writing with the sniffles

home sick from work today with what feels like some sort of sinus infection. 

roughed up on sudafed & am about to perform a nasal irrigation on myself, super exciting things going on over here guys!

anyways, as i write this post, with the sniffles nonetheless, i am planning my birthday party coming up this sunday. i will be turning 29 and all i want to do is have a casual, fun party with my family and friends on the patio at my grandmother's house. that patio is where so many of my birthday's have been celebrated & i want to continue the tradition this year & throw a mexican bbq themed party. 

since trying out ten50 bbq here in richardson, (seen here on my instagram) i have been dreaming of having it again! their melt-in-your-mouth brisket with sweet, tangy sauce just can't be beat and i knew that's what i wanted for my birthday meal, so we will serve brisket, both moist & lean, chicken & sausage from there, we'll round up some sides of fried okra and maybe corn on the cobb or something and have the mexican twist be the margarita's that we will be serving right out of the margaritaville machines. 

below are just some inspiration photos i have pinned on my pintrest board & i hope to replicate some of these cute ideas into my party :)

  

  

touchdown in d-town

...and i'm not talking about the cowboys...

dekel and i are back from our israel trip, landed sept. 13 & have already sunken into our lives here in dallas, back at at my mom's house. which is nice, living with her was a necessity in the beginning, but it's not the "beginning" anymore & i feel we have gotten too comfortable here. it's time we ramp up our game to make and save in order to get a place of our own. but the make part is crucial. 

speaking of, mirelle & i were vendors for sour melan at the dallas pride festival at lee park this past sunday. it was such a fun, colorful event! everyone was super nice and friendly, sometimes a little too friendly- haha! dekel was a great sport and rocked a tutu and my bikini top for the first part of our 10-hour day just to be funny and people (guys) were loving him! coming up to take pictures with him, caressing his chest, putting stickers on his body, etc this one man even came up to hit on him, which just made dekel blush, it was so much fun to witness such awkward moments. we had a blast & were semi-successful. we didn't make as much as i had hoped, but it was a great experience and we might even do it again next year. 

here are some photos from the event, if you would like to see:

tag teaming it

3 muskateers

with the red bull girls!

out little booth on the corner, we had a great view of the stage where live music played throughout the day

rush of shoppers

this guy was so cute, he had just been in tel aviv for the pride festival and we brought him over to talk to us :)

 peanut came to check the festival out and sniff around, everyone loved him and we got our photo taken (he is wearing a tutu, as well!)

thanks for reading!

have a wonderful week!

sweet & salty water

yesterday dek & i rented bikes in emeq hamaayanot (the maayan valley), where maayan means "natural springs" in hebrew and we biked to a pool to take a dip and relax. the water is sweet & refreshing we hope to hit up another spring before leaving this beautiful country on saturday.

before taking off on our bike trip, we stopped at a little cafe to share breakfast, israeli style. we love, love, love breakfasts here. they consist of eggs, typically omlet style with onions, mushrooms and seasonings, finely chopped salad of cucumbers, tomatos, onions and carrots with olive oil, fresh bread and a whole assortment of spreads like cheeses, pesto, guacamole, tahini, jam, etc with a little side of yogurt with granola. the breakfasts also come with your choice of juice and coffee. we love it! the meals are so big that we usually order the meal for 1 person and split it, but dek's mom gave us a giftcard for 1+1 so we didn't have a choice in the matter but def did not even finish all of this. it was amazing though!

the delishious spreads

 i chose fresh squeezed orange juice & dek took orange with carrot

we arrived to the natural springs, parked out bikes and jumped got in

 beautiful, beautiful place & almost no one was there!

  this rock was my favorite spot as when you would get in, first of all the water is freezing, second, little tiny fish would come nibble on your feet which really freaked me out. i did eventually get in the water, no pics to prove it, but it was fun!

 that view though..

i am a sucker for mountains...

after some time at the spring, we rode our little bikes back & went to have dinner with my aunt, uncle and cousins in ramat yishay. my cousin, danielle, made homemade pizza dough and we made pizzas in their outside oven. the results were mouth-watering!

