As I See It - 03.09.16 - Happy Holidays

You've heard the saying, "Better late than never." and such was the case when my co-workers and I gathered at la griglia for our holiday party. You see...

We were never able to get together for a Christmas party in December, or January, or February so why not march on into March? It's sort of like what I've always said about Thanksgiving...

You don't have to celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of the month. You express your thanks, and you should, any day of the week. #justsayin

Pic Of The Day - 12.20.15 - More Food

Yes, that is another brisket sandwich and homemade potato chips from Buc-ee's. I had to go to Baybrook Mall to get Helen's iPad and then Roni wanted a blanket from Buc-ee's and so what is another 8 miles south. Long story short, I ended up in Texas City at the stroke of noon on Sunday when everyone wanted to buy beer. End of story.

Pic(s) Of The Day - 12.18.15 - Scenes From A Mall

I finally made it back to The Galleria to continue with my Christmas shopping. Traffic was a bitch getting there and once I arrived, I decided I was going to valet at Nordstrom because it's just what the doctor ordered.
I made my annual pilgrimage to the tree in the ice skating rink and it wasn't lit!

Usually there is one or two displays that will catch my attention and this year the award goes to Coach!

And so, I was minding my own business and I thought, "Hmmm. I haven't been on the 2nd level of the Nordstrom wing. Let's go that way." So I did and THEN I saw THIS:

The store is closing! At some point it will reopen but not in The Galleria. My bet is that it will re-open in River Oaks District.

And yes, I purchased some more shoes. Can you blame me? It was 70% the last marked price. #MerryChristmasToMe

Pic Of The Day - 12.17.15 - Happy Holidays

The evening started off with me donning a new pair of Kenneth Cole shoes and then I was into the night sky for Legacy's Holiday Party at South Beach.

Pic(s) Of The Day - 12.16.15 - Cookie Exchange

I don't bake. Therefore, I don't participate in Cookie Exchange parties. However, I was coerced into participating borrowed a simple recipe from a co-worker.

My stash of cookies.

The War On Christmas cookie. #minimalist

Pic(s) Of The Day - 12.14.15 - Feliz Navidad

The City of Houston Mayor's Hispanic Advisory Board held its Annual Holiday Party at Cafe Adobe. Mayor-elect Sylvester Turner was there celebrating his recent win and delivered good to news to the crowd.

Pic(s) Of The Day - 12.13.15 - A Wet Day In H-town

And when I say, "Wet" I mean WET!

However, that didn't stop me from going to CultureMap's Holiday Pop Up Shop. I did purchase a few things and I may or may not have enjoyed a Mimosa or two.

Later in the day, I decided to add some holiday decor to the interior of the crib.

Pic Of The Day - 12.10.15 - 'Tis The Season

...to eat stuff that you normally wouldn't eat any other time of the year because you can't find it. Oh, and if you can find the Apple Spice version of these, beware! They're addictive.

Pic Of The Day - 01.03.15 - The Mothership

There's something about Nordstrom that makes me feel good. Some of their merchandise is out of my price range  (like the $2300 Burberry trench cost) but I still enjoy going there.

One of my post-Christmas/New Year tradition is to shop their sale merchandise. And, this venture to the mothership didn't disappoint.

Pic(s) Of The Day - 12.25.14 - Loteria

This is what Christmas with my mother's side of the family looks like. The group is large and no one really has a house big enough for everyone to fit in. So, like we did at Thanksgiving, we rented a space in Saginaw, TX.

Everyone brings something to eat and we always have more food than we can eat. And, it's not always just family. Friends are always welcome.

And, what is becoming a Christmas tradition, several games of Loteria are played. It's also known as Mexican bingo and tests your command of the Spanish language.

Pic Of The Day - 12.24.14 - It's A Christmas Miracle.

For those of you who have been following this blog, you know that I got WAY behind in posting my Pic Of The Day. And, you also know that recently I lost track of taking at least one photo a day.

Well, with this post, I am caught up through yesterday which means I'm caught up because I typically post the Pic Of The Day the next day. Make sense? And yes, this is a Christmas miracle that I'm caught up!

