Greece & Monaco

So I've been a total blogging slacker lately- I have good reasons, I promise! So I'll just use another set of photos from H's mom's trip to Europe. Isn't the Monaco coastline so beautiful and distinctive?



Looks like it was pretty cool there. I love the story of Princess Grace (well, except the end).



I've seen a few travel shows on Monaco and I'm blown away by the amount of money and the enormous casinos they have.



And of course the famous formula car races through downtown.



This was the boat they called home for almost 2 weeks.



I enjoying re-living our visit to Athens as we looked through her photos.



So much to see in Athens and so little time. I think they still show plays in some of these ancient amphitheaters.



I'd love to go back to Italy and do the coastline tour- Amafli, the wine country, mountains!



The city is so beautiful with all the white buildings making a collage on the hillside.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: It's Friday, my long run for the weekend has been done, H is going to the Rocket's play-off game tonight & I'm doing happy hour with my mom.

Chicken Enchiladas

I've been wanting to cook (more) (again), but we've been SOOOO busy lately! I've had chicken enchiladas on my radar for months, and finally had the chance to whip them up on Sunday. I started off with this basic recipe & added a few twists, including trying to use l0w-fat ingredients and the can of diced tomatoes & chilies.



Anything that starts with sauteed onions is on the right track.



I put the onions, cream cheese and tomatoes into a mix for the inside.



I just boiled the chicken in water with some taco seasoning for added flavor.



Mix them together......



Load up your tortillas....



Roll them up and place them in a baking dish...



Add the yummy topping (cream of chicken soup, milk & sour cream), plus throw some more onions on top just for good measure...



Top with some cheese & bake in the oven! I think they came out really great, but they were a lot of work for something that's probably not very healthy (even with all the low-fat ingredients). Might be good to make for a dinner party or group, when we won't have left-overs to eat too.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: The Rockets won their first game of the 2nd round play-offs against the Lakers! I wish the games were on early than 9:30 PM, and H has some great seats for the game Friday night.

Garden Update

We've had our garden in the ground a while now & nothing much is happening. :( We've had crazy weather around here this spring- pretty cool and feet of rain. All of a sudden the asparagus have really taken off and grown tall- is that normal? We had some strawberries when I first planted them, but nothing lately! I wonder if the bugs or a certain Vizsla is getting to them?



We do actually have a few beans on this plant- not sure what I'm going to do with them though :)



I'm most disappointed with the tomatoes. Most of them have not grown an inch since I put them in the ground. I've got a few that have finally taken off growing in the last 2 weeks, but most of them are not doing a stinking thing!



And my biggest surprise is the squash! We didn't have any squash seeds make it last year, so I planted 2 rows & wasn't expecting anything this soon!



The cucumbers (the row on the right), are starting to come in pretty good as well.



We've finally got lots of lemons coming in our lemon tree- no telling how long it will take them to reach full size though.



Such pretty flowers on the cucumbers. I'll put our wire cages in for the cucumbers and squash after we have all the mom's over this weekend to celebrate Mother's Day.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: It's Cinco de Mayo, our friend's birthday & we're going to a surprise party for her at the Melting Pot tonight.

Cowgirl Attire Follow up

Getting my "20's Life Review" ready, I ran across this old photo from January of 2003. Never mind that I had just graduated from the University of Texas less than a month before & I was wearing their arch-enemy's badge (belt buckle)! I really have not the faintest clue where I could be going in this get-up, since it was too early for Rodeo season. I'm guessing I was headed out to a country & western bar. As much as I'd hate to wear that outfit again, I'd love to be able to fit into those jeans!

So there- that's my cowgirl fashion confession! I'm sure I've got a lot more bad flashback from high school, but I'll have to find those.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I've got puppy fever...starting the initial steps to thinking about seeing about talking to somebody about finding out about a breeder about a litter for this fall ;)
I'M NERVOUS!

Fiesta San Antonio

The highlight and purpose of our trip to San Antonio was to party it up at Fiesta! Long a tradition in San Antonio, we wanted to check it out. H & I got to town later Friday afternoon & stumbled up Night in Old San Antonio (NIOSA).



There's an admission charge and all the food/drinks require tickets, but it was one big eating and drinking festival. The old town is sectioned off into various cuisines, with food and drink from that country or region. Lots of people & lots of live music.


We met up with H's friends & their girlfriends on the Riverwalk for some dinner & drinks.



Several mariachi's were floating by and playing live music- it was great!



Some random lady handed me a confetti egg and told me "Hit your boyfriend". Unfortunately, H's friend was the closest to me, so he got the egg!



Saturday, we all headed out to Market Square, which is small mall (market) and open-air area where there was another festival going on with food, music and drinks.



We were told that it was so crowded by the night time that you couldn't walk! H & Matt being silly, as Matt's girlfriend pretends not to know them.



They had some WICKED good food at this festival- everything you could imagine! These fruit cups were neat & looked delicious.



They also had the biggest variety of bad food I'd ever seen! From all sorts of marshmallows on a stick, to cheesecake- fried or chocolate covered, to fried Oreos! I'm not sure what that is on the back row- maybe fried Twinkies? We were feeling adventurous and decided to get an order of the fried Oreos and each eat 1. They tasted a bit like warm, soft donut holes with some chocolate flavor in the middle. Not too bad, but 1 was enough!



So you were freely allowed to walk around with *drinks* and bring your own. That was some dandy lemonade ;)



I have no idea about this- but this guy on his segway cracked us up.



They sold daiquiris and beer by the PITCHER! H & I decided to share one, and even then we couldn't finish it! Too sweet and filling...



There's several neat things to see downtown, but H & I went into the mirror maze. It was very fun & very disorienting. It wasn't too hard to find your way out because there were so many people. I imagine if you were in there alone & had been drinking just a little, you'd never find your way out!



Saturday evening was the big night parade through the city & we decided to walk down the parade route. We watched the Dallas-San Antonio play-off game, and there were TONS of Mavericks fan brave enough to walk through all the Spurs fans. This is our *special* friend Mark- he's got a special backpack with lots of yummy drinks, keeps us thoroughly entertaining with his antic and is up for anything.



The streets are lined with rows of chairs that various groups sell. We didn't know to buy tickets in advance, so we kept on walking into the sea of people.



Before the parade there was a costumed road-race that was very entertaining to watch- all sorts of costume and jokers running wild through the streets. We waited around for a while, but couldn't make it the last hour or two before the parade. All in all, very fun, very different, good to do every few years, great hanging out with friends.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Had a great weekend, will have a busy & fun week!

Around San Antonio

Last weekend, we headed out west to San Antonio with some of our friends to experience Fiesta! H is headed back in 2 weeks for his national sales conference and will be staying at that fancy Hyatt right there.



What can I say- these people LOVE their Spurs! I think maybe since it's the only major league team in town (no baseball or football), but the town was very excited to see them in the play-offs.



San Antonio is ALL about the Riverwalk. There is a nice, big mall on one side, that leads down to the Riverwalk below.



My favorite part about the Riverwalk is NOT the river. It's just a glorified bayou & generally the water is kinda gross. However, I simply adore all the beautiful old trees and greenery that make the place so romantic and cozy.



There's lots of beautiful old architecture in and around SA, especially churches.



They are especially beautiful lit up at night. Fun fact- did you know the original Ghostbusters movie was filmed here?



The "tourist" thing to do is take a riverboat tour, where you get a great sense of history and learn the tales of the city. They also have special dinner cruises that go through the city.



Like little treasures, scattered around the Riverwalk are fun little architectural surprises and fun features like this waterfall built into the sidewalk.



It's great to get away to the Riverwalk every few years and enjoy this unique place.



I just loved this old building, with all the beautiful iron work and intricate detailing.



Another gorgeous old church!



No trip to San Antonio is complete without a peek at the Alamo! The city was PACKED for Fiesta weekend and for the parades, so we mostly avoided the crowds. I've got fun Fiesta pictures coming up.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Got great seats tonight at the Woodlands Pavilion to see Dave Matthews Band!