Christmas Tree

Big surprise, but Emily had to work today, of all days...this found me with a little extra free time on my hands, and therefore a camera in them. I thought I'd share a picture that I captured of a great tree that is decorated to the hilt with lights not far from us (nothing is done on a small scale in Texas). There are some other decent lighting displays around, and if time allows, I'll try to capture some other ones and post them for your viewing pleasure.

Hope everyone had a great X-mas!

Merry X-mas Cactus

I woke up early this morning and took Emily to work, feeling finally like it might possibly be coming up on Christmas, as it was 28 degrees out with a wind-chill in the teens. Its been hard to get in the holiday spirit with daytime highs in the low 70's and upper 60's (not that we're complaining or anything). When I got home I entertained the idea of slumbering back to bed (a very attractive option at 6:30 AM), but somehow found divine inspiration see what kind of images I could get with my macro lens (I use this lens mostly for dental photography)...and I thought what better subject matter to shoot for x-mas other than our fledgling x-mas cactus plant. I say fledging because not to long after moving down to Dallas I quickly realized that x-mas cacti don't fair to well in direct 100+ degree sunlight (you can guess what it looked like after a few days of that). So since then we've been trying to nurse it back to health, and alas, this x-mas it put out some great blossoms (see below), go figure.

So if you happen to be reading this before or on X-mas, we wish you all a great X-mas, wherever that may find you.

Chris & Emily

A video news short...by Sarah

For a while now I've been trying to figure out how to post videos of Sarah's stories, so that those of us who don't live in the Peoria area can still see some of her stories. So call this a beta test version, and let me know if you have problems viewing the file (note: it may require Real Player). Oh, and good work Sarah!

Foggy Days in Dallas

Winter...if that's what you call rainy days in the 40's with the threat of an overnight freeze...seems to be slowly settling into north Texas. As many of our friends and family back in the midwest continue to get pounded by snow and ice, or maybe both at the same time, it has not gone unnoticed by us how lucky we seem to have been this year to escape most of this. However, Chris couldn't help but feel from recent pictures he saw on the web that he was missing out on some great photography opportunities that the ice storms would bring. The last week or so has been fairly foggy and drizzly here in Dallas, conjuring up mental images ala the Pacific Northwest.

So last weekend, with the fog and drizzle in full effect, and being that it was Chris' 28th birthday (wow, how depressing), we decided to head an hour south of Dallas, out of the city, to an area near a relatively small town called Waxahachie. Chris had been there recently for an on-site CE course, and recalled to Emily how much it had reminded him of rural Iowa (which is saying a lot for Texas, as there really is nothing that closely resembles the rural midwest).

So, with both of us being a bit tired, but Chris wanting to get out of the quaint yet confining loft-apartment, we headed to Waxahachie, not sure as to what we would find.

As luck would have it, upon arriving near the city limits, we randomly chose a country road that actually turned out to be one of the most scenic areas that either of us had experienced in the DFW area. Complete with rolling hills, farms (a rarity in Texas), and trees (yes, you read that right, TREES!), we felt like we had died and returned to Iowa.

lone tree in the lone star

texas hay

After driving in the country for about an hour and a half, we decided to make our way back to Dallas and pick up some groceries at our favorite grocery store, Central Market. The birthday dinner menu for that evening included:

-Warm rosemary parmesan foccacia
-Organic spinach salad complete w/ portabella mushrooms, roma tomatoes, and feta cheese
-Salmon with pepper-blend seasoned butter
-Haricot verts (new to us, they are thinner than the classic american green been)
-Pinot Noir from Sonoma, CA

MMMM....MMMMM.....Good eatin' (that's about all we have to do down here in Dallas)

We leave you with some images of a foggy downtown Dallas, as it has been for the past week...

Ode to "The Bruce"

If you've been following the banter of the "Why Portland?" entry, you've been introduced to this entity known as "Bruce." This entry is for all of you who do not know Bruce personally (and probably wouldn't want to).

