Another reason I love fall...

Or the dead of winter, as the case may be... Either way, I have a serious obsession with coats and jackets, and I can't wait to wear this beauty. Which I bought myself for my birthday. In AUGUST. And now it's just sitting in my closet collecting dust until we get a day that's cooler than 70-something degrees. What can I say? I couldn't pass up this adorable jacket or the 15% off birthday coupon at Anthropologie. And I know that one of these days, I will relish clipping the tags off this beaut and taking her for a test drive!

Fall

In Texas, people love fall. Actually, I think people love fall all over the Southeast, Midwest, and Northeast, too-- although for different reasons. In the Northwest, fall is nice. You enjoy some foliage, cheer on some football (go Ducks!), and maybe even do a little apple picking or cider sampling. You know... it's pleasant. But it's not the season that everyone looks forward to (almost desperately) for nine months out of the year. (That would be summer, when we finally get our body's quota of Vitamin D.) However, here in Texas, fall is definitely everyone's favorite season. Six months ago, when the blue bonnets were out in full force, I would have put money squarely on spring as the best season in Texas, but I'm coming around on fall... it's definitely bringing the competition.

I've already waxed poetic on the beautiful weather and lack of humidity (after summer, the cooler temps and lack of humidity are reason alone to love fall.) There's football, but I think we can all agree that Texas doesn't have a whole lot to get excited about in that department this year. I think what was really holding me back in terms of unabashedly loving fall was that it took me a while to get over the fact that fall doesn't have to mean sweaters, boots, and hot beverages. It doesn't have to mean thick stews and chilly nights. I may not even need to wear a jacket outside until December because the high today was 87 (true story.) But, I do have endless reasons to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors: jogging after work because it's now in the 80s and it actually feels good. Hiking in the Greenbelt. Grilling up a storm. (And, yes, I occasionally still wear boots and sweaters or sip a pumpkin spice latte in the comfort of my AC because I feel like it.)

So, in honor of my new found love of fall (and Hobby Lobby), I spruced up my mantle a little with some some seasonal flair. I'm way late in sharing my fall decor with the blog world, but better late than never. I give you my autumnal mantlescape... Enjoy!

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.

There's a first time for everything

This weekend J & I are heading up to Dallas to meet his parents (who flew down to Texas last week have been doing a road trip through Galveston, New Orleans, and Mississippi) and are venturing out to the Texas State Fair. Would you believe that I have never attended a state fair... ever? J assured this is extremely weird.

Where I grew up in Oregon, the state fair just wasn't a big deal. It was the same situation in California, where I went to college and lived for several years after college. (In fact, I don't know if California even has one.) In Washington, the state fair was a little bit more of a big deal-- as in, I recall seeing commercials for it on TV and actually knew a few people who attended. I think I even talked casually about going with some friends once or twice, but it just never happened.

So this will be my inaugural state fair visit. And what better way to get the full experience than to visit the Texas State Fair-- arguably the biggest and baddest of them all? From my limited state fair knowledge, the Texas fair is known for its wide variety of delectable fried treats. I'm not big on fried food, but, really-- who can pass up fried candy bars, fried pie, fried butter (ew?), fried margaritas (!), or fried beer (!!)? I need to try a few of these items just for the novelty. I'm also a sucker for carnival rides, so I'm hoping they'll have a few of those.

The weekend forecast looks amazing... highs of 85, lows in the 50s. Have I mentioned that I love October in Texas? Clear blue skies, endless sunny days, zero humidity, and temps that insist you soak up every possible minute outdoors. Hope your weekend agenda includes some delicious (fried) food and gorgeous fall weather too!

Back at it again!

Training, that is... although this time it will be pretty mild. My triathlon partner in crime, Anne, has convinced me to run the San Antonio Rock'n'Roll half marathon relay with her on November 14th. This means we divide up the 13.1 miles between us, although the two legs aren't equal in length. She's using this race as an opportunity to test the waters and decide if she wants to do the Austin half marathon in February, so she is running the longer leg (7.7 miles), while I'm running the much shorter 5.4 mile leg. So my "training" isn't exactly going to be super intense, but since I can barely run 3 miles without walking a little bit right now, I definitely need to get out there for some training runs over the next 5 weeks.

