"Vacation" Day 2.

On this lovely Friday, it was kind of a free day for us. Grandma had her "meet and greet" at the school gym at 5pm so we had plenty of time to do what we wanted to. We got up early, too early in my opinion...7am, and got showered and ready to go on a tour of the town with grandma, aka Memmie, her sister Midge, and Midge's husband Bill. I was super excited to go see where they grew up. I've heard tons and tons of stories over the years and now I can finally put those stories to a real place.

So on we went and drove out to their "old home place" as they called it, and I don't think I've seen more dirt/rock roads in my life. I was getting worried we would have to buy some new tires by the end of the day. After all the arguing over whether the old house was on the left or right and the new house was on the left or right side of the road, we got there and the pre-tornado house was on the left, and the new house that the Red Cross built for them was on the right. I'm not quite sure who won that argument because I heard both Memmie and Midge say both options that day... So the story is that way back whenever, there was a massive tornado that ravaged the farming community and completely destroyed their house. They all blacked out and don't remember anything but that they all woke up huddled together in a corner. The Red Cross built a new home on the other side of the road for them to live in.

The owners now have changed some things such as added on more rooms and moved the front porch, it used to be over on that right side of the house apparently. Behind this house is a giant hill, and back behind where I was standing was a big hill going down to a creek.

This is the side of the road where the pre-tornado house was. You can't see anything because of all the overgrowth of trees and bushes. Oh well...

Here are some more photos of the area around their old home.

Memmie walking down the road towards the creek where they used to get their water from:

After the lovely tour, we headed back to the house because Memmie, Midge and Bill were going back to that infamous gas station to go see their friends and hang out for lunch, because that is apparently the thing to do. Well I was not having any part of that so mom and I decided to head to Eureka Springs with Vivian, whose house we were staying at, to grab some lunch and explore the town.

Well lunch turned out to not be so fabulous as Vivian had prepared us for.

1. It was a restaurant inside a Best Western.

2. Not many options, but had a decent looking salad bar, which is what I opted for.

3. I did NOT opt for the LIVE moth that would be swimming around in ranch dressing on top of the lettuce on my plate.

Ok, I know it seems like I'm complaining a lot, but I really did have a great time. There were just some not so hot moments that are pretty funny when you think about it.

It was pretty freaking hot in Eureka Springs and there were TONS of people roaming about. We drove around looking for places to park and walk around, but there weren't many options and Vivian's knee was hurting so we just drove around all 3 levels of the town looking at the neat places. On the drive back to town we saw this little road leading up a tall mountain and Vivian says "hey you want to go see where my granddaughter got married?" We were like yeah!! It was at Thorncrown Chapel, a very famous piece of architecture. It has won awards for it's design. The AIA named it #4 on its list of top buildings of the 20th century. It is definitely worth stopping by and walking down the wooded path to see its glory. I took tons and tons of photos and they all turned out amazing. Here's a few of my fav's.

This is along side the path the whole way leading up to the chapel:

It's 48 feet tall and has 425 windows.

After the chapel, we headed back to the house to get ready for the "meet and greet" at the school gym. Depending on how hot it was in that gym, or how boring it was, me and mom left the option open on leaving and going to do our own thing. Well it certainly was hot, and the heat really bothers mom, so after checking in grandma, Midge, and Bill, we headed out and decided to drive around for a bit. Actually, we were in search of somewhere decent to eat dinner and not have gas station food or nasty bug-infested food. Success! We drove to the next town called Rogers and there were tons of places to eat! One place caught our eyes, Catfish John's. Yeah fried, but hey, it was delicious! Got tons of food for cheap too. We probably could have split one child's plate we both got. After eating, we headed back to Garfield and drove straight into a huge storm. It was raining so hard I could barely see the road in front of me. I almost pulled over, but it lightened up some and I kept on going. That rain dropped the temperature about 20 degrees making it super nice outside. When we got to the house, we saw Vivian and her husband outside in the garden picking blueberries for the cobbler she was going to make! Me and mom headed over there and helped out. The blueberries we so sweet and delicious!

Soon after starting to pick the blueberries, here comes that storm we drove out of. We ran to the porch and decided to sit relax in the cool weather and watch the rain. The cows seemed to enjoy the weather too.

And that concluded our 2nd day in Arkansas. I'll blog tomorrow about Day 3 with more pictures!

"Vacation" June 2010, Day 1.

I say "vacation" in quotations on purpose. This past Thursday I left the big city life to be the chauffeur for my mom and grandma on a trip to "the natural state" of Arkansas. Yes that is their state slogan. It was my grandma's class reunion and her sister was going to be there so it was a good time to go and visit. I was happy to get away for a few days at least, but I surely did not know what I was getting myself into apparently.

Lets start at the beginning. Day 1: Driving to Garfield, Arkansas.
Well we started off right on schedule and left the DF-Dub before 10am. We get on 121 and right before getting onto 75, there's construction. We got through it and like 2 seconds later in McKinney, the highway goes down to one lane! ARGH! what a way to start this 6 hour drive off.

We almost made it to the Oklahoma border when someone had to pee already. I hate stopping, but I had to remember grandma is almost 80 and has TBS: tiny bladder syndrome. ugh oh well. On we went and made it to Atoka, Oklahoma and had lunch at a Dairy Queen. Oh how I miss having a DQ nearby...

This was a tiny Dairy Queen. But at least it was open!