REASONS WHY BRUCE IS SO GREAT:
1. He's married to Tina
2. Baby Job
3. He wants to be a doctor...err...is a doctor
4. Radiohead
5. His taste in music in general
6. He has Chris' photography in his house
7. He likes rainbows...
8. And sunsets...
9. And waterfalls...
10. And mountain vistas...
11. And babies...ok enough already...
12. He drives a minivan
13. He makes great guacamole
14. And pancakes with blueberry syrup
15. He's married to Tina
16. His hair is graying
17. His livingroom is red, and red is rad
18. He's a Hawkeye fan
19. And a Bear's fan
20. He lives by a volcano
21. Many volcanos...
22. He has a cool camera
23. He shops at REI
24. And IKEA
25. Emily beat him at poker
26. Bruce was pissed Emily beat him at poker
27. He's married to Tina
28. He loves his daddy
29. He's great at chemistry
30. And is a genius
31. He plays tennis
32. And Chris always beats him...
33. He uses the word "Word" as an exit line (spelled Wurd by Bruce)
34. He has brown eyes
35. He lives in Portland- a cool place to visit, but not to live
36. He values the great outdoors
37. And loves to hike
38. His favorite movie is "Team America"
39. He likes brew pub beer
40. And wine
41. And vineyards in general
42. He can memorize a game's directions, while watching TV and listening to music, and yes...all at the same time
43. He's from the Quad cities
44. He loves Tina
45. His bathroom is orange
46. He has a stock fund names after him..."The Bruce"
47. He holds the world record for old-time Tetris
48. He has a wireless timer on his camera...this leads to...
49. Jumping shots
50. He's a scorpio...I think...
51. He may, in fact, actually convince Chris to move to Portland, unfortunately without his wife...this makes Bruce very happy
52. He lives near Mt. Hood, a volcano, which may someday kill him
53. Because he thinks he's great
54. Bruce is fun to argue with- try it sometime!
55. This is because he's always right...right Bruce?
56. He loves to make baby noises
57. Again...Tina makes him a better man
58. He loves old people...oops, nevermind, scratch this one...
59. He actually came to our wedding, but would otherwise never visit us
60. He will never let me have the last word
61. He's friends with us and that makes him GREAT

So, I hope this has helped to educate all of you on the topic of Bruce and his greatness. In fact, he's so great that beside the word "great" in the dictionary is a picture of Bruce. Well, not in any dictionaries I've seen, but I've heard the rumor going around. Mainly from Bruce. Well, only from Bruce.

What is it with Portland?

As the weeks have gone by, I've found myself rather perplexed with the results from our "where should we live poll." What is it with Portland? Don't get me wrong. We like Portland and wouldn't have put it on our list if it wasn't a serious contender, but I'm curious why you all like it. One voice in my head (and there are many) tells me it's just Bruce skewing the results by voting numerous times for Portland. Another tells me some of you want us as far away as possible. Another says maybe you want a cool place to come visit us since our current locale sucks. So, why Portland? I'm particularly curious because, personally, it's not MY first choice. Maybe you all know something I don't. And, in case you all are wondering, my choice is Virginia. Here are some reasons why:
1. It's beautiful, serene country
2. The Appalachian Trail would be in our backyard...lots of hiking
3. Close to all the history that only the east coast has
4. They have all 4 seasons but the winter and the summer are more moderate than the midwest.
5. Big cities nearby = culture, nightlife, great restaurants etc.

So, now I'm curious about your reasons for why you want us to live in your chosen city on the poll. Please respond at the bottom of the post by clicking on comments and letting me (Emily) know what you think. After all, we need all the help we can get!

Song of the Day: "The Underdog" by Spoon

Christmas song for my wife

Recently Bruce and Tina posted a blog entry about their lack of good Christmas music to listen to (read here). After reading their entry, I pondered for a while the Christmas music that I enjoyed...then I pondered some more, and finally realized, well, there really isn't any Christmas music that I really would be willing to seek out. However, I was reminded while pondering of a Christmas song that I had found for Emily back a few Christmas' ago when we were dating. Some of the lyrics don't apply, but mostly was fun to listen to because of the obvious (listen and watch below). Thus, in response to their search for good Christmas music, I offer up this one piece as something to add to their iPod master X-Mas mix. Enjoy.

Are you smarter than a chimp?

I saw this on the news this morning while eating breakfast and thought it was pretty amazing...and funny.

Sunny days are here again

While most of you were sitting down to your turkey and pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, we were in the air flying over the Gulf of Mexico. For once, we had an on time flight with no cancellations, plus, the added bonus of a provided "lunch." Apparently the airlines treat you better if you're flying out of the country as opposed to domestically. Next stop, CANCUN! Of course we messed up our Claims and Customs form twice, but eventually we were able to correctly state that we did not in fact have live animals in our luggage.

