texas pride – Hoots of a Night Al

Share the Joy of Summer with Lone Star Living Bouquets

July 22, 2018 5 Comments

This post was sponsored by Lone Star Living, and I am thrilled to share their summertime fresh flowers with you!

Summer holds so many celebrations for my family. My dad, mom, sister, and nephew all have summer birthdays, we have an annual 4th of July party, and we take our yearly beach trip to Galveston. Basically, the fun just keeps coming all season long, and summer 2018 has been no exception! We enjoy one gathering after another and each one is an opportunity to showcase Texas, southern hospitality. Want to know the number one rule for any southern celebration? Never show up empty-handed! Whether it’s food, gifts, or flowers, your host will always appreciate your kindness. And I can guarantee no hostess will turn you away if you show up with fresh flowers from Lone Star Living!

Our most recent get-together was to celebrate my dad’s birthday at my sister’s home, and I knew the Lone Star Living July summertime flowers were the perfect thing to bring. The bouquet is full of red and yellow roses, lilies, carnations, alstroemeria, and more! The vibrant colors instantly brighten up any space and provide major summer decor inspiration.

I wanted to use a wide-mouth vase to showcase the fresh flowers, but because of the wide opening, they looked sparse. An easy fix if you have the same issue is to loosely band the flowers together within the vase, and your bouquet instantly looks fuller! Lone Star Living also recommends holding your bouquet by the stems and twisting it around to fluff it. These simple tricks will give you a professional-looking centerpiece in no time!

In case you missed my last post about Lone Star Living, let me share what makes them special. They are a Texas-based floral brand that creates dynamic, stunning bouquets for each month of the year. Their fresh flowers are sold exclusively at H-E-B in the H-E-B Blooms department, and each bouquet comes beautifully packaged in craft paper with the flower food included! As you can see, their July summer 2018 bouquet created the perfect focal point on the table at our birthday party.

I can guarantee if you show up to your next summer gathering with these blooms, they’ll be equally loved by adults, kids, and pets alike! 😉

Hurry over to H-E-B to grab your own July Lone Star Living Bouquet before the month ends! I’m sure August’s unique bouquet will be just as stunning, but I can’t think of a reason why you shouldn’t enjoy them both. After all, now that you know to never show up empty-handed, you have the perfect “excuse” to purchase all the Lone Star Living Bouquets your heart desires! 😉

Decor, DIY

Beautiful Summer Flowers with Lone Star Living

June 28, 2018 2 Comments

Anyone who knows me, knows I love flowers. I can’t go into H-E-B without stopping by their floral department, and I rarely ever leave empty-handed! We’re officially one week into summertime, so lately I’ve been wanting vibrant, yellow bouquets to brighten up my home. Luckily for me, the Lone Star Living June bouquet satisfies all of my summer flower requirements! This post was sponsored by Lone Star Living, and I am thrilled to share their beautiful blooms with you!

Let me back up and tell you more about Lone Star Living. They share their love of Texas by crafting unique and dynamic bouquets that fit perfectly into any celebration from cookouts to birthdays to simply treating yourself on a weekly H-E-B trip. 😉 Speaking of H-E-B, Lone Star Living knows where loyal Texans shop, so they sell their fresh flowers there exclusively! Every month, they create a new bouquet theme that perfectly highlights the season.

For the first month of summer they combined sunflowers, alstroemerias, and more to create a yellow and green explosion of summertime fun! Their flower style stands out in the floral department, where their bouquets are sold in fun, craft paper packaging. I love that everything you need to make a vibrant centerpiece is already grouped together for you. They even include the flower food!

Once you get home, it’s easy to get your summer flowers prepped for display. All you have to do is remove any unwanted leaves, trim the stems at an angle, twist and fluff your bouquet, and place it in a vase that has fresh water and the included flower food. Lone Star Living also recommends placing your bouquet near sunlight. If you need extra flower care tips, feel free to check out their website as well.

As you can see, Lone Star Living bouquets easily brighten up any space and help bring the beauty of summertime inside! Utilizing all of the recommended tips, my fresh flowers are still looking perfect and are bringing me so much joy. Next time you visit H-E-B, pick up your own Lone Star Living bouquet, so you can bring some extra charm and loveliness into your home, too!

This post was sponsored by Lone Star Living, but, as always, all opinions are my own.

Food, Recipe, San Antonio, Travel

Night Al Migrations: Texas Pride BBQ

July 7, 2014 8 Comments

Summer in Texas means BBQ! Scratch that…Texas means BBQ. In our new quest to explore more, Louis and I remembered hearing about Texas Pride BBQ awhile ago. One morning, we woke up craving BBQ (like every other day), so we made the 40-minute drive from West San Antonio out to Texas Pride BBQ on a beautiful, sunny Saturday.

As soon as we pulled up, I knew I was going to love this place. The entrance is covered with amazing antiques (I almost typed “old antiques”…redundant much? Hah.) mostly centering around a Texan gas station theme (MUCH cooler than it sounds). We strolled past the rusty gas pumps and vintage Coca Cola bottles, through the screen door, and up the wooden ramp.

At the end of the ramp is a signed photo of Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. His show is actually how we first heard about Texas Pride BBQ, so shout out to you for that one, Guy. The rustic, vintage decor continued inside with all sorts of Texas artifacts but more exciting at that point was the smell of delicious BBQ.

We were greeted by a friendly worker who walked us through the menu and gave us his recommendations. We decided on sliced brisket and ribs for our meats, but they also have sausage (so dumb that we didn’t try this!), chopped brisket, pork tenderloin, and turkey. Everything looked and smelled amazing!

