texas forever

clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.

you can't go on a west texas road trip without referencing friday night lights, am i right? (if you haven't seen this show, do it! it is so not about the football. well, it is, but it isn't.) i spent a long labor day weekend visiting my friends out in alpine, texas. it was my third trip out to west texas in less than two years and each time, i like it more and more. there's not a whole lot to see and there's not a whole lot to do, but, man, it's beautiful.

of course there were a few trips to marfa, which is just west of alpine. i always make the trek to snap a picture of prada marfa (which isn't actually in marfa) and this time there was a new (controversial) installation just outside the city, playboy marfa.

we also ate at el paisano hotel, where james dean and elizabeth taylor stayed while filming giant in the early 1950s, before standing under the amazing night sky trying to find the marfa mystery lights.

a few of my favorite places to visit in west texas are terlingua and big bend national park. terlingua is a mercury mining ghost town and has an amazing cemetery with graves dating back to 1903. it also has a fantastic view of the chisos mountains in big bend and the sierra del carmens in mexico.

we did a driving tour of big bend this time (there were five of us in the car) and got out to hike to the hot springs. it's crazy how quick the landscape changes from mountain to desert to something almost tropical. it was stupidly hot and we were all glad to be back home after a long day exploring (read: mac & cheese and pajamas).

of course, there was some much needed couch-surfing on the last day. after a late breakfast at buns & roses in marfa, we pretty much devoured the first season of american horror story (why did it take me so long to watch this?!) and grazed on pizza. 

so, all in all, an excellent little break from real life. did you have a good holiday?

reading // gulp by mary roach

(*note: if you're reading this post through a reader and it cuts off after the first paragraph, click through for the full effect! for some reason, it's getting cut off by the video underneath)

one of the things i did during the great void was join a book club. it's a small group that my co-worker started (we've never had more than five at a gathering) and i love it so much. i've never been in a book club, so i'm not sure how the selection of books usually works, but in our group we take turns choosing the book and hosting the club. a friend asked me recently if it was similar to the 'finer things club' from the office. ha! it kind of is.

somewhere along the line, we began to theme our dinners to the books. and we've had some epic gatherings: habibi by craig thompson and a mediterranean feast; grace by grace coddington with an indonesian spread; gods of gotham by lyndsay faye paired with oysters and champagne; anna karenina by leo tolstoy with rustic portobello stroganoff; gone girl by gillian flynn with gourmet frito pie; and damned by chuck palahaniuk served with a decadent seven deadly sins supper. this club's a keeper.

as you can tell, we've chosen a wide range of topics and titles over the months and it has kept things very interesting! august was my month to choose and to host, so i picked gulp by mary roach. oh, my gosh, do i love mary roach. are you familiar with her work? she's a science writer with a sense of humor. let me tell you, it is hard for me to get through non-fiction and her witticisms make it do-able. her newest work covers everything from taste and smell to stomach acids and bacteria to rectum smuggling and elvis' mega-colon. catch your attention?

i loved it (maybe too much?) and i have to give my friends props for getting through most of it -- there were some pretty eye-opening (and stomach-turning!) descriptions going on.

to go with gulp, i decided that a night of tastings would be fun - cheese, wine, and chocolate! plus, we did a fun and easy taste experiment that went along with a chapter in the book. now, i know nothing about cheese. give me a hunk o' colby from the local supermarket and i'm pretty happy. my sister is a bit of a connoisseur, though, so i consulted with her and spent a lot of time on pinterest looking up cheese plate anatomy.

turns out, it's not that hard. if i learned anything it's this: get a goat cheese, a brie, a bleu, and one or two hard cheeses (cheddar or manchego) and you're done. pair it with dried fruits, some nuts (walnuts or almonds work great), crusty bread, honey, a bit of mustard and you're good to go.

i picked up a chocolate sampler from a local dark chocolatier, dude sweet chocolate, and it was so much fun to go through the box and taste some truly inspired combinations. i think we all loved the honey and hated the radish!

it was a good night! we chose never let me go by kazuo ishiguro for september and i'm excited to start it! i read it a few years ago, but it's been long enough that i don't quite remember all the specifics, which is good.

what are you reading?

so long, 2011

i moved from a tiny, cramped apartment to a perfect (for me) little house that i love.

i listened to so much good music with really awesome people. there really needs to be more squares for this.

i had the best thrift store and estate sale adventures.

i had the best time laughing with my family and friends.

i tried more things. making is my favorite.

i snuggled with this cutie.

and i felt thankful for my amazing family.

i hope you had a spectacular 2011 - see you next year!

tinsel + tonic

i had a holiday "tinsel + tonic" party this weekend, which is, of course, the perfect excuse for going overboard on vintage glass ornaments, kitschy santas, and crafty fun.

i made homemade christmas crackers (directions here) and yarn pom pom garlands (directions here). homemade touches were complemented with thrift store finds and fun finds from bake it pretty.

pinterest played a big part, too. make-ahead mason jar cocktails? such a good idea. also? i never want to have another drink without a festive paper straw (purchased here).

even the portraits were decked out in holiday finery (can you tell who the subject of the portrait is? a good story post coming soon).

it was so much fun to get my house ready for the season - i don't think i put a single decoration up last year. the party was a success with lots of laughing and talking into the wee hours, vintage records, good food (and so much of it, my goodness!), amazing friends, and a bit of mischievousness for good measure.

saving the bottle rocket motel

my love for wes anderson is no secret. his films, to me, are perfectly executed, perfectly styled, and perfectly cast. so, when i came across an article in the dallas observer detailing the potential loss of the iconic motel from wes anderson's directorial debut film, bottle rocket, i knew i wanted to help.

things got even better when the alamo drafthouse cinema got involved and offered to extend their summer rolling roadshow for a special showing of the film at the motel, which just happens to be a mere hour south of dallas. road trip!

a few friends and i headed south for the night toward the days inn in hillsboro.

it was great seeing so many fans of the film showing up from across the country: texas (of course), but also alabama, georgia, and arizona.

it was also pretty great to be able to walk around and see where the scenes were shot.

in a crazy twist of fate, the temperature was actually quite tolerable last night - there was even a breeze!

my friends and i got to meet robert musgrave, who played bob mapplethrope in the film. he was so cool and chatted with fans about scouting locations with wes anderson and owen wilson, staying on set (or not, as was his case, much to luke wilson's chagrin), and who had crushes on whom.

he signed my commemorative poster...

and sneakily added a moustache on future man (his brother in the film). awesome.

instead of previews and commercials, the pre-show included clips from all anderson's films and the many commercials he's directed. of course, we also got to see the now famous alamo drafthouse psa, which is so hilarious to me (here's the censored version).

right before the show, we all got treated to nose tape. exactly!

the movie was even better viewed in a field with like-minded fans.

it was late when the show ended, but we stayed for awhile just walking around again, finding more shot locations around the motel.

it's fun being a fan.

my hipstamatic day // 06.18.2011

errr... i see that it's been a week. sorry about that, but it's been crazy hot here in texas and the cool breezes, along with my motivation to form cohesive sentences, have temporarily gone astray. despite insanely stupid temperatures of late, i managed to have a pretty cool weekend, saturday night in particular.

i met two of my favorite people for a fun and nostalgic late-night pizza dinner in a small town about an hour north of where i live and as i was making the 40-mile trip (listening non-stop to the head and the heart), i couldn't help but be enamored with the beautiful sky. it's been bone dry around these parts for almost a month and though a storm was looming, the sun couldn't be suppressed. it was quite lovely.

i arrived a few minutes before my friends, so i took advantage of the swirling sky and old buildings and snapped a ton of pictures.

i'm not usually one to exploit the cowgirl/texas thing, but i really loved this painted sign.

the colors on this wall were to die for...

as evidenced by my taking about twenty close-ups of the aqua, white, and red combination. painted brick is the best.

though we came for pizza, there was a babe's across the street.

if you ever come to the dfw area, please try to go to a babe's chicken dinner house. it is seriously good and kitschy and country and fun.

and some of them have dinosaur-sized chickens out front. win.

my friends and i trekked it out to small town, texas to eat at a place called the tomato. when i was in college, there was a pizza place called the flying tomato (later changed to the tomato) and it was the best local haunt for studying, having a few beers, listening to music, and watching the world go by. the pizza, of course, was exceptional: doughy, slightly sweet, rich, and flavorful.

sadly, the tomato closed a few years after i graduated (it burned after closing, actually) and a college town mourned its loss. but! it was reincarnated a few months ago and i've been dying to see if the new tomato could bring back a few college memories.

the trip did not disappoint. the pizza was exactly the same (exactly!) and the new place had a few old relics from the original flying tomato, including the jukebox and, oddly enough, an old trash container. i had the best time chatting with my friends for hours and listening to music.

though it was getting late, we headed back south to denton (my old college town) and walked around the historic square.

there's a great old theater on one side of the square. i need to make a point of seeing a show there someday.

we ended the night at a bar listening to live music, sipping beer and coffee, and talking even more. it was the perfect night (even though it was still over 90 degrees way past midnight - blah).

i ♥ my friends. what did you do this weekend?