Upon arrival in Cancun, the first thing you encounter as you attempt to leave the airport are hoards of taxi drivers trying to convince you that you do not need your prearranged shuttle and should instead share a ride in a Chevy (pronounced Tchevy) with a couple of domesticated chickens. We were lucky to avoid this scheme and found our Le Meridien shuttle representative waiting with our name on a sign (they even spelled it correctly, added bonus).

Upon arrival to our 5 star hotel we learned the following:
1. Everyone wants a tip, you tip the person driving you, the person who unloads your bag from the van, the person who takes your luggage once in side, and finally, the woman who brings you a "complimentary" mimosa upon entering.
2. It's beautiful and well worth every tip. Somethings are just worth the extra cost.
3. By simply making eye contact you can have someone at your side asking if there is anything you need. No joke.

Le Meridien

So upon arriving at Le Meridien, we found ourselves with some time on our hands since the rest of the guests were out on a day trip. Hmmmm, what to do with our time... how about a little ocean? So swim suits in hand...errr, on, we hit the beach and took in the awesome scenery.

1 & 2) Views from Le Meridien 3) On the beach 4) View from Vamsi's balcony

Around 8pm we gathered with the group and embarked on the experience of bus riding in Mexico. Which includes the sport of trying to find a seat before the driver hits the gas. Then, you get extra points if you can make it to the front of the bus to hit the button signifying you want to get off. Quite exciting, and so cheap it's the only way to truly get around.
Our evening was then spent at Senor Frogs. A crazy restaurant where they make balloon hats and have live music. Oh, and did we mention the waterslide? Ask Vamsi since he went down the thing twice! Too bad we didn't have the camera for that one since it would have made for a great blog in itself. If any of you reading have one, send it to us and we'll post it!

Friday (the wedding day) was spent at the pool and beach relaxing (Emily) and bodysurfing (Chris). Of course, the bodysurfing was less exciting after getting taken under by a big wave, getting drug against the bottom of the ocean and ultimately developing whip lash. But hey, one of your best friends is getting married today, you've got to go all out man!

An hour before dusk we gathered for the big event. They couldn't have picked a more beautiful and scenic place to get married. And to make it even better, it was short and sweet. The dinner was also fabulous and quaint. We ended the great day on a party boat on the ocean, where we passed by a few "pirate-inspired" booze cruises. Emily engaged in a drinking contest with Vamsi, but it ended when the whisky shots were getting passed around. Who wants to be burping up digested whiskey? Yuck! It was a great time (despite the whiskey shots) and totally unique (ala the grooms' parents blow job shot expose).

1) The "Aseltines" 2) Cake cutting 3) Reception 4) Post ceremony 5) Heather's bouquet

Saturday, another day with even better weather, we again basked in the sun with our SPF 30 on. We had plans for a group Jungle Tour, but the guys headed out for a little ocean jetskiing and got back a little later than planned, so we just chilled and drank pina coladas (the best damn things ever!!) at the pool. Finally, we put ourselves together and Emily went shopping with the girls while Chris went with Ryan to get tickets for Xel-ha.

A few lessons learned while shopping in Mexico:
1. Every price is negotiable. Just ask Megan, she can talk down anyone by at least $15. Incredible to watch, really, it's an art.
2. Expect to get approached by at least 4 children on every block trying to sell you a bracelet they would like you to believe they made, but was in fact made by their mother who watches from across the street, hoping that you, the stupid American, will fall for the innocence of a child.
3. People follow you all the time, trying to get you to buy their chains, see their baskets etc. They are very persistant and do not give up easily (this is probably why it's so easy to barter).

The evening was rounded up at a live lobster house with the entire group again. This was our last meal together since nearly everyone was flying back Sunday. Vamsi entertained us all by ordering the hottest habanero sauce for his shrimp. Oh, we forgot to mention it took him 10 minutes to simply order since he wanted his shrimp cooked one way, with a particular sauce, and of course, his lobster had specific instructions as well. Total, Vamsi had 2 plates and at least 3 sauces, including el habanero especial. For those of you who do not know Vamsi, he loves spicy things. Salsa on everything and the hotter the better. However, he met his match with el habanero especial. It totally kicked his ass, and he admitted it. In fact, he was so impressed by it's hottness he shared with those willing to meet his challenge. His ego suffered a blow however when 2 challengers downed huge scoops without a flinch. Alas, Vamsi's days as supremo salsa eater were henceforth over. It was wonderful having one last night with everyone and watching Vamsi get his tongue burned.

