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Sunday, September 25, 2016

A Weekend at Oaktopia

We spent the weekend at the Oaktopia Festival in Denton with our friend Rebekah and it was fantastic. 



Highlights include: 
  • Beirut - the last time I saw them was at Outside Lands 5 years ago, and they are still so, so good. 
  • Norah Jones - she's been a staple on any "chill" playlist I've made in the past decade, and this was the first time I've ever seen her live. Also, she graduated from UNT in Denton, and this was her first big return show. Homegirl sounded gooooood. 

  • Outdoor yoga accompanied by a DRUM CIRCLE. This experience made me wish a.) that every yoga class I ever take would be accompanied by a drum circle and b.) that I could join a drum circle. 

  • FOOOOOOD. Lots of delicious food. 


  • Seeing my old fave Best Coast in all her angsty Cali girl glory. (Sidenote - here's a post about when I met her at her album release party a few yrs ago). Best Coast was the main band I wanted to see all weekend, so we were ready and waiting on the front row for her set, but Mother Nature's had laaaame timing and a torrential downpour / lightening storm started right before it was supposed to begin so we had to leave for cover. (blurghhh). Luckily, the torrential-ness/lightening passed, so she still got to play, and I got the lovely new experience of watching her show in the rain. πŸ˜’


Overall, Oaktopia was fun and affordable and easy and I highly recommend it to anyone in the DFW area. Denton is just 45ish minutes north of Dallas, so it was super fun to experience a festival full of amazing music, events, food, and drinks in our proverbial backyard. We're thinking of making it an annual tradition (esp. if the line up is as good next year). :)


xoxo, 

Annie. 

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Top Ten Matt Wertz Songs (By Bailey)

It's time for another guest author Top Ten list! This one is by my coworker/friend Bailey (who you can find being dramatic about Big Brother on Twitter and living her best Internet Life on Instagram) and the subject is... 



... which is very timely because Bailey and I are going to see him (for the millionth time) tomorrow night at the Granada. :D 
Matt Wertz is near and dear to my heart for many reasons - he played at OU almost every semester I was on the Concert Series there, I met my husband at a Matt Wertz show, his song "Feels So Right" was our first dance at our wedding, etc. That said, I am very excited for this list. 

------

Hey, y’all! Like Annie said, my name’s Bailey. If you’re a follower of this blog and/or Annie’s life, you probably know me best from making awful faces during Bachelor/ette watch parties.



I like all of them.

I also like lists, which makes me particularly qualified for this guest post.

Back before we spent every Monday night together, judging if strangers are or aren’t Here For The Right Reasons™, Annie and I met over the phone, but she didn’t know it. Caroline and I were eavesdropping on her phone interview that would eventually place her in my life and literally at the desk right behind me daily.

Shortly after she started working at our place of business, she casually mentioned that she was looking forward to a concert that would be coming through town. The artist was one of her all-time faves and she’d seen him “like 90 times” or something. She said his name was Matt Wertz, and I did something along the lines of:

best friends stepbrothers did we just become best friends

OMG, I also have a mild obsession with Matt Wertz! #Bonding

We proceeded to the concert together on our first-ever friend date, and I don’t like to brag about this (yes, I do) but it was that very night when Mrs. LeRoux first met her soon-to-be husband and I WAS THERE. I was also present at another Matt Wertz concert with Annie and Chris on the exact night (swear) of their one year anniversary. I think I was more freaked out by the full circle than they were. I can also be your professional third wheel for the low, low price of…

Nope, this isn’t about me. This is about the jams. Or the jamz, if we’re being most suitable for the subject. My favorite ones, in descending order, are as follows. Enjoy!


10. Counting to 100
I promise that I didn’t start this top 10 list with a song about numbers on purpose, but this song is so sweet and so literally me that it makes for a perfect beginning to the list anyway. Pairs best with: dry white wines, brain farts at your desk and trying really hard to not be cranky.

