Fall in Dallas

Drew and I got to go home to Dallas for almost 2 weeks at the beginning of October!  We planned the trip far in advance mostly because...our high school reunion was happening.  Drew was a class officer and sort of helped the others in planning it and to be honest?  I wanted to go.  I figured it's like prom - you might not have the best time but you'll always be glad you went.  Or something like that.  Plus it was TX/OU weekend, plus we hadn't been home in awhile, plus we wanted to see our peeps, so it came at the perfect time!

The reunion surprisingly turned out to be like...really fun.  Way more fun and way less awkward than anyone anticipated.  We had almost 200 people there and I feel like everyone was genuinely happy to see everyone there, whether you were friends in high school or not.  It was positive and optimistic and just good quality...fun.

This was one of the only pictures we got together that night, and I'm not even looking at the camera.  Oh well!

Having a good confidence boosting drink at Dev's house before the reunion with Kathleen, El, and Lindsay.

Me and Linds being photobombed by Win.

Mere and Paula had a big brunch for us the next morning at the house, and everyone drank mimosas, rehashed the evening and who said or did what, and everyone brought their BEBEEEES!  And I naturally took pictures of Drew with all of them.

Drew and Peanut!

Drew and cutie bebe Tinley, who we got to meet for the first time!

Drew and WalkMan!

My birthday was Monday so it was also fun being in Dallas for that.  I went to lunch with some girls and went shopping for a bunch of new clothes and then had a fam din at my parent's house.  I didn't take any pictures of people but I DID capture this amazing cheesecake my mama made.

This is a peanut butter cheesecake with a sugary sour cream topping and a BROWNIE crust!  HELP! 

We also had a big Solomon family dinner on Tuesday night and we got to see all our peeps, including but not limited to...bebe Tyce! 

I'm in love.  Look at that face.

I also got some quality friend time.  I saw my b-fries mostly every day, had some quality outdoor time, lots of long walks with different peeps, lots of wine, lots of good Mexican food, lots of happiness.

Arboretum!

With some cuties!

There's nothing like an afternoon on a blanket overlooking the lake with some wine and 2 bald babies!

Hangin out at Cait's

Drew and his ladies.

Then on Friday night Evan was in town and we finally got to meet his sweet gf!

 Drew got to go to the TX/OU game on Saturday - and we WON!!  And I meanwhile got to hang out with the other love(s) of my life.  ANNNNNIIIEEE!  John and Lauren graciously drove on I-35 during the TX/OU traffic to make it all possible.

Angel bebe cutie eating!

Bebe in a diaper at Aunt Lolly's house.

Cutie with a big hat on.

Sweet family in the pumpkin patch!

Us too, damnit.

And there's kooky Poppy and Gigi with Annie, and a pumpkin on my mother's head.

Soccer!

Bath time!

Murphman.  Precious puddin pie.

Fun with sidewalk chalk in her PJs.

It's allll over her face, hair, and hands.  SO. CUTE.

I should probably use a Thesaurus for the word "cute" as I've said it maybe 20 times in this post, but I can't not.  Sorry not sorry.

We had a great time being home, perhaps the best trip thus far.  For some reason, I've been anxious about moving back to Dallas.  We have less than a year and the future is totally unknown and I've just felt weird about it.  But this trip made me more excited than I was and made me think that it would be better than I'd thought.  But more on that later.

We have a bank holiday this weekend so Drew and I are off to drive around the Cotswolds in the English countryside.  I'll post more upon my return!

Oktoberfest!

I haven't blogged in 20 days.  I'm in trouble.  I'll hopefully blog about my Dallas trip this week but I make no guarantees.

We checked off another fun bucket list item last month when we headed to Munich for the real genuine Oktoberfest!  Our friends Tom and Missy used to live in Munich and became our tour guides and advisors for the whole weekend.  It was a thoroughly exhausting weekend but it was one of the most fun trips we've been on.

We got in Thursday, made our way to our Airbnb apartment, went to a delicious din with our pals at Blue Nile, an Ethiopian restaurant where you eat with your hands, and crashed.  We did Oktoberfest in a tent all day on Friday, were in bed by 10pm, only to wake up at 5am to make it to a tent to wait in line on Saturday morning for 2.5 hours to get in and have our first beer at 9:30am.  Yikes.  Luckily the place is like Vegas, where there are no clocks and no windows, so you can't really tell what time it is.  All you know is that you've been up for 5 hours, it feels like noon, so why not have a huge liter of beer?  Alright!!

Oktoberfest was REAL fun, in that...you drink beer with a couple of friends, you sit with random strangers, you make friends with everyone near you and around you, you run into old high school friends (what!?), you sing songs, you toast/Prost each other, you have a great time.  Everyone's there to live it up and join in on the German camaraderie.  Anyways, here are some random pics that get progressively more beer-filled and blurry.

The inside of the "Bavarian Heaven" Hacker tent - we couldn't find a seat so we headed over to the....

Hoffbrau Tent!  This guy flying around is Aloisius, the angel "mascot" of the tent.  We found some seats here with some Dutch men and some college kids and we were happy campers after a beer or two.

Drew and Tom!

The amazing rotisserie chicken they have to eat in all the tents.

I was taking a pic with some friends and I saw Austin Engel from elementary/junior high/high school out of the corner of my eye!!  We knew he lived there but never dreamed of running into him!

Old pals since the CCDC days.

All my dirndl-wearing pals!

Late in the day.  You can probably tell because of my eyes.  Whoops.

Day 2!  Refreshed and ready to party.  Or something.

Tom and my new b-fri Emily!  She was with our other friends there and she was a hoot and a holler.  We #hastagged the day away.
#ohNEINyoudidnt #holdmeclosertinydancer #wefellinloveinahopelessplace

Missy and Tom!

Ricky, Chase, and Tom!

Later in the day again.  I think I had just tried "resting my eyes" and taking a cat nap at the table but the powers that be were there in 2 seconds flat, trying to kick me out of the tent because they believed I'd passed out!!  I promptly stood up and started dancing to show them I was wide ass awake and not at all too drunk.  Just too sleepy.

Ricky and Drew and some guy I don't know.

Graham, me, Missy, Tom.  Blurred lines/vision.

Drew and Emily

Ricky and Drew

Me and Miss.

The outside of our Pschorr Braurosl tent on Saturday evening.

We got up late and walked around the Oktoberfest grounds in our civilian clothes and sampled the German fare and observed the culture.

Appel cake thingies!  Yummmm.

Drew with a fried flat funnel cake tasting thing.  It was REAL good.

The inside of the Hippodrome tent that we wandered into.  It looked like a circus!  Coincidence?

They sold these German gingerbread cookies all over the festival - you'd primarily wear them around your neck and they were more for decoration than anything.  Missy told me they tasted pretty bitter so I shouldn't eat them.

This huge talking giant puppet thing outside of a big ride - fascinating.  But weird.

Every huge tent had a bunch of Clydesdale horses outside of it pulling a huge touristy cart full of beer kegs.  Pretty horses and good photo opps! 

And lastly...we wandered over to the Marienplatz to see the clock, eat some traditional German food, and enjoy the city of Munich.  

We didn't get home until 11pm that night and we were EXHAUSTED - full realizing that we weren't 21 anymore like we'd hoped in our heads.  But Oktoberfest was definitely something to check off the list and we had an amazingly fun time doing it.  

More about Dallas soon!