She's Back...

So sorry to my loyal followers for not posting since last Tuesday.  I've been vacationing and having a little too much fun.  No time to stop and blog; I was even having too much fun to remember to take pictures as much as I like.  But, I'm fully relaxed and ready to get back into the "grind".  "Grind" is in quotes due to the fact that I make smoked meat snacks for a living, get it??  I know silly joke.  I'm just sitting here waiting on my tow truck to arrive, as my starter was definitely on it's last legs before I headed out on vacation.  Tried to start it last night, but no such luck.

Here's a recap of the adventures I had while visiting my besties in Texas (Dallas and Austin).

The Perfect Babysitter:  IPad!  My niece loves to play with it.  She's a little different because she always wants someone to watch her play it.  I really only use it for reading but I have millions of games for the little ones.

My nephew Lino play the Mickey Mouse Game.

Dinner with Gail and Samantha:  Gail and I used to work together at Daisy Brands, now she has an amazing daughter named Sam.  Renee, Mike, Lino and I went and met them at Blue Mesa Grill.  I'm so surprised I've never been before.

The house margarita is a delicious blue number, delish.

Here's that cutie, Sam.  She was having a blast tormenting Lino, she likes little boys a lot!  Watch out Gail and Archie.

Happy Lino!

I ordered the street tacos, it came with two amazing sides.  It was this really creamy corn and a adobo pie with black beans in the center.  The sides were better than the tacos, actually.

Goofball Sam.

Lunch with Chris, Mary and Addison and a day with Lino:  I met up with Chris, Mary and their son Addison at Houlihans in Garland.  I worked with Chris at Daisy Brand and used to do a lot of 5K's with the two of them.  It was so exciting to meet their son, he's adorable!  This was also my first time babysitting Lino on my own.  I was a bit nervous as he can be a bit hard headed and pitch some doozy fits.

After lunch with Chris, Mary and their new son, Addison, we headed to Jump Street for some play time.  It was only $4 for an all day jump pass.  Lino ran his face off for over two hours.

Enjoying a little Dora on Netflix.  I really can't believe he's not passed out after all day jumping.

Going out in Addison with a bunch of friends:  Thursday evening Mike and I headed to Addison Point to meet up with my peeps.  A combination of friends from Daisy Brand and friends from my old neighborhood, Carrollton, made an appearance.  I haven't laughed so hard in so long; it really made me realize how important good friends are.  Memories can really create long lasting bonds.  I've been in Seattle for almost 5 years and I still feel just as close to these friends as ever.  We never missed a beat.

My friend Mike is nerd-bomber.  He always takes these types of pictures, we call it the Mike picture.

Amy and Scot, doing the "Alicia" pose, tongues out.

Art work for Aunt Aunts!  I love crabs.

Headed to Austin and New Braunsfel:  For the last 5 or 6 years we've had a yearly tradition of floating the Comal or Guadalupe Rivers.  You pack up a cooler of drinks and snacks and do a 3-7 hour float.  This year it was Bryon, Aaron, Mike and I.  We of course stopped at the Czech Stop (West, Tx) on the way and got warm kolaches!  The best treat ever.  We also stopped off in Waco at the Eskimo Hut for to-go daiquiris.  They were amazing, I got a combo blue hawaiian, pina colada, raspberry number.

The first night was spent in Austin bar-hopping and food truck eating.  We met up with some friends that I haven't seen in a long time, Zac, Morgan and Devin.  Zac and I used to go to college and high school together, Morgan is his wife.  Devin and I played indoor soccer together up in Carrollton and have remained friends since.  

Jalapeno sausage kolache.

 Eskimo Hut!

Shots- notice Alicia does not partake!

Mike and Alicia

This is my owie from missing the tube shoot and going down the waterfall. It was pretty darn funny once I was able to get up for air.

We purchased these at one of the bars and tried it out. It actually worked. It was quite disgusting, however worth it the next day.  There were weird floaties in it.

 Homecoming, Tyler got me flowers.  Aah how sweet, I guess he missed me.  I was gone 9 days!

 Good to be home, although I am missing my Texas friends already.  But, I will be trying to make it back in October for my friends wedding reception celebration.