happenings: girls night, a trophy and the best italian soda

Hellloo there! Long time no post. Sorry for the delay, I managed to lose my camera sync cord and had to find a replacement in order to download pictures. I'm really sad that this is my last week in Austin, so I'm sure I'll be posting several times over the next few days. Here are the happenings of the last week or so. 

Before Hana left for Houston we decided to have a girls night. We ordered pizza, had a *ahem* few bottles of wine and watched Coraline. Danielle is a bit star wars fan, and we had a lot of fun playing with her helmet when we got to her house. Apparently her sister gave it to her for Christmas, and she has assured us she does not dress up at conventions :0)

Here's Hana trying out the hat 

I was so excited when I realized that Coraline was 3-d! Of course like old people we all started getting head aches and complaining like 20 minutes into the movie and changed it over to 2-d but it was fun!

I had my last weekend to hang out in Austin by myself. So what did I do? Ruined my dinner by eating frozen yogurt instead. Kati came along for the ride, but was too distracted to take a proper date picture. 

That weekend, one of the interns also hosted a 'college theme' party. You had to wear a college shirt, look scrubby and play beer pong. Here was the lovely trophy. 

I arrived a little late and decided to bring everyone a snack. In college we always ate taco c (taco cabana) on nights out, so I made quick stop to get chips, queso and tortillas before arriving. I'm pretty sure the boys were pleased. Here is Paul and Ryan sampling. 

Here is Sara and Jeff showing off their bracket. Surprisingly these two were winning!

So I love Italian Soda, and kept hearing about this candy shop in south Austin with the best flavors. A few days later I hauled Danielle down for a little treat and we also made our way next door to the toy store. Isnt this creepy!! Oh and as a side note, my arm is fine. My thumb has been hurting so the doctor put me in a stabilizing brace for a week or so to rest. 

That's all for now! We'll see you soon!

I cant find my camera cord

Bah, I can't find my camera cord! I have all sorts of fun new pictures to upload, but I have no idea where I put the dang thing! I'm borrowing Danielles tonight, so I hope to have some new ones uploaded. In the mean time, I have fun news: I went to the dr yesterday and have lost 11 pounds since about when I came to Austin. Holy crap! I have no idea how that happened, probably a mix of the veggie diet and yoga all the time, but I feel great. No real change in clothing size, but I dont mind that as long as I feel good. Here's to a healthy summer! 

Todays discovery

I love how Austin always keeps me guessing and there are surprises on every corner. From the apartment to work I can take about 7 options of side streets. I think I've gone down all of them at least once, so I was shocked to make such a fun discovery when Kati and I were driving home from our walk today. May I introduce you to Nic? 

Isn't he cute!! He lives at a house right off of Congress, and at first I thought he was just a shaggy dog. His owners have a sign out front that says 'Hi. I'm Nic. I'm 2. Please dont feed me anything bad.'. He's about the size of a miniature pony and seems really sweet. I took these with my iphone while Kati was waiting in the car, but I managed to sneak in one 'aerial' shot of his horns! 

I'll be sad to leave this awesomely random town. 

It's been a while (cue bad Britney sound track)

Hellooo internets! Sorry it's been a while, life has been a bit of a whirlwind! My Louisiana family decided to take a road trip down to Texas last weekend, so I decided to meet up with them. Coincidentally it was also the same weekend as Jasons El Scorcho race, and Cindys visit at the lakehouse. Oh yeah, and if that wasn't enough I had a 5 hour grant writing class to squeeze in there somewhere. Seriously it makes me sleepy just to think about that weekend again! So, Im sure you understand why I had to take a few days to just recoup. Anyways, on with the pictures!

Emily and I. Would you look at how much that girl has grown? I swear she is almost as tall as I am and GOOOOOORgeous 

Dad, Hayden and Carson under a big tree. We found out later that about 1 wedding per day happens under this tree. Whoops!

So after walking for what seemed like 5 hours we finally found a place that the kids would eat. Unfortunately for this veggie girl it was a steak place.... which meant I could eat cheese sticks. Ah well, at least I was with my fam!

A quick stop at the ice cream store was a must. Carson decided to show me that he could fit the whole ice cream cone in his mouth. It was really funny. 

