I looked over to my left and saw that there were people who brought babies and small children to this beer-guzzling event! WHO DOES THAT?? They put a blanket down on the floor and told the kids to sit there!

I choked down half of a beer so that I would fit in and then I decided to hit the road!

Ashes to Ashes

When my Dad died 6 years ago, he was cremated and my Mom has kept the ashes ever since. My sister, Mom and I have discussed what to do with his ashes several times and no real decision has ever been made. We just never felt strongly enough about any one option to follow through with it.His ashes are still at my Mom's house in northern Minnesota, but for some reason, I have been feeling that I want some of his ashes with me lately. I feel that as the years go by, I am starting to forget him and that really scares me. He deserves to be remembered and I want to do that as long as I'm alive. After all, he is one of the two people who are responsible for me being alive in the first place!
One of the problems with making decisions about his ashes is that my sister, my Mom and I all live in different parts of the country and there's no one location that would be appropriate to bury or spread his ashes that would be meaningful for all of us. Up until this point, I have not felt a need to have any of his ashes with me, but in the last few months, I keep thinking about it.

I brought up the subject to my Mom and she was fine with splitting up the ashes three ways so that all of us could have some. Decisions haven't been made, but when I talked with her, she said that if everyone agrees, that she could go to a funeral home and ask if they would open up the container and then split it up into three containers and then she could ship me one of them.

I would need to get a cool decorative container in order to display the ashes in a tasteful way. I don't want it to be creepy or even a container that people think contains ashes. I don't need it to be a conversation piece, but rather something that I see on a regular basis in my home and then think of Dad when I see it.
Any thoughts on this??

Looking Back - in a Flash

“One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure its worth watching.”

Maybe I think too much........but maybe I don't. I have thought about these 'end-of-life' moments and I contemplate what I would think if this very moment was my last. If I had no 'do-over' opportunities, but rather had to take my entire life up until this moment to review before it was all over, would I be happy and proud of what I saw......or would I have regrets?

I am a firm believer in living a 'no-regrets' existence, but that doesn't mean that I have mastered that art. I grew up in a home where most of the focus was on the future - saving money for the future, not using/enjoying the living room in order to 'preserve' it for company coming over, going to Grandma's house and not being able to sit on her couch unless plastic was on it, not seeing my Mom's china dishes used except for Thanksgiving dinner, etc. I never really saw a lot of spontaneous or impulsive decisions made in our home. This could be construed as good or bad, depending on your opinion of "quality of life." I feel that the way I was raised taught me to make responsible decisions, prepare for a stable future, etc. - all good things and I am very grateful for that upbringing.

The problem comes in when I have these 'your whole life flashing before your eyes' thoughts. My goal is to not have any regrets (or to have them be small and minimal) and I find that most of my regrets are things that I didn't do (either out of fear, doubt, on the advice of other people) rather than regretting things that I DID do. That is SAD to me!

I want to take every opportunity that is given to me - and the key to that is recognizing those opportunities when they are right in front of your face! Sometimes we turn down opportunities and sometimes we don't even know that an opportunity is standing there waiting to be acted upon! In the last few years, I have tried to be extra vigilant about recognizing opportunities when they present themselves and acting on the ones that I feel I would enjoy or learn something from.
That's not to say that we should take ALL opportunities that are presented to us. I feel that discernment is something that we all should be working to master. I know that my 'gut' tells me when things are right or wrong and I try to trust that instinct - it's usually dead-on (and I truly feel that that is God telling me what I should do)! Trouble seems to come when we go against our gut feeling in order to satisfy other people, to do the 'popular' thing, to keep up with the Joneses, etc.
Here's to living a life we will be proud of during that last moment in this world!

Reason for Writing

Lately I have been wondering why I am so vigilant about blogging. It takes a long time to upload pictures, write the blogs and arrange them....but yet I still do it after a year and half.

