Life's Little (and sometimes very Big) Lessons

What NOT to do when you go hiking

2010-05-22T18:42:00.000-05:00

A few weekends ago Eric and I had a rare day where we were both off work and didn't have any other plans. So as we sat around wasting our day away we decided we wanted to go to a park. But not the good ole neighborhood park but we wanted to go to a grand state park.

We had heard of Pedernales Falls State Park and decided to go. I had a general idea of where it was and figured I could call the park's info center on the way and get exact directions. Since this was a spur of the moment trip we did not plan very well and learned a few 'hard' lessons along the way. Here is my list of things NOT to do if you decide to take a radom unplanned trip to a state park in the middle of no where in late spring in Texas.

1. Don't bring the fancy CamelBak (which is made to hold water) but not fill it up.
2. Don't ask Eric to go fill up said CamelBak or get something to drink for the hike (because you might end up with a cooler full of Dr. Pepper... which doesn't really quench thirst... just leaves me more thirsty).

3. Don't leave your house to drive to a state park in the middle of no where (over 40 miles away) and not know exactly where you are going.

4. Don't rely on your phone to assist you in getting directions to said state park out in the middle of no where.

5. Don't leave for a state park (out in the middle of no where) and not have a full tank of gas or even just a half tank of gas... or if you only have a quarter of a tank of gas at least stop BEFORE you get to a deserted stretch of freeway.

6. If you plan on taking a 2 and a half hour hike eat before you go or bring snacks, don't count on food being readily available at the park.
7. Don't forget the sunscreen...
8. Even if you don't care about having water for yourself, at least care enough to bring water for your dog.
9. When the park ranger asks if you want a map of the park don't turn them down and say something to the affect: "Aw we don't need a map we are here for an adventure."
10. Stick to the well defined trail... don't wonder off into uncharted territories.
11. And last but not least have fun and realize that life is just an adventure.

Eric and I always seem to have adventures (or misadventures as Eric puts them). But no matter what we are laughing and having a great time together along the way!

Carrying the EMPTY CamelBak and cooler full of Dr. Pepper:

Eric and I thought this rock crater was sooo cool because it was in

the shape of a heart (I know we are huge nerds)!

Mo decided to take things into his own 'paws' (hehe) to try and cool off.

A baby palm tree

It was so beautiful!

I don't know how you do it!

2010-05-22T18:18:00.000-05:00

I was going through my camera this weekend and realized just how many pictures that I have that I need to upload to my computer and (hopefully) blog about. I just don't know how you all do it! Working, having kids, taking care of a house, etc, etc.., and still maintain a blog. I know I try and blog regularly on my cooking blog but there is just never enough time in a day to do everything.

Over the past six months so much has happened that I STILL haven't blogged about. Halloween 2009, Christmas 2009, my brother-in-law's graduation from A&M, Rachel's baby shower, SXSW 2010, concerts, concerts and more concerts. Baby Joseph being born, Eric's birthday, Matthew's Boy Scout Court of Honor, Easter 2010, our trip to Pedernales Falls, Eric's cousin's wedding... I know I have said it before but maybe I can get around to going back and blogging about all these events (before it is way too late). Since I will probably never ever have time to put all these memories in to a scrapbook; I really want to order a blog book (I know I have looked up companies in the past but can't remember what they are... suggestions?).

And to think there are so many new events that are coming up that will need blogging too: Matthew's graduation from high school, Joseph's blessing, our trip to Utah, Yellowstone and Idaho, Rebecca's BYUI graduation, Rachel's A&M graduation, and yes even more concerts.......

My Rockin' New Years!

2010-01-05T21:32:00.001-06:00

Eric and I had a crazy, rockin' New Year's! So crazy and rockin' in fact I have no pictures! Wanna know what we did? We spent New Years Eve in Bridge City, Texas. Where is that you ask? About 10 miles south of Orange, Texas and 30 miles south of Beaumont, Texas. Population 8,651 (Yikes!!).

Why on earth would I be celebrating my New Years Eve and the start of a new year... a new decade... in a tiny podunk town on the Texas/Louisiana?

Well I actually asked myself that same exact question (many. many times over this whole weekend) and the only answer I have is dedication. You see a good friend of Eric's from Atlanta (the same friend that came down to go to ACL) owns his own construction biz with his dad. After Hurricane Ike hit Albert and his dad packed up and moves to Bridge City to help with the rebuild.

They decided they actually liked it there and because the construction biz is doing so well they had the opportunity to open a restaurant there (which is their dream). So we went to check out this restaurant (and give our honest opinion and advice).

And since Bridge City is such a hip hoppin' place we spent New Year's Eve at Albert's house watching the ball drop with his Dad, his brother, and his girlfriend. I would say this because there was no computers, bad cable TV, and absolutely nothing else to do in that town I was able start the Harry Potter series (one of my New Year's goals: to read the entire Harry Potter series back to back); play games on my phone (one of my only forms of entertainment) and kick back and relax! Aren't you jealous!

(if you strain real hard you can see that tiny read dot where Bridge City is supposed to be)

Going Back

2009-12-11T19:20:00.002-06:00

So I have to back tract for the next couple of posts I will be blogging about. It seems that since I started this blog to document Eric and I's relationship and personal and family events we have actually led pretty boring lives. I mean not totally boring we have done things here and there and I have tried to blog about them but overall we have done nothing to write home about.

As I was thinking about past events that I needed to blog about, like Halloween, some concerts, and a hockey game we went to; and I started to get my photos together and upload them from my camera to my computer I realized there were a lot more events and things that we had done that warranted blogging worthy!

So over the next few days, ok probably weeks, I am going to back tract and blog about some (not so) current events in our lives. And since blogger allows you to change the dates on your posts; which allows me to post when events actually took place even though it is weeks or even months later, I will back tract and post them then!!

So now, time to play catch up!

Me and The Pioneer Woman

2009-12-11T11:13:00.001-06:00

Even though I already posted about my meeting The Pioneer Woman on my cooking blog Kitchen Concoctions, I had to copy and past about the experience here because one day I want to get this blog published as a book to use as a scrapbook of my adventures! So if you have already read this than just skip it, if not enjoy! : )

The Pioneer Woman!!! Ever since Pioneer Woman, or Ree Drummond, announced that she was writing a cookbook I have been super excited and could not wait for it to be published, even though I read her blog every day and have made a few or her recipes (some that I have already blogged about and some that I need to blog about).

Then when she announced that she was going on a book tour and posted on her blog the cities she was touring to I was stoked that Austin made the list (even though I had no doubts that she would be coming here since her sister lives here).

I then just had to wait for her to come and go get the book of course. But if you remember Eric got me her cookbook for my birthday so I was set!

After work Thursday I headed straight over to BookPeople. The event was supposed to start at 7pm but when I got there at around 10 til 6 it was jam packed. I asked where the book signing was but if I had only listed I would have found my way by listening for the sounds of women’s chatter.

To get your book signed you had to get a colored wrist band. They would then call the colors in rainbow order to then go stand in line. By the time I got there they were already passing out green bands! Remember ROY G. BIV (the order of the rainbow) with a green wrist band that meant I had quite a few people in front of me! I started to get really worried because a couple standing near me told me that they had friends who went to her signing in Dallas in which Ree had to sign autographs until 2am because there were so many people!!! I had work the next day so I was worried bout this but for the Pioneer Woman I would wait!

So I waited… along with about 500 (that may be an exaggeration I never heard official stats) other people. There were men, women and children; of all ages. Everyone talked and talked about The Pioneer Woman and her family.

At 7pm (well actually a few minutes late but she is the Pioneer Woman she CAN be late) she did a question and answer session.

She answered questions even though the entire audience knew EVERYTHING about her already. She said to look for new things to come on her blog, that the “Black heels to tractor wheels” story was going to be published into a book with some additional sections and be released hopefully in 2011. We all laughed and cried and sighed and…

…then we waited for our magical color to be called so that we could go stand in line and meet her. Austin was fortunate enough to have her husband, children, sister, and brother-in-law be there too. It was nice to meet them all they really are such sweet, humble people.

Some people even started asking “Marlboro Man” to sign their books. A line started forming just for him. I felt bad… “Quick someone get the man a chair!”

I am embarrassed to admit that while I was waiting “Marlboro Man” was leaning on a table signing autographs when some girls started taking pictures of his butt (the last page in the book is a picture of his butt with the caption ‘the end’ so I guess they were trying to reenact that photo). I had prim view from where I was sitting and even though I was thinking how crazed, it would be to take a pic of his butt I did (I was peer pressured)!!! Now I can’t bring my self to post it!

Some crazed fans started asking her kids for autographs and pictures too! I would say that I am a huge fan but I left her kids alone.

I don’t know what was wrong with my camera skills that night but I did not get very many good pictures. The best pictures I got were when other people took pictures for me.

Her kids watchin their Mama at work:

Marlboro Man takin' my pic! Maybe I will be on PW's blog:

Any who… it was tons of fun! I meet not only THE Pioneer Woman but some other nice people as well. She will be on tour until December 14. I encourage you all to get the book and go (make sure and wear comfortable shoes, take my word for it).

Her book The Pioneer Woman Cooks would make a great Christmas gift. Just like her blog it has step by step photos and directions for every recipe. It also has a large number of photos and stories of her life on an Oklahoma ranch. It would be great for someone who is a beginner or advance cook, a blog reader or not.

Turkey and a Tree

2009-12-06T10:00:00.002-06:00

Thanksgiving was of course a busy one! Thanksgiving day was spent in Austin with Eric's family. I of course brought my camera to take pics of everyone and the food (so I could post the recipes on kitchen concoctions) but forgot to take any pics.

Then the day after Thanksgiving Eric and I headed to Houston to spend thanksgiving giving with my family. I again forgot to take pics.

After we ate dinner we headed to go get our Christmas tree. A tradition with my family is to go to a Christmas tree farm and cut our tree down. My mom said that this would be the last year she would get a real tree. This was a first for Eric and Anthony. Anthony always had a fake tree growing up and although Eric always had real Christmas trees growing up they never went and cut them down themselves. It was a lot of fun and of course my mom and I especially were being super cheesy and sentimental.

Trying to find the perfect one:

We finally ound it! (Look at my sister's preggo belly!)

Matthew has always wanted to cut the tree down ever since he was real little. It aways took forever and my Mom always had to get down there and help him. This year he literally had it chopped down in 5 seconds flat!

My family is used to my obsessive picture taking (they better be by now!).

You would think Matthew is an 1 year old boy in ths pic from all the silly faces!

November 19, 2009

2009-11-19T22:19:00.001-06:00

November 19, 2009, my birthday and the day I turned 26! For some reason I have not been exactly looking forward to my birthday this year. Maybe because 26 means the last year of being in my ‘20's' and next year when I turn 27 I will be in my late 20’s. Or maybe because my long list of things I wanted to accomplish before I turned 26 has only a small dent in them.

My attitude about my birthday this year has really shocked me. I have always been the one to say "embrace getting older" or "getting older is just a part of life".

But Eric took my birthday month in his own hands and totally embraced it. He has been spoiling me all month. He has been cooking dinner A LOT, he bought the Pioneer Woman's cookbook for me because I have been saying that I want it. Then, since all month he has said that he has a big birthday suprise planed for me.. On Sunday he called up his sister to ask if she could come and hang out with me while he bought my gift. I told him that I could entertain myself while he was out shopping. His sister had to work so he called up a good couple friends of ours and I went and hung out with Aviva while Eric and Chris went to shop for my gift. Then Chris came back while Aviva and Eric went to shop for my gift. So I was quite confused as to what my gift was.

And today I received it... the much anticipated gift...

I had been wanting a Kitchen Aid Mixer for quite sometime and now I have one. I am so excited about all the yummy things I can make using it. Eric even got me the ice cream maker attachment. I had been asking for an ice cream maker for sometime now, too, and didn't know that the Kitchen Aid Mixer had a ice cream maker attachment. How cool "literally" : ) is that! I cant wait to try it out!

We then went out to dinner at Z'tejas where I got the snapper and Eric got steak. Both were sooo deliciousFor dessert we headed over to Macaroni Grill for tiramisu and lemon passion cake.

Not only that, but I received lots of birthday text messages, cards, e-mails, phone calls, and Facebook messages from my friends and family. I would say that my attitude about my birthday has defiantly improved and that I had a pretty darn good one! Bring it birthday #27 (ok not to fast, though, let me enjoy being 26)!

Beach Bums

2009-11-14T10:53:00.000-06:00

Back the weekend of October 16th-17th Eric and I decided to take a little weekend get away to Port Aransas/Corpus Christy. It was nice to just get away for a bit and have a nice relaxing weekend with no plans (nowhere to be and nothing specific to do). And plus EVERYTHING is cheaper down there then because it is the off season.

We actually stayed in Aransas Pass and so we had to take the ferry over to port Aransas. This was Eric and I’s first time to ride a ferry that we drove our car onto. On Friday when we first arrived we wanted to head over but we waited in line for the ferry for over an hour! We went to eat dinner at a restaurant on the port. We were going to go try to watch the sunset on the beach after dinner but I started not feeling well at all. So that kind of put a dud on the evening.

On Saturday we headed back to Port Aransas to head to the beach. I was really worried about the condition the beach would be in because right before we left they said on the news that there was a ‘red tide’ that was affecting the beach and the waters near Padre and Corpus. The red tide had cased a bunch of dead fish to wash up on shore. I was freaking out that our nice relaxing weekend on the beach was going to be ruined by a bunch of dead fish!

Well we went to the beach, which was not crowded at all, and it was so gorgeous. At first, we did not see any dead fish at all. But then we started walking North on the beach and started to find one or two. But the further North we walked the more we saw washed up on shore. The only people that seemed to be enjoying the dead fish were all the birds! We quickly turned around and headed back to the beach that was fish free!

After we spent some time on the beach (which was very relaxing and just what I needed) we headed to Corpus Christy to a jazz festival they were having. It was a pretty small festival that had a few craft booths and 3 stages with music going on. The music was really good and we enjoyed listening to it but the festival it’s self was not what we expected. We only stayed for about an hour (good thing it was free) and then went out to eat dinner. As we were leaving dinner we got out to the car and discovered a nail in my tire! There was no way we were driving the over 3 hours back to Austin with a nail in my tire and the tire already getting flat. Luckily I spotted a Discount Tire (where I bought my tires from) across the freeway from the Outback we ate at and got there at 4:15 right before they closed at 5:00! They were able to fix the tire but I was worried that I was going to have to buy a new one because that was the 3rd nail I have gotten in that same tire in less than 2 months!

