Cattleman's - Take 2

After the desert debacle of 2013 we finally made it to Cattleman's on Saturday. And I'll give it to them, it was worth the wait.

You honestly can't go wrong with a place that has a mini zoo full of longhorns, llamas, buffalo, rattlesnakes, horses, peacocks, ostriches, and prairie dogs. Then you tell me that it's known for it's 2 lb "The Cowboy" steak and you basically have Texas Disney World.

Once we finished hanging out with all the animals we went in to have easily one of the best steaks I've ever had accompanied by beans, coleslaw, and loaded baked potatoe and then finished off with cheesecake (I haven't eaten this much food ever I'm pretty sure) .

Moral of the story: If you ever have the misfortune of being shipped to El Paso and you're looking for a killer steak and a few cool animals. Make the drive to Cattleman's. And if you're looking for a wedding or quinceañera venue...apparently the do those too! Fun time in Texas.

Oh and I got another pretty great Texas sunset while out there. I will say this, Texas does sunsets real well.

Cattleman's - A Night in the Desert

Yesterday we ended work at a reasonable hour for the first time all week and because it was Friday we decided to make the trip into the desert to get dinner at Cattleman's.

Cattleman's was described to me as a place that serves a meal called "The Cowboy" which is a 2 lb steak. While I'm more of a modest 6 oz kinda gal I figure if you're going to be stuck in Texas for a week than you better be damned sure to get a good steak while you're here.

So we all piled into the Ford Fusion and drove off into the sunset. It was a really nice drive with some beautiful Texas scenery and cows and horses and what I decided looked like antelope. And we were all having a nice time chatting and enjoying our free night.

My attempt at photographing the animals in a car moving 80 mph

Until suddenly we realized it had been about 30 minutes longer a ride than we'd thought... And we had no cell service to check GPS to see if we were lost... And we drove through a US Customs and Border Control Checkpoint ensuring that we were all American... And we noticed that our phones were now an hour ahead because we'd somehow managed to unintentionally cross time zones... And it was getting mighty dark on that lonely "highway".

So we decided to drive another 15 minutes until we found enough cell service to use our GPS and to our dismay we discovered we were over 2 hours away from the restaurant!!!!

What??? How does that even happen?

This is what being lost in the desert looks like. Not pictured: the birds attacking our car for 15 minutes, only two actually succeeded in hitting the car.

We finally got ourselves going the right direction and two hours and a gas stop later we were finally back in Home Sweet El Paso. Cattleman's had long since closed and we were all so tired from our 4 HOUR ROUNDTRIP journey that we just went to Chili's because it was closest to our hotel. Alllllmost the same as a good ole fashioned Texas steakhouse? Nope.

That's ok though because we're coming for you after work tomorrow Cattleman's! We're not giving up that easy!

Cake pops are pretty great but surprise cake pops in Texas are even better!!

Sometimes you're having a not so great month and you're feeling like you can't control events that are happening around you. And sometimes that's a real bummer.

But sometimes you get really lucky with an AMAZING group of lady friends. And they see that you're having a not so awesome month so they decide to surprise you by shipping cake pops to your hotel room all the way in Texas to cheer you up!

And that is the absolute best :)

Thank you girls so so much, nothing makes a day better like a cake pop (or two) in bed!!

And so this pretty sunset over Mexico is for you girls, because I wouldn't know what to do without ya!

El Paso Living

I may be stating the obvious here but...it's freaking hot in Texas man!

It's been above 100 degrees 24 hours a day and I don't care how many people tell me "But it's a dry heat!", I'm pretty sure I sweat out at least 10 lbs of water weight today. (New diet plannn?? Are you with me ladies?!)

My purse is now a water bottle graveyard (I'm not being very green this week, sorry Captain Planet) and by the end of the day I looked like a crazy lady perching my safety glasses in front of my frizzed out top knot and limping around courtesy of my new steel toe boots - as it turns out those shoes are not built for comfort.

Basically the business trip is a dream...I even got to see some wildlife in the form of a bunch of small lizards that are everywhere here! Thrilling.

At least my room's pretty great, I have a lounge area (for my guests?) and a pretty sweet giant TV. #ballin

Soooo yup! Exciting post about life in sweaty, hot, concrete-y El Paso.

Now off to crash so I can be prepared for another 12 hour Texas day, wahoo!

See ya Monday Boston!

Dallas, I barely knew you. But your airport UNOs was a delight.

I like to view my emergency row extra leg room and lack of a neighbor as a reward from the universe for this last minute trip.

There are just so many activities to do in El Paso! Pistaschio Land sounds like the perfect fit for this nut allergy gal.

Ahh, such a peaceful and scenic view from my hotel...they really know how to utilize the concrete here.

Ready to work out in the field - after day 1 I already want to burn those boots!

Oh hey, could I interest you in a trip to the desert?

Missed my weekend recap yesterday because this girl was busy doing this:

#fashionista

Yup, Meesh was told yesterday morning that she had to fly to Texas for work today and as a consequence had to buy men's size 5 steel toe boots. Why men's boots? Because apparently they don't make them for lady feet which is rather rude, but thankfully Payless came to the rescue!

I'm currently writing this post courtesy of Logan Wifi and the Starbucks next to my gate and soaking in all the air conditioning I can before I'm forced into the horrible Texas heat.

In other news...

Over the weekend we had my brother's graduation party which I spent the better part of Friday and Saturday morning prepping for. I wish I had more pictures but we were so busy running around and cooking and talking to everyone I just didn't get any of people! Major womp.

Sunday I finally got to relax and wander around my beloved Davis Square and I got some retail therapy under my belt thanks consignment shopping and a random mini flea market discovery!

Stay tuned for some possible outfit posts this week because working on site in jeans and steel toe boots is basically me in my element! Read: I'm going to look ridiculous. Yay real world!