Brenham Christmas Home Tours- Sat Nov 20

Last Saturday I went to Brenham for the Historic Homes Christmas Tour and Trunk Show that was advertised in Texas Highways. The trunk show shopping wasn't very fun but visiting the houses was a fun way to spend the day... Some were better than others...but for $15 I enjoyed my day!
The home tours didn't start until 1pm so when I got to Brenham at 11:30 I went to the downtown area to do some shopping. I love this time of year because I have a GOOD excuse to be shopping!! :)

Sadly enough, I didn't find anything at my favorite store as there was still Halloween stuff on clearance. But I did find a cute Horton Hears a Who ring here, at the Book Nook for $1. Also got a few books for the kids.

I saw some cute stuff here at Dona Lynn's but didn't get anything. The prices were kinda high...

The Trunk Show and Tour started here at the Giddings-Stone Mansion. I love plantation-style homes with big two-story porches!

The entire home was set up with locals selling jewelry and other crafts and food. I snapped this quick picture of the sitting area between floors.

Then I was off to the second stop, the Wood-Hughes House. It caught my eye while driving in so I was really excited to get to tour it. Guides were in each room and they explain what they've rehearsed in their time-period dress. No pictures were allowed though, so that was sad but I got some on my iPhone. :p

Beautiful chandelier as you enter...where I was told to, "PUT YOUR CAMERA UP!" :) Oopsie

Third stop: Whittbaker-Weiss House. Cute little home...many antiques were in all these houses.

Love that National Register!!

The next house was very beautiful. I want this house!! I don't have the name, I'll have to look it up once I blog it on VT.

Another National Register!

My favorite part of the home was this outdoor/indoor kitchen. How cute is this for your morning coffee or afternoon tea?!?!? OMG, I am going to have something like this in my home.

The Giddings-Wilkens home was kind of creepy. Most of them have people living in them but this was almost empty and kind of dark by 4pm. So, I dunno...interesting though.

OMG, MY FAVORITE!! This house isn't historic, as it was built in 2001 but it was one of the most beautiful houses ever.... Built in bookshelves EVERYWHERE and a carriage-style house. Delicious, for sure. And they were fellow travel enthusiasts with pieces from around the world. So, at least I know my house will look super cute when I'm older and have all my pieces accumulated! It was a great day, and a way to kind of dodge the sulky weather.

Renaissance Festival with Aunt B 1 and Aunt B 2

Last weekend my Aunt B came into town and we headed about an hour North of here to Plantersville for the Texas Renaissance Festival.

Home to the turkey leg! Lol, there were soooooo many people! But the weather was lovely!

Saw some interesting performers. These were belly dancers with swords balanced on their heads. The girl in the middle was definitely awesome, while her friends weren't quite as Shakira-esque.

The Renaissance villages in the woods of Plantersville....with so many people!! And at $23 a pop, they are making some MONEY!

They had elephant and camel rides for $5. But.....they were maybe 5 minutes long so I felt kinda cheated. Next time, though, for sure!

This was the Italian village...

We split a meatball sandwich and I got a strawberry daqueri yummmm!

Walking around the gardens....

The colesseum (is that what they called it??) for the joust...before the show, though.

In the French village they were having a lil teach party with the lil princesses...

What goes better with a tea party than a giant margarita?!?

Trying my first ALLIGATOR!!! Yes, it tasted like chicken :)

Now, here was the crowd for the joust!

We were on the green French team....or section. We won :) (kinda by cheating, though, so I was unhappy lol). I totally cropped this picture but guess it didn't go through. The joust...and dyed black hair. Lol

The king and mistresses of the knights...or something like that :)

This crazy guy was on top of those swimming poles that were ON tall guys shoulders with fire sticks, juggling on ONE foot. Craziness!! Very entertaining.

A whole new term to "Foxy Lady" jk I think it was supposed to be a wolf, right? Oh, and it was ROMAN WEEKEND so that's what you see, too.

A centaur!!!!!!! With a beer belly bahahahaha

Hilarious photo opps!! For just $1. It was really cute. I was gonna do it but there was a really long line and so many people looking at those people. I don't like attention....believe it or not lol.

And my last photo...One of the food/shopping booths made out/designed as a huge pirate ship. Aunt B wants to come back and do the camping too. Kinda fun idea, never been camping!! Always up for new things!!!!!

Hit some Carl's BBQ on the way home, and watched the Texas game. Great weekend with the family!

Hanson at House of Blues! Lol

A friend from work asked me to go to the Hanson concert with her a week or so ago. Lol, I'm not one to turn up a trip to a place I've never been. So a couple Wednesday nights ago he headed downtown to see the show.

House of Blues is a restaurant downstairs and a music venue upstairs. We only did the music venue...

We got downtown pretty easily so we wondered around the Houston Pavillions (sorta like a shopping center). I loved this Books a Million! They had tons of books on clearance and a great magazine/music section. Will definitely have to return to explore more.

This was the inside looking at all the clearance books. Great Christmas books for cheap! Very chic...very downtown :)

Ahhhhhhh!! The music songbook section. So addicting!! Since the talent show has awakened the music, performing monster in me, I'm going a bit crazy.

Then we headed to the Polk Street Pub. When we arrived there were maybe two other tables. But the waitress informed us that the bartender just walked out. Well, two people ordered a bottle of beer and I ordered a margarita on the rocks, while the others had soda or water. There's no reason that couldn't have been handled. Nonetheless, it was a bad experience. My food came out missing some of the ingredients so I asked for a manager and we ended up getting $10 off the bill...where a turkey sandwich was $15. Sometimes downtown is annoying. Wish we had eaten at House of Blues but that's ok...

The inside of the pub was cute, I thought. But you know what they say...don't judge a book by its cover!

And then we walked back to House of Blues...on the third level where the concert venue is.

Getting the tickets...nice marquee :)

Security was a bit rude but gotta get your wristband for beer Lol

The set was cute...colorful. This was the opening band...

Allison was super sweet and got me my new obsession.....a HANSON silly band!! For $1. Yessss

Then the boys came out...boys?? Men with wives and children lol. Where did my childhood go?!?!

Ehhh I forget their names. This is the youngest ones...too cute for words.

This was such a good song... I need to find out from Allison what they were singing here. So good...one of those slow songs that makes you think about life/love. Lol

Ok, I know this one is named Taylor. Lol, nice hair...

I got kinda bored, so I started taking pictures. This was from the back. Good shot...

Leaving....One last shot! Thanks Allison for a fun night!!

Heart Walk Weekend

This past weekend I stayed in town to do the American Heart Society's Annual Heart Walk. I was really motivated after my surgery this summer to live healthy.

The Heart Walk started at Lone Star College at Cy-Fair. Really nice school....

Great lake area when you pull into the school.

Starting the walk! There were sooooo many people. I walked with my mom and 2 other friends from school.

Yay!! I finished lol without people completely dead!

The arch of victory :) Behind the high school gangstas...

Got TONS of free stuff here lol. Probably more than I should have but the stuff was so neat. The unfoldable coozies were fun, and the silly bands were great!

Then, in the Towne Lake neighborhood that we walked in they had a craft fair. So, after the Hearth Walk we headed to do some shopping but found nothing I couldn't live without. Kinda like the UT bows, though. Might have to think of that one a bit more... :)

Then we celebrated our job well done at Chuy's eaten yummy Mexican food lol. Upcoming weekend is the Renaissance Festival :)