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!

September Goals and Housewifery

Well, I wanted to post pictures of the wedding this weekend, but I can't find my camera cord, so September goals will have to do for now.

• Workout 4 times per week. Since I'm starting a new job, I am going to go a little easier on myself in this department. My new job will also be decidedly deskbound, so no counting work as fitness, a la August.


• Really finish putting everything away, hanging pictures, etc.


• Aside from Texas football (which I know is HUGE), get out and participate in or visit two new, unique Austin activities or sites.


• Make one new and interesting recipe per week.

This week I've been home enjoying my final few days of freedom before I start work and I have been living it up housewife-style. Aside from the strange quiet of being home alone in your house all day (except when I have episodes of What Not To Wear and A Baby Story running ad nauseum for company), I could really get used to this lifestyle. Yesterday I cleaned the house, worked out, made a menu plan for the rest of the week, and went grocery shopping. Then I came home, got cleaned up, and made a new Rachel Ray recipe for beanless (Texas-style) chili and a spicy chile cilantro vinaigrette for a garden salad. Off to a good start on the new recipe front!

Today I worked out again, tackled some of the few remaining random boxes in the corner of my bedroom, organized my closet, and then cooked my heart out for about two hours. The spoils included roasted salmon with a cucumber dill sauce, steamed green beans with herb butter, wild rice pilaf (OK, fine, Uncle Ben helped me out on that one), and the most delicious, crispety crunchety, salty-sweet toffee bars. Mmmmm.... Recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

10 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/3 cup confectioners' sugar

2/3 cup chocolate-covered toffee bits (I just bought a bag of mini Heath bars and chopped them up)

1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with a foil sling and grease foil. Whisk the flour and salt together in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, and confectioners' sugar together with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 6 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture until the dough becomes sandy with large pea-sized bits, about 30 seconds.

Reserve 1 cup of the dough for the topping. Sprinkle the remaining dough into the prepared pan and press into an even layer with the bottom of a measuring cup. Sprinkle the toffee bits and chocolate chips evenly over the dough and then sprinkle with the reserve topping. Bake the bars until golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. (Mine were done at about 22 minutes.)

Let the bars cool completely in the pan, set on a wire rack, about 2 hours. Remove the bars from the pan using the foil, cut into squares, and serve.

Enjoy!