And a bonus track...

I forgot that I hadn't posted the pork tenderloin with the Dijon thyme marinade over roasted vegetables that I had raved about earlier. I'm officially obsessed with roasted fennel. Or braised fennel. Or fennel mixed inside of a potato gratin. Mmmm... but that's another recipe for another day. Today I give you, for your holiday enjoyment:

Roast Loin of Pork with Fennel

From Barefoot Contessa Parties

Ingredients:

• 2 garlic cloves minced


• 1 Tbsp kosher salt


• 1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves


• 1/4 c. Dijon mustard


• 1 3 lb. boneless pork loin, trimmed and tied


• 3 small fennel bulbs, tops removed


• 10 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced diagonally


• 10 small potatoes, quartered


• 2 onions, thickly sliced


• 4 Tbsp. good olive oil


• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter (1/2 stick), melted


• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

With a mortar and pestle, or in the bowl of a food processor, grind together the garlic, salt, and thyme leaves. Add the mustard and combine. Spread the mixture over the loin of pork and allow it to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut the fennel bulbs into thick wedges, slicing through the core. Toss the fennel, carrots, potatoes, and onions in a bowl with the olive oil, melted butter, salt, and pepper. Transfer the vegetables to a large roasting pan and cook for 30 minutes.

Add the pork to the pan and continue to cook for another 30 to 50 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the middle of the pork reads exactly 138 degrees. Remove the meat from the pan and return the vegetables to the oven to keep cooking. Cover the meat with aluminum foil and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. Then remove the vegetables from the oven.

Remove the strings from the meat and slice it thickly. Arrange the meat and vegetables on a platter. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and enjoy!

Serves 6

Holiday... Celebrate!

T-4 hours until I hop on a plane and head home for holidays, and I couldn't be more excited! My lucky duck of a husband has 6 weeks off from school for his winter break, and my company is closed the week between Christmas and New Year's, so I'll get a little winter break too. He finished his finals about a week ago, so he's already back home in Seattle visiting family and friends. I'll meet him there tonight, go out to catch up with some girlfriends, and then we're headed down to Portland tomorrow morning to celebrate Christmas with my family.

My mom (the world's best cook... no seriously, she is) has planned out 4 nights of special meals, including: fresh picked Dungeoness crab (my favorite!), Swiss fondue (we lived in Switzerland for a few years when I was very young, and making a big fondue dinner around Christmas has been a tradition ever since), and her delicious roasted beef tenderloin with all the fixings for Christmas dinner. Aside from amazing food, I have about 15 cousins to catch up with, a sister to go wedding dress shopping with (insert girly squeal here: eeeeeeee!!), and lots of time planned to spend catching up with my parents in front of the fire or while gazing at my mom's glittery confection of a Christmas tree.

And if that's not enough, we're off to New York right after that for New Year's! Kristin and Dan will most likely be moving out of the city next spring, so we figured we'd better cash in on our opportunity to jaunt around Manhattan with free lodging while we can! They've scored us reservations at Babbo (Mario Batali's restaurant... mmmmm...), and we plan to catch a show, do some post-Christmas shopping, and just generally enjoy the city. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to lift my overstuffed suitcase into the overhead bin on the plane... I refuse to pay those baggage check fees!

Here's hoping you all have a fabulous and safe holiday!

Best. Soup. Ever.

This is easily one of my top 3 favorite meals (that I prepare for myself anyway...) It's hearty and thick, tastes and feels like comfort food, but is actually really healthy... and easy to make. Plus the leftovers freeze beautifully and then you get to enjoy it all over again some other cold night. Dare I say it's my "signature dish?"

Leek and Chickpea Soup
Adapted from Jamie Oliver, The Naked Chef

Ingredients:
5 medium sized leeks
1 14-oz. can of chickpeas
1 potato, peeled
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. butter
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3-4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Extra virgin olive oil (optional for drizzling)

Directions:
Cut off the root end of the leek, and then cut off the rough, green tops of the leek. You'll just want to use the portion of the leek that is white or light green. Slice the leeks in half vertically and rinse well under cold water. (Lots of dirt and grit tends to get caught inside the leek's many layers, so you'll want to kind of pull it apart to make sure you get in there really well.) Then slice up the leeks finely. Pushing them through the tube at the top of your food processor works great for this, but slicing manually is fine too.

Put the butter and olive oil into a large, heavy pot. Melt the butter over medium-high heat, then add the leeks, garlic, and a pinch of salt, and sautee until the leeks are soft, about 7-10 minutes. Meanwhile, chop up the peeled potato into large chunks, and drain and rinse the chickpeas. Add the potato and chickpeas to the pot and cook for about a minute. Then add 3 cups of the chicken broth and simmer for about 15 minutes. When the potato chunks are fully cooked and you can easily pierce them with a fork, turn off the heat.

The final step is to puree about half of the soup, so it has a velvety feel, but still has some nice texture. You can either ladle about half the soup into a blender to puree and then mix it back into the remainder of the soup, or use an immersion blender to puree the soup about halfway in the pot. If you use the blender, don't fill the blender the whole way since it is a hot liquid and will need some room for steam. It's also a good idea to hold the top of the blender down with a towel just for safety. I usually try to include most of the potato chunks in the portion that I puree since I don't like the big chunks in my soup, but either way is fine. Once you've pureed to your desired texture, decide if you need to add in any additional chicken broth. Sometimes I like to thin it out a little.

To finish, ladle the soup into bowls, add a some freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I like a lot!) and some freshly ground pepper. If you want to get a little decadent, drizzle a little bit of good quality extra virgin olive oil over the top and enjoy! Throw in a mixed green salad and a glass of white wine and you have weeknight dinner perfection.

Deck the Halls!

We did our holiday decorating last week, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Because we're going to be gone for almost two weeks over Christmas and New Year's, we opted not to get a full Christmas tree, but did want to infuse a little holiday cheer into our apartment. Plus, we decided to do stockings for each other this year, so I figured the mantle definitely needed a little love. Throw together some free fir branch scraps from a local garden store that was selling Christmas trees, about $8 worth of gold and red berry sprigs, plus gold painted pine cones, from the craft store, 45 minutes of Christmas tunes, and voila! Not too shabby...



