Austin update

I'm going to blame Mark for my lack of blogging this month. It's not his fault, but it's more fun to blame him than my own laziness! He hasn't been able to set up the wireless in our house, and so we're sharing one computer. I am going to continue to pester him until he gets it straight so that I can once again use my laptop and get back to blogging.

In the meantime, here's a whirlwind overview of what we've been up to in Austin.

1) Eating great food: I'm a big fan of Mexican, and this town's full of it. From the super cheap hole-in-the-wall taquerias to fancy pants locales with full bars and gleaming tables, every variety of Mexican you could possibly want is here. Friday night we went to Trudy's, one of the more famous places in Austin that has several locations. They have a Mexican Martini (a margarita in a martini glass) that is strong and delicious. My entree was a stuffed avocado---breaded, fried, and stuffed with chicken. Heart attack on a plate--YUM. We also really liked the Moonshine Grill downtown, where we went on my birthday. I had the trout and it was some of the best fish I've ever had.

2) Testing out the entertainment and leisure activities: Though we haven't been to see live music yet, one of the quintessential Austin experiences, we've found some fun things to do. We took Laveau for a long walk around Town Lake (aka Lady Bird Lake, the new name, but most people seem to still call it Town Lake). This is a long, skinny lake made from a damn on the Colorado River, and it's right downtown. It's a shady and pretty escape right in the middle of the city (see picture above).

Last night we went to the Alamo Drafthouse, a movie theater where you can order appetizers, drinks, and dinner while you watch. The staff also puts together a funny series of clips on the topic of whatever movie is playing (Star Trek for us) that runs for about an hour before the movie starts. It's worth getting there early just to watch the clips. One of the locations is five minutes from our house, so we'll be going a lot.

3) Exploring our neighborhood: We really love our neighborhood so far. People are very friendly and always outdoors. We have a nice park at the end of our street (only eight or so houses down from us) that is a great place to walk the dog. It's been a while since I've lived in somewhere that was really a community, but this certainly is. I don't know that it's the place for us to meet young adults who we'll hang out with, though we've met plenty of friendly people of all ages who have warmly welcomed us.

Austin!

So the big move has finally happened...Athens to Austin! We are officially in the house and trying to get our lives in order. Moving crap has meant that we have not really gotten to explore the town at all yet, but that's all to come. Our neighborhood is a great location: 4 miles from the UT campus where I will work, close to stores and places to eat, nice park right down the street, and tons of dogs for Laveau to make friends with (we hope).

The house is going to be a good fit, eventually. Right now, though, there are a whole slew of issues because the house has been sitting empty on the market for two years before the owners finally decided to rent it. One toilet's broken, one runs, about 1/3 of the outlets don't work, the lawn's a mess, and worst, the water heater doesn't work. We're going on day three of no hot water. Needless to say, we do not smell awesome at the moment. The property management people are very nice and helpful so far, so I'm encouraged that we'll get things in better shape soon.

Bought a new couch and loveseat today, which is exciting! My first real furniture purchase, not counting the occasional desk chair or bookshelf from Target or Ikea. I had a slight panicky moment when I handed over the credit card, but I am confident I made a good buy that we'll enjoy for a lot of years.

Once I find my camera cord I'll get some pictures up. No telling what box it's in though, so that might be a while.

Dogs in Snow

As promised, here are some funny pictures of the dogs in the snow....and Mark in the snow featuring his "Louisiana snow gloves" fashioned from socks, plastic bags, and tape. The first one is so pitiful yet hilarious. Oh poor Laveau the Texas born, Louisiana reared dog. She HATES the cold. This is the picture of misery. She was much happier on day two of the snow when the sun came out.

In the second one, Franklin is eating the snowman's arm. Poor snowman had several arm amputations and transplants that day.

SNOW DAY!

WOOOOOO SNOW!!!! Having lived in Georgia for nearly 22 of my nearly 26 years, I was understandably skeptical yesterday morning when I saw the snow predictions. I figured everyone would get their hopes up and all we'd see would be a few flurries with nothing to stick. That's what happens 98% of the time. I took my cocky self to the gym for an hour, walked in when there was nothing on the ground, and came out to see nearly a half inch! I happily ate my words, bundled up, and headed outside with the dogs and the boyfriend, who being from Louisiana has only seen snow a couple times ever. We engaged in a whole series of fun snowtivities for people who rarely experience snow:

1) Throw snowballs to the dogs as if they are tennis balls. Watch the confusion when they get a mouth full of cold and then can't find the ball. Watching Laveau with the frozen tennis ball was also funny...she would only hold it for a few seconds and then drop it and try to shake the cold out of her mouth.

2) In the absence of legitimate gloves, help Mark make "Louisiana gloves" by putting socks over his hands then taping paper grocery bags over them. They worked surprisingly well, allowing him to make a pretty darn good snowman.

3) Sit still and listen to the trees crackle and watch branches snap. It's a creepy but cool sound. We saw a lot of pretty big branches buckle and snap. There are apparently trees down all over Athens, but none right around us. We're going to take a walk later and survey the neighborhood.

4) Take lots of pictures. My camera cord is at work so I can't upload them yet (picture above is from the Athens Banner Herald), but I'll add some to the blog and Facebook as soon as I retrieve it.

And finally, I have to say the best kind of snow day is when you still have power, tv, and the internets :) We only lost power for a few minutes at a time yesterday, and while the internet and tv went out in the afternoon, we got them both back just now.

UPDATE: 2:39 pm, we just now got power back after it went out at 10:00. That'll teach me to brag. Dear power, I love you, please stay.

Adorable Mini-Cousins

I couldn't resist sharing these pictures of my cousins' children. So stinkin' cute! The top one is Ella, my cousin Lori's daughter with her husband Blake. She has a baby sister, Hattie, who I'm sure will make an appearance on the blog soon when she gets into some awesome ensembles of her own. I wish I could pull off that outfit.

The second picture is of my cousin Benjamin's four kids with his wife Kelley: Hannah, Emily, Jackson, and Hardy. Jackson's face is hilarious.

Golden Retriever Puppies: Meet Weezy

Sadly sadly, this is not my wonderful golden retriever puppy. She belongs to my brother Will, who is much too far away at college in Valdosta. We were both home at my parents' this weekend, though, so I got some puppy time. Weezy is seven months old, which means she's more like a teenager dog I suppose. We grew up with a golden retriever, Daisy, who was a GREAT dog, and now meeting Weezy is REALLY making me want one. I think that breed would make a great playmate for our Weimaraner--everybody wins when she's getting out her nervous energy playing outside with other dogs instead of following us around every step we take.

Another picture of Weezy (five months old)...