Oh yeah, It was my Birthday Last Week

Yes, it was my birthday last week.  Thanks to all the people on facebook that said "Happy Birthday."  Growing up, birthdays were a HUGE deal in our house thanks to my mom.  For her, a birthday was a great excuse to have a party and celebrate.  I still make a pretty big deal about my birthday.  In fact, I refer to April as the "birthday month" because I like to acknowledge that my birthday (April 13) is about to occur, is occurring or recently occurred throughout the entire month.  However, no party this year.  Yea, I know.  Boo-hoo.  I just couldn't get worked up to inviting people over and making a big deal about it.  I had my husband take me out to a nice dinner instead and got a spa gift certificate.  A few friends took me out to lunch this week, too.  In case anyone is wondering how old I am now, the answer is (drumroll), thirty-friggin-seven.  The cartoon below sums up how I feel this year about turning 37:

Scary that I am getting so close to 40 because I do not remotely feel like a 40 year old woman (okay, technically I am not 40 but I am closer to 40 than 30 now so let's not split hairs).  I feel like I should still be in my 20's!  That being said, I am pretty lucky that I seem to be aging well.  At least, I think I am.  People who don't know me are frequently surprised when I tell them how old I am b/c they think I am in my early 30's.  I've even had a few people recently think I was in my late-20's, including some guy in Austin that was trying to pick me up when my husband stepped away.  I was almost tempted to run away with him just because he thought I was 27 or 28 but then thought better of it. 

My biggest anti-aging secret is no sun.  Avoid the sun at all costs.  I love beach vacations but I wear a big hat, over 50 SPF and stay in the shade most of the time (like an old lady, yes).  I also use good moisturizers.  Highly recommend Aveda Hydrating Cremes.  The sun is the enemy to good skin.  I like a tan which is why I will just go get a nice spray tan if I really want one.


Aveda, I love you.  Please protect me.

 My husband's birthday is April 28 and he will also be 37.  Hard to believe but he is actually already starting to get a few grey hairs.  So scary!  If that keeps up then pretty soon he will look like the creepy old guy with the hot, younger wife.  I can live with that. 

Ode to the Caribbean

I love the Caribbean.  We just returned from 10 days in the Virgin Islands - 3 days on St. Thomas (USVI) and 7 days on Jost Van Dyke (BVI). It truly is paradise there, with a few issues and annoyances.  We always fly into St. Thomas and stay at a rented condo on Sapphire Beach for the first 3 nights before taking a ferry to the small island of Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands where we stay at The Sandcastle Hotel. 



Steve taking a photo from St. Thomas condo




View from St. Thomas condo

 St. Thomas is a major cruise ship destination so it's a rather busy, well-developed island with lots of duty free shopping and nice restaurants and a population of about 60,000 people .  Jost, by contrast, is super tiny and boasts about 300 permanent residents and is nicknamed "the barefoot island" b/c you literally do not need to wear shoes anywhere, which is 100% true.  You'll find no high end restaurants on Jost but you will find plenty of lobster shacks and casual beach bars. Jost has a definite laid-back, get ur drink on vibe.  Best sign we saw on Jost was at Corsair's restaurant, which read "Three Things I Don't Like:  Hot Beer, Cold Women, Assholes."  How true.




Lobster Fest on Jost

 Our days in the Caribbean are pretty seamless and we get on "island time" very quickly.  We usually sleep in until 8:30 or 9am each morning, head to the beach for some reading, maybe go on a hike or walk, lunch, a swim in clear, sapphire gin colored water, a nap, afternoon cocktails, dinner and more cocktails.  It's a pretty good life while it lasts.



Smith Bay - St. Thomas





Sunset on White Bay - Jost


Of course,  even paradise isn't perfect.  A few observations I made during this trip:

1. I hate bugs.  I especially hate microscopic, flying, blood-loving, biting bugs.  That beautiful sugar white sand you see being gently lapped by blue water?  It's filled with demonic blood-suckers called "no-see-ums."  Guess what?  You can't see them but rest assured that they can see you. They love to feed at night when you are distracted by the rum cocktail you're drinking.  Also, apparently my left upper thigh is much tastier than my right upper thigh.  Who knew?  They knew because they destroyed my upper left thigh.  It currently looks like it has a bad case of the chicken pox right now.  Very attractive in a bathing suit, too.
2. It's okay to pee anywhere.  Well, for the men at least.  While sitting at a red light on St. Thomas at a very busy intersection, we watched a rather large islander whip it out and just start peeing on the side of the road. Wow.  I hope he felt a profound sense of freedom in doing that.
3. After 3 days in the Caribbean, I am convinced that 50% of my body weight becomes Cruzan Rum.  I'm not much of a hard liquor drinker but add some fruit juice and an umbrella spearing a pineapple chunk and I am sold.  I had a particularly vicious planter's punch on St. Thomas that knocked me on my ass one night.  It's amazing how smooth it goes down though.
4. Getting a pedicure is pointless if you are coming to the beach.  I got a nice pedi before coming to the islands since I knew I would be in sandals or barefoot the whole time and my feet looked like dragon claws. By Day 4, the pedicure was gone.  I think the combination of bug spray, sand, salt water and suntan lotion form a new chemical compound which is the equivalent of nail polish remover.  So, pedi was a major waste of $40.
5. The people of the islands are what really keep us coming back.  Unfortunately, it seems that every douchebag with a powerboat and stereo system has discovered White Bay Beach on Jost where we stay.  A few years ago, it used to be fairly quiet and lowkey with sail boats coming in during the day but leaving around 4pm.  Now, you can expect 50+ powerboats that pull right up to the beach, moor together and start blaring techno club music and subject you to their "look at how geechy I can be on my expensive boat" show.  That being said, we keep coming back to Jost and The Sandcastle b/c of the amazing staff.  They always take great care of us and we think of them as our Caribbean family when we're there.



Me with the girls - Sana and Shaneek



Caught him!  Steve hugging Sana goodbye

The Caribbean is what you make it.  Some people are not big fans of it b/c they can't get on island time, hate the slow service and the "whatever, mon" attitude of the people that live there.  Sure, there are times I get annoyed while there but then I take another sip of my painkiller drink and move on. We will miss the beach, the humidity, the sun and our friends at The Sandcastle until next year.

Me at top of Jost on Ridge Hike

White Bay - morning of our last day



White Bay at Sunset



Dear Texas Rangers

Dear Texas Rangers,

You suck.  Why do you have to be so good these past few years?  Do you have any idea what I have to deal with for the next several months?  We have only one TV in our house.  This means that I have to forego watching House Hunters International, the Travel Channel and the Food Network each evening so my husband can watch you play.  I will be ignored, put aside and alone for most of the summer thanks to you.  How can you be so selfish?  Don't you have any remorse for being such a homewrecker?

I have tried the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach and have bought tickets to several of your games so my husband and I can watch you together at The Ballpark.  I hoped that you might bring us closer but that is not the case.  When we go to the game, he actually wants to watch the game rather than talk to me and fetch me light beer.  I have feigned interest in watching you.  In fact, I even kind of enjoy going to the games since I can get a turkey leg and some kettle corn and the nice beer man will come to me with ice cold frothy beverages. However, watching you on TV is worse than watching Celtic Thunder perform on PBS. Okay, I exaggerate.  Nothing is worse than Celtic Thunder on PBS. 

Texas Rangers, I implore you to stop your evil ways and to leave me alone.  Do you hear my plea?

Sincerely,

Baseball Widow

Dinner Party - Lucia

One of my favorite things about being an adult is attending dinner parties with friends.  Last night we met two other couples, our old friends Jill and Bret and our next door neighbor, Gary and his girlfriend, for dinner at Lucia.  In case you have been living under a rock, Lucia is THE hot ticket dining destination in Dallas right now. Reservations are very difficult to get.  You have to call the restaurant on the 1st day of the month at 9am and leave a message to get a reservation the following month (i.e., call April 1 for reservations in May) and you pretty much get whatever day and time they give you.  The chef is the former chef from Lola, David Ugyur, and the menu is Italian.  All pastas are made fresh in-house and all meats are also cured in-house.  The food is to die for and, in my opinion, this is the best restaurant in Dallas today.