When I first started my blog, I was doing it because I was starting a huge new chapter in my life (moving to Texas, buying my first house, etc.) and it was convenient to put updates and info on a blog, rather than telling everyone the same story over and over. However, that crazy time of change has come and gone and I have now settled into everyday life in Texas. And yet I am more consistent than ever about keeping up my blogging.
Recently, I think I discovered why I continue blogging (and continue to enjoy doing it!): to keep a record of my life during my 'single' years. When you have another person 'to do life with' or a family with children running around, it's almost as if you have walking, talking records of your life....but I am pretty solitary at this stage in my life. I think I want to put so many aspects of my life into my blog in order to make sure there's some record of my thoughts, dreams, fears, successes, failures, plans and ideas.

I think we all have an innate need to feel that our lives mean something - that we matter to someone. Since my divorce, I have struggled with this issue and having a dog and blogging helps me a lot! My dog is another living thing that depends on me, loves me and needs me - all things that we are all designed to want. I realize that a dog cannot replace the interactions between human beings, but there are needs that are met by having a dog during this interim time between relationships. My blog also helps fulfill a piece that is missing - it's a way for me to 'put down on paper' all of the thoughts, experiences and adventures that I would normally 'share' with a spouse or immediate family in my household. It's very therapeutic to have blogging as an outlet and I thank all of you for reading my ramblings!
PS - I LOVE comments on my blog - keep 'em coming!

Train Station Adventure

While April and I were in Waxahachie, we stopped at an old train station that has been remodeled and is now office space for a private company. This old train depot was one of the 'homes' on the Gingerbread Trail tour and April and I were determined to see ALL of the tour.

Here's the side view of the depot:

And here's April hanging out with the locals - she's so friendly. :)

It was such a cool looking building and very well-preserved. Very Texas-looking.

Here's April as a "pimpin' cowgirl" - trying to ride the lion statue!

This is the view from the train depot 'across the tracks'...

Ooh - a train's coming! They blew the horn as we were standing at the depot - it was SOOOO loud, I think I lost some hearing when we were standing there!

And much to my dismay, April tried to hitch a ride!

This was the coolest train depot - it would be a photographer's dream - such good photo ops!

One really interesting thing that we saw inside the train depot (that has nothing to do with trains) was a hat collection of the president of the company that now occupies the building.

When I walked in this room, I was shocked at the number of hats on the walls and after talking with the ladies in the room (who work for the company that occupies the building now), we found out the story behind the hats.....

The president of the company started buying a new hat every year (and sometimes more than once a year) and then retiring the previous year's hat. He started in the 60's, so there are a lot of them! He also kept track of what jobs or important projects he worked on during each hat's 'tenure'.

On the glass in front of each hat, there is a little plaque that shows the dates that he wore that hat and what project/job he was doing and where. It was so interesting! What a cool idea and 'collection'!

Waxahachie - Round 2 (Gingerbread Trail)

Recently, April and I ventured back to Waxahachie (south of Dallas) in order to experience the Gingerbread Trail Festival. There was an arts & crafts area in a park (I bought a really cool ring), tours of beautiful old homes (we trekked through all of them), the shops on 'the square' (we went to a few) and courthouse tours (we got there too late and missed them!).

April and I started the day at the arts and crafts area and we each got a couple things.

After the craft area, we drove one-by-one to all of the big old houses on the Gingerbread Trail tours.

At the first house, there was a big line to get in.......so April took my picture by the Gingerbread Trail sign.......and I took her picture trying to 'snack' on the OTHER Gingerbread sign!

Outside of this first house, they had this super cool old car - it fit with the beautiful old house. It was like stepping back in time.....

After we made it into downtown, we saw this awesome old fire truck from the Waxahachie Fire Department.

We ate lunch at a small restaurant that had FABULOUS signs on the walls! Some were really "Texas"y, some were sarcastic - there were all kinds. I thought this Abilene one was cool...

And this one was awesome - making fun of Dallas just 35 miles south of Dallas! Oh well - Fort Worth makes fun of Dallas too. I suppose there are rivalries everywhere!