Sunday morning arrived early with a call from room service asking us to specify our cereal request. Vamsi thought he'd finally succeed in his plan to order us room service (he had previously attempted this while using our toilet phone to call in an order). Little did he know that the order wasn't specific enough and we cancelled the order when they called to confirm. HAHAHA nice try Vamsi, did you get the bills for those poolside pina coladas we charged to room 717? $9 a pop buddy!

But that 6:15am call came right on time since we were meeting another couple, Kim and Troy in the lobby to visit Xel-ha and Tulum. Finally we got our trip underway, with a brief (if 30 minutes is brief) stop at a roadside market so that we would (hopefully) buy goods from our tour guide's family. (This is an assumption of course, but when this isn't a scheduled stop and the tour guide is talking it over with the driver, things look a little bit shady.) After 3 hours (which should have taken 1 and 45 minutes) we arrive to Tulum. By the way, we should mention that this trip was a compromise on Chris' part. He wanted to rent a car (yes, this is fact) and drive into the Yucatan jungle to visit Chichen Itza, the largest Mayan ruins in the world and now a wonder of the world (we just wonder which wonder). Emily of course was scared to death to think of Chris at the wheel of a Mexican Tchevy, driving on roads marked in Spanish 3 hours into the middle of nowhere. Finally, we arrive at the decision to take a tour to Tulum, a smaller but still impressive Mayan city. The pictures basically tell the story except to say there were hundreds of lizards and Iguanas everywhere. You actually had to watch where you walked because you might run across one. But, it was great to see something so ancient and the backdrop of the sea was breathtaking.

1) Tulum Ruins 2) Our tourguides

Our tour guide then trekked us back up the coast to Xel-ha. It's a natural aquarium turned theme park where we floated in tubes and snorkled in the lagoons. Totally the best experience of the entire trip and well worth the $100 per person. If you've ever snorkled you know it's an experience unlike any other. You see the schools of fish swimming past, coral, crabs etc.
After 3 hours of water fun, it was time to meet back with the tour guide and journey back home. We changed and spent the rest of the evening shopping and dining with Troy and Kim. We were the last survivors of the trip. Overall an excellent day and a great note to leave the trip on.

1) Xel Ha natural aquarium 2) Chris' favorite Carona-esq pic

Monday, we woke up early to catch a little more sunshine before we had to leave for the airport. Chris took pictures and Emily enjoyed the sounds of the ocean and read. This was the only day where sunscreen was not applied and although it was only 9am, Emily got a little burned/tanned so that she actually looked like she'd been to Cancun. Relaxed and peaceful, we begrudgedly packed our bags and boarded our plane back to the great U.S. of A.

Note: Readers can view and/or download the full picture files (those seen on this entry and even others not shown on the blog) if they want to print/view them by clicking on the picasa insignia on the bottom right of the slideshow box. Enjoy!

Fun with Strep

Well, here it is on thursday night, both of us in our comfort wear watching the Packers vs. Cowboys game, both sick with Strep throat. It all started with Chris waking up on tuesday morning (after getting back from Cancun) with a slightly sore throat. He thought he'd shake it off as allergies and go to work, thinking he'd feel better as the day went on...boy was he wrong. So for the past 2 days, Emily's been doing double duty nursing, taking care of her patients at work during the day, and then returning home to take care of patient #1 - Chris. Let's just say that Chris can be a challenging patient when he isn't feeling well. So today Chris went to the doc, got some antibiotics, and now, as we're sitting here watching the Packers try to come back and beat Dallas, Emily noticed that her throat is feeling a bit scratchy...hmmm. After Chris took a look at the back of her throat, the plaques clearly look like strep throat. So now who's going to take care of us?! Anyone feel like flying down to Dallas? Anyway, as soon as one of us starts to feel a little better, we'll post an entry about the Aseltine wedding in Cancun, with plenty of pictures....stay tuned, and go Packers!

Vamsi Visits Dallas

Question...what do you do when you are an MBA student at Northwestern, rarely attend class, travel all over Europe trying to buy other companies, and have a free weekend with nothing else to do but use up your soon to expire frequent flyer miles?...you call Chris & Emily on wednesday and tell them that you'd like to visit for the weekend.

And so it was, we finally had our first official visitor (excluding Jeff Kessler who visited during a business trip). Vamsi's trip was impromptu, however fun nevertheless.

So now a brief summary of Vamsi's inaugural visit to The Big D...

