Come Out For The Taste Of Watters Creek

Hey Autumn Chase!  Please join all your fellow Carrollton residents, as we celebrate The Taste of Watters Creek.  The third annual event Thursday September 9th, benefits the City of Allen Chamber of Commerce, and showcases all of the wonderful food from Watters Creek restaurants such as Glazers and Ben E. Keith.

You’ll be able to enjoy a delectable selection of appetizers, entrees, desserts, an assortment of wines and beer, as well as live music performed by Naked Lunch.

If you haven’t been to Watters Creek at Montgomery Farms then you are missing out on something spectacular.  Watters Creek includes a variety of options such as a village green, interactive public art, restaurants, and other retail shops.

There are a variety of parking options including valet and metered parking.  For those folks looking for parking of the free variety, there is a three-tiered parking garage with plenty of space for your vehicles.

For more information, you can visit the Watters Creek website.

This is a wonderful local event–it’s only about a 28 minute drive from us here at Autumn Chase– and it’s a great way to get out and meet your fellow residents.  Come out and have a blast!

Are You Ready For Some Football??!!

Autumn Chase, get ready!  Football season is almost here!  Folks in Carrollton are excited to kick off this 2010 NFL season because their Dallas Cowboys are one of the favorites to reach the Super Bowl this year.  As an added bonus, this year’s Super Bowl will be held in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, the very home of the Cowboys!  Talk about home field advantage!

This year’s Cowboys team is loaded for bear, and ready to take that next step to becoming one of the NFL’s elite teams.  Quarterback Tony Romo will lead a dynamic offensive attack that features Pro Bowlers Marion Barber, Jason Witten, and Miles Austin.  The defense, once again, will be one of the very best in the league, spearheaded by All-Pro linebacker Demarcus Ware.

The season kicks off September 12th.  Here’s a look at this year’s schedule .  Until then,  how about a quick taste of some Cowboys football to whet your appetite?  Have a great year cheering for the Boys Autumn Chase!

Take A Walk With Nature And Experience Wildlife

Hey Autumn Chase!  With summer waning, now is the chance to have that last communion with nature–and discover the beautiful parts of this wonderful city.  Head over to Elm Fork Nature Preserve, and be prepared to see some wonderful furry critters such as raccoons, beavers, opossums, and skunks.  You can also see a variety of birds such as screech owls, woodpeckers, and cardinals.

The Elm Fork Nature Preserve was purchased as a woodright in 1861 by the Bramblitt Family. The land was never clear-cut and in 1986 the 40 acres were given to the City of Carrollton as a self-contained ecosystem, virtually undisturbed. Trails are open for hikes 365 days a year.

Trails are open from dusk until dawn, so you can see as much wildlife in natural lighting as possible.  Please dress comfortably and appropriately.  it is also important to observe nature trail etiquette.  For more details on rules and other common questions, you can visit the city of Carrollton’s Elm Fork Nature Reserve’s web page.

Have fun on the trails!

Carnival Rides, and Hot Air Balloons and Blue Angels, Oo-My!

The 2010 Lions Club Balloon Festival and Fair is this weekend up in Highland Village, TX. While this great event is about 30 minutes from Autumn Chase, I think hot air balloons are totally worth it!

The Festival will go from 5:00pm Friday, August 20th, through noon on Sunday, August 22nd. There will be arts and craft booths, live entertainment and music, hot balloon races and rides, and the Blue Angles flight simulator. There is plenty to do every day of the festival!

Admission is free and parking is just a $5 donation, with all proceeds going to Lions Club Charities. There will also be collection boxes for people to donate their gently used eye glasses, sun glasses, eye glass cases and old cell phones for soldiers.

Adopt A New Family Friend

We here at Autumn Chase love our pets!  Because we love our pets, I think we do a pretty darn good job being on the lookout for the best possible homes for all of them.  With that in mind, the city of Carrollton is proudly presenting opportunities for all you pet lovers to adopt—or refer someone you know to the best opportunities to adopt a furry friend.