It's kind of hard to see in the picture above, so here's a closer look:

With some of the extra berry sprigs, I created some quick candle decorations for the large pillar candles that I had on the mantle earlier in the fall:

And, finally, a little fresh fir wreath around a delicious holiday scented candle:

Now we can enjoy a little holiday cheer even without a fully decked Christmas tree!

Catching up...

A little behind with my weekend update... I can't believe it's already Wednesday (although I'm definitely not complaining!) A few highlights from last weekend:

• Group dinner at our friends' Alle and Dan's house with a few other friends. I love getting together and socializing with friends over a dinner party at someone's home. It's so comfortable and laid back, and yet feels so grown up! Plus it's fun to check out someone else's cooking/decorating/hostessing style. Alle pulled out all the stops with juicy grilled steaks, cheddar polenta, amazing brussel sprouts sauteed with onions, carrots, and feta, and an arugula salad with grilled pears. Mmmm.
• The 'Horns BARELY making it to the National Championships. They gave us all a little scare, but came through with a field goal with 1 second left in the game. So now I get to cheer on two of my favorite teams in Pasadena.
• The marquee in front of Docs, which read "Prime Longhorns vs. Canned Corn." Love that place.
• Christmas shopping! I'm by no means finished, but have made a good start and am well ahead of my typical December 23rd shopping habits.

Highlights for this week:

• Girls dinner at Cassie's. A group of 6 of us (all wives/girlfriends of b-school students) get together every few weeks for dinner at someone's house. It's always a fun night of good food, good company, and lots of vino.
• T-29 hours until Jason is done with finals for this semester! Can't wait to celebrate on Friday night!
• Christmas date next weekend. Instead of exchanging big gifts this year, we've decided to get creative (and budget-friendly) and do a stocking for each other. It's actually been really fun to plan out and purchase all of J's stocking stuffers. Thinking up several small gifts has definitely required more creativity and I think he's going to really enjoy opening it up! We're doing our stockings this weekend because he is heading back to Seattle next week (since he'll be done with school) a few days before me. So we're going to cook a Christmas feast, open up our stockings in front of the fire (and my lovely bedecked mantle... pictures coming tomorrow), and then head out on the town for dessert and drinks somewhere festive.

What do you have planned for the week? Any fun holiday celebrations?

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.

Schadenfreude

There's a fancy ten dollar word for you. I have no idea how to pronounce it and had to Google the spelling. But I know what it means. And unfortunately so does Tiger Woods: taking pleasure from someone else's misfortune. Now don't get me wrong: in no way do I condone infidelity. He made some very poor (and let's be honest... skanky) choices, and he'll have to face the consequences. But the three ring media circus going on this past week would lead you to believe that he was, oh, I don't know... a president of the United States who got caught doing something funny with a cigar and his intern, and then lied under oath about it.

Let's be clear. He's a professional athlete, he cheated on his wife, and he follows in the footsteps of (unfortunately) numerous other athletes, politicians, and public figures who've done exactly the same thing. Yet, we seem to be making a MUCH bigger deal over Tiger's indiscretions than anyone else's. John Edwards, a state senator and candidate for office of the Presidency of the United States, was revealed to be cheating on his wife who has cancer, and then it was subsequently determined that he is likely the father of his mistress' illegitimate child. And he got less press than this. Jeez. And I can think of numerous professional basketball players and football players who have done much worse things... at least Tiger's affair(s) were consensual.

I'm not arguing that he doesn't owe his wife some serious groveling followed by intensive counseling, but I think the media needs to lay off. If he wasn't a Stanford-educated billionaire who happens to be one of the most famous athletes in the world, people would be a whole lot less gleeful about this mess. He doesn't owe us a public apology-- the only people he owes an apology to are his wife and kids.

OK, end rant. And because I do have a sense of humor in spite of my feelings above, I'll leave you with my favorite quote out of this whole scandal:

"He ain't a Tiger... he a Cheetah!"

Swimming & Snow

Two quick things...

I finally took the plunge (haha) and went swimming at the gym last night. I mentioned earlier how stoked I was to finally find a gym with a lap pool because I swam competitively in high school and wanted to get back into it (and gear up for a triathlon in the spring.) Well, it's been a few weeks, but yesterday I dug out my old Speedo from my life guarding days, found my swim cap, purchased a new set of goggles, and hit the pool. Turns out that Lycra doesn't hold up terribly well when stuffed at the bottom of a drawer for 12 years. (Why I held on to a Speedo for 12 years is another matter altogether...) But droopy, see-through suit be damned! I was ready for some pool action, and it felt great!

I swam for a solid 30 minutes and felt pretty good about lapping most of the old men in the pool repeatedly. (Of course, the guy in my lane kept stopping to talk to the guy in the next lane about social security, so maybe me lapping them wasn't all that big of an accomplishment...) I busted out some of my high school drills, did some laps with the kick board and pull buoys, and finished up with a 400m swim (just 100m shy of my high school race distance.) At the end I was beat, and it blows my mind that I swam for 2 hours straight, 5 days a week, during the swim season in high school! How times have changed. Once I get myself a new (properly fitting and non-see through) swimsuit, I'll be back to make this a regular part of my fitness regimen. And the best part? Last night was the first time my knees and/or hips and/or wrist and/or back haven't ached post-workout in ages. Gotta love that low impact exercise... maybe the old guys are on to something.

And, on a separate note, a new little nugget to file under "things I love about Texas." I lamented the insanely hot weather we get 'round these parts pretty consistently the first month or two after we moved here. Well, winter has officially arrived, and the highs this week have been consistently in the low 50s (which warrants heavy wool coats, scarves, hats, and mittens for many Texans.) On Friday, they're forecasting a high of 38 (gasp!) and the possibility of rain mixed with snow. The punchline? My office already has an inclement weather plan in place for Friday, which we discussed this morning at an all-staff meeting. I am not joking.

Now, I come from an area of the country that is not exactly known for handling winter weather particularly well. Last winter, Portland and Seattle got an unprecedented 18 inches of snow, and both cities (as well as the 180 miles of interstate freeway between the two) were entirely shut down for a full two weeks while the mayors of both cities frantically begged mid-western and east coast cities for sand and de-icing agent. It wasn't pretty. But here in Austin, winter weather paranoia hits a new high. We have a weather emergency hotline set up in our office (again, I am not kidding) that we can all call into on Friday morning to determine if the office is closed or if we should brave the elements and come in to work. Everyone is already preparing to take their laptops home on Thursday night. And I love it! No judgement here. I say bring on some 34 degree weather with mixed snow and rain, and I am going to enjoy me a snow day!