9. Take It or Leave It
I could not have been more amped when I realized that Wertz’ Heatwave album was just one great 80s callback and it wasn’t easy for me to pick 10 songs for this list without including all 10 from that album. However, I thought Annie might feel like that was phoning it in and I honestly could never bring myself to not include my true number 1 but ALL THAT TO SAY, this song is glorious.

8. Sweetness in Starlight
I’m having a hard time thinking of why I like this song so much, which sounds really rude except that I love, love, love it. Give it a listen if you ever need to caalmmmm. the. eff. down.

7. Running Back to You
A lot of songs that I like – even love – don’t really mean anything... or they do, and it’s dirty, and I might be singing it without even realizing it’s dirty, but this one actually means something very real and that’s awesome.

6. Sing My Lonesome Away
I dare you to try and listen to this song without shout-singing along to the chorus. No, really, go on. Try. You can’t. I don’t believe you.

5. Everything’s Right
It’s the jam. Another immediate mood-booster. I’m sensing a theme here?

4. Patient Heart
MW snapped a 10-second clip of this song a long time ago and I may or may not have watched it, listening closely, a disturbing amount of times. I knew I liked it immediately. I also feel like the “You think you’re fooling anybody pretending to be someone else?” lyric is great inspiration for any Real Housewife looking to update their tagline for next season.

3. Over You
One time I saw Andrew McMahon dressed as Elton John at a show on Halloween and idk, the piano parts of this song just remind me of that for some reason.

2. Get to You
I don’t have any official stats to back myself up on this, but the amount of times I’ve listened to this song in my car is unparalleled. No other song comes close to matching this one when it comes to its windows-rolled-down-shout-singing qualities.

1. With You, Tonight
For as long as I’ve known this song, it’s been my very favorite. I feel like it might be one of the more obscure songs in his catalogue, which is kind of my M.O. (my favorite song on ‘N SYNC is I Need Love and my favorite song on Midnight Memories is Diana.) and that’s not me trying to sound cool (seeing as how I just divulged my favorite *NSYNC and One Direction songs as examples,) but rather telling you that the non-singles and non-title tracks need love, too.

With that, I offer you your very own Definitive* Matt Wertz Collection Spotify playlist, in case your Patient Heart just can’t wait until Wertz himself hits your ‘hood on tour this fall. Annie and I, meanwhile, will be jamming to our hearts’ content this Friday. See ya there.

*Views expressed in this Top 10 list do not reflect those of my employer or those of the blogger I am guest-posting for, but if you disagree with any of my choices I will come for you.




Tuesday, September 13, 2016

8:11 August Highlights


Is anyone else alarmed and slightly confused that's somehow already MID-SEPTEMBER?? Yowzaaa. August was an eventful month. Chris and I both thoroughly celebrated our birthdays, I cut 9 inches off my hair, I got stranded in the Orlando airport, etc. Before last month isn't even 'last month' anymore, here are my 11 favorite things I did in August...


8:11-rosé toast for the final rose! 🍾🌹

8:11-drinks by the pool with madre. πŸΊπŸŠπŸ»πŸ‘―

8:11-HAPPY BIRTHDAY@thechrisleroux!! Thanks for giving us an excuse to have a full-on southern FEAST to celebrate. Love youuuu. πŸ’›πŸ’›πŸ’›



8:11 (on 8/11!!) -when youre supposed to be on a work trip on your bday but it gets cancelled last minute, you throw together a little party. πŸ™ŒπŸ»πŸŽ‰πŸΎπŸŽ‚



8:11- weekend getaway to Austin for C Gunn's wedding: πŸ™ŒπŸ»πŸ™ŒπŸ»πŸ™ŒπŸ»

8:11-our first wedding to attend since our wedding! Congrats Nolan and C Gunn! πŸ’›πŸ’›πŸ’›

8:11- belated bday din with the Leroux/Jones crew. πŸ•πŸ•πŸ•

8:11- has officially started! Bring on the delish food. πŸ΄πŸ˜‹
(More on that here). 

