tricked my parents into visiting!

As everyone knows, I was so sad to leave Denver after Christmas, mainly because some of the people I love the most (my parents) live there.   Mom promised me they would come visit soon which helped ease the pain of leaving them. "Soon" turned out to be the other weekend, and I am happy to say that showing the first people to visit me (besides Cousin Scott for 24 hours) around Houston was a success!

Thursday 2/21: Cleaned the house like a fiend

Hey we know those people!

Friday 2/22: National Margarita Day! Parental units arrive!! Perfect coincidence.  We enojyed dinner at El Tiempo Cantina where I will take future visitors because it is delicious, and having company is a great excuse to eat amazing fajitas and drink strong margaritas. We were told there would be a 40 minute wait, but then our server had a table outside that we could have right away which made us feel like we were in real Mexico ("Follow me, this way, I get you a table!") I ordered Dad some Texas quail which he had never eaten before- it is EXTREMELY rare to find something on the menu Jimbo has never tried! An old family friend from Denver was there for dinner with his girlfriend, and my parents were happy to be able to see them and say hello.

Saturday 2/23: We bought a sectional off of Craigslist Saturday morning.  I wish we had it for longer than a week in our old big house, but I was adamant about NOT having the old disgusting couch in the house when my parents were visiting. Dropping it off at the dump was super satisfying!

Finally at Anvil! He was impressed

Lunch and drinks at Liberty Kitchen, followed by a tour of the Menil Collection (FYI: Mom thinks she could make more than half of the stuff in there) Drinks at Anvil, an award-winning bar I have always wanted to take my dad to, followed and a stop at Specs (the most badass liquor store around and one of Dad's favorite Texas stops) before heading home to get ready for dinner at Crawfish and Noodles, a Cajun-Vietnamese hybrid restaurant way out in Chinatown..  Houston's Chinatown is HUGE and goes on forever! I felt like a tourist driving through it, and some of the English translations written in neon on buildings provided for some in-car entertainment. The restaurant was packed until they ran out of crawfish but we stayed since we had driven all the way out there...and then they miraculously were not out of crawfish anymore so dinner was saved! I love food that takes work to eat, so this place is right up my alley. So happy it is crawfish season again!

bibs on!

tourists

the aftermath

Sunday 2/24: Brunch at Rainbow Lodge (another must for visitors), followed by a driving tour of MY Houston (including the Medical Center and Rice) and a stop at the Bayou Bend Botanical Gardens. I'm glad we took the time to tour the gardens because the weather was gorgeous and it was a pleasant way to spend an afternoon outside.

Hurry up and get out of my picture! 

"Think I can reach that tree with my leg?"

mystery flower

After the gardens, we stopped by to see the Beer Can House (a house made entirely from beer cans, no we will not pay $5 to get in, but thanks anyway) followed by afternoon beverages at Benjy's before heading home to cook dinner and watch the Oscars on the new couch. My ability to call the winners was particularly amazing- I think I went 6/7 of the categories we were paying attention to! Best dressed for me were Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Sandra Bullock and Amy Adams. It felt good to relax with my parents in my house after a busy weekend of running around town and drinking more than normal- I asked Dad to come back soon and he said "I will but I can't drink that much very often!" Mission accomplished.