Everything is Bigger in Texas | Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of the Great Texas Adventures! Unfortunately with the stupid ice storm that hit Texas, we had one whole day lost on the trip -- which on a 4 day weekend is a lot. Especially when one whole day is devoted to wedding festivities, and two other involved travel. But despite all that, we made the best of the trip, tried to see as much as we could in the short amount of time we had, and attempted to take in as much authentic Texas culture as possible. And that would be starting with grabbing some authentic Tex-Mex for dinner and hitting up a dueling piano bar. Complete with cowboy hats, spurs and fiddles galore!

This was probably the most fun night of our trip. I mean who doesn't love rockin' out to Charlie Daniel's band down south. So very Texas. Us yankees didn't even know what to do with ourselves!!

The next day on the trip was the wedding (see pictures from yesterdays post) so the next day we wanted to see some culture. First we visited Houston's Holocaust museum, and I must say it is intense and enlightening all at once. I've actually never been to a Holocaust museum so I didn't really know what to expect. Seeing photographs and images of the human suffering are truly eye opening, and as much as I know about this dark period in history, it makes you realize how we can never let hate take over. We need to love our fellow brothers and sisters and never let such atrocities happen again.

Knowledge is power.

After the museum we got some great recommendations for authentic Texas BBQ. We ended up at this hole in the wall looking place, which always ends up having the best food. And that it did! And seriously the nicest people too! Yes ma'am, no ma'am, thank you ma'am. Where am I? Not New Jersey or New York, that's for sure!

 Everything really is bigger and better in Texas. And smothered in BBQ sauce.

light lunch anyone?

After lunch Amy and her hubby had to catch ther flight back to the east coast, so D and I had one last night before heading back ourselves in the morning. Since our flight was early, we decided to just stroll around the city and head back to the room for some room service and watching the grammys!

This last pic is for my brother Dean. A whole store devoted to getting clothes on credit/layaway. Awesome.

And that my friends was our mini trip in a nutshell. I wish it was longer but of course mother nature likes to throw a little monkey wrench in our plans. But despite all that we had a great time, had some great local and authentic food and took in the sites and culture. So overall -- a great trip was had! : )

Happy Hump Dayyyyyyyyy!

Xo Steph

Everything is Bigger in Texas | Part 1

So I'm FINALLY getting around to sharing my pictures from Texas. Better late than never eh? So the whole reason for going down to Houston, Texas was for my dear friend Anh's wedding. I was super excited because I've never been to the larger than life state and always down for a new adventure. D and I decided to make this wedding trip a mini-vacation so we made it into a long weekend. But once I got notice that our flight was cancelled due to ice storms in Texas,  I knew we were in for a doozy of a trip!

Thumbs down as we sat there with a cancelled flight. Stupid ice storms in Texas.

All smiles when we finally got on the early bird flight the next morning. But boo to us losing a whole day of our trip. Which really sucks when you're trying to take a mini vacation. So much for that whole "long weekend" thing. Also - weirdest thing when you look at your window on the plane and you see....another plane nearby. I have to say that's never happened before, kinda cool and everyone was taking pictures like little tourists.

I wanted to share pics from the wedding first since it was the whole reason for our trip. The wedding was a fusion of both Vietnamese and Chinese cultures so it was a really cool thing for us to be a part of. The gorgeous red dress Anh was wearing was at a tea ceremony in the morning when they families meet and essentially trade their daughter for a suckling pig! When you do a double take at traditions you just have to laugh sometimes. I mean really, weddings are all about giving your daughter away as a dowery right? But I'm getting off on a tangent -- the red dress was stunning and one of my favorites. Also above left was her traditional white wedding dress in the church. 

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Black lace dress: Same, similar, similar, similar

After the ceremony at the church, the reception was held at a traditional Chinese restaurant that had a huge reception area. I was really cool to see all the decor with the vibrant red colors and the gold dragons on the wall (see background) and all the foods were authentic and new to my palette. Which is always fun to try different things.

Love those napkins. And that boy. And these girls.

On top of all the excitement on the trip, I finally got a chance to hang out with my bestie who I never get to see enough of anymore. She is expecting her first bundle of joy, and it was seriously such a joy to see her with her big belly all beautiful and glowing. I was like a proud best friend. I even got to feel my little nephew kick for the first time and I was in awe of how that felt. It's seriously a miracle what a woman's body can do. I'm so proud of her and I can't for little baby D to get here already!

 Overall the wedding was absolutely beautiful and we had so much fun!

Stay tuned for part 2 of our Texas adventure : )

Happy Tuesday friends!

xo Steph