8:11-#DallasRestaurantWeek stop number 2:@dishprestonhollow. So good I can't even take my eyes off the food. πŸ‘πŸΌπŸ‘πŸΌ 

(More on that here). 


8:11-double date night at the Senders! πŸ‘«πŸ‘«



8:11- #SteelMagnolias movie party at the @drafthouse...complete with armadillo cake for everyone! Ha.



Cheers to a solid birthday month. Can't wait to do it again next year. :) 

xoxo, 

Annie. 

Friday, September 2, 2016

Dallas Restaurant Week: Dish // Eddie V's

I'm a tad behind on my restaurant week reviews, so this post will be a 2-for-1 special. Whooooo good food!


food britney spears eating eat i love food

Our second restaurant week stop was Dish in Preston Hollow which is walking distance from our place (on the rare occasion we aren't in a rush and it's really nice weather outside... so no, we didn't walk this time). 

The restaurant week menu had options for each of the 3 courses, so Chris and I chose all different options so we could could try 6 different things.

My favorite things we ordered - 

Salt & Pepper Calamari
In their words - A Southern twist on a classic starter, the Salt & Pepper Calamari is seasoned with spicy buffalo butter and tossed with corn wheels and sweet roasted peppers.
In my words - This was one of the best calamari dishes I've had in a long time. The seasonings and peppers made it extra flavorful. Def worthy of a repeat order. 

Jalepeno Mac & Cheese
This wasn't part of the restaurant week menu, but when there's mac & cheese on a menu, 9 times out of 10 I will order it. This was one of those times. It was delish but not the BEST mac & cheese I've ever had in my life. I wish it had been heavier on the jalepenos.  

Roasted Atlantic Salmon
In their words - Take a trip seaside this evening with our delicious Roasted Atlantic Salmon, served with avocado relish, sweet potato puree, Brussel petals, and jalapeΓ±o beurre blanc.
In my words - This was Chris's entree choice, and I had order envy because it was a fantastic flavor explosion and I wanted to eat all of it. 

Overall, I give Dish πŸ‘πŸ‘ and will definitely be back (maybe even walking there, who knows). Food was delish, service was fast/great, cocktails were pretty and yummy, and they give you incredible warm fresh-baked cookies if you go for your birthday. (Yes, we are still saying we're celebrating our bday since technically we went there during our bday month. #NoShame). 

Next up - Eddie V's. Eddie V's is owned by the same restaurant group that owns my client LongHorn Steakhouse (Darden), so I've been wanting to try it for several months. I've heard that a dinner for 2 there can cost upwards of $300, so I knew the prix fix menu for restaurant week was our only shot of going there any time soon. #moneywise

The Dallas Eddie V's is in a weird location that makes it seem smaller and less fancy than it is. It's connected to my old gym (the Eqinox in Highland Park), so I always saw it and thought it was just a cafe or something within the gym. Whoops. 

Like Dish, the restaurant week menu had a few options for each course, so we divided and conquered to get 6 different things to try again. Our meals were good - beef tartare (thanks Central Market free 4th course!), crispy salt & pepper shrimp, Maine lobster bisque, swordfish steak, and filet mignon. The dessert I ordered though was legit one of the BEST things I've eaten all year. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. 

Banana Foster Butter Cake with Butter Pecan Ice Cream.
Oh. My. Goodness. This was sooooooooo good. Like melt-in-your-mouth rich sweet deliciousness. Even though a $300 Eddie V's dinner tab isn't in our regular budget, we will DEF be going back just to get this dessert. πŸ˜πŸ˜πŸ˜

There's a few more days left of the extended restaurant week (it ends 9/4), so if you haven't gone yet - go! We've got one more on the schedule - Stampede66 this Sunday. Review coming soon! 

xoxo, 

Annie.