Little Rock Part Dos

First of all, valet parking makes me nervous.

I get so anxious and concerned that did something wrong.
I'm not sure if there is a true incorrect way to get out of your car unless you fall out of it or climb through the window, but I always think I did something wrong.
Miles before we reach the hotel, I have to have all the contents of my purse inside my purse and not spilled out and strewn between the front and back seats. I have to dispose of candy wrappers, Starbucks bottles, casserole dishes, cake pans and all the other snacking material we bring on 5 hour trips.
Then there is the moment where you have to make a quick desicion about who is going to get the luggage, my make-up/getting-ready tote bag, and the mass of pillows we bring.
I don't want to be the only idiot carrying her own possessions. This is a classy joint.

So we made it through check-in just fine.

The Peabody had more than just ducks in the lobby.

They like soap in the shape of a duck.

Pictures of ducks on the coasters.

Ducks on the notepad.

And even..

These telephones were scattered all over the common areas.

And all of them had a personalized note just for us next to them.

Yeah, right.

We were 4th floor guests.

They don't do that sort of thing for mere 4th floor guests.

The views of the river were great.

However, we were forbidden not allowed directly discouraged from exploring all the view-points.

The Little Rock River Festival was going on the same weekend we were there.

The rude lady that told us we couldn't walk around the hotel we had paid to stay in direct lady informed us that some people tried to go through the hotel grounds and attend the festival without paying.

We informed her that wasn't a problem with us, because we didn't want to attend the festival, we just wanted to take pictures.

She repeated her statement about it being 'off limits'.

We again assured her we had no interest in going to the River Festival but would like to go down a few levels of the hotel's outside balconies.

She then repeated the same statement.

We tried to convey to her not only our lack of desire to attend the festival, but also how we loathed crowds and it was entirely too hot to be in one, but she didn't budge.

We got our pictures though.

The next morning while I was snoozing because I was in a king sized bed with about 12 pillows, the hotel had a late check out, the air conditioner was set on 65, and the curtains blocked 99% of the blinding sunlight, Mr. Z went down and took some early morning shots.

Because most of the roads were closed down around the hotel for River Fest, we had to walk most anywhere we wanted to go in the vacinity of the hotel. There is some great architecture and great restaurants around.

Mr. Z did his research before he booked the hotel to find us the most accessible places.

We didn't quite get this.

I will let you draw your own conclusions.

We found a couple of restaurants that weren't too far from the hotel (if we drove) that we thought we would try. We picked up our car from the valet (no catastrophe), and headed to go eat mexican. Something we have both longed for since we left Texas. Due to roads being blocked off, we couldn't park close to the restaurant without paying to park in a parking lot. So we headed back to the hotel, and took off hiking.

We used the maps app for walking directions.

After a few new blisters and sweat damp clothes we were ready for some tea and fajitas.

Apparently we are not alone in our loathing of crowds.

They were closed.

Ok. We can handle this we told one another.

We will not break through the windows and raid their coolers.

We found another place we wanted to try.

0.3 miles away.

Bigger blisters and a little sweatier and much wearier, closed.

We remembered we had passed a little joint way back right next to the hotel that was open.

The Hop Diner.

As we walked through the door, we noticed several hand written signs.

One of which read: "This is not a fast food restaurant Please allow us time to make your food fresh"

You could tell it was written with a little attitude.

Immediately I liked this place.

Near the register there was another sign that read: "If you do not have time to put away your cell phone, we do not have time to serve you"

Maybe 4 minutes after we sat down one of the ladies that had obviously been there since the early shift walked over and put up the closed sign.

When the waitress came over she sat down at the table with us and asked if she could sit for a minute.

We welcomed her to our table and told her she could hide there for a while.

The crowd had hit them hard.

The food was great! Simple diner food.

With a water and sweet tea.

That's a great time.

Making Texas Memories: Fancy Shmancy

The school has a gala every year to raise money for scholarships and such.

We snagged some tickets and got to get all dressed up.

