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Fourth of July
After my La Madeleine salad, I finished getting ready for the day, and after a little bit of car trouble, Dylan got to my house just before 3:00pm. After chatting with my parents for a bit, we headed out to our first stop of the day: the Water Wall and Williams Tower located right near the Houston Galleria. There's really not much to do out there, but it was very refreshing in the late afternoon heat, and it made for a cute photo op.
After walking around there a little bit, we headed back toward my area so that we could spend some time exploring City Centre before dinner. We spent about an hour at Sur La Table, as we both love to cook, before venturing into J. Crew, Anthropologie (he's a trooper for going in there with me), and Paper Source. We started getting pretty hungry about this time, and decided to head over to Cyclone Anaya's for a delicious dinner. I normally opt for the fish tacos, but the grilled salmon was just calling my name.
It was wonderful, and I definitely recommend it if you ever find yourself at Cyclone Anaya's. Dylan also took a risk with his order and went for the Suizas Enchiladas. It was a risky move, but a good move, as he seemed to really enjoy his meal. After showing him the legendary Stratford High School, we (more like I) really wanted some frozen yogurt, so we headed back over to Orange Leaf where we enjoyed trying all of the fun flavors before finally settling on our respective cups.
After Orange Leaf, we headed back to my house to grab a couple blankets, and an umbrella as the sky looked threatening, before walking over to the bayou to enjoy the fireworks show put on by Lakeside Country Club. Every Fourth of July memory includes watching the fireworks from the bayou, so I knew that was going to be the way to go. We found a good spot to set up shop and wait for the fireworks to begin. Just before the show started, we met up with one of my very best high school friends, Lindsay, and her Rice University roommate, Emily.
She has been working in Houston all summer, and I have been in Austin, so it was really great to see her, and to introduce her to Dylan. Anyway, the fireworks show was as great as I remember it being, and it was the perfect end to a wonderful day.
Friday
Friday morning started bright and early, as I woke up around 7:45am, with plans to attend a 70-minute spin class at 9:15am. The usual instructor for this class is tough, but I quickly learned that she was also away on vacation. Bill, the substitute instructor, put us through an extremely challenging 75-minute spin. The toughest part of the class was definitely the tabata interval, which if you are not familiar with tabata, it is 20 seconds of intensity, followed by 10 seconds of recovery, eight times. 10 seconds is just enough of a recovery, but never enough at the same time. We ended up covering 33 miles on the bike, which might be a new record for me. I loved the class, though I was more than ready for a shower by the end of it!
Lunch
Friday's lunch was delicious, and it was a new-to-me restaurant: Local Foods, located in the Rice Village area. My high school physics teacher's wife is a much-appreciated reader of my blog, and knows of my love for food that is nutritious and delicious. So, I actually enjoyed lunch at this restaurant with the two of them, and not only was it good food, but it was good company. They are actually about to become parents to twins, and I am very eager to learn if they will be boys, girls, or one of each, and we will know in just about a month - how exciting!
The restaurant was really cute, and it seemed to be a very popular place to be. Everything looked and smelled incredible, but after seeing one of their salads being brought out, I knew I had to go with the Summer Harvest Salad with grilled chicken. In addition to the grilled chicken, the salad consisted of baby lettuce, market vegetables, sunflower seeds, sprouts, and salsa verde. You all know how much I love salsa, so I knew this would be a winner. It absolutely was, and I will be sure to return to try one of the sandwiches.
After lunch, and a little bit of baking, I met Amira up at Stratford for a round of tennis before a wonderful dinner at Hungry's. I don't know why, but I have been itching to play tennis lately, and I knew Amira would help me cross that one off my list. Neither of us are particularly good at tennis, but we had a very good time hitting (and chasing) the ball back and forth.
Once we had worked up an appetite, we headed just down the road to Hungry's, which you know had to happen for me. I went with my most-recent usual - the Chicken Kabob Plate, and Amira went with the Baja Chicken Wrap. Hungry's is always a win, and I was glad to have a chance to catch up with her (despite having seen her just two weeks ago).
Now onto today, which really hasn't been very exciting at all. I woke up around 7:00am, went for a three-mile walk around my neighborhood before deciding that a three-mile run would probably be bearable as well. I cut my run a little bit short due to a combination of fatigue and humidity, but it felt good to run after three straight days of spin class.
After a shower and gathering all of my belongings, and why I had so many for three days at home I will never know, I headed back to Austin so that I would have enough time to unload, unpack, and make a quick trip to the grocery store before work. I only needed a few things, so I decided to go to Central Market instead of HEB, and I also made myself a salad to enjoy while working the desk. It was a very random combination of baby lettuce, spinach, mixed vegetables, black beans, corn, and grilled chicken, but I ate every last bite.
Overall, my time in Houston was wonderful, and though it was much too short, I left feeling happy, refreshed, and thankful that my parents always welcome me home with open arms. Have a great rest of your Saturday!
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