A Saturday Night in Texas

What we're up to tonight:

• Hatch turkey chili and hatch cheddar cheese cornbread muffins (courtesy of this gal)
• A Shiner (or two)
• College football (go Ducks!)
• The October issue of Southern Living

Not a bad evening...

Oregon Family Visit

I'm a little late in posting this, but wanted to share some photos of our trip to Oregon last month. Nicholas and I flew solo back to Portland so he could meet all four of his great grandparents. We flew Southwest to avoid any baggage charges (which was key since it looked like I was moving home instead of visiting for a week), but unfortunately there have never been any direct flights between Austin and Portland.* As a result, I was torn between booking a two-segment flight with a several hour layover or a three-segment flight with essentially no layovers because we just touched down briefly to pick up more passengers. I ended up going with the three-segment flight... I know, I know. But the overall travel time was shorter, so I figured it was the lesser of two evils. And Nicholas actually did great. I came armed with multiple bottles and a pacifier to help pop his ears with all the take-offs and landings, but he was barely fazed by all of the altitude changes. By the time we hit Boise (the third leg), he was pretty fussy, but fortunately it was only a quick 45 minute flight to Portland from there. We managed to eek out the 7 hour flight(s) with no major screaming fits.

My mom's garden... gorgeous

After relaxing at my parents' house for an evening, we packed up the next morning and hit the road for the 5 hour drive down to Coos Bay, a small town on the southern Oregon coast where my mom's parents live. Because I moved away for college and haven't since lived in Oregon as an adult, this was my first trip back to Coos Bay since my senior year in high school. (I've seen my grandparents every year, but it's always been in Portland during the summer or over the holidays.) The drive was more scenic than I remember it, but I'm sure it didn't hurt that it was mid-May and all the rhododendrons and azaleas were in full bloom. And coming from Texas, everything in Oregon just seems so lush and green.

My grandparents were thrilled to meet their first great grandchild.** We spent the evening relaxing at their house, and then the next day we got up and met some old family friends for lunch at a little seafood restaurant on a small inlet of Coos Bay.

The weather was gorgeous. Later we took a scenic drive up to Sunset Beach and Nicholas dipped his toes in the Pacific for the first time.

A balmy May evening on Cottonwood

The next day, we hit the road back to Portland. Back home, my mom arranged a family dinner, and Nicholas met Uncle Geoff, Aunt Brooke, and Uncle Mike for the first time. 

Uncle Geoff, Aunt Brooke (with Nicholas), Aunt Laura, and Uncle Mike

Uncle Geoff and Aunt Brooke made sure that Nicholas will be well outfitted for football season.

Go Ducks!

Later in the week, we visited my dad's parents in Portland. Nicholas is the first great grandchild on this side of the family as well, and they were excited to spend the afternoon with him.

He also met great uncle Scott and aunt Mary, great aunt Ann, and cousin Grace, but unfortunately I didn't get pictures with them.

Grandpa and Nicholas

On the way back to Austin, we had  a two-leg flight, with an hour and a half layover in Las Vegas. The total travel time was a little longer, but after comparing both options I think fewer flights is better just because he was able to stretch out and move around a little on a blanket on the floor in the Vegas airport during the layover (yes, we thoroughly scrubbed everything once we got home.) The travel each way was long and exhausting, but it was so worth it to get a chance to introduce Nicholas to his great grandparents and so many other relatives-- and now I know that when Jason and I travel back to the Northwest together in a month, it will be a piece of cake by comparison.

*Southwest just started up a non-stop flight between Portland and Austin, and after nearly three years of 7 hour travel days to get home, I could not be more excited.
**Just barely! Nicholas can't wait to meet his second cousin Blaine, who arrived earlier this month.

I Love My Ducks!

Big game tonight! I'll be cheering on my Oregon Ducks as they compete for their first National Championship. This video is just a little something to get you fired up for the game... since I know you'll ALL be rooting for the Ducks!

(Oh, and random trivia... I grew up next door to the main singer in this video!)

Duck-erating our Tree

First, I want to give a shout out to Penny Lane Designs for my lovely new blog design. I was so ready for a change, and I love my new look!

I'm a week late in posting this, but I have some pictures of our first married Christmas tree that I wanted to share. Last Saturday, J and I got up and did what any Austonian would do on an 80 degree day in December-- put on our sunglasses and flip flops and headed out to get our tree. (I should have taken a picture of our outfits just to remember it!) We went to a lot, but were impressed with the number, size, and quality of the trees. I'm gonna go ahead and say it... having been raised in Washington and Oregon respectively, J and I have pretty high standards for what constitutes a Christmas tree. In fact, the act of going to a lot-- instead of going out to a farm in the woods and cutting down our own tree-- seemed highly suspect. But since the closest cut-down-your-own-tree farm was halfway to Houston, and since we had a very important game to watch that afternoon, the lot worked out just fine.

We selected a delicious smelling fir tree from North Carolina. Since we live in an apartment, and are going to be spending about 10 days in Seattle over the holidays, we opted for a smaller, more manageable 5 foot tree that would be easy to put up, easy to take down... and easy to stuff in my Jetta. That's another picture I wish would have taken!

After stopping at Target for some lights and garlands, and then at a local taqueria to fortify ourselves with a few tacos al pastor and some Mexican Coke (have you had that stuff?? addictive!), we headed home to... "Duck-erate" our tree. That is-- to decorate our tree while watching the Oregon Ducks trounce the Oregon State Beavers to lock up their number 2 BCS ranking and earn their (first ever!) trip to the National Championships. Obviously I've been a little, um, "preoccupied" throughout the fall-- otherwise I would have written more about their amazing season. But we're all very excited and will definitely be tuning in on January 10th to watch them play Auburn for the championship.

