Sooner Longhorn Construction

I thought I'd take a break from my day job breaking bricks to give ya'll a little report on our latest addition.
Do you ever look at DIY network or watch HGTV and think to yourself, "that looks easy." We did. We decided that our code defying pergola wasn't enough. We needed flagstone. Somewhere to sit so we don't muss up the beautiful turfalo.
There were only four steps. Four small steps to our very own flagstone patio. It seemed easy enough. First, clear out the area you want to set the flagstone in of all grass and other materials to create a clean work area. Dig four inches into the ground to insure a solid base. Four inches doesn't seem like much, but we ended up taking out a yard of dirt.



The next step is filling the area with sand and decompose granite. This provides the base in which the stones will set. It also makes your truck look like this


So, we took all that dirt out, wheel barrel load by wheel barrel load and then fill it in again




Zach and I left the truly important job to Sara. She created the pattern and placed each stone right in the perfect spot.







The final step is watering the entire area down to allow the granite to adhere to itself and keep everything in place. Easy enough, but it took a whole day and much sweat. Zach was awesome enough to work for tacos and beer too.

Fairmount Happy Hour

Hey Everyone,

Sara and I want to thank everyone who came by for Happy Hour at Chadra Mezza tonight. The First Fairmount Neighborhood Association Happy Hour was a rousing success. We wanted to create a time where people could mingle with their neighbors outside the monthly meetings. I think we accomplished that tonight. We are already planning the next Happy Hour and hope this continues to be a success.
Thanks again

Cooking with Jason

it feels a little like a hostel at College and Maddox recently with all our friends travlin' through town. We must be the fun couple to visit because our friend Jason stopped by for a night right after Lean departed.
Jason is a medical supply salesmen and was down our way for a meet and greet in Dallas and a couple of meetings with Doctors in Wichita Falls. Every time he's there he tells me he's going to stop by and I always wonder if realizes how freakin' far away Wichita Falls is. It's not like going to the Eastside of Funky town. It's so far away you need a sherpa and pesos.
Anyways, my buddy is in town and forces me to go and show him around a little bit. I reluctantly leave the exciting affairs of the AG's office and take him to the most touristy thing I could think of; The Stockyards.

Our first stop was the Love Shack. I like the Shack. While Sara will tell you that it pales in comparison to Kincaid's and Dutch's (Which are both great), I am a fan. Maybe its the beer garden decor or the fact you can get roadies (beers to go) to quench your thirst as you wander around the Wild Westness of the Stockyards, but I'm a fan.I tried to talk Jason into the Dirty Love Burger, but he opted for their normal hamburger and thought it was on par with Fred's (We hit up Fred's on his last visit). Not great, but a good burger nonetheless. We then proceeded to discuss in depth the current social and economic problems that have plague our country and the solutions we've detailed elsewhere to combat these grave issues.........


Or, we went to the White Elephant Saloon and drank some beer. However, our day time drinking did produce one fantastic idea; grilling.
Jason is an amateur BBQ enthusiast who will be making his professional debut sometime this year. Sara and I got a sneak peek at our friend in action as he whipped together steaks and veggies using his own recipes and, of course, our "swinging meat" grill.


He whipped together shrimp wrapped in bacon, stuffed with pineapple and his own spicy cream cheese filling. We did bacon wrapped peppers, drilled asparagus, squash and zucchini. Our main course were fat T-bones marinated in his own concoction. It was so much fun to watch him do his recipes and then eat! It was a little like our own cooking school. I think Sara will tell you besides the delicious food, catching up with an old friend, her favorite part of the evening was not having to wash all the dishes we used dirtied up creating this feast.





We've been so lucky to have friends like Jason and Lena. Time may pass and things change, but good friendship do not. Now Sara and I have to return the favor and start making plans for some mini vacations out to Oklahoma and Singapore. Well, Singapore won't be a mini vacation, but you know what I mean.

LMC in the House! :)

So, I'm late in posting this...but Sean and I had a great friend visit us two weeks ago...it was my world-traveler friend, Lena. She is about to move to Singapore in a couple of weeks for work, so we got to see her before she leaves. Sean and I have also started planning our trip to Singapore to visit her, which will be very exciting!!!


We started the trip off with a trip to Sprinkles (the cupcake place) - they were quite delicious....so much so, that I guess we never even got a pic!

The whole weekend flew by of course, but it was so much fun! Lena is my traveling partner - she and I met while we were in space and have been friends ever since.

On Saturday night we went to a Fort Worth Cats game. I know, I know....a baseball game in TX in July? Are we crazy? Well, yes...but we did actually have great weather!


We met Jen, Chris and Yaya at the game and had a great time...I just wish I had taken a picture of Sean with his delicious sno-cone.....he was a happy guy!

When we got back from the game, we "porched" on the front porch and watched some of the goings-on in the neighborhood....never a dull moment in Fairmount!

Lena also helped me to pick out the newest addition to our furniture collection. Sean has dubbed it "The Lion, the Lynch's and the Wardrobe"...he might write a book about it soon :)



We found it an awesome garage sale on Elizabeth Avenue...here's the house we bought it from...this doesn't really do it justice, but the street is full of gorgeous 1920's mansions. This one was for sale, but it has already sold. Anyways, the couple that was selling it was moving to a modern house and wanted to sell all of their antiques. They were hoping to keep the wardrobe, but it didn't fit in their new bedroom - so we were so excited to add it to our bedroom!!! We need all of the closet space we can get in our old house!

Well, Sean and I have been really productive today. We've done a neighborhood street clean-up, a jog with Atticus, mowed the yard and found a new breakfast taco place - La Original Zacatecas. I still have some work to do before dinner tonight at my parents. Have a good Saturday! We'll write more soon!