Despite not feeling well and the flat tire the trip was very relaxing and very much what both Eric and I needed!

I wish I could say we made this sand castle but we just found it on our walk along the beach.

That is a snake hanging out of that bird's mouth! I guess all the dead fish weren't good enough for him.

We had so much fun collecting shells. We saw so many sand dollars that were broken into bits and pieces and then Eric found a whole one! What a treasure! I decided to put it in my camera bag for safe keeping but when we got back to the car it was broken into a thousand pieces. I was so bummed... those things are just so darn fragile.

Collecting sea shells by the sea shore.

While we were walking the beach we saw this lady feeding chips to the birds. We got a several feet down the beach and the chip bag from that lady came blowing by our feet. Eric and I love the beach so much and hate that people don't show it as much respect as we do. So Eric did a good deed and picked up the bag and went and threw it away!

I saw this pier and wanted to go walk on it. But unfortunately it was aprivate fishing pier and you had to pay to goon it.

So we just went under it instead.

This is Eric trying to wait patiently to get on the farry to get n the island. Over an hour later we made it accross and immediately went to get food!

The long line of cars just waiting. You would think they would have built a bridge by now to make things easier.

Every time we rode the ferry I kept thinking of that movie Double Jeopardy were Tommy Lee Jones arrests Ashley Judd and handcuffs her to the car and then she rams the car off the ferry to escape. I kept looking aroun to make sure no one reenacted that scene.

Port Aransas

We didn't take very many pics at the jazz festival but here are a few!

Texas on Ice

2009-11-07T17:03:00.000-06:00

I am not a huge sports fan. I really don't follow any teams except for Aggie Football each year. But I do get excited about sports. I know it is weird. I have particular teams I am 'fans' of. And last year I discovered I liked playing fantasy football and March Madness purely on using 'context clues' such as team location, mascot, and school colors.. But when I have the opportunity to go to any sporting event live and in person I get really into it. I become one of those crazed fans that any other person there would think I had been following the team for years. I can also get into a game on TV if it is a team/sport I am somewhat familure with and I am around enough other people that are interested.

Well when Eric said that he could get free tickets to Austin's new hockey team, the Texas Stars, for one of their first games this season in the new Cedar Park Center I said yes! He asked really you would want to go to a hockey game? And I said of course I love hokey!

He grabbed 4 tickets. One for each of us and one to invite his sister Dana and one for our friend Aryan, who Eric was going to a concert with after the game. Because Eric was going to the concert afterwards we took separate cars. Dana and I rode together and Eric and Aryan rode together. I thought I knew for sure how to get there but it involved Austin's 'new' toll roads. So high tech and fancy that they don't even have toll booths you must have a tag or run it and they will take a picture of your license plate and 'bill' you later with additional charges. So Dana was freaking out and did not want to take the toll. I was trying to give her directions to avoid it but unfortunately it was inevitable! We ended up going through like 3 tolls! And Aryan was following us and he wasn't to happy either! At least it was them driving and not me!!!

Because of our adventure driving we made it to the game a little late and missed the first period. I was so bummed about this because like I said I really do get into sports especially when I am there live and in person and I was especially bummed when I learned that hockey only has 3 periods.

This was my first official hockey game. My sister, Rebecca, did figure skating for years and years and so when I would have to take her for practice I would sometimes see the hockey teams practicing, but a professional hockey game is SOOO different. We had great seats and had so much fun. Every time we scored the stadium went wild. And my favorite part? The fights!!! Hockey is known for being a rough and tough sport but I never knew how rough and tough it really was. There were 4 fights during the entire game. 4!!!! And my my favorite part of the fight was how much the crowd got involved and then the players having to go into the penalty box. I had heard of such things as the penalty box but never knew it existed!!! And we were sitting right behind the penalty box or time out box. At one point both teams were fighting each other.

The Team:

The Fights:

The half time (is it still called that if there are only 3 periods) had the skimpily dressed cheerleaders (didn't even know hockey had cheerleaders) doing a routine and then this dino walked out on the ice.

This dino was to promote an upcoming dinosaurs on ice thing. They then choose 4 kids from the audience (all boys-what was up with that?) to do a roar off or dinosaur impression to try and win tickets to that show (per crowd vote). Of course these kids were trying to be little hams in their 15 minutes of fame!

Dana:

And more Dana:

This is the only pic of Eric and I (the consequences of giving your camera to someone else to take pics for you).

Breaking News...

2009-11-05T19:23:00.000-06:00

So because of ACL I am WAY behind on posting! I want to try and keep things in chronological order so... you may not see any pictures from Halloween until Christmas!

BUT I did have to interrupt my chronological events to share some HUGE news....

My sister Rachel is pregnant and is expecting a baby BOY! The family was officially told that she was pregnant back in September but I guess now that she has had the ultrasound and knows what she is having I can announce it to the WORLD (even though technically she has not given me permission... opps)!

She is due April 5th, right in the middle of tax season (great timing guys) and Anthony is actively looking for jobs in Houston, since he will graduate in December from A&M, WHOOP!.

The doctor told Rachel and Anthony today that the baby was 'big and healthy' which is good to hear!

A funny little story that goes with this... This year for Christmas my siblings and I decided to draw names for Christmas presents. Because Rebecca is the go-getter that she is, she wanted to draw names Labor Day weekend while everyone was in Houston together. Matthew drew Rachel's name. A few days later Matthew was asking my Mom what he should get Rachel for Christmas. My mom said she didn't know. Matthew said he would get her baby stuff (this was before she had announced she was pregnant). My Mom was shocked and wondered if Matthew knew something she didn't. She asked why he wanted to get her baby stuff and he said "cuz she is bound to have kids soon because she is married now." Little did he know, or should I say I guess he did know!

Congrats Rachel and Anthony I am so happy for you both! Love you guys!

Oh, and I have been trying to get Rachel to set up a blog. I told her that I was not missing any pictures of my first nephew. She said she didn't know how to. I told her it was easy and that it would be our 'little project' at Christmas and Thanksgiving, so hopefully you will see it soon!

A Drunk Eddie

2009-11-03T20:35:00.000-06:00

The Big headliner of ACL was Pearl Jam. I was excited to see them play but also a little nervous at the same time. I was nervous because Eric’s brother Joe said he had seen them play several times and every time Eddie Vedder was so drunk that he could barley perform.

The first couple of songs went well. Eddie Vedder even thanked Austin, and said that they hadn’t played here since the ‘90s and was glad to be back. He then thanked C-3 Productions and ACL and the Fans. Than after all that and another song, Eddie pulls out a bottle of wine and starts chugging it! And that’s when things started to go arye. After chugging that entire bottle of wine, he then played 2 more songs and then went on a 10 minute ramble of how he had stayed up until 8:00 am that morning with Ben Harper trying to wirte a speech for the audience. He then polled out a napkin and tried to read ‘this speech’ only to go on this long rambling fit that didn’t make sense at all but I guess that is to be expected coming from a drunk guy who was slurring his words! Ben Harper then played a song with the Pearl Jam and then Eddie Vetter drank another bottle of wine, jumped of stage and slid through the mud! It was quite the show but my fears did come true about him being drunk and trying to perform.

We did leave about 15 minutes before the end and heard the last few songs play as we were leaving. As we walked out of the park the security guards and police stop us all so that a line of vans could leave and guess who was in the vans, none other than Eddie Vedder and the band Pearl Jam (that was as up close and personal that we got to them)!

We were not to far back for the show but we were kind of off to the side and a large tree was blocking my view so these are the best pics I got of Pearl Jam (and of course when we saw them driving by at the end my camera was dying so I didn’t get any pics then)!

Band Bio:
At first considered the pariahs of Seattle’s grunge scene because songs like “Alive,” “Even Flow” and “Jeremy,” though dark and often disturbing, sounded great in arenas and helped sell millions of albums, Pearl Jam proved to be the standard-bearers for a genre formed as a reaction to rock-star excess and rooted in the ideal of not selling out. Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard and Mike McCready earned respect by refusing to make videos for years, by capping ticket prices and by eventually boycotting Ticketmaster and taking the behemoth agency to court (nearly killing the band’s career in the process). Fiercely political, they’ve also supported too many causes to list (Vote for Change, reproductive choice and Habitat for Humanity, to name a few), covered songs by their heroes and paid proper homage when they could, recording, for instance, with “Godfather of Grunge” Neil Young. Preferring to give fans high-quality versions of their performances rather than letting sub-par bootlegs suffice, they released copies of every concert from their Binaural tour — 72 in all, and still offer recordings of concerts deemed worthy. Back with longtime producer Brendan O’Brien, Pearl Jam is recording its ninth studio album. In March, it released a commemorative edition of its debut album, Ten, marking the first in a series of re-releases in advance of the band’s 20th anniversary in 2011. Among their more notable side projects was Vedder’s first solo album, the soundtrack for director Sean Penn’s 2007 film, Into the Wild.

Official Set List:
Why Go?
Corduroy
Got Some
Not For You (plus a verse from “Modern Girl” by Sleater Kinney)
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
Given To Fly
World Wide Suicide
Evenflow
Unthought Known
Daughter (with transition into first verse of W.M.A.)
Hail Hail
Insignificance
Present Tense
State Of Love And Trust
The Fixer
Go
(encore)
Red Mosquito (feat. Ben Harper)
Do The Evolution
The Real Me (cover - The Who)
Alive
(encore 2)
Mountain Song (cover - Jane’s Addiction with Perry Farrell on vocals)
Rockin’ In The Free World (cover - Neil Young)

A Few Ramdom Peeps

2009-10-31T11:48:00.000-05:00

Eric is very much the 'social butterfly'. He talks to anyone, anywhere. We will be standing in line at the grocery store, or waiting in the waiting room at the doctor's office, or sitting waiting for a movie to start and he will strike up a conversation with anyone there! Concerts and festivals are the best because you meet such random and 'weird' people. Here are just a few of the people Eric 'befriended' at ACL:Just sittin' in some random person's chair:Joe is just as bad and this lady would not stop talking!Dana too, got in on the fun:
That random lady popping up again!This ART sign was our meeting place if we got separated. It came in handy because we got separated a few times. One time, after we got separated, when I was walking up to the ART, this is what I saw:Eric had become friends with some random dude! Thanks random dude for keeping Eric company while he was waiting for me to find him! The above pic Eric doesn't see me yet and is just talkin' away and the bottom pic is after I yelled at him, I mean to him (to get his attention of course)!

In Chill Mode

2009-10-31T11:34:00.000-05:00

Passion Pit put on an amazing performance (even if we were in the nose bleed section). They are a fairly new band but are growing popularity fast. I like them a lot because the are very chill and relaxing (which was very much needed by this time on Day 3)!

Can you tell I am running out of steam blogging about ACL! I love to take pictures and always have a TON from pretty much EVERY vent in my life, but that is why I have to blog them so I can order one of those cool books! (Man I should listen to Passion Pit now to help me through these last few ACL posts!)

Band Bio:
In lieu of a box of chocolates, Michael Angelakos recorded an EP of sunny, playfully eclectic electronica tunes for his girlfriend as a belated Valentine’s gift. We can only assume she loved it, because soon Angelakos was passing the same record around to friends and, next thing he knew, Chunk of Change was released by New York’s Frenchkiss Records, and Passion Pit was born. The video for the EP’s “Sleepyhead” was named one of the Top 40 music videos of 2008 by Pitchfork, and anticipation is high for the Cambridge, Mass.’-based Passion Pit’s full-length debut, Manners, due May 18. Live, Angelakos reproduces his one-man keyboard and samples symphonies with a full band comprising Ian Hultquist, Ayad Al Adhamy, Jeff Apruzzese and Nate Donmoyer.

Official Set List:
To Kingdom Come
Make Light
I've Got Your Number
Let Your Love Grow
Little Secrets
Better Things
Eyes as Candles
Folds In Your Hands
Sleepyhead
Smile Upon Me
The Reeling

An Oldie But Goodie

2009-10-31T11:15:00.000-05:00

The B52s gave a classic performance even though they are all getting up there in age; they all looked young at heart! Eric and I knew the majority of the songs. The B52s defiantly grew the ‘older’ audience as well which provided for some great entertainment in and of its self!

So I had more fun with music trivia with this band; and a lot of gloating from it in front of Eric. The B52s are also from Georgia, Eric knew this. But what he did not know was that they are specifically from Athens, Georgia (home of the fighting bulldogs, and the University Of Georgia and where Eric went to school). I also informed Eric that the music video for the Love Shack was actually filmed at a bar in Athens.

Band Bio:
“Rock Lobster,” “Planet Claire,” “Private Idaho” — who turned Athens, Ga., into a dance-crazy party scene as the ’70s segued into the MTV ’80s? It wasn’t R.E.M. It was the impossibly high-haired chicks and retro-geeky guys in the B-52’s, so named because of those beehive bomber ’dos worn by singers Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson. They made up for their lack of early musical finesse with campiness and an unhinged sense of humor, and turned out nonsensical, surf-meets-new-wave rave-ups that were all about fun. (The book, Party Out of Bounds, is named after a cut on their Wild Planet album.) Until Cindy’s brother, guitarist Ricky Wilson, died of AIDS in 1985, that is. The girls and band mates Fred Schneider and Keith Strickland eventually bounced back with 1989’s Cosmic Thing, which gave them their biggest hits, “Love Shack” and “Roam.” It was followed by Good Stuff in 1992, and then it took 16 years for them to release their next studio album, 2008’s Funplex. But they’ve kept their touring chops sharp, and they’ll still “Dance This Mess Around” like nobody’s business

We were kind of off to the side and too the back so my pics are not that great:

...The Mud Comes Up!

2009-10-24T11:49:00.000-05:00

Day 3 of ACL was sunny, hot, humid, and very, very muddy. Because of all the rain on Saturday Zilker park became a giant mud pit. And it smelled!!! I thought it smelled because of all the inconsiderate people who were just using the bathroom wherever they felt, or because of the port-a-potties (and that all helped in the smell) but we learned on Monday after the festival that the soil used to plant the “NEW” grass for Zilker Park (which by the way cost over 2 billion dollars and had Zilker Park shut down for the majority of last year) was dillio dirt (or cow dung)!

