11 posts tagged “fun”

We drank a lot.  Not as much as we had planned....well, maybe Leslie did:)  That's really all I can say about this portion of our adventures, so enjoy the pictures.

DAMMIT.  I had this awesome post all finished, detailed and full of pictures, and Vista crashed.  I hate Vista and the bastards who made it.  Anyway, let's try this again.  Less detail, but pictures are at the bottom, and I've included locations in the picture descriptions, in case you ever want to visit:)

I'm home.  I'm sunburned, lethargic, stuffed with food, and severely, severely freckled. 

I didn't want to come back.  I would have been happy selling everything I own, buying a bike, and moving into an apartment in SoCo.  I'd have to live with about a dozen people, though...those apartments run about $1200 a month just for an efficiency.

The thing that really struck Leslie and I was that everyone in Austin is active and healthy.  Everywhere you go, there are people walking, jogging, roller blading, and biking.  I suppose this is just city life, but pair that with the remarkable ease in finding healthy, delicious, and cheap food (vegetarian or not), and you've got a winner in ATX.

We ate very well.  We didn't overload on anything other than coffee and alcohol...I'll talk about the latter in another post.  We ate mostly Tex-Mex, and we refused to eat at any chains or any places we could have eaten in Tyler or Denton.  Chains suck, local is best.  The staff is friendlier, the food tastes better, it's generally cheaper, and you get a more authentic experience than you would get in boring-ass Friday's or Applebee's.

Once I get all of Leslie's pictures, I'll do another post.
 

We've decided to switch hotels in Austin.  The Omni is beautiful and ritzy, but I mentioned the other day that I'd like to hang out in SoCo, and Leslie did some research and found us this kitschy little place literally down the street from everything we want to do.  Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock have both stayed there, and we got the VERY LAST ROOM.  Must be pretty awesome.  I'm just happy that we won't have to worry about sobering up to drive after hitting Sixth Street, and we can just stumble on back to the room. 

Oh, and it's listed as a "Green Hotel"!  Yay for that!

Look at all the stuff there is to do!  Coffee shops, galleries, boutiques, fresh produce, bars, clubs, music, food, AGH!!

I'm prepared to fall in love with Austin again.  Who knows...between Dallas, Ft. Worth, Austin, and San Antonio, I might find a place to set some roots down someday.

Julie and I were chatting after walking at UT tonight, and I think I'm going to recruit her as my unofficial college advisor.  She gave me lots of inside facts on what classes to take, which professors to get to know, and told me about some fellowship programs that I'm very interested in.  When I get my B.A., whenever that is, I can go submit an application to teach English in Japan and make a cool $60K, plus all of my living expenses for a year.  Wow.  Or I could apply for the Archer Fellowship in Washington D.C.   I'm not planning on majoring in Political Science, as Julie did (she just graduated in May), but it sounds like an amazing experience. 

The next few weeks are going to be spent taking my placement tests, and I'm considering CLEP-ping out of a few courses.  Then I have to go up to UT, meet with the History Department's Chair, and get a list of what I need to be "core-complete" when I transfer...I want to get out of having to take Statistics.  UT also has a Classical/Medieval Studies curriculum that looks incredible. And I can minor in Anthropology, which makes my little heart go all fluttery.

LOL, you know me...yet again, I am getting ahead of myself.  I haven't even started my freshman year, and I'm already looking into things that I probably won't get around to for quite a while.  Even if I have to completely bust my ass and have no social or love life for a few years, I swear that I'll have my B.A. by thirty-two.  I've misplaced enough time, and I'm not losing any more!

SO EXCITED.  I'm doing a happy dance right now in my chair.  This is something I've been waiting and waiting for, and its here!  I can't wait to walk around with my nose stuck in a textbook, leaving a trail of index cards everywhere I go.  Just like old times...

I think this is a pretty good list of our plans in the capital next month.

• visit my sister
• go shopping
• watch some live music
• get trashed on Sixth Street, then try some public transportation
  
• stay in a kick-ass four star hotel (and it was CHEAP)
  
• watch some bats at the Congress Ave. bridge and try not to get pooped on
• more shopping
• swimming (our hotel has the largest pool in the city!)
• take corny touristy photos
• oooh, we should play some frisbee golf!
  
• walk a lot
• shop some more
• make fun of locals
• see some celebrities?  Austin seems to be a hip place right now.
  
• sit in a coffee shop until we've "solved the world's problems"

If anyone wants to tag along or meet us there, let us know so we can sneak you into the hotel in our luggage.

Tonight!  Yay! 

We nixed the Carrie Bradshaw-inspired outfits (eh, we're going after work, and I certainly don't feel like getting dressed up when it's Casual Friday at the office), and I don't know if we're doing the sushi (time constraints), but it's going to be a blast!  Pictures if I remember to take the camera.

Being the complete freak that I am, I'm already planning out my Halloween.  I wasn't able to celebrate last year, and it's my absolute favorite holiday, so this year, I'm going to try my best to go all out.  It's no longer acceptable to go trick-or-treating at my age, unless I have kids, and I don't really know anyone who likes Halloween enough to throw a big costume party, so I think a road trip is in the works.

The Voodoo Music Experience is the weekend before, in New Orleans, and if I buy my tickets soon, I can get in for all three days and it only costs $100.  Then I have to get a hotel room (I'm not hardcore enough to sleep in the park) and pay for gas, food, etc.  It's going to be a costly trip.  I could tuck away my plasma money.  But how cool would it be to hang out in New Orleans so close to Halloween?  In my mind, it would be second only to Salem, Massachusetts.  Ghost tours, the legendary cemeteries, the voodoo....I'm getting chills just thinking about it!

I don't know the lineup yet, except for the Big Three: R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails, and Stone Temple Pilots.  Wow, that's worth the price of admission, and then some, and then more.  I just wish it was on Halloween.

 

After not all that much consideration, Kristi and I (and I think Jessica, too) decided we've had enough, dammit.  It gets old, it really does.  You wonder when you're finally going to cross that line, and I think we're done.  For a while, anyway.

Bars.  Clubs.  It's been non-stop for me, pretty much every weekend since I've been back.  It's been a blast, but it's getting a) too expensive and b) a bit depressing.  Honestly.

I will miss the workout, though.  Continuous booty-dancing can seriously burn some calories, am I right?  Of course I am.

I'm going to bed.

Dammit, I fucking love my friends.

Old ones, new ones...everybody!

Sneeriously.

I feel like I haven't slept in weeks.  Here and there, back and forth, walking and running...I'm completely run down.

Thank you all for your kind words and support.  Nanny was laid to rest with all of her family and many of her friends surrounding her.  An old friend of the family led the service; he filled it with memories and funny little stories.  My sister and I felt a little awkward, as we are not considered the most glorious couple of branches on the family tree (we just haven't fully bloomed yet), but it was nice to see our relatives again. 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Leslie came down this weekend.  We lit up the town Friday night with Kelli and Jessica (well, not really, but there was a fair amount of alcohol and maybe some heckling mixed in...great fun), then spent the following morning sipping coffee and watching Becoming Jane.  I'm in love with this movie.  I don't think much of it is true, but still...you can't watch Anne Hathaway or James McAvoy and not be thoroughly entertained.

Also, Leslie told me about Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, and I had to get online and view the trailer.  I'm really excited about it!