Tag: Houston

the houston project / july

Last month we were able to fit in a couple activities on my Houston project list. First of all, we attended a kids’ storytime at a cool independent bookstore called Brazos Bookstore.

It started at 10:30 a.m. but weirdly Meredith fell asleep in the car on the way there (weird because she is usually wide awake well past noon). Waking her up is never fun but it wasn’t close so we did it. She was fine while the story was being read in the cute kids’ room, sitting on my lap with Liam in the Ergo.

Next was craft time where the kids were supposed to draw a picture of their best friend. This is where it all went downhill when the little girl sitting next to Meredith dared to use the markers she was using. (We are working on sharing.) We had to leave craft time but I thought we could look at more books in the kids’ room. That didn’t work out either (euphemising here…it was a disaster) so we had to leave pretty quickly.

I was bummed because M. is usually so pleasant at that time of day and gets along well with other kids. We learned our lesson not to wake her up from car naps if we can help it! I did get to browse the store a little bit, and I loved it. There were handwritten book recommendations all over from the staff and cool displays. If we had had more time there I definitely would have bought something to support it.

Then David and I finally got a date night in! We have two sets of willing grandparents ready to babysit at almost anytime, and yet we still go on way too few dates. We decided to keep this one low-key and just visit a new restaurant nearby called Torchy’s Tacos that is located at an outdoor mall area that has live music and events. Loved the food, and we sat outside (the weather was miraculously cool) and talked like we hardly ever really get to do.

Then we wandered down to rest by the lake and I convinced David to take a picture with me…

…and we saw ducklings!

Finally we visited the Nestle Tollhouse store where I had a scoop of ice cream and we each got a cookie treat to take home for later (and we brought Meredith home a treat too).

Usually for our date nights we just go to a movie but I’m so glad we are opting for new things now. Can’t wait to explore the city some more!

August 4, 2014
the houston project

Image credit

I was recently inspired by my friend Stephany to experience our hometown more fully. This project is fun for me on so many levels. I have already greatly enjoyed researching more about Houston, compiling recommendations, and making this list of goals. Checking them off will be awesome too, as they involve a mix of family adventures and new date night ideas. I plan to post monthly about it with a roundup of all the things we did. But for now, here is my list:

Family Adventures

1. Walk the Memorial Park loop and visit the Houston Arboretum

2. Go to a Sugar Land Skeeters game

3. Visit the Waterwall and Williams Tower observation deck

4. Play at Discovery Green

5. Go to Adickes Sculptorworkx to see the giant presidents’ heads

6. Visit the Health Museum

7. Go to the Katy Train Park

8. Visit the Children’s Museum

9. Go to Oil Ranch

10. Attend a Lakewood Church service

11. Visit the Houston Aquarium

12. Attend storytime at Brazos Bookstore

13. Go to Hermann Park and ride the train and pedal boats

14. Attend a Houston Polo Club match

Date Nights

15. See a new musician or band at the Mucky Duck

16. Check out the Menil Collection and Rothko Chapel

17. Go to the Showboat Drive-in Theatre

18. Live music with dinner at House of Blues

19. Explore Buffalo Bayou: ride bikes, take a boat ride, and see the bats

20. Discovery Green Flea by Night

21. Do a food truck crawl

And Also…

22. Try ten new independent restaurants (1/10) : Torchy’s Tacos

Off we go! Have you ever done a project like this? For some reason, turning it into a challenge even makes the experiences themselves more fun. :)

July 15, 2014
Houston’s Orange Show

I love Houston, and from time to time I like to do research on it like a tourist to see what new places I can find to explore. One thing that kept coming up was an institution called The Orange Show (<–check out the website, my brother’s company designed it). They call themselves a center for visionary art, and they’re most famous for holding the annual art car parade. But there are a couple other attractions they have stewardship of, the Beer Can House and the Orange Show Monument, that I have always wanted to see.

I decided that this past weekend was the perfect time for a visit, so I dragged my youngest brother along and we made our mini pilgrimage to pay homage to folk art of Houston.

This house is covered with 50,000 beer cans, all of which were consumed. There are also 20,000 marbles embedded in the concrete surrounding it. This whole thing was done by the man who owned the house, just for fun. I don’t know how his wife let him get away with it.

Apparently it did lower their energy bills, so there’s that.

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And then there’s the monument from which the Orange Show gets its name. This was also built by a man on a whim, simply because he loved oranges and wanted to share his love with others.

It looks like a small amusement park, but really it’s just in a regular residential neighborhood taking up one plot of land.

I’m telling you, the guy just really loved oranges. There were sayings like this all over the place.

His plan for the show was to have an organ playing while a tap dancer sang about health and nutrition. But sadly, his dream was never realized since he died 8 months after the monument was completed.

