Sushi Zone

On December 2, 2011December 3, 2011 By AngeliaIn WINNING!10 Comments

The gift of new foods.

As long as I can remember, I did not like fish. No fish of any kind, or cooked in any way. Just bleh! I do not like them Sam I am.

Then, I met Jason, and for him (what love does to a person) I tried RAW fish for the first time.

To my surprise…it is the only fish I like. And it totally backs up my theory that I was a mermaid in a former life.

Reasons I was a mermaid in a former life.

I love to swim.
I feel called to the ocean.
I could gaze, surf, or snorkel in it – all day long.
I love deep-sea fishing.
And to top it off, I only like raw fish.

See, told you I was mermaid.

Every month, if I get special spending money from Avis/Budget/Hilton brands for booking cars and hotels. We go to our favorite Sushi restaurant owned and operated by Koji called Sushi Zone. You can even follow them on Facebook.

It’s a place where everybody knows our name. The waitress knows the day we got married. Koji remembers every type of roll we eat, and even that Sydney does not like cucumbers in her California Roll.

They are hands-down the best in service, and quality.

I am not paid in sushi to write this about them (I wish!). I just love them and wanted to share what great service they have with you. Good service really is hard to find these days, and that makes it a gift.

Ready for Sushi.

My absolute favorite – fresh Salmon.

Jason’s sushi plate with hot sake.

My second favorite – California Roll (less the cucumbers for Syd).

And another picture of the California Roll because it is so pretty in color.

My iPhone 4S camera does REALLY great in low-light.

I never imagined I would like this type of food. I guess it just goes to show that life is full of little surprises.

What’s your favorite food? Is there a restaurant that you frequent?

Hall’s Pumpkin Farm 2011

On October 26, 2011October 26, 2011 By AngeliaIn Angelia's Photography, Beautiful Life23 Comments

The weekend before last, we took the girls on their annual trip to the pumpkin farm.

It’s not really a farm. It’s set up more as a ~~cash cow~~ a store, and entertainment area.

It is a GREAT place for pictures, if there weren’t a million gillion people there.

BUT, I did the best I could and I did get a few nice shots. They have some great props; a corn field, pumpkins, hay stacks, tractors, and an old truck.

My oldest daughter had to work, so we just had the two little ones – my stepdaughters.

The day was a HOT one – 94 degrees. The sun shined bright, bright, bright.

I, myself, was miserable and sweating buckets. I did not take near as many photos as last year, due to the fact, I was about to pass out from heat stroke.

I’m not sure if I have mentioned lately that I am in early menopause, and I have a thyroid disorder. Both grant me a nice summer body temp year around. Yippee!

I, also, had a sunburn from going to the State Fair the day before. 🙂

Still, it was fun. The girls got to wear their costumes (these are for play since we don’t get to do trick or treat with them). And we had fresh kettle corn (along with several bottles of water).

These were on the old truck. I LOVE THIS TRUCK.

We moved to the tractors.

Jason took Molly into the corn maze. I was way too hot for that – absolutely NO WIND. Instead, I took Bridget to the playground. She had a ball – jumping, sliding, and climbing big tires.

We left, and had many cold bottles of water (at least I did).

Maybe, next year, It won’t be as hot (ha!).

If you are local, do check out this great place, Hall’s Pumpkin Farm.

The Anniversary of Triple Tens

On October 10, 2011October 10, 2011 By AngeliaIn A Ten Wedding 10.10.10, In my heart forever & ever11 Comments

One year ago, I married the most amazing man in the world.

I remember how excited I was. It surprised me. I was convinced I’d be a bundle of nerves, or a crying hot mess (tears of joy, but sooo not pretty!).

Instead, I walked to that doorway and I was happy, no, thrilled. The day was finally here. And we fought hard for it. We made it happen despite many unpredictable heartbreaks.

My future mom lay in ICU.

My mother was MIA somewhere in the city of Dallas.

But despite it all, I looked at my four beautiful flower girls, and one handsome ring bearer, and I knew, I would never have this moment again.

Pre walk down the aisle — My daughter, me, my childhood friend, & my sister

I think my sister was more nervous than me. Her eyes were full of tears and I wanted to smack her with my bouquet and say, “Do NOT make me cry!”

