And It's Good!

Saw this on the way home and it reminded me of football goal posts. I've stayed in only a few motels in my life and I think a Motel 6 was in one of them, either in New Mexico and/or El Paso, maybe both.

Alamo Plaza Christmas Tree

Every year I try to get into downtown right after Thanksgivinig to get a pic of the San Antonio Christmas tree that they put up in Alamo Plaza. There is usually a tree lighting ceremony in conjunction with the Holiday River parade, but I've never made the lighting ceremony and I haven't been to the Holiday River parade for many a year. 

This year I got to the tree not only after Thanksgiving, but after Christmas, but better late than never I always say.

Chalkboard says "I wil not talk in class. I will not...Go Spurs Go!"

Central Arms

This of course for those of you all who have been reading this blog should be a familiar site. It is the Central Library in downtown San Antonio. It's color is known as enchilida red. On this day I liked the look of the two arms that connect the library to the garage. 

People assume that there is a way to get to the garage from the upper floors of the library, but alas no. There is only one way out of the library--the first floor past security. 

Java Nook (soon to be coffee house) Update: Whiteboard says "Final health inspection passed. Opening soon."

Feliz Navidad

Happy Holidays to all out there. It's tradition in our family to take a picture of the Christmas tree each year. I think we've had one every single year that I can remember, even those years that were pretty lean. Most often we've had real trees, which could be bought at almost every street corner (although now you can buy them at HEB, Home Depot, etc). We've also had artificial trees, but except for the mess of the needles, I always prefer the real thing. This tree is flocked and I'm not sure whether I prefer them green or not, although we have been told that getting them flocked prevents them from drying out so quickly and keeps the needles on the tree longer.

My mother used to drench the tree in icicles, but we don't use them much, with the exception of my older brother--whom his wife says must have the tree drenched in icicles, which she could not understand until we told her about my mother and showed her a pic of one of our old trees.

One year we bought a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, that was so small we had to put it on our dining table, but it was so fat and fluffy that we couldn't resist.

Photos with Santa

I think for most people photos with Santa are pretty common. You see Santas at all the malls with long lines of children and their weary parents waiting for their turn. This Santa did a home visit and gave out gifts to all the boys and girls awaiting him.

I don't know about you, but while parents love to get their kids photos taken with Santa, it seems to me that some kids would rather not, as they proclaim at the top of their lungs. I know my nephews have never wanted to take pics with him before.

The Future of Las Lagunas

I've blogged about Las Lagunas before. It's one of my favorite restaurants off of 181. I like their fajita nachos. They closed their original location and will be moving to this location across the street. The owner said they would reopen there after a bit, I think he said two weeks to a month. I'm sure once they are in their new location we will be stopping there again.

Sweet Sixteen

What's your typical Sweet Sixteen? Not this one for sure. For Hispanic families usually they concentrate on a quincenera, when a girl officially becomes a woman. It's not only an excuse for a party, but it involves the family and religion too. Most sweet sixteens seem to revolve more around a party. The theme for this one was pink and black and apprently sneakers with a dress. :D

Foggy Morning Commute

This was my drive to work this morning. It was kind of hard to see much in front of us especially once we got on the highway. The first shot I tried to take I mistakenly left the flash on and that didn't come out to well, beyond it picking up almost every drop of fog. You can barely see the bus stop there on the corner and to the right of that is the gas station that has a Subway restaurant in it.

Christmas Lights

This is a house on the west side of San Antonio. I really liked how they had their decorations, of course the picture doesn't do it justice. There was another house that I would have liked to have gotten a picture of, but I never did a walk by of our neighborhood. The house had a jet hanging off the first floor stoop and a number of other well known structures along with a line of text. All of that was created using rope lights and plastic piping. Every year I see more and more of those inflatable huge yard decorations, which I don't really like much. I've seen a lot of those yard deer made up of white wire. Some of those are lit and some are not. I have noticed that a lot of people are obssessed with ice and snow, maybe because here in San Antonio we rarely see either. I personally like to keep more with our actual weather and such, but I must admit my sister likes snowmen and so our interior decorating, at least during Christmas features snowmen galore.

Morning Ablutions

On the way to work I get to look around and shoot out the window (which is why I'm always washing the windows when we stop for gas.) Usually when we are sitting in traffic it's cause of a jam or something. Today when I looked in front of me, instead of seeing someone on the phone, I saw someone putting on makeup in the review mirror. She put it on as she turned a left and went through the light. Yikes! I do all sorts of stuff on the morning and evening commute, but then I'm only a passenger, and I must say I have put makeup on in the car, but my hand is never as steady as I would like it when I'm still, much less when I'm in a moving car, so I usually wait for us to come to a standstill.

Lunch: Shrimp Penne

Went to lunch today at the Southwest Craft Center. I usually have their Chef Salad or their Chicken Salad Sandwich, but when Shrimp and Pasta is on the menu it's a no brainer. I had my usual friendly chat with the nice staff, ordered my stuff and walked back to lunch at my desk with a coworker for company. I love me shrimp, even if I am convinced that I have a slight allergic reaction to it.

Cactus and Windmill

I like to get a gander of the highway art as we drive. There isn't that much of it, but when I can I get shots of it. They mostly appear on the new or redone highways. This one is on 181. When we traveled to California we saw a lot of it along the way, but I'm not sure what state it was.

Bank Telling

We had to make a last minute payment before the close of the business day and we drove around a bit to find the bank that my sister thought was off of San Pedro. When we got to the bank it was the wrong one, but with a bit more driving we found the correct one and before closing too.

So thank you Chase Bank for keeping those hours that saved our bacon.

Creepy Crawly House

We tried a new Vietamese place on McCullough I think it was. As we left the parking lot I just had to take a pic of this house. I'm not sure about much, don't know if it is lived in or abandoned, but I liked the look and character of it. I much prefer old houses than all those new cookie cutter McMansions.

The Girliest Drink Possible

Some of the guys at work were Jonesin' for some coffee so we made a Starbucks run. I don't go in for coffee, but I always go for strawberry stuff so I ordered the only strawberry thing on the menu--some Strawberry creme thing. Of course it took forever while the two guys I was with were already outside enjoying their coffees. When I walked out with my pink confection they said and I'm paraphrasing here: "That's the girliest drink I've ever seen." and I responded, "Hello! I am a girl."

I remember a bit ago they were talking about how many Starbucks were closing, but that's not what I'm seeing in SA. I am only seeing more of them opening up.

Stringing Up Lights

I get a bit of vertigo when I climb higher than my head, so my little helpers went up to the first floor and put up some lights for me. They were all set to do the second floor too, but my heart couldn't take it. As you can see from the photo, apparently it was a good vantage point for some sniping. :D

Fancy Stockings

We were at Ross today looking for some Christmasy stuff. I've been looking for a good stocking for years, but I have yet to find one that I like. I kind of liked the look of the one in the center (brown, cream and green) but I couldn't imagine having one that was so frou frou. I'm looking for a black one, but no luck so far.

Sky Watch Friday

On the way home this is the sight that meet my eyes. Usually I see an orange, or yellow or even pink/purply/bluey sky, but today it was this gorgeous shade of blue.

Sunset Silhouette

Waiting to get picked up I got a chance to get this shot of one of the best times of day. I like this light where everything looks golden and in silhoutte. In the foreground is the Central Library water feature in the turnabout. Most times of the year it is on and the water runs in silvery streams over the rounded pebbles and collects in a pond at the bottom of the incline. It also comes out of a spout on the side of the fountain. The street in view is Soledad--the parking lot in the background belongs to a Baptist building.

Pushme Pullyou

I got behind this 18-wheeler on the highway not long ago and it freaked me out. Yes, that's the back of the trailer. It reminded me of that two-headed llama from Dr. Doolittle for some reason.

Hitching ring

Here's the Ursuline Academy/SW School of Arts & Crafts wall before they tore it down. If you notice on the left there is a ring to hitch your horses to. I wish they had salvaged the ring and put it back on the new wall. When they started tearing down the old wall, I checked and someone had chipped it out - probably saved the old anillo for a souvenir.

Theme Day: Circles/Spheres

This was taken way back in January but I couldn't resist. If you are wondering what it is, you can visit the Central Library in downtown and see for yourself. As you walk into the library, you will be in the Blue Room, whose walls and ceiling are painted blue, while this is the floor. What you see here is the reflection of the neon blue circles reflected on the fairly mirror-like floors. Here's a different view of the picture.