Turkey Day Round-Up

Thanksgiving in Boston was fantastic. We kicked off the holiday weekend by celebrating Kristin's birthday on Wednesday night at Legal Seafoods in Cambridge. The next day, we enjoyed a leisurely morning before dressing up in our finery and heading over to the Harvard Club for an early afternoon Thanksgiving feast. Kristin's father-in-law is an alum and, rather than sweat it out in the kitchen each year, they enjoy a big Thanksgiving meal at the club and were kind enough to invite us along. And let me tell you, the Ivy Leaguers know how to do it up right! Turkey not your thing? No worries, they've got ham and prime rib and sea bass. Don't like pumpkin pie? That's OK... have some pecan pie, pistachio creme brulee, strawberry rhubarb crisp, or molten chocolate cake instead! Don't forget the sweet potatoes, yams, and mashed potatoes. Or the brussel sprouts with tiny pearl onions and bacon (yum!) and stuffing. And if you like everything, all the better! And, of course, the club was decorated beautifully. It was a feast for all of the senses. Thank goodness for control top tights.

Later that night, the kids (that would be me, J, Kristin, and Dan) headed back into Cambridge and wound up at the legendary Hong Kong, where we gorged ourselves on Crab Rangoon and Chicken Lo Mein, and ended up racing the table next to us to see how fast we could down first a Scorpion Bowl and then a Mai Tai Bowl. (For those of you who are not familiar, the Hong Kong is an unremarkable Chinese restaurant-cum-disco that seems to be the destination for under-aged drinking if you are a student at any one of Boston's many centers for higher education. I've heard stories about this place from at least 4 different friends who attended college all across the Boston metro region. The food is mediocre at best, but you can't pass up the pumpkin-sized bowls of alcoholic fruit punch affectionately known as "Scorpion Bowls.")

On Friday, J toured us around his alma matter, Boston College, and then we headed into downtown Boston for some (window) shopping on Newbury Street and a tasty Italian dinner in the North End. On Saturday, we spent some downtime in Lexington, MA and filled up on Chinese food (yet again) at the local Asian buffet before heading home. (You'll be reading lots of future posts about me hitting the gym!)

All in all, a fabulous weekend, and a great start to the holiday season! Now I'm counting down my trip home to see my family in just 3 weeks!

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!

Girl Time and Big Weekend Ahead

Last night I had an impromptu happy hour with one of my new gal pals at Cantina Laredo (the tour de tacos continues as I chalked up yet another visit to a Mexican restaurant!) It was "ladies night," which conjures cheesy piano bars with burly bouncers and lots of shiny shirt guys, but Cantina Laredo is actually really nice and upscale. And, anyway, who am I to argue with 1/2 off adult beverages?? So we enjoyed ourselves some margs, table-side guac, and a huge appetizer platter with marinated pork tacos, chicken quesadillas, grilled meat skewers, and probably some other things I'm forgetting. It was really good-- kind of swankified Mexican. (I realize this is quickly turning into a Mexican restaurant review blog, but I promise to come up with some new content soon!) I've felt pretty isolated here the past few months-- other than work, my life has consisted of a lot of DVR-ed TV, the occasional workout, and that's about it. But it's really nice to feel like I'm finally starting to make friends, and, as she is also the wife of a b-school student, it was nice to have someone to talk to about the whole experience who is also going through the same things and totally gets it. I love my hubs, but sometimes you just need some girl time to relax and refresh your perspective.

And we've got more fun in store for us this weekend! Kristin and Dan are coming to visit from NYC, and so we're going to show them the best that Austin has to offer. They have a few other friends down here in the lone star state (a couple in Dallas and another friend here), so everyone is converging in Austin for the weekend. I expect that there will be more Mexican food, some delicious BBQ (we can't let any visitor escape without a trip to the Salt Lick), line dancing, live music, maybe a trip to the Alamo Drafthouse, and some crazy shenanigans that I can't even predict. I'm heading out of work a bit early and to pick them up at the airport. Can't wait!

Happy Halloween!

Date Night

I think we're starting a little tradition around here. The past few Tuesdays we've been out to eat-- to celebrate J finishing his first quarter finals, to celebrate when we got his (great) grades back, and last night just because we need some quality time. Since we moved here, we've been really diligent about limiting our meals out to once, maybe twice, a week and cooking regularly, but it's a fun treat to have a little mid-week date night. We went to Curra's Grill, which is quickly rising up the ranks as our favorite local Mexican joint (and we should know... we have sampled the menu at no less than 5 other Mexican restaurants within about a 1-2 mile radius of our apartment... and there could be others I'm forgetting!)

I've gotten pretty picky about my Mexican of late, and I keep tabs on who has the best chips, salsa, enchiladas, tacos, guac, margaritas, you name it. Curra's stands out for the excellent salsa, good margs, and AMAZING grilled meats. You have to try the carnitas, which are marinated in Coca-Cola, OJ, and milk. It sounds strange, but the result is so tender, flavorful, and mouth-wateringly good. They also have an avocado margarita that I've heard is delicious, so I'll have to try that out one of these days. And, as we learned last night, happy hour goes all night on Tuesdays, so yet another reason to make it a regular Tuesday date night.

Afterward, J had to do some homework (as per usual), so I hit up the DVR for some entertainment (also a usual occurrence.) Strange confession: I totally love the Duggars. As in the Duggars of "18 Kids and Counting" fame. Their lifestyle isn't for me, but something about them is fascinating. Plus they seem so genuinely nice and friendly. And the kids all seem totally down to earth, out-going, and well adjusted (despite what the home school stereotypes might lead you to believe.) So I DVR every episode and it's something I secretly look forward to every Tuesday night. Like, just as much as I look forward to Glee (my new obsession), 30 Rock, or Mad Men. I know. I told you... strange.

And how 'bout last night's episode of Biggest Loser?? Do any of you watch it? What a tearjerker. I love Abby and was sad to see her go, but I have no doubt she will be incredibly successful on her own. What an inspiration!

