Winterfest 2011

Or Embrace the Camera - Winterfest Edition (with Emily).

Or, How to Wear Out your Child

Any of those titles work for today's post.

The BOK Center, in downtown Tulsa, puts on Winterfest every year. I don't know how long they've been doing it but it's a pretty big hit. They have live music, an outdoor ice skating rink, food vendors and a gigantic Christmas tree. It's really pretty at night but it's also pretty fun during the day.

Last Saturday the weather was gorgeous so we took Sweet P down to check it out. So, this pregnant lady not going to ice skate, the husband has ice skated once and hated it and there was no way we were going to attempt getting a 16 month old to wear skates - if they even had her size!

So what do you do? Well, aside from people-watching and just being out and about?

You pose for some pictures and laugh when you come home to notice the wipe-out in the background...



You find the hill next to the stage with live music and have a dance party.





You get lots of kisses.



And you watch your husband and daughter run/slide up and down the giant hill until they're both about ready to collapse!



Oh, and don't forget about getting a family picture next to the gigantic Christmas tree!



You can find out more about it here.

Luchapalooza 2011

I gave you a little peek into my weekend with yesterday's photo:



Here's a little more on that. Saturday night was Luchapalooza, an outdoor street festival featuring the Elote Luchadors. A Luchador is a masked, Mexican wrestler.



These guys are "Stars and Stripes."

The event was downtown and it was also a fundraiser for the Tulsa Area United Way so we had to stop by and say hello. The weather was absolutely perfect, plus, we ended up getting to watch the matches from the VIP area!



If you've never been to or seen a Luchador match, here's a little taste of what you can expect:













That about sums it up!

Salsafest 2011

Despite the insanely hot weather this weekend, we still made it out to Salsafest. The temperature gauge on the car read 107 degrees as we pulled into downtown. Thankfully the setting for Salsafest was in the middle of some of the tallest buildings in Tulsa so that gave us some shade. It's kind of crazy but I didn't really notice the heat.



My goal for Salsafest was to taste the best, hot salsa I've ever had. Mission accomplished!

The only problem was there wasn't any to buy. BUMMER. Such a tease. 'Here, eat this and love it. Want more? Oh, I'm sorry, I just made this for the contest.' But, we did talk to the mastermind behind the salsa and he said if he won (and he did) that he would think about making it and selling it. Um, yes, that's a wonderful idea!

Funny little story about that. I thought the guy looked familiar when we get our samples so I asked him where he went to school and some other questions and then he said, "Corbett?" That's my maiden name, by the way. So, I say, "yes?" Turns out I recognized him from one of the first "real" jobs I ever had. "Real" being a kid's play place called Discovery Zone. Anyway, I worked there in high school for a little while and so did he. So now I totally have an in to harass him for more salsa!! YAY.

Ok, back to Salsafest. Like I said, it was set in downtown Tulsa and there were tons of tents set up with samples from 3 different categories of traditional, alternative and spicy. Guess which tent we hit up first! Yes, spicy. Oh, and notice sweet p's salsa dress! She fit right in.



We sampled each of the salsas and marked our ballots. About that time, a large group of people started making there way to the center of the festival. There were bright colored dresses and oversized heads! It was awesome.






They did a little dance and then it was time for the chihuahua race. I didn't get any pics of the race, mainly because I'm short but also because the crowd was so thick surrounding the race that I didn't feel like fighting my way through.



There was also a chili eating contest and I missed out on watching that because I was too busy sampling salsas, but I heard it was intense - straight from the girl puking in the trash can trying to get the peppers out of her system! Eww.

All in all, Salsafest 2011 was awesome. I'm already excited about next year. Did I mention Elote put the event on and proceeds went to Sustainable Tulsa. Awesome. Speaking of Elote, have you ever tried their puffy tacos?



You must.

Oh, and thank you to everyone for your helpful comments on salsas to try. I'll be hitting you for secret recipes (Amanda) and other offers (Ashley)!

Salsa Fest

I really, really like salsa.

It's been my go-to snack since I was like 12. After school I would come home, grab a bag of chips and a bowl of salsa and park my booty in front of the tv for some good ol MacGyver. Seriously, I did that just about every day.



Not much has changed. I still eat it just about every day - hey, they say spicy food boots your metabolism (too bad chips don't), but I did trade watching Mac for watching my Sweet P.

Anyway, I would say that my favorite food is Mexican but my husband tends to correct me and says it's really just the chips, salsa and queso. He's probably right. I can have it with any meal really, doesn't have to be Mexican.

But there's a MAJOR problem with my love for salsa, you can not find HOT restaurant-quality salsa at the store. Or, at least, I haven't found it yet, oh, and not to mention the chips. Trust me, I have tried just about every stinkin salsa you can buy. I've also tried making my own but haven't been too successful with that either. Such a bummer.



But, alas, there just happens to be a festival devoted to salsa enthusiasts!! This Friday from 5-10pm, downtown Tulsa will host Salsa Fest! I am so excited. As far as I know, it's free to attend but you can pay $5 to get a tasting kit and sample all kinds of different salsas. Also, there will be a chili eating contest, live salsa music, dance lessons and other fun things.

