Sunday, October 21, 2012

Wreck 'em!

Yesterday. Hot hot HOT and not feeling very autumnal at all, but the essence of fall was in the air. And by the essence of fall, I mean that we journeyed allllll the way to Ft. Worth and followed a path through a random backyard...

...seriously - a very random backyard!  Park on neighborhood streets in Colonial Hills, seek out the house with the red brick driveway, almost walk past said house, get a little assistance from friendly TCU fans, and just scoot on down the driveway and through the path in back, over a bridge, and find yourself...
...taking in the essence of fall, which on this particular day meant emerging through a small patch of trees at the back of a random backyard to the smell of grills going and...well, it was quite strong...beer.  Ahhh, that means tailgating!!  Football time!!  I headed to Ft. Worth with Diana, Blonde Jen, and Red Jenn (it's the easiest way to distinguish!) to cheer on our Red Raiders versus those crazy horned frogs (really, "fear the frog!" as your "rah rah, let's intimidate the opponent!" tagline? I'm not really feeling it...). Not so bad having a conference game where the road trip for us Dallas gals is around an hour - I think we might make a tradition of this! Especially as long as Diana has these excellent tailgating connections.



A few pre-game festivities, which mostly consisted of fajitas and beer as well as some smack talk from the rowdier members of the group - you know that's Diana's job!  Especially since she's going around tagging TCU fans with tiny Masked Riders on their jerseys...


The game, of course, being a Red Raider football game, was ridiculous and almost gave me a heart attack four times.  I was also hoping for a gorgeous fall day, but it was a little on the toasty side (don't worry, I slathered myself in SPF 70 to preserve my Casper-like glow), and the sun was right in our face up until...ummm...yeah, overtime!


It's easy to forget about the sweat and the heat and the frustration and the craziness, though, when your team finally comes out with a win in TRIPLE OVERTIME.  Get your guns up!!


Glad you could pull this one out, Raiders - we celebrated your victory at Rosa's for a little taste of West Texas.  Yay for college football!  Also, we're a pretty loud cheering section all on our own - I have awesome friends. 


Friday, October 19, 2012

Oktoberfesting

In years past at the annual Addison Oktoberfest, members of our merry band of revelers have partaken in events like...a yodeling contest.  AND a beer belly contest.  But this year was a little more subdued, and I'm going to point to the offending heat blasting down on us.  And the fact that small children are also a part of our merry band, and we really shouldn't subject them to things like Mike's yodeling "skills" - pretty frightening.  So this year was pretty much just about FOOD.  And sitting with steins o' beer and catching up on life.  Ahhhh.
Everyone should have awesome suspenders like this guy...AND the hat!  The hat!
We retreated to the beer hall to get out of the broiling sun, and  cold beer is also an excellent way to combat the heat.  Trinity's Shiner shirt is also pretty awesome, and I loved that he had at least one person ask him if he works there.
Gracie also knows how to beat the heat - water time!  Naked baby!
A good mom is always prepared - and I have to say, Gracie is rocking some pretty awesome tan lines for fall.
A box of strudel!  So delicious!
Bier hall time for all, attempting to beat the heat.
Our merry band!  Surviving outside now because the sun is mostly down, letting us enjoy the smells of fried fried and those bright flashing lights from collapsible rides.  Yeeps.
Gracie's first solo ride!  And it's on a sparkly tractor - what could be better?  She totally rocked it.


To get us in the German food frame of mind, I also made some pretzel rolls to fortify our stomachs before filling them with beer - delicious!  Spicy mustard, apples, a little cheddar cheese - a mini German picnic lunch in our kitchen.  We ate three...and then came home to find that the dog ate the other five.  Nothing on the counter is safe.  Including the espresso pumpkin bread I made this weekend and then found partially autopsied in the backyard this morning.  I'm contemplating installing an electric fence around the edge of the counter.