There are several fantastic options in the Carrollton area to bring home a new furry loved one.

1. Pets in Carrollton– offer pets for sale and/or adoption.
2. Petfinder.com–offer pets for adoption in the Carrollton area only.

This is a wonderful opportunity for a prospective new parent, or just another opportunity for you wonderful old-time pet parents.

What are you waiting for Autumn Chase?  Bring some more love into this fabulous community!

Our Historical Carrollton

Most local historians believe Carrollton received its name from the hometown of early settlers, who came from Carrollton, Illinois. The name was officially established on May 16, 1878, when the first U.S. Post Office opened in Carrollton.

Stop, Scrabble Time!

Starting Saturday, August 7th, Scrabble is coming to Dallas! The 2010 National Scrabble Championship will be taking place just around the corner in Addison, TX at the Hotel InterContinental Dallas.

The first 7 rounds will be on Saturday. They will continue through out the following days. It all comes down to the final rounds on Wednesday, August 11th, culminating with the prize ceremony.

If you are a big fan of Scrabble then this would be a cool event to check out over the weekend. Also, the InterContinental is less then ten miles away from Autumn Chase.

Do you like to play Scrabble? Have you ever participated in a scrabble tournament?

Enjoy Sizzlin Summer Selection at the Market

This Saturday, July 31st, the Coppell Farmers Market over in Coppell, TX will be hosting their second event of the summer, Sizzlin at the Market. Not only will they have lots of fresh, locally grown produce for you to enjoy, but the will also have about 40 artisan vendors there as well.

The Coppell Farmers Market focuses on seasonal and local produce and products. There are a wide range of products available for purchase. Their mission statement:

To form a relationship with local growers/producers in order to provide fresh, seasonal produce and agricultural products for our community while fostering a sense of place in Old Town Coppell.

The market opens at 8:00am and remains open until “sellout.” However, getting their early ensures you’ll get better selection. This week will be even more fun with the artist booths set up as well.

It’s a little bit of a drive to Coppell from Autumn Chase, but without traffic it would probably only take about 20 minutes. This market is definitely worth the drive!

Movie Monday: Despicable Me

I finally went and checked out Despicable Me this weekend. My roommate was dying to go see this movie, so we headed over to the Cinemark theater in Plano. We wanted to catch a matinee as to avoid the evening crowds and the only remaining matinee we could catch that day was in 3D.

Let me start off by telling you that I loved this film. It was sweet and funny and all in all well worth the price of admission. The characters are great the jokes are funny and the animation is very well done. This is easily my favorite moment in the movie:

However, I must admit that I don’t think it’s worth going to see in 3D. I don’t think that 3D added anything to Despicable Me. It sure didn’t add an extra $4 of enjoyment to my experience (3D ticked are way too expensive as far as I’m concerned)!

All in all, I really enjoyed Despicable Me, I give it 4 stars! Have any other Autumn Chase-ers seen Despicable Me? What did you think, would you recommend it?

Want to Learn to Cook?

I love to cook. I would definitely consider myself an armature foodie. Taking a cooking class or two has been on my to do list for sometime now. I just haven’t really gotten around to it. However, I recently found out that the Central Market in Plano has cooking classes. They cover all kind of ingredients and style. Classes are offered in the evening from Wednesday through Saturday. They even have children’s cooking classes!

The adult classes span a number of topics. They have sushi classes, bread making, French cuisine, even pizza! I personally really want to go take a sushi class. I think it would be a blast as I am seriously addicted to sushi.

The kids cooking classes is part of a summer cooking series. The classes are separated by age range. This week it’s focusing on peanuts and peanut butter. Kind of makes me wish I was still a kid! It is a great way to teach your kid about food and cooking with out getting your own kitchen messy.

The kids classes are all $40 a session or $280 for an 8 week series. Although, it’s probably a little late to do the 8 week series as most school’s start back in August. The adult classes are a bit pricier ranging from $45 all the way up to $75.

This would make a fun date if you and your partner both are interested in cooking. It would also be a fun girl’s night out! Have you ever taken a cooking class?

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