I was really tempted to turn this wine post into an update on Creative Chaos; but decided instead to just include both.  I mean there is wine on the cover!  But how could there not be?

One thing you’ve probably figured out about me is, I don’t discriminate when it comes to wine. I’ll drink fancy wine, I’ll drink cheap wine…just so long as it’s good! And most of the time my big concern is it fitting into my budget!

Last night after a fun sister sushi (stay tuned, I can’t wait to review the new sushi place next week!), Beth & I grabbed a bottle of wine so I could get home and finish entering all the edits for Creative Chaos and finish up the cover:

I am SO excited with how it turned out and truth be told I kind of can’t stop staring at it.  I might just have to have physical books made after all!

Tonight we drank the Naked Grape Pinot Noir.  Now if you remember a few weeks back I made the garlic crock pot chicken with wine in the sauce.  I used the Naked Grape Pinot Grigio for that recipe.

Naked Grape makes some pretty good wines! I am not a fan of Pinot Grigio but really enjoyed it when I had a glass with the chicken.

This Pinot Noir was a little boring to me, but not in a bad.  It just didn’t overwhelm you with a fruity taste but since I was distracted with the cover art, I was taking my sweet time drinking my glass of wine, just ask Beth!  So by the time I got around to finishing it it really had opened up.

I would definitely recommend having Naked Grape wines around your house.  I don’t think you can go wrong!

My favorite thing about the Naked Grape wines is their price point.  I have yet to see one go over $10 and I am a big fan of that!

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Matador Tapas is a relatively new restaurant in Dallas located on Lower Greenville. They have an amazing selection of Authentic Spanish Tapas.

Once a month I have brunch with a group of people and since this has been going on for well over a year now we have gotten to know our waiter, that we adore, Mike!

When he told us he had another gig, at Matador Tapas, we HAD to stop in and see him!  Sadly we were slackers and it took us forever to get our butts down there.

We figured we should probably go on a night they had a special, Tuesdays it’s 1/2 price food night and Thursdays are 1/2 price bottle of wine night.  So we naturally went in on Thursday night.

I should go ahead and apologize now that I don’t have better pictures, but I literally had to smack people’s hands out of the way so that I could get pictures before the food was devoured!

We started off with the Spanish Hummus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and the meat and cheese plate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

it had the best combination of spanish cheeses.  There wasn’t a bad one on the plate!  Though let’s be honest I have yet to meet a cheese plate I don’t like…

Before we even discovered them on the menu, Mike went ahead and ordered us the Stuffed Piquillo Peppers.

The peppers are stuffed with manchego, oregano and thyme.

My favorite was the Jamon and Chicken Croquets.  I am not sure what all is in them but they were AMAZING.  I’m assuming jamon and chicken are inside, and most likely there is cheese.  All I know is you need to try them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We sat at the bar for dinner and after some wine we started putting Mike to the test and having him make us all sorts of drinks.

I tried the Berry Sangria

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was good but, not as good as the gin bloody mary Mike made:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am not really a gin fan…but this was amazing and spicy and perfect!

If you’re looking for a new tapas place to try, go check out Matador Tapas and tell Mike, Kate sent you!

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A few years ago, I actually completed something I never thought I’d be able to do…I wrote a book!  For as long as I can remember this has been a dream of mine.  So, I finally decided to start working on that dream!

After years of reading the “classics” at Trinity Christian Academy here in Dallas and then majoring in English at Texas A&M University, I needed a break from reading.

It wasn’t until a few years after graduating college, when I was working and traveling like crazy for Magic Scraps (a wholesale scrapbook supply company) that I finally started reading again.  I owe a lot of that credit to my friend Emily Foytlin who was always reading these books that looked really fun.  It was then I learned about “chicklit” books and she got both Rachel and I hooked.  As we traveled to our next destination for the next Scrapbook Convention we would be at you could find the three of us sitting on a plane or in airports reading.

As we traveled and read, we started talking about how we couldn’t believe a book hadn’t been written about a girl who scrapbooks.  Well at least as far as we knew.  It was really there that this idea was birthed in me.

I would never put myself in the same category as Sophie Kinsella, Whitney Gaskell or Cara Lockwood…but  a girl can dream, right?

After being out of the scrapbook industry for a year or two, I was finally not traveling and had time to sit down and write.

