Thanksgiving Pilgrimage

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I know that there are a lot of Christmas lovers out there (and don't get me wrong... I love a beautifully decorated tree, the smell of fresh pine, and Christmas carols, among other things), but there is something so wonderfully low-key and homey about Thanksgiving. No worrying about your budget, no battling the crowds at the mall, no sky-high expectations, and (hopefully) no family drama. Just lots of good food, family time, and a great excuse to bundle up in front of the fire and watch hours upon hours of movies (or football... whatever floats your boat.) Plus, I love the history behind Thanksgiving and the spirit of thankfulness that our forefathers passed down to us through this holiday celebration.

This year, we'll be celebrating with Jason's sister's new in-laws in Boston. I've only met them twice (once at our wedding and once at Kristin's and Dan's wedding), but since both Kristin and Dan have small immediate families, they generously decided to open their home and invite all of the S clan out to Boston to celebrate in true historical fashion. I haven't been to Boston since I was 18, and since I'm little bit of a geek about history, I'm really excited to check out the sights. I think we might even visit Plymouth Plantation.

Most importantly, this year I'll be mindful of how thankful I am for my and Jason's health, and the health of our family members and friends; our marriage; the roof over our heads and the meals we're able to put on the table every day; the fact that I am lucky enough to be employed during this difficult time in our country's economy; and the fact that we successfully navigated a cross-country move this year and have managed to land on our feet despite all the uncertainty and stress of quitting jobs, taking out big student loans, and leaving our families and close friends behind. It's been quite a ride, but we both have so much to be grateful for, and it's something I look forward to celebrating on Thursday.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Vanity, Starbucks, and New Moon

A few random thoughts today...

Am I the only one who makes more of an effort on my appearance when I know I am having a photo taken of me for official documentation purposes than I would, say, if I was going out on the town with my husband for a nice date night? I know, so sad. Clearly my priorities are skewed, but really... that passport photo is going to last for ten years. My new married name finally gives me an excuse to ditch that heinous photo of me from sophomore year in college when I was planning my junior year study abroad, and don't think I didn't bust out the flat iron, eye liner, and lipstick this morning. Oh yes I did. I think the last time I wore lipstick was on my wedding day. And I was probably better accessorized than the Savvy department manager at Nordstrom on the day I had my Texas drivers licence photo taken. Again, priorities... What can I say? I'm vain.

On a totally unrelated note, as I was in line at Starbucks this morning ordering my post-workout latte (my reward on those mornings when I succeed in dragging my butt out of bed before 6am to hit the gym), I noticed all the festive holiday decor and it made me think for a second that I was back home in the Northwest. Which is ridiculous because clearly all 100,000+ Starbucks stores in the U.S. have the exact same holiday decor up, but for some reason festively bedecked Starbucks = home for the holidays in my head. I'd like to think it's the Starbucks/Seattle connection, but I have a feeling that half of all Starbucks patrons across the country could easily say the same thing. What does this all mean? I have no idea... Maybe they're just really good at marketing.

And finally... New Moon. Is anyone seeing this? I will cop to the fact that I devoured all 4 books last winter, and (mostly) enjoyed them. Some annoying teenage whininess aside, I was pretty wrapped up in the story. But then I saw the Twilight movie. Gag me. With a large wooden spoon. At that point, I pretty much swore off all of the other Twilight movies. But now New Moon comes along, and it actually doesn't have horrendous reviews, and then there's that whole wolf pack looking all rugged and toned... and shirtless... and I'm kind of reconsidering my position... Even while reading the books I was sort of on Team Jacob (if I was going to pick a team at all... Emily makes a pretty solid point here), and after seeing the previews for New Moon, I think Taylor Lautner's Jacob is going to win a few more converts.

It might be worth a trip to the theater after all... or, at the very least, maybe I can sneak it on to my Netflix queue. ; )

Monday, Monday...

It's Monday and I'm back at work again, but fortunately this week looks pretty mellow. I travelled for work for a few days last week and it's amazing how much that throws off your schedule! I went to the gym a grand total of 0 times last week, so I'm trying to get back on track. And break in the new gym membership of course! This morning I went to my first class at Pure (a body pump class), and seeing as it's been about a month since I last lifted, I'm sure I'll be good and sore tomorrow. But it was a good jump start to the week.