I feel like a better Houstonian now that I’ve visited these landmarks! If you live in the area, they’re worth a quick visit. :)

August 4, 2010
Friday Mash-Up

Some randomness for your reading pleasure:

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One of my very best friends, Megan, is somewhat new to blogging. Well, the truth is that she blogged sporadically for awhile, and then stopped updating. So I took her off my list of links, which apparently offended motivated her. After some hearty encouragement on my part, she took it up again. She has assured me that she will be updating frequently, and she is a woman of her word. Basically what I’m trying to say is that YOU SHOULD BE READING IT. I don’t encourage just anyone to blog. Megan is a better writer than I’ll ever be; at once witty, inspiring, thought-provoking, and hilarious. She and her husband are currently living in Scotland for the year, and they are recounting their adventures here. Megan also has a travel blog, where she is retroactively writing about her journeys across the world.

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You may or may not know that my youngest brother works stage crew for the Alley Theatre, which is one of Houston’s premier theatres. This is awesome because it means that we get to see most of the plays for free, and the others at a discounted price. I feel very cultured. Anyway, this week we saw the world premiere of Gruesome Playground Injuries with Brad Fleischer and Selma Blair (you may recognize her from Legally Blonde, the Hellboy movies, or Cruel Intentions). Both David and I liked it a lot, which is actually rare. I even heard David laughing several times. Afterwards we got to meet the cast, which was fun because the most famous person I have ever met up until now was Derek Webb (and I was too nervous to even say anything to him).

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One of my coworkers introduced me to the website mygrocerydeals.com. It basically has all of your local grocery store sale flyers in one place, and it will e-mail you when a new one is available. You can browse by store or by category, create a shopping list, and print it or e-mail it to yourself. I love it and it has already revolutionized the way I shop.

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I got the H1N1 vaccine today. I did it because I am a direct caregiver to many people who are at high risk for contracting the virus; people who, if they got it, would get very very sick and perhaps not make it through. So the vaccine is more to protect them than to protect myself, because I know that my body could handle any kind of flu. I have to say though, I was nervous. For some reason my old fear of needles came back to me, and I was not feeling up to getting stuck. I think it’s because I’ve given two intramuscular injections this week, and both times I’ve seen the muscle quiver. It kind of gave me the shivers. Anyway, I looked away and barely felt the needlestick, although my arm is quite sore now.

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I wrote most of this post early in the day, then forgot to finish it until now. I almost went to bed without posting it, and now I’m barely squeezing it in. I’m super tired. Good night!

November 13, 2009
#47. Go To Another Dynamo Game

The Dynamo are Houston’s major league soccer team. I know most of you are probably like, “Who cares?” and that’s fine. If you were writing about, say, water polo, I would have the same reaction. But I love soccer. I have played it since I was seven years old, and I pretty much lived and breathed it from the time I was in junior high through college. I’ve been playing on adult teams since then, but because of my schedule I can now only play during the summers. So I consider it my duty to support our pro team.

I was so excited when my parents told me they had an extra ticket to today’s game! It’s the first round of the playoffs, it would be a fun chance to hang out with my family, and it was free! We had great seats that enabled us to see the whole field well, with the bonus of a nice view of the Houston skyline.

A sea of orange!

It also gave me a chance to wear the super cute Dynamo jersey I own.

My mom, me, and brother David. My husband’s not really into soccer, unless I’m playing. :)

I tell you what, there is nothing quite like soccer fans. They are wild and tireless. There was a small section of Seattle fans right across the aisle from us, and every time our goalkeeper took a goal kick they would shout, “You suck, a**hole!” It didn’t take our fans long to catch on, and every subsequent time they would repeat the phrase, but directed at the Seattle section. I was thinking to myself how tacky the opposing teams fans were, until I realized that every time Seattle’s goalkeeper took a goal kick we were shouting this which, if you grow up playing soccer in south Texas, you learn is Spanish for something not very nice at all. I can’t even bring myself to type it, because I try to keep things family friendly around here. So apparently it’s just vehement hate on both sides.

Enjoying the game

But guess what? We won! 1-0 in overtime. My husband says soccer hasn’t caught on in America because there’s not enough scoring. But I say that the entire game is exciting even without the goals. You will rarely see The Wave being started at a soccer game, because The Wave is a sign of boredom. (And for the record, I detest The Wave, and yet find it strangely fascinating.)

Celebration at the end of the game

Seeing soccer made me so nostalgic for it. There’s just something about lacing up your cleats, stepping onto the grass, and having that whole field in front of you. The feel of the ball at your feet, and coming together as a team. I’m lucky I still get to play at all, but I miss the competitive days of my youth where I could play three full games during a summer tournament and wake up for another the next day. My body would revolt if I tried that now.

At least I can still be a fan!

November 8, 2009