Most people who have travelled with me know that I'm not a huge 'tourist' kind of traveller, so doing something like the riverboat cruise was a little out of character for me. The kids were so excited to go on it, and I think after steak (or cheesesticks) and ice cream it was pretty much a necessity. 

Unfortunately, by the time we got there they were no longer doing Alamo tours for the day. So the kids and I looked for Daniel Boones name (and were never able to find it) and settled for a picture in front. 

On Saturday, we had breakfast and then it was time to hit the road again. I went to a super interesting grant writing class up at UT, the decided at the last minute that Kati and I should make the drive to see Jason. It was the 3rd annual El Scorcho race, and while I knew they had a large crowd this year, I thought 2 more visitors couldnt hurt- Kati and I! I think Jason was pretty shocked to see us, which made the 3.5 hour drive totally worth it. 

I somehow managed to convince him to come back to Austin with me, under the guise that I would drive and he could ride the train back home on Tuesday. In classic Jason style, all he heard was 'come sleep in the car'. 

 

On Sunday, we headed out to the lake to meet Cindy and Jim.  A friend of theirs graciously volunteered their amazing lake house. Cindy, how on earth did we go a whole day without me getting a picture of us???? I did manage to snag one of the sunset from the observatory. Would you believe this view??!!!

On Monday it was back to the grind, but I have to give props to my friend Danielle for introducing me to Bananarchy this week. It's this fun little hut that serves chocolate, or vanilla or carmel covered frozen bananas. Not that I ever get tired of snow cones, but theoretically it's a nice option during the summer in case you do. 

Danielle was smart and only got a 1/2 

But I pretty much insisted on getting a whole. I was only able to eat like 2/3 of it before I was stuffed, so I guess I'll know better next time!

Thanks for checking in and have a great weekend!

Yippee visitors!

This weekend, Lyndsey and I had our first round of visitors! I was so excited to see Shayla and Carrie that Kati and I kept peeking out of the window waiting to see their car! We had a great visit and really enjoyed having familiar faces around. After a foiled trip down to Hamilton Pool (the bacteria levels were too high..... stupid right?), we had a glorious day just bumming around. Here are a few pictures from our weekend! 

Before heading out to Barton Springs, we headed over to the farmers market! Here's Carrie showing off her loot- lots and lots of baby tomatoes!

After the springs, we went to one of my favorite restaurants here, Enoteca Vespaio. You may remember from the miniature octopus post :0) 

Love the Farris Buellers Day Off glasses Shay!!

After lunch, we hit up Sugar Mamas, the most glorious bakery in town. I guess we had a little too much to eat because we all promptly fell asleep when we got back home. When we woke up, it was time to hit the pool again before visiting the bats!

Later that night, you guessed it, we were eating again. This time, we made the trip up north to yogurt planet. Oh MY it was sooo good! They have tart yogurt and you get to throw whatever toppings you like into your cup. It is sooo yummy and we all enjoyed our late night snack. 

This was mine: tart yogurt with blackberries, kiwi, strawberries, raspberrys and a scoop of chocolate chips! Heaven!

On Sunday,  we said goodbye to the girls and Lyndsey and I decided to go to a local bead shop. We'd both been eyeing a few necklaces and decided to try our hand at making a custom piece for ourselves. Here is my creation. I was thrilled when my total was only $18 as compared to my inspiration piece at $160! 

That's all for the weekend checkin! We had a great time, and I cant wait to have more visitors head down our way! 

The elephant in the room

Kati has been a little lonely since Carter went back to Fort Worth, so today we made a run out to Petco to pick out a few new friends. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0tOzMcz1RU

A visual aid of what I've been up to....

1. Eating cupcakes from Sugar Mamas bakery. Let's just say the Odd Couple (salted carmel, chocolate cupcake) is life changing. 

2. Spoiling Kati with Pupcakes, also from the above den of sin, Sugar Mamas :0) 

3. Eating delicious veggies I grew in my garden. Thanks to everyone, especially the hubbster, for helping keep the garden watered while I am away. 

4. Learning to not be able to live without a record player. I'm seriously trying to figure out how I can get Justin's amazing player and collection back home with me without him noticing... but somehow I think he would miss it too. 

5. Riding my scoot everywhere. The grocery. Work. The above mentioned bake shop. If Kati could fit in the basket, we'd really be in business. 

Have I mentioned I love coming home to this view? Austin is everything I hoped it would be and more.