Category Archives: Attractions

Grapevine, TX – Christmas Capitol of Texas

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Have you heard of Grapevine, TX? It’s also known as the Christmas Capital of Texas and it’s definitely one of my favorite places to visit this time of the year. Within 40 days there will be more than 1,400 events. Millions of lights, decorations and even sightings of Santa make this a great place to visit alone, as a couple or even with your family.
Last week, I took a little trip to Grapevine and as usual, the Christmas spirit was all around. The Historic Main Street is absolutely AMAZING! The stores are so unique within itself but during Christmas, it’s really kicked up a notch. Each store takes part. In all honesty, it kind of reminds me of the towns in the Hallmark movies, stunning.
I even made a friend on Main Street!
From antique stores and unique shops, the Vetro glass blowing business to the Palace Arts Center and restaurants and wineries, there is something for everyone. On top of it all, if you are still looking for a unique gift, this is the place you’ll want to visit!
 For the kids, be sure to visit the park. Honestly, I was so mezmerized by all the lights on Main Street but if you are with a child(ren) be sure to visit the park. There are different areas set up within a little winter village. It’s a great place to snap some photos of loved ones!
When it started to get a little darker, the lights really illuminated the area! At night its absolutely magical!
Grapevine, a little Christmas village in the heart of the Dallas / Fort Worth area. You really forget that you’re in the middle of the metroplex and feel like you’re in the middle of a Christmas wonderland. Now if only we could get a little snow.
Be sure to check out tomorrow for more on my adventures in Grapevine!

The Omni Dallas Art Collection

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Last week, I shared my experience at the Family Travel Conference, however I didn’t really have time to tell you that much about the Omni Hotel in Dallas. The moment has arrived!
The Omni Hotel was built just last year and is conveniently connected to the Convention Center. We were actually lucky enough to be there for the one year anniversary on 11/11/12 (that’s right – it opened on 11/11/11)! In just one year, the Omni has already made a name for themselves as being named one of 100 Best Places to Work in Dallas. When you look at it – why wouldn’t you want to work here?
  • The building is beautiful, inside and out.
  • The staff is absolutely out of this world! They’re kind, helpful and everywhere. Have you ever been somewhere where you need to find a staff member and can’t find a soul? That’s not going to happen at the Omni Dallas.
  • Parking – easy as it comes in the parking garage or you can valet.
  • Rooms – Well here is where I can’t provide much insight as I didn’t stay at the hotel but I did hear a lot about the TV’s in the bathrooms. Did your ears just perk up?! Plus, there’s also only 16 (out of 1,001) rooms (if I remember correctly) with a balcony so if you get one, you are one lucky duck!
During the Family Travel Conference, all of the attendees split up into various groups to tour the hotel. My particular group toured the art. Now at first you may say, is there really a lot of “interesting” art to see? The answer is yes. It’s everywhere and definitely interesting.
I love traveling but I love finding the “hidden treasures” even more. The art collection at the Omni is one of those “hidden treasures” but on top of that they stay true to their local roots. All of the art displayed within the hotel is by 150 local artists. All of it. All 6,500 individual pieces of it. Let me share some with you!
Wade Moore, Manager of the Collections Gift Shop provided us with the tour.
In the first photo on this post, you can see the lights on the outside of the building. These lights are moving all the time! When the Red River Rivalry was in town the lights showed the Texas Longhorn. Again -they’re moving all the time and the building looks gorgeous with the Dallas skyline behind it but the interior designers even took it to the next level. (Below) These the the walls along a hallway, the lights mirror the lights on the outside of the building!
Here are a some of the pieces of art that we were lucky enough to see on our tour. The art portion that we saw was so immensely small compared to the volume that is featured in the hotel.
Art can even be seen hanging from the ceilings.
Now, in the below picture, the water droplet pieces hanging from the ceilings are not actually featured art but items picked for the interior design of the hotel. Our group, thought it was just a piece of art that was included. It fits right in – amazing. Everything flows so well together!
The below artist also has artwork featured Barbara Bush’s personal collection.
I loved these pieces!
The artwork can also be found in local meeting rooms. Imagine holding in meeting in this room?! It’s absolutely stunning!
Now if the art featured inside the building wasn’t enough. Check out the stunning view of Dallas from inside the hotel!
Finally, I need to mention the Collections Gift Shop downstairs. If you enjoy a piece of the art in the hotel, it will not be difficult to find the artist go to with the piece. Some of the items, you can even purchase if you would like. In the Collections Gift Shop, the experience takes one step further. The shop holds items from the local Nasher Sculpture Center and Dallas Museum of Art that can also be purchased as well as other items from local vendors.
Below is the Villy Custom bike. Villy Custom was recently featured on ABC’s Shark Tank and received the largest amount of investment funding. Each bike can be customized however you like and can be shipped if you are visiting from out of town. Such a unique piece that can’t be found in all hotel gift shops! You could get one for yourself, for a friend, for me… just throwing out some ideas!
If you have an opportunity to at least stop into the Omni Dallas, I would definitely recommend it! I saw so many hidden treasures!

