A Kitty Christmas Adventure

I stayed up until about 12:30 am last night folding clothes and packing my suitcase. And today, after I leave work and do about a million errands, Patrick and I are going to pack up the truck and head to Houston, then a few days later, to Arlington. I can't wait to see family and friends, especially ones that I haven't seen in over a year.

It will be interesting travelling this much with two cats. We've done it with one a couple of times, but riding in a vehicle with two cats can be a little much. They feed off each other. One will meow, then the other, it almost sounds like they're talking (or yelling) to each other. I guess it's just another thing to prepare us for having kids, kind of like what happened last night...

To get them all pretty for Christmas, we gave the cats a bath last night. Well, I helped with Calliope, who didn't complain too much, and then while the bathtub was filling up for Chloe, I started dinner. Then, a good friend who I hadn't talked to in awhile called, so I was a little distracted. Even though the bathroom door was closed and I had closed the door to the bedroom, where I was on the phone, I could hear Chloe meowing pretty loudly and even Amy could hear it over the phone. Finally, Patrick walked out with a swaddled up Chloe and I eventually hung up with Amy. A little while later, he told me that Chloe had done something she had never done before while giving her a bath. She peed on him. I guess she wasn't too happy about getting in the water, or maybe she was just that excited.

A Gift from Me to You

We only have three more small presents to buy, two of which Patrick is taking care of this afternoon. Patrick's goal was to be done with Christmas shopping in September, which was a little more lofty than my goal, which was to have them all bought by Thanksgiving. So, we didn't meet our goals this year, but we seriously did better than any year before. Thank goodness for Amazon and other websites that have free shipping and even better, no taxes!

Also, I have been loving all the wish lists out there, especially the thethingsiwant.com ones. I love being able to hit the "Reserve" button and go find the exact thing that person wants, it makes me happy!

I think this has also been the Christmas that I have been the most organized. Creating an automatically updated spreadsheet on Google to track gifts to purchase, ones already purchased and our spending budget has made things so much easier. I don't have to worry about using a jump drive or emailing myself the latest version and it's accessible on any computer that has an internet connection. I wish they had had this when I was doing spreadsheets for our wedding because then I could have even added viewers and collaborators, hmm... actually, maybe that's a good thing. What's the saying? Something about too many cooks in the kitchen...

For next Christmas, we're going to try to get a major jump on things and start right after the New Year. I hope no one minds getting a 2007 The 365 Puppies a Year Calendar and 1 year old Christmas candy - how long do m&m's last anyway?

Wrapping Up for Christmas

In two weeks, Patrick and I will be heading to Houston for our annual Christmas Triangle Trek. We spend a few days before Christmas in Houston, celebrate with his family on Christmas Eve, then drive to Arlington early Christmas morning, celebrate with my family that day and spend a few days after Christmas in Arlington, then drive back to Austin. It can be exhausting, but I can't wait!

I can't believe that there are only two weeks left. I still have a number of things to order or buy and right now, everything else is piled up in our closet ready to be wrapped. Growing up, my mom was always the expert gift wrapper and bow maker. She always creates beautiful presentations for gifts, always topped with a handmade bow. She tried to teach me a number of times, saying "You can do it, it's so easy! All you do is..." But I usually just stole one of the gently used ones she had already made because I was too busy, lazy or preoccupied with something else to sit down and learn. It wasn't until I worked at The Container Store a couple of years ago that I finally learned how to make a decent bow (but nothing compared to those my mother makes) and some variations of it as well (the Aster bow is my favorite.)

Christmas seems to be the only time I sit down and wrap presents and actually look forward to it, every other time of year for birthdays, I'm just a bag and run type of girl.

TGIF

It is five minutes till five and I'm itching to get out. Mexican martinis are waiting.

A Wintry Mix

That is what the weatherman said last night, that we should expect a "wintry mix" today. And between the rain coming down as I drove to work, the ice on Patrick's windshield wipers and the snow flurries I saw as I walked into my building, I think that the forecaster was actually right this time! I know that I should be used to this since I've lived in Texas my whole life, but it will always surprise me when we have 80 degree weather one day where I'm wearing my flip flops and then freezing weather less than 12 hours later and I'm bundled up in my down coat.

So, if you haven't yet been hit by the cold and you're missing that white powdery substance, you can make your own snowflakes here.

A Record

Uggghhh. It's November. And the high today is going to be a whopping 91 degrees here in Austin, Texas. Where did the cool weather go?

