Company Party - Las Colinas

WOW, such a magical weekend! We had an amazing time at the company function in Dallas... and all at their expense! 

We drove up to Dallas Thursday night and checked into our beautiful room at the Omni in Las Calinas.

Friday Joe was in the conference so I slept in then just drove around Las Colinas. I found a store and picked up a few things for the room - snacks, drinks, etc

This is me cruising around town, LOL...

When Joe got back to the room around 5 we changed and went down for dinner at a restaurant nearby. The company provided a yummy Tex-Mex buffet. We sat outside near the canal eating, drinking and visiting with Joe's co-workers. It was a lot of fun meeting some of the people he spends his days with. One young fella was well into his drinks and had us rolling with his stories.

After dinner Joe and I took a stroll alone the canal, enjoying the light breeze and beautiful scenery. We found a quiet bench and sit a while just chatting and enjoying each other. Very romantic evening. <3

Part of the canal path in daylight.

Saturday, Joe only had half a day of conference so we spent the afternoon SHOPPING! hehe. Had a lot of fun... lunch at Outback Steakhouse then on to the store hopping. He found several nice shirts, I bought some jewelry and odds & ends, and then Joe bought me this awesome rattie ring!

We lost track of time and had to rush back to the Omni to get fancied up for the evenings formal banquet and party. I wore a long black gown with crystal accents and Joe wore one of his new shirts and slacks. We looked really nice all spiffed up and totally forgot to take a pic! grrrr. 

The dining room for the banquet it is amazingly beautiful - chandeliers, ornate decorations,  tables set with white linens and crystal and silver. It was all fabulously posh. And the food was amazing!

OH and I forgot to mention that the theme of the banquet/party was 1920's Speak Easy and everyone was encouraged to dress up in period clothes. Joe and I didn't dress for the times but really enjoyed others' wonderful costumes. After the formal dinner, we all went downstairs to another room that was set up as the Speak Easy, all decked out with casino games... there were several Blackjack tables, roulette, craps, Texas Hold'em and two open bars.
We were each given $5000 in chips for the night, I lost about $2000 pretty quick at the roulette table, definitely NOT my game. Then we found a blackjack table right next to the bar, how perfect is that?! Joe and I spent the remainder of the night there and did okay I think, well, didn't lose much more so that was good, right? And the close proximity of the bar was awesome. I had two cocktails of the period, both were not so awesome. I decided to go with my favorite drink, margarita, and my bartender made really good 'ritas. I had a few while playing blackjack, 5 or 6, I lost count, but they were so good. Joe just had a couple of 'ritas.

Of course again I forgot to take pictures of the Speak Easy room but there was a picture booth there for people to get their photos taken. Our first visit to the booth was for a serious picture,

but by our second visit we'd gotten into the party mood of the evening and hit the prop table pretty hard. 

I so love my silly redheaded, nearsighted viking clown!!! And to make it even sweeter, LOL, the pictures were put up on a screen for all to see... AND later put up on the company website of the party!  O_O

After the amazing party, we went to walk on the canal again but the fresh air was not such a good idea after so many cocktails so we returned to our beautiful room for the night.

Sunday we checked out of the hotel and went sight seeing around Dallas! That story is told in the next blog post. :)

It truly was a magical weekend of living over the top, luxury from top to bottom... the hotel, the room, the food, the banquet, the costumes, the casino... and best part is, it was all free for us.

~Sonja

Happy 4th Birthday Princess MIsha

We had an amazing weekend. We celebrate our beautiful granddaughter's 4th birthday with a Princess in the Park Party in my and Joe's home town, surrounded by family and friends. It was so wonderful to see everyone together laughing and loving, I love our families!

The grandkids had a blast with their cousins running around causing mischief at the park.

It's hard to believe our princess is getting so big. Where do the years go? 

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Afterwards it was wonderful to spend the evening with my dear friend from school and her husband. She and I have been besties since 3rd grade, so roughly 35years!!! And as is apt to happen in life, over the years we would go our own paths and lose touch here and there, but all it took was a phone call or email and we were right back in high school. And Saturday night was no different. Loved our time together reminiscing and laughing. So many memories and unfortunately we remember them all! ROFL.

I can't wait to spend more time together, truly a treasure of a friendship. 

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as a side note, I just realized that I'm right in the middle of our family's living generations...
my grandmother, my mom, ME, my son, my granddaughter.. We truly are a very blessed family to be surrounded by so much love.

~Sonja

Birds Visiting Our Feeders

We love sitting on the back porch, watching the many different birds that visit our backyard for a snack. We have three seed feeders and a suet cage.
This week I decided to take pictures of the birds and try to identify who our visitors are. :)

Male House Sparrow

Female House Sparrow

Black Capped Chickadee

Mockingbird

Mourning Dove

Cardinal

Female Cardinal

Male House Finch

"NO really... I'm a bird, this seed is all mine" 

Blue Jay

Blue Jay

umm... chirp chirp :)

little nest in a low branch by the back fence <3

Eurasian Collared Dove

Eurasian Collared Dove
This beauty only shows up once or twice a week.

More pictures will be added as I'm able to get them :)