NASCAR! The American Sport

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Is anyone else sick of hearing about the election?! So in honor of giving it all a break, let’s talk about something else American… NASCAR! Yes, I’m serious. Yes, I am hooked.
First off, it’s important to grab ahold of opportunities when they present themselves. Case in point – this weekend. A friend had an extra ticket to the NASCAR Sprint 500 race at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) so I jumped at the chance to go. It was about a month ago that I was saying how much I would like to check out a race here – wish granted! So rather than fighting with traffic Sunday morning while heading to the track, I went in for the full experience on Saturday night. The outcome – I CAN’T WAIT for next year!
NASCAR comes to TMS twice a year, once in April and again in November (it’s the two big races). So typically when the races come to town, you make an entire weekend out of it. Friday night are truck races, Saturday is a car race and Sunday is the “big race”. Saturday night is also a huge party night. After the race, you can party down on the infield of the track. A lot of people are camping out in their RV’s (which is totally the way to go), some inside the track but the majority on the outside of the track. That’s what we did. I was lucky enough to be invited to stay in an RV and subsequently would now like one of my own. Everyone sits around, builds a fire, has a beer (or two, or ten) and just has a great time. There was even a group of people behind us that had a band playing. Everyone is incredibly nice, you feel safe, parking is FREE.
Sunday morning, you wake up, hope you’re not hung over and get ready for the big race. This is what the parking lot looked like around 10:30-11am. Already packed. The stadium is a lot farther away than you think!
Closer to the stadium, you can peruse. The Speed Channel was there, of course. You could stand behind them and get seen by the thousands of people at home.
And you can check out the buses and buses and buses of merchandise for each of the drivers. They all have their own trailer (or so it seems) and you can find pretty much any item you are looking for. The best part is all the merchandise is all reasonably priced. Hats range from $5-$25, t-shirts from $10 to $25. Seriously beats the $40 t-shirts I’m use to seeing at baseball games.
Then it’s time to head into the stadium! Honestly, one of the best experiences ever. Bags are checked but you can bring in your own cooler, which means your own beer and food. You can also buy food inside the stadium (that was pretty good from what I had). Again, parking is free. Basically, this event can be as cost efficient as you’d like it to be. You can pretty much come just for the cost of the ticket. Yes, there’s a crowd but everyone was pretty nice to each other. Sure you’d see a few strange ones every once in a while (we are at a “redneck” event) but it’s a great people watching experience!
Before you find your seat, there’s an important piece of information that you need to know. It is super important and will greatly improve your experience if you get a headset (hearing protectors) and a scanner. The headset will reduce the amount of noise you hear but it’s also hooked up to the scanner. The scanner will greatly improve your experience as you can listen to any driver converse with their pit crew. Case in point, Danica Patrick. She and her pit crew are awesome. She is full of sass (and I’m not just saying that because I’m a fellow lady) but if you’re a woman out there with a bunch of men, you’ve got to pull your weight and then some. She wasn’t letting anyone push her around and quite honestly, it was pretty amusing. I definitely didn’t realize how much the drivers rely on their pit crew to let them know what’s going on, how little they can actually see and how to strategically place their car out there. Pretty cool to listen to and definitely makes being at the race all the more entertaining (and something you can’t hear at home)!
Before the race starts, the drivers drive around the track and prepare for the race.
The best part is when they all get into their cars and you hear “Gentlemen, start your engines!”!
Seriously, how do you get that job?!
 Here are some pictures of the race!
I was pretty excited!

Line ’em up! Let’s start this thing!
Our seats were great – right after turn four in front of the entrance to pit road.

Kasey Kahne, #5.
Dale Earnhardt Jr, #88.
 
Jimmie Johnson, #48.
We weren’t the only one’s there….

Another job I wouldn’t mind doing. What does one have to do to be the one waving the flag?! TMS, if you ever need someone do to this (or start the race) – let me know!
There were a few cautions during the race. Here you can see everyone stopped at once…. and left at the same time too! A few of them were cutting it pretty close! I’m guessing insurance premiums for the pit crew are pretty high!
As the sun begins to go down – what a view!
Jimmie Johnson was leading for most of the race. Within the last 10-15 laps there were 3-4 cautions called so it really came to a two lap finale. Jimmie Johnson won. Below you can see all the cars headed back to their garage.
Jimmie Johnson in the Winner’s Circle.
The final standings!
What a great race and a great event to attend. I’m seriously on a kick and can’t wait to go back. Thank you so much to my friends for the ticket and for allowing me to stay in the RV! If you haven’t been to a race, I recommend! I recommend! I recommend! Don’t knock it until you try it folks! Best of all – it’s definitely affordable! What a fantastic day!I guess next on my Bucket List will be to drive one of these around the track!For more videos, please check out my YouTube page, here.