Luckily for me (and I am sure Eric too) I was prepared on Sunday and wore an old pair of tennis shoes that I was ok with to chunk at the end of the day. Oh, and this lady is trying to sue C3 Productions (the company that puts on ACL) because she clams that she received a rash from the dug mud all over her feet (Eric said we should jump on that ban wagon)!

Sunday had the most bands I wanted to see and luckily for me (and everyone else in our group) the majority of them were on stages right next to each other. So we found a fairly dry spot on dry ground in between the two stages and stayed there for 4 bands (just turning from one stage to the other). By day 3 I was WAY to tired to get up close and personal with the bands and rush the stage (so luckily for all you guys not that many pics). All the bands were good even from a safe distance back!

Bands I wanted to see:
Pearl Jam
Ben Harper and Relentless7
The Dead Weather
Toadies
The B-52s
Arctic Monkeys
Clutch
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Girl Talk
Passion Pit
Rodriguez

Bands we got to see:
Pearl Jam
Ben Harper and Relentless7
The B-52s
Arctic Monkeys
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Passion Pit

When we were taking our daily walk from where we parked on Town Lake to Zikler Park we saw the swans in the lake. They were so pretty and posed perfectly for their pics!
Sunday before we went to the festival we met up Albert and Christy for breakfast at Denny's. They had a balloon artist going around making balloon animals for the kids. Albert tried to embarrass Eric by asking the balloon artist to come over and make Eric a giraffe. Of course Eric wasn't embarrassed and just played along!Remember this picture and how green and beautiful the grass looked on day 1:This is how it looked day 3. Nothing but mud. You would walk around and see people who had just abandoned their shows to go barefoot. Eric didn't abandoned his shoes he just took them off and went barefoot. The shoes he is standing by are ones that were abandoned. I am so happy I wore my old sneakers that day!
The mud was so bad that you either got stuck or it was slippery. All day we watched people slip and fall and were careful not to and of course at the end of the day Albert totally ate it and was covered in mud! All I can say is EWWW!On Day 3 our good friends Chris and Aviva came to go see Pearl Jam:

Dave vs Ghostland

2009-10-24T10:59:00.001-05:00

I have so many pics from ACL I m still trying to sort through them and blog about them! I feel like it will take me all month! But I have to because I want to make one of those cool book thingies! (So if you are really bored or just can't sleep on night then cruise through all are ACL memories).

The big headliners for day 2 of ACL was Dave Matthews and Ghostland Observatory. Eric and I were torn as to which headliner we wanted to see (since they played at the same time). Eric really wanted to see Ghostland and I really wanted to see Dave. I love Dave Matthews and tried to go see them years ago but the show got cancelled, so I was looking forward to seeing them again.

Ghostland Observatory is a band from the Austin area and they play here a lot. And usually tickets to Dave Matthews are pretty expensive at least compared to Ghostland. So we developed a plan and worked it out to see both bands. Since Ghostland would be playing from 8:00 to 9:30 and Dave was going to Play from 8:00 to 10:00, we would go see Ghostland first for a little while and then go see the last half of Dave.

Well it didn’t quite work out that way.... Because I was so grossed out by the mud and the restroom line was so long I decided to ‘hold it’ and wait to use the restroom at home. I then started to be in so much pain that we didn’t know how long we (or should I say I) was going to last for the rest of the day at ACL. Eric said we could just go see Dave Matthews. So we went to Dave and stood kinda towards the back and I wasn’t that impressed. Maybe because we were towards the back and I couldn't hear that great or maybe because we were towards the back and I couldn’t see that great (even the big screens) I just didn’t enjoy the show as much as I would have hoped. I was so bummed out! After about 4 songs I said we could go.

Ghostland was playing on a stage near our exit, so as we exited we stopped and listened to Ghostland for a few songs (as long as I could stand it). Ghostland put on WAY better show than Dave (I cant’ believe I said that). Ghostland is kind of techno dance music but with singing. One song they even had the entire UT marching band on stage doing the instrumental part It was really fun to dance too. I wish that we could have stayed longer to hear them (but I had to go, literally!). I tried to get pictures of Ghostland because even though we were late we got a pretty good spot off to the side, but the my battery on my camera started to die.

Even though my face is chopped in half on this pic it still cracks me up every time I see it!
The Group:
These are the best pictures I got of Dave Matthews playing since we were so far back. But I love them since you see Austin's famous Frost Tower all lit up in the back ground.
Me, Christy, and Albert watching Dave:Aww that' a better picture:Eric dancin' to Dave:The Dave Matthew's Band:

Official ACL Set List:
Don't Drink The Water
You Might Die Trying
Funny The Way It Is
Seven
So Damn Lucky
Shake Me Like A Monkey
Why I Am
Jimi Thing
Spaceman
Corn Bread
Burning Down The House (Talking Heads Cover)
So Much To Say
Anyone Seen The Bridge
Too Much (Tease)
Ants Marching
Two Step

Band Bio:
From their first gig at an Earth Day festival and their early days on the traveling H.O.R.D.E. Festival to their current status as the hardest-touring summer act since the Grateful Dead — not to mention frontman Dave Matthews’ status as the fourth performing board member of Farm Aid — the Dave Matthews Band is practically synonymous with festivals and outdoor concerts. A hero of the jam band nation, Matthews and his jazz/rock fusion outfit, formed in Charlottesville, Va., can be counted on not to stick to a formula. You want samplings from this June’s, Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King? Odds are good. You want “Tripping Billies,” “Crash Into Me,” “What Would You Say,” “Ants Marching” or his feverish cover of “All Along the Watchtower”? You might get lucky, but keep an open mind, because this band’s got a vast repertoire and isn’t given to delivering rote versions of the same old hits. Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, violinist Boyd Tinsley and drummer Carter Beauford, along with sax player Jeff Coffin of Béla Fleck’s Flecktones (replacing LeRoi “Groogrux” Moore, who died last year from injuries sustained in an ATV accident) and trumpeter Rashawn Ross, are given to flights of sonic fancy marked by the kind of tightness that only bands on a telepathic wavelength can achieve night after night.

Ghostland Observatory:
Band Bio:

Already legends in their hometown of Austin, the duo of Aaron Behrens and Thomas Ross Turner melds guitars, sequencers and programmed beats into a white-hot mix of punk rock, digitized funk and techno. Taking cues from disparate influences ranging from Daft Punk to Jerry Lee Lewis to Queen, Ghostland Observatory delivers with sweat and screams. Studio albums include 2005’s delete.delete.i.eat.meat, 2006’s Paparazzi Lightning and last year’s Robotique Majestique, but Ghostland’s calling card remains its high-energy live shows — a cathartic experience for the duo and their devotional crowds alike. And don’t be fooled by the act’s reputation for incorporating over-the-top light shows into their festival showcases; far from being a smoke and mirrors distraction, all those lasers are merely techno-gravy ladled onto the duo’s already explosive dynamic. Singer/guitarist Behrens may well be one of the most electrifying frontmen in rock working today, and the deceptively reserved-looking Turner is a veritable mad scientist behind his bank of keyboards, cooking up one sky-rattling jam after another.

The Zac Brown Band

2009-10-14T20:30:00.000-05:00

Eric is the king of music. He knows all about different bands and singers and songwriters. He can hear a song and know who sings it and when it came out. He also knows every word to EVERY song. He could totally go on the show “Don’t Forget The Lyrics” or “Singing Bee” or any other music game show. With all that being said, I LOVE when I know something about music that he doesn’t!

So when Christy and Albert wanted to go see The Zac Brown Band Eric hadn’t heard of them; but I had! I was so happy that I knew about a band at ACL that Eric didn’t. Later on I did have to confess about how I did know about the Zac Brown Band. You see, The Zac Brown Band is from Georgia (which made me surprised as to why Eric didn’t know about them) and the reason his friends from Atlanta wanted to see them. But how I found out about the band was from none other than the Food Network. One day when I was watching Paula Dean’s cooking show, she was featuring food and things from Georgia (since in case you didn't know that is where she is from) and she had Zac Brown on her show and he helped her cook and sang some songs! Not your typical place or way to find out about a band, but hey, I will take it!

Christy and I:
The show was fun and the entire crowd was getting into it and singing the songs.
(Who is that random chick with the in the green!?! She is totally ruining our pic!)

Band Bio:
Georgia’s the Zac Brown Band seemed to come out of nowhere when it topped the Billboard Hot Country Chart with “Chicken Fried,” the lead single off of 2008’s The Foundation. But this is no overnight success story. Singer-songwriter Zac Brown and Co. spent years developing a grassroots following through relentless touring and independent releases like 2004’s Far from Einstyne, 2005’s Home Grown and 2007’s Live from the Rock Bus Tour. So by the time Atlantic Records swept in and helped put The Foundation over the top, the Zac Brown Band was more than ready for the mainstream spotlight. And country fans aren’t the only ones invited to this chicken-fried feast; jam-band enthusiasts and Southern-rock hounds will find plenty of stick-to-your-ribs hot licks to savor here, too.
Public Service Announcement: Just because the band is really good, and you are having a good time, and the bathroom lines are ridiculously long; doesn’t mean it is ok to just start going to the bathroom where ever! Common curtsy people. Thank you! This message was brought to you by someone who was unfortunate enough to witness such random, inconsiderate, and rude behavior!

The Airborne Toxic Event

2009-10-11T13:57:00.000-05:00

I LOVE The Airborne Toxic Event! They are a fairly new and upcoming band and I really like their music. All the songs are their own and anyone can relate to. Even though the band is from California they really seem to like Austin (they have played here 5 times now in just 2009). At South by Southwest alone they had 3 shows. One of the South By shows was free but the line to get in was over 2 blocks long (and we didn't make it in). So when I saw that they were on the lineup for ACL I was so exited!

Official Set List:
Intro
Moving On
The Losing
Something New
Magic Moment
Gasoline
Happiness
This Is Nowhere
Midnight
Goodbye Horses
All I Ever Wanted
Wishing Well
Innocence

Band Bio:
At a time when hit songs have lyrics like, “if you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it,” the Airborne Toxic Event’s lead singer Mikel Jollett distinguishes himself from the common pop tune with his delicate and calculated songcraft. Just give the single “Sometime Around Midnight” a listen, where the emotive troubadour describes a heartbreaking encounter with an ex-girlfriend. Jollett turned to the pen while slaving through a series of rough times in Los Angeles. Initially planning to write a novel, he quickly found himself crafting an album instead. After collaborating with drummer Daren Taylor, Jollett asked bassist Noah Harmon, keyboardist and violist Anna Bulbrook and guitarist and keyboardist Steven Chen to join the project. Not all of their songs play off that romantic sensibility, though — their repertoire offers just as much pop-rock punch and catchy hooks as rich storytelling.

Eric and I rocking out to Airborne Toxic!We were standing pretty close at first:
But I wanted to get closer:

Another reason I like this band so much is because they use a variety of instruments from violin, to key board, ect AND all the band members rotate and play all the instruments for different songs.Up close and personal with The Airborne Toxic Event:

When the rains come down...

2009-10-11T13:19:00.000-05:00

Day 2 of ACL was a blast but a little soggy at the same time. When Eric, and his friends (Albert and Christy) and I were leaving my apartment on Saturday morning getting ready to head downtown; the sky was very overcast and cloudy. I had packed rain ponchos in our bag but our friends did not have any. So we stopped at Walmart on the way down to the park. The only ponchos they had left at Walmert were $5 UT ponchos. They got them and then we went our different ways for breakfast. After breakfast, I asked Eric to check my bag and make sure the rain ponchos were there. He said they were not I was sure that I had packed them and grabbed my bag and started rumbling through it. I finally found the ‘rain ponchos'. But unfortunately they were not ponchos but shower caps! I then started freakin’ out because we had no ponchos or an umbrella. We were downtown so the only places to go to buy that sort of thing was either Whole Foods or the gas station. Of course Whole Foods didn’t have anything and so so we went to the gas station. Just when Eric walked out to the car after buying an umbrella I found one in the car. So Eric turns around to go return the umbrella and the store manager acts extremely rude and says she will not let him return it without a receipt… a receipt in which SHE did not issue us. What made me mad was the fact that we had just bought it and she knew she didn’t give us the receipt and she was being rude! Needless to say I went in there and get our money back!

So after that big debacle we headed to the festival and right when we were walking in ATnT were giving away FREE ponchos! So our friends paid 5 bucks and we had a yelling match with the manager at 711 only to get free ponchos!

Me sporting our really cute ponchos:

I was really hoping that we were not going to need the umbrella or the bright orange ponchos that day, but we did; and boy, did we! It POURED ALL day Saturday! The music and the show still went on despite everything and the music was great!

The bands I wanted to see Saturday were:
!!!
Mute Math
Airborne Toxic Event
Floggy Molly
Citizen Cope
Eek-A-Mouse
The Zac Brown Band
Sound Tribe Sector 9
Ghostland Observatory
Dave Matthews Band

The bands we actually got to see were:
Airborne Toxic Event
Citizen Cope
The Zac Brown Band
Ghostland Observatory
Dave Matthews Band

Because of the pouring rain the mud came up. In inches and inches. You couldn't’t even walk though it with out becoming completely covered. And in some areas it was so bad that it felt like quick sand, sucking you down!

And despite all this I really was having a great time and didn’t mind it at all, UNTIL… until we were watching The Zac Brown Band and some guy next to me started peeing on the ground right near my feet! Needless to say that was when I stopped having so much fun. The only thing that I could think about was that we were tramping around in feces infested mud wearing flip flops! And to make it worst a little while later I had to go to the bathroom (which port-a-potties were your only option) but I was so grossed out that I just held it the rest of the day. So by the time I made it to the comfort of my own home I was in so much pain! I am sure I am going to get a urinary tract infection because of all this!

Here is Eric and I at The Zac Brown Band BEFORE the incident.

Joe and his friend Jesse; all they had were garbage bags to keep them dry.Eric wanted to take a picture will all the 'ladies' in our group. He said so that he could tell everyone that he went to ACL 2009 with 3 lovely ladies!
Eric thinks that no festival is complete without a Mohawk! The funny thing is that he got sunburned on his head from the sun (that was shinning Friday and Sunday) and so Monday morning when he had to shave his head of the Mohawk to go to work he had a perfect 'white' stripe down his head! HA HA HA! I wish I got a picture! Then his sunburn started to peel (EWW) and his head is now back to normal. Everyone was teasing him! I think this might be the last time he sports the Mohawk!

Kings Of Leon

2009-10-11T11:55:00.001-05:00

Kings Of Leon and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs were the two headliners and the final bands for day 1 of ACL. The only reason Dana came to ACL o Friday was to see the Kings Of Leon. They were good and we had a lot of fun dancin' to the music. We left the Kings of Leon about 20 minutes early to avoid the crowds leaving and so we caught a few last songs of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I guess we should not have left so early because I did not know that Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam ended up playing a song with them.

Kings of Leon Official Set List:
Crawl
Charmer
Be Somebody
Taper Jean Girl
Mollys Chamber
Fans
Revelry
Milk
I Want You
4 Kicks
The Bucket
Sex on Fire
Notion
On Call
Cold Desert
Knocked Up
Use Somebody
Black Thumbnail
Slow Night, So Long (w/ Eddie Vedder)

Kings of Leon Band Bio:

To adapt a lyric from their biggest song to date, this band is on fire. And, judging by their output to date, literally reinventing their sound at a pace nearly reminiscent of the Beatles. For just as Sgt. Pepper sounded nothing like the Beatles who played Ed Sullivan a mere three years earlier, the Kings of Leon on last year’s epic Only by the Night seem light years removed from the scrappy Southern rockers responsible for 2003’s Youth & Young Manhood. In truth, they’re still the same Followill boys from Nashville — brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared and first cousin Matthew — who took the U.K. by storm earlier this decade and later won over their homeland festival by festival with a sound suggesting a cross between Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers and the Strokes. By 2007’s Because of the Times, though, it was patently clear that this was not a band intent to spend its career cooped up in one style; all that touring opening up for the likes of U2, Bob Dylan and Pearl Jam expanded their musical horizons. Some fans might have jumped ship after the Kings shaved off their wooly mustaches and shifted seemingly overnight from fuzzy garage rock to the sophisticated but arena-swelling art rock of Because of the Times and Only by the Night, but the hits kept on coming. “Sex on Fire,” in fact, recently became the best-selling digital single of all time in the U.K. And the Kings of Leon are now well on their way to rock royalty on their own side of the pond, too.

We were pretty far back for the Kings of Leon so I did not get very good pictures at all. Dancin' to the Kings
Aw he's like an angel

Them Crooked Vultures

2009-10-11T10:36:00.000-05:00

Them Crooked Vultures is a band of legends. With Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters on the drums, lead guitar and vocals from Josh Homme from the Queens of the Stone Age, guitar from Kyuss from Eagles of Death Metal and none other than John Paul Jones on keyboard and bass (yes, the John Paul Jones from the Led Zeplin). They were good and mostly just rocked out because they have only been a band for a few months and so I am sure they did not have enough songs to fill an entire one hour set. But just listening to ledges rock was cool enough!

Coheed and Cambria

2009-10-10T19:35:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite bards on Friday was Coheed and Cambria. Eric and I have seen them once before a few years ago and they put on an awesome show then and did so again on Friday. We were originally standing pretty close to begin with but Eric and his brother wanted to get even closer so they pushed through the crowd. A few songs later, Dana, Eric’s little sister, wanted to be up close too, so she pushed her way through for the both of us. That totally made the show being so up close! I love Coheed (even before I meet Eric) and introduced them to him (he says it was the other way around but I beg to differ).

Eric and Joe's picture was even taken by the Austin American Statesman, because they were rocking out so hard! Their official ACL set list was (I actually think they played a couple more songs then this):
No World for Tomorrow
Gravemakers and Gunslingers
In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: III
Ten Speed of God’s Blood and Burial
A Favor House Atlantic
Blood Red Summer
Under the Milky Way (The Church cover)
Welcome Home
The Final Cut

And here is a brief bio:
If the inevitable — and oh-so-appropriate, frankly — comparisons to Rush throw you off, well, that’s just your loss. Those in the know — and they are legion, across the U.S. and as far away as Japan — know that New York’s Coheed and Cambria’s heady mix of prog-rock, metal and emo makes for one of the most exciting chapters in today’s modern rock scene. Masters of the tricky art of the narrative concept album, C&C have made the jump from indie to major label (Columbia) without compromising their ambitious artistic vision or serious metal cred in the slightest, as proven with 2005’s Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness, and 2007’s Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow

The guys before the show:
Our first spot (close but not close enough):
View from our second spot:
The lucky bastards that got to be on stage:The only thing keeping us from rushing the stage was this Elvis impersonator trying to do security:

Claudio rockin' out!
WARNING HUGE FAN! (so many pics of band to follow)

Austin City Limits 2009

2009-10-10T18:46:00.000-05:00

Whoooa! What a weekend! This past weekend, October 2-4, 2009 was Austin City Limits Music Festival or ACL. Eric and I went back in 2006 for only one day and have been wanting to go back for all three days ever since. So this year when we had the opportunity to go for all three days we jumped on it, and I as so glad we did! The line up this year was spectacular. There were so many bands I wanted to see and unfortunately a lot of them over lapped playing times. You see ACL is a huge music festival in Zilker Park, which is in downtown Austin, there are 8 stages and so there is music constantly going on.

Friday there were quite a few bands I wanted to see:
Asleep At the Wheel
Avett Brothers
Todd Snider
Phoenix
Coheed and Cambria
John Legend
Thievery Corporation
Reckless Kelly
Them Crooked Vultures
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Kings of Leon

Of course I could not see them all, but the bands I did get to see were awesome:
The Knux
Avett Brothers
Todd Snider
Coheed and Cambria
John Legend
Reckless Kelly
Them Crooked Vultures
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Kings of Leon

I have so many pictures from this weekend that I have to break it down into several posts. So, here is Day 1 re-cap:

Eric's friend Albert and his girlfriend Christy came in from Atlanta t go to ACL with us (I had meet Albert several times before but this was both Eric and I's first time to meet Christy):

Where we parked (for free, some places were trying to charge $20+) we had to walk on this trail around Lady Bird Lake to get to Zilker Park. One of the things I love abut Austin is how pretty it is (even in the city). The below picture is of Christy and I and this kayaking place on the lake (Eric and I have actually been kayaking on Lady Bird Lake (a few years ago) and rented our gear from this exact place).

Eric's little sister, Dana, came with us on Friday because her favorite band Kings of Leon was playing (and I guess we were good company too).The whole gang:

What is it with Haan's sticking out their tongue in pics!

We met up with Eric's older brother Joe a little later on at the festival:Dana and I watching the Kings of Leon.Aw look how pretty Dana looks.. aw look how pretty the grass looks (more on that to come)!This picture just cracks me up!And I love this pic.... all the crowds of people and the Austin Skyline in the background.

A Shout Out To My Cuz...

2009-09-24T20:45:00.000-05:00

My cousin Hank has always been very athletic. He was an All-American athlete in high school and college for diving; and he even received a diving scholarship to the University of Florida. After college he went on to be a teacher and a personal trainer. I remember many a summers and spring breaks where Hank came to live with us for a few weeks while his family went on vacations and he had to stay back for diving. His dedication is aberamal. However diving took it’s toll on his body physically. While he was a personal trainer he was introduced to yoga, pilates and core conditioning- which is a cross between the two as well as ballet.

Well you may be wondering why I am telling you all this; well after years of helping others open studios, he is now opening his own studio in Houston, Texas (DEFINE). . I am so happy for him! Hank is a really awesome guy and has worked hard his whole life. The only bad part is that his studio is all the way in Houston (I have always wanted to try yoga and pilates). But the good thing is that for those of you that live in Houston he is having FREE classes all weekend long (October 3-4) for his grand opening! (and if I didn’t have prior obligations I would totally be there)

The instructors:

Doesn't Hank look like he could be a model for Calvin Klein of Tommy Hilfiger?

Ancient Warriors

2009-09-20T16:09:00.000-05:00

So I am incredibly late in posting this (as always- way behind). Any who, For Labor Day Eric and I went down to Houston to visit my family. My grandmother (Mama Kitty), Aunt Eileen, cousin Ryan, Aunt Dorthy, and cousin Amiee all were in town from Shreveport, Louisiana and Dallas. Along with my sister Rachel, her husband Anthony, and my sister Rebecca. We all meet up with my Uncle Chris, Aunt Ann, and cousin Hank and went to see the Terra Cotta Warriors at the Houston Museum of National Science.

This was such an interesting exhibit. Especially to think that the things we were looking at were from 210 BC and that they were not discovered until 1974! Another interesting fact was that the researchers and archeologists spend an average of 3 months on each warrior just to try and piece them together! Below are some facts about these Ancient Warriors:

In 1974, farmers digging a well were startled to discover an intact terra cotta head. From there, archaeologists began to unearth an astonishing scene – a cavernous vault containing an entire army of warriors meant to guard Emperor Qin Shi Huang as he made his journey into the afterlife. More than 1,000 life-sized terra cotta figures, complete with armor, chariots and horses were found standing in imposing, battle-ready formation. Later excavations revealed servants, musicians, acrobats and animals. An estimated 7,000 figures are yet to be exhumed from the dusty depths of this sprawling tomb complex.The Terra Cotta Warriors are an army of clay figures dating back to 210 BC. They were created to protect the tomb of the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang.
They were discovered in 1974 in Lishan, China. It is estimated that 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses make up the Terra Cotta Army. Of these, most are still buried at their original site.
About 15 terra cotta figures and 120 artifacts will be on display during Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China’s First Emperor at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
The warriors are depicted in battle dress and arranged in the burial pits according to their rank. They are positioned facing east, which was the direction attacks on the tomb were thought to come from.
The construction of the emperor’s tomb took 36 years to complete. It was commissioned by him at just 13 years old.
Each of the three underground pits where the Terra Cotta Warriors were discovered is between 15 and 20 feet below ground. Special roofing covered with earth was used to conceal the tomb’s location, but based on some deterioration in the support system, it is thought that looters may have gained access to the area.
The clay figures were fired at a much higher temperature than traditional Chinese pottery of the time. It is estimated that the temperature was between 950 and 1,050 degrees centigrade.
Each warrior weighs between 300-400 pounds. The torsos are hollow, but their heads and limbs are solid.
Funerary art is any type of artwork that is placed with the remains of the dead, and may include items that belonged to the deceased or those that can be used in the afterlife.
Qin Shi Huang ruled from 239 BCE until his death in 210 BCE. Although somewhat controversial, the emperor’s legacy includes involvement in the initial construction of the Great Wall of China, introducing the philosophy of legalism and unifying the warring states in China.

The exhibit was so serious and quite but there was a guy walking around dressed like one of the warriors. He would try to sneak up on you and make you jump. It was pretty funny watching people! Another comical event was watching my bother Matthew try and take pictures. Right when you walked in to the exhibit they said no cell phones or cameras allowed. But Matthew was bound and determined to get some pics to use for a project in his photography class. So Matthew was tying to be sneaky and take pictures when museum staff was not looking. He got a few but then got scolded by my mom. After the museum my Mom picked up dinner from Carl's BBQ and we all went back to my Mom's for dinner. We all had a good time and thoroughly enjoyed the visit.

Eric, Matthew, and my self were a little disappointed though because after the Terr Cotta exhibit we pretty much just left and did not stay to look at any thing else at the museum. I haven't been to the Houston Museum since I was a kid and wanted to take a look around and see everything I remembered. I guess we will just have to come back another time.

I wasn't nearly as brave as Matthew, so the only pics I got were on $2,000 replicas which were on the outside of the actual exhibit (some lady some me taking these pic and actually ran over to a museum official to 'report' me; the museum official of course said it was fine because they were just replicas):

The guys: Anthony, Ryan, Terra Cotta Warrior, Eric, and Matthew

The ladies: Rachel, me, Terra Cotta Warrior, Mom, Rebecca
MK (Mama Kitty) and I
The only other exhibit we really got o see was the dinosaur section and that was only because it was right there when you first walk (in case you were wondering- cameras are allowed here):

My cousin Amiee thought this bird was hysterical because it was THAT U-G-L-Y!
Eric and Ryan looking at the dinosaurs:
Eric is always such a good sport about me taking a swarm of pictures!

Wrong Blog....

2009-09-02T20:06:00.000-05:00

So the post below ("Chicken of the Sea") should have gone on Kitchen Concoctions, my cooking blog not here. I was so mad that it didn't post to the right one and was totally blaming Blogger. However it was user error on my part. Silly Me!

"Chicken Of The Sea"

2009-08-31T20:06:00.000-05:00

I love seafood. I love all kinds (except mussels, I don't like mussels). I actually feel bad for people that can't eat fish because of allergies. The only bad thing about seafood is how expensive it is. Fresh seafood is usually a splurge around here.

But when I saw this recipe in this month's cookbook of the month, I knew I wanted to make it. The original recipe calls for salmon, so for weeks and weeks I watched the seafood counter at my grocery store hoping the salmon would go on sale. It never did. Then one day last week I was at the store and they had tuna steaks on sale for a half way decent price. I was sold and excited to have a "fancier" dinner and excited to surprise Eric with fresh tuna steaks (tuna is his favorite seafood).

However, that night when Eric asked what I was making for dinner and I told him tuna, I did not get the reaction I was looking for. He said "Tuna? That's it? Just tuna?" I said yes and you are going to like it. Then when I put the plates of food down he was pleasantly surprised to see the 'tuna steaks' because he thought I was making 'tuna fish sandwiches'. He then says, "No wonder you got mad when I was complaining about 'tuna'; I wasn't expecting this!"

This recipe would be good on just about any fish. The fresh ginger adds an extra level of flavor. The only thing I would do differently next time is let the fish marinate for longer. Oh and I did make a few changes to the recipe to fit ingredients I found at my store (not just changing from salmon to tuna) so I did change the name of the recipe to fit what I had done (in case you have the book or plan to buy the book the original recipe is called: Sammy's Orange Szechwan Salmon). My version is below:

Orange-Ginger Tuna
adapted from Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade Cooking 3

2 tuna steaks

1 cup orange juice

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon seafood seasoning

2 tablespoons ginger, minced

2 tablespoons garlic, minced

2 tablespoons honey

1/2 cup brown sugar

In a large bowl stir together all ingredients except tuna and brown sugar. Put tuna steaks into a ziplock bag and pour orange juice/honey mixture over. Let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Remove from refrigerator and let stand on counter for 20 to 30 minutes. Spray a baking pan with non-stick spray place tuna in the pan and pour marinate on top. Sprinkle the top of the tuna steaks with the brown sugar. Place under a preheated broiler and cook for 8 to 10 minutes.

