Restaurant Review.

I'm all about trying new things. I love experiencing new & different places in Dallas, especially when they live up to my expectations.

Saturday we went to Campisis, which was supposedly a Dallas must. It's supposedly the last place that Jack Ruby ate before the assassination of Lee Harvy Oswald. Also, the Campisi family was very "thick" with Lee Harvy Oswald and had known associations with organized crime. See? Sounds pretty intriguing.

It was a disappointment. The atmosphere was sub par & reminded me of a Pizza Hut with a bar. The pizza was ok, but I honestly like Domino's new garlic crust pizza better. The best thing they had going for them was the garlic cheesy bread, which I must admit was delicious. But that was it.

&&& I love my husband because he took me out for date night Saturday.

Europe 2011

Chris & I are seriously contemplating taking a 2-3 week vacay through Europe next summer. Yes, we travel a lot. Yes, we've both been to Europe before. & Yes, we're already scheduled to go on a cruise with the Joneses. Buttttt...... This is going to be our "Last Hurrah" before home ownership, real world work, and children.

When we debate back and forth about it we always end up saying, "When else in our lives are we going to be able to take 3 weeks off from reality and travel through Europe??" So we plan on this being our "Congrats of getting out of law school debt free" prize to ourselves.

We know when we are going to go (right after Chris takes the bar), so now we've got to figure out where. It's so overwhelming. I guess we should first x-out the places we've already been. So that'd be London, Paris, Rome, Barcelona & all over Germany. Butttt I kinda loved London & Rome and would love to go back.

So here we sit weighing our options. Go somewhere new & exciting?!? Go somewhere we know is absolutely amazing?!? Or mix it up and do both?!?

&&& I love my husband because he loves to travel. Just like me!

iPad.

Soooo I got an iPad.... & I love it... & I have the best hubbs in the world for surprising me with it. Seriously he's the greatest. I've wanted one for a while and hinted *ever so slightly* for him to get me one.

I am addicted. I knew I would like it, but I never thought I'd love it this much. It's seriously glued to my hip 24/7.

I can't figure out how to blog on it though. There's no cursor in the text box, so I can't type. This is probably an easy fix, but I've been too lazy to look too in depth into it.

&&& I love my husband because he started his 3rd AND FINAL year of law school yesterday. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Thank the Lord.

Emi Imo Dairo Doo?

We went back to the lake this weekend (big surprise, I know), but this time my Hoodlum cousins came up for a visit. It was a Hawaii 2010 reunion... 2 months after the fact. It was a fabulous weekend relaxing, eating, catching up, and playing on the lake.

Saturday evening Deisa & I got off discussing childhood stories our Nena used to tell us. We laughed until we cried discussing "The Weedle on the Needle", "Emi Imo" "Wolly the Lamb" & many many others.

I think "The Weedle on the Needle" took the cake as the best story told in the Hood Household. It was a story about a weedle (still not sure what that is) who lived on the needle (the Seattle Space Needle). Well Nena and Grandad had a radio tower in plain sight of their house, so they would point to the red blinking light & tell us it was the Weedle on the Needle. At night when we wouldn't go to sleep they would say, "You better go to sleep or the weedle will get you!"

Emi Im is a whole 'nother story.... It's a nursery rhyme our entire family says & none of us have a clue 1.where it came from 2. what it means:

Emo imo dairo do rump sum pap-a-linkle rap sap penny winkle... I always mess up the rest, so I'm going to stop while I'm ahead

See... it's crazy. Deisa says her German foreign exchange student friend says it's German. So we googled "emo imo" in every which spelling combo possible. Nothing. We will just chalk this one up as a Hood Family Tradition... like the Eddie's Chocolate of words (more on Eddie's Chocolate later).

Nothing beats reminiscing with family.

&&& I love my husband because he let us spend the whole weekend with just MY family.

Vegas. Part Dos.

We woke up Saturday morning with a mission: Shop.

But before we hit the mall (again) we went to brunch at Bouschon's. It's a little bakery-ish restaurant on the 10th floor of the Venetian. It was great. I didn't particularly care for what I got, but Dr. Dad got the french toast, which was to-die-for.

So we had some mimosas.... which lead to us being simpled out. This picture seriously cought my family in their prime.

I tried my hand at the slots... I'm not really sure why I do this, because I always always always end up losing. After I lose I get pissy & wish I hadn't wasted good shoe money on a stupid slot machine.
When we got to the mall it didn't take us long to spend our "allowance" from Dr. Dad. Mom & Co hit up LV while I settled for a new Yurman bracelet. I was yippee skippy happy to get my first Yurman bracelet. Thanks, Dr. Dad. You rock!