10 Things I've Learned About Texas

In honor of my three month anniversary of living here:

1. Wear mosquito repellent after dusk. Or else.

2. "Y'all" is an incredibly useful phrase. I still feel like a total poser saying it, but really the only alternative is "you guys" and suddenly I feel all awkward and manly like I'm Sloth from "Goonies" shouting "Heeeeeey yoooouuu gu-uys" while swinging from a giant boom on an ancient pirate ship when I could be all dainty and cute and just say "y'all."

3. I don't like queso. I know, gasp. But, let's be honest. It's basically melted Velveeta with chunks of canned chili or cheap sausage. It's only marginally tastier or more sophisticated than stadium nacho pump-a-cheez. It might be perfectly suitable as a little pick-me-up at 2 a.m. after a long night of binge drinking, but, since those days are long behind me, I don't see many other uses for it.

4. But, I do like margaritas. I know, I'm a weirdo. I'm just discovering this now? Yes, well, after an unfortunate tequila-related incident sophomore year, even the faintest scent of it has been enough to steer me clear of margaritas for the past decade. Like, literally. I hadn't ever had a single margarita until I moved here. And then on one of our many trips out for Mexican food I decided to just try one (assuming I'd hate it) and you know what? They're pretty darn tasty! Tequila shots... now that's another story.

5. There are a lot of chain restaurants in the United States. And I have never heard of 2/3 of them.

6. Everything really is bigger here-- all the expected stuff: houses, cars, the beef section in the grocery store's butcher case-- but also flags. There are ginormous, huge American and Texas State flags all over the place that are like 2 stories tall, and most are ridiculously disproportionate to the flag poles and buildings they adorn.

7. "Tex Mex" really just means greasy, cheesy American-style Mexican food. (As opposed to "Fresh Mex" which is more of your SoCal/Baja/West Coast style.) And don't get me wrong-- I am definitely not knocking greasy, cheesy American-style Mexican food. It's actually done exceptionally well in Texas and I have acquired quite an appreciation for it.

8. Fall is everyone's favorite season. But fall doesn't mean changing leaves, scarves, boots, and toasty beverages. Fall means temperatures below 90 and, more importantly, football. That is all.

9. Cowboy boots are appropriate footwear in any instance when you would normally wear tall, heeled boots-- with skinny jeans tucked in, with longer dresses and flowy skirts, and with your classic bootcut jeans. Judging from the attire of women at UT football games, they are also apparently appropriate with mini skirts, short strapless dresses, and incredibly tiny Daisy Duke jean cut-offs. However, I still question why you would want to cover your legs up to the knee with heavy leather boots when the 90+ degree temps and high humidity make the Daisy Dukes (kinda but not really) an acceptable fashion choice? I chalk it up to the Uggs with mini skirt phenomenon.

10. Texas is an incredibly diverse state-- from ethnicity, culture, and politics, to geography, to style and attitude, it spans the spectrum. We've all heard the big-haired-gun-toting-red-state stereotypes, and there is a grain of truth to these assessments, but there are so many other facets of Texas (and Texans) that don't fit the stereotype at all. 21sth century Texas is really a dynamic, interesting place, and definitely not as much of a foreign country as the stereotypes would lead you to believe. Of course, I say this as someone who has not ventured very far outside of Austin. But so far, Austin has been a great city to explore, and I really don't feel like I'm 5 hours away from home by plane. Minus the aforementioned "y'alls," copious amounts of Tex Mex, and searing summer heat, this really doesn't feel much different than home. And that is a great feeling.

Givin' it a Tri

In my on-going (and lately unsuccessful) quest to make fitness a regular part of my life, I've finally decided that I need to bite the bullet and just join a gym. I held out on this for a while because we have a little mini gym in our apartment complex, and "free" is a better fit with our much-chronicled grad school budget than a paid gym membership. But after a few months, I've think I've maxed out our free gym's usefulness. There are only two treadmills (one of which is always broken), one recumbent bike, and two elliptical machines. There are some free weights, but one of the two 10 lb. weights went missing about 3 weeks ago, and 10 lbs. is the weight I use for pretty much all of my exercises, so it makes it tough to do much lifting. And everything is about 15 years old. For fear of boring you any further, I'll skip to the point: our little apartment gym is not the kind of place I can get even a teensy bit excited about visiting. And when going to the gym sounds less appealing than scrubbing my toilet, nice facilities, a cool view, or an interesting class make it just a little bit easier to put down my DVR remote and get my butt up off the couch.

Enter Pure Austin. It's kind of the swanky gym in town, but what really attracted me to it is the tagline: "an indoor gym for outdoor people." And it actually lives up to this promise. It has an indoor climbing wall, all kinds of classes, a pool, and-- the coolest feature-- a huge outdoor quarry lake filled with fresh water where you can kayak or swim specific length courses marked off by buoys.
The lake also has a gravel track around it for jogging or walking. So, basically, it's a gym that offers a bunch of sporty activities that are way more interesting and engaging than 30 or 40 minutes on the ol' elliptical machine.

I am particularly excited because I swam competitively for 4 years in high school, but it's been years since I've been in pool for any other purpose than cooling off on a hot day. My knees aren't great, so while I enjoy running, it's not a good idea for me to pound the pavement more than about once a week. I've been wanting to get back into lap swimming, so this is perfect. And, because every couple years I get the itch to indulge my competitive streak, I am thinking that this will be the perfect opportunity to start training for a triathlon. It's something I've wanted to do for a while and since I find myself with plenty of time on my hands here in Austin (my social calendar isn't exactly overflowing-- possibly why I get so excited about grocery shopping as seen here and here), I figure now is the perfect time to start training. I own a bike, I'm already comfortable with running, and this weekend I'm joining a gym with not only a pool, but a place to practice open water swims. It's pretty much ideal.

I haven't figured out exactly which triathlon I'm going to do, but there are at least 3 in Austin in May or June. I'm leaning towards the Danskin women's tri, but in any case, I'll be doing a sprint distance: about a 750m swim, a 10-12 mile bike ride,and a 5K run. (I like a little challenge to motivate me; I don't like intense physical pain and mental anguish.) So there you have it. I'm giving it the old college tri! ; )

Weekend update

Our weekend started early with J's gall bladder surgery last Thursday. It was an out-patient procedure, so we were only at the hospital for about 6 hours, but I took the day off to chauffeur my hubby and play nurse. The surgery went off without a hitch, and we made it home around 1pm. After several anesthesia-induced hours of loopiness, he was almost back to normal by that evening. I went back to work on Friday, and he spent the day recuperating.