V and her husband, Hal, also were able to snag some tickets.

They took this picture.

Here's what led up to this picture.

These boots were made for walking...in chicken hockey?

One of the top priorities for Momma on The Crew's visit was to find boots.

Not just any boots.

Rubber boots.

Rubber boots with zebra print.

Rubber boots with zebra print to wear on muddy days to the chicken pen.

Because you know how judgemental those hens can be.  If she doesn't look good, she will be the talk of the hen-house.

We searched high and low, near and far for such boots.

Finally, at our last stop, our quest was over.

There they were. Perfect. And perfectly priced.

We searched madly for a size 9. There were none.

We asked a sales-lady to get the last pair off the top shelf.

Size 7.

In manic desperation we sorted through the ones we had already deemed too small or too large. Just as we had given up hope, the first pair we had looked at had transformed into the perfect size.

It was just like Cinderella.

And because I was shopping with my Momma, of course I got to pick a pair too.

This is not the only time Momma and I have been on a quest for boots. Oh, no.

Several years ago I was determined to find Momma a pair of go-go boots.  We found many boots that were were stylish enough.  That was not the problem. 

The problem was the loss of vascular circulation.

These boots were like putting on control top panty hose that were 2 sizes too small. Made of leather.

At that point in my life, young and naive as I was, I was certain that somewhere in this giant supply-and-demand world we could find boots that would fit the legs wearing them.

Poor Momma.

She had zipper indentions on the side of her legs for weeks.

Every store.

Every boot.

Momma was surrounded in a sea of boxes and tissue paper.

Do you know what does not help squeezing a calf into a boot?

Sweat.

Do you know what does not help squeezing a calf out of a boot?

Sweat.

There we were, in the middle of a department store, our size 2 sales-lady gone to find us another pair of boots and we are stuck.

Not figuratively.

As Momma's pinkie toe is turning blue, we can't get her loose from the non-zippered boot I made her try.

It was stretchy. It was logical at the time.

Now it was comical.

Two women playing tug of war with a foot. I was holding her foot while Momma held on the the bench lest she was to go flying across the floor.

After a few minutes of hysterical laughter and a few seconds of panic *SLURP*

Her foot was free of the leather death-grip. 

Her toes lost their cyanosis and regained their pink appearance.

Eventually she did find a pair but I think it was only to satisfy me and to save her abused legs.

 

Alegria

Last Wednesday night, Mr. Z and I went to see Cirque du Soleil: Alegria.

From experience we learned we do not need to risk our lives to get to an event, because inevitably it always starts late. This particular event did not. And we wrote the time down wrong. We were 20 minutes late.

We didn't miss too much.  Cameras and camera phones were not allowed, so do not ask where I got the pictures. I have my sources and they will not be revealed.

That is a metal hula hoop. He's pretending to be spokes in a wheel. Don't get any ideas Momma.

I couldn't help but think about the integrity of their ligaments. And the position of their organs. And if I had to adjust them, would I be able to?

All of the music and singing was live. So much talent.

Alegria means jubilation in Spanish. It was quite incredible.

Critol gel

I found out this morning that I passed all my National Board Exams for Part II, III, and Physiotherapy!

Woot-woot!

Today was my last day of X-ray rotation!

Woot-woot!

And tonight we went to see Anjelah Johnson!

Woot-woot!

The doors opened at 7:00, so we knew we would have to be rushing to get there. (Because we are on Zeagler time) So when Michael got off work, he had to run home and grab poor little Beaux and wear him out because he had been locked up all day. Then he ran through Chick-fil-A (which by the way also gives dog treats to your dog if they are in the car...another plus for them). Michael couldn't decide what he needed to get so he got 2 sandwiches, 2 orders of nuggets, one large order of fries, and a side of fruit. I got home about 6:00, changed, fixed my hair, touched up my make-up, we grabbed the food, tossed Beaux a raw-hide, and flew out the door. Once in the car, we had to program the GPS, sort through the assortment of food, balance chick-fil-A sauce on our laps, and manage to make it to down-town H-town. We got there and were parked at 6:40. We meet our friend Linda in line and found our seats.

