Birthday Celebrations

Jason celebrated his birthday on Monday, so we enjoyed several fun outings over the past few days. On Saturday evening, we met up with a group of friends at Austin's legendary (and enormous... holy cow, that place is big!) TexMex establishment, Matt's El Rancho, for queso, margs, and all kinds of ooey gooey enchilada deliciousness. Afterward, we enjoyed some libations at Red's Porch. We ended up staying out until 1am, and, boy, I can tell J's not the only one around here who's aging. That was rough. I only had three drinks during the entire night-- dinner through 1am-- but the fatigue alone left me feeling so worn out the next day! Is it sad that a home-cooked pasta dinner, a glass of wine, and a Netflix movie that wraps up around 10:30pm is my idea of a perfect night these days? (That was essentially our Friday night.) Regardless, we had a great time on Saturday and it was nice to have a bunch of friends come out to celebrate J's birthday.

Sunday was absolutely gorgeous-- sunny and 78 degrees. There were actually people laying out by the pool. Were it not for the queso and margaritas the night before, I would have joined them. Instead, I opted for a long walk around Town Lake. It was so nice to get some sun and even a little color on my arms and cheeks! Later we went to our Dave Ramsey class, which we're still digging, and then enjoyed our pasta leftovers and more Netflix.

Monday was J's actual birthday, so the celebrations continued with a little wine and cheese course at home, along with some presents and cards, followed by dinner at Olivia. We went there for my birthday a year and a half ago, loved it, and were looking for a good reason to go back. Another birthday fit the bill, and it was as delicious as I remembered it. He had the Kobe beef grilled tri-tip with sea salt frites (and an amazing aioli), and I had the pan seared sea scallops on a bed of Parmesan risotto with blood orange, celery root, and cashews. We wrapped it up with a deconstructed apple pie a la mode for dessert. Tasty!

In the meantime, our beautiful 78 degree weather has vanished thanks to the massive blizzard currently wreaking havoc on the Midwest, and it's a balmy 22 or so right now. I just wish we would get a few flurries so we could enjoy a snow day like everyone else! Come on, snow... come on, snow...