The weather here has turned a corner and it's suddenly gorgeous-- sunny, no humidity, and in the mid-70s. Like Seattle in the summer-- only it's verging on late October. Ha! For the first time since we arrived here, I had the feeling of wanting to spend as much time outdoors as possible this weekend. So on Friday night, we kicked off the weekend with dinner, drinks, and live music on Botticelli's back patio. I've had happy hour there before and it was so-so, but I was pleasantly surprised with my prosciutto and sage stuffed chicken breast on a bed of mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts. (Is it weird that I love Brussels sprouts? I really do... ) Plus the patio is gorgeous. I love the huge like oaks strung with globe lights arching over every patio down here.

On Saturday morning, I went for a long walk around Town Lake. Then I met up with J and one of his buddies at Doc's, an outdoor bar next to our apartment complex, to watch the UT-OU game. I don't know if it was the beautiful weather, the fact that the place was jam packed with 'Horns fans, or the prospect of a UT National Championship this year, but somewhere along the line, I have become a legit fan-- yelling, screaming, and pumping my fists with the best of them. The first half was rough for both the Longhorns and the Sooners, but we prevailed and are now 6-0 for the season.

Later on Saturday evening, Jason and I had a super romantic date night, er, I mean grocery shopping trip. But, really, grocery shopping can be exciting! (Possibly a cue that I need to get out more, but that's a whole 'nother blog post...) Anyway, I am obviously huge fan of Central Market, but the whole paying-for-grad-school-and-trying-to-live-on-one-income thing makes those trips to Central Market few and far between. Enter my new fave, Sprouts. This place is awesome! It's the next best thing to Trader Joe's opening up here in the Lone Star state. Essentially, Sprouts is Central Market-quality on more of a TJ's budget, but with a much bigger produce section. Tons of fresh fruits and veggies, many of them organic, and lots of organic dairy and natural, hormone- and antibiotic-free meats. I still miss my TJs, but in the meantime, Sprouts will definitely do.

On Sunday, we took another walk around our neighborhood, ran some errands, and then stopped in for an impromptu coffee and cupcake break at this cute coffee shop, Mozart's, which is right on Lake Austin. It was such a nice day that we wound up just killing a couple hours driving around and exploring some of the posh neighborhoods around Lake Austin, and then hiking up to check out the view from Mt. Bonnell. Then we came home, raided our freshly stocked fridge and whipped up some roasted salmon and asparagus. Mmmm. Perfect way to end the weekend!

Motivation

Having kind of a blah day here. It's raining, which normally I wouldn't complain about since we get far too little of it and it reminds me of home, but it's also about 82 out, so it's this gross steamy rain. Windows literally steam up because of it. Yuck. I also have literally nothing to do at work currently, so the minutes are just dragging by. I've been trying to use my free time to get myself organized and make lists.

List-making is one of my favorite activities-- I keep all kinds of on-going lists: groceries, stuff I need from Target, other items I'd like to purchase for my home, tasks I need to accomplish today, this week, and over the long term. However, the lists are just that-- lists. Sometimes I find it hard to figure out how to transfer my zest for making lists into actually doing the stuff on the lists. Housekeeping is my biggest challenge. I am a strange version of neat freak-- I LOVE to have a clean, pristine house with everything in its place, but I go through these binge and purge phases where I'll just be too exhausted and overwhelmed with everything that I feel needs to get done so I'll just do nothing. The result is a mess-- dishes in the sink, clothes strewn all over the bedroom floor, and little piles of paper on every flat surface throughout my home. Inevitably, I will get a burst of motivation and finally be able to face the to-do list, and then I'll feverishly clean every nook and cranny until my entire apartment is gleaming. However, this is not a good system. It's exhausting, and it always consumes most of a weekend whenever I go on one of my cleaning sprees.

What I need is a system that inspires me to do a little bit each day so that I can keep on top of the clutter without needing to spend my precious weekends devoted to cleaning up the mess we made all week. It's just so hard to find the motivation! I can stick with it for a few days, but then it just begins to feel like I'm a little hamster running around on a wheel and that the cleaning, tidying, and organizing is never going to end. (Which I suppose is true... we are human after all.) Does anyone have any great systems you use for keeping your houses tidy on a regular basis? Or motivational secrets to tackle the clutter and those other little projects around the house that just nag at you? Please share!

Weekend update

Exciting weekend around these parts! After much scheming and secretive discussions with several family members on both sides (moi included), my sister's boyfriend proposed! We all love Mike, so we're super excited to have him join the family as a new bro/son-in-law. And hats off to him... Mike managed to totally surprise my sister with an incredibly elaborate proposal that included a walk to a park where he feigned setting up the camera timer to take a "scenic fall picture" of the two of them under a canopy of fall foliage, followed by a surprise stay at a nice hotel downtown, which he had spent the morning decorating with rose petals and supplying with cheese, homemade chocolate covered strawberries, and champagne-- and then, as though that wasn't enough, dinner at Seattle's fanciest restaurant, Canlis. Laura is a lucky girl and we can't wait to toast them in person when we head home for the holidays!

Meanwhile, J happened to be in Seattle for one of his good friend's (and groomsman's) wedding, so I took the opportunity to travel down to San Antonio to visit my good friend Anne. We only live about an hour and 15 minutes apart, but don't manage to see each other enough, so it was fun to head down there and indulge in 24 hours of girl time. We visited a huge outdoor shopping center called The Shops at La Cantera, where I managed to walk away with two necklaces and a purse for only $35 (courtesy of Forever 21... love that place.) Later we had dinner at a delicious French bistro called La Frite. I truly think that Saturday night might have been only the second or third time in the two and a half months that I've been here that a meal out hasn't been Mexican food. Don't get me wrong-- I love me some Tex Mex-- but with Mexican restaurants on every street corner here, it's easy to forget that there is a whole wide world of different cuisines out there. I had a delicious tomato crab bisque, followed by moules frites (big pot of steamed muscles basted in a tasty white wine, garlic broth and lots of Belgian style fries for dipping.) Mmmmm....