First off, Emily picked Vamsi up at DFW saturday afternoon and gave him a tour of the uptown area. After getting home from a CE course, Chris joined them for some burgers at Twisted Root, our favorite Dallas burger joint. Vamsi took a particular fondness for this restaurant, as they provided large paper towel roles at each table instead of napkins. For those of you who have ever had the pleasure of seeing Vamsi eat pizza (or anything for that matter)with his hands, you'll understand what we're talking about. Full from our late lunch, we headed for a walk around the Deep Ellum neighborhood (a historic district that now plays host to rave clubs and alternative/punk culture) perusing furniture and nick-nack shops when we came across a window in a store that can only be described as unique (see right).

More car-touring ensued, with a trip through the financial district, past the grassy nole, and finally a foot tour of the Victory Park area.

1 & 2) Us at Victory Park

3) The W Hotel 4) Life imitating art

5) Vamsi & Emily mesmorized by the moving plasma screens

In preparation for Vamsi's self-admitted future purchase of a "trophy wife", we showed him around the Highland Park area, a must have for a "trophy husband". Later viewings on Zillow showed some of these mansions to be worth $28,000,000. True to our assessment of Texas, even the mansions are on a larger scale. We ended the evening with a trip to our favorite mexican joint, Uncle Julio's, where Vamsi got drunk on two strawberry margaritas.

Tired from eating all day saturday, Vamsi figured he'd spend sunday sitting by the pool, trying to get a pre-tan for Ryan and Megan's wedding, and sleeping off his margaritas. Chris new Vamsi must really be tired when he declined an offer to do a weightroom workout at the clubhouse. Sunday's weather was unseasonably warm weather, even for Dallas, with daytime highs in the mid 80's. Of course we were the only people sitting out by the pool, trying to get a tan, but hey, it was relaxing.

1) Vamsi dreaming 2) Contemplating the pool stream

Sunday evening found us all to be a little tired and sleepy from all the sun, and so we ended the weekend on a healthy note, making our famous homemade California-style pizza.

We're not sure what prompted this photo, we're hoping it was the pizza and not his dream

1) Speedy gonzales applies the mozzarella 2) A woman, a rolling pin, a mission 3) Future Barnaby's employee of the month

As quickly, as he arrived, Chris drove Vamsi back to DFW airport monday morning. Vamsi would be leaving the next morning for Cancun for Ryan & Megan's upcoming wedding. More to follow on the wedding after we return ourselves...and Happy Turkey Day to everyone happening to actually check our site!

Baby mania!!!

As we near the age of 30, I often feel a tickle in my uterus prompting us to get going already and just have a baby. And before I go any further, let us just say that no, we are not pregnant. However, given the significant number of our friends succumbing to the "pull of the womb" it's make you feel like you're missing out on something. First, our friends Bruce and Tina break the news, followed shortly by Emily's friend Jessica Copley, now, Chris' dental friend Ethan Kerns drops the bomb. What is going on here? Is there something in the water...no, that can't be it, they all live in different states...hmmm...must just be that it's a sign we're finally grown up and need to settle down. Well, by settle down I mean do the baby thing and buy a house already. But, for now we'll make you all waiting and wondering about the time and place...makes for more fun and keeps you reading the blog...

Song of the day: "On Your Side" by Pete Yorn

Trick or treat...or trick...

Never again will I attempt to plan a hike at a Texas State Park. It was a beautiful day and I told Chris I would plan a hike around Dallas. So, I searched out the parks within an hours drive and came across Lake Tawakoni. I came across this picture on their website and thought cool...they have trees...something seriously lacking in the great outdoors of Texas.

Now, what I should have been thinking was, those are spiderwebs...why is that tree covered in spiderwebs? However, I was excited to be hiking in trees and never gave a second thought to spiders.

What the *#@!&$% kind of trail is this?!!!