Race for the Cure

Early Sunday morning, before dawn, we all woke up to go out and walk in downtown Austin at the Race for the Cure. It was VERY early, the sun wasn't up and I'm not even sure if coffee was made yet. But we had muffins. Lots of blueberry muffins. There was angry chick rock playing at Auditorium Shores and a little confusion as to where the race actually started. But we found our way and walked to support a cure for breast cancer.

The nuclear Maxwell family, sans spouses


Patrick & Ruth Ann


My "In Celebration Of" sign
My aunt and my mother-in-law


Patrick's "In Celebration Of" sign
(yes, he now knows how to spell "Hiler")


Some Breast Cancer Survivors in Pink
Nancy's in the middle in front of the only boy


Front of the Texas Capital


Muffin break


Back of Texas Capital
Hook 'em Horns!


Pink Dogs supporting the Race for the Cure - Woof!


The End

I have no idea how long it actually took us to walk the 5K, but it sure as hell wasn't an hour and a half!

Ahhh, the Mammaries....

Practically the whole Maxwell family (minus one) is coming out to run/walk the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure this Sunday here in Austin. And I waited way too late to set up a group for us all to join, we (Patrick that is) even came up with a great name - "Thanks for the Mammaries". Then I saw that it was already taken, along with some other hilarious ones, of which "Save Our Rack" is my personal favorite.

It will be so great to see my sister-in-law who is carrying my little neice or nephew. I can't wait, it's been way too long!

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!



Disclaimer: The university depicted in this photograph does not represent the loyalty of this blog's writers, only that of the writers' friends .

One Year Down

Has one year really already gone by?

We camped in the sweltering sauna that was our Coleman tent at Pace Bend Park. Fought off scorpions in the showers. Saw a Great Blue Heron fly away from below us on a cliff. Watched The Last Kiss at Alamo Drafthouse. Laid around and watched DVDs while enjoying the beautiful flowers that Patrick surprised me with. Listened to a jazz band while eating pot roast al fresco, under the stars with a cool breeze.

Happy 1st Anniversary honey!

PS We weren't really on the cover of Texas Monthly. But since the 1st anniversary is "paper," I gave him a subscription to it and created our own special "cover."

ACL Photos

Photo Diary of last weekend:

Friday: Nickel Creek, Gnarls Barkley, Thievery Corporation, Van Morrison

I forgot my camera on Friday. :o(

Saturday: The Shins, Calexico, String Cheese Incident, Willie Nelson

The Shins

If you squint, you might be able to see Willie Nelson

What is a Willie experience without smuggling in something?
Our "Smart Water" (or juice of the Agave)

Brandi & Chris
I wonder what he's laughing at?


The Boys:
Tom (but some people call him Dan), Brent, Chris & Patrick


Enjoying Willie

Sunday: KT Tunstall, Jack Ingram, Matisyahu, Matt Costa (while standing in line for Kettle Corn), Flaming Lips, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

Lauren & I enjoying KT Tunstall

Tracy and I are very proud of our ponytails while Matisyahu gets funky

Watching the Flaming Lips with Ben & Lauren...see the singer in the "hampster ball"?

Camping out for Tom Petty

Waiting for the rain to subside and ecstatic to see Tom Petty!
(or maybe it was the smuggled bourbon?)


A Fuzzy Tom Petty

The Cat is Out of the Bag

I can only imagine how hard it was for them to keep this a secret for a couple of months because it was incredibly difficult for us, especially when right after we were let in on the news, we spent the entire weekend with my side of the family. Discussions that weekend even included baby names for goodness sake and none of them had a clue what we were keeping from them. So, now that they have officially announced the news, I am so excited to say that Patrick and I are going to be Uncle and Aunt to his sister and brother-in-law's child.

Congratulations to the happy couple and their little-one-on-the-way!

Three Days of ACL

Friday: Nickel Creek, Gnarls Barkley, Thievery Corporation, Van Morrison
Saturday: The Shins, Calexico, String Cheese Incident, Willie Nelson
Sunday: KT Tunstall, Jack Ingram, Matisyahu, Matt Costa (while standing in line for Kettle Corn), Flaming Lips, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

Unfortunately, we missed Guster on Friday and had to finally make some choices between certain performers during the three days, but all in all Austin City Limits Festival made for an amazing weekend. It was hot and steamy but the music and food made up for it. Taking a dip into Barton Springs proved to be an adventure thanks to these little guys, but at least we got to cool off. Really, no worries though, they were small and easily removable. Someone tried to tell us that they were the "vegetarian kind".... right, so why were they attached to my foot? We later confirmed that, yes, all kinds are carnivorous.

I was worried that I had been building up Hudson's Hot & Crunchy Chicken Cone over the last two years, but it was just as yummy as I remembered it. And they added the Hot & Crunchy Avocado Cone to their menu, which was just as tasty. The next cookbooks on our wishlist: Cooking Fearlessly and Fired Up, because I don't think I can go another year or two without a Hot & Crunchy something.

Thievery Corp made me want to take belly-dancing lessons, Matisyahu gave a shout out to the fans on top of the port-o-potties, and how often will you get to see Van Morrison perform "Brown-Eyed Girl" (or how I sing it, Green-Eyed Girl, thanks to Amy) live? Flaming Lips definitely put on the most interesting show, complete with the lead singer rolling out like a hampster in a ball into the crowd, while confetti and oversized balloons filled the air and dancers in Santa Suits and Purple Space Age Dresses boogied on stage. All three days were great, but we agreed that Sunday's lineup was by far the best.

After Flaming Lips finished their set, we rushed to the middle to grab a spot for Tom Petty and once we were there, there was no moving till the end of the show. Those of us who realized we were without beer or had to use the facilities would just have to wait, because if you left, and even made it back to the group, you most likely would not have a place to stand. When Tom Petty finally took the stage, he brought with him the cool wind and thunderstorms that we had been expecting all day. After about 3 songs, there was a pause in the set while drums and guitars were covered with tarps and the rain poured down. The seasoned festival goers, Ben & Lauren, pulled out their rain gear as we all huddled under a couple of umbrellas and finished off our smuggled flask of bourbon to keep warm. He promised that once the rain had passed, he would give us a long set, and that he did. Even his encore consisted of 4 or 5 songs.

My feet are tired, my shoulders are a little pink (even with multiple applications of sunscreen), and neither of us got much sleep last night before having to wake up for work today. But we got to spend three days listening to some great music, eating great food, and hanging out with great friends.

Pictures to come soon...

Austin City Limits Festival

As far as I know, Patrick still hasn't picked out who he wants to see. And there are quite a few acts I can't decide between, so this ACL schedule will probably have some major alterations over the course of the weekend. You can also access it at the ACL Festival website and enter in my code: ACL221006. If you're coming to ACL this weekend, lets meet up and have a Hot & Crunchy Chicken Cone from Hudson's on the Bend and wash it down with some Sweet Leaf Tea and a side of Kettle Corn. I think I'm as excited about the food as I am about the music!

2 days, 8 hours till Kickoff

My Buckeye in-laws are coming to Austin this weekend to participate in the Ohio State trek to the city which bleeds Burnt Orange. Patrick's mom asked us if we wanted to join them on the Buckeye Party Boat Cruise on Friday night on Lake Austin. My answer? "As long as I can wear Orange!" So, tomorrow night, Patrick and I will be surrounded by Ohio State alumni, decked out in Orange and White.

Austin is expecting an estimated 35 to 40 THOUSAND Ohio State fans to come in town this weekend. Just about every hotel room is booked and buckeyes have already started the invasion. Only 4000 tickets were allotted to OSU, so I can only imagine what the sports bars are going to look like this weekend...But with so many people buying UT season tickets just to go to this one game and buying individual tickets for thousands of dollars on craigslist, ebay or stubhub, I'm sure the stadium is going to be speckled with scarlet. But if those Buckeyes want to get a tailgating spot, they better start early because Longhorns have already started camping out to stake out their spots.

So, Horns: Come Early, Be Loud, Stay Late, and Wear Orange!

The Nitty Gritty

Before we got married, Patrick and I spent some time on a couple of occasions with the minister who married us and discussed just about every topic under the sun: family, friends, children, sex, habits, worries, religion, money... And although I didn't get the chance to watch this episode (I wish I had), Oprah had a show titled Lance Armstrong's Ex-Wife: The Truth About Her Marriage. Part of that show concentrated on Questions to Ask Before You Get Married. We covered most of those topics, but what a great list that gets into those nitty gritty details that might be hard but ultimately have to discuss with the person you love and truly want to marry. And because your own ideas, thoughts and desires tend to change over time as you yourself grow and as you both grow in your relationship, I think these questions are great to continually re-address throughout your marriage. Just some thoughts from someone who has been married for almost a year.

Clutter & Mementos

Patrick and I were going to get a 2 bedroom place so that he could have an office for schoolwork but after looking at the Austin apartment market, we decