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[Travel Tuesday] Livingstone, Zambia

Over the next several weeks, we will be outlining our 2012 trip to Africa!  This has been one of our favorite, most adventurous vacations to date.  Sometimes you go to a place and are happy to have checked it off a bucket list.  For us, Africa checked several items off of our bucket list however we added a new one that says return to Africa.  We can't wait to relive the memories through these posts!!

[Travel Tuesday] Dublin, Ireland

During our time in the UK, we took a few days to hop over to Dublin to experience a bit of Ireland.  The great thing about Europe is the discount airlines really make it affordable to travel between the cities.  While we have heard the Irish accent before, we were shocked at how thick it was here.  Even when English was being spoken, Brian had an extremely hard time understanding.  We had quite a few laughs as Brian thought they were speaking Irish Gaelic when it was actually English!

Our only together pic in Ireland, outside the Guinness Factory.  Yes, it's blurry.

St. Patrick's Day Round-Up

I know St. Patrick's Day was last week but we are still in March therefore I'm not too late for a holiday inspired post ;)  Truth-be-told we are not huge fans of St. Patrick's Day although I never pass up an opportunity to dress festively and add a few holiday touches to our decor at home.  In college, we avoided the St. Patrick's Day bars and parties.  It wasn't until we moved to Chicago that we appreciated it a bit more and started to get out a few times in celebration.

Texas just doesn't seem to have the traditions and interest in celebrating anything other than it's own history therefore there wasn't any big "event" that goes on.  Below is a quick summary of our St. Patrick's Day experiences over the past few years.

Ahhh Chicago......they really do it best.  They have a tradition of dying the river green each year.  It's fun to watch and creates really great photo moments :)  We first experienced the river dying in March 2008.  

Fun trivia fact: The powder is orange in color, it first turns the river yellow before mixing to green! (We really had this as a trivia question one time)

[Travel Tuesday] Scotland

Brian has family in Scotland so we were lucky enough to arrange a visit and stay with his Aunt and cousin while we were visiting the beautiful country.  We stayed in Branchton and used that as a base to get everywhere by train.  We found the train system to be very easy to understand and there were many options to get us to/from our daily destinations.  We visited in May and the stereotype was true.....it rains ALL...THE...TIME.  Overall we really enjoyed our time here and hope to get back someday. 

Port Glasgow

Sightseeing
St. Andrew's
Glasgow
Edinburgh
Arran
Branchton

Fish Fry Fail

If I don't make dinner, we will typically find a seafood restaurant to try for dinner on Friday's during Lent.  We think back to the days in Pittsburgh and remember the Economy Fire Hall fish fry's.  There has to be something like that here in Texas right?   Usually we don't know or see any places hosting a fish fry, but this past week we found a church here in Katy that advertised one.

Why not try it out?

Amanda arrived home from work and we did what any normal young couple in their 30's would do on a Friday night... we headed to the church fish fry for a 5:30 dinner!

The Houston Rodeo

We have made it an annual event to attend the Houston Rodeo since we moved here.  This is actually our third year as TX residents, doesn't time fly by!  Yes, it's cheesy, crowded and overpriced but it's Houston tradition and we enjoy this annual event.

Tapas on the Trails

We love indulging in restaurants on random weekends and prefer to stay clear of places on Valentine's Day due to the crowds and sometimes subpar service and inflated prices.

Of course, I am quite a sap therefore I couldn't just ignore a holiday designed to celebrate LOVE!  I found that the Houston Arboretum was offering a special event called "Tapas on the Trails."  It included a stroll through the woods with 5 different stops; each with a unique course and wine pairing.

Valentine's Selfie

[Travel Tuesday] London Surrounding Areas

While we were in London, we made sure to take in a few of the surrounding areas as well.  This post will document some of the surrounding areas of London we visited during our trip.  

Oxford
We arrived in London around 7:00 am with an 8 hour layover until our flight up to Scotland.  Rather than twiddle our thumbs at the airport, we decided to check our luggage at the hold desk and take the bus to Oxford.

If I remember correctly, it took about an hour for the bus to get to Oxford so it provided us a nice time for a nap prior to sightseeing.  We loved the city of Oxford!!  Such a quaint town and of course, being the nerd that I am, I love any type of university setting.  Our first stop was University Church of St. Mary where we climbed 127 steps for a birds-eye view of the city.

[Travel Tuesday] London Sightseeing

We have quite a bit to share regarding our previous trips therefore we will begin a Travel Tuesday segment to highlight past trips as well as new ones!  Also it will be fun for us to go back through our photos and reminisce about our trips.  For February, we will focus on our trip to the UK back in May 2011.

Overall we LOVE the city of London.  I think this is where we really started to develop an appreciation for history and have ensured we spend some time during our travels learning some aspect of the local history.   We would welcome the opportunity to go back to London someday.

Outside the Tower of London with Tower Bridge in the background

Hotel
The Waldorf Hilton - We used Hilton Points here and it was fantastic!  Great location within walking distance to several areas. If you are an Honors member, they have a fantastic lounge for breakfast and tea time.  Instead of lunch, we would come back here to enjoy the snacks at tea time to save money.

Sightseeing
Buckingham Palace
Tower Bridge
London Eye
St. Paul's Cathedral
Tower of London
Westminister Abbey
Royal Mews
The Monument
Abbey Road

Sunday Dinner - Pork Belly Pasta

Over the past year or so, I have been trying to cook more often.  Sundays are usually the easiest day to make something because we normally have a more relaxing day.  The time to prep is much easier when you don't have to work all day! 

I usually try to make something more complicated or larger on Sunday.  Also, making a larger amount allows Amanda to have leftovers for lunch during the week.  

This Sunday I made Vietnamese Carmelized Pork Belly Pasta.  Sounded like a pretty safe bet for an awesome combination of two great things:  Pasta & Pork Belly! 

We did not have any shallots, but I used more red onion than as suggested, so it seemed to work out just fine.  

Superbowl 2015

As born and raised Steeler fans, we were not thrilled with this year's lineup for the Superbowl.  None the less, it was a great excuse to host a Superbowl Party!  In lieu of showing team spirit, we opted to dress as refs.

If at first you don't succeed......

Wow, so this attempt at a blog was a major fail!  The thing is, we are still as busy as ever and need a place to document it all.  As we continue to develop our photography knowledge, having a place to document it will encourage us to shoot more and edit photos faster.

So in the words of William Edward Hickson:

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again!"

Uchi

While living in Chicago, one of our favorite things to do was to try new restaurants.  We really enjoyed the "food scene" in the area and learned a lot about different types of food, preparation and style.  We followed chef's as they opened new places and also attended food events such as BaconFest.  This was one of our favorite things to do.  When we decided to leave Chicago for Houston, we knew it would be a big change in our dining options.  

Color in Motion

We are not really runners, I would say we dabble in it.  We always say we are going to start running but when it comes to hitting the pavement, it is never as fun as we want it to be.  We are not giving up on it though.  In an effort to make running fun for us, we sign-up for 5K gimmick runs once a year.

The Texas Coast

The Texas coast does not have a good reputation.  This state isn't exactly known for its beaches however it does have a quite large coast line and we figured it was worth checking out.  Since this past week was restaurant week in Galveston, we decided to check out both their food and coast.

Barnaby's

While Amanda and I were sitting around the house the other day we realized the house was very quiet.  We talked about how our lives boring and in need of some excitement.  We talked about getting a pet and decided to make our way out to look for a furry friend.  We ended up here...

The Day After....

Christmas is hands-down my favorite holiday.  It is full of traditions, family, friends, food, music the list is endless.  I think the fact that Christmas lasts more than just 1 day also helps add to the allure of the holiday.

As a kid, one my favorite parts of the holiday week was December 26th.  Why?  Because that is the day we typically had no plans therefore it consisted of staying home lounging and digging into all of our new loot.  Trying on clothes, playing new games, doing new art projects etc.  As an adult, I can still say I like the day after.  We no longer can lounge in our own home and there isn't the plethora of toys that we had as kids, but the action of exploring new "toys" still exists and I love it :)

A Quick Trip...

Saturday:

Bath Towels.  It seems like such a simple item to buy.  You go to the store.  Pick the color you need and go home.  How easy is that?  

Well that is not the way we do things around here!  Our weekend began with us making a quick trip out to Kohl's to buy towels (They were having a sale buy one get one for $1.  Good deal right?  That is what we thought).  
We picked out our towels after 30 minutes of deciding.  We were happy with our purchase.  Then Amanda said "Hey, there is a Home Goods over there.  We should see if they have any rugs".  What a simple thought.  We would run into Home Goods quickly to look at rugs then get back home.  

Boy were we wrong....

NEW

new  (n, ny) adj. new·er, new·est 1. Having been made or come into being only a short time ago; recent 2. a. Still fresh:  b. Never used or worn before now  3. Just found, discovered, or learned 4. Not previously experienced or encountered; novel or unfamiliar 5. Different from the former or the old 6. Recently obtained or acquired 7. Additional; further 8. Recently arrived or established in a place, position, or relationship 9. Changed for the better; rejuvenated 10. Inexperienced or unaccustomed

As defined by thefreedictionary.com

In addition to the New Year, there are several things that are new for us right now: new home, new state, new jobs. We have a lot of exploring and settling to do before Texas feels like home for us. Not to mention we live farther from our family and friends than ever before. In order to document the activities that keep us busy as well as keep in-touch from afar, we have decided to start a new blog.

We wish you all a Happy New Year and look forward to all the new adventures that await in 2013!

Our New Home

~A