New 2/2.5 Montrose Rental!

The Little Gym

Now this is perfect for my 23 month old and he loves loves it!   They have a fun warm up session and then the kids are released to explore.  We love it so much we are having his 2 year old birthday party here and we know all his little friends are going to love it too!

Soccer Shots

My 23 month old loves kicking a ball around, unfortunately, he’s not really into group sports yet.  I thought the organization was great and coach Natalia was awesome, but I realized my son is too young to take instruction, so we decided to drop out and will definitely return next season.  This time we will be better prepared and hopefully we can get an early time slot so we’re not sweating our tails off.  Can’t wait till next season!

Fundamentally Music🎵

It’s like music class.  There are a ton of different teachers and time slots, depending on your child’s age.  I chose the Wednesday 415 class and I’ll be honest, I didn’t like it all that much. It just didn’t seem all that put together, although Liam had fun.  I’d be open to trying another class again, but different time slot.

Piggy’s Kitchen & Bar

Liked it actually a lot, for drinks and hanging out.  Nice slow crowd too.  Next time we'll have some evening eats, but the mango mimosa wasn't bad, actually kind of tasty.  The Parmesan garlic fries were eh. The atmosphere nice, and not bad on this evening where it wasn't that hot.  This is where the old Daily Review Cafe was, you know that restaurant with great backyard space, yep this is that place as well as same owners as the Creek Group, you know Onion Creek, Cedar Creek, etc.

Vibrant on Fairview

Is this the coolest looking place or what?  I love love love everything about the way it’s designed.  It’s just beautiful inside, clean, light and bright, modern, but subtle, comfy, and just pretty to look at.  Like a kid in a candy store, I was just admiring all the intracasies of this very interesting building and the design.  My whole group loved it and we were all praising its beauty.  

The menu is really interesting too.  Everything looks delicious and I can’t decide.  The items look earthy and wholesome, and I notice they have great kid options too.  Not kiddie items, but adult food in mid portions and prices.  That’s totally different and it’s amazing, I love it!  And they sell breakfast till 4pm!  I’m done. 

 Now on the food, I was a little disappointed because the Savory Toast I was planning to get was sold out.  At 830am, that’s really annoying.  But Sasha was able to get the last one, so thankfully I was able to try it because it was amazing!  I actually ordered the Sweet Toast which was good, but not something I would order again.  David got the pancakes and that was a little bland, even with the syrup.  But I like where she was going wit it, it was beautiful and had interesting earthy flavors but wasn’t sweet enough.

i didn’t try Shanni’s Salmon breakfast as I’m not a big cooked Salmon fan, but it looked fresh and she said it was good.  David said he did not like his latte but Sasha said she liked the coffee. 

Overall, I still loved the place, more for the atmosphere, which I give a 5, and food I give a 4.   I will definitely be back with the kiddos, can’t wait to see if they like the food.

Merchant

Need a breakfast spot before we go to our continuing education class and this might just be the perfect spot!  In the Galleria area, off of Post soak.  Nice place.  Love all the sunlight that spills into this place.  I had the Fig & Ham Crepe, they said it’s their most popular.  And David got the Ham & Cheese Croissant, which I tried and it was nice.  We got 2 blueberry muffins, which were really delicious looking, tasted quite nice too.  My dark roasted coffee was a little light, but not bad.  I’ll have to put this place on my list of spots in the Galleria area.  I’ll be honest though, next time I come, I’ll be coming for the atmosphere.  Love the vibe of this place!

The Classic All Day

I'm excited to check it out, Benny's new concept...and today seems like the perfect day to try it.It's cute inside, but the layout is almost the same, wished it wasn't because it sort of feels like the same restaurant although the decor has been really updated, a bit of a mid-century vibe.Matt was a little unimpressed with the menu, he said nothing was jumping out at him.He reluctantly orders the burger.I thought there was a lot on the menu I liked, but then would notice shellfish in each of the items I was interested in...fail.I decided to order the grain bowl.And since i just had hand surgery, I'll take a soup too.It's my first meal, maybe I should slow down....nah.I ordered the matza ball soup which Matt has never heard of.  I describe it to him, and when it comes out, I can't eat it, I feel instantly sick, so he eats and he really likes it.Newbie.Then, I start to feel really sick so we decide to take our food to go.I'll spare you the details but long story short, I end up taking a nap immediately when we get home and don't get to try my meal until I wake up an hour later.It's actually ok, but next time I'd like to try it in the restaurant and with some protein.So for now, based on food and atmosphere I give it a 3 stars.I'd like to be back maybe this Sunday for brunch.

Safelite

is pretty awesome!  They came to me, made it super easy and voila done in an hour!  Love the customer service!

Cafe Poetes

You kind of lost me at Midtown...but I am glad I’m here because it’s sooooooo cute!  Not the kind of place you recommend to a male but that’s exactly what I did, not really knowing how girlie this place was.

I'm not going to lie, the sandwich wasn't exactly what I was expecting but it was actually good.  It was filling and I offered one piece to Larry and he happily took it because his looked a little lighter and I thought he might leave a little hungry.  He really liked it.  We shared a dark chocolate eclair, which was nice, never had a chocolate eclair.