We met there last night for our 8:30pm reservations and we did it right.  It's so wonderful to eat an amazing dinner with friends that love food and wine and are willing to try anything and everything.  We ordered practically everything on the menu.  A large salumi platter, prunes stuffed with foie gras, tagliatelle with veal and chicken liver ragu, cavatelli with artichokes, gnudi with hedgehog mushrooms, white risotto with scallops, pasta with fennel sausage and broccoli rabe, braised pork shoulder, slow cooked beef tongue, veal chops with brown butter root vegetables, roasted cauliflower soup with garlic oil and then desserts - Italian donut holes with chocolate sauce and bananas and cannolis filled with pistachio cream.  Of course, we also ordered 3 bottles of Italian wine to wash it all down. Bret  renamed their foie gras prunes and referred to them as "foie gras poppers" all night, much to the amusement of our waitress.

Dinner took 3 hours but it seemed like it flew by.  Conversation was non-stop all night, especially for me and Jill.  I talk a lot and Jill talks a lot but when you get us together and add wine, it is pretty insane.  At any rate, we were the last to leave the restaurant last night.  You know it was a successful dinner when (i) you close down the restaurant and (ii) the next to last table to leave stops by on their way out to let you know how much they enjoyed listening to your crazy dinner conversation all night.  Even the owner's wife came by and laughed her ass off when Jill began explaining to her the "proper" way to light a person on fire (don't ask, this comes from a long and sordid tale when we were first year attorneys).

Good times, fun times, great friends.  Occasionally I remember just how lucky I am to know such amazing, funny, genuine people.

New Orleans - Mardi Gras!

Stephen and I visited New Orleans last month during the weekend before Fat Tuesday with our next door neighbor and his girlfriend.  The weekend before Mardi Gras day is THE big carnival weekend with all the superkrewe parades like Endymion, Bacchus, Orpheus, etc...going on all day and night.  It is a bacchanalia as only New Orleans can put on. We enjoyed several parades on Sunday, including Iris, Okeanos,Thoth and Bacchus.  Of course, I got overloaded with beads.  Surprisingly, Mardi Gras is a rather tame family-oriented event, at least at the parades.  It resembled a neighborhood street party more than anything.  The locals know how to do it right and they come prepared with fold out camp chairs, coolers full of tasty beverages, snacks and even ladders equipped with wheels and with seats on them at the top for good viewing. 

While the parades may be family-time, there is still plenty of flesh to be seen in the Quarter, especially on Bourbon Street.  We avoided Bourbon Street for the most part due to the frat-boy crowds.  Steve, in his usual anti-social way, has a few favorite Quarter bars that are off the beaten path that he enjoys and frequents, including Molly's on Toulouse and Harry's Corner Bar. These bars tend to be low-key, cheap and have good jukeboxes, which meets his requirements. The only bar on Bourbon Street that he will make an exception for is The Old Absinthe House.

Mardi Gras is definitely something that should be experienced at least once.  The parades were a sight to behold, especially a superkrewe like Bacchus.  Bacchus lasted close to 3 hours and there must have been 30+ marching bands and dance crews in it.  At some point I figured they were going to run out of local college and high school marching bands.  Also, the floats were incredibly elaborate.  These are not your average neighborhood paper maiche floats - these babies were the size of double decker buses in some cases.  Will Ferrell was the King of Bacchus this year and it was great to see him banging a golden cow bell and tossing beads.  Steve and Gary started a "Frank the Tank" chant when his float stopped in front of us and pretty soon we had a huge crowd doing the chant.  The bead catching is a lot of fun.  It's surprising how many people (myself included) will scream, shout, jump and act like a desperate fool just to catch some worthless, made in China plastic beads. I don't know why but after your first catch, you will be hooked.  Bead catching quickly becomes competitive.

Steve and me waiting for Bacchus to Start

Tanya and I with our beads and plastic scepter

As you can imagine, there were plenty of interesting characters out and about in the Quarter. The people watching was pretty intense but it provided us with hours on entertainment, especially on Saturday afternoon when it poured rain.  We had a great window seat at Molly's on Toulouse Bar right off of Bourbon Street.  Across the street from us were the public port-o-potties the city sets up, which were ironically named "Pot-O-Gold."  Judging by people's reactions and facial expressions when they opened the door to use them, I am 100% certain there was no gold inside them. 

A few photos from our Mardi Gras experience:

Queen of Okeanos Parade



Bacchus Float



Bacchus Float

 Overall, I would definitely attend Mardi Gras again.  Next time, I would be better prepared, just like the locals with my own chair and would remember to bring some kleenex wipes to use at the Pot-O-Gold Portapotties.  There's absolutely nothing dignified about drip drying in a portapotty in New Orleans. 

