A fun busy week

Last Thursday I finally cashed in my gift certificate to a beginner's mosaics class out in The Heights.  I went totally out of my comfort zone and hung out and crafted with ladies (and one gent) I didn't know from all over this crazy big city.  I even experienced morning traffic here for the first time and to tell you truth I was thankful for the slower pace instead of cars whizzing past me.  

Here is my creation before the grout.  Imagine that, its all neutrals!  Ha.  

And after the grout.

The Mosaic studio was gorgeous and they were working on a huge mural piece right in the front room.  I hesitated again to take pictures because I wanted keep their artwork protected until finished.  

Look at that rainbow of colored tiles.

I liked The Heights so much that Hubby and I decided to go back the next day for date day (the one bonus of shift work).  We explored shops, antique stores, and of course, my favorite thing to do, walked and dreamed about  houses.  Here are some pictures of a few things that caught my eye while browsing around.

Sorry. These are all so blurry.  What is up with my Iphone?  But I want to remember them and I think they are totally DIY-able.  Not the crazy car though.

And the craftsman houses were killing me.  

It was actually quite difficult to tell the brand new houses apart from the original ones.

That night we went with our church to give away free ice cream to everyone at the Concert in a local  park.  My kids really enjoy seeing the looks on people's faces when they find out its actually free.  And the best part is telling those people that it is just a simple way of letting them know that God loves them.    We enjoyed listening to some Tejano music in celebration of Cinco de Mayo but the band ended up playing all sorts of music and the crowd loved it.  

Insert picture here:  I was too busy keeping up with where my kids were going to even think about taking pictures. 

On Saturday, J-man's soccer team won by a landslide and Roo went to a Cinco de Mayo birthday party.  The best part of that day?  The party wasn't finished when I went to pick her up so I gladly said yes to a margarita and then found the dishes all done when I got back.  (-:  Now that is love.  

Out of the burbs

Recently, I've had the chance to get out of the 'burbs' and it has done me a world of good.  Most days I'm irritated at my hubby's shift work schedule, but with it comes date days that I wouldn't trade for the world.  No babysitter, no crowds, and I'm not tired like I would be at the end of the day.  Date days are the best.  We celebrated our 13th anniversary at a nice restaurant in a beautifully eclectic old neighborhood near downtown.  After lunch we were stuffed so we took a quick walk around and looked at houses.  

 {Every house is different!}

A few weeks before this outing we ventured out to a very affluent area.  The houses were amazing but I didn't take pictures because there were people everywhere and I was sure they would turn us in to the cops for snooping.  The restaurant wasn't much to write about but the art shops were!  I'm still figuring out this whole take pictures for your blog or just for me thing.  I don't normally carry around a camera and I was afraid to take pictures with my phone in these art places for fear of them thinking that I was stealing their ideas.

It has occured to me that, thanks to Pinterest and Blogland,  I've only been seeing beautiful things in one dimension on a screen.  Or mass produced in the same stores that have the same things all over the country.  It was really eye opening yesterday when I took a trip to another  Hobby Lobby in the big city and the store looked different but had the same stuff stuffed inside.  I'm looking forward to more days where we venture out and learn more about the city {and each other} to get my creative juices flowing.

I'm finally experiencing one of the joys of living in/near a big city.  There is inspiration everywhere. It just takes a little time and bravery to find it.  And maybe a GPS.