Dallas Birthday Weekend!

Happy birthday to Stephen! He is 25 today and just spent an awesome weeked in Dallas with his amazing girlfriend. It was a very fun mini vacation. We stayed at a hotel called Hotel Nylo. I read about it in Travel and Leisure magazine. They had an incredible deal where you stay Friday night and get Saturday night half off. So it was very affordable. Plus, it is a boutique hotel and very trendy, so I thought it would be a fun experience. I was right!

The lobby had pretty cool seats.

They even had hanging seats. Stephen is too tall for it.

I fit in it pretty well!

The inside of our room was so fun. This is the little couch with a cool lamp and art work.

The bed was super comfy! The pillows were a bit too fluffy for my liking. I don't like my head sitting too high up. But the bed felt like heaven.

A very classy sink.

And the coolest shower ever. Seriously, this was awesome!! My favorite part of the room, by far.

On Friday night, we went to the Blue Mesa Grill for dinner.

They serve tortilla chips and sweet potato chips. I loved the sweet potato chips.

I ordered the spa chicken and spinach enchilladas. They came with sweet potatoes, a little salsa, and asparagus. It was very fresh and simple. My favorite type of enchiladas. I don't like greasy enchilladas. They tend to give me a bad tummy ache. These were amazing.

Stephen ordered a trio of street tacos. He loved his meal, too!

For dessert, we went to Paciugo for some gelato.

For once, I actually adored each of my three flavors. I got Itlaian wedding cake, black raspberry, and Violet. The violet was so good, because it tasted the way violets smell. The light purple color is so pretty, too.

That night, we went to see Michael McDonald's stand up at Addison Improv. It was so funny. It was our first time at a comedy club, but definitely not our last time.

On Saturday, we went to see a lego creation of the Dallas skyline. Pictures were not allowed, but we did sit at the lego table and made our own lego creations. I took pictures of those. Can you guess which one I made?

Lego A

Lego B

Go ahead and guess! If you get it right, you might get a prize!

For lunch, we went to the Fort Worth Modern Art Museum. They have a little restaurant called Cafe Modern. It is an amazing restaurant. I was really impressed.

First off, the bread basket had crackers!! I love it when bread baskets have either crackers or breadsticks (or both). I love crunchy things, so this makes me very happy.

My sandwich had goat cheese, avocado, watercress, pumpkin seed pesto, and celery. It was on a fresh multigrain bread. Amazing. The flavors went so well together. I have no idea why I hadn't thought up this sandwich on my own. It is in my top 3 sandwiches EVER. Maybe it is my favorite.

After lunch, we decided to go to the Fort Worth Zoo!

We saw cheetahs rolling on the grass.

Sad looking rhinos.

Shy meerkats.

Very pretty giraffes. I love giraffes!!

Flamingos!! Did you know that plastic pink flamingos were created in Leominster, MA, my home town?

I love this quote.

And I love this chameleon. Can I get one as a pet?

For Stephen's special dinner, I took him to Tillman's Roadhouse. We've been to the one in Dallas, so we decided to try the one in Fort Worth. The atmosphere was actually a lot different. I am not sure I liked it as much as the one in Dallas.

Each table has their own bottle of water. A nice touch.

I got the lavender infused salmon with mushrooms and asparagus rice. The salmon was perfectly cooked with a very crispy exterior. The mushrooms were excellent. The rice was mediocre, but it takes a lot to impress me with rice.

The fire alarm went off half way through our meal!! It didn't stop. I was really disappointed, because I couldn't finish my dinner in a comfortable atmosphere, and we couldn't order dessert. I am sorry, but I didn't want to keep listening to the blaring fire alarm.

The waitress was amazing and brought us free cookies to take with us. We went to a park and enjoyed our dessert.

These cookies are the best I have ever had. Seriously. They were amazing. Slightly crisy on the outside and gooey, dooey, amazing in the inside.

We each had two small cookies. I would have stopped at one, but no. Too delicious. Far too delicious!!

So overall, it was an okay dinner experience. It wasn't as spectacular as I would have liked. My ears are still ringing. But the salmon was excellent and the cookies were dangerous. You cannot go wrong with great food.

Tonight, I made a nice dinner. I made mac and cheese and ground turkey.

I made a cheese sauce out of 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 cup almond milk, and 1/2 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese. The cottage cheese and almond milk came together in my vitamix to look like a light cream or half and half. With the cheese, it made for an awesome sauce. Not too rich, but very decadent anyways.

I baked the mac and cheese in rammekins with a little bit or bread crumbs and some extra cheese on Stephen's.

Lots of steamed brocolli with lemon zest on the side. A great dinner at home. I always miss cooking when I am on vacation.

It was a fun weekend. I even slept in for a bit on both mornings! Amazing, I know!
That is all for now. Hope you had a great weekend!