Close In-Counters of the Famous Kind

2009-08-30T10:13:00.000-05:00

My new job is right across the street from the capital building. Which means there is always lots of things going on and lots of people about. Congress people, school groups, tourist, protesters. The protesters are the most fun because some of them get really into it- yelling and even dressing up. Some of the protesters are out there all by their lonesome and sometimes there is a huge crowd. But for the past couple of weeks, on random days, there has been another kind of people prancing about the capital.... the famous kind.

Austin is known for being the "Live Music Capital of the World" and has held this title for quite sometime. But Austin and the surrounding areas are quick becoming known by movie buffs. On and off for the past few weeks right outside my office the trailers for the latest Austin filmed movie have been parked. They are all labeled "Make-Up," "Wardrobe," and then each of the characters in the movie have a trailer with their character names on them. Up until this past week all the production has been pretty low key. But then this past week they actually had to shut down several roads around the capital for the filming of the movie and a good chunk of the parking garages and parking lots around the capital building were labeled "Production Crew Parking Only". It has been quite fun and added a little excitement to the boring work day.

But with the all the roads being closed on Thursday this last week for the filming it did make it rather difficult to get to work (is that a good enough excuse for being late to work? roads are shut down for movie stars). And then because the roads were shut down when I left work on Thursday it took me 30 minutes to just get from my office to I-35 (that was not fun and I was actually pretty mad at this movie by then).

All week I would inform Eric of the spotted movie stars and would tell him that I was going to go mingle with them. One day when I was leaving work someone walked out of the "make-up" trailer and winked at me (or so I think); I made an extra effort to tell Eric about that one!

Anyways, the movie they were filming was Machete which stars Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba, Cheech Marin, Lindsay Lohan, Robert De Niro, Steven Seagal, and Jeff Fahey. In the movie trailer you can defiantly see several Austin land marks!

"Hey, yooooou guuuuys!"

2009-08-23T09:35:00.000-05:00

Every summer since I have moved to Austin they have had 'Movies in the Park'. One of the local radio stations puts it on and every year in late April you can go vote for the movies you want played. Then starting in June and going through August they play the moves.

Every year I want to go and have good intentions and every year it slips by. So this year we finally made it out to the LAST and final summer movie in the park- and of course they saved the best for last:
I have seen this movie more times than I have seen any other movie (literally hundreds of times) and I still LOVE it! Good thing that when I meet Eric he liked The Goonies just as much as I did and did not make fun of me for having that movie in my personal DVD collection. In fact The Goonies is our 'go to movie' if there is nothing else on that we want to watch. I guess I like it so much because I have watched it since I was a kid and it is one of those 'coming of age' type movies and it always brings me back to when I was a kid and first saw it.

When we went to see it at the park it was so much fun for us all (Eric, Eric's brother Stephan, and I) because none of us were old enough to see it on the 'big screen' when it first came out back in the early 80's. We were all getting so much into it that we were saying all the classic lines along with the movie characters:

"Don't you realize? The next time you see sky, it'll be over another town. The next time you take a test, it'll be in some other school. Our parents, they want the best of stuff for us. But right now, they got to do what's right for them. Because it's their time. Their time! Up there! Down here, it's our time. It's our time down here. That's all over the second we ride up Troy's bucket."

"Andy... You Goonies!"

"Yeah, but you know what? This one, this one right here. This was my dream, my wish. And it didn't come true. So I'm taking it back. I'm taking them all back."

"Goonies never say die!"

"Hey, yooooou guuuuys!"

In fact we actually ran off a few people around us because we were being so dramatic with our lines. Honestly, I don't even feel bad about running those people off because WE were having such a good time (plus there were tons of kids running around and lots of other people cheering the movie on too)!

Crazed Gonnie fans:

An Old Fuddie Duddie

2009-08-22T20:02:00.000-05:00

I feel so old. Now that I have a 'real' job and work your normal 8 to 5 I feel so old and boring. Everyday seems the same- wake up, go to work, come home, make dinner, eat dinner, watch TV, surf the web- etc, etc.

I mean I have to give my self some credit there have been times of going to the movies or out to eat or to the pool or shopping or hanging out with friends- but nothing too exciting and certainly nothing to write home about!

So I guess until I have kiddos (and that is a LLLLLLOOOONNNNNGGGGGG way off!) I have to come to the realization that this here little blog is going to be kinda of sporadic with it's postings. Or maybe I can use this blog as an excuse to push myself to try new and exciting things.

Anyways, I hope you all aren't bored with me and keep coming back to visit (or visit my little cooking blog since that is where I spend most of my free time these days!).

Re-adjusting

2009-07-12T18:54:00.000-05:00

So I have officially made it through my first two weeks at my new job. My first week was short but not so sweet. It was short because it was the week of 4th of July (so I had Friday the 3rd off) and the company I work for closed it's offices early on the 2nd.

The not so sweet part is having to learn a new job and meet new people. On the first day and the days leading up to my first day, I had flash backs and had that first day of school feeling.

The job is going ok-I guess. The majority of people I work with are real nice. It's just that it is so boring. I mean I have worked office jobs before doing administrative work but I just am not 'feeling' this job yet.

I work at a company that does structured settlements. Basically they work with insurance companies and lawyers to set up payments for people who are receiving a large amount of money due to a legal settlement (car accidents, medical malpractice, workers comp, etc). My job is to "run quotes" with the insurance companies and produce these "spreadsheets" to give to our clients (the attorneys and the injured party) comparing the different rates of return of the insurance companies.

Honestly I am still learning what my job is and what exactly we do. I was very frustrated my first week because I did not really get it at all. This second week has gone better. However, it is really boring work. I don't think I would mind an office job so much if it was for a company that I found interesting; but I don't really care or have any background with insurance stuff AND I hate math.

I told my brother in law, Anthony, last tax season (when he was slaving away at his internship with an accounting firm and tyring to help me with my taxes) kudos to him for liking math and having the patience to "crunch" numbers all day (also telling him that I could never do that job). And sure enough that is what I do now- 'crunch' numbers. My calculator is my new best friend.

I am sure that things will get better once I get to know my fellow employees a little bit better and get more familiar with my job responsibilities. It is just a lot to learn and I am not feeling very enthused about learning it because of my lack of interest in the company.

It has also been hard to re-adjust to working from 8:30-5:30 (when I used to set my own schedule with the real estate and at the restaurant- if I wanted a day off no problem- but now I have to carefully schedule my vacation days).

On a positive note (I really am trying to be positive about the job) is I get paid insurance benefits soon, get nights, weekends and paid holidays off, I get regular/constant pay checks and I get to work in downtown Austin right across from the capital (my office view is great). This may not be my dream job but hopefully it will help me be able to do something I am passionate about soon!

Another Holiday/Birthday Come and Gone

2009-07-11T18:04:00.000-05:00

So for the 4th of July we were supposed to go to Shreveport for my grandmother's (Mama Kitty (or MK for short) is how she is known by everyone) 83rd birthday (born July 4, 1926). When she turned 80 a few years ago we had a HUGE celebration with ALL of my family (MK's brothers and sisters- their children and grandchildren; MK's children and grandchildren). It was a lot of fun and I which I had pics from the event.

This year my mom and her sisters wanted to have another MK birthday celebration but just our immediate family (which is quite the crowd in it's self). However, due to short notice their wasn't even going to be that large of a crowd.

Eric and I had good intentions of going but due to several things that came up we were unable to go. I felt really bad about not going; I guess because since I am getting older I realize that life truly is short.

My mom and Eric tried to tell me not to feel so bad since MK, my mom and my Aunt Judy (who lives in CA) were in Austin two weeks ago for a wedding anniversary for MK's cousin and I got to see them then. It made me feel a little bit better because we did have a nice lunch and visit at ZTejas in downtown Austin before they went to the party.

So since we could not go to Shreveport for the 4th we stayed in Austin and just barbecued at my apartment and hung out by the pool with some friends and Eric's little bro Stephen (we joke that Stephen is technically Eric's little/younger brother in age but is no where near being littler than Eric). So pretty much our 4th of July holiday was pretty uneventful.

I have no pictures of the 4th celebrations (Eric reminded me to grab the camera after we were already in the pool). But here is a pic (from Rachel's wedding) of Mama Kitty.

So Happy B-Lated Independence Day and Birthday MK!

9 to 5

2009-06-23T20:49:00.000-05:00

So on Monday I start a new job! I am excited, nervous, and sad all at the same time. I am excited to start a new job and all the benefits it entails such as heath insurance, 401 K, and most of all a steady pay check. I am excited (and dreading) the location. I am excited that I will be working downtown directly across the street from the capital building (I already know that once the weather starts to cool off I will be spending my lunch hour there; reading and eating my sack lunch) and that I will be downtown every day and can run errands and make a better effort to check out the restaurants, museums, shops, etc that are downtown. I am dreading the commute, though, since it will probably take me about 30-40 minutes to get to work from where I live (I try and remind myself that it is still not as bad as Houston traffic and commutes).

I am nervous about meeting and working with new people. I am nervous about the schedule change. I am going from working part time at nights and on weekends to working full time from 8:30 to 5:30 (this means waking up an hour or two earlier than I am used too, but having a 'normal' schedule that the majority of my friends and family have and I won't have to work holidays. wahoo!).

I am sad that I have to put the real estate on hold for a while. I love doing real estate but when you have to pay a lot of fees to do it and you don't know when your next pay check is going to be, and you have to pay TON of money for crappy health insurance that doesn't cover ANYTHING; you have to re-figure things.

I am happy because I will not have to slave away at a restaurant anymore to make sure I have the bills paid (a steady pay check is nice). Also not having to wear men's clothes as your daily work uniform is nice as well (I plan on going shopping later this week)!

Though being an Administrative Assistant for an insurance law firm/broker (honestly I am not 100% sure what I will be doing at my new job) is not my dream job, it will help me for now and allow me to put some money away and go to the doctor, so that hopefully soon I can go back to the real estate full time and there will not be any worries (or allow me to gain enough experience to go and work at a company that is a little more fun/interesting to me)!

Oh- and a huge THANKS to all of you who gave positive references on my be half!

Wild Things

2009-06-15T12:10:00.000-05:00

The zoo was tons fun with a lot of things the same since I last went (probably in the late 90s) and a lot of new things. The only problem was how hot it was and the cost. The last time I went to the zoo it was like $1.50 for kids and $4 for adults. Now it is $5 for kids and $10 for adults- which I know is still cheap compared to other things but that was why the zoo was the best- that it was dirt cheap. Also in the future if we go back to Houston for a long period of time (like a mini vacation) we will have to buy City Passes. City Passes are a flat fee (adults: $40 and kids: $30) and you get admission to seven attractions in the Houston area. It is an awesome deal; the only bad part is that they have to be used with in nine days. So they are great for long vacations or if you live in town and can't afford a huge vacation abroad. We got them when Eric and I went to Atlanta a couple of years ago and it really made the trip a lot of fun, easy to plan, and affordable.

My favorite part of the zoo was the baby animals (which were so cute) and all the pretty butterflies that were just flying around all over the zoo.

Awwww what a good lookin' guy!

I mean Eric, not the ape (although he is pretty cute too)!
I had to take this picture. The last time we were at the Houston Zoo (probably 12 years ago) we took the same exact picture of Matthew. Only at that time Matthew was 4 and had to stand on the rock that this snake statue was on and he was still shorter than the snake. I wish I had a scanner to post that picture next to this one to show how much he has grown.

Eric asked my mom to take a pic of us and this is what we got; a partially decapitated Eric. Mom, really all you had to do was look at the screen and push the button! ; )
My mom, Matthew, and me (resting because of the heat and all of the miles we walked in the zoo).

The animals:These are my absolute favorite pics! I love butterflies! I have tried to take pictures of butterflies before but they never turn out good because of them flying around. I am so glad Eric spotted this butterfly and he stood still long enough to get so great pics!

Even some celebrities were out at the zoo that day! The stars of Meerkat Manor!
There were quite a few baby animals! They were sooo adorable.

Somethings Never Change and Some Always Do

2009-06-14T10:04:00.000-05:00

Last weekend Eric and I went to Houston to visit my family. Usually when we go to Houston it is for a specific reason (wedding, holiday, etc) or just for the day on a Sunday. With all these trips we are so busy that we only have time to visit with the family, eat dinner and be back on the road again. However, last weekend we went for the entire weekend and had no specific plans except to be with the family.

So on Saturday we drove over and went to the zoo with my mom and brother. Eric then meet up with a friend of his from Atlanta who is living in Houston (actually Bridge City) for now because of his job. While Eric hung out with his friend my mom, sister- Rachel, and her husband- Anthony went out to dinner (my brother had a party to go to, he is so Mr. Poplar).

On Sunday, I meet up with my good friend Holly for lunch. I don't get to see Holly very often because of always having short and busy trips to Houston but I am glad we got together. As much as I love the blogging world and being able to keep in touch with lots of friends and family all across the miles via such an accessible resource as the Internet; there is nothing like being able to personally talk to someone face to face!

Sunday afternoon Eric and I meet up his friend Albert again and hung out for a little while and then went back to my mom's for dinner; and then back on the road again.

I had such a great time with my family. It was nice to hang out and not have any real specific plans or schedule.

This visit made me feel so old, though. I caught my self several times saying "this used to be all trees and now look at it, nothing but buildings and houses" or "things have changed so much" or "so and so's son/daughter is 7 or 10 or driving or graduating- I remember when they were born or when they were small enough to be babysitting them". These are the same exact things MY parents would say when I was a kid and we would go back and visit their home towns. Life really does move so fast and some things (like my mom's house- aw the comfort of home) will always be the same and others will constantly change.

A Family Affair

2009-06-09T19:56:00.000-05:00

Last week Eric and I went to see Eric's brother's band. We have seen them play several times but I never have my camera on me at the time. This time I remembered to bring it.

The band, Professor Shark, was playing at a new venue that they had never played at before and wanted to get a lot of people there so that the venue would book them again. Joe, Eric's brother, told everyone to come and told everyone to tell everyone that they knew.

Eric's ENTIRE family showed up; along with a bunch of family friends. When I say entire I mean entire- his aunt, uncle, mom, brother, sister, cousins, cousins' kids, cousins' husband and his parents and his brother and his wife and kids......

The place was packed. It was at a restaurant/bar in "downtown" Round Rock called Juniors. They played on the out door patio. It was a ton of fun especially since all of the fam was there.

Dancin' The Night Away
Eric's cousin Heather had a friend come that thought the key board player was blind because he kept looking up a the sky as he played! I guess he was just really getting into the music.
The fans (pretty much all the family).

Eric's little sister, Dana and her boyfriend, Josh.

The keyboard player (I don't know his name) is awesome he really gets into it!

The lead singer and guitar player, Marcus.

Joe, Eric's brother on the drums (he is awesome too).

Eric's mom, Sarah.

Eric's cousins: Heather and Johnny V
Usually I end concert posts with a picture of Eric and I but somehow I got left out. So all you get is Eric being a goof ball!

A Little Addiction

2009-06-08T11:46:00.000-05:00

I have always loved books and reading since I was a young girl. I remember reading my very first Nancy Drew book in the first grade. I would read every chance I got, on the bus ride home from school, while watching TV shows, in the car, at breakfast, anywhere and everywhere. Every free moment I had. I read mysteries, classics, award winners. I have boxes and boxes of books. I still remember vividly many of the books I read and others I can't recall. I remember reading The Giver and Number the Stars and having a life changing moment while reading them.

I loved participating in summer reading programs at school, at the library, and at book stores to get prizes such as free amusement park tickets, movie tickets, free books....

I continued to love reading up through high school. Not only the assigned books for school but all sorts of novels.

Then as I got into my college years it was a lot harder to find time to read. Between working and going to school and keeping up with assigned reading for classes- there was no time for personal reading. I would buy books over the years wanting to read them but never getting around to it.

But now, now I am hooked again. Eric and I have been obsessed with reading and collecting books we hope to read. We scout out new and more specifically, used bookstores looking for bargains. My stack of summer reads are getting taller and taller. I have promised my self that I won't buy any more books until I get some of mine read; but when you can find good books in great condition at amazing prices I can't pass it up (I want my dream house to have a library in it where the bookshelves go from the floor to the ceiling and are packed with books). Will there ever be enough time to read the thousands of books on my list? Oh I do hope so!

I am also so very excited because my local library is having a summer reading program for kids AND adults. With prizes for the adults such as movie passes, restaurant gift certificates, and more. I can't wait to start tracking my reading and pushing my self deeper and deeper into books.

I am always looking for great reads- any suggestions?

Some of our "finds" with the cutest little bookworm. (Notice these are Eric's books- not any thing against Mr. King, I just am not a fan of the majority of his works)

Two Birthdays, One BBQ, One National Holiday, and ZERO Pictures!

2009-05-28T15:20:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday (May 24th) was Eric's Dad and Aunt Grace's birthday. To celebrate their birthday's and Memorial Day we had a BBQ at Eric's aunt and uncle's house.

It was so much fun hanging out with Eric's family. We ate and talked, ate again, and played rock band and did keroke. It was so fun because the whole family was getting involved and taking turns singing and playing. Eric's little cousions are so cute and affectionate- running up and giving us hugs the second we walked through the door and wanting us to play with them all night.

I brought the camera and had good intentions of taking pictures but got so wrapped up in every thing I forgot. These are the only pictures I got:

This is of course Eric with his cousion Heather's kiddos and his cousion John's girlfriend Megan.

Megan and John even made Panda Bear cupcakes (the ones in the book Hello Cupcake) since Aunt Grace LOVES panda bears (her house is full of panda bear stuff). (This is a picture from the book not from the actual party since I forgot to take pictures then) Megan's turned out just as cute; the funny thing is I had seen this book and told Eric (in fact I even told Grace, days before her birthday, that I had seen these cupcakes and they made me think of her) that I wanted to make these cupcakes for Aunt Grace since she is such a panda bear fanatic- I am just glad I didn't have time or we would have both showed up with the same thing! Plus John has only been dating Megan for about a year so she still 'new' to the fam- I thought I would be nice and let her take all the credit for the idea. : )

This picture turned out awful, but I had to post it since it is the only other picture I have from the day. If you look very, very closly you can see Eric's dad and aunt- the birthday boy and girl!

311

2009-05-15T11:53:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday Eric and I went to see the band 311. Every year that Eric and I have been dating we have gone to see 311. Eric is a HUGE 311 fan and has been since he was in middle school; in fact he has seen them over 30 times. I had heard some of their music before I started dating Eric, but did not know their music that well. I can now say I am just as big a fan as he is(well actually I don't think ANYONE can ever be as big a fan as Eric- I mean common since middle school- 30 shows) and I know all the songs as well enough to sing along to most of them.

We were able to go because we won tickets, again (I know what a heavy burden- winning tickets all the time). We actually won tickets to Death Cab For Cutie, that played a few weeks ago; however Eric and I both had to work that night and are not that big of fans of DCFC so we sold the tickets to someone that was willing to pay $65 a pop (they originally sold for $35) because the DCFC show was sold out. So we then turned around and bought TWO tickets to 311 for the price someone paid us for ONE ticket to DCFC. We used the rest of the money we were paid to go out to dinner at Cain and Ables (review to come soon on Eye Heart Austin or Kitchen Concoctions). What a deal; 311 tickets and dinner on the radio station!

The show was great but 311 did not play that long, only an hour and a half. I know to some that may seem like a long time but the last couple of concerts we have gone to the bands have played well over two hours. Also the show was at the Austin Music Hall, which I was not that impressed with. There was two levels and it was all general admission. We were on the bottom level at first but it was extremely hot and stuffy and then some guy was dancing and his HUGE, UGLY elbow came down on my head- HARD. So we then moved to the back, right under the ledge of the top level and some one spilled their entire beer down on top of me getting my hair, shirt, shoes all wet. Other than that the music was great and they only played one song from their new album due out in June (I guess they want to keep it under lock and key until then). As always 311 fans are super cool and fun to be around.

The Band:
The lead singer (um I don't know if his pants are way too tight, or if because they are white they accentuate certain areas, of if all the fans were making him a bit too happy, or if.......)

The CRAZY Fans:
I guess if you are a really crazy fan you stick your tongue out in pictures:
Or you scream like a maniac:

As I said every year Eric and I have been together we have gone to see 311 together. That is except for last year when a friend of Eric's from Atlanta won meet and greet tickets. So last year Eric flew out to the ATL and meet his all time favorite band (what a dream come true). I was so happy for him. Each band member signed a poster for him (with comments directly written out to him). Eric said that he was happy that he finally got to me them and for the most part they were super cool (even giving him props on his tattoos), but Eric said he was disappointed in the lead singer who was really rude and seemed irritated at doing the meet and greet : (

Here are a few pics from that day. Unfortunately I only have a couple because all the other pictures Eric took were on my external hard drive which after only 3 months of owning started having trouble the other day. So if you are in the market for an external hard drive my recommendation is not to use Seagate. They will happily replace the hard drive (because it is under warranty) but will not remove (or pay for the removal) of all the data on the bad hard drive. Years and years of photos, documents, recipes, music, etc were stored on there! Stay tuned for coverage on by battle with the Seagate company! GRRRR!

The Official Cause of the Swine Flu‏

2009-05-03T09:23:00.000-05:00

My Aunt Eileen sent me an email the other day with this as the title "The Official Cause of the Swine Flu" and then this picture. Even if everyone is making such a big deal about the Swine Flu and it is being labeled 'a serious pandemic' you can't help but smile when you see this picture. You also can help but go "Ewwww, gross!"

Maybe it is just me but I think that they are blowing this whole Swine Flu a little out of proportion. I mean everything they say in the news says that the regular flu that we get every year kills more people than this Swine Flu has. Also schools, day cares, companies, etc., have students/staff that get the regular flu, strep throat, stomach viruses, food poisoning, and back in my day chicken pox- and they NEVER close school for any of those reasons (even though ALL of those reasons could result in hospitalization and even death.

I think that we as a society are in a state of panic over everything now days. We fear political officials, corporate companies and CEO, losing our jobs, national disasters, and now the Swine Flu. Now don't get me wrong these are all things which should cause some worry and extra precautions; but they are all things that have been going on for years, decades, centuries. And we as a human race, as a society, manage to pull together and get through.

Don't misunderstand, I will be washing my hands even more than I already do, staying away from sick people, and especially staying away from our 'friends' to the south. But I am not going to lock my self in the house and avoid places like the grocery store, movie theatre, etc. I will just continue to ride the roller coaster of life and take all the ups and downs (or national pandemics, disasters, bad economies) as they come.

"Rest Stop"

2009-04-25T11:45:00.000-05:00

So I promise this will be the last post about SXSW 2009. I know it was over a month ago but one of the special RSVP only events just emailed Eric some pictures and I had to post them. "Rest Stop" was the name of the event (and their promo record) that JDub Records sponsored. JDub Records produces primarily Jewish and Reggae music. So the approximately five bands we saw at "Rest Stop" were this type of music. If you RSVPed to the event you got in for free, had a free catered lunch and beverages, and all sorts of free stuff like CDs, lighters, etc. It was a blast! The following pictures were taken by the people that coordinated the entire thing: Birthright Israel NEXT and JDub Records.

Like I said it was a lot of fun. Some friends of ours are Jewish, so that is how we found out about the event. It was interesting to learn a little bit more about the Jewish culture through this event and our friends Aviva and her boyfriend Chris as well as Aviva's sister Serena and her husband Chris.

The Music:

The People (enjoying the music): If you look closely Eric is in the center front of the top picture and in the front on the right hand side on the second picture (He is wearing the red shirt and of course is dancing away). As for me- I am no where to be found (probably of at a table off to the side eating).

And the FOOD: They had bagels (straight from New York) and cream cheese, lox (cured Salomon), and fresh fruit. This is traditional Jewish eats, making a bagel and cream cheese sandwich with the cured salmon. I have had all of these foods before but as separate items not all combined together. It was interesting and I enjoyed trying it.
As I have said before I love SXSW. It is SO BIG and there is always so much to do. Unfortunately we missed a few bands I wanted to see and we missed a special event presented by Rachael Ray. Her event was also free, but was on a first come first serve basis. It also had free food and beverages, and other freebies. She was even there personally overseeing it (probably because one of the bands was her husband's) and creating the menu. I wanted to go not only to hear the bands (several of my favorite bands were playing) and to eat the good food, but also I wanted to go at the hopes of meeting Rachael Ray. We got up and went down to Sixth Street and the venue it was being held at super early (over an hour before it was supposed to start). To my dismay there was a HUGE line to get in; approximately three blocks long. We left and tried to go back later but the line was still long. Eric was so sweet said that he would wait in the line with me and we could meet up with our friends later. But it was taking too long and we ended up leaving since the event was almost over anyways. Maybe next year I can try and meet Rachael Ray so I can tell her all my ideas for her show, and her cookbooks, and her recipes, and......... I know she will be so thrilled!

Sun Block Is Your Friend

2009-04-20T07:11:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Eric and one of his friends had the bright idea to go check out the pool and have a BBQ. Sounds like a nice relaxing time, right. We were out there only a an hour, hour and a half tops because it was really windy and the water was still pretty chilly.

Our summer fun then turned into a nightmare. A red lobster, sun burn nightmare. Eric, his friend, and I got burned BAD. Of course I got the worst of it, being the most fair skinned. Why I did not think of sun block is still a mystery to me. Unlike my red headed siblings, who defiantly have to wear sun block even just thinking of the sun, I am not quite as fair and can get a good tan. A good tan was not the case this time. I went to bed all greased up in Aloe Vera and woke up around 4:30 this morning in pain. Every move I made was uncomfortable. I then went and put more of the green stuff on and tried to go back to sleep; but could not because all I kept dreaming about was getting skin cancer. So I have been in a painful, paranoid wreak all morning.

I have also pulled out every brand and SPF of sun block that I own and put it on the counter of my bathroom. Thus to remind me to put it on the next time I decide to have a summer fun adventure in the sun. Life lesson: Sun block is your friend and the Sun is not!

The Case Of The Missing Easter Bunny

2009-04-20T06:07:00.000-05:00

Even though Easter was over a week ago and nothing really exciting happened and because I have no pictures to remember it by; I have to write about it.

For Easter Eric and I went to Houston. My mom and I have been planing on getting together for Easter since like February. Of course when my mom first talked to me about getting together at Easter, I asked Eric if he would come with me. He said sure because he didn't know what his family was doing. Some time went by and at the middle/end of March (I believe) I mentioned it again. Then two weeks before Easter we were at Eric's mom's house (which by the way all of Eric's immediate family and his aunt, uncle, and several cousins live in Austin) and she casually mentioned Easter and getting together at his aunt's. Eric said "Sure, that sounds great." I then again mentioned in the car as we where leaving that we already had plans with my family for Easter. Eric said he did not know that and he wanted to spend time with his family. Of course I mention all the other times I told him and the fact that since we have been together we have never spent Easter with my family, and that he can spend anytime with his family since they all just live down the street(my family does not). So we kind of just left it at that. Then two days before Easter I asked him what was going on with him regarding Easter. He said that he didn't know- that he wanted to spend it with me AND his family. To make this long story short, we continued to go back and forth abut Easter until Easter morning. The end result: Eric came with me to Houston for Easter. I think I upset my future mother-in-law. And Eric and I both learned that even though his family plans get togethers last minute we should get the ball rolling early (like when my family asks about holidays months in advance ask Eric's family then).

ANYWAYS- on Easter we drove down/over to Houston. When we arrived my mom told us that in all of her 25 years as being a mom that this was the first year that "the Easter bunny didn't come." My little brother, Matthew (who is not so little any more at 17, almost 18) got so upset. He wanted his Easter basket and wanted to look for eggs. My mom then got this sly smile on her face and pulled out these bags that had Easter candy in them and a dvd for each of us. I guess you never get too old for candy and presents. My sister Rebecca got overly excited when she saw that her movie was High School Musical 3. She then confessed that she told "the Easter bunny" that she wanted that movie and told her other "Easter bunny" (my dad) that he should get her the movie Twilight (which he did).

At the dinner table we had interesting conversations. My brother proceeds to tell us all about his experiences eating crickets.Yes you read that right, CRICKETS. He said it all started at boy scout camp one year with an activity supervised by the adult scout leaders (what type of scout camp is my mom sending him to!?!). Then he said at another time he ate them at a church activity called "Fear Factor" (again adult supervised). He said the last time was one time at school when he 'casually' mentioned these events to some other boys. The next day the other boys showed up at school with a bag of crickets and dared him to eat one. One became two, and three and then finally a few crickets in my brother got smart and started charging $5 a cricket to eat them. GROSS! He then said his science teacher over heard everyone talking about it and now calls him 'Cricket Boy'. What is wrong with my brother? My sisters and I made sure to tell him that is not how to impress a lady; while Eric and Anthony just laughed hysterically. I don't know who to blame the adult leaders, shows like 'Fear Factor' or the one on the travel channel (you know with Andrew Zimmerman: the guy who will eat anything), the kids who dared him at school; but really it is his own crazy self who did it.