Sunday we slept in and chatted a bit over a breakfast of coffee and scones before I headed home. I spent much of the rest of the day on the phone chatting again with my sis about the proposal and then discussing it in depth with half of my family. We're all very excited! Good thing I kept all my wedding planning materials and vendor info-- I have a feeling it will come in handy!

Fall Decor

Lately I've seen a lot of posts out in blogland about fall decor. I am not one to get too seasonally snazzy with my decor, but in our current apartment we have a mantle-- and it has been begging for a little embellishment for a few months now. When we first moved in, I had a mish mash of framed photos and some glass candlesticks on display, but it just wasn't doing anything for me. With such a huge blank wall above the mantle, I knew I needed something with a little height, and, unfortunately, a grad school budget does not permit much in the way of art purchases.

But, on my maiden voyage to Hobby Lobby (another fabulous store we're lacking out west-- kind of like Michael's meets the Marshall's home wares section meets discount furniture store), I found the mirror in the photos below. It was 50% off (can't beat that!) and stained a nice dark wood color that compliments our other furniture and will be in style for years to come. So I was able to justify the purchase. I also found matching dark wood pillar candlesticks from Pottery Barn (again with a 10% coupon for having recently moved), so the look was complete.

Both of these items will be permanent-- not just for fall-- but now that I had my nice mantle decor in place, I couldn't resist adding a little autumnal flare. Enter Central Market. I scooped up some miniature pumpkins and gourds, grabbed a few large branches of bittersweet vine, and voila! I feel like it's quite inspired for about 5 minutes of work!

The whole "mantlescape" (yes, this is a word I recently read in a Ballard Designs catalogue) from a distance. I'm particularly proud of the proportions-- I think the mirror fills up the wall space nicely.

And a closer look at my mini gourds and bittersweet vine.

Happy Fall!

(And, yes, I know this is hard to read without any paragraph breaks. I keep trying to fix it, but Blogger is not cooperating. Any tips on this?)

Rough Week

Well, I'm already not doing so well at my goal of posting more frequently in October, but it's been a long week. J has been dealing with increasing gallstone pain that starting flaring up about two weeks ago. It was a gradual thing at first, but the only real treatment is to get your gall bladder removed, so he was hoping to be able to make it to winter break before having to deal with a surgery. Not to mention, this week was his finals week for his first quarter of school. As the pain got worse and worse last week, he was popping pain medication and studying and hoping just to get through this week. That was not to be.

On Monday night, we spent 6+ hours in the ER, and discovered that he had some additional (although not too serious) abdominal issues. The doctor in the ER was able to treat him for that, but it was clear that his gall bladder would need to come out sooner rather than later. After several sleepless nights, lots of intense pain-- and some intense anxiety about school too-- J had to reschedule two of his finals, but managed to take the other two. He met with a surgeon, and the faulty gall bladder will be coming out next Thursday. So we're very happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it's been a long, tiring week nonetheless.

However, on a more positive note, I thought I'd leave you with some photos from the Austin City Limits (ACL) music festival last weekend. We went on Friday and it was a gorgeous afternoon/evening. We saw Thievery Coroporation, who were amazing. After their set, we thought we'd wander around a little, grab some food, and maybe check out another band before Kings of Leon (the headliners) came on. The evening took a little bit of a wrong turn, however, when we spent a full hour in line for a port-o-potty that was a few inches short of overflowing. Mmmmm. I knew there was a reason I generally avoid huge festivals. Overall, though, it was fun to check out such a famous Austin event and the music that we did hear was great.

Me as we entered the festival. The park setting was super nice. It was amazingly clean considering how many tens of thousands of people were there. (Although this was Friday... it might not have looked so nice on Sunday.)

The entrance to the park as we were leaving that night-- all lit up!

Ode to Central Market

I'm really beginning to enjoy this blogging thing, so I've decided that for the month of October, my only goal will be to post more frequently. Inspired by my favorite place to spend money in Austin, I give you:

Ode to Central Market

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways

You sell things like Organic Hatch Green Chili Corn Chips

Cheese that smells like dirty gym socks

But tastes delicious

And wild salmon from the Pacific-- never farmed

Because I care about things like that

You lure me in with your artful displays

Of heirloom tomatoes and ten kinds of potatoes

And, oh! The free samples

Yet you do not judge

When I throw Diet Coke

Or non-organic toilet paper

into my cart

Central Market, you complete me

You make grocery shopping fun

You even have those tiny two-tiered shopping carts

That maneuver so easily around corners

I am forever yours

(For my friends back home, Central Market is the perfect hybrid of Whole Foods and Metropolitan Market-- all the gourmet deliciousness, but less pretentious. Plus they actually carry some normal products [e.g., Diet Coke] and have sales that make the prices reasonable. If only they would expand to the west coast!)

How'd I do in September?

Well, we've been in Austin for just over two months, and I am finally starting to feel fairly settled and in a routine, which is good-- I am a creature of routine. The one routine I'm still struggling with is getting back into a regular fitness plan now that I'm working again. I was on a roll when we first moved here, working out 5 times a week most of the time, but, as to be expected, any time my daily routine changes, my workout routine changes-- and usually not for the better. This month, my gym attendance has been pretty poor. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts to convince myself that I really can look and feel great without regular exercise, I know that's just not the case for me. (Some people seem to manage it, but I'm not one of them.) So, back to the drawing board on the gym front. I'm thinking of signing up for the Lance Armstrong Livestrong 5K at the end of October for a little motivation.

Anyhoo, let's reflect on my September goals:

• Workout 4 times a week. Nope. Resetting expectations and ramping up motivation for October. Cooling temps should make outdoor exercise more appealing.
• Really finish putting every thing away, hanging up pictures, etc. Yes! I know this is really not that impressive since we've been here two months, but I am a huge slacker. I could still use some drawer organizers in the kitchen and the pantry is looking a little rough these days, but overall we're in good shape.
• Get out and try or visit two new Austin activities or sites. Another score here. In addition to several UT football games, we've been to see live music on 6th Street (east of I-35) and wander around that neighborhood, which is totally eclectic and funky. We've also ridden pedicabs home twice from football games. The first time was out of necessity because my legs were absolute jello after 5+ hours of standing and walking at the tailgate and football game, and the second time was just because it's a fun way to see the city.
• Make one new and interesting recipe per week. Check. I can't remember them all, but I know I've made penne with cherry tomatoes and kalamata olives from this book (one of my favorites!), linguine with bolognese sauce from the same book, halibut poached in white wine, lemon, and herbs, and a salad nicoise with spicy sauteed shrimp (leftovers of that one tonight! mmm...)