 

I'm hoping to eat my weight in the tastiest, make-your-nose-run salsa I've ever tasted. I wonder if there will be salsa to buy. That would be awesome.

So, there you have it. You know where I'll be Friday night and if you have an awesome recipe for hot salsa - send it my way or let me know if you've found the good stuff at a store. Thanks!

It's Open!

First off, thank you for all the sweet comments on P's nursery!!

Now, on to business! Over a year ago I had my first Tulsa Dog. I was at a concert at the BOK Center with my husband and it was the first time we heard about the Dog House. They had a little cart on wheels and offered a Seattle dog, Chicago dog and the now famous Tulsa dog.

We asked the owner what his favorite one was and he told us it was the Tulsa dog with cream cheese. Here's what's on it: all beef frank, mustard, onions, bacon, jalapeno relish and Head Country barbecue sauce. Sounds a little crazy right? Well, we had to try it and let me tell you, it was so good.



Every time I went to the BOK I hunted that cart down for my fix because it was the only place I new where he'd be. I heard he set up downtown somewhere for lunch but I never saw him. One evening we actually heard he was going to be at Cain's for the concert crowd so we drove over and got a couple of dogs.

We were hot dog stalkers.

Jump forward a few months. I was now pregnant and craving a Tulsa Dog. It was the cold of winter and I had no plans of going to the BOK Center. I looked him up online and called the number. I asked if he was set up anywhere so I could get one for lunch. No go. He was going to a meeting to finalize plans on his permanent location. I was bummed. No Tulsa dog for me.

Jump forward about a year to this past weekend. The Dog House recently had their grand opening downtown! I took Miss P in and got my much anticipated Tulsa Dog with cream cheese. It was everything I remembered it to be and more.



Now they have a place I can go get my fix any time. And what's more, they have all sorts of new meats, toppings and sauces to choose from. Look at that menu board with toppings!



Go check it out and let me know what you think. But remember, if you get the Tulsa dog, add cream cheese. Oh, and I forgot to do it on this one but we like spicy mustard instead of yellow mustard.

Country Music Monday - Entertainer of the Year

Wow. The Brad Paisley concert was awesome! Saturday was the last stop for Paisley's H2O Tour and the Entertainer of the Year did not disappoint!

The show started with Justin Moore and then Darius Rucker took the stage. I cried when he sang, "It won't be like this for long." Big surprise there. Even the husband got a little teary-eyed. He ended his set with an awesome performance of "Purple Rain."

So good so far!

Then Mr. Brad Paisley himself took the stage!! I was giddy.

 

He played all my favorites including, Mud on the Tires, I'm gonna miss her, Then, Celebrity and Whiskey Lullaby.

Playing I'm Gonna Miss Her, remember this post :)

Cute little cowboy.

As a special treat, Roy Clark joined him on the stage and they played "Ghost Riders in the Sky."

What a night! We had so much fun!!

Does anybody else think it's funny how much bigger Eric's head looks than mine!? I know he was closer to the camera, but really, it cracks me up.

And a special thank you to Nana for watching my baby girl while we got to enjoy a date-night. She should also get Nana of the Year award for watching ALL 5 of her grandkids that night!

I have more pics from the night on my flickr stream.

Mark Your Calendars for Unite 2010

I've been crazy busy lately. It's been quite an adjustment getting used to caring for a little one and working part-time. I've been working from home with a little time in the office once a week. This week I have to be in the office for an entire day!

Yikes!

I don't know if I'm ready for this. Okay, I know I'm not but I think I will be okay. I will be plenty busy at work getting ready for Unite.

Unite is Tulsa United Way's final campaign celebration. The evening is free to the public and there will also be free hors d'oeuvres!! The purpose the event is the celebrate the campaign accomplishments and announce how much the Tulsa area gave to help support the 61 local agencies the United Way supports.

For those of you that aren't familiar with the Tulsa United Way and who it supports, here's a little help. Did you know they help fund programs for YWCA? Broken Arrow Seniors? The Salvation Army and Goodwill? They also help the Red Cross local chapter.

And that's just 5 of the agencies they fund!

If you didn't get an invitation in the mail, here's your invite (yeah, I designed that):

So come out Nov. 11 and celebrate with me!! RSVP at tauw.org/unite!

The Day Job

This morning marked the start of Tulsa Area United Way's 2010 Campaign to raise $24,067,551 for the Tulsa Area. The kickoff was held downtown at ONEOK Field and we had great weather and an awesome turnout. Hundreds of volunteers got together to celebrate the start of the annual campaign before going out into the community and working on volunteer projects at TAUW's 61 partner agencies.

As part of the program, the 2010 Trailblazer companies (local companies that run early United Way campaigns) announced their total of $3,416,278!



The 2010 campaign video was shown and you can check it out below:




And a side note, for those of you who don't know, I work at the United Way as the Senior Designer. I designed the logo for this year's event and got to see it on the big scoreboard at ONEOK Field.

Zoomed in


And zoomed out. You can also see the logo on all the t-shirts!


And this year's t-shirts!


So, thanks to all the volunteers that went out today to work on volunteer projects in the Tulsa community!