So, that 'in a not quite nut shell', was my 'not so exciting' Easter!

Blue October

2009-04-17T14:17:00.000-05:00

On the Saturday before Easter (April 11) Eric and I went to see Blue October in concert. Thanks again to the radio station 101x, in which Eric won tickets. The band played two days in a row and were sold out both days. I have always liked Blue October for many reasons. One is because they are from the Austin area and this is where it all started for them (now they are on their way to huge stardom). Another reason I like them so much is because it is such a "personal" band. All of the songs are written by the lead singer and are about his life- the good and the bad. When I hear the songs I feel truly like he is singing to me and giving me hope and inspiration through his life lessons. Eric enjoys them but I don't think as much as I do. He said he had fun at the concert but because the majority of songs are more mellow you can't really jump around and dance- Eric's favorite part about seeing live music.

One of my favorite songs is called "Jump Rope". He said that he wrote this song for his daughter about the ups and downs of life. When he played this song there was this girl on stage actually doing jump rope tricks. Another one of my favorite songs he sings is "Blue Does"; which is also dedicated to his daughter and is about being a father and the changing force and inspiration his daughter is. During this song he played a slide show of pictures of him and his daughter.

Not only are the lyrics to all the songs really intense and personal but so is the instrumental parts. I counted over 16 different guitars that they played with during the show in addition to the violin and drums.

I thoroughly enjoyed the entire show. They played for two hours and it was so intense the entire show. I can defiantly say that I am an even bigger fan now that I had the opportunity to see them live and in person.

(Eric always has to get a picture of just the two of us at every event we go to or thing we do)

The Not So Daily Grind

2009-04-13T15:51:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, April 4; Eric and I went to "The Grind". The Grind is a skateboard and wake board competition in the middle of downtown Austin. The activities included food, shops, the different competitions and live music. One of our favorite bands, The Black and White Years, preformed. They are originally from Austin and are now making it big playing on radio stations and in-concert all over the country. The Black and White Years, are so funky (with their music and in person) and perfectly represent the funkiness of Austin.
We also saw the band the Riverboat Gamblers. The wake board competitions were so cool. They had two HUGE pools set up in this parking lot. In between the pools were these ramps that the wake boarders jumped off to do their tricks. I had never seen anything like it and it was also neat since it was right in the middle of downtown Austin.The skateboarders didn't seem as entertaining as the wake boarders. There were a few guys that did a few cool tricks; but mostly it was just kids, that had brought their own skateboards, who were attempting the jumps.
These 'kids' were taking their skateboards and trying to jump over this car.We had an awesome time. I love that Austin has all these cool events to go to; and they are always free or low cost. I can't wait for the next outing.

SXSW 2009 Rewind

2009-04-04T12:17:00.000-05:00

I was having trouble uploading all of my pictures from SXSW when I originally wrote about it. So here are a few things I missed.

This girl looks all sweet and innocent and then you hear hear sing (or should I say yell). Her band was one of those heavy metal, screaming bands and she was the lead singer.

The guy above was really good. He had a real relaxing voice(which was very much needed after the previous mentioned band). The band below was a Jewish band and they were a lot of fun.

AWWW, what a cute couple!

We walked from downtown to Auditorium Shores (which was several blocks away) to see more concerts.

Ending the night with a "Bang".

Time to Breathe

2009-04-03T16:12:00.000-05:00

I have had a very stressful past few weeks. Between taxes, doctor appointments, and differing work schedules for Eric and I, not allowing much time together. I sent this text message to Eric a few days ago:

I HATE THE BANK. I HATE INSURANCE. I HATE DOCTORS. I HATE TAXES. I HATE THAT YOU GET TO HANG OUT WITH YOUR FRIENDS RIGHT NOW AND NOT ME.

I am so glad that I don't get paid to do taxes and I am so glad that my brother-in-law does. I asked Anthony to look over my tax return and he was able to find some things that helped me save A LOT of money. I am so grateful that he could help and I can put taxes behind me for another year.

I am still in the process of getting the insurance stuff all sorted out. And don't even get me started on the bank; that was a huge mess that could have totally been avoided if the tellers knew how to count money, or for that matter just do their job in general.

Things are looking better. I have Sunday off and Eric and I have fun plans!

Oreo

2009-03-27T14:00:00.000-05:00

Today is a sad day for my family. After weeks of fighting, we had to put down our beloved collie Oreo. Oreo has been a part of our family for over 12 years now. We received him as a pup one Christmas. At first I was not thrilled about having him. Since he was still a puppy he chewed on everything, had accidents in the house, and was just a lot of work. But as Oreo grew so did I. He became such a mellow, compassionate dog. He didn't get into anything any more. All he wanted to do was be by your side and be loved.

I remember him playing hide and seek with us. Standing next to the person who was counting and watching as everyone hid. He would then go and run towards everyone who was hiding and pull them out. Great team mate for the "seeker" not so much for the "hiders".

Oreo, my mom, and I would always go on walks around the neighborhood. Oreo would always get complements from people on how beautiful he was; that he should be a show dog or be bread.

We truly loved Oreo and he truly loved us. Anyone that is not a pet owner cannot understand that special love, that special bond you have with your animals. Oreo will be missed and always remembered.

SXSW 2009

2009-03-24T22:28:00.000-05:00

Whoo! Another year of SXSW has come and gone; and what a long but fun week it has been. For those of you who don't know South By South West is a huge international music and film festival here in Austin, Texas.

Bands, producers, music labels, actors, and actresses from all over the world come to Austin for SXSW. It is a big deal for a band if they are chosen to play at SXSW. The week starts out with four days of the film festival and ends with five days of the music festival. The festivities take place all over Austin; and range from local bands who are just starting out to big name bands like Metalica and Kenya West, who have been famous for years.

I have been attending SXSW for years, and always have a great time. Most of the events are free or only cost a small cover charge to get in. You can even get into more shows and events for free if you RSVP with the record label or company that is sponsoring the event. A lot of the RSVP only shows had free food, drinks, CDs, and many other freebies. We went to see Professor Shark on Thursday night and then made an entire day of free RSVP only parties on Saturday.

Some one's a little excited!

Some of the bands we saw:
Eric thought this band said they were giving away free T-shirts; but when they didn't Eric gave them a hard time about it. One of the band members said that all they had were girl shirts but told Eric if he put it on he could have it. So, of course Eric did. Now I have a cool T-shirt from some British band.

Music, music everywhere... even in trees!All of our friends and a few random peps:

I have a lot more pics but I guess Blogger only allows so many per entry. So I will have to try and upload more pics in another post.

March Madness

2009-03-24T22:07:00.000-05:00

I am not huge sports fan. Just your average girl that keeps up with sports just enough to look like I am talking intelligently with other people at sporting events or just in general. With that said, I am so obsessed with March Madness or the NCAA Men's Basketball Championships.

It all started with some guys at work talking about it and filling out their brackets. I began asking questions and becoming very interested in it. Mind you, I have never watched a college basketball game, nonetheless even kept up with anything this year. So using the season stats (which are printed right on the brackets) and my context clues (any and all past knowledge; location; team names, mascots, colors, and the eanie meanie miney mo method) I slowly narrowed down my teams and picked out my winners.

I have chosen Michigan State and North Carolina as my finial two teams and North Carolina winning the ultimate championship. Just for fun I threw my bracket in with the guys from work just to see how far I could go; and I am in second place! I have all the guys scared and worried that I will win and all I did was use context clues. Who knew basketball would be so much fun. I continue to have my eye on the game and will keep you posted as to how it all turns out.

Kitchen Concoctions

2009-03-14T11:39:00.000-05:00

So I have decided to start a food blog. I know; you are probably thinking "Not another food blog!?!" But, as I explain in my first post of my new blog, food fascinates me. I have always dreamt about being a food writer. And I may never get to write professionally for some popular newspaper or magazine, but at least I will have my little blog if not for anyone else but myself. So hears to trying new recipes and learning a few new and random things about food along the way!

G. Love Concert Re-Visited

2009-03-14T10:26:00.000-05:00

These are a few pictures from when we saw G. Love and special sauce. I know they are awful because all we had was Eric's phone. I didn't know you were allowed to bring cameras in or I would have brought mine. I also tried to upload more "professional" pics from the Internet, but couldn't get it to work. Maybe you are not allowed to; or maybe I just don't know how!

Let's Go To The Movies

2009-03-09T14:30:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend Eric and I went to the movies. It has been forever since we last went (Hancock was the last movie we saw in the movie theatre). I realized that I love going to the movies. The excitement about going out, the smell of fresh popcorn, the sticky floors, the larger than life sounds and views. To make it even better it was the dollar theater we went to (well actually $1.50 but that sure beats $9) and all the movies were still fairly new and it is still cheaper than renting a "new release" at Blockbuster, which runs about $5. I was having such a hard time deciding which movie to go to- they all looked good. The majority of the movies I wanted to see were "kid" movies or ones that were rated 'G' or 'PG'. I am so grateful that Eric loves these types of movies too and doesn't make fun of me for wanting to go watch them.

We ended up settling on Inkheart. Eric has read the book and I wanted to wait and watch the movie until I had a chance to read the book, but the timing worked out best to go see it. It was really good and suspenseful. I personally think it would be better for older "kids" because some of the scenes were pretty intense. (This coming from a "kid" who was tearafied of The Little Mermaid when I saw it for the first time because of Ursala.) I would group it along with the Harry Potter series or Spiderwick Chronicles (told you I like "kid" movies). Eric liked it too but said that it was a little different than the book (the movies always are).

I thoroughly enjoyed going to the movies- and since we found a theatre that does not charge out the wazoo and is close buy we will have to go more often.

After the movies I cooked dinner. I made this chili lime chicken and black bean salsa... that is when I learned a HUGE lesson. I made the salsa with jalapeno peppers. I have worked with many different types of peppers before and never had any problems with them. I chopped the jalapeno pepper up and threw it in the pan. I washed my hands really well with hot water and soap and went about finishing the dinner. A little while later after everything was done and we were sitting down to eat I rubbed my eye. HUGE MISTAKE! My eye began to burn intensely. I jumped up screaming and Eric told me to run to the bathroom and flush my eye out. I am standing at the bathroom counter trying to wash my hands again-blindly-before I washed my eyes. I then am trying to flush my eyes with water and my contacts are becoming all messed up in my eyes. To try and fix the contact problem I then try and remove said contacts; which involves touching my eyes, which then causes both eyes to be burning and on fire! I am then completely blind for the moment trying to get the contacts in the case and flush my eyes out. I spent the rest of the night with a damp towel over my eyes and making mental notes to NEVER handle peppers again without gloves!

G. Love and Special Sauce

2009-03-02T15:31:00.000-06:00

Friday night Eric and I went to see G. Love and Special Sauce. I LOVED it and had such a great time. I was so excited and looking forward to going since we hadn't been to a concert in such a long time (I don't count friends' bands). I was also excited because it was at Stubb's which is a real small amphitheatre; so you are guaranteed a good spot. And the last reason I was so excited to see them was because we got to go for FREE because Eric won the tickets off the radio (at $48 a pop I would say that's a pretty good deal)!

Eric and I saw G. Love for the first time a few years ago at ACL (a huge music festival in Austin) and it was great seeing them again. A guy named Eric Hutchinson opened the concert. I had never heard of him before but was very impressed and Eric and I enjoyed listening to him. Eric Hutchinson played for about an hour and then G. Love came on and played for almost two hours!

G. Love and Special Sauce was great! I love them because they use an array of instruments. Everything from the drums and key board, to the sax, to an electric cello, to playing the guitar and harmonica at the same time. To me this shows true talent when you can combine such a mix of instruments and everything sound good. It was also an awesome show because not only did they play a ton of songs I knew, they also played some I didn't know but I ended up enjoying. The band also busted out several "jam" sessions and G. Love played acoustic by himself. One of the last songs was done by Eric Hutchinson and G. Love together.

I love seeing live music. You truly get to "feel" the music in every part of your body. You get to "see" how the music is made. You get to "hear" the natural sounds from the different instruments and from the voice of the musicians; without it being altered by computers. You get to be so up close and personal that you can reach out and "touch" the stage or the hand or the musician as he reaches out to "touch" you. And it is really awesome to see and hear that the musicians are feeling all those things and putting that "rush" back into the music they are playing.

A Visit to the Tashmahal

2009-02-21T11:35:00.000-06:00

I just have to brag a little bit about my little brother. For Christmas he got this Tashmahal Lego Kit. He started working on it on Christmas day and said he had it finished four days later! I am pretty impressed by his patience and determination to get it done. Man, there are a lot of Legos- who ever guesses the exact number of Legos wins a prize!

Learing to "Flick It"

2009-02-20T15:00:00.000-06:00

On Tuesday Eric and I went to play Frisbee golf. I was much better at it this time compared to the previous time we went on Sunday. On Tuesday it only took about 4 or 5 tries each time before I got the Frisbee in the hole/basket AND we played all the "holes" (I am not quite sure if that is the proper Frisbee golf lingo). As compared to Sunday, where we started to play and then pretty much gave up, due to my lack of skills. I have learned so much about Frisbee golf: "Flick It" refers to throwing the Frisbee; if you are "new" or a "beginner" you should let others go ahead of you because you will take awhile; you use "discs" not regular Frisbees to play; you don't throw or toss the Frisbees like you normally would (like if you were throwing them for your dog to catch)- there is a specific technique on how to throw them; you have to be prepared to get dirty- since your Frisbee can land in all sorts of places; Austin has one of the longest Frisbee golf courses in the country. By the way we DID NOT play at the Frisbee golf course in Round Rock (which is one of the longest courses); we played at the "putt-putt" of Frisbee golf courses at a neighborhood park near my house!

Guitartown Mystery

2009-02-09T14:38:00.000-06:00

On Sunday Eric and I went downtown for a nice afternoon. We ate a picnic lunch at the capital building and then walked around.

About a year ago there was a city project were local artists painted these huge guitar statues. The statues were placed around downtown and were supposed to represent what Austin is all about- music, arts, and hospitality. Ever since the project started I wanted to go downtown and walk around and look at all of them.

