Vaqueros & Vines

We had a great Texas weekend, beginning on Friday night when we visited the Austin Rodeo. This was my first rodeo experience and I was pretty impressed with all the cowboys (vaqueros) and their bull riding and calf lassoing skills. Some of it looked a little rough on the animals, but I'm told they shake it off pretty quickly. (I'm hoping that's the case.) We met a group of friends there and had fun strolling the fairgrounds outside the rodeo, enjoying some live country/blue grass music, and checking out the animals. Sipping a beer in the warm evening sun while listening to country music under the huge blue sky, I felt like a real Texan and realized that if we end up moving on, I will definitely miss this place. Two years ago, I never in a million years would have imagined typing that sentence. It's amazing how we adapt and change with time. I could probably write a whole post about this, and probably will... But I digress. It was a fun night.

On Saturday, we headed out to Fredericksburg in the hill country to visit our favorite vineyard, Pedernales Cellars. We joined their wine club last spring (we're all kinds of fancy these days), so we get a shipment of three bottles once a quarter. On Saturday they had a party for all the wine club members to come out, pick up their spring shipment, do some barrel tasting of the new wines, and then stay to enjoy dinner and live music.

Since the event didn't start until 6pm, we hit up William Chris Vineyards and Rancho Ponte on our way out. It was our first visit to William Chris, and we enjoyed the wines, but were not impressed with the $10 per person tasting fee. The Texas wine country is fun to visit, but let's not kid ourselves-- it's not exactly Napa. Rancho Ponte is one of our favorites and we had to stop to pick up a bottle of their Triple M Blend. Delicious. However, we always save Pedernales for last because it's our favorite. The wines are (in my humble opinion) the best in the Texas hill country wine region, and their property is just spectacular. They have a great deck overlooking the hill country and encourage visitors to linger with a glass (or a bottle) while taking in the view. It feels like our personal little slice of hill country.

On Saturday night, after picking up our shipment, we settled ourselves at a table with a bottle of the 2009 Tempranillo and made some new friends who were also out from Austin for the day. The winery served dinner and we talked until well after dark, while Mother Nature treated us to an awesome lightning show. Eventually it started raining and we had to head home, but it was a great weekend enjoying some of the best that Texas has to offer.

Patience

...Unfortunately it's an attribute that I really struggle to cultivate. Being my type A/Virgo/gotta-make-plans/gotta-check-that-item-off-my-list self, it's been a struggle for most of my life to slow down, calm down, relax, and be patient. And, boy, life these days is really testing my ability to chill out. I've mentioned it a few times on the blog, but J has been interviewing up a storm for a new job after business school. With graduation officially two months away, we're starting to the feel the pressure a little bit. And it doesn't help that about 60% of his classmates already have jobs. Many of my girlfriends (mostly wives and girlfriends of other students) are already starting to plan their moves to new cities and look for housing. Meanwhile, our lease is up June 30th, and we have to give 60 days notice. Meaning... we need to know what's next as of April 30th. Yikes.

But, like I said, J has been blessed to receive numerous interviews, and while he hasn't found THE job yet, all signs point to the fact that he is a desirable candidate and it's just a matter of finding the right opportunity. He's got 3 interviews next week at a West Coast MBA recruiting forum, so I am trying to remain calm, yet optimistic-- not gnaw my fingernails in stress or obsessively stalk Craig's List for apartment listings in a city that we don't yet have a job offer in. Patience. Patience. I think the Big Guy Upstairs is trying to teach me something. Ultimately, I know it will all work out and everything will be fine, but keeping myself calm and centered during this season of our lives has been a challenge for sure. Ever so slowly, I think I might be getting a little better at it. Here's hoping this crash course in patience is nearing completion.

(Oh, and we wouldn't mind any thoughts/prayers/good vibes you can send J's way next Friday...)