So here are a few pictures of our first married Christmas tree. The past two years we've been travelling so we opted not to do full out Christmas decorations in the past, but I'm glad we did this year. It's so festive and smells awesome!

The full tree!

J's favorite ornament-- a Hawaiian shirt

Our tree topper-- a repurposed angel ornament. And, yes, that is a UT Bevo figurine in the background. Apparently J thought my mantle needed a little something extra.

And, finally, our stockings and mantle!

Weekend update x 2

As promised, we did hit up the Texas State Fair last weekend. And it did not disappoint. The sheer volume and variety of fried food was staggering. Apparently there is some sort of contest to judge all the fried food in a number of different categories. The winning "most tasty" food was the fried frito pie, and it actually looked really good. It took us about an hour to find the stall that was selling the fried frito pies, but the line was insane. We stood there for about ten minutes, but it didn't move at all. So I wound up with a fresh squeezed lemonade and an ice cream bar instead. This was very possibly the first time in my life where the ice cream bar was a healthier choice! J and his parents did manage to sample the fried beer, however. (Fried beer won as the most creative fried food.) It was essentially a little dough pouch with beer in the middle. The whole thing was fried, and the beer was still liquid in the middle. I didn't try it, but they said it was kind of weird and not that tasty. And the beer was hot. Hmmm... still, they get points for trying it.

Aside from tracking down obscure fried foods, we saw a bunch of livestock, wandered through the Midway, saw a blue ribbon winning butter sculpture, and visited the car show. All in all, a good introduction to the state fair.

Butter sculpture of UT vs. OU

J and his parents

Us in front of Big Tex... "Howdy Folks!"

This past weekend was pretty mellow. It was one of our first weekends in what feels like months where we had very few plans. Or at least I did. J had his good friend, Aaron, from growing up come into town. They went to see Jackass 3D on Friday night, while I went to my friend's pumpkin carving party. Let's just say the guys kind of wish they had gone to the pumpkin carving party too. ; )

Saturday, I enjoyed a leisurely morning, took a two hour nap (I know, impressive), and worked out. The guys went to the UT game. (Let's not discuss it. Such a sad season for the Longhorns. Instead, I am focusing all my football attention on the Oregon Ducks.) Then we took Aaron out for BBQ at the Salt Lick. The wait was seriously two hours-- the worst it's ever been for us. Needless to say, when our food arrived, we stuffed ourselves silly. Then we were all so spent that we had no choice but to come home and lie on the couch and watch Missou take down Oklahoma. And what does that mean, my friends?? Oh, yes it does... The Oregon Ducks are now ranked #1 in the BCS for the first time ever. Let's hope they do not continue the streak of number 1 teams losing on the road when they play USC next weekend. Gulp.

Yesterday, I finished up the weekend on an uber productive note-- seven loads of laundry (that should give you an idea of how busy we've been the past few weekends), meal planning for the week, grocery shopping, working out, and making the Barefoot Contessa's Italian Wedding Soup (click the link for the recipe) with chicken sausage meatballs from scratch. It was delicious. It was slightly time consuming due to all the vegetable chopping, but it turned out really well. And it was one of those great dinners that tastes really good, but is good for you too. Definitely a good Sunday evening project. And now I've got leftovers in my freezer! Can't beat that.

A triple shot kind of a morning...

Yep, I went for the well deserved triple grande nonfat latte this morning after one of those workouts where you are so tired going in that you're just grateful to get through it and don't even care that you have to stop every five minutes to take a breather while the 8 months pregnant lady next to you powers through yet another set of lunges. Ugh. But I can feel good that my tiredness is the result of really pushing myself at the gym this week-- I've gotten up at 5:40am three times this week so far for morning workouts. I'm thinking tomorrow will be a rest day, and then I'd like to finish strong with two good cardio workouts this weekend. Now let's hope the caffeine boost will get me through the rest of today.

Yesterday morning, I had a resting metabolic rate test. This is a test that tells you how many calories your body burns when just resting and doing absolutely nothing. Turns out those 2 glasses of wine and/or dessert most nights of the week are going to become a thing of the past as I was dismayed to learn that my metabolism is on the low side of normal. And this despite the fact that I'm already pretty diligent about weight training twice a week for an hour. So it looks like vigorous cardio is going to have to become my new hobby if I want to avoid massive poundage as I age. Fun, fun.

In other ramblings... how 'bout those Longhorns??!?! The Rose Bowl was a total disappointment with Oregon playing terribly and losing to OSU, but I'll be tuning in tonight to watch the 'Horns hopefully destroy Alabama and clinch the national title. I love rooting for an underdog, and it seems like the media expects Texas to get "rolled," but we shall see...

Hook 'em!

Ducks Fly South...

... to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl! Oregon's mighty fighting Ducks defeated Oregon State last night to nab the Pac 10 title, and now we're heading south for a match up with Ohio State on New Year's Day. Any male who has ever known me would be shocked to see it, but turns out I really am a football fan. Last night as I was yelling at the TV during the first half when Oregon State had the lead (briefly), my husband was just staring at me in sheer amazement and fascination. I even called a couple plays in advance of them actually happening which really impressed him. I guess living in Texas will do that to you...

Next up: UT vs. Nebraska tomorrow night for the Big 12 Championship. Hopefully the 'Horns will be heading out to Pasadena as well.