So after our picnic that's what we planned on doing. I had gone online and found out were all 30 statues were. I picked about 15 that were close enough to the capital building to walk to and wrote out a little map with the addresses of the 15 I planned on us seeing. We left the capital and walked to were the first one was supposed to be; it wasn't there. We walked a little bit further and still didn't see any guitar statues. Eric then asked someone at the Museum of Art where they were and the guy had no clue. We kept walking down Congress looking at all the spots where these statutes were supposed to be and finding none. Finally, after some searching, we found one:

We kept on walking and found two more:

I was disappointed that the guitars were MIA. Where did they go? I felt like detectives in our own little mystery. I guess the map I had found online was when they first started the project. After we finished up the "scavenger hunt" we checked out some of our favorite local music and book stores.

Even though our "scavenger hunt" didn't turn out exactly as we had planned we still had a nice afternoon just hangin' out downtown.

Same Band, Different Name

2009-02-04T10:32:00.000-06:00

I know it is half way through the week but I have to blog about the events of the past weekend for my own personal journal/scrapbook/blogging purposes.

Saturday Eric's brother's (Joe) band had another concert (technically it was like his fourth or fifth on but the second one we went to). They had to change the name to Professor Shark because there was another band that was called "Other Brothers". It was really cool because they sold tickets that looked like tickets you would get from Ticketmaster for big name bands.

Unfortunately, we were late and only got to hear five or six songs. Our tardiness was due to actions of both mine an Eric's. The band went on at ten and I did not get off work until around 9:15ish. I then had to drive home and change(the reason I caused us to be late). The band was playing at a bar downtown and I asked Eric to look up driving directions while I was at work. He said he didn't need to, that he knew where it was- it was off 5th Street. While I continued to get ready and he was just waiting I asked Eric to look up directions again to get the cross street that the bar was at. He looked them up and said he knew exactly where it was. So we start driving downtown (which by the way was a zoo because of it being a Saturday night with a TON of things going on). We get on 5th street and I ask Eric the cross street and he says Lamar. We drive and drive down 5th. Since downtown is a mad house and there are tons of cars, tons of people, and piratically every street is closed down, I am focused on my driving. I ask Eric to watch for Lamar because I am focused on my driving. I ask him if he has seen it or if he knows how far down it is and he says he is not sure any more if Lamar is the cross street. I then get frustrated because I don't know where we are going and am driving. Eric says to just park and we will figure it out. I tell him I don't want to do that because I do not want to be walking for FOREVER to get there. We drive a few more blocks and end up parking. We start walking in the direction of most of the bars/music venues on 5th street. Eric finally asks a stranger where the bar we are supposed to be going to is and it turns out that we walked half a block in the opposite direction. We then walk about five and a half blocks to get to where we are supposed to be. Once we arrive we discover that there was a FREE parking garage across from the bar. Lesson learned: Look up directions yourself, NEVER let a man do it! : )

Despite our tardiness we had lots of fun. Eric's mom, aunt, brother and cousins were all there this time, along with some of our good friends (that always adds to the fun).

And in Eric's defense he did have the cross street right, it was Lamar, we just didn't realize how far down 5th it was.

Are you LOST?

2009-01-22T10:55:00.001-06:00

Ok, I have to admit I am OBSESSED with the t.v. show Lost! I LOVE IT! Eric and I have been following Lost for a few years now, but were late to the world of Lost and did not start watching it until right before the third season and had to play "catch up" by watching Lost on DVDs. Ever since then you can bet that when Lost is on that we are watching it. I love how well it is written and all the twists and turns the show and it's characters take. I love trying to put the "clues" together and trying to figure out what is really going on. I love talking about Lost with Eric, my brother, Eric's mom, and our Lost obsessed friends.

Eric and I have been counting down to the season premiere since last fall (Ok I lied, technically since May when season four ended). And come to find out, after all this waiting, that Lost has been moved to Wednesday nights. Huge problem: I work Wednesday nights and unfortunately I am not up to date with my technology advances and do not have one of those "box" things that record t.v. shows for you. So yesterday, I frantically pulled my VCR out of the closet and ran to Fry's and bought a videotape (I know, I too, was shocked, to see that they still made them). Eric and I (mostly Eric, ok, all Eric) connected theVCR to the t.v. and re-figured out how to use the ancient thing. Since it was a whopping THREE hour event and I did not get off work until late we will be watching Lost tonight and every week until the sad end of this season (let's not even dare think about that).

And to all of you who have never experienced this wonderful show: you had better get watching; but unfortunately for you, you will have to go buy or rent all of the previous seasons, since Lost is one long, intricate story and you will be totally LOST if you try and start watching it now!

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Blankeney

2009-01-17T09:47:00.000-06:00

My younger sister Rachel was married on Saturday, January 10, 2009 to Anthony Blankeney. It is so weird for me to think that now she is married, has a different last name, and will probably be having babies soon! She looked so beautiful and happy! Anthony is a wonderful guy and I am extremely happy for them both.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the big day. There is a good chance that more photos are to follow since not only was there a hired photographer taking pics, but also my grandfather, father, uncles, Anthony's family, and myself.

ABC's and 123's

2009-01-16T15:37:00.000-06:00

Last weekend was Rachel's big weekend- her 22nd birthday was on January 9th and she got married on the 10th. So that meant the entire family had a busy, fun-filled weekend. On Friday (Rachel's birthday and the night before her wedding) we all participated in a family wedding tradition. We had a ABC party for Rachel and Anthony. This is a party where all of the family (and I mean ALL- grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, great-aunts and uncles, the new in-laws) comes together for great food and celebration. Each family member is given a letter of the alphabet and asked to bring a gift for the bride and groom that either starts with or has to do with the letter they were assigned. They also have to write a "ditty", or poem, about why that gift was chosen for that letter. This was a tradition started by my great-grandparents on my mother's side, Other Mother and Big Daddy. The only difference from when they use to do it and now, is that Other Mother and Big Daddy use to buy ALL the gifts for each and every letter. It is such a fun tradition and I am so happy that we still keep all of these great traditions and my grandparents' memory alive and strong!

We had an "Aggie/Winter Wonderland/Happy Birthday" theme going for the party. .
No ABC party would be complete without some sexy "jammies"! P.S.- Rachel was so funny opening this gift. For weeks she was worried that she would get a gift like this at the party (knowing perfectly well my family members and their traditions). She carefully opened the box, holding the lid up so that no family members could see the contents of the package before she could. Luckily for her, the "ditty" gave some clues that this might be coming. Thanks to my mom's cousin Connie for the great gift. And thanks to my Aunt Eileen for reminding Rachel that it could be worse- that my great-grandmother used to give extremely "risque" "jammies"!

I was the honorary gift passer-outer.

For dinner we had Texas Hash, another family tradition/recipe. It is our family's version of the taco salad, except with chili, rice, corn chips, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cheese, and a few other "secret" ingredients. I love this stuff and have been eating it at family get togethers since I was a kid. Eric was a little bit sceptical, especially when I told him the "secret" ingredients, but was soon devouring the family "concoction" and asking if I could make it for him.

A Piece of Cake

2009-01-05T09:24:00.000-06:00

My sister, Rachel, is getting married in less than a week and I said that I would make the wedding cake and groom's cake for her (I know, what was I thinking, right). Anthony, Rachel's soon to be husband, doesn't like chocolate and wanted a cheesecake for the groom's cake. I made two different types of cheesecakes for Thanksgiving and had the entire family try them. One was unanimously voted as the best and the one to use for the wedding. The cheesecake was so simple to make, I even modified the recipe a little bit and everyone just raved about. This boosted my confidence and I was thinking "wedding cake?... that will be a piece of cake". Unfortunately, there has been some tears shed the last week or so as I have tried and tried again to make the perfect wedding cake. I have never made a wedding cake before, but have made many cakes before and thought "how hard could it be?". To date I have made six different cake recipes and four different frosting recipes. Until I had made the one below, none of them resembled a wedding cake, or at least the vision I had in my head, and it is still not a perfect replica of the pictures my sister sent me; but it is a huge improvement and I am getting better at everyone I make. So over the next few days I will continue to bake and cake decorate, until it is time for the big day.

One positive look on all of this is that many people have benefited from my practicing. First, my friends and family have been able to eat a lot of cake recently. Second, HEB, the sugar/flour and dairy industries have benefited greatly with the amount of flour, sugar, butter, and eggs it has taken me to make all of these cakes (and I am still not done). And finally the diet and exercise industry will benefit since for the past few days all Eric and I have had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner has been cake and more cake (thus causing the need for some major exercise and eating a little bit healthier, or at least more well balanced meals). Wish me luck that the cakes turn out great and that my nerves and brain are not so frazzled that I can actually enjoy my sister's wedding!

Eight Crazy Nights

2008-12-29T09:58:00.000-06:00

Eric and I have a friend (Aviva) who is Jewish and right before the first night of Hanukkah we were hanging out and visiting with her and her boyfriend (Chris). We were talking about what we were doing for the holidays and she was explaining a little bit about her family's Hanukkah traditions. I commented how we should start practicing the Jewish holiday, I mean come on eight nights of celebrating and gifts, who wouldn't want that? Well, we ended up having five crazy nights of Christmas celebrating (not quite eight, but we will always have next year and the year after...)!

December 23, 2008
Usually my family has a big Christmas party on December 23. We call it the 23rd Tree and it is a tradition that started years and years ago by my Great-Grandparents on my mother's side. Unfortunately Eric and I both had to work on the 23rd so we were not able to attend. I work a few nights a week at a restaurant and the night of the 23rd was extremely busy for us. I got to watch everyone else celebrate the 23rd, so I guess that counts? : ( However, even though I had to work, when I got off work I met Eric at our friend's, Chris and Aviva's house because they had a Christmas/Hanukkah gift to give us. They gave us a steak dinner. They actually gave us the raw steaks from a special Kosher butcher, a homemade sauce, hand picked oranges, sparkling grape juice, and champagne glasses. What a thoughtful gift and all we got them was a board game! Thanks guys for always thinking of us!

December 24, 2008; Christmas Eve
For Christmas Eve Eric and I celebrated it at Eric's Aunt Grace's house, along with about 40 other people. It is Eric's family's tradition to have a big celebration on Christmas Eve and that is what they did. There was approximately 40 friends and family at Eric's aunt's house. The food was great, we had a seafood theme with mussels, linguine and clams, a shrimp and rice dish, and stuffed shells; there was also a dessert table all of it's own. We had a great time, every one was dancing and laughing. We even had a secret Santa gift exchange.

Eric's cousin Jayda and I:

The girls dancin' the night away:
Eric and Aunt Grace:

Eric and his mom Sarah dancing:

December 25, 2008; Christmas Day
Christmas was pretty slow. Eric and I enjoyed each other's company and exchanged gifts that morning and then headed over to his Mom's house. We just hung out and ate fish again for dinner. Eric was upset- since when do you eat fish for Christmas dinner? Where was the turkey? the ham? the sweet potatoes?

December 26, 2008
The day after Christmas we headed to Houston to visit my family. My sister Rachel and her fiancée (yes she is getting married and the BIG day is right around the corner- January 10, 2009) were in from College Station and my other sister, Rebecca, was home from Idaho. It was great fun. We exchanged gifts (which Eric's family really doesn't do) and ate a traditional Christmas dinner of smoked turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and more. Eric was in heaven. Until he met me Eric had never had a Greenberg Smoked Turkey. This has been a tradition in my family for many years for the holidays and there are no words to describe the heavy, smoky flavor of a Greenberg Turkey. Oprah even had it featured on her annual holiday "Favorite's List" a few years ago (we were ahead of Oprah though, cause like I said we have been eating Greenberg Smoked Turkeys for YEARS). If you have not tried one yet you should all order one next year for Thanksgiving or Christmas, it won't disappoint!

Rebecca:
Matthew and Anthony playing chess:Rachel and Anthony:

My Mom:

The Gang:

Eric and I:
Thanks to my mom (a.k.a. Santa), all my siblings, my dad, and my grandparents for all of the nice and thoughtful gifts; we really appreciate them.

December 27, 2008
So after my mom, (or Santa, as my mother still says even though we are all grown, heck even getting married) gave us our gifts she announced that we would be helping her clean out the garage the next day (the 27th). What a sneaky trick, give us gifts and then corner us to clean out the garage. I know this is not very Christmas-ie but I guess it was some major family bonding and it involved organizing the mounds of holiday decorations my mom has. We got a lot accomplished, I suppose, however we will have to make another trip or two to help finish the job.

Christmas seemed like it just flew by this year. Hope you all had a great Christmas and enjoyed every moment of it!

The Other Brothers

2008-12-19T12:48:00.000-06:00

Last night Eric and I went to a show that his older brother's (Joe) band was putting on, in downtown Austin. It was a real family affair with Eric's mom (Sarah), aunt (Grace), and younger brother (Steven) all coming along for the show!

The band's name is The Other Brothers. They played some original songs and covered a lot of popular songs from back in the day (and even a few current hits). Joe is the drummer and he and the keyboard player put on a awesome show (the other band members did great, too). This was only their first public show (I wonder if they were nervous?). Anyways, it was very entertaining watching them get so in to it.

It was a lot of fun and we all had a good time. It was fun going to a concert with Eric's mom and aunt; they had a great time, even getting up and dancing!

I wish I had pictures of everything but of course I didn't bring the camera. I guess if I am going to be a good blogger I need to get my camera attached to my hip so that I can have it on me at all times to capture these "life events"! : )

My Blog Not My Space

2008-12-17T12:57:00.000-06:00

SO.... after keeping up with my friends and really becoming obsessed with blogs, I decided to start one of my own. I have always been a big protester of any sort of on line device that you post pictures, thoughts, etc because I am such a private person. I always thought 'why do I want the whole world knowing everything about me'. When I told Eric I wanted to start a blog he said "That's cool, why not do My Space." I told him I did not like My Space because even though I have tons of friends that use it, I feel that it is way to geared to kids (by kids I mean immature teenagers and people in their early twenties). My Space is great if you are trying to meet people on line; however the whole reason I want a blog is so that I can keep friends and family in far away places up to date with me and our lives and so I can keep up with them and watch them grow. The other major reason is despite the fact that I constantly scrapbook (and tell myself that one day I will eventually be caught up on scrapbooking) this blog allows me to document and write about everyday things that are important to us but that may not end up in a scrapbook. Plus, I always say I am going to journal in my scrapbooks but it really never happens- so I will have this. So hopefully we continue to grow as our life and world changes around us; and we can learn a lesson or two along the way!