I felt a little bad when I sat down because though I liked it, I thought it might be a little feminine for him.  When he arrived he did make a few jokes about the place but after we finished up, he said he would come back and would bring a client by too.  Win!  I would definitely come back, but with girlfriends.  Super cute place.

Zara Stone

Omg, this place is aaaaaaaawesome!!  Especially for you DIYers like myself.  I needed some pea gravel for my son’s sandbox...supposed to easier to maintain and more sanitary?  Just picked up 8 bags which was more than I needed, only used 4 bags.  Poured it into his sandbox and rinsed it out with water and ready to go!  I don’t even need to cover it to protect it from rain.

Maison Pucha

It’s a nice restaurant, very nice.  Very pretty interior.  We sat at one side of the restaurant for lunch, the less formal side.  Looks like a great dinner or brunch place.  The fish I ordered came highly recommended but I thought was underwhelming.  Skin on a fish always makes me a little wary, and this time the fish was a little fishy,  I couldn’t finish it, but the veggies were good.  This dish is pretty isn’t it?  All my dining mates seemed unimpressed with their meals too.  Anyway, that’s all I got.

Landscaping at Thompson Hanson

This place always wows me.   

M&M Lighting

Seriously the best allotment of lighting fixtures I have seen in one place!  Thanks to M&M we are almost done with the renovating of our duplex and should be on the market next week! 

Breakfast at Blacksmith

Seriously tasty tacos, called Dos Tacos.  One is potato and egg the other is chorizo and egg. The second time I ordered this I got th both as potato and egg...yumzies!

IKEA Kids

Those bookshelves you wanted to get for your kid’s room, I found it for you!  Put a few of these together, done!  And best part, it only cost $55 for one set! 

That little kiddie table you’ve been wanting to get, check! 

Those floating shelves you’ve been meaning to build to get those things off the floor, another one done! 

And all those shoes that are everywhere you don’t want them, here you go!  You can thank me later. 

DOC Band

Uhm yes, isn't this the cutest thing ever?  Yes, so my second child has a moderate level flat spot on the back of his head and this time I'm doing something about it.  So this is called the DOC Band and I'm sure you have seen babies with this helmet while you were out and about...and no they are not disabled or handicapped...it's a flat spot, that's all.

So anyway, as I was saying he has a moderate level flat spot that could take anywhere between 4-12 weeks of time spent in this helmet, no biggie.  He'll be thanking me when he's a young man and he decides he wants a fade, buzz cut or if he goes bald.

This is becoming more and more common and more parents are going this route to ensure their child has a normal, rounded head shape.  And as that becomes more and more in demand, so is the service of designing them.  I got mine done at Spectrum Graphics through my contact Jimmy Vu.  They were very accommodating to the fact that my son could not be out of his helmet for a full day and was able to get his done within a few hours.  Isn't it cute?  Looks awesome and most importantly it makes it not so awkward or shameful but instead really makes it attention grabbing in a fun and interesting way.  Anyway, call them if you need one, they should be able to help you out.  Jimmy, (832) 231-2090, signs@gotospectrum.com.

Jinya Ramen

I can’t believe I haven’t posted about our favorite local ramen restaurant!   Uh yeah, it’s our favorite place because it’s good, they have tasty apps like our favorite Quinoa salad and I’ve gotten over the regular tonkatsu ramen and looking for something that taste like my instant Korean spicy ramen that I can’t seem to find anywhere except the closest is at jinya.  I will have to post pictures next time I go, promise!

Nino’s on W. Dallas

So this is the place you always drive by when driving on W. Dallas next to Whole Foods and those red brick townhomes...and I'm wondering how it is I've never come here and after going here tonight this is what I realized...

It's not the kind of place you think of when you think of hip trendy Italian food.  It's more like the place you end up going to, that your parents or in-laws selected as their favorite local Italian restaurant.

Overall the food was pretty decent but the crowd was very...family oriented, or how do I say..."older", and not that there’s anything wrong with that, but just trying to paint an accurate picture.  Anyway, you get my point.

My table ordered the Scampi, the Spaghetti Carbonara, Americana Pizza and the Fish.  All good, but the Scampi was the tastiest.  We also ordered the Lemon Tart and Chocolate Cake for dessert, which was both good, Lemon Tart a tad better.

Our server was 3 days into his job and actually pretty great! The food good, prices a tad high, ambiance just ok.  Not sure I would return honestly...because of the ambiance, and food didn’t quite have that, push me over the edge, factor.  The outdoor eating area is pretty nice cool, especially on a rare cool day like today.

Emmaline

So I’ve been hearing not such great reviews by friends, actually only 2 sets, nothing I actually looked up, but still wanted to try because it looked so cute!  And it is, it’s super cute, great ambiance.  We started at the bar and with the help with our bartender we started with the Burrata, which was delish.  Then the House Salad, tasty.  For dinner we ordered the House Pizza and the Lamb Papardelle, which we’re both a little off, enough to make us not want to finish our dishes and the sundae, which came highly recommended by our server was excellent!  A little disappointed that the main entrees were not that great, Matt said he wouldn’t want to come back, but I wouldn’t mind sitting at the bar with some small bites...for the ambiance...it’s a cute place, very cute.