• January 4, 2016

    • Our Mother Daughter Holiday Weekend

    The weekend before Christmas I was treated with the loveliest of visits from none other than my mother.

    My parents often visit us two-to-three times a year, but my mom hardly ever comes just by herself. This was the first time we had a long weekend with no boys around and we could explore Houston and do just whatever we wanted.

    And boy did we have fun!

    :

    Among what seemed like 100s of things we did that weekend (Mexican dinners, galleria shopping trips, long leisurely brunches) I happened to have only toted my camera around for a little bit. 
    I guess I was distracted by all the fun … which made it difficult to document the fun! Bad blogger! 🙂 But it was nice to just let go and not have to think about taking photos of anything at all. 
    {However, once the weekend was over I wished that I had snapped a bit more – especially so that we could have photos from the weekend to look back on when our visits begin to feel few and far between.}

    One of the most adorable places we visited over the weekend was The Black Labrador Pub, a legit British pub in Montrose. (I fell so in love with this place from our brief visit just 2 weeks ago, that I’ve already been back since!)

    Anglophile that I am, and having spent half a year in the UK, I can attest that The Black Labrador is 100% like teleporting to the coziest & quaintest of English pubs.

    You’ve GOT to try the West Highland Cheese Soup when you go, it’s unbelievable!

    My mom and I stopped by The Black Labrador to relax for a drink after a loooong day of shopping at The Galleria.  Our feet were oh-so tired! 
    But as soon as we discovered the giant game of chess out on the patio, we (or “I” more specifically) forgot about our achey feet to play a quick game of chess! 

    The chess game may have only lasted for like 10 minutes, but it was a very very fun ten minutes.  Soon some more serious players showed up & took over.

    We sat and watched for a bit.

    It turned into quite an entertaining afternoon!

    Can’t get too far without telling y’all about these pretty new boots of mine! I found them on sale recently at my favorite place to shop for boots: Cavenders. (Usually $500+, I scored this pair for only $350! It looks like this pair is sold out online, so you may want to pop in some local stores if your hankering for a pair yourself.  The one on Katy Freeway still had a few left, last time I was in!) 
    Cavender’s also has this shorter pair of Old Gringo’s, (on sale) which are just as cute! 
    If your stuck on the Mayra boots by Old Gringo & don’t have a Cavender’s nearby, you can always grab a pair from this retailer. 

    After the pub it was on to another dinner out (El Tiempo is a must for out-of-town visitors) & then a restful night sleep for our big day on Saturday.

    The highlight of the first part of our Saturday was a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

    I had visited MFAH once before, but it was so soon after we moved here, & I didn’t feel like I spent enough time or did the museum proper justice.

    And really, once is never enough for a world-renown museum with an amazing collection like MFAH’s.

    We spent hours strolling at our own (very leisurely) pace, admiring the paintings, sculptures and other various works of art.

    My favorites are always the Renaissance paintings & the Impressionist paintings.  I can’t get enough of either!

    I also had a very Ferris Bueller’s Day Off moment when admiring this particular piece.

    This is a closer shot of the painting above.

    See what I mean?! It’s hard to comprehend the artist creating a scene out of the tiniest of brush strokes!

    One big surprise was stumbling upon the room filled with original Remington pieces.  
    In the past two years since Patrick & I have lived in Texas, we’ve garnered this interesting fascination with everything “Old West.” From art, to movies, to traveling to old western locations – we’re realllly into it. 
    We have a reproduction of one of Remington’s paintings, so it was so much fun to see the real deal in person after passing by a print of one of his every. single. day. in my hallway! 

    We browsed the modern art for a while then it was time for coffeeeeeee.

    henri bendel west 57th pink satchel, henri bendel pink purse, henri bendel west 57th rose satchel, henri bendel small satchel
    henri bendel satchel // dittos karen walker sunnies
    I always like taking my mom to “local” coffee joints when she visits.  She’s a Starbucks junkie so it’s fun to get her to try something new. 
    We always seem to stop in Boomtown when she comes in town, but this go-round I thought I would take her to Common Bond too. 
    Common Bond does have a wide-assortment of macarons after all. 
    The lavender lemon is de-lic-ious! 

    my skirt // shoes // purse // & top (vintage fur thanks to mom!) 

    The last bit of our mother daughter weekend (that was actually photographed) was of the two of us venturing out to see The Nutcracker!

    We stopped in B&B Butcher’s beforehand for some Carpetbagger Oysters (to die for) and a few other tasty treats.  (Ok the blue cheese covered bacon is absolutely amazing you guys!)

    Patrick joined us for dinner & was sweet enough to snap our photo before letting us ladies head out on the town.

    I am so thankful for such a fun weekend with my mom.  {Hi mom! Thanks for proofreading this blog post for me, and all the other ones you do – at crazy hours throughout the week! Couldn’t do it without ya!}

    I plan on sharing a few recaps of all the fun I had throughout the holidays, so stay tuned!  Today it’s back to the 5-day workweek grind. UGHHH. But getting back in a routine will feel really good, I’m sure.

    As always, thanks for stopping by the blog. & I’ll say it one more time, happy new year!
    —
    alice