Contemplating whether I am going to do goals for October or something more fun. In the meantime, I'm mentally motivating for my post-work run!

'Horns, hotties, and weekend happenings

We're a few weeks into the football season, so I'm a little late posting pics. Now, I didn't go to a school with a division 1 football team (or even a division 2 team...), but I grew up going to University of Oregon football games regularly throughout my childhood and teen years. My dad and most of my family members are some of the Ducks' biggest fans, so I know a little bit about team loyalty and passionate fans. However, nothing prepared me for my first Longhorns game. Over 100,000 people packed into Memorial Stadium-- a veritable sea of burnt orange-- people screaming and chanting like crazy, tailgates as far as the eye can see-- many with industrial-size barbecues smoking up racks of ribs and steaks, SUVs with satellite dishes attached and an array of big screen TVs set up in parking lots over half of downtown Austin broadcasting just about every football game in the Big 12, Big 10, SEC and PAC 10. The sheer scale of Texas football is unbelievable. Last week, during the UT/Texas Tech game, the stadium reported the largest football attendance ever in the state of Texas-- over 101,200 people! I think half the towns in Oregon (and Texas for that matter) have smaller populations than that! We're 4-0 to date; National Championships here we come! (Sorry, Dad!)

Moving on the "hotties" portion of this update (it's all about the alliteration!)-- at last week's Tech game, we heard people cheering (more than usual) behind us, so we turned around and who was seated in a box about 15 rows behind us?

Yeah, that's Matthew McConaughey. He was there leaning out of the box for the entire game, occasionally flashing his "hook 'em" sign, cheering, holding his baby, chatting with his wife. You know, just chilling out. We're buddies now. ; )

And, on the topic of celeb sightings, I saw Lance Armstrong last week (he literally rode his bike in front of my car while I was stopped at a light) and J saw Brad Leland (aka Buddy Garrity) a few days ago at the pizza parlor up the street from our apartment. Chalk another one up for the FNL cast... I'm still waiting on Riggins though! Where is he?!? I'd settle for a Coach Taylor sighting too.

That's the latest here. J and I have been battling colds so this weekend was a mellow one. We did catch some live music at a bar on deep East 6th last night (as in east of I-35), as well as checking out a new hole in the wall Mexican place, Polvos, on South 1st on Friday. Mmmm... margaritas and guac. Now we're gearing up for another ep of Mad Men, and then the work week starts all over again. Hope you all had a great weekend!

A little slice of Heaven

It's 2:51pm on Tuesday, and, having worked through lunch, I decide I want to step outside for a quick afternoon coffee. I am dressed in jeans and a belted jacket made with thick sweatshirt material because our building doesn't skimp on the AC (and by "doesn't skimp," I mean that most of the office has visible goosebumps every single day). As I exit the building, I expect to be greeted with a gust of hot, damp air and begin untying the belt on my jacket in preparation.

But, wait... what is this? Gray skies, wet pavement, and... dare I say it? A cool breeze? I stand on the pavement transfixed and slightly disoriented. It is September in Austin and it's cool enough to wear a jacket or sweatshirt outside-- not the way people in LA immediately don wool sweaters and scarves the instant it drops below 68 degrees, for fear that the moment will pass and they will miss their sole opportunity to show off their winter wardrobe-- but for real... It's actually that cool. (Weather.com subsequently confirms that it is a shocking 63 degrees out.)

I find myself smiling and giddy in the way I can only compare to the feeling I would have at home in Seattle on the first sunny, 70-degree day in May. Dark, dreary, damp... what's not to love? The world is a beautiful place!

Inspired by a sudden burst of seasonal cheer, I enter the Starbucks across the street and saunter up to the counter. Emboldened, I order... wait for it... a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Those of you that know me know that I am strictly a Grande Nonfat Latte girl-- no sugar, no flavorings, just straight up java with a little dairy to smooth it out. To date, I've had one other Pumpkin Spice Latte and it was a horrible mistake. The latte was so pumpkin-y that it was actually was orange. I dumped it out in the street. That was in 2005 and I haven't gone near one since. But, today, I ask them to go particularly easy on the syrup and you know what? It's pretty good. Not everyday drinking kind of good, but perfect to celebrate the first day in Austin where I do not feel like I am living on the face of the sun.

But, never fear, my tan will not wane anytime soon... Weather.com assures me it will be back in the 90s by the weekend.

Alledgedly

... Austin is a super green city. Allegedly. So many people have told us this since we moved here (although I suppose I should mention that most of them are from Austin... hmmm...) Turns out, not so much. Indulge me my mini rant...

First of all, my office does not recycle. What?? OK, they recycle paper. But only white paper. And only in one minuscule bin that you have to get up and walk halfway across the office to get to. What happened to the blue recycling bin under everyone's desk? Apparently that's unheard of. What's even more unheard of-- to me anyway-- is that there is no recycling for plastic containers, colored paper, or, most shockingly, cans. What office doesn't have a recycling bin for soda cans? Do they not notice how many Diet Cokes are consumed on a daily basis around here?? My first few days here, I was all confused... wandering around looking for the elusive recycling bins. Now that I've been clued in, I've taken to bringing my own paper bag to collect my recyclables so that I can take them home once a week and dispose of them properly. Does that make me the crazy hippie from the Northwest? Probably. But, seriously, throwing away a can physically pains me.

While our apartment complex does offer a bit more in the recycling department, they do not have a program for recycling glass. Again, what?? How difficult could it be? J is actually 10x the OCD recycler that I am, and this seriously keeps him up at night. He claims he is going to find a way for us to recycle our glass items, so he insists that we keep everything until he does. This means we have 2 months of glass containers (let's be honest: wine bottles) piling up in our closet. And two months of "glass containers" is a significant quantity.

Further, I am going to out the University of Texas on this one, because I think it's particularly shameful. I would have to imagine that the school has a robust recycling policy in effect somewhere, but at a school-sponsored tailgate event I recently attended, the only place the hundreds of attendees could put their empty Miller Lite cans was in the trash. And UT + tailgate + free beer = a shocking number of cans in the trash. If the school can't set a good example, I'm not sure who's going to.