So, we drove an hour to the great looking park. Lots of wooded areas, great Lake views, and hiking trails. We ate our apples we packed for a snack then ventured into the great outdoors. Within minutes Chris was trapped in a spiderweb, which prompted him to let out his Homer Simpson yelp. ( you know the one!) I just laughed and continued on, a little bit surprised that there were so many spiderwebs. We hiked and Chris was getting seriously pissed, stopping ever other minute and asking me if there were any spiders in his hair. No spiders, just sticky fibers. I joked that it was usually me wanting to turn back at which he replied that this was no regular hike. At the next turn in the path I again hear the H.S. yelp followed by "oh God, you've got a spider on you!!!" At that exact moment (I was leading the way at this point) I had spotted the largest cobweb in history complete with a giant black fuzzy spider the size of my head (well maybe really the size of a nickle, but the thing was huge!). I looked down and sure enough there was a big spider on ME! Chris freaks out and backs away saying "I'm getting out of here!" I brush off the spider and decide it's a good idea to turn back as the black burly one wasn't going to let us go any farther. So ended our hike. To add insult to injury, we pass a lady on our way out and she asked, "did you see any spiders, are they bad?" We told her to not even try it (although she came prepared with her pants tucked into her socks and a hoodie cinched tightly around her face.)

Ugh! Are we ever going to enjoy this weather and get out and hike!

Song of the Day: "Sleeping Lessons'' by The Shins

Bill Cosby on Dentists

An old classic, but worth sharing b/c we saw this skit in person and thought it was great...well mostly Chris thought it was great, for obvious reasons.

Infrared Action

In case you haven't read our past entries lately, our weather continues to rock! The weather.com 10 day forecast calls for sunny days, with highs in the lows 70's and 10% humidity.

So as luck would have it on a beautiful friday afternoon in Dallas, I got out of my CE course (on all things..."digital photography in the dental office") early and decided to explore some of the Turtle Creek park area by bike, and with a camera in hand (well not really in hand, but in backpack, then on tripod).

Eager to try out my relatively new and unused Hoya IR 72 infrared filter, I figured I'd experiment and see what I could come up with. Below are the spooky results...

Spoke too soon

Ok, I may have spoke too soon when I said read it and weep in regards to our weather. We ended up having another beautiful day yesterday, only to wake up this morning to find out that we had our high for the day at midnight last night. A high of 56 I might add. Here I am, nursing my sunburn and wearing sweat pants and slippers. What gives? I could hardly bring myself to workout this morning (it's a block walk to the gym) and probably wouldn't have ventured out if Chris didn't drop me at the door. Did I mention it was also raining? The walk back was quite a shock to the system since I was sweaty, hot and tired, only to walk out into 30 mile per hour winds and rain. Needless to say...I ran all the way home. Now, to resist turning on the heat...

Song of the day: "Life in Rain" by Remy Zero

A ride through the neighborhood

What can we say, another beautiful day was had here in the DFW Metroplex. Almost zero humidity, with highs in the low to mid 80's, a steady breeze, and not a cloud in the sky...could you possibly ask for better weather?

We thought not, and so decided to get up early this morning to get a workout in and go out to our favorite breakfast joint before heading outside for most of the remainder of the day.

While we're aware that we've been pretty harsh on Dallas' less than appealing weather since we've moved down here, we feel it's our responsibility to make sure we give it it's proper due when it is nice.

After breakfast, Chris finally got a pic of his favorite gay/lesbian poster in the neighborhood, which you can look at below. Chris' only regret is that the local lesbians don't more accurately resemble the ones portrayed in the poster.

Is a comment really needed here?

After Chris' photo frenzy was over, we headed out for a bike ride on the local Katy Trail. Chris has ventured onto this trail at night, but had yet to see it during the day. It's literally a 3-5 min. bike ride from our front door, so it was nice to not have to hook up the bike rack to get to the trail. The trail (a converted railbed) takes you through the Uptown area of Dallas and through Highland Park, the extremely posh area of north Dallas (think old oil money).

1) The Katy Trail 2) Random picture of Chris' bike while stopping for a water-break

After heading north until the trail ended, we rode through some of the monstrosity residences that could easily be mistaken for churches, and then again headed south on the trail. The southern most tip of the trail ends on the west-end of downtown in a newly renovated area called Victory Park. Victory Park consists of a few architecturally striking buildings, among them the new W hotel, and the American Airlines Center (complete with moving stadium-size flatscreens that play music videos and short artsy videos as they move around you in the courtyard).


1) AA center and W to the left, Reunion Tower to the right 2) View to downtown from Victory Park

3 & 4) Statuetes in Victory Park...even the statues have implants!


5) A woman walking a dog with a Superman costume...typical in our neck of the woods

We then decided to head back home before the sun hit it's peak so we could soak up some rays by the pool. We figured we should probably try to work on a bit of a tan so that we don't completely get fried when we head down to Cancun in November for Ryan and Megan's wedding. Safe to say, Chris got pretty badly toasted.

So that was our Sunday...we hope all is well with everyone else.

