Monkeys & Baklava

The past few weeks have been busy ones! 

One of the coolest things about living in a major metropolitan area is the huge variety of cultural events & fun festivals.  Last weekend we went to Houston's Greekfest at St. Basil's Greek Orthodox Church (http://houstongreekfest.com/).

Back story: my mom used to work for a Greek accountant who did the books for basically every Greek restaurant in Asheville.  When she would deliver paperwork to them, she sometimes took me. And due to a wonderfully generous food-sharing ethic (yum), they would feed us.  A lot.  So as a kid, I got seriously spoiled on authentic, homemade Greek food. 

It was also a great introduction to Greek culture, and my travels to Greece years ago cemented my appreciation for it.  I would LOVE to go back to Greece someday soon!

The festival was on the smaller side but very lively and fun - they had beautiful architecture:

 

Dancing:

And, of course, FOOD!!!  We had gyros - delicious!!!  And then had to go back for some baklava.  I also got a kourabiedes (a buttery nutty cookie covered in powdered sugar).  Both were SO unbelievably good.  Homemade baklava is absolutely divine. 

 (In fact I totally forgot to take the picture until I had already taken a bite).

Then last week I went to The Big D (Dallas) for work.  It was a great trip!  I got another training certification, which is always awesome, and got to meet a bunch of new coworkers in our Dallas office.  And in my free time in the evenings, I had a little adventure! 

Noel enjoys a show called "Fast & Loud."  Who am I kidding?  I enjoy it too.  :)  It's a show about a garage in Dallas that refurbish old cars into really gorgeous customs.  Noel mentioned to me that if I "happened" to go by their garage and "happened" to buy him a t-shirt, he'd be really happy.  So!  Because I am a kind and loving person who has a high tolerance for rush hour traffic, I totally went to Gas Monkey Garage and parked and stalked them while they made an episode of the show.  And bought him some stuff.  And also a shirt for myself. 

 

 

I even got a picture of Richard Rawlings, the star of the show!

 

 

 

We've been doing some work on the house too, including pimping out our pergola.  In case you weren't aware, Houston gets a bit sunny...and hot...  So we enjoying our beautiful pergola because it's unbearable.  But!  We refuse to submit.  So we made some linens to go on top, installed shower rails on 2 sides, and bought some pretty sheets to act as sun shades on the sides.  Success!!  We love it.  Makes it feel like an outdoor room now. 

And the outdoors are a-blooming!  Our hibiscus is now growing back nicely but is still only about 8 inches tall.  But our canna lilies are already blooming nicely! 

We also had a run in with a squirrel that was like a 3 Stooges routine.  Look at the size of this monster squirrel!!

So I tried to get a picture of him, but every time I would sidle around one side of the tree, he'd inch around the other side.  Then I'd go back the other way slowly, and he'd inch back around the opposite way.  It took...way too long to get this picture.  And of course, Noel was laughing at my inability to not try to get a picture of said squirrel, because I have in fact been bitten by a squirrel before when trying to feed it.

And because a blog post isn't a blog post without it, the requisite Cat in Box photo:

(Note - Poe seems to fit in this box slightly better than Sammy does.)