Our weekend was good... great, actually. The perfect blend of relaxing, fun, and productive. On Saturday we were going to head down to San Antonio to visit my friend Anne, but she called to say she was sick just as we were pulling out of the driveway. Since we were showered and ready to go before noon on a Saturday (which is pretty rare in our household), we figured we'd have an afternoon adventure anyway. So we headed west into hill country to explore. We stopped in Johnson City for lunch (home of LBJ... and, surprisingly, it was named Johnson City even before he was famous-- per Wikipedia... we were curious), and then headed towards Fredericksburg for some wine tasting. We stopped at our favorite vineyard, Pedernales Cellars, which was delish as usual, and then checked out couple new ones: Becker and Rancho Ponte Vineyards. Pedernales is still our fav, but it was fun to do some sampling. And it was even more fun to just have a totally unplanned afternoon to roam around in the beautiful countryside with no agenda-- I can't remember the last time we did that. Definitely good for the soul.

Saturday night we headed to a "couples dinner" organized by one of J's classmates at Austin's swanky downtown BBQ joint, Lambert's. The Salt Lick is still the best by far, but it was fun to check out another famous Austin spot and try their version of ribs, brisket, and BBQ chicken. And I may be considering reversing my previous stance on queso... the jalapeno cilantro queso at Lambert's was pretty irresistible. There were 6 couples there, so it was fun to mingle and meet some of the other spouses/significant others that I hadn't met yet.

Yesterday was my standard get-stuff-done Sunday. Boring, but effective. And oh so needed. I also got inspired to do some cooking and I made the Barefoot Contessa's dijon mustard and thyme marinated pork tenderloin roast, on top of a bed of roasted fennel, carrots, and new potatoes. Not to pat myself on the back too much, but it was out of this world. (Clearly all the credit goes to Ms. Ina Garten... I'm just good at following directions.) If you like pork tenderloin, I highly recommend this recipe. The dijon marinade is really mild-- it doesn't taste too mustardy; mostly it's just savory goodness. Unfortunately, I can't find it online right now, but I promise to copy it down from my cookbook and post it soon. I'm looking forward to leftovers tonight.

Hope your week is off to a good start!

I'm back!

Hey friends-- Sorry about the unexpected absence! Two weeks have just blown by and life has been busy. We had some visitors in town, then I was traveling for work for a few days, and then I was battling a minor cold. But all is well, and I am back and ready to post some pictures. Finally! I know my readers... um, all 7 of you... have been clamoring for them. ; )

Two weekends ago, J's sister, Kristin, and her new husband, Dan, were in town and we had a blast showing off Austin. They have a few other friends in the area, so they were able to show us a few new spots as well. We went two-stepping for the first time at the Broken Spoke, and let me tell you... those people are serious about their dancing. At one point I mistakenly used the term "line dancing" (which it definitely is not), and I was informed that line dancing is a little "low brow," but two-stepping is where it's at. I raised quite a few eyebrows (and even got a couple dirty looks) with my two left feet and poor coordination. Apparently you don't just roll into the Broken Spoke to two step if you don't actually know what you're doing. Ah, well. A few beers eased my shame and then I wasn't too terribly concerned.

Brother and sister in front of the Broken Spoke

We also took another hike up to the lookout on Mt. Bonnel (which is really just a 750m jaunt up a hill from a parking lot, but the view of Lake Austin is spectacular.)

Saturday night was Halloween, and after cheering on the 'Horns (and the Ducks, who destroyed USC by the way), we headed out on the town. Only Dan dressed up, but we had fun checking out the scene downtown and some of the crazy costumes.

J and I in our not so crazy costumes

We finished up the night at the Club DeVille, which (who knew) has outdoor karaoke on this stage with a dramatically lit limestone backdrop. By the time we arrived (late in the evening), many of the patrons' karaoke skills had rapidly deteriorated, so a few members of our crowd were able to put on some pretty impressive numbers. Below, Kristin and Dan belt out some Meatloaf. Good times.

We ended the weekend on Sunday by watching the bats beneath the Congress bridge. Fun fact for you... Austin has the largest urban bat population in the world. Or maybe it's just the western hemisphere... Either way, there are a LOT of bats that live beneath the Congress bridge, and they fly out to munch on some mosquitoes every evening at dusk. Quite honestly, the bats freak me out, but anything to help keep the mosquito population down... And it's a pretty impressive site when you see millions of them fly out at once. I tried to get a picture, but it just looked like a big black blur, so you'll have to settle for me and J standing around waiting for the bats to make their entrance.

All in all, a great weekend! And it was so fun to have our first guests come visit. We loved having friends in town, and want to have as many visitors as possible. Hint, hint... you know who you are... start looking at plane fares!