Austin Zoo

On Sunday we went to the Austin Zoo. I really wanted to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. The Austin Zoo isn't a major zoo in any shape or form, but it has some big cats, and that makes me happy.

We spotted this tiger napping in the sun. I got a great photo with my real camera.

Unlike most of the other animals, the bear cubs were super active. They chased each other around  the enclosure and climbed the fence walls.

It was such a great day to spend outside, checking out the animals.

Flashback Friday: Stepping Out

This photo was taken May, 1996 in Austin, TX. Sometime around my college graduation. My fine fashion is from JC Penny, where I was working at the time. My strappy sandals are Nine West and I thought they were the bomb. I think Ross is wearing my sunglasses. This was before I had surgery. And before I had my teeth fixed--but my smile looks pretty good here. Dang, my hair was long.

Sea of Burnt Orange

Ross is having a little trouble with all the burnt orange here.  This is an aisle at Target.  Even our apartment complex is painted burnt orange--but I think they are going to paint over it in dark grey. Poor Ross even had to make a donation to some Longhorn fund to open a credit union account.  And the whole TU-A&M rivalry is now kind of silly seeing as they aren't in the same conference anymore.

Terrific Tejal

We got to spend some time with Tejal this past weekend. We ate (at Hut's) and ate (ice cream at Amy's), and ate (at Magnolia Cafe). We also hung out a little bit. 

Ross with his two wives. Twice the nagging, none of the love.

Me on a Cow

That's me on one of the stone cows at the Arboretum in Austin. I look a little blue because they had some lights focused on the cows that kept changing colors.

Amy's: Another Taste of Heaven

Amy's Ice Creams is another Austin must have.  I slipped into the Amy's on 6th and Lamar with the aim to sneak an ice cream without Ross, but didn't find a flavor I had to have. One of the awesome guys behind the counter gave me the phone number to call and request a flavor and also told me about how I could check the flavors at each location online. I didn't get bourbon, but I did get a stout, molasses, and butter beer. Ross chose sweet cream with strawberries, saturday morning cartoons, and the cookie monster combo. Oh, and Tejal had just vanilla with chocolate sauce. Delightful.

BBQ in Texas: Home Sweet Home

The first place we headed to when we touched down in Texas was The County Line. There is nothing like their beef ribs. The view is great and the smell was so grounding. That mix of sage and who-knows-what that signals you are in Texas. Pure heaven.

Austin Indulgences

We went to Austin on Thursday and drove back late last night. On Thursday night I made yellow cake cupcakes and (dark) chocolate frosting. The cupcakes turned out all right, but I was a little disappointed in the frosting. I used 70% cacao chocolate instead of semisweet chocolate and didn't even think about adding extra sugar. Anyway, the frosting wasn't great, but it didn't keep any of us from eating the cupcakes.

On Friday morning Ross went mountain biking with Joey and I went to the gym for a weights class and some cardio. My abs were (still are) very sore from the medicine ball work out I did on Thursday before yoga.

Of course we had Amy's ice cream yesterday. I'm not sure how we managed to eat it after stuffing ourselves full of Indian food. I had Frangelico, Ross had sweet cream with cookie dough on top, and Joey had dark chocolate. We ate so much for lunch that we only had boba and popcorn chicken for dinner. Well, actually, we only had milk tea, no boba.

Joey was nice enough to drive me back to Atomic after we had our milk tea. Justin said the piercing looks good and took a few photos. He said that he will post them on the website soon. I'll check periodically and post a link if I see them. He showed me some bling that I can buy. I was tempted to buy it right away, but I just need to concentrate more on taking care of what I have. I haven't soaked the piercing in a couple of days.

Weekend Warrior

What a weekend! I am still in Austin because I did not have the energy to drive home last night.
I feel as though I have spent two days and nights being tortured physically and mentally. I am completely drained.

Saturday night after my training class I taught yoga at Lisa Diane's house. Cali (pictured above) was eager to join in, practicing frog on Lee's yoga mat before we got started.