Belize - New Years

My husband and I visted the country of Belize for the first time over New Years.  Overall, I give it high marks.  We stayed on the small island of Ambergris Caye for 5 nights, which is about a 15 minute flight from Belize City and is located right off the barrier reef.  For those of you who know nothing about Belize, it's a small country that used to be part of British Honduras and is protected by the second largest barrier reef in the world.  Ambergris itself was very small and was kind of a mix of Caribbean attitude but Mexican influences, particularly in the food and drinks.  The small town of San Pedro was easily walkable in about 30 minutes but still had plenty of restaurants and bar options.

We also spent one day touring the mainland to visit some Mayan ruins on the border of Guatamala and to do a jungle zipline.  The zipline was a blast and I would do it again but I won't lie - I'm scared of heights so I was about to pee my pants at every platform.  I was pretty terrified for the first 3 runs but then I got over it.  Unfortunately, however, we also got monsoon rains for a full two days of our trip which ended up cancelling our plans to snorkel the reef.  Kind of a bummer but we ended up watching college bowl games at a small ex-pat bar that we found a block away from our hotel so Steve was happy. 

So, would I go back?  Yes but I wouldn't say that I'm in a huge rush to do so.  While Belize is interesting and we found the people to be friendly, it definitely lacked the beauty of the Virgin Islands.  Also, the cayes of Belize are very similar to the Florida Keys as they are small coral islands with no real beaches to speak of unless you stay at resorts far north of town, which is very isolating and requires a boat to get to town for dinner and activities.  For my money, the Virgin Islands still wins the vacation lottery hands-down.  We will, as always, be making our 10-day trip to St. Thomas and the BVI this April and it can't come soon enough.  That trip alone is what keeps me sane year over year (well, sort of sane).

A few pics from Belize:

Breakfast in Belize



Mojito at the Palapa Bar



Me looking like a huge dork on Zipline



Steve looking like a bigger dork on zipline



Draft Picks Bar - Douchiest Bar in Dallas?

Okay, probably not the douchiest, but definitely the loudest.  Last weekend, we visited Draft Picks bar in Dallas prior to attending the Dallas Mavericks game for some pre-game food and beers.  Draft Picks is located near the AA center in the building where Newport's Seafood used to be.  First, we parked in the House of Blues parking lot and walked over, which was a mistake.  Unfortunately, you have to basically make the entire block to get to the entrance of Draft Picks because of a large concrete retaining wall and fence around the building.  We finally walk inside and I immediately hated the place.  It was so loud that I thought my eardrums were going to burst.  The decibel level inside this place was incredible. 

As expected, there were TV screens everywhere playing various sporting events, including one massive  screen that was like a movie theater screen.  Also as expected, the testosterone level in the place was at an all-time high, which definitely made it what I call a "sausage party."  There was also much yelling, screaming and booing/cheering which echoed off the polished concrete floors and bounced around the room like a ricocheting bullet.  The noise was simply deafening to the point where I had to yell at my husband to be heard (though this is not unusual and not limited to high noise level situations).

I will give them points for having a great selection of draft beers, including one of new favorites, Firemen's Ale #4.  The service was prompt and I was treated to an up close and personal view of almost every server's back upper thigh cellulite since all servers were young females wearing daisy dukes.  Again, predictable but not as obnoxious as Twin Peaks or Hooters.  We ordered 10 hot wings and a plate of nachos.  Wings were actually pretty decent and had a nice heat level.  Nachos were unimpressive.  The cheese and pico de gallo on them were good but your only option was to have the nachos with taco meat.  I prefer to have a chicken fajita option and the taco meat was greasy and tasted no better than what I can make at home with the powdered McCormick taco seasoning mix.  Seemed like almost everything on the menu was fried, which they refer to in a really annoying way as "dunked".  Dunked Mushrooms.  Dunked Pickle Chips. Get it?  It's dunked like a basketball but it is also dunked in hot grease.  How clever. 

While it seemed like a cool sports bar to go to on a slow night, I wouldn't return pre-game given the noise level.  The food and drinks are not so above average as to make it worth having my inner ears destroyed.

Go Mavs!