SXSW (or "I Get Paid to Dance With Sharks")

It's amazing how a couple days of not blogging can turn into almost two weeks overnight, but, fear not, the beast that has consumed my life for the past 10 days-- Austin's famed and ever-growing interactive/film/music trade show and festival, South by Southwest-- is now over. Last year, I had some of my best girlfriends from Seattle in town, and we hit up a bunch of the unofficial music shows (because the "official" shows require a badge that is upwards of $800. No thank you.) This year, I attended the interactive portion of the show (the first half of the week) for work and, thus, was the proud owner of one of those pricey little "official" badges. (Although, admittedly, the interactive show is less expensive and a lot more niche than the film or music festivals-- and the interactive badge only gets you into interactive events.)

The interactive show is combination of educational panels and discussions by day, and hyped-up, over-the-top, corporate-sponsored parties by night. All the big tech companies (think Google and Microsoft) and some of the smaller, but more fun, companies (think Etsy or Gowalla) have a presence. For context, Twitter was launched a few years ago at SXSW. And each year it seems to get bigger and more extravagant. The five day interactive show was interesting, educational, and fun-- but totally exhausting. I was really impressed with most of the daytime sessions I attended, which (unlike too many conferences) taught me new material and gave me some new perspectives on my work and the interactive world.

But the parties... oh boy. There are numerous parties every night, all hosted by big corporate sponsors (Pepsi, Chevy OnStar, Fast Company, Lincoln, and the list goes on...) It seems that the primary objective for most conference attendees is to RSVP to as many parties as possible (like 5 or 6 per night), and then try to hit them all up in order to maximize consumption of free food and booze. The party planners have caught on to the fact that everyone RSVPs to every single event, so the fact that you have RSVPed doesn't guarantee entry. In fact, you can expect to wait in line for an hour or more to get into some of these events. And people do. Willingly.

I had success attending a few parties early on, but ran out of steam fast. Waiting around in big crowds of people for the possibility of a free drink and a cold, congealed slice of a quesadilla is not really my scene. I've got some nice wine at home, and would much rather be curled up on my couch in front of a movie, thankyouverymuch. But, when your company pays for you to attend, and then numerous team members from other offices, as well as clients, show up-- well, you press on. So I did. And, inevitably, some good stories are generated.

Take for instance... last Sunday night when my boss's boss showed up in town and and wanted nothing more than to be escorted to all of the city's "coolest clubs." (And let's be honest. Don't we all look forward to spending our Sunday evenings binge drinking with senior management? I'm a lucky, lucky girl.) After several rounds of drinks at the W, more drinks at some random bar on 6th street (hosting a lesser know media company's lackluster party on their rooftop deck), and a long, wine-soaked dinner at a steakhouse, he decided we really needed to go the club he'd heard about that had live sharks swimming beneath the dance floor. Excellent idea. Of course we did. So we set off for this chic establishment, and, lucky us! Turns out they were hosting a "fashion show" comprised of girls in skimpy bikinis, as well as... wait for it... girls in bikini bottoms with nothing on top except body paint. Classy. Having had the foresight to alternate glasses of water with my Cabernet all night, I was not nearly tipsy enough to make this an entertaining turn of events. Of course, he insisted we all stick around until the "fashion show" started, sometime just before midnight. A vat of Clorox could not erase some of those images from my head. Let's just say, a lot of those girls should not have been in bikinis. Oh, and after all that? Yeah, there were no sharks under the dance floor.

But it wasn't all pain, suffering, and awkward moments with senior management. In addition to actually learning something, I did get to enjoy a few really nice meals out and met some of my colleagues from other offices. And, when the interactive show ended on Tuesday, I somehow managed to rally and go out to see some live music (the only night my interactive badge would get me into a music event). And then I slept. A lot. I did go see some unofficial SXSW music shows on Friday night, but the rest of the weekend consisted of lots of R&R and catching up on all of the housework, exercise, and general life maintenance I had neglected for the past week.

It was a cool experience, but, as they say, all good things must come to an end. And I'm OK with that.

What's your design style?

