Carrollton, Texas!!!

I work in Carrollton, Texas...actually, I work in Farmers Branch, but it's part of the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district. I love the location of where I work, but I had yet to find the local flavor, so to speak, that makes a city more personable. My favorite coffee house is in Addison, which is close. Dunn Brothers Coffee Co. is one of those coffee houses that still serves coffee in actual mugs and the owner's wife works at a middle school in my district. But still, it wasn't in Carrollton.

Finally, a couple weeks ago I went with some colleagues to Babe's Restaurant (off of Beltline and 35) after work. Wow. I think that if we eat in heaven (and I hope we do), Babe's would serve the food. They have homestyle cooking served family style at big tables. You pay for the meat -- I prefer the hickory roasted chicken -- and the sides all come with it. They have by far the best mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans (very flavorful, but no onions!), corn, and biscuits that just melt in your mouth. I love it! I've been there again already and if anyone is up for it and in the Dallas area, let me know and we'll go to Babe's Chicken.

Anyone have a favorite "local" restaurant? No chains, please -- Chili's and the like don't count.

Another jewel in Carrollton is the Exposure Indoor Rock Climbing gym on Midway and near Keller Springs Road. Last summer, Jenny and I went on a cruise to Alaska with our grandparents. One of the excursions we took was to go rock climbing in Scagway, Alaska while our grandparents went on a train tour (that's me to the right).

Because we went with such a small group of folks, we were able to climb several different routes and get over the initial fear of climbing and heights. I loved it so much that when I looked into things to do when I relocated to Dallas, I looked to see where some climbing gyms were. Well, nothing came of it until almost a year later...

Yesterday afternoon, a group of friends and I went to Exposure to climb around. We had been talking about it for weeks because we all had wanted to try it. We had a blast! We began by watching a video on how to belay and then we took a test so we could do it all by ourselves. Kami was my climbing buddy, which was good because I completely trust her. I completely trust everyone that went, don't get me wrong; I'm just saying that she was a good belayer. :)

The above photo is a shot of where we climbed. The inverted wall at the top of the picture was one of the most challenging routes. Brad came late and tried to begin on that route and had to stop. Adam, because he was a bit more warmed up, made it to the top! (yay!) However, his arms were shaking for the remainder of the afternoon...

Overall, we had a great time. I think Emily, Jenise, Kami, and I want to come back on a more regular basis. Any other takers?

So, what have you found where you live that keeps you going? What restaurants are jewels in your town? Where do you like to go with people who are visiting you for the weekend?

Cavalia, Christian Leadership, and Cookouts

Have you ever noticed that when preachers give points in their sermons, they typically have some kind of mnemonic device (I guess to help us remember)? This Sunday night was a bit humorous because our preacher claimed that he thought Paul had four points to make (all beginning with "the Power of...") in a certain section of Philippians... Amy, Kami, and I were trying to guess what the next point might be. I think we guessed two of them...

All that to say, do you like the mnemonic title of today's post?

That being said, I wanted to share some pictures from the weekend. The three day holiday was much needed, especially since my students (and all students in Texas from grade 3 up) are taking the wonderful TAKS test (trying to think positively about the bane of my existence)... So, I tried to cram as much fun into my three day weekend as humanly possible (in true Laura fashion). On Thursday night, the six of us in the above photo, plus my long-lost cousin, Kim, went to see Cavalia. This show is kind of like Cirque du Soleil, but with horses! We had a grand ol' time and a good parking spot. The Cavalia folks set up their huge tent right next door to where Tim works, so he got us the hook-up! On Friday, I drove to Houston to be with my family for the Central Texas Leadership Training for Christ convention (LTC). My brother Jonathan is a junior in high school and I love hearing him sing. He competed in two of the choruses (large chorus and small chorus). Typically, we like to take fun songs, slow them down for the beginning, and jazz them up at the end. Last year, I helped out and his quartet sang "The Lord Bless You and Keep You." For the second time through, Jono brought out the vocal percussion -- so fun and unexpected! This year, they jazzed up "Mighty is Our God" and did several other fun songs. He got a gold medal in both categories! This is a picture of his chorus this year. Their outfits get better and better each year! When I was in chorus, we had to wear these red, white, and blue collar things. blechk! Then, we all wore Looney Tune ties with white button down shirts, and eventually we did grow out of those phases and look stylish... still working on that, though...
The director, Tricia, has two sons, Zach and Andrew. They are "my boys" -- I used to babysit them when I lived at home and they are so precious! I just love those two! Zach looks crazy in this picture, but he is really sweet. I'm so glad I got to see them this weekend. My parents are awesome! They have been to every single LTC for the past 16 years (since I was in 4th grade). Mom wears many hats during the weekend, but two really stand out. She not only is the Easter bunny (shhh! don't tell!), but she writes a song about the weekend to different tunes (ACU's Sing Song, anyone?). This year, the tune was the theme song from "Gilligan's Island," so we had audience participation. Dad loved this idea and jumped on the opportunity to aid the "audience" along. hilarious. I really wish Jenny and Ben could have been there this year... To touch on the final point of this post, cookouts are probably one of my most favorite (yes, I'm an English teacher and just did that) things about summer. The weather here in Dallas has been uber-hot these past two days. I thought it might be a good idea, since I was hosting Tuesday Night Dinner (TND), to have a cookout. We had a lot of fun playing sand volleyball, swimming, chatting, and goofing off. This was an especially good break for me because I had just finished one day of testing with my kids and am currently doing one more. Tonight, I'm celebrating the end of TAKS with my teacher friends at Babe's Restaurant -- yummy! Anyone been there?

Leaders' Retreat and Children's Home

Leaders' Retreat

I have been uber-busy these past couple of weeks (the TAKS test is next week), but I wanted to share some pictures from last weekend's Leaders' Retreat. We went to Camp El Har and did this low ropes course/team building thing. We became VERY close (proximity-wise) and grew as leaders.

It's always interesting to me to see how different people handle various situations. Ropes courses are great ways to build up a team because the problem-solving personalities are forced to shine through. I think we all got frustrated with the Platform Task. We had to get 15 not-so-small adults onto a 4x4 platform and sing "Oh When the Saints...." Yeah, that didn't exactly happen. And instead of singing faster, we thought louder would do! Quite humorous, but we were ready to move on to the next activity.

We did various things like try to get across a fiery swamp with two planks and several posts (and leading the blind!), which actually was one of the most cooperative activities the entire day. We all got along (I don't mean that to sound like we weren't cooperating), but we all were forced to take a role in that activity.

Every good ropes course needs a trust fall sequence. The picture to the left is the final step in the trust fall sequence (after we've built up the trust of the group). I must say, I was very proud of us for not dropping anyone...although all the pictures like this one look like we're saying our last prayers.

To see more pictures of the Leaders' Retreat, click here.

Stephenville Trip

Every year, the Prestoncrest Singles' (Young Professionals) group takes a trip to the Fosters Children's Home in Stephenville, TX. It's like a mission trip for us, but it's more fun and less work. We played with the kids there all weekend. Most of the kids are middle or high schoolers and we spent the weekend playing volleyball, basketball (knock out), jumping rope, painting nails (with the girls), and just hanging out and providing entertainment for some of the neatest kids in Texas. Needless to say, after all the activity, I'm a bit sore today!

I got to know a boy named Anthony over the weekend. He wanted help with putting his hair in tiny ponytails all over his head, so we kind of bonded (he had to take the ponytails out for church). He's been there only since February. I don't know his whole story, but he was having a rough weekend. He got hit in the eye with a tree branch during our volleyball game (long story) and that day was the 2 year anniversary of a tragic death in his family, but he was a trooper and made the most of the weekend anyway.

To see more pictures of the weekend, click here.