Sunday was an emotional roller coaster. The highlight of my day was drunken cherry ice cream from Amy's at lunch. Don't you just love the great chalk art of Wall-E? Some peppered turkey (and garlic mashed potatoes) at County Line made me feel so much better at the end of a long, draining day. I learned some great things this weekend, but I still have no idea what I'm going to do with my life ...

Piercings

Here are photos of our piercings. Lisa Diane had both traguses pierced. I got a vertical Madison piercing.

Rock Climbing

Joey and I were awake before everyone else this morning, so we went rock climbing at Main Event. I didn't even know that they had rock climbing there. We signed up for 30 minutes because I didn't want to push it. I'm so glad that we didn't do a full hour. We really enjoyed it, but we will definitely be having some sore forearms tomorrow.

Austin and Fiesta Texas

So last weekend we went to Austin and got to visit with lots of folks. Of course we saw Joey and Lisa Diane--we were staying with them. Jacob was also staying with them, so I got to visit with him. On Sunday we got to visit with Team Serrins-Springfield. On the way out of town I even got to hug Troy and Christine when I ran into them at HEB. We missed Aaron Camp and Sujata, maybe I'll see them next time.
On Saturday we drove down to Fiesta Texas and rode a few rides. I even rode the Texas Rattler--a huge wooden coaster. After the first few rattling moments I really enjoyed it. At first I thought that I had had enough wooden rollercoaster to last me the year, but now I think I'll ride the Texas Giant here in Arlington before the year is over.
On Sunday I went to Atomic Tattoo and had a conversation with Justin, one of the piercing artists, about the piercing that I am going to have done over the Labor Day weekend. Justin showed me my jewelry options and I feel much better about the whole thing now. I still want to get a Vertical Madison piercing. For some reason it seems to freak people out more than other piercings.

Of course we stopped off at Amy's on our way out of town. I had Mexican vanilla and Ross had white chocolate and flan. There wasn't any Guinness or Bourbon Custard for me. Still, it was as good as it always is, and we saw Kori, our favorite Amy's girl.

The Wedding

Well, so much has gone on since my last post, but I'm not going to try and cover it all. We went to Austin last Friday for Aaron and Sujata's wedding. On Friday we had County Line for lunch and then went to Amy's downtown. I had rum raisin and bourbon custard. Oh, the bourbon was so good. Then we went to a little get together that Aaron and Sujata were having. I got mehndi done on my hands and Ross played games with the guys. We got to see the sari ceremony and then got some sleep. On the day of the wedding one of Sujata's aunties helped me with my sari and it looked so nice. We had a pretty good time. On the way out of town we stopped at Amy's again (like we always do). Ross had mexican vanilla and I had sweet cream with strawberries cause nothing else sounded as good as the bourbon custard. I'm now trying to recover from all my travelling. I have a few days to rest before my birthday party, which I really need to get to work planning....

My hands with mehndi.

Start of sari ceremony.

Joey and the bride before the wedding.

The groom leaving the building.

Me in my maroon sari.

New Year's Day

We went to Austin for New Year's again this year. We went a little early, so Ross helped with baseboard installation and I helped clean the grout off the new tile floors. Joey and Lisa Diane installed wood floors in the living room and library and laid tile in the hallway and bathroom. They also painted all those areas. It looks really awesome. I had a little too much to drink on the 30th, but didn't really drink on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. There was a meeting of the George T. Stagg club, but I was really sad that Robert Walker wasn't there. I'm going to have to change the Stagg club to glasses instead of shots. It's just really silly shooting whiskey that tastes that good. Ross had some trouble setting up the wii, but he finally got it done, and people really had fun trying it out. I was really glad to be able to see everyone, especially Kay. She's about 6 months pregnant and seems so happy. I made panna cotta for the party. It really tickled me to see the faces of the guests when they tried it. I'll post the recipe later today or tomorrow. Lisa Diane and I also exchanged socks. I'll post photos of them soon. On the way home we stopped at Rachel and Deborah's to see their new baby, Chiara. She had just woken up and was very alert. Here's a bunch of photos. Enjoy.
Ross and Troy wii boxing. Notice the new wood floors. The blue paint is also new.

Aaron Camp tries the wii with Ross

Even Kay and Christine were excited about the wii.

Lisa Diane holding Chiara.

Me holding Chiara.