Browsing for a place to live

Ever since we left Iowa City and came to Dallas, we have endlessly discussed what type of place we would ultimately like to settle in. Knowing that Dallas was a mere yearlong stop, we've contemplated where our next step will be (although Chris has done most of the contemplation).

Iowa City was basically our home for 9 years, and we became pretty comfortable with the area, made lots of lasting friendships, and came away with many great memories...you could say we were settled.

But now we're looking for that next phase in our life, where we ultimately would like to live, work, have kids...you know, all that adult type stuff. Our basic problem is this...we can't make up our minds!

Endless hours have been devoted to sites like Money.com to look at what different areas of the country have to offer. We've even taken exams on the web to evaluate what cities, based on our likes/dislikes, would suit us.

Chris loves what the northwest has to offer in terms of scenery and recreation, but Emily's convinced that she'd be on SSRI's the rest of her life due to the rain. The midwest of course offers us the ability to be close to friends and family, a huge plus, but we feel like there would be little in the way of new experiences for us. And then of course there is the east coast, Emily's favorite.

So what's a midwest couple in Dallas to do? We figured if we couldn't seem to figure it out on our own, that maybe we could enlist the help of our wide readership to help clarify our decision. So newly added to the blog on the right you'll find an unbiased poll where Chris & Emily give you, the reader, the option to weigh in on the dilemma. See how much trust we put in you guys?

Let us know what you think...

Read it and weep

So, for those of you in the great midwest region, or wherever you may live, let us reflect on the fact that we live in Texas. Dallas, oh glorious place of glorious places. Why you may ask? Because it is October 20th and we have temps in the high 80's. Yes, we went to the pool today, basking in the wonderful sun in the middle of October. No coats for us, no sweaters, not even jeans. No, we are wearing bathing suits. And sweating. Oh yes, there are good things about Texas (albeit just one...well two if you consider Central Market). And the best thing is that people that are from here consider this cold, so no one else is out enjoying this perfect weather. They feel, and I quote, that "it's damn cold." So, occasionally we have something good to say about Texas and you read it here. Bring on winter with it's low's in the 30's and 40's! As Mr. Burns would say, "eeexxcellent."


Song of the day: "Videotape" by Radiohead

Why Grandma Shouldn't Skydive

Some of you may have already seen this, but it makes an excellent case for implant retained dentures!

Cooler Weather!

Well, while the upper midwest is finally starting to feel the chilling effects of fall, things are definitely looking up weather wise in our neck of the woods. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous the past week, with daytime temps in the mid 80's (sans humidity), and evening temps in the upper 60's. Not that this beautiful "fall" Texas weather has convinced us otherwise into wanting to stay here past this year, but it has definitely come as a welcome break from the mid to upper 90's that was common for the past few months since we moved down here. The past few days we have actually turned the air conditioning off in favor of the cooler weather outside, imagine that!

So we figured with our newfound coolfront, that we'd try to get outside and enjoy some fresh air. Last weekend we had planned on bike riding the Trinity River Trail in Fort Worth, but unfortunately it rained most of the weekend...pretty rare in Texas.

This weekend ended up being a fairly short one for both of us...on Saturday Chris attended a CE course, and Emily worked overtime (apparently she felt at a loss for things to do without Chris) to help chip away at our impending credit card bill due to our recent plethora of plane ticket purchases.

Sunday found us a little bit tired from the long week, but we decided to venture back to Fort Worth and check out the bike trail. After getting a new inner tube for Emily's bike, we drove the hour long drive to Fort Worth and enjoyed a light bikeride along the river. We both regretted not bringing the camera on the ride to include more pics for the blog, as there were some great views of the city from the park, so we figure we'll have to head back there again and bring the camera along.

Still going strong at 18 years...what a babe magnet!

After getting back to Dallas and watching the rest of the Cowboy's game, we met up with one of Chris' fellow residents and his wife for a mexican fiesta at Uncle Julio's, our newfound favorite mexican restaurant.

So all in all a short weekend, and not to mention Iowa ended up defeating Illinois, so at least Iowa's football season hasn't been a total disaster (well, pretty much). Hopefully they can at least pull out a victory against Northwestern so that Vamsi can't laugh at Iowa two years in a row, but I wouldn't count on it the way they're playing so far.

A drizzly weekend

Well...this weekend we had planned on heading back to the Fort Worth area to do some bike riding, but as the weather would have it, there was intermittent drizzle and rain most of the weekend (unusual for the area), which deterred us from our original plans.