Louis ordered fresh cut fries for his side, and they don’t fry them until you order them, so they were fresh and delicious when they came out! I went with mac n’ cheese and green beans, which were both super yummy. We carried our tray of food to the indoor seating area, where they have tons of delicious BBQ sauce (original or spicy), pickles, onions, and all the fixin’s for a delicious meal. Below is a little snapshot of what we enjoyed.

If you’re not stuffed after your meal, they also have hand-scooped Bluebell, Pecan Cobbler, and a delicious looking Peach Cobbler I was begging my stomach to find room for somewhere…next time for sure. After we enjoyed our DELICIOUS BBQ, we strolled out the back of the restaurant to the amazing outdoor area.

We climbed up to the huge rooftop deck that would be so perfect to sit on during a crisp October night enjoying some BBQ and live music. That’s definitely on my To Do List! I bet it is so fun at night with all of the colored lights lit. From the upstairs patio there is a great view of the seating, game room, and stage below.

Texas Pride BBQ is really the gift that keeps on giving. Outside they have a stage where they have live concerts, a precious antique store, a game room full of arcade games, a playground for the kids, tons of unique photo ops, and plenty of seating for your entire group.

We loved wandering around in the antique store. We spent a long time talking with the owner, who told us about several of the pieces she acquired, and her love for seeking out Texas specific antiques. She was so kind, and we had a blast exploring all of the neat stuff she had for sale!

One funny find was a Texas vs. Rice football program from October 1948 with an ad for Camel Cigarettes on the back! Can you imagine seeing a cigarette ad in a college football program today?? I guess a lot’s changed in 65 years.

My personal favorite find was this cute Dr. Pepper wood crate. If I thought we had a spot for it in our apartment, it definitely would have come home with us. Dr. Pepper is my fave! Can’t you picture it full of some bud vases and baby’s-breath?? Love. Also, baby’s-breath…what a creepy name.

We went on Saturday afternoon, but it would be fun to plan a trip out to Texas Pride when they’re having one of their weekly events going on. Thursday is Bike Night, and apparently tons of motorcyclists come and park their bikes under the awning to enjoy BBQ. On Friday, they have a big Fish Fry at their back bar and live music on stage. Saturday evenings also have live music, and on Sundays, they have Classic Car Night. Apparently several of the car owners come dressed to match the decades of their cars…so fun! I’d love to go back one Sunday and see that!

Texas Pride BBQ totally has something for everyone! ….Except for vegetarians maybe? Sorry, y’all. We spent a couple of hours just enjoying the atmosphere and admiring all of the neat items they’ve gathered. It is a really unique place, and it reminded me how much I love Texas. 🙂 If you’re heading to San Antonio anytime soon or you live close by, I’d definitely recommend a trip to Texas Pride! It’s going to be our new spot to take visitors!

Humor, San Antonio

A Tour of Lolli and Pops

June 27, 2014 6 Comments

Hello friends! Today, we’re going to take a little tour of a glorious gourmet candy shop that recently opened at La Cantera, Lolli and Pops.

With its succulent filled window boxes and old-fashioned globe light fixtures, you can’t miss the precious, mint colored store front. Upon arriving at Lolli and Pops, you are greeted by an adorably dressed employee who offers you some scrumptious sweets.

While you munch on whatever delicacy they offered you, you spot glass cases full of decorated truffles and decadent fudge.

You will probably be stunned into silence by the wonder of all of the beautiful delights that surround you. Just pause and take it all in.

If you become choked up with emotions, look to your left where a freezer is full of delicious old-fashioned sodas to quench your thirst.

They have everything from classic Coca Cola to Avery’s SODAsgusting “Kitty Piddle” flavors. (It’s actually a delicious orange and pineapple combination…I don’t think it’s possible for anything coming out of Lolli and Pops to be anything short of amazing.)

If you turn to your right, the walls are covered with international sweets from several different countries.

At first you’re probably like, “Oh, nice to meet you, international candies.”

Then, as you turn around, you’re greeted by an entire wall of Texas themed candy.

And you remember, “Oh ya…I live in the greatest place in the world. No need to branch out to other countries.” Yay, Texas.

Once your head stops spinning from traveling around the globe, you’re greeted by adorable chalkboard signs leading you into the vintage candy room.

You can hear the yummy candy calling your name…

You can smell its sweet aroma beckoning you…

Then suddenly, you arrive in another candy hub! This vintage room is overflowing with classic candies that you grew up with like PEZ, candy buttons, and every flavor of jelly bean.

You could probably spend all day just chowing down and living life in this room.

However, your heart knows you have to continue, so you venture further into the chocolate room.

Resist your urge to frolic around the shelves of every color M&M, chocolate covered nuts, coffee beans, and more! Or don’t.

Suddenly, on your chocolate filled journey you are stopped in your tracks by a larger-than-life golden gummy bear. It smiles at you, beckoning you to taste the miniature versions of the statue that are created with real fruit juice in flavors you haven’t even thought of.

The gummy bear mecca is surrounded with sweet and sour gummy candies all gathered in one place for your enjoyment. There’s a solid chance I could live comfortably for weeks in this room.

By this point you’ve probably gathered nine pounds of candy in either cellophane bags or an adorable mason jar Lolli and Pops provided for you. You return back to the front to assess the damage on your wallet where you realize the preciousness of the store continues into their package branding.

Suddenly the price of what you’ve acquired doesn’t even matter because you know you’ll get to transport it home in an adorable gold-rimmed box or a classic mint bag. You’re practically begging the employees to take your money.

You may want to save those paper bags though, because trips to Lolli and Pops can become quite addictive.