Essentially, what I'm saying is that any random, podunk town in Washington is greener than Austin. Red town, blue town, tiny village, or big metropolis, recycling is just kind of a given. Until Austin gets this most basic of green activities under control, it most certainly cannot pride itself on its green-ness.

End rant.

One Year Ago...

September 13, 2008... indisputably one of the best days of my life. All of the photos except the last two are by my wonderful photographer, Jamie Bosworth. (Although I didn't have access to a scanner, so please excuse the poor quality.)

On my way to meet J for our "first look"... the only time I was nervous all day!

All my lovely ladies. Dresses from J. Crew. I was afraid the color was a little too wild, but ultimately I think it looked amazing with the vibrant flowers and the bright green grass.

Daper groomsmen in front of the club.

The guys' big entrance...

Our vows

Our first moments as Mr. and Mrs.

This one is a little unorthodox... Tennis has always been one of J's passions, so we had to take a few shots on the court. I love how old-timey they turned out!

And the rest is history! Happy anniversary, J. I love you!

Wedding Day Details

In honor of our upcoming first anniversary on Sunday, I thought I would take a look back at our wedding last September and share some of the details we incorporated into our celebration. We got married in Portland, Oregon at Waverley Country Club. Our ceremony was outdoors on a lawn overlooking the Willamette River, beneath a huge, old oak tree. September in the Northwest usually means nice weather, but there's no guarantee it will be dry, so we took a little bit of a gamble. Fortunately, we were blessed with an exceptional day - low 80s, sunny, and breezy.

After the ceremony, we moved over to the patio for a cocktail hour and passed appetizers. It actually turned out to be more of a cocktail two hours, which probably helped fuel the dance party later in the evening. After cocktails, we moved inside into the dining room for dinner, and then finally into the ballroom for dancing. One thing (of many) that I really enjoyed was that our wedding felt like three separate parties in one because it transitioned from an outdoor cocktail party, to a dinner party, to live music and dancing.

Of course there were many other details that I loved. Our colors were raspberry pink and chocolate brown with accents of grass green. I wanted the colors to be really vibrant, lush, and summery. We used a wide variety of late summer blooms, mixed with fruits and berries (such as sliced kiwis, figs, key limes, and raspberries), vegetables (including artichokes), seed pods, and twigs to achieve a really organic, textural look for the bouquets and centerpieces.

(I don't have digitial copies of my professional pictures and wasn't near a scanner, so I apologize for the poor quality picture-of-a-picture. However, the prints are gorgeous and all the credit goes to my wonderful photographer, Jamie Bosworth.)

Another detail I loved (as did our guests) were the table number cards. We wanted to do somethng more unique than just numbers or names of places, so we decided to name each table after a specific location in Oregon or Washington that was meaningful to us. Because we had so many out of town guests, we added a little write up explaining the significance of the Northwest location-- for example: a lake I grew up camping at with my family, a beach town he visited frequently with his family, the neighborhood in Seattle where we both lived when we met, favorite spots in Seattle where we had spent time together, etc. Our guests loved learning about these special areas. We printed the cards on cardstock and incorporated the garden rose motif and fonts from our wedding invitations.

Credit: Jamie Bosworth

One thing I really wanted was a cake with chocolate frosting (since it was one of our wedding colors, and, more importantly, I am a chocolate fiend.) However, after visiting many bakeries and soliciting several professional opinions, Jason vetoed chocolate frosting because he thought it would not go very well with one of the layers that was white cake with lemon curd filling and whole raspberries. In the spirit of compromise (I figured I might as well start the whole marriage thing off on the right foot), we ended up selecting white buttercream (which was delicious) and then I had the baker create free-form chocolate ganache banding around the botttom of each cake layer to tie in with our chocolate brown color scheme and the natural style of our flowers.

Finally, our guest book. Like many couples I've seen recently, we didn't want the standard collection of signatures in a guest book, so we did a Kodak photo book with images of the two of us growing up and then during our relationship. (We used many of the same photos in our the slideshow we presented at the rehearsal dinner.) It's funny how most people signed their name on the page that most closely related to them-- whether it was a relative signing on a page with a photo from a big family reunion years ago, or a bridesmaide signing on a page of me during my college years with our group of friends. It made it that much more personal and fun because everyone left cute messages that were relevant to various different times in our lives. It's something I love to read through, and I know it will be a treasured photo album that we'll love to periodically flip through over the years.

Next up, I'll show off some pictures of us on our big day. I can't believe it's been almost a year!

Working Girl

Today was my first day at the new gig. My new boss was out of the office unexpectedly and no one else really knows anything about the account I'll be working on, so there wasn't much for me to do, and no one to help start getting me up to speed. So it's off to a slow start, but the few people I interacted with today all seem nice. I filled out HR paper work and had a tutorial on the time entry software (like lawyers, we bill our time to clients, so we need to account for each 15 minute increment of the day), and enjoyed a lunch out with a few coworkers at the California Pizza Kitchen down the road.

The highlight of the day came, however, when I had my first official Friday Night Lights celeb sighting. Walking back from lunch, we ran into Aimee Teegarden (aka Julie Taylor, coach Taylor's daughter):

She looked pretty much exactly like she does on the show... a normal teenage girl. I had heard that the FNL cast was back in town and that filming for season 4 began at the beginning of this month, but now the celeb watch is officially on!

Seattle Wedding

Found that camera cord! Here are a few pictures from our trip back to Seattle last weekend for J's sister's wedding.

J and I at the rehearsal dinner (Salty's on Alki in West Seattle). Can't beat that view!

Beautiful bride and groom taking pictures around town at some of the city's famous sites:

Kerry Park

The wedding part down in Pike Place Market

You can't see them in the picture below, but they gave out tiny herbs they grew from seeds in mini galvanized tubs as both the favor and our escort cards (our names were printed on paper, attached to little popsicle sticks and inserted into the herb pots like you would label plants in your garden) in honor of the fresh, organic, NW theme. Adorable, and such a cute way to decorate the tables.

And perhaps the highlight of the evening... the bride and groom performing Meatloaf's "I Would Do Anything For Love" at the end of the reception (Kristin on vocals and Dan on keyboard):

Congratulations Kristin and Dan!