ps

just noticed that i didn't relate the title of my last post to the post itself.

that happens a lot.

i start out one way and end up another.

have you ever noticed how a habit that is good or bad is equally hard to start as well as stop? i need to stop some of my bad habits and start some good habits...as well as getting back onto the ol' proverbial wagon and get going at my second half of life. that is the "i've fallen and i can't get up."

i am working on getting back up.

did you notice that i didn't blog for the entire month of september?

i haven't, actually, done much of anything at all, lately. it all started with the heat. yes, i am going to complain, again, about it was too hot to do anything because it was. we are just now having temperatures under 90 degrees and boy does it feel good.

this week i went with my mom to dallas and met up with my sister-in-law mary for a spontaneous really fun time. it all started with an email from mary saying, "i can get tickets for west side story for tomorrow...interested?"

i am not the spontaneous type. i may wait till the last minute to do something, but will have lined up my ducks in a row several months earlier.

so...we said, yes, and since it wasn't starting till 8:00pm, was there a chance to stay over at the hotel, so we wouldn't have to drive back at 11:30pm? mary says, "i'll let you know"."

mom asks if we can stop in highland park to pick up some shoes that were being repaired before checking in and i said, "of course." we call mary to say where we were and she says, "i'll meet you there."

we pick up mom's shoes, we walk around highland park and mary says, "oh! it's open! and oh! there's eric!"

we stop and we have the most wonderful lunch/dinner at a new restaurant called bistro 31. here are the details:

loved the menu.

we started off with a cocktail made with cocchi aperitivo americano.

look at how pretty it is. it was refreshing, not too strong and had a great balance of grapefruit, lemon and orange. as the waiter said, it was to stimulate your appetite (although, i don't need anything to help me get in the mood to eat). so yummy, i am now going to try to make my own at home. first though, i asked my mom if she was going to finish hers, since i had finished mine already.









then came the appetizer...

 and my entree...

trofie with roasted cauliflower and pancetta in the lightest creamiest yummiest sauce i have ever eaten. it was perfect.
the executive chef, eric brandt, is amazing! and, he is really really nice, too.

we dined al fresco because it was in the low 80's! highland park is a perfect place to dine outside. it was a beautiful fall day. i must admit texas does have great springs and falls...i just wish they were longer than a day or two.

then, we saw west side story at the musical hall at state fair park.

the music and dancing was so good. and as mom says, there are no do overs on stage and the performances were so good. i forget how good the music is (i just put it on this very moment...i have more musical music on my ipod than any other kind). and the dancing...stephen sondheim, leonard bernstein and jerome robbins are geniuses.

then, we tucked in at the hotel, woke up and mary had us on our merry way with coffee and the best hotel blueberry muffins in hand.

mom says, quoting bert, "oh, it's a jolly holiday with mary. when the day is gray and ordinary, mary makes the sunshine bright."

yes, indeed...thank you, mary, so very much for making an ordinary tuesday into a holiday.