i was in charge of making the pizza shapes

 toppings of tomatos, onion, zaatar, green olives, mozzarella & feta cheese. yum!

we made all different kinds, but i stuck with feta & olives

 my aunt, uncle and cousins :)

today dek & i went to the beach in haifa to play around, we swam and jumped in the waves, played matkot, shared a beer & onion bissili and tanned a bit before heading home to shower and meet my dad & sisters for frozen yogurt.

beach life

 in the austin flowerhalo

my dad & sisters, leonne and mai

best frozen yogurt ever! we love this place legenda, proof here. 

i got mine with candied cashews, coconut & chocolate balls.

  reppen' greenville avenue pizza company here in israel :) 

tel aviv trip

this past weekend dekel's dad invited the whole fam to tel aviv. he got us all (each couple) hotel rooms at leonardo city tower in ramat gan & we stayed thursday-sunday.

it was such a nice gesture on his part and such a perfect getaway to spend some quality time with everyone all together. while there, dek & i met up with some friends, went to shook hacarmel, worked on our tan by the pool, played with his neices & also went out to a nice dinner in herzliya.

i love that city and all the hustle & bustle that goes along with it. it truly is a special place. new york-esqu, but so much more laid back. there are a few popular areas in tel aviv, the hotel we stayed in was in the diamond exchange district, aka bursa, so we couldn't walk to much besides a restaurant called king george, which we took advantage of a few times, but public transportation is so easy in this country getting to the famous dizengoff  street was only a 10 min bus ride and when i met up with a friend at another hot spot, the namal (port), it was only a short cab ride away as well. 

it was sooooo hot this weekend, i'm talking 100+ so shorts were worn and hair was up most of the time, but we sure did enjoy the trip. 

here are a few photos from this past weekend:

near the entrance to the shook hacarmel.

tons & tons of pedestrians, motorists, dog walkers & street food :)

the entrance to the chaotic, yet loveable carmel market

 trying on some sunnies

 boxers for days

 breads of all kinds

beautiful dangling jewelry.

i love bargaining! the prices the vendors begin with are so funny because they probably think i have never been there before, but once i start walking away & speaking hebrew, the price drops by 50% !

neatly folded "brand name" shirts

starbucks tank, of course i had to snap a pic!

 live demo of a veggie cutting contraption 

 barad (shaved ice) to cool off, usually in passionfruit or grape flavor

  it was so hot, we got popsicles too

  overlooking the city

 signs for shelter, leftover on street poles and stairwells from the recent war.

one of the saddest things i witnessed this weekend was dekel's little niece
(at 5 years old!), ducking for cover after hearing a loud boom from a car or something, she thought it was a bomb...

 ootd, walking to dinner 

hope you enjoyed the photos!

dekel & i took an amazing bike ride today to a natural pool (spring) today & i hope to blog tomorrow to share those photos, as they are simply breath-taking. 

thanks for reading!

at the beach in a bodychain

we woke up this morning with no plans & when i opened my eyes and asked dekel "what are we doing today?" & his response was "going to the beach," i immediatly smiled and  jumped made my way out of bed to get ready :)

katelin let me borrow this amazing nasty gal dress/ cover-up and i knew i wanted to pair it with a body chain that i got before our trip and i received sooo many compliments on this outfit! i think i might have to bust it out again this weekend in tel aviv. we went to the "students beach" in haifa, and NO ONE was there! given it was the middle of the week, but it was just really was nice to have this beautiful beach all to ourselves. we swam in the warm water, rode the waves, layed out & played matkot, one of my favorite beach/ water-front activities.

after a few hours at the beach, we went to eat schwarma and then to shower and get ready to meet up with some friends in ramat yishay. i met my friend yarden for some iced caf'e (like a coffee slupree or a coffee frappucinno), while dekel met two of his friends for a beer at a place nearby. 

we are leaving tomorrow with dekel's parents (& whole family) to tel aviv untill sunday. while there we plan to meet up with some more friends, go to the carmel market (shook ha'carmel), beach & dinner on saturday with dekel's family.

i probably will not blog untill we return next week, as i will be without a computer, so thanks for reading & have a wonderful weekend!