Friday night we got a call from one of Chris' Iowa dental alum Rachel Hardinger, saying that she was going to be in Dallas for the Texas vs. Oklahoma game (which makes the Iowa vs. Iowa State rivalry look paltry). Rachel had a vested interest in the game, as she's a first year orthodontic resident at Oklahoma U. So Saturday evening we met up with her and a few of her fellow residents for some Mexican and headed out to a local club downtown for some post-dinner beer drinking. (As an aside, valet parking was $20 just to get into the club, then $10 cover - and we hadn't even had a beer yet). A great evening was had by all, even for hanging out with a bunch of orthodontists.

Sunday found us heading to the suburb of Richardson, TX for the Cottonwood Art Festival. Chris had found an ad for it in the newspaper, and figured since the weather was so sketchy that this might be a decent alternative. We had pretty low expectations heading into it, so it was a great surprise when we finally arrived at the fair, because it turned out to be one of the best fine art fests that either of us had been to. There were hundreds of artists, and we were shocked by how many artists had traveled from the coasts just to attend. At any rate, we found some work we really enjoyed, which made us wish we actually had some disposable income. Some of our favorites are linked below.

Hopefully next weekend the weather will cooperate and we'll get out for some bike riding...

http://www.seanfitzgerald.com/ (take some time on this site, and read the artists' bio)

http://www.bigtreestudio.com/

http://www.rebeccavillarrealphotography.com/

http://www.sondrawampler.com/

http://www.cheryltoh.com/ (Emily liked this artist)

http://www.chrisdahlquist.com/

http://www.wansstudio.com/

Hubbudy Hubbudy

This evening Emily and I went over to Fort Worth's Bass Performance Hall to see Bill Cosby. We were both surprised when he said that he was 70 years old. Seems like it was just yesterday that we were watching him on TV when he was a lot younger (but then again so were we). We had a great time, and found particular humor in this 15 minute bit he did about going to the dentist and having "smoke" come out of his mouth. Guess you'd have to have been there, but trust us, it was funny.

Next weekend we're going to try and head back to Fort Worth to do some biking on the Trinity Parkway, which is a large park that follows the Trinity River that runs near the downtown area- we'll try to post some pics from our ride.

A parkbench in Louisville

This past sunday and monday I found myself in Louisville, KY at an interview for a position in their graduate Endodontic residency program (no yeh or neh as of current). I decided that the evening before I'd head downtown to the health-sciences campus and just take a walk around, and get a feel for the campus. After walking around for a while, and not really seeing anything of interest, I decided to sit down, relax a bit, and then give Emily a call and check-in, when something from out of the corner of my eye caught my attention.

This something happened to be a modest fall-colored leaf, a leaf that most of us would probably step on or walk right by ordinarily, especially those of you still in the Midwest, as it is a more than common occurrence this time of year. However, since moving down here to Dallas, I've come to realize that this will probably be my first fall without the customary fall colors...according to one of my fellow residents, basically the leaves down here just turn brown, dry up, and fall off...kind of depressing if you ask me.

So it was at this point that I realized that this one solitary leaf was most likely going to be my only exposure, my only connection to the fact that elsewhere in the country, fall was beginning...and so I sat for about 20 minutes, without anyone complaining about how many photos I was taking of the same subject, and studied the leaf, and it was great. I know, small pleasures, but what can I say...it was just great to see a fall leaf.

Balloon Frenzy

This last weekend, prior to Chris' departure to Louisville Sunday for an interview, found us heading to a well to do suburban area north of Dallas called Plano, TX. Again, one of Chris' patients instructed Chris that there was a great hot air balloon festival that took place annually in this town, and was worthy of a visit. So we decided to check it out, partly because we really had nothing else too exciting planned, and also because we had never really been able to witness a hot air balloon take off and land, let alone many at the same time, so to Plano we headed. After sitting in bumper to bumper traffic for over an hour (apparently this balloon shin dig is pretty popular), we finally parked about a mile from the park where the balloons were to take off. We hiked in, and ended up having a great time. The balloons took off at around 7PM, after which time at 8PM they landed and had a "glowing" fest where all the balloons fired their engines at the same time at dusk to light up. We thought it was pretty cool, and we captured some pics for your viewing pleasure....

The Energizer Bunny becomes erect...

The bottom of the basket says "Hi Mom"

Ahhh....the Afterglow....