Category Archives: Holiday

2nd Annual Christkindl Market, Arlington

The 2nd Annual Christkindl Market is currently going on outside the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. It’s free, entertaining, has great food and quite frankly there isn’t an excuse not to check it out. Did I mention that it’s free?

This is the first Christkindl Market that I’ve been to. My friend, Leah has been to events in Germany around the holidays and said that it’s pretty much the best thing in the world to check out so getting a little slice of it here in Arlington is pretty special.

The market has entertainment (live entertainment on the stage anywhere from carolers to dancers), shops (looking for some merchandise?), food and beverages. Since we had never been, we weren’t sure if the area would be super packed but it turned out to be just right. Once within the market, it turned into your own little world. The tents were evenly spaced, picnic tables were in the middle of the aisles (space was easily available to sit and eat), not too many people, it was just about perfect.

Now for the food and beverages had to be bought using tickets. Tickets could be bought for $1 each (there were no special deals so if you bought 10 tickets, it was $10). Personally, I thought this was good as it didn’t leave you feeling like you spent too much with leftover tickets and you could purchase only as many as you needed (works great if you’re on a budget). Beer was about 6 tickets. Food ranged from 6-9 tickets. Not too bad since this is a special event.

I’m not going to lie, I relied on Leah for suggestions. We tried out the Warsteiner beer (it was great fun for this Canadian trying to figure out how to exactly pronounce Warsteiner). The beer was great! Light and it went perfectly with my bratwurst.

Meal of choice. Jalapeno and cheese bratwurst. I know, I know. The lengths I’ve come with ordering anything with jalapeno but it was DELICIOUS and incredibly filling…

… but this caught my eye when we did our initial walk thru when picking out what we wanted. Crepes. I had to save room. Even if there wasn’t much room left, I had to have one and it was worth every bite! This was a cinnamon and sugar crepe. Leah got the nutella crepe. YUM! One just wasn’t enough. We wanted endless amounts! Humm… where can we pick up a crepe maker? Calorie free, right?

The Christkindl Market was a great event in Arlington. It’s just the right size, perfect amount of people (although I’m sure it’s going to grow) and it goes on for two weeks so there’s plenty of time to check it out at least once (if not twice). It’s free, there’s entertainment (be sure to check out the schedule) and go treat yourself to some German food!

(And to top it all off, pick up your Christmas tree at the Rangers ballpark! It looks just like the places in those Hallmark movies.)

DFW Ornament Exchange

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Last Saturday, I met up with a few DFW Bloggers at Winslow’s Wine Cafe in Fort Worth for an Ornament Exchange. I love some of their blogs (and was introduced to a few new ones) but meeting everyone in person was so wonderful! I can’t wait until we all get together again.

We had some wine, some good food and then had a ton of fun catching up and exchanging some ornaments! I’ll let the pictures do the talking on this one! Sarah was great enough to take and share these pictures – they came out awesome! (Be sure to check out her blog!)

Check out this great party favor – homemade spiced cider mix by Megan at House of Martinez. I can’t wait to try it, let’s just hope the weather gets a little colder!

This ornament was homemade! Isn’t it amazing!

The longer I live in Texas the more I love the Texas ornaments! This is what I walked away with!

I was super excited to meet Amanda from Princess of the Panhandle! I love the ornament she walked away with (above). We also got a group photo. Be sure to check out her blog as well – she’s married to a cowboy and lives in West Texas.

We did so great with this group photo! Thank goodness for timers on cameras!

It was so great to meet everyone! It makes me wish that I went to the first meet up a few months ago! Thank you to the hosts of the event – Becky, Jules and Megan!

Memorial Day Weekend 2012

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Sometimes it’s just nice to get out of the city for a while. I think if we lived in a perfect world I’d be living in the country period but that time will come in the future (at least I’m hoping). For the first part of Memorial Day weekend we headed out to Ennis, Texas. Country livin’!

Each Memorial Day Weekend, Ennis holds the Polka Festival. There is a large Czech population in Mid/Central Texas. Sy has some extended family out there and we finally took them up on their offer to go check this place out. The main attraction (at least to us) was the Horseshoe Tournament.

We didn’t attend all of the festivities but I’ll let you in on what I know. There is a parade, craft area (where you can buy or at least get ideas for items to make), a kolache eating contest, dancing, horseshoe tournament and a concert in the evening. We peeked in at the dancing and watched the horseshoe tournament.

What’s polka dancing look like you ask? Well I’ll show ya!

For me, the best part about being in Ennis was being in the country. Cows, horses, neighbors whose homes are not sitting right on top of yours. Perfect! This is what livin’ is all about!

When we were in Ennis, Sy and I took this golf cart contraption out for a ride on his family’s land. So beautiful and thankfully no snakes! The cows were super friendly. Reminded me a bit of growing up with our cows. The wild flowers were gorgeous!

I also experienced my first two scorpion sightings. Yes, I said two. “I don’t think we’re in Vermont anymore!” The first, I stepped on the little sucker. The second one… (see below) frankly I’m short so this one was out of my reach. They were babies but they’re in the same category as those snakes in my book.

This may be the most enjoyable part of the weekend. I got to ride a horse! It’s been a while so I was a little nervous but so much fun! Isn’t he a handsome fella?!

Yeehaw!
My buddy here didn’t feel like walking, he was taking his time. He would always go to the side of the fence where the other horses were and say,
“Why am I the only who has to do this?!”
“It’s Sunday, It’s my day of rest too!”

Sy learned verbal commands are not as effective as physical commands when it comes to riding a horse.

“Left, left, left” didn’t get him anywhere.

It was hilarous.

Nothing like a weekend in the country! We couldn’t have asked for a more relaxing weekend.
Thank you Felicia and Jace for having us! We had a great time!