Sunday, October 30, 2011

Halloween :: State Fair :: CARES

Halloween 2011. Mad Men Style!

Richard and I just finished Season 1 of Mad Men (I know, we are so behind)! Not only is Mad Men such a fun show to watch, it is an Ad Agency just like Richard's job at TPN. Now, don't get us wrong, times have certainly changed...but there are several things that are the same! So, we had a great time dressing up as Don Draper and Peggy Olson! Our Halloween festivities included a fall festival, Halloween spooky dinner, two costume parties and tons of Halloween movies! Let the holiday season begin!

Mad Men: Don Draper and Peggy Olson


Olivia's Halloween Party

Whitney and Nathaniel's Halloween Party

Amy's spooky Halloween Dinner

Capital One - Fall Festival



State Fair of Texas

We had our fair share of fried food this year! We both had team building "fun days" at the fair with our companies (TPN and Capital One). Then, we went back to the fair together to try out our favorite foods! My favorite: fried salsa :: Richard's favorite: fried sauerkraut 


Fried salsa at the State Fair of Texas!




Work (Capital One, Community Affairs)


I've had the opportunity to really get out in the community the past few weeks at work. I spent 2 days conducting site visits to Dallas ISD elementary schools during a competitive grant process through Capital One. The winner received a brand new library - completely made over! The elementary students got to draw their dream library and in two months, we will bring a group of volunteers into the school to complete the dream library makeover! I also got to see first-hand the condition of some of our Dallas ISD schools... they are in really bad condition with teachers not having essential supplies and even books!


Another exciting project I got to participate in is a program called Finance Park. In partnership with Capital One, Junior Achievement provides a 6 hour "mock city" for middle and high school students to participate in! Students are given an identify, salary and family...they have to go through real life situations and learn how to manage a monthly budget. The students learned a ton about how hard it is to pay your bills and get through daily struggles. It was SO funny listening to their thoughts on life, budgets and expectations... one student told me he was going to be a MLB player AND NFL player at the same time, so he really didn't need to worry about budgeting because he will have a 2.3 billion dollar contract. Ha! :)

Capital One Golf Classic Benefiting Girls Inc.

Javier Colon - Winner of "The Voice"
(I got to meet him!)

Boys and Girls Club Gala 
Amelia Earhart Elementary - Winner of the library makeover!
(The kids are holding their "dream library" pictures.) 

Teaching financial literacy to middle school kids at Finance Park - this was my group!

CARES


This month we had a CARES breakfast and Halloween Desserts and Pumpkin Pie night! We love the holiday season and our community!

Halloween Desserts with Sonny!

Bren helped us set-up our CARES event!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Chicago, IL + Indiana + Michigan

We added states #35 and #36 to our 50 state travel plan (plus re-visited Indiana)! The weather was perfect, which was wonderful since we walked pretty much the entire city. We definitely had our fair share of pizza and hot dogs- a must in Chicago! Richard also decided to do headstands in various spots across Chicago...and even into Indiana. :)

Highlights: Sax Hotel, Crimson Lounge, The Bean, Navy Pier, Architecture River Cruise, Carnivale, Lou Malnati's, Giordano's, Wildfire Grill, Garrett's Popcorn, the El Train, Second City, Millennium Park, Grant Park,  Michigan Wine Tasting, Stray Dog, Pops for Champagne, Watershed (Underground Lounge), Bowling, Portillo's Famous Hot Dogs, Gold Coast Dog




Navy Pier in Chicago

Richard doing a headstand in front of "The Bean" in Chicago

YUMMY pizza!!!! Ranked the #2 Pizza Place in Chicago!

Millenium Park

Gorgeous view of the Chicago river next to our hotel!

Indiana Sand Dunes 
Lunch at The Stray Dog - New Buffalo, Michigan

Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park
(this famous landmark was going to be closed for months for renovations the next day)
Famous popcorn! Cheese and caramel mix ("The Chicago Mix") - so good!

The Round Barn and St. Julian's Winery in Michigan!

Voted the #1 pizza spot in Chicago (and Richard got to watch the TX vs. OU game)!

Portillo's Hot Dogs - Voted #1 Street Vendor Hot Dogs in Chicago!

Bowling!

Pop's for Champagne - Lounge in Chicago


The Bean in Chicago

Indiana Sand Dunes

Michigan!!
Pickle and Sundae were so happy to be back home!