III Forks

This weekend I surprised Anthony with dinner at III Forks in Dallas. It was his graduation dinner from me!

I made the reservations through DFW's restaurant week. Many of the high dollar restaurants participate, and it's a fixed price dinner with part of the proceeds going to the North Texas Food Bank.

We had reservations for 8:30, but we weren't seated until at least 9-9:15. The place was packed! We both had the III Forks salad for our appetizer. It was interesting! It was a mixture of field greens, pecans, apple slices and feta cheese. It had a molasses vinegarette dressing. For our main courses, Anthony had the oven roasted beef tenderloin with tarragon infused bordelaise sauce. That's just fancy for "some funky sauce that he had to scrape off his tenderloin!" The meat was delish, though! I had the pan seared salmon with tomatillo cream sauce. It was very good, as well. Both dishes came with potatoes, fresh off the cob creamed corn (YUM) and fresh sugar snap peas (DOUBLE YUM!). Our final course was dessert. Raspberry cheesecake. We both ate our entire servings (which should've served 2-3 people!!). It was to die for!!

We were impressed with the food, but not impressed enough to go back to pay full price! We're looking forward to restaurant week next year so that we can try another fancy schmancy place!

My Kick Ass New Toy!

I am a bit of a nerd, I know. I am so excited about my newest toy. It's something I've been wanting for a couple of years now. The only reason I was able to justify to Anthony that I needed this was because Lowe's misprinted the sales price in their ad a couple of weeks ago. So I got it for $150 off the regular price.

Here she is!


This weekend I finally broke it out of the box to make some "outrageous double chocolate-white chocolate chip cookies" (yes, that's what the recipe calls them!) for a friend's house warming party. It made making the 6 dozen cookies a breeze! Tonight I made a variation of my specialty, banana chocolate chip bread! I make banana nut bread at least once or twice a month, and I really could tell a difference in the prep time with my wonderful new mixer!!

Yum!


It's just a shame that I have about 2 feet of space in my current kitchen, so she has to go back in the box for the time being. Once I get a real kitchen, though, she's home free!

Now It's My Turn

Well, we got Anthony finished up with school and graduated. Now it's my turn! I am officially registered for graduate school! I start classes next Monday at UTA. I'll be going back for my MBA with a specialization in marketing. I'm also considering doing a duel degree program for my Master's degree in Market Research. It will only require a few extra classes, so why not?

I'm starting out slow with two classes - Intro to Statistics and Management. I actually already took Intro to Stats in undergrad, but that was 5 years ago! I figured I better retake it so that I'm not lost in the other advanced stats classes I'll have to take!

I'm pretty excited about going back. It will be a challenge getting used to working full time and going to school, but I'm sure I'll be just fine!

Happy Graduation!

Anthony graduated Sunday from UT-Southwestern with his Master of Science in Physical Therapy! I'm so proud of him!



Here comes trouble! Justin, Dave and Anthony


Anthony and me


Anthony and his parents


With Grandma Shaw


And my family!


Us with our sweet nieces

My Pop

As you may know, my Pop passed away last Friday. He lived a long and happy 90 and a half years, and it gives me peace knowing he's in peace now. The last few months of his life were a little rough, and his body was just tired. It's comforting to know he's finally at home. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers, and please keep my Mamu in your prayers. She's a strong woman, but she still needs His strength during this time.

Here's a photo of us kids with Pop on his 90th birthday.


Martin Hoel Jr.
Martin Hoel Jr., 90, of Clifton, died Friday. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Monday, Aug. 13, 2007, in Our Savior's Lutheran Church at Norse. Burial will follow in the Norse Cemetery. Visitation will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home. Martin S. Hoel Jr. was born on Feb. 16, 1917, on the family farm near Norse. His parents were Martin and Clarice Johnson Hoel. He was one of six children. He was baptized April 6, 1917, confirmed June 26, 1932, at Our Saviors Lutheran Church at Norse, where he was a lifetime member. Martin attended school at Bee Hill, Norse and Clifton College Academy. He married Irene Conrad in 1943. To this union was born one daughter, Connie Jo. The first 67 years of his life was spent in the Norse community within a few miles of where he was born. Following Irene's death, he married Lydia Orbeck in 1984 and moved to Clifton. He and Irene traveled throughout the United States during their marriage. During his marriage to Lydia, they continued the travels to include many parts of the world. Martin was a full-time farmer until he retired in 1979. He served on the Clifton ISD school board, was trustee of Clifton Lutheran Sunset Home, served on various county agricultural committees, was active in the Farmer's Home Administration, and most of all he was active in most offices of his church, Our Saviors. Martin was preceded in death by his parents; his daughter, Connie; his sisters, Lois, Doris and Lottie; and his brother, J.C. He is survived by his wife, Lydia Hoel; son-in-law, Rick Lundberg; sister, Almarie Kappler and husband, Rubin of Baytown; stepchildren, Christine Hebert, Julia Smith and husband, Gary, Bill Orbeck and wife, Beth, Laura Trussell and husband, Mike, and Becky Kindred and husband, Zane; grandchildren, Stacey Lundberg Stiff and husband, Tim and Adam Lundberg and wife, Tricia; 18 step-grandchildren; and 8 great-grandchildren. Family suggests memorials to Our Savior's Lutheran Church or Clifton Lutheran Sunset Home. Clifton Funeral Home, Clifton February 16, 1917 - August 10, 2007

Zoe Can Swim!

But she HATES the water! These clips are short, but I think they're pretty funny!

Zoe's Videos

Since we don't have children, I tape everything my dog does.

This video is from February of this year. Zoe had just learned how to wave!



This video is from this summer. Zoe LOVES to chase and pester Anthony! Or wait, maybe it's the other way around...



I have a few more videos of Zoe doing what she hates most - swimming! But you'll have to wait for the next entry. I need to upload them up to my computer!