I laughed instead.

And then I walked down the aisle. I did not stumble on my dress. I did not fall, or slip. I didn’t walk too fast, or too slow. I looked straight ahead at the man I was to marry. And he looked sooooo good.

Our wedding ceremony began at about 3:10 (for the three ten’s).

I spoke my vows to him in front of God, our family, and our wonderful guests in the beautiful St. Matthews United Methodist Church.

It was more incredible than I could have imagined.

Then, we played Westside Music Ministry’s – Have a Little Faith in Me – as we poured three tubes of sand into one heart-shaped vase. Pink for the three girls, peach for Jason, and beige for me. We mixed them together symbolizing our new blended family. No matter what, these sands can never be separated. And knowing the difficult future we face, we vowed to have faith, no matter what. Faith in our life together.

In a blink, the ceremony was over and we were man and wife.

Then we played,It Takes Two, an 80’s hit, (also played on The Proposal movie) and did our cool exit.

We purposely did something fun to celebrate this last part of the wedding. I don’t think anyone will forget it, at least I won’t.

Our new family.

Our gorgeous wedding.

Our amazing family and friends.

And the most angelic girls in the world.

Our perfect 10 wedding.

A day I will remember forever.

We had a quite a first year.

These precious moments helped us through them.

Love…

Joy….

And marriage.

Now….it’s one year later.

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

Special thanks to Bella Lucia Photography for traveling from Oregon to Texas to photograph our wedding.

Saying Good-bye to Summer

On September 26, 2011September 26, 2011 By AngeliaIn Life is what you make it.25 Comments

Yesterday, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor water park closed it’s doors for the summer. I bet you didn’t even know they stayed open until the last weekend in September. Well, in North Texas they do.

You could say it marks the end of summer here.

I am so proud of my daughter Sydney. This was her first job. She got it all on her own. She filled out the application. She aced the interview. She did it all herself.

She got hired working as ride attendant at the park. She had to go through CPR training before she even started. And this summer? Hottest summer on record in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. I think we cracked over 69 days of being over 100 degrees, but I lost count.

It was still near 100 yesterday – 97 – close enough. But she did it. She worked in the heat, in the sun, and she looked pretty darn cute doing it.

Did I mention I am proud of her?

And look at her tan…holy cow!

Thank goodness she didn’t have to save anyone. No heart attacks, slips, or seizures.

But she was prepared, just in case.

This is the shirt they gave all the employees on the last day. It is soooo appropriate.

Congrats Sydney on your first job!

She actually still has a job now that the water park is closed. They send them all over to Six Flags over Texas (across the street) to work a haunted house.

Her next job? A scary clown (shudder!).

Thank goodness, they do their make-up there (I hope!).

Oh, and by the way…….

We got a NEW car!

No more car pooling.

No more long days at work waiting for a ride; no more swapping.

It’s our first Kia. But I tell ya, so far, this car is SWEET. And most importantly, smaller than the other car we have, which is MUCH easier for me to drive.

2012 Kia Soul

And yes, I may pretend I’m a dancing hamster in it (one of my favorite commercials of all time -PARTY ROCK!).

It has lights around the speakers. They change colors from red to yellow to purple to green and beat with the music. It’s way too cool.

It also has a back-up camera for driver-challenged folks like me.

I am so thrilled with it. We, finally, have TWO cars again. Plus, I love BOTH of the cars and can drive either one.

I will probably drive the Kia Soul the most. My work is farther and it has an Eco System to save gas.

The car buying process only took a few hours. I have to thank the good peeps at Kia Patterson of Arlington. There was only a small hiccup because Jason’s ex still has the house they bought in his name. It doesn’t look so good on your credit when you have two houses and a car. Thankfully, we were able to convince them it wasn’t his in the decree. But still……scary stuff when you have no control over your credit because of someone’s actions, or inaction in this case (it’s been almost four years since the divorce).

So….a very close call on getting another car, but it all worked out in the end. We got a REALLY good deal and I highly recommend this dealership (told you I was a blogger!).

Happy Monday everyone! You know I’m smiling and cruising in my own set of wheels. 🙂