Using Hal Higdon's 10K training schedule as an outline, I'll probably try to fit in one strength training session, one cross-training session (bike, elliptical, etc.-- anything to get my heart rate up for an extended period), and two runs per week. Since I only need to work up to a little over 5 miles, the running should be pretty manageable (and hopefully not too hard on my knee!) How sad is it that I pay good money every month for a gym membership, but need to pay additional money and sign up for a race where I am threatened with pain, humiliation, and/or injury if I don't train in order to actually get my butt moving?? Oh well... I'll take the motivation where I can get it!

Well, hello

After an absence of nearly three months, I feel like my first post back should be really exciting and full of lots of fascinating tales about my life over the past quarter year. (Really? A quarter year?? That makes it sound much longer than it felt...) Really, I've just been busy with normal life stuff and a fair amount of travel, visitors, and summer celebrations. Between the intense heat (which ends up driving me inside for summer hibernation) and J's absence, I thought the summer would drag by But, actually, it didn't.

J and I had a second visit in July, and then I finished out the month with a weekend in Portland for my sister's wedding shower. Ah, blissful 80 degree weather... I remember taking a run at about 11:30am on a Saturday morning (a time at which no living creature ventures outside in Texas during late July), and it was just heaven. Crisp, air. Gentle sunshine. Fragrant flowers. Cue the homesickness.

August took me back to Portland two weeks later for my sister's wedding, which was fabulous-- beautiful bride and groom, touching ceremony, and fantastic party.

A week later, three of my best friends from my San Francisco days visited. We're now all spread out around the country, but there's nothing like catching up with old friends who've known you for years and remind you what your fresh-out-of-college self was like. The years have passed quickly, but we're able to pick up where left off-- as if we just met for brunch last weekend. We indulged in barbecue and swanky Mexican at La Condessa, lounged by the pool, and took stand-up paddle board lessons on Town Lake.


J finally came home from Charlotte, just in time to celebrate my birthday two days later (yay!) His second year of business school started, and then we kicked off September with separate guys and girls trips over Labor Day weekend. He went to New York and I went to Seattle, where I got to catch up with all my Seattle girls. Everything I said above about my San Francisco girls -- ditto here for my Seattle ladies. Quality girl time is something that I value very highly, and being far away from the people who have known me the longest really makes me appreciate my friendships even more. We had some exciting news that weekend--Aja announced that she is expecting and due in April. She's the first of our group, but I have a feeling a few more will be following soon!


September also brought our second anniversary, and we celebrated with a weekend trip to Dallas. I have to say... we've heard a lot of "less than enthusiastic" reviews of Dallas, but we were both pleasantly surprised. We stayed downtown in the historic Adolphus Hotel, enjoyed two fabulous dinners at Rise Souffle and Local, and lost ourselves completely at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, site of JFK's assassination. This museum is fascinating-- we're all familiar with the story of the events that transpired on November 22, 1963, but they've never come to life quite they way they did for me at this museum. It made me much more emotional than I expected, and I can see now what it must have been like to live through that gruesome day for millions of Americans across the country.

Finally, we closed out September with a visit from my sis and new brother in law, Mike. We took them on our usual visitor circuit, including a trip to the Salt Lick and copious amounts of Mexican food, threw in a Bob Schneider show at Threadgill's for good measure, and concluded the weekend with the UT vs. UCLA game. We shall not discuss the outcome of this game-- instead, we'll focus on the great time we had tailgating beforehand, and how excited Mike was to partake in what he termed "big boy college football." The game itself was a disaster, and we all sweat through our shirts in the blazing stadium heat, but I think Mike can now successfully add a check mark to his bucket list.

And here we are in early October... the fall should be not nearly as eventful, but I'm sure it will fly by nonetheless. For those of you who still check in, I promise to be a more faithful blog contributor. Stay tuned for some exciting Texas adventures (including a trip to the State Fair... fried beer, anyone?), some great recipes, and more photos.