I'm not sure when we started going to the Christmas Vigil Mass at St. George Catholic Church in Ft. Worth. As a kid, I remember going to Mass on Christmas Day. Sometimes I would sing at Midnight Mass. A few times we attended Midnight Mass at All Saints Catholic Church.

So...as we have done for the past however many years, we attendedthe Christmas Vigil Mass last night at St. George.

I'm also not sure when we started having dinner after Mass and opening presents but the tradition continued this year as well.

Pic Of The Day - 12.23.14 - Santa Calvin Has Arrived

The Calvinator and I headed to Fort Worth (Haltom City) for the holiday. It wasn't real happy about wearing this hat so once I was able to get a good photo, I stopped.

Merry Christmas from The Calvinator and me!

Pic(s) Of The Day - 12.21.14 - Santa Calvin

With everything going on related to the move, I missed out on taking Calvin to Petsmart for his annual photo with Santa. Through the power of Google, I was able to find Santa making an appearance on December 21 at Meadowlake Pet Resort.

It's a little bit further than I normally travel for a photo but I'm glad I did. Everyone at the place was very friendly and as usual, Calvin made friends with everyone.

Pic Of The Day - 12.20.14 - You Deserve A Break Today

Sometimes I amaze myself. Toward the end of the move when I was hauling my belongings from the house to the car, from the car to the storage unit and to the apartment, I acted like I was a contestant on The Amazing Race and I was doing a road block and Phil Keoghan was waiting for me at the finish line. #determination

So...that's how I treated Christmas shopping. I took off from work on December 19 and knocked out a big chunk of my list. I saved Saturday for Highland Village, Petsmart, Target and various other places. By the time lunchtime approached I was hungry and decided to venture to River Oaks Shopping Center. I had already decided that if I couldn't find a parking place, I wasn't stopping.  And guess what? I found a parking space.  Off to Le Madeleine I went!

French onion soup, lemonade and Caesar Salad with chicken. #foodporn

Pic Of The Day - 12.17.14 - The Calvinator's New 'hood

Houston doesn't have any zoning ordinances so it makes for some interesting neighborhoods. Deed restrictions can be enforced but other than that it's a free for all inside the city limits.

The Calvinator's new crib is in a 5-story building that backs up to a cute, quiet neighborhood. It's a mixture of old and new homes. This is one of the homes that we walk past on our strolls.

Darlene Love performs "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" - 12.19.14

Last night on Late Show with David Letterman, Darlene Love performed for the last time on the show Christmas (Baby Please Come).

This was Darlene's last performance of the song on the show.  It was also her 21st performance of the song on the show and signals the end of a Christmas tradition.  She knocked it out of the ballpark and looked fabulous!

While I was looking at Darlene's Facebook page, I found this montage of some of her performances.


And...in case you missed her interview on CBS This Morning

Pic Of The Day - 12.02.14 - Holiday Party

Our employee base at Legacy has really exploded over the past 5 years. A side effect of that growth is that we no longer can have one big holiday party.  This year each site/region split up into individual parties.  The Montrose party was at Riva's Italian Restaurant.

I always like going in there during this time of the year because it looks like the Christmas light fairy exploded all over the restaurant.

Pic Of The Day - 11.28.14 - It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

There is a Starbucks in Haltom City/Fort Worth that I visit with The Calvinator when he is checking on his North Texas Crib.  It's a nice sized establishment.  When I walked in, the massive amount of red really caught my attention.  Somebody did a good job with merchandising.

Pic Of The Day - 11.21.14 - Christmas Comes Once A Year

...and so does Blue Bell Ice Cream Christmas Cookies.  Please don't judge me for buying the 1/2 gallon. It's the only size that is available.

Pic Of The Day - 03.11.14

Have you ever heard of Christmas in July?  OK.  How about Christmas in March?  Well, on Tuesday the group I work with finally got together to celebrate Christmas. 

Our gathering took place at Reef. We were in the private dining room which had a glass wall that has a view of tune wine rack.  It's quite the view.