Dating in Dallas. Oddfellows

Hey everybody! How are you doing? Sad that its Monday? I know those feels. But you know what makes Mondays bearable? The weekend, and what makes weekends so spectacular is the queen of all meals, brunch! Brunch is everything we love about breakfast except you get to sleep in and then day drink, I mean who isn’t about that life?

Dallas is basically (and I mean in the most basic b kind of way) famous for #brunchingsohard but with that being said brunch choices can get a little congested, and if you’re anything like me, too many options is overwhelming. So here I am to help cut through the fog of bottomless mimosas and avocado toast to throw my advice your way and suggest you check out Oddfellows.

Oddfellows will always hold a dear place in mine and Dane’s heart because we had brunch here on the day we got engaged. But let’s get real that’s not a good enough reason for you to go here. The real reason you should go here is because the food is phenomenal! Plus they serve their breakfast items (which make up a good portion of the menu) all day! Now of course like any brunch place worth its salt its busy on weekends 😦 but since Oddfellows is located in the bishop arts district you can walk around and check out the shops while you wait on your text informing you your table’s ready! One of my husband’s favorite stores is the cigar shop, I don’t smoke but even I say its worth checking out while waiting for your table.

Cheers! Oddfellows makes a pretty delicious mix of cocktails!

Look how excited he is for pancakes!

Oddfellows does a pancake of the day so there’s always something new for Dane to try, the boy freaking loves pancakes, this was a coconut walnut pancake and it was so decadent but perfectly fluffy! I’ll be honest I’ve not had better pancakes at any other restaurant. Whether its a lemon blueberry pancake or a chocolate banana its always “the best pancake I’ve ever had” haha.

One of my all time favorites!!! You guys, their pork belly eggs benedict is other wordly! The flavors are so well balanced, I cannot help but do a happy dance anytime the meal is brought to the table…which is almost every time we go. I’m someone who will keep ordering something til I hate it…and you guys its been a while since eating this masterpiece and we are still very much in the honeymoon phase of our affection haha. Seriously just promise me at least one person orders this dish when you go to oddfellows so you can all try it and know what I mean.

I hope you all enjoyed this post and that you get to #brunchsohard this weekend! Happy Monday!

 

 

Dating in Dallas

Hello my lovely followers, I want to thank you for sticking with me even though I rarely post these days. Life has been a whirlwind, after getting married, moving, and other life realness blogging got pushed to the back burner.

I have to admit I’ve missed blogging terribly, I’ve missed the routine and creativity and the ability to interact with all of you fine folk. So in an attempt to be more diligent about posting I figured I would start blogging about date days/nights. Since those are my favorite days. Dane and I share quite a love for food and drink, so I have a feeling this blog will pretty much write itself.

To start off the series I figured we’d start with the most important meal of the day: Breakfast! In order to break up routine the hubs and I have decided to try one new restaurant every other date. We decided to do a breakfast date at Yolk.  We’d been eyeballing this place for a while and finally took the plunge today. my handsome husband’s second love is coffee and yolk got this snob’s slurp of approval

I’m boring so it was just water for me. But how cute is that carafe?Dane’s meal was The Yolk All Star Combo that he upgraded the pancakes to have the Nutty Monkey Pancakes. The eggs were cooked exactly how Dane likes them, bacon was crisp, the sausage was well seasoned and didnt look like a skimpy dog treat (a common occurrence at many a breakfast joints) the maple syrup had been warmed which is always a nice bonus and the pancakes were fluffy and packed full of peanut butter, banana, and chocolatey goodness. No complaints to be had here.

The Yolk’s Chicken and waffles. A bacon waffle, fried chicken, and sausage gravy…Does it get any more southern than this? Well if the chicken had been better yes. Now I thought the waffle was perfect, crispy outside and cloud like fluffiness inside, the sausage gravy was good, but my biggest complaint was against the chicken, the breading wasn’t quite crispy enough to hold up to gravy (a true southern sin) and the seasoning fell a little bit flat. As a Texan I can be bit snooty when it comes to southern staples like fried chicken. All in all I enjoyed my meal, but next time I’d probably just order the waffle sans chicken.

Dane and I certainly enjoyed Yolk, the waitstaff is friendly and attentive, but doesn’t come by your table every two seconds, the interior was fun and hip, and the servings are large so if you wanted to split an entree it could easily be done. I would say Yolk would be an excellent casual breakfast date spot. You don’t feel the need to get too dressed up but if you want to impress your date and wear something a little nicer you absolutely could. The environment isn’t romantic so its very much a no pressure date. Which can be needed sometimes.

So will Dane and I be going back? Yes we will. We enjoyed our time there and the food was pretty good, we’re excited to explore the rest of the menu and see how that stacks up against what we ordered originally.

Again thank you guys for sticking it out and bearing with my dry blogging spell. Let me know if this is a series you’d like to keep seeing. If you’re familiar with the Dallas region be sure to share what recommendations you might have. We’re always looking for more Date night ideas. Cheers!

 

So I got married…

Well I have finally gotten around to posting a blog about mine and Dane’s wedding hooray!

Guys having a wedding is no joke, Dane and I had 8 months to plan this event, which wasn’t a massive wedding but good lord it was a lot of work. Lot’s of late night crafting, amazon prime ordering, stressing, crying, shouting “let’s just elope” during every planning session, and dealing with everyone’s unwanted opinions and prying questions during that time is something I am thankful I’ll never have to endure again. But even with all the drama and stress the day was so worth it. Because it was more beautiful and special than I could’ve imagined, and for every troublesome person that caused strife there was a whole group of friends and family who reminded Dane and I that at the end of the day all that matters is we get to marry the loves of our life.

