ohhhhh city living.......

Hey everyone, this is Michelle (Jen's sister)! I am hijacking her blog this week as Jen is on blog vacation. I'll give you some background on myself so you can understand my post a little bit better. My husband is in the air force and we are stationed in Abilene, Texas. It is a very rural area that is lacking in a lot of things.... like things to do. My husband and I just celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary and needed wanted to escape Abilene for the weekend. Unfortunately, there is nothing around Abilene that is less than 2.5 hours one way. We went to the closest city to us which is Fort Worth, just outside of Dallas. I'm like my sister and I always do a TON of researching before any trip, this was no exception. I think I did very well on my findings. We stayed at the Embassy Suites and enjoyed a manager's reception every evening from 5:30-7:30 (unlimited snacks and adult beverages-we're talking hard liquor, wine, and beer). The rooms were very spacious and I have no complaints. The hotel was conveniently located downtown which they call Sundance Square. It was walking distance to every restaurant and bar you could want.

Living area of the suite

office area/kitchenette

bedroom area

After taking advantage of the happy hour at the hotel, we headed out to dinner at Texas de Brazil. Our first example of why we miss city living: TONS of varieties of restaurants to choose from. This restaurant specializes in a variety of different meats that they bring around to your table and cut for you. James thoroughly enjoyed it because he loves any type of meat....I was a little more picky (imagine that) but it was still a neat idea. They just keep bringing around meat after meat from chicken to steak to lamb to pork and duck, etc. They area also known for their over-sized salad bar. We had a buy one entree get one free (anniversary coupon) and we saved 42 dollars! What a bargain, so if you're ever an area that has one of these, sign up for the email list first!

Actual salad bar in the Fort Worth Texas de Brazil 

After dinner we just went strolling downtown (example number 2 of city living fun). It was nice to just walk around and see shops or anything. We ended up at a bar that was highly recommended by several friends called 8.0. It was an outdoor atrium area with a pavilion over top (example 3 of fun city living- OUTDOOR bars/restaurants). It was 80's band night! (who doesn't love the 80's) and we were rocking away. They never played Bon Jovi (my personal fave), I mean can you even have 80's without Bon Jovi?? My only complaint is that it was SOOOO hot even at midnight. I just kept downing waters while the band was playing because I could not get cool. Next time we go, we are planning on a fall or spring trip. I was proud of myself because I made it out til midnight.... even though James said it was still semi-lame... what can ya do :)

We walked our 3 minutes back to the hotel and retired for the evening. Stay tuned tomorrow for our trip to the Fort Worth Stockyards!

self taken portrait upon hotel arrival for the night