No candy for my Trick or Treaters

     I'm not a big fan of Halloween, personally. I stress out about what costume to wear and find myself scrambling last minute to throw something together, finding myself to be the most overdressed person at the party. I should have been a bunny or a sexy devil, I think. I'd rather just skip the whole thing.

But...

     I never want to ruin it for anyone else just because I can't get it together. Most people love Halloween if not for the scary, but also, for the candy. I mean, who wouldn't pass up the opportunity for free candy just by knocking on someone's door. Any other day, they'd call the cops. 

      I decided take part in the Trick-or Treat tradition but not hand out candy. I don't feel right about buying junk filled with artificial ingredients, GMOs, and all those empty calories. Most kids are going to get lots of traditional candy anyway, and I don't want to add to the pile. I'm not being a total party pooper, and here's why: I'm giving out stuff way more fun than candy: Glow stick bracelets!!

     I got the idea from Lisa Leake's 100 Days of Real Food Blog along with the idea to get them at The Dollar Tree. I found a tube of 15 for $1. I spent about $8 for my treats, while a variety bag bag of chocolate bars can cost $5 to $10. So let's recap, I'm not supporting the candy industry's tradition of feeding kids junk, but rather adding a little variety to their pumpkin pails (I'm also giving away natural fruit snacks), and saving money in the process! We're all winning all over the place!

     When we were young, my dad would go to the wholesale store and get little packs of treats. He bought mini brown paper bags and my mom would assemble them. One bag would have a mini box of raisins, a sucker, gum, mini chocolate bar, a four pack of peanut butter crackers, and maybe a tangerine. The kids loved our house and there was talk that we had the best loot. I wanna be that house again, but I will trade junk for creativity and fun! 

Plus, we just repainted our house so I don't wanna be egged.

Have a Happy and safe Halloween!!

UPDATE: Both kids and parents thought the glow bracelets were cool! The fruit snacks, since they weren't a name brand like Reeses or Hersheys, weren't as popular. One kid threw it back in the pail! Haha! I'm still going to keep it up!

Family time in Houston

  Shawn and I live no where near family. In fact, for the past two Christmases I've been orphaned, spending Christmas with with other people's family. That's why we need a little getaway, some time for home cooked food, familiar hugs, and Scrabble.

My mom and aunt are Scrabble champs, y'all. They score 50 point words. Playing with them makes you a better player if only for the exposure of their aresenal of tools like word lists and definitions. Did you know that there are two letter word like "za," and "qi?" I didn't, which is why my best move was to add the "s." (Don't lie,  you all did it, too.)

1. Scrabble with my aunt, my sis, and my mom

2. Sweet girl Mochi, in her watch position

3. Sweet dude Kiba, second shift watch

4.Kiba's photoshoot in the garden

5. We sent Kiba to pick up Shawn at the airport

6-9. San Antonia Riverwalk

10. Add your own "T" at Moody Gardens, Galveston

11. Happy Anniversary!

When in Houston

 We returned from Houston, Texas this week from a brief visit with family. My mom and aunt, and cousins were around, and my sister and her husband drove down from Illinois. It was their anniversary. A year ago we celebrated their wedding at Riveria Maya, Mexico. It was my cousin's anniversary, too. Somehow all these things came together. And we celebrated. And we ate.
 
When in South Texas you have to go to Bucc-ee's. It's the fanciest convenience store/ gas station/ deli/gift shop/restroom stop ever. Those guys are changing an industry. Get the Beaver Nuggets, sweet caramel corn puff goodness. My cousin eats them like cereal. Too far for me, but they are delish enough to suspend my disdain for gmo's and junk food in general.

Then there's Kreuz Market in Lockhart, where you order barbecue  from a dark slicing room by the pound. They give you white bread and have a no forks, no sauce policy. I had this fear  that ordering incorrectly would prompt a "No barbecue for you!" but they were pretty nice. People who say "y'all" typically are.

My fav was the sweets: Bite Mararons and Sprinkles Cupcakes. I had the pleasure of Lavender Honey, Rose, Passion Fruit, Sea Salt Caramel,  and Earl Grey marcarons. Literally, all of them. I bought a dozen and ate half because my fam thought they were too fancy. Like overpriced Oreos. Sugar free red velvet and coconut cupcakes are so so good. I cut them in fifths and we sat around and sampled cake like we were getting hitched.

Other notables were the Pho Saigon noodle house. This is the simplest dish to make. I'm glad it's trendy, but come on guys, it's soup. Next door, is PL teahouse, where you can get more than 20 different types of "tea." It was my first Boba, but they really had me a the big straws. Osaka had the most beautiful sushi, and Ocean Palace is a dim sum convention hall. When we're all together we have to go out for Houston's Hawaiian Ribeye, the best steak on the market. There are no pictures. No time. Steak gone.

So it was great to get together and break bread (cupcakes) as a family. Since returning, I've tried to eat like a bird so I can shrink my stomach capacity. 

Bon appetit!

When starting this post, I almost titled it #wheninhouston. I quickly revised that title becuase I can't stand taking or writing in hashtags. I can't stand the word hashtag. If Merriam Webster puts that in the dictionary, I'll start speaking mainly in French or Spanish. So far we're safe:

hashtag

The word you've entered isn't in the dictionary. Click on a spelling suggestion below or try again using the search bar above.

1. hostage
2. hastate
3. haystack
4. Halsted
5. Hallstatt
6. Sea Tac
7. hesitate
8. astute
9. sighted
10. stalag
11. Ashdod
12. sachet
13. elastic
14. aussitot

Cheers to seven years: a dateaversary

    Last Sunday marked our seventh year dating anniversary. In tradition with our first date, we went out for pizza. Our first outing was nothing special: we went for a slice to the local college hang out. I didn't even consider it a date. Later on, I realized we should pick a date for our anniversary, and so October 6, it was! I believe life is more interesting with milestones. When I read over this in my old age, I will be pleased that I made our relationship that more interesting. Don't you think? Wait, don't a answer that if the answer is no. I'm sensitive about storytelling.

We refined our tastes in pizza. Seven years require growth. Just becuase I have been eyeing that Barbie dream house store at Sawgrass (It's just so pink!),  doesn't mean I havent grown some in the past seven years.
 I used my four square app to find Piola, a posh pie place in Hallandale after a guitar center stop.
It was international chic and we sat next to a Colombian couple with a rare blue haired chihuahua. I think he made it up, but tiny dogs at dinner do add a chic factor. We've come a long way, baby!

Pic 1: New guitar!
Pic 2: Piola

Pic 3 & 4: Tap 42
P.S. These are all iPhone pics, so they have that dreamy filtered look, which by photography standards, are called out of focus. I blame io7.