How many times will we go to concerts or comedy shows before we learn that there is at least an hour between door opening and the start of the show?

We could have actually chewed our food.

The show was hilarious and she's pretty good at beatboxing too!

But appearantly someone seated near our section did not read my blog post about eating too much fiber...
Laughing and gas do not mix (unless you are at a dentist's office...hardy-har-har).

Other than that, we had a great time.

If you have never seen or heard of Anjelah Johnson, here's a clip.

Houston Greek Festival

My all-time favorite movie is My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

I think my family was meant to be Greek.

We are big, loud, and love to eat.

Mr. Z and I went to the Houston Greek Festival yesterday.

We had to park at a 'near-by' school and catch a bus to the festival.

The parking was crazy! I guess everyone else loves Greek too.

After waiting about 20 minutes, we got on the huge piece of machinery that is our transportation to the festival.

I have to tell ya, city bus drivers are talented people.

But we arrived in one piece.

Oh my good gracious. The people. Everywhere.

We went into the gift shop which was actually more like an indoor flea-market.

Aren't these lanterns great?

I would have taken more pictures inside, but I could barely move my arms.

Then, we got to the whole reason we really wanted to go.

The food.

There were several food and drink stands all in a big open parking lot that was CRAMMED with people.

To increase efficiency, each booth is dedicated to one thing. You don't get your gyro, salad, and drink at one booth, you have to go to all three.

Once we got everything on our menu, we found a nice piece of grass in the shade and chowed down.

It was so beautiful outside and felt great!

After we got our fill, we decided to trudge our way back through the market of people and buy an olive tree.

They said they will do fine in this climate and will actually make olives in a few years.

They looked more like olive branches, but appearantly they were planted in cement.

It was insane how heavy the thing was!

So we made our treck back to where we had gotten off the bus.

To our joy, there was a bus already there waiting, so we hurriedly jumped on.

Mr. Z had to carry the tree onto the bus and we felt ... so out of place.

There had been many people at the festival carrying trees around, but none of those people were on the bus.

We both got so tickled at the whole situation we couldn't stop laughing.

We were carrying an olive tree and left over salad on a bus that we never verified was the bus we were supposed to be on.  A bus that was driven by a very sassy black lady who made an SUV back-up to get out of her way because they were over the line. And the music on the bus was black-gospel-have-church-kind-of music.

We left a little more experienced. A little more cultured. And very full.

Opa!

Sunday Shopping

Sunday after church we took a trip to Ikea.

We were looking for this

You can find it here

It is small and unfinished but solid pine except the back and bottoms of the drawers. We had been looking for matching night stands for a long time that wouldn't cost over $400 for the pair. These puppies are ... are you ready for it?

***$29.99***

I want to paint them, well, white. What other color do you paint something like this? I also want to add new hardware. I just found out about Hobby Lobby's knobs. I hear Hob Lob has great knobs. And every 3rd or 4th week they are half off!

Thanks Mandie!

This is what Ikea did with the display

There was some sort of beeswax varnish next to it, so I'm assuming that's what they used.

So there's no way you can go to Ikea without looking around. Mostly because of the way they designed the store, you have to walk through just about everything to get to what you want to look at and then continue through the rest of the store to the warehouse portion. We didn't mind much.

And we found these

They have adhesive strips on the back and you just peal and stick.

I think we are going to use them as our bathroom mirror in The Little House because finding a stud (with exclusion of Mr. Z himself, heh heh) is virtually impossible.

You can browse for hours in this place



And I think I have designed our kitchen

This back-splash...

With this sink...

Or maybe this sink...

And this sprayer...

And these countertops...

With these cabinets and stove..

(Minus the mid-area rolls...hey, a girl can dream, right?)

With this pantry (add an antique door)...

Great, right?

So after this long dream shopping excursion we were starving! So the only thing left to do was go here and work on our mid-area rolls.