Visitee and a Visitor

Last week I took a long weekend to visit Texas to visit....

 ....this handsome man!

It was a blast. I've never been to Texas before! 

We spent a day in Fort Worth at the Stockyards (mostly). Basically I felt like I was back in the old west. Cowboy gear and legit cowboys EVERYwhere!!!! And here I was walking around in Toms. What a "city" girl.

(Chuck Norris was here   +100,000 cool points for Texas)

We watched the Texas Longhorn cattle drive and for real those horns are awesome!!! 

And slightly intimidating.

I don't know how they walk around without poking each other but they do it.

We walked around the shops and may have stumbled upon a sweeeeet candy shop! Naturally we had to go in and buy some.

 Job security. Thank you Texas. I may or may not have purchased the bacon frosting to try out on a recipe to give to some bacon lovers. I was curious ok?!

THEN. For lunch Mark took me to the one...the only...In N Out becauseIlovetheirchocolateshakessomuchImightexplode! 

Get this. I ordered, obviously, a chocolate shake and indulged in ever drop of deliciousness. Mmmmm they are so tasty. My cheeks hurt from sucking so hard on the straw but they are just the thickness I love. As we were leaving Mark decided to get one for himself for the road and came back with a large so I could share. So, I had 1 1/2 chocolate shakes. 

He's spoils me so. 

Now before we returned to the Stockyards, we did some exploring of downtown Fort Worth. Mark is a good planner. He's good and is wicked fun to be with. We went to the Water Gardens, dubbed "an oasis in the concrete jungle on the south end of downtown." 

Very fitting.

SO. COOL. SOOOOO COOL!

 There are three pools: the active pool, the aerating pool, and the quiet pool. The active pool was our first stop. I believe I read somewhere that it's 38 feet deep. Anyway, it's quite a neat experience once you get to the bottom being surrounded by water. I loved it! We probably spent a good half hour playing in this pool.

This is the aerating pool. The artist was going for some sort of double effect but...I didn't quite see it. Maybe because of few of the fountains weren't spraying. But it was still neat!

This is the quiet pool. You really do feel like you're in the woods walking around this one because the walls are so high and they have water running down them. It's quite serene. 

I love water. 

Then we went back to the Stockyards and wandered in and out of the shops. Of course most of these shops have everything from license plates to cowboy key chains to pocketknives with names of them and for once I found one with MY name!!!!! (Granted it was probably made for a male. Oh well. Don't ruin my moment!)

Apparently even the jellybeans are bigger in Texas???

We found the longhorns!!!!! It was so fun to watch them maneuver around the poles and try to eat without stabbing each other. I'm impressed how well they get around.  

THEN. 
I saw these doors.
 I HAD to capture them. 
Mark looks legit and I just look like a tourist. Busted. 

We passed by a bakery and I had to pop in because I had to see if it was legit and if so, we had so get a few to try. We just had to! My mom would be proud :) We walked in and I was immediately overcome with the aroma of fresh baked cupcakes, buttercream frosting, and happiness. So. We got an Oreo cupcake, a red velvet cupcake and a chocolate with chocolate frosting cupcake. We were really impressed. We decided the Oreo was the best. The frosting was INCREDIBLE!!!! I still can taste it....mmmm mmm!

We also went through the Stockyards Museum and then the highlight of the evening: My first legit Texas rodeo COMPLETE with rodeo clowns. Oh my oh my was I delighted! IT WAS SOOOOOO FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I contemplated changing my career to bull riding so that I can be the first female champion bull rider. I don't think Mark was too terribly thrilled with that idea.

I don't have many pictures from the other things we did, but all in all, it was another incredible and memorable weekend with a pretty fantastic guy. ;)

THEN a mere 4 days later I had a visitor! My dear, darling friend Jean. We went to college together and met living in the same (GHETTO) apartment complex while taking physiology together. We both ended up in the Carolinas and a visit was in order! She is SO cool, people, SO awesome. We are medical geeks and absolutely loved our physiology and anatomy classes. She is finishing up PA school and JUST got a job. I am THRILLED for her and so proud!!!
We did a lot of touristy things because, well, you have to experience some of that when you come to Myrtle Beach! It was really fun because some of the things we did I hadn't done yet!
We spent our Saturday with a 6 mile morning run next to the beach (I got some color!!!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!), breakfast, Broadway at the Beach (with a completely necessary stop at the ginormous candy story It's Sugar), and then down to Ocean Boulevard where we rode the Sky Wheel (my first time!)....

...with a sweet view of the Myrtle Beach strip

...and walked on the beach for a bit

...and went into some shops and talked and talked and talked and talked and ate and talked.

And we saw a magic show!!!!

And basically spent a lot of time eating good food and catching up. A lot happens in three years so we had much to talk and reminisce about! It was SO wonderful to see her. 

Jean you are wonderful!!!

It's been a good month thus far!