After a long morning of shopping we went to the hotel pool. I was slightly disappointed. I think Zaza spoiled us... The pool itself wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. It was crowded and the service was poor. It took us 20 minutes to get chairs set up, 30 minutes to flag down a waitress, and 20 more minutes to go order take out from the poolside restaurant. They wouldn't take your order for food, so you had to physically go up to the restaurant, order food, wait on your food, and take it back to your chair. This topped with the fear that I might catch something from the pool... I mean, it's Vegas.... what do you expect?!?
After pool time we cleaned up for a fabulous supper at Lavo in the Palazzo. I had the most amazing spaghetti and meatballs EVER. I would highly recommend this place. The ambiance inside the place was great. I wish I'd taken more photos because it was gorgeous.

Saturday evening we went to the late night showing of Jersey Boys. I was unsure whether or not I'd like it since I'd never really heard of The 4 Seasons, but it was a really good show. Within the first 5 minutes I was invested in the characters & singing along with the tunes. Turns out I did know a lot of their music.

After the show we walked down to Caeser's. Bad idea. 2 young girls + 1 over protective Dr. Dad + late nights & drunkards in Vegas= Bad combo. To say the least men were very interested in my sister & I & Dr. Dad did not find it amusing... at all.
We left early Sunday morning. Sad day. It was a short, but sweet trip.

&&& I love my husband because the house was picked up when I got home on Sunday.

Vegas, Baby!

Last minute trip to Vegas? Please & thanks! Sunday evening Dad called me to see if I'd like to go to Vegas for the weekend. Duh! So I took off Friday & headed to Vegas with the Dem Fam. I left Dallas at noon and arrived to Vegas at 1:50 with my family arriving 20 minutes later.

We made the most of every single minute we had there. After getting our bags we headed over to the hotel, the Palazzo. Chris & I stayed there before, but it was the first time for my parents. It was very nice.

Dad was pretty pumped to be back in Vegas... Hince his "Happy Dance"

His comment after this video was, "This cat can dance."

We had lunch at one of my all time faves, Sushi Samba. I absolutely love their cocktail trees.

Then we headed to Fashion Show Mall to do some shopping. We were pretty unsuccessful on day 1, coming home with only Victorias Secret shopping bags. After some shopping we got prettied up for a nice dinner at BOA in Cesaer's Palace. They have the most amazing steaks.

This was for Chris, since he prefers to gamble at Casino Royale. Class class class....

Dad and I tried our hand at Blackjack. Let's just say he did much better than I did.
I found a baby once. Really, where?..............

Coffee Bean.
&&& I love my husband because he is finally home with me for good. I have really missed him over the past couple weeks.

48 Hours Later

& 4 pounds lighter! It worked!

Kinda... I think I could've had the same results had I just taken a water pill & not over eaten for 2 days. Doesn't matter to me though, I'm happy with the results.

&&& I love my husband even though he left me for a guys trip. I feel like I've spent the whole month of July at home alone.

A Miracle in 48 Hours?!?

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit this.....Last night I started the 48 hour miracle diet.

It all started when I went to get in my car yesterday morning & my jeans ripped. Yes, I'd noticed my size 2's had been getting harder and harder to button. Yes, I've been eating fast food more often than I should. & Yes, I am at my all time highest weight.

I knew I had to get a jump start on losing weight, and I am hoping this will help. I weight in yesterday at 124 *gasp* I am hoping to be just under 120 when I'm finished with this 48 hours. So far I am approximately 15 hours into it. When I weighed myself this morning I was at 124.

&&& I love my husband because he pushed me to do this "detox." He said, "I'll like you better because you'll like yourself better." Well spoken, Jones. Well spoken.

Home Improvements

We purchased our furniture 3 years ago this summer. Since we bought it we haven't really done much updating. Ya, I've added a new painting in our stairwell & a new side table, but recently I've been itching to add a little flare to our living room.

Don't get me wrong, I love our couch and love seat. They are really really nice, and are a great neutral color. However, I'm not much for neutral. In December I added a super cute little zebra side table to our "reading nook" & ever since I've been obsessed with the idea of adding zebra accents to our living room. I just had to convince my husband that it'd be cute.

I knew I was in the market for new throw pillows on our couch, but I didn't want to settle for something I didn't love. We went to TJ Max, Stein Mart, & alas Ross had the perfect accent pillows.

Next on my home to do list: recover the chairs Nena gave me for my dining room. I think I will have to enlist some help on that one.

&&& I love my husband because he gave in on the zebra accents.