So many people helped make our wedding possible, friends let us use their property for our venue, the bridesmaids put together my bouquet, my brother and his wife bought my headwreath when a previous vendor had flaked on me, and friends helped my mother set up all the decor, gosh we were truly surrounded by some amazing people! You all made our Peter Pan themed wedding better than Disney could’ve managed, and we cannot thank you enough.

My sweet nephew always the ladies man 😉

Beautiful Bridesmaids

Hubba Hubba hubby.

Mom’s always got my back.

Having family and friends pray for us right before the ceremony was so special and resulted in some serious ugly cry face from me…yikes!

Gotta get back to being presentable 😉

This is precisely why I wanted first look photos.

Our awesome bridesmaids and groomsmen.

Barely keeping it together.

Finally!!!

My bestest friend through life, my baby sister.

Family.

Our chosen family.

Bliss

My beautiful baby sang for our first dance.

Mom and Dad.

My brothers and their beautiful ladies!

Welcome to the rest of our lives.

A ridiculously massive shout-out to our phenomenal photographer Cody Kurtz! I honestly cannot recommend this guy enough, he met with Dane and I to fully get to know us as a couple and find out what kind of shots were important to us, and dude he knocked it out of the park.

Flowers were bought from Trader Joes gotta represent our workplace somehow 😉 also I spent less than $100 on our flowers holla!

Groomsmen tuxes from Menguin which I highly recommend, super easy, great customer service, and a heck of a lot cheaper than its competitors.

Bridesmaids dresses were from Unique Vintage, Mod Cloth, and JJ’s House.

My perfectly grey/blue dress was from MilaMira bridal. I will suggest when ordering from them order a size up, my dress was a tad too snug for me, thankfully my mom knew a tailor who was able to change the structure to a corset so I could wear my dress comfortably. But other than the sizing thing I have no complaints, they were wonderfully helpful answering questions, offering suggestions on fabric, and the dress came in a timely manner, which is amazing since their dresses are handmade!

I hope you all enjoyed a look at our wedding, and for those of you currently planning a wedding I will offer this little bit of advice. You do You! This day is about you guys as a couple, all the silly traditions, pushy relatives, pricey vendors etc can shush. I can happily look back on my wedding day with no regrets because Dane and I stayed true to ourselves.

Happy Saturday my loves.

 

 

Forshaw Family Shoot

*Caution this blog post contains pictures of the cutest little family ever*

Sometimes I just really really love my job! Taking portraits of my beautiful family would be one of those times. I know I am biased but even if I didn’t know these people from adam I would have to admit that they are undoubtedly one of the most beautiful families I have ever seen.

Good job big bro you picked yourself an incredible wife and you guys brought the sweetest, smartest, most wonderful little boy into the world! It was my absolute pleasure to capture these special moments.

Overdosing on the preciousnessOh that nose wrinkle

I love you guys so much!

I hope you all enjoyed my gushing and photography. Happy Wednesday everyone!

Family Portraits

Today’s post is of the White family portrait session. We kept getting rained out for our scheduled shoots, but thankfully we found a day where neither of us were busy and it wasn’t raining cats and dogs. It was an absolute joy to photograph this family and I hope you all enjoy the pictures as much as I do.

So precious!!!This doll decided to come closer and see me. So cute it hurts 😉

Such a sweet candid moment! I cannot get over how beautiful this family is!

Little sister was wanting to be done. But still this candid is positively adorable. I like portraits that capture who someone is at that exact moment. Being tired of having your picture taken and all 😉

This family is just outrageously beautiful!

Maternity Shoot.

So here is the shoot I did with my sister-in-law and eldest brother. I have to admit I was pretty nervous about doing this shoot, I usually get nervous before any shoot, just because I want to make sure I give my client quality pictures. But it was especially important that I give my own family great pictures. This was my first maternity shoot, I have assisted during another, but never did one on my own. But I must say (without bragging) I think I managed to capture some rather nice shots.

Aren’t they sweet?

My sis-in-law is such a stunner.

My big brother is not too shabby either 😉

I must say I really love this shot. I hope my sis-in-law and big brother do too. I’m so looking forward to being an aunt and to doing newborn pics 😉 Hope you all enjoyed this post and that you are having a very happy Monday. Cheers!

Maternity Shoot Sneak Peek!

Here’s a sneak peek of a photoshoot I did today with my beautiful sister-in-law and awesome eldest brother.

Couples Portraits.

*Warning this blog contains lots of pictures* On Saturday I did a photo shoot of my brother and his lovely wife. Boy, working with family certainly has its pros and cons…Pro you’re more relaxed because the professionalism doesn’t have to be so strong, con if you have a brother like mine you spend a good deal more time saying things like “stop making the stupid face or I will punch you” haha just kidding, sort of. But I think we got some pretty decent pictures regardless of silly faces here and there, so here they are, some of my favorite pictures.

This pic was very James Dean-esque.

And this was very much my brother.

My gorgeous Sister-in-law! Man is she a knockout or what?

Now this picture was meant to be a joke, but I quite like the way it turned out.

Lots of love 🙂

Man they’re cute!

How sweet!

A little bit of dancing!

I hope you all enjoyed this post. Happy Wednesday!