It probably took me about 2 years to finally finish the book.  We’re all our worst critics right?  I kept writing and rewriting and critiquing what I had written and finally had to say enough!  I spent months trying to get an agent interested in me so that I could get my book published but had no luck.

Then the book sat and collected dust on my hard drive for another 2 years until this year, when for Christmas, when my dad gave me a Kindle…I had an idea…self publish!  So that is just what I am going to do!

My goal is to have the book up and available in the Kindle store by Friday; so keep your fingers crossed and say a little prayer for me that all goes well!

Next up I’ll get it in the Nook store and available on iBooks and then we’ll see if there’s enough interest to actually have it made into book form!

In the mean time, can you “Like” me on Facebook?  And here’s where you can read a synopsis of “Creative Chaos.”

And here is a little sneak peek at the cover that is not quite finished:

 

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This week’s Instagram, photo a day challenge:

Feb 18th – Day 49

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 18 – drink

After venturing out in the pouring down rain, I had no interest in leaving the house again to go somewhere for a fun or pretty drink. Instead I opted for wine in one of my favorite glasses. This is a Kate Spade wine glass that I don’t use enough; but when I do it makes me SO happy!

 

Feb 19th – Day 50

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 19 – something you hate to do

I like having long hair, but I HATE having to blow it dry, but sadly I have to if I want it to at all look normal.

 

Feb 20th – Day 51

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 20 – handwriting

This is my handwriting from a few years ago (I’m afraid with how much typing and how little writing I do it’s getting really bad). I have been working on a project, though I set it aside a few years ago after no success, but I have decided it is time to revisit my dream of having the Chick lit book I wrote about a scrapbooker published. Stay tuned, I hope to have some exciting news very soon! If you want to read the synopsis, click here.

 

Feb 21st – Day 52

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 21 – a fave photo of you

I absolutely loved this outfit when I was little. I wore it all the time. Though technically it wasn’t an “outfit” it was more like an under outfit; a camisole and slip thing. I could wear both pieces, or just the skirt as a strapless dress, as I did here so I could share the outfit with my little sister.

 

Feb 22nd – Day 53

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 22 – where you work

There just isn’t a whole lot to say about where I work, there’s nothing exciting about it other than it’s some what amusing there is a video camera positioned to watch me despite the fact that I do not deal with anything I could steal…jealous?

 

Feb 23rd – Day 54

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 23 – your shoes – I am a total flip flop girl.  I would wear them everyday if I could!  Fortunately in Texas I can wear them more days then not. I tend to wear Reefs; I got hooked on them a few years ago and have been wareing them ever since.

 

Feb 24th – Day 55

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 24 – inside your bathroom cabinet – not sure how this is interesting or why anyone wants to see inside my bathroom cabinet.  But here is a photo of it anyway!

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I learned about the Belmont Hotel a few years ago when my friend Bill had his birthday party at Bar Belmont.  Since then I’ve ventured down to the hotel a few other times and each time I have been equally impressed with this hotel.  Though at this point I have yet to actually stay at the Belmont Hotel; that will be remedied this summer I believe, which is why this is part one.

The Belmont is a Historic Boutique Hotel that is just a few minutes south of Downtown Dallas.  It offers just over 60 unique rooms and suites and is an ideal location for a Dallas staycation!  Not only are the rooms great, but the reastaurant next door, Smoke offers one of the most amazing brunches I’ve ever had.  If you haven’t ventured down to Smoke yet; do it now!

Bar Belmont is attached to the main building and has this rockin’ view of the Dallas skyline:

 

 

 

 

Not to mention their drink menu is pretty impressive as well!

I am in the midst of working on a girl’s weekend down at the Belmont Hotel and instantly fell in love with their Terrace Suite.  The patio attached to it has a hot tub as well as a view of the skyline and has quite a bit of space, not to mention two full bathrooms!

Their rooms are extremely affordable, starting at $109 a night!  The staff at the Belmont is amazing and so far have been a blast to work with in planning this event.  They even recommended I come down and tour the rooms.  While it’s a bit of a hike for me to head down there for a quick visit, I couldn’t pass up that offer.  So be on the look out this summer for my review of actually staying down there.

My trip to the Belmont Hotel also gave me the opportunity to see one of the Shepard Fairey mosiacs that were put up in early February, and I have to say this one is most definitely my favorite of his pieces around Dallas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s an upclose view of the piece:

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