I found this fun little quiz over at Young House Love. Apparently my design style most resembles "Old World Extravagance." The motley crew of used furniture and IKEA pieces I purchased a decade ago for my first apartment (and still make up most of my furniture collection) beg to differ, but I guess a girl can dream, right? Maybe my next place will live up to this description:

"Cozy, not oversized-- a handcrafted gem. Your kitchen is your prize. Decorative, finished... elegant. The bedroom exudes a sensuous tranquility. Like the painter's brush, your composition is done in living color. A sense of rolling hills and vineyards surround this table. The glass of red-- a highly recommended habit. Pre-war, upper east side attitude. Focused on good food and good company-- you're the chef!"

What's your design style?

To Do List

Jason has officially hit the halfway mark on his last semester of business school and graduation is less than 3 months away. I knew graduation would roll around at some point, but in an effort not to get too wrapped up thinking (worrying) about the future, I've just been trying to focus on the day-to-day and living life as normal. J is interviewing at a number of different companies in several cities, so we don't yet know we'll be after graduation (and we could end up staying here). But, it's time to start thinking about the possibility of a big move in the near future. And if we do end up leaving Austin, we've realized we need to soak up as much of the city as we can in the next few months. We still have a bunch of fun Austin things to check off our list:

Enjoy a show at the Continental Club

Hike to Hamilton Pool and take a dip

See a Monday night Bob Schneider show at the Saxon Pub

Float down the Guadalupe

Indulge in ribs, sausage, BBQ turkey at the Salt Lick at least once more

Visit the Alamo and take a stroll along the River Walk in San Antonio

And those are just the few things I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure I'll be adding more to list in the coming weeks. As excited (and anxious) as I am for the future, Austin has been a pretty amazing place to spend two years. If a big move does occur, we sure are going to miss this place!

Busy Bee

It's been a little while since I posted last... what's been going on? To start, we had our friends Anne & Gregg up from San Antonio to run the half marathon (them, not us) the weekend before last. I headed out bright and early on Sunday morning to cheer them on and thought I might end up running a mile or two with Anne if I managed to pick her out of the huge crowd of runners. I did find her... and then proceeded to run the whole rest of the half marathon with her! That was a 5 mile workout I hadn't planned on, but it was a beautiful day and so much fun to be out amidst the crowds and race day excitement. It made me kinda wish I had a big race on the agenda (until my knees started killing a few hours later, at which point I promptly nixed any race plans.) After the race, we fulfilled their request for HopDoddy burgers and I felt no guilt indulging in my Llano Poblano burger. Mmmm.

Monday and Tuesday of last week I headed to Atlanta for meetings with a new client, and then we had a few fun plans later in the week. I've been meeting with a group of girlfriends each Wednesday night to watch (and dissect) The Bachelor on DVR. Some are old veterans like me, and others are new to The Bachelor, but I think we can all agree that a.) Brad is super awkward; and b.) Emily seems way to good to be on this show. I hope he picks her, but also sort of hope he doesn't because I think she could probably find someone so much better. Time will tell... only a few weeks to go!

On Friday night, we participated in the annual MBA Big Lebowski Bowling Tournament. Costumes mandatory. Our team's performance was pretty poor, but we all picked it up on the second game, and I managed to bowl a 110, which may be my best ever. I beat J in both games. (Yes, we are terrible.)

J & I in our costumes (80s workout chick for me, random Big Lebowski dude for him)

The rest of our team, minus JH.

And, the winners-- including our good friends Joe, Dan, Andy, and Cassie. (Unfortunately I didn't get a full length picture-- you could have marvelled at the guys' super sexy cut off jeans.)

We just stayed in and relaxed the rest of the weekend. It was low-key, but one of those weekends where I managed to accomplish a lot and get caught up on a bunch of things (6 loads of laundry come to mind...) J made me dinner on Saturday night, which was a huge treat since I do 99% of the food planning, purchasing, and preparation in our household (although he does do the dishes regularly.) Here's my manly chef:

Hope you had a good weekend, too!