It’s 8:18 pm and I just put my lovely little girl to bed. I was able to have FIVE whole days with her this week. That doesn’t happen often. I loved every minute of it….well, all except part of the car ride to Dallas.

Chris had a fun filled weekend in downtown Dallas planned for us this weekend. We were celebrating several things, the ending of a job for me and the beginning of a new one…as well as the big ‘day’ that is coming up this Friday. This weekend was exactly what we both needed and wanted, and I couldn’t have asked for more.

We headed to Dallas on Thursday morning, taking our time, stopping at the very small outlet mall in Hillsboro (seriously, we were in the ONLY ones in Gap outlet…when does that ever happen?), and sitting in 30 minutes of Dallas traffic. We got to our hotel right at check in, after realizing that this hotel in downtown Dallas doesn’t have parking. Nice. AND…the brochure/marketing pieces were MUCH nicer online than in person! Ha. But we decided to make the most of it b/c we weren’t there to hang out in our hotel room, but to play! And we survived through the old (yet slightly remodeled) historic hotel that basically had a power-washer for a shower. Ouch.

Through our trek in downtown Dallas, we discovered that the once vibrant West End area seems extremely desolate with nothing to do and no people around. We headed over to the Dallas Acquarium, while it started to almost pour down rain, and they were closed, and THEN, we walked over to Reunion Tower which also was closed for renovations! And it’s raining and 60 degrees. I told Chris I might have won the wet t-shirt contest. What’s happened to this place!? We purposefully stayed in this area so that we wouldn’t need to deal with traffic and ride the light rail (Dallas’ train transportation). So, Thursday night we enjoyed catching up on MTV, which I desperately miss with no cable.

Friday was Dallas Zoo day! In all my years of living in Dallas, I never experienced the zoo. And it was perfect. So nice, clean, great exhibits, and we did all that we could there, including taking photo booth pictures with Lions, riding the little train that tours part of the zoo from above, and eating ice cream and very expensive chicken fingers. We had so much fun. Tatum was a trooper. After the zoo, we took the light rail to Mockingbird, near the Uptown area of Dallas with a few cool stores, and then took the light rail to Historic downtown Plano—where we had a great supper (Cheese Fries!) and found a cute little boutique where I got a pair of red pants for $20 (when does that happen in a boutique in Dallas..?) Tatum made friends with one of the hostesses who loved her “highlighted” hair. And every time the girl would walk by, Tatum would grin and wave, and if the girl didn’t notice her, she would whine. She has a special way of getting attention these days.

Saturday morning we woke up and had planned on having lunch with some good friends of ours in Frisco. Why they couldn’t meet us somewhere in the middle, I didn’t understand, until later. Chris is very sneaky and I am OH SO PROUD! My sneaky husband logged on to my gmail and yahoo account AND got numbers out of my cell phone to personally contact some of my girlfriends in Dallas to arrange a surprise lunch for me!! I was speechless. I know how much work that takes and getting people together in Dallas on a Saturday with less than two weeks advance….wow! A few were able to make it, and I was SO happy to spend my afternoon catching up with them. I am blessed with wonderful friends, and I felt so very special. Chris is so good to me.

We drove home in time to pick up our Brodie and make it to a going away party for our good friends Zach & Vida. It was such an amazing time away. Thanks Chris for being more than I could have ever asked for.

*Oh! And Tatum walked!! Yea!

Categories: Thoughts