 

After eating lunch, we made it a few hours and made stop #3 at one of those Travel Station things like Love's. They certainly had the souvenirs there. Anything from t-shirts, to toy 18-wheelers with "The Godfather" or "Scarface" logos on them, to beef jerky and postcards, and even some dream catchers. I always say you know you're in Oklahoma when you see these....

And don't forget a snack!

or a souvenir...

After yet another stop, we finally made it to Garfield, Arkansas!!! We were staying with my grandma's friends/family on their 450 acre farm complete with cows, hay, and a garden. We got there right before dinner and grandma's sister and husband came over and wanted to take us to their favorite hang out place for dinner. Unfortunately for me, it was not a restaurant, but a gas station with a "grill" inside. I thought it would be safe to order a burger so I stuck with that. It was ok, but my viewing options were not so pleasant. There was a woman sitting at a gaming machine playing and chain smoking the whole time. I still wonder if she was winning anything. All I saw her do was put more money in the machine constantly.

Then a man, a woman, and their 2 year old boy come in. The kid is barefoot running around screaming and is covered in dirt. The man proceeds to raise his shirt and scratch his sweaty belly right next to our table. Right after that, he reached into the ice bin things that hold sodas and drinks and stuff, and grabs some ice and starts rubbing it all over his body and hairy legs. So gross.

And now we headed back to the house and went to bed. I woke up to this...

Beautiful!

Ok I'm super exhausted. I will continue with Days 2, 3, and 4 tomorrow. Thank goodness I'm off work til Wednesday!

<3.

mom love.

I have the best mom in the world! She's always been there for me through anything and everything, and she did it by herself. I couldn't ask for anything more! Thanks mom :)

...and she's one classy lady!

Happy Mother's Day :)
<3.

Weeeekend!

Well it is Friday ya'll and I'm sitting in my new chair! woot! It feels like brand new, so comfy! Thanks again to Robert for the new stuff!

I'm going to get a slip cover for it because it really doesn't go with my couch and furniture, but it was too good a buy to pass up!

Today I felt like freshening up the loft with some fresh flowers from the market. I always love having flowers in here. They smell great and look so pretty. Here's what I got today...

Some stargazer lilies with lime green pom poms.

White gerber daisy with some of the same green poms. Obviously they are in my bathroom, hence the sink there. and the mirror.

I know it's kinda dark, but it's 3 hot pink gerber daisies with the green poms. I put these on my dresser in the bedroom area.

It just feels nicer and home-ier with some flowers sometimes.

Tonight I went with mom to the west end to eat at the Spaghetti Warehouse! I love me's some Italian food. We even got to sit in the trolley car they have in the middle of the restaurant. It was just like it was when I was a kiddo! Minus the 20 young girls screaming for crayons in their cheerleader t-shirts. ughhhhhh.

Italy is DELICIOUS! haha. I'm making my chicken show it's pride for my home country of Italy by waving the Italian flag...

trolley anyone?

I have this idea for above my super high cabinets in the kitchen. I want to put up empty bottles of wine there on the ledge thing and have them for show. I love finding random wine bottles that have fun labels on them. I only have a few right now, but hopefully with the help of friends we can make it happen hehe.

and yes I know they are on the kitchen counter right now, but soon I will put them up there. I promise. :)

Anyhoo! Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!!

<3.

New Barstools!

My mom's best friend Robert is sadly moving out of Texas and on down to Florida. I will definitely miss him lots and lots since I've known him forever! His house is chock full of tons of goodies and I went over there yesterday with mom to check out what's for sale. Well I found the most perfect chairs to put on the other side of my kitchen counter! They are brown leather counter-height chairs and they are absolutely amazing!



I got 2 for a super great price! (Thanks Robert!!) I couldn't be more pleased with the additions!



I'm going back to Robert's Friday to pick up something else for the loft! Yay! It's a big beige comfy chair! I plan on finding a cute slipcover to go on it since the beige doesn't really match my loft furniture, but it sits like brand new and hella comfortable! If any of you know where I can find a great slipcover, in a teal color, like the pillows on my current couch, let me know! Look for a new post this weekend!

<3 j.

How to Grill in a Loft.

I love grilled food. It's less greasy and has great flavor. But living in a loft makes it a little difficult to use a real fire grill, since I live on the 6th floor... So I've been using my GEORGE FOREMAN LEAN MEAN GRILLIN' MACHINE! haha. It's super easy and is easy to clean up. Here's what I did.

I started out with some New York strip steaks I got at the awesome new Whole Foods. The steaks are really thick, so I always ask them to cut them in half and you get 2 decent size steaks out of one!

At Central Market they have tons of bulk seasonings you can get for super cheap by the pound. I love their "seasoning powder" for just about anything. It's excellent for steaks. It has salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, sugar, and bell pepper all ground up and mixed together in a perfect blend of awesomeness.

39 cents!? And that bag was pretty full when I got it.

If you don't have a Central Market near you, you can always resort to using something like this.

McCormick's Steakhouse Grinders. They have some of everything in there.

Next it's time to marinate the steak(s). I just sprinkle a lot of the bulk seasoning on each side of the steaks and then pour a little Worcestershire sauce on them and let them sit for at least 30 minutes.


Now it's time for some grillin'!



Be careful about overcooking them. It's easy to do...but mine have always turned out pretty good.

Oh and don't forget to open the windows....


Add a big potato and you have great meal that's delicious!


Well there it is! Easy grilling for the loft. I make a lot of grilled chicken on the GFG and they always turn out perfect. I marinate them in italian dressing, that's it. Tastes great!

and for dessert...

some low fat sherbet! yummmm.