Cowboy Boots, Cryptic Clues, and Restaurant Blues

Happy Monday, loves!

We are coming off an incredible weekend of excitement with new friends, so we’re all smiles over here. If your Monday hasn’t kicked off on such a positive note, maybe you should check out my last post – How we can make the world a happier place by doing these few things.

BONUS – It’s filled with the most perfect hand lettered beauties from the lovelies over at Lettered Lessons. I mean, how cute is their latest post?!

 

Presh, I tell ya.

On with our weekend…

Knowing we had a busy weekend ahead, I didn’t have a lot in mind for Friday night. In fact, Seth was the one wanting to “go out” (he really just wanted to listen to music), and I didn’t feel like getting my act together- hair, makeup, etc. You know, things normal women do daily.

We finally settled on dinner at Hooters (it was National Chicken Wing Day, after all), but got a bit distracted on our way there. We passed by River City Grill in Bossier City, a restaurant at which we had never eaten, and noticed they had live music. We made a snappy decision to check it out and ended up having a great time!

The solo musician was just gearing up as we sat down, so we ordered a few drinks and kicked back to enjoy a couple hours in the breezy shade of the front porch. Just like everybody else In the Arklatex, our entertainment was prepping for Garth Brooks’s first appearance in the Shreveport-Bossier area in 19 years, so we were greeted by the country greats likes “Papa Loved Mama,” “Thunder Rolls,” and “Rodeo.”

As we were driving home with windows rolled down and Garth Brooks Pandora blasting, we looked each other and knew… it was a fine night for a Jeep ride.

We swapped out my car for his, picked up Poodle and off we went for a summer night, music blaring, Jeep ride. Also, Prime Country XM is my jam.

 

Saturday morning I was off to an event to which I’ve been counting down the days for months now! I officially (I guess Saturday made it official?) joined Junior League of Shreveport-Bossier Saturday at our Provisional Retreat, and I’m ridiculously excited about it!

If you’ve never heard of Junior League before or haven’t known it’s purpose:

The Junior League of Shreveport-Bossier, Inc. is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable.

I spent many years throughout high school, college, and even some time post-college volunteering with worthy causes in my area. In the past fourteen months (holy cow, fourteen months!) we’ve been in the Shreveport-Bossier area, I’ve really missed these opportunities. Not only are you constantly plugged into opportunities to help others in an organization like JLSB, but it’s also a great way to meet other like-minded women who share your ideals.

New JLSB gal-pal Sarah-Beth successfully fired me up for my night to come… GARTH BROOKS! Sarah-Beth went Friday and was excitedly detailing the night before; she loved it so much she wanted to go back Saturday night.

Our group met up before the concert for a few drinks (AKA adult pre-gaming).

Major thanks to Christine for piling us all in the Flex! We arrived at the concert just in time to get a few more drinks, find our seats, and get settled in for a great night!

Clearly, I was excited!

 

Garth, Trisha and the band put on an incredible show! I’m not sure where he gets the energy from, but I need his sources. He vowed to only stick with “the old stuff,” and he kept true to that vow. My apologies to anyone sitting nearby, because I was singing at the top of my lungs. I do understand my lack of vocal abilities, but IT. WAS. AWESOME!

With the intent to keep the night going, we took the after party to Waffle House. Unfortunately, the amount of grease and gravy we encountered slowed us down, and the only partying we could do after that was the mini party we have when we get home and the dog has behaved.

Sunday morning, we met up with friends, DJ and Allison, for brunch at Another Broken Egg where I FINALLY got to debut this shirt.

I’ve had this little number in my closet for several weeks now just waiting for a brunch date!

After DJ so graciously invited himself to our house this coming weekend (a long standing joke that we never invite anyone over! Ha!), we spent the afternoon doing some SERIOUS deep cleaning. Y’all. Where does dust even come from?! I’ve never prided myself on being a great housekeeper and boy, oh boy, is that evident when the dusters and mops come out. That’s an adult task I’ve really got to master.

A few hours of housekeeping and a nap later, we were up and ready for our final friend hang out of the weekend – Red Herring Escape Room. Fellow Shreveport blogger, Jada over at Loving This Life! talked about Read Herring a few weeks back, and we were so excited to try it!

Basically, you have 60 minutes to gather clues and codes to unlock and “escape” the room. For just $24 a piece, you and up to five friends get to test your communication and team work skills in a fun, thought provoking race against the clock.

Unfortunately, we six friends did NOT beat the clock and were considered the newest residents of Broadmoor Asylum.

 

Our friends, Mike and April (the middle couple), were GREAT assets! They are quick thinkers with an eye for the inconspicuous detail. As a group, we walked away with a better understanding of how escape rooms worked (none of us had ever been to one) and already formulating a game plan for our return trip.

For those of you who haven’t been, it’s a FANTASTIC time! For those of you who have been and tried out the Broadmoor Asylum room, don’t fret, because another room and challenge is currently in the works and will be ready soon.

We made out way over to one of Shreveport’s newest restaurants, Tejas, after working up an appetite at Red Herring.

Tejas sits at the corner of Line and Pierremont in the place of the former Real Pickle sandwich shop. The owners have created a chill atmosphere that blends the Southwest with a touch of Mexico.

Almost everyone at our table ordered something different, so we had a nice selection of food on which to judge. Overall, I think the group would agree to a 6ish out of 10 based on our experience last night. While the food was good, it was a bit pricey, which, in turn, biased our opinion on the quality to price ratio. Our service left quite a bit to be desired, but I’d like to blame that on the newness of both the restaurant and our waitress.

Seth and I usually judge a restaurant on our likelihood of returning and how that ranks above or below trying other new places in the meantime. For us, Tejas, was a “we may go back, but it will be a while before we do.” Between the price and inexperience of service, we’ll be giving them several months to sort things out.

In the meantime, true to our nature, we’ll be trying lots of other things that, even after being here for fourteen months, are still new to us!

Until then and while we share those journeys with y’all…

Happy travels, my friends!

Jubilant Jennifer