The Sounding of Two Canons

With the New Year comes an update on the new downtown coffee shop!  We were wondering when the coffeeshop was going to start being open nights, and this article in the MRT has the answer.  An alternative to the usual restaurants, bars, and the two very overcrowded Starbucks in town is music to our ears!  A place where we could unwind at night, chat, drink coffee, and enjoy live music?  We couldn’t be more excited, and we think this is something the young people in Midland really need.  Good luck to this new local business owner, and check out Ground Floor!

The Ground Floor

203 W. Wall in Wall Tower (Across the street from the County Courthouse, next door to Cancun Grill)

7AM-11PM Daily

(432) 683-4433 

http://www.mywesttexas.com/articles/2009/01/06/life/top_stories/new_ground_floor_1-4.txt#

From our family to yours….  Happy Holidays!

Best Wishes,

Cory & Chris

(and our dogs too!  Sadie, Buddy, & Duke)

Saturday we ran in the 2008 Citibank Jingle Bell Run benefitting Junior Achievement.  It started downtown on the corner of Texas Avenue and Lorraine.  The course proceeded from this point over towards the duck pond (corner of A street and Cuthbert) and back.  We had a great time, and the weather was excellent for a run!  Even Santa joined in the fun, strapping on his running shoes.  While down there, we took a couple of photos of some of the downtown decorations that were to be a part of the annual city tree lighting taking place later in the afternoon, like the snowman at Centennial Plaza.  We also saw a couple of groups preparing their floats for the annual Christmas parade leading up to the tree lighting.  All in all, it was a busy day downtown and holiday festivities and a great way to enjoy a Saturday afternoon.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We wanted to recognize a restaurant who truly contributed to the Midland community this Thanksgiving - Romie’s.  According to the article, on Thursday the popular Mexican food restaurant offered a free meal to the needy this year.

http://www.mywesttexas.com/articles/2008/11/25/press_releases/doc492c5debef118845904869.txt

We have eaten there before, and will make a point to do so again!  This restaurant is not officially “downtown”, but it is close enough…. approximately five blocks south of Wall Street, on 701 S Marienfeld.  Congrats to Romie’s for their true generosity, we are so impressed.  We hope your Thanksgiving lunch went well! 

Romie’s Mexican Restaurante

Located on Marienfeld, south of the railroad tracks, between Front and Florida Sts.

Closed 2-5 PM daily, and Closed on Sundays

(432) 683-5344

Even though Thanksgiving is right around the corner, we went ahead and started getting ready for Christmas by attending the annual Museum of the Southwest Christmas at the Mansion preview party this past weekend.  It is always so much fun to see the Museum decked out for the holidays.  There are dozens of trees decorated in any number of styles all throughout the house, and when you are in there you feel like you are actually living a scene out from the Nutcracker.  If you have an opportunity, you should definitely check it out.  It is a wonderful place to take children as well, they will be entranced by the toy train set up in the old stables and the gingerbread houses on display.

In years past, we’ve volunteered to help decorate the old mansion, and let me tell you, this is no easing undertaking.  Congratulations to those who volunteered to this year’s effort, you certainly made the Museum look like a magical Christmas wonderland!

http://www.museumsw.org/upcomingevents_christmas08.php

It’s difficult to blog about Downtown Midland when it seems every weekend is spent going out of town for weddings.  When you are our age, attending weddings can seem like a part-time job!  We won’t tell you how many weddings we’ve been to this year, including our own….  it is a ridiculous number.  That said, we are so happy for ALL of our newlywed friends (Josh & Erica - your wedding was beautiful!  Congrats!)  We will say we are looking forward to more time together in Midland as the holiday season is approaching.

As for Downtown Midland, we can hardly contain our excitement about this…..  the new coffee shop has been confirmed.  We always hear rumors about new projects downtown, it’s so great when they turn out to be true!  Check out the article in the MRT:  

http://www.mywesttexas.com/articles/2008/11/16/news/top_stories/doc491e4d60683e8932322818.txt

We are both complete coffee addicts, so we cannot wait to go to the new coffee shop!  Thank you SO much to the owner of the new Ground Floor Coffee House for this endeavor, we are so excited!  Good luck!!  We hope you’ll consider being open late, at least some nights on the weekends, maybe some acoustic guitar….  Just some suggestions.   

Tuesday, 11/11/08

Chris and I attended Evening With the Judges at The Petroleum Club on Thursday night. It is the second annual event presented by the two local Midland Bar Associations as a fundraiser, and included a panel of all the local judges. While the attendance was mostly made up of legal professionals, this year the event was open to the public, with Congressman Conaway in attendance as well. Great emphasis was put on supporting Pete Fierro and Legal Aid of Northwest Texas, which was so impressive and appropriate. To see the legal community supporting their office made Chris and I very proud.

Since we both have had busy work weeks, we ate out twice this week! We had dinner at Pizzeria Venti on Friday night. For those of you who have not eaten there, you should. Not downtown, but the pizza and wine was a great way to celebrate the end of a long week. (Located on Wadley and Midkiff, across from H.E.B.).

Saturday morning, Chris was able to attend the implosion of the building downtown. He has videos, but whether we can figure out how to upload them is a different story! Finally, last night, we had date night at Wall Street Bar & Grill, located in an old building downtown. It really is a Midland institution. Yes, we are creatures of habit, and yes, we really do eat downtown a lot!  As usual, their signature salad was our favorite part.

Sorry no postings this past weekend!  We went to Austin this weekend to babysit our triplet niece and nephews, and to take them trick-or-treating.  Quite an adventure!

We were sad to miss all the Halloween festivities downtown at the Yucca Theater, but we’re sure everyone had fun.  Hope everyone is going to vote today, if you haven’t already!

C&C

We were looking for pictures of Midland’s downtown area, when we ran across Sarah Green’s blog.  We just love her work!  She is a young professional photographer living in Midland, and we just love her photojournalistic style.  When we contacted her about posting some of her pictures on our blog about Downtown Midland, she told us that she enjoys Midland’s downtown area, and that she would love to see downtown revitalized!  She said that she saw such untapped potential in the downtown area, and was very enthusiastic about our blog. 

Thanks for your help Sarah, we love your pictures!

http://sarahgreenphotography.com/

http://sarahgreenphotography.com/blog/

This is such a fun thing to do for Halloween.  When you go there, there are so many families there taking pictures!  Most were in Halloween costumes!  See information and pictures below.  Will only be open through October 31st….

 

St. Luke’s United Methodist Church is proud to welcome back the 12th annual Pumpkin Patch at the corner of Powell Street and Louisiana in Midland, Texas.  Please come and join in on the fun at the patch.  Come bring your family for great photo opportunities.

 

The Pumpkin Patch will open Monday, October 13 and run through October 31, 2008.

 

We have a huge variety of sizes, shapes and prices fof pumpkins, including the “Minis” and gourds.  We will also be selling holiday decorations.

 

Our hours are Monday through Saturday

9:30am-6:30pm and Sunday 12:00-5:00pm.

 

The Patch is also in sponsorship with a Barnes and Noble Book Fair this year. Barnes and Noble will donate part of the proceeds from and book sale to St. Luke’s UMC between October 17th and November 4th if you present a coupon obtained by visiting The Pumpkin Patch.

 

For more information, please call the church office at 694-2571 or check our web site at www.stlukesumcmidland.org.