Snow Day!

We had bona fide snow today here in Austin, Texas. For three, maybe four, hours this morning, big fluffy flakes drifted down, just coating the ground. This, of course, created a "weather emergency," and as a result our office closed down at 1pm. No complaints here! Shockingly, I had no meetings booked for this afternoon, so I was able to come home and work from the couch for a couple hours while watching 7th Heaven reruns. (I don't know... I just happened to flip past the Hallmark channel and they were on... No judgement... ; )

I also whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies (what's a snow day without baked goods?!) and now I'm sipping a glass of pinot grigio with rosemary chicken and potato fennel gratin roasting in the oven. It's so amazing to be able to leisurely cook dinner on a weeknight, have it actually be ready by 7pm, and be able to clean as you go so that the kitchen is sparkling when you sit down to dinner. I love me a good snow day!

(And yes, two days ago I was lying out by the pool. Apparently this is par for the course in Texas.)

Avatar, pool time, and live music

That about sums up our weekend... Super low key and relaxing, and totally "Austin." On Friday night we headed out to our fav Tex Mex joint, Curra's (mmm... avocado margaritas... sounds weird, but tastes divine!), and on our way home we heard some lively music blaring from the outdoor bar at Guero's. We've been bad Austinites-- in the 7 or so months we've lived here, we haven't gone out of our way to hear live music once. A few times we've kind of stumbled into it, but we've been telling ourselves on an almost weekly basis that we need to get out and see some shows.

We had had plans on Friday evening to hit up Austin's legendary Continental Club (which also happens to be about 2 doors down from our apartment) after dinner, but on a whim decided check out the blues-y rock at Guero's first. That was a good call. We ended up staying for two hours (and quite a few margaritas), and it was fantastic. The band was called Los Flames. I didn't really know many of the songs, but I felt like it would have been the kind of music I would hear if it was about 1954 and I was hanging out a tavern deep in the bayou in Louisiana. And listening to it outside, on a balmy evening, under grove of huge live oak trees strung up with globe lights was perfect.

Saturday was a lazy day. And by lazy, I mean I was in my pajamas until 2:30pm, and got dressed only to get back in bed for a nap at about 3:30. I could chalk it up to the margaritas, but work has been so insane lately, I felt like I deserved a day of complete and utter sloth. I did manage to get myself cleaned up and actually leave the house though. We went to see Avatar in 3D (and, yes, we are probably the last people in the entire country to see this movie.) I was pleasantly surprised. It's been so hyped up that I felt like it was just something I should see, but might not actually like it that much. I'm not that big into sci fi or fantasy, and I tend to get real antsy in movies longer than 2 hours, but it actually didn't feel that long to me and I was totally engaged the whole time. Definitely worth the $15 for 3D.

Today has also been pretty mellow, but I managed to get a 3 mile run in. It was also about 76 today, so I put on my swimsuit and headed down to the pool to do a little reading. I wasn't sure if it would feel warm enough, but there were a bunch of other people down there with the same idea and it felt hot-- like sweating in the sun hot, and I actually got some little tan lines. So obviously I had to send the obligatory bragging texts to my sister and pals in Seattle. (Of course, it's supposed to be a whopping 39 here on Tuesday, so they shouldn't feel too bad.) Now we're just watching the Olympics and relaxing. All in all, a fantastic weekend.

Snowmaggedon

So... funny story. This past week I had to travel for two different business trips. I travel once in a while for work, but it's not something I really enjoy so two trips in one week is a lot for me. My first stop was in Columbus, Ohio, for a client meeting. My flight wasn't until Monday afternoon, so I went into the office that morning. Before I left, I gave my client a quick call to touch base and she mentioned they were expecting a big snowstorm. I had to drop my car off at home before heading to the airport, so I ran in and threw an extra change of clothes, some workout gear, and a novel into my suitcase. I dreaded the thought of getting stuck there, but figured I might as well have clean clothes (and squeeze in a workout) if my flight did get cancelled.

Sure enough, when I arrived the snow was falling and the city of Columbus eventually declared it a "Stage 1 Snow Emergency." My client's office closed early and only about half the people who were supposed to attend my meeting were able to show up due to school closures and bad road conditions. So I spent the entire day mentally preparing myself for the fact that I would likely be camping out at the Hampton Inn for another night. But after hours of obsessively checking my flight info, there were no signs of cancellations, so I showed up to the airport and was surprised to not only make it out of Columbus, but leave on time-- which seems like quite a feat these days, even when it's not a "snow emergency."

Fast forward two days later. I had a half day client meeting up in Dallas, and was booked on an afternoon flight back to Austin that would have me getting home earlier than if I'd gone to the office for the day. Imagine my surprise when I land and find that it's dumping snow. In Dallas. Mid-morning I received a message that my original flight had been cancelled, but that they had booked me on another flight an hour and a half later. When my client meeting was over and I headed back to DFW, I found that my new flight was delayed another 30 minutes. That 30 minutes turned into another 30 minutes and then another 30 minutes. Finally, around 6pm, they said we could finally board the plane. At this point I was starving, but knowing that the flight back to Austin was only an hour, I figured I'd forgo the airport food and eat something better when I got home.

So we unsuspecting passengers board our flight. And then the pilot gets on and tells us we should "prepare ourselves for a very long night." Never a good sign. Turns out Dallas doesn't handle snow real well. And DFW doesn't have a whole lot of de-icing equipment. And when one of their de-icing trucks breaks down, you wind up with about 24 planes sitting out on the tarmac with nowhere to go.

So we sat on the plane. On the tarmac. For SEVEN HOURS. No, I am not joking. And, yes, Obama recently passed a law to ban that kind of thing, but apparently it doesn't actually kick in until April. Sweet. So, yes, 7 hours on the tarmac. I could have been 95% of the way to Paris. But, no, I was waiting for a 37 minute flight back to Austin. With no food. At one point I actually yelled at flight attendant because I was so angry they boarded us, knowing full well that we couldn't actually take off for hours, but didn't give us the heads up that we might want to hit up Micky D's for a value meal before taking our seats. Because, you know, it was 6pm. And normal humans like to eat dinner. And they knew there was NO FOOD on the plane.

The poor woman sitting next to me, who was on a trip back from visiting her family in Peru, took me took pity on me (or else she was just scared I might start gnawing on her coat) and gave me some special Peruvian dulce de leche cookies she had brought back with her. Then she told me had been traveling since 8pm the night before, which made me feel just a smidge guilty for complaining when she was on the 4th leg of her journey home and hadn't slept in over two days. And that she was going home to see her 4 year old, who she hadn't seen in two weeks. (And I could tell the cookies I was devouring were clearly for her little toddler.) But only just a smidge.

After about 4 hours on the tarmac, they opened up the bar on the plane and said they'd give us whatever we wanted. It was pretty much a free for all-- people triple fisting beers or whatever they could get their hands on. At that point, however, there wasn't much allure to the free alcohol. I got a Coke, which I never drink, figuring I should maximize the caloric value of whatever I could ingest... and also that the carbonation might help fill my stomach a little. And distract me from the fact that I didn't bring a book, that I had already read the American Airlines Magazine twice (and once earlier in the week on the way back from Ohio), and that my iPhone battery had died 3 hours earlier (stupid work emails.)

Finally, at about 1am, the much fabled de-icing truck made it's way to us, and we were able to take off. I made it home at 2:30am. It felt like Gilligan's Island-- the 3 hour cruise that suddenly turned into the excursion from hell. Let's just say that I'm not getting on a plane anytime soon, and I cannot wait for winter to be over.

What have I been up to?

Two weeks have flown by in a whirlwind of urgent deadlines, client meetings, late nights at the office, and even a little weekend office time (yuck). The massive adrenaline rush needed to sustain my frantic running to and fro at the office for 10-12 hours nonstop each day, has left me slumped on the couch in a stupor in front of the reality tv show du jour most evenings. So blogging has slipped by the wayside. One bright spot in the hurricane of client calamity that has consumed my life of late was J's birthday last weekend. We went out with some friends on Saturday night to Chuy's for margaritas, queso, enchiladas, and the like, followed by skeeball, dancing, and drinks at Highball, one of Austin's new hip night spots. It's kind of like the Garage in Seattle with the same retro bowling (plus skeeball!), but a little clubbier with a dance floor and a DJ most weekend nights. We happened to be there on "Sci Fi Disco Dance Party" night, so the bar was half full of people in storm trooper and space alien costumes, which lent an additional festive flair to the birthday celebrations.

Last Sunday was J's actual birthday, and we spent most of the day in our PJs eating a big breakfast of waffles and bacon and watching Friday Night Lights episodes. We're already on Season 3, and even though I've already seen them all, I'm sad we're almost done. The fourth season is supposed to come back on TV sometime soon, but I haven't heard or seen anything lately. I'm going to be in serious withdrawals if it doesn't show up soon!

Later that afternoon, we cleaned up, got in the car, and then I took him on a scenic drive through the hills in the western most part of Austin. Lots of beautiful vistas and massive, massive houses. We ended the drive up near Lake Travis and had a delicious steak dinner at the Steiner Ranch Steakhouse. Yum.

This week has been another blur because I've gotten up early every morning to get to the office, have gotten back late most nights, and then in my remaining 2-3 hours of spare time between working, commuting, and sleeping, I have tried to squeeze in a couple workouts, a very small amount of housework, and, um, eating. That's about it.

However, Saturday is here once again and I don't have to go into the office. I am traveling to both Columbus, Ohio, and Dallas next week, so I expect that it will be hellacious. But for the time being, I'm enjoying sitting on my couch, drinking my coffee, and perusing the blog world. My good friend Anne is also coming up from San Antonio this afternoon with her two pooches, and we have a taxing schedule of going to the dog park and getting manicures and pedicures planned. I can't wait! Hopefully Monday morning will come very, verrrrry slowly.

Jake, Jake, Jake...

Hey Buddy-- I fully respect you for sending home the girls that you know aren't wife material (and not just keeping them around so that you can eventually make out in a hot tub with them), but really? Really? Vienna? I'm not going to go all bizarrely-vindictive-Ali on you regarding Vienna, but I think we both know you are not seriously considering her as your future life partner. Maybe you're keeping her around because you already kinda know who you're going to pledge your undying love to and she'll just make the final decision all that much easier (a la Andrew Firestone in season 3 with Jen and Kirsten-- and, yes, I am embarrassingly well versed in Bachelor history). Or maybe you're contractually obligated to keep a little crazy in the mix up until the end (um, remember that princess chick who wore all the tiaras a few seasons back? I think it was The Bachelor: London Calling)... Only time will tell. But, please, do yourself a favor and don't let her bring you home to meet the fam, 'kay?

Thanks.

The only title I can think of...

...is Blechgggghhg. I don't even know what that sounds like, but I do know that I literally did not see daylight today. I was at my office working before it was light out and left after it got dark again. Delightful. Work is pretty much kicking my butt this week, and I don't think it's going to slow down for weeks to come. My brain is fried, and I'm trying to psych myself up to go to the gym tomorrow morning before another long day. I hate the idea of getting up at 5:30am (again), but I also know I'll feel a lot better if I squeeze in a workout before the weekend. But, in the spirit of good attitudes and positivity, there are a few things I can be happy about:

• It's in the mid-70s every day this week. Two weeks ago it was in the 20s. Now it's in the 70s. I am not complaining. Bring it on, springtime! I have sandals that need a good dusting off.
• Frozen meals -- not the Lean Cuisine/Smart Ones variety, but delicious, home-cooked meals that I made before the holidays, froze, and have been thoroughly enjoying this week. There is nothing like simply heating up a batch of homemade chili after a 12-hour workday when merely operating the remote control sounds exhausting.
• J got an interview with a very-large-technology-company-in-the-Bay-Area-that-shall- remain-nameless for his summer internship-- hopefully the first of many, but it's a start!
• In less than 48 hours I will be popping a bottle of vino rosso and toasting two (hopefully) work free days.

Aaaaaaaaand, I'm spent.

Monday Night... whew!

For some reason, I really like Monday nights. Monday night always seems more relaxing than I'd expect... most of my weeknight plans tend to be mid-week, and I'm not yet totally worn out or exhausted by the work week. So I usually have the time and motivation to cook a nice a dinner, and then I have the time to just veg out and relax or watch TV. Plus, there's just kind of this sigh of relief that the day you spent all Sunday dreading is over and the week is moving forward.

Tonight I made a quick chicken saltimbocca-- basically boneless, skinless chicken breasts wrapped in proscuitto and sage, and then pan fried on the stove. Typically it's made with veal, which I'm not a fan of, but this recipe from Everyday Food (one of my best quick and easy cookbooks) called for chicken and looked relatively painless. Usually I'm a little leery of pan frying or sauteeing boneless, skinless chicken breasts, because mine always turn out tough and flavorless. But this recipe worked like a charm. I chalk it up to the delicious proscuitto giving it all that extra flavor and the quick white wine sauce that went with it. Mmmmm. Only 15 minutes to prepare and it's super tasty? This will definitely be going into my regular weeknight recipe rotation.

Now I'm settled in front of The Bachelor. This is totally my guilty pleasure-- so ridiculous, yet so entertaining. Best moment of the night so far: Michelle asking him to kick her off, and then her being surprised when he actually did. I'm also glad he got rid of Elizabeth. She definitely was playing games with him, and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed that his BS radar is as finely tuned as it is. Usually, the bachelor will put up with all kinds of crazy before he finally sees the light and kicks off the chicks that are so obviously not suitable for him. Jake is definitely impressing me more than I expected... what about you? Any Bachelor fanatics out there? Who's in your top 4? My money right now is on Tenley, Ali, Corrie, and Ella.