March is warmer in Texas

Hard to believe it's the last day in March. It's been a pretty great end of the month since last writing. Law Prom, pool time, good food, and great people.

Law Prom, or the Barrister's Ball at SMU (Southern Methodist University- Sam's Law School) was on March 20th. Every girl wants to go to a ball and it was so great to get to do that! We went to a great pre-game equipped with delicious sandwiches, enjoyed some beverages, and had a great time with all the other law school students and their dates. Perhaps the coolest part of the night was the souvenirs they had to offer. They made personal flip books! Genius right? The only way to capture their true greatness for everyone who can't see them in person was to snap some (low quality- but you get the point) videos.

Here's one of Sam & I, casually bumping into each other and swooning. 

Pretty great, huh? Here's another one of me and some of the other girlfriends who came as dates. 

And, here's Sam and I's Law Prom picture. We clean up pretty nice. 

After Law Prom weekend, Dallas decided to bring out the warm weather. This has definitely been the warmest March I've ever experienced. This past week it's been in the 80's several days and Sam and I have gone to the pool. Too cold to swim since pools here aren't usually heated, but laying by the pool is still pretty freaking great! Did I mention our apartment complex has 3 pools? 3!

Naturally, this was the first time I could break out my Maryland bikini after getting it for Christmas. Woohoo! 

Our apartment is also right next to a lake, hence our address, and it is definitely a pretty sight in the sunshine! 

This warm weather is an excellent excuse to go out and enjoy all the glorious food Dallas has in its vicinity. Which is basically everything. But it has some GREAT local spots as well. Plus, every place has a patio for outdoor eating, which is perfect this time of the year. My friend Audrey introduced me to pretty much the greatest burger place ever. Not only is it delicious and fresh, but the atmosphere is half its selling point.

When you order your burger, as opposed to giving you a buzzer to beep when your food is ready, they give you a various celebrity/humorous name. They say it over a loud speaker when your food is ready and you can go grab it from the counter. Here's the name I got... pretty spot on I must say.

While eating you can hear them call all of the names other people got and it's a good laugh. I heard several Friends and Disney Characters, but I won't give away too many examples so ya'll can just come visit and see for yourself. :-) The restaurant has also been visited by George Bush, and there's even a booth which is "his" and if he were to come in while you are sitting there, you'll have to get up and give it to him. I ate a burger, side of fried pickles, and strawberry lemonade. De-lic-ous!

Sam and I have a long list of other food places to try which we are trying to get through. More food posts to come! Luckily, I joined a pretty awesome gym to keep away those Texas pounds.

Happy April everyone! Cheers to another great month filled with more adventures, and hopefully more pool time! I miss you Maryland, (especially getting to celebrate my family and friends birthdays!!) but in the mean time Texas really isn't too shabby.

Lots of love,
Kendra

Let the Adventures Begin

So, since last writing I've been up to a few things....

First off, I took my bike out on its first ride since being in Dallas! Sam and I drove by White Rock Creek Lake one day and we saw lots of bikers on the path so I decided to venture out when we had a nice 70 degree day. The fun of biking on trails you aren't familiar with is you don't really know how far they go. I realized that after accidentally biking almost 18 miles. Apparently this lake is huge. I then saw the Santa Fe trail which branches off of it and rode that too. That trail goes closer into the downtown area. That combined with the lake trail added up. Riding around the lake was fun, but I was very happy to finally end up back at my car. The true challenge of the bike ride though was putting my bike rack on my car, the metal bar on my bike, my bike on the rack, and driving to the lake without it falling off, and vice versa in coming home. My bike made it safely though, so success!

Here's a view of the city as I rode on the Santa Fe Trail.

And here's what I look like with Dallas in the background.

Along the Santa Fe trail I found a little bike stand with a pump, just in case I got a flat and was stranded. Not that I would know how to use it, but hey, it's still there!

I also discovered why White Rock Lake is called White Rock Lake. So pretty!

This was taken when I was back on the White Rock Lake trail. Take note of how far away the city looks now compared to the previous pictures! Not kidding when I say I biked a lot.

Birds, ducks, wild birds, etc. are a really big deal here. People were feeding them and they were enjoying it. I kept my distance as I've encountered angry swans before one time when I was younger with Mom. 

Secondly, St. Patrick's Day in Dallas is apparently a REALLY HUGE deal. Not even the actual day so much as the Saturday before it. They shut down a giant section of a pretty major road and have a parade. People camped out Friday night to get good spots. I went to the grocery store Friday night when I decided to make a pie for Pi day and every other person in there was buying alcohol. Prior to the parade they have a 5K which had about 8,000 runners this year. I was one of them! 

The swarm of people ahead of me in the 5K. Green as far as the eye can see. 

Me getting ready to run! Sam woke up at 7 with me to wait for me while I ran. 37 minutes later I finished, with no stopping. Woohoo!

The parade started around 11:30. ALL sorts of floats. Not even kidding, this is a photo of the Tortilla Queen car throwing out green tortillas...

And I even caught one! However, I did not have the guts to eat it.

They also toss out beads, t-shirts, coozies, and even some candy. This was an after picture of my friend Audrey and I decked out in the goodies. Catching beads became and intense game throughout the parade and I must say we did pretty amazing. I even caught some Mavericks beads, but I'll never wear them because the Wizards still have my heart. 

Finally, Sam's mom and sister flew in for the weekend so we had some delicious Dallas brunch, drinks, steak, Whattaburger, and ice cream. And for anyone reading who is wondering what the infamous Sam looks like, here you go! 

Oh, and P.S. we got our first animal for the apartment. Meet Dillo. He may not be a real armadillo, but how cool is he?! He even doubles as a piggy bank. Found him in San Antonio and he is freshly imported from Mexico. :-)

Sending love and warm weather from Dallas, 

Kendra

From D.C. to Dallas.

Hi, or howdy as I should say now. I always thought starting a blog would be fun but never could find anything quite that interesting to write about. How about moving 1,350 miles away from home to start a new adventure? Sounds like a good enough idea to me!

Moving to Dallas wasn't an easy decision. Leaving my family, friends, jobs, neighborhood, home, etc. But how do you know what's beyond those walls of comfort unless you jump over them and see? That's what I did. Lucky for me, on the other side of those walls was Sam. Although I was jumping into a complete new world, I knew there would be one person to hold my hand through it. So with some help from everyone back home, and a LOT of help from a particular brother, I did it! The drive down was much more fun than you would think. A stop in Virginia, Nashville, and Little Rock. All had good food, good views, and even nicer people the more South we got. Living like a King with Jason for the journey was a whole adventure in itself!

It's been exactly a month ago since I left home to begin the drive. Crazy how time flies. Although I've cheated and went back for a few days, (hey, it was Maroon 5 related) I've already had the chance to dip my toes in the pool of Dallas life and it feels good. I've already seen Maroon 5 in my new home (priority, obviously), had a friend come visit, had a brother come visit, seen bull riding, ate LOTS of BBQ, and I've gotten lost trying to run the easiest of errands. It's also become a habit to tell Siri "Directions to Home" and as soon as she says "19 hours, 32 minutes,..." I remember she still thinks that means Maryland.

I also put a lot of time into making the apartment more "homey" so naturally I'm pretty proud. Here's some pictures for now until I have some more adventures to blog about!

Living room and hallway decorated with Maryland/D.C./USA decor as expected:

This dresser was one of my first purchases when I moved in- Craigslist for the win. (Although the top drawer is a fake-me-out, but I'm past that now)

I've always dreamed of a closet I could walk into. I may have cut down Sam's usage of this closet to about 1/4. ;)

Being surrounded by Christmas lights is one of my favorite feelings. Perfect atmosphere for a great nap! The pillow pets and animals help too, of course. 

Love that there is a balcony behind those blinds. Unfortunately I brought the cold and snow down here with me so we haven't had the weather to enjoy it yet. Hopefully soon!

Hugs, kisses, and barbecue,
Kendra