2 Thumbs up for Nick and Sams

Saturday night we had the most amazing dinner at Nick and Sam's Steakhouse in Dallas. The food was really good, but the service was AMAZING. Truly the best I've ever had. It started out with a complimentary round of champagne when we arrived and really just got better from there. I highly recommend it!

It was so nice to get a little dressed up and enjoy quality time with the Keys and Brazeals (2 of the couples in our church community group). This week is restaurant week so we got an amazing deal on our 3-course meal. I only wish that I had remembered my camera!

Sunday we had the Cavins, Hottingers and Loredos over for brunch. Little Maya and Charlotte are so adorable!

Dressing the part

Although western clothing is becoming increasingly common in India, the organization I'm volunteering with has requested that I wear traditional attire while I'm there. I think that most of the women they are helping must dress this way and I think it will be alot of fun to dive into their culture this way.

My friend Sinhura kindly took me shopping this week and introduced me to an Indian boutique here in Dallas. The women who ran the shop were unbelievably nice - I left thinking we could be life-long friends! I don't know what I would have done with Sinhura because I would not have had any idea what types of clothes were appropriate for what settings - everything is so beautiful and ornate. She did a good job of getting me a range of things and explaining when to wear them.

The experience was fun but hilarious at the same time. Many of the outfits come with pants that seriously fit like MC Hammer pants. I felt like I put on an extra 20 pounds with every outfit. I picked up a lot of fun stuff, but here are pictures of my "nice" outfits for parties, dinners, important meetings, etc. The rest is much, much more casual and comfortable. Some of the tops I'm even hoping I can wear with my jeans.

Prayer and Precious moments with friends

This week I enjoyed a wonderful tapas dinner with my friend Sondra. Sondra and I have been friends for almost 20 years - I almost can't comprehend that because I still remember so clearly the night we met! We met at a friend's house where we ended up hot tubbing as it was snowing outside - such a cool experience if you ever have the chance... As an avid runner with 3 kids Sondra leads a full life, so every moment with her is a gift!

Today Dana and I spent 4 hours in prayer. It was an assignment for a class that he's taking at church, but I decided to do it too. It was really an incredible experience. I completed my personal testimony of how I gave control of my life to Jesus Christ, prayed personally for each of our family members and friends and spent time mentally preparing for my upcoming volunteer trip. Dana dove into "The Purpose Driven Life" and studied the act of prayer altogether. Even though we had to give up our traditional Saturday morning pancakes : ), we both got a lot out of the experience.

Total happiness...

What a perfect weekend! It was the best of both worlds - totally relaxing and utterly productive at the same time. We caught up on sleep, organized several previous disaster areas in our house, saw a great movie, enjoyed an amazing meal with the Hottingers and a beautiful day out on the lake with the Loredos and Scurlocks. I also crossed a ton of things off my list in my preparation for India and planned a really fun Indian-themed going away/33rd birthday party that we're totally looking forward to!

A glimpse of sorting food at the Food Bank

During our morning shift we helped pack about 27,000 pounds of food for over 12,000 meals. (but we did have some help - including us there were about 45 other volunteers)

Thanksgiving came early this year

Last weekend both of our amazingly loving families flew in to celebrate "Thanksgiving in August". We decided to celebrate all that we are thankful for a bit early this year, since Christine will be volunteering in India in November.

We volunteered at a food bank, cooked a full Thanksgiving meal (adapted for the hot weather - but we still had turkey, cranberries, pumpkin dessert, etc), created a scavenger hunt for the kids, visited the Kimball Art Museum and Museum of Modern Art, enjoyed lunch at the famous Joe T Garcia's and played a lot of games, and just enjoyed each others company.

Bye Bye Birdies

To make a long story short, the birds below died and we're sad about it. They must have been eaten by something. It's been quite depressing to think about it.

On a happier note, our families arrive in 3 days for "Thanksgiving in August"! We can't wait to celebrate all of the things we're thankful for (a bit early this year since Christine will be in India in November).

This weekend has been wonderfully relaxing. Friday night Christine had a (fun) work dinner and Dana had a guy's game night in honor of Brian Blanchard's birthday. Saturday we cooked an amazing dinner (seriously - the best dinner we've ever cooked and it was so easy) and just enjoyed a romantic evening out by the pool.

Today I hosted a baby shower for Stephanie, one of the girls in my church community group. We had an ice cream sundae bar and made personalized onesies (using cute iron-ons) for Baby Wannemacher, who arrives in September.

Our little newborns

We have had a pleasure of watching a cardinal lay its eggs in an easy-to-see nest right outside our backyard and then watching them hatch. We check on them several times a day because it's actually been really cool to see them grow!

Here are the before & after pics. They were born a couple of days ago but still haven't opened their eyes.

Fun in the Sun

I've gotten lazy about taking pictures lately so unfortunately I don't have any photos of actually people to share from this weekend.

Friday we attended a Goodbye Party for our friend Diana. It was sad, but so fun at the same time because the party was packed with our good friends and Diana made amazing food for us all. Diana is very inspiring in that she isn't afraid to take risks to follow her dreams. Diana is leaving her job at Frito to move to Napa Valley and go to culinary school (one day she hopes to open a restaurant). Isn't that incredible? We will miss her and Vish, but wish her the best and hope that our paths cross again soon (I may be going to a wedding in India with her in Sept, so it may very soon!)

Saturday we hung out with the Cavins and Hottingers and played in the pool with their adorable baby girls (Charlotte and Maya) because it's been over 100 degrees here every day. So hot! I'm praying that a cool spell moves through in 2 weeks when our families visit for "Thanksgiving in August".

Saturday evening we had an awesome Indian dinner at the Saffron House. Unfortunately we always get the same things anytime we eat Indian (Chicken Tikka Masala and Lamb Vindaloo) because we love them so much, so I'm excited to try new things when I am in India this Fall and can eat Indian more often.

Today we had our church group over for swimming and burgers. The highlight for me was watching Lauren and Elizabeth do cheer routines in the pool (that they actually remember from high school!). That is amazing to me.

Tonight we bought a new piece of art for our dining room. I love the colors! Here's a picture...

Fireworks & Floating the River

This weekend we headed down to Austin to celebrate the 4th of July with Christine's Kappa Kappa Gamma pledge sisters and their husbands. We had a great time catching up with 14 close friends. We enjoyed Texas BBQ, floated down the river in inner tubes, swam, mini golfed and played games. Austin was HOT HOT HOT, but we love it there. Such a great city... so much character.

Sara & James (the "newlyweds" of our group) were wonderful hosts! Today I'm working on setting up special bank accounts and credit cards for my India sabbatical. I could do without the logistical details, but I'm very excited about the trip!