I luv Fort Worth

OK, I love Dallas, too, but Fort Worth wins me over the most. As expected, my girls' weekend in Texas did not disappoint.

I arrived Thursday night without incident and stayed at the Omni Mandalay Hotel in Las Colinas. That's one area of DFW that I'm not too familiar with, but Stacy and I enjoyed our short visit. The hotel was beautiful and made us feel as if we were in a resort, not in Las Colinas.

After battling the wind during a short run Friday morning, we ventured to NorthPark Center to do some shopping. Boy, did we ever. We enjoyed a fabulous lunch at Maggiano's Little Italy, then hit as many stores as possible. After nearly five hours of shopping (oh my goodness!), we left with purchases in hand and a need to fill up our bellies again.

With blue skies and mild temperatures, we opted to sit outside on Blue Goose's patio on Lower Greenville. It did not disappoint: queso, warm tortillas, chicken fajitas, and a virgin strawberry daiquiri for me.

Next up, we stocked up on snackies for the weekend at the Signature Kroger on Mockingbird. They had a jazz band playing inside. Enough said.

After picking up Sunshine at Love Field, we hit the road to Fort Worth and eagerly arrived at the Blackstone Courtyard Marriott downtown. Friends and many drinks were awaiting us in the newly-popular warehouse district, northwest of downtown. We spent the rest of the night at Ten, a cool martini bar, with other TCU swimming alums. In fact, they had to kick us out at 2 a.m. (By the way, I didn't drink, but I had a taste of Sunshine's wedding cake martini. That may be my drink of choice when I'm back in the saddle.)

Saturday: There are too many highlights to get through them all! We slept in, watched the TCU alumni swimming meet and helped the alums defeat the varsity, 5-0, in animal ball. (According to Richard, this was the first-ever shutout victory in the history of animal ball.)

The three of us quickly headed to Perrotti's for pizza and the BEST breadsticks on earth. We couldn't stop eating them! After stocking up on TCU gear at the bookstore and touring the campus (which is undergoing several changes), we decided it was nap time. I even got to lay poolside for an hour or so!

The day was capped off with TCU beating Wyoming in football. I love college football, especially when it's my team playing. I loved watching the game and experiencing the atmosphere. Several swimmer alums set up camp in the parking lot for rockin' tailgate, which we happily joined!

Sunday morning the girls joined my parents, sister Amy and I for breakfast at Esperanza's, the breakfast wing for Joe T. Garcia's. It did not disappoint. I even busted out and had a sausage/potato burrito. It was worth it!

Though the food was fabulous and I enjoyed seeing the old campus, the trip was mostly about spending time with two of my dearest friends, Stacy and Sunshine. We had such a fabulous time together and can hardly wait for the next get-together. (I'll post a pic soon!) And I'm also so appreciative of my husband, who didn't miss a beat while taking care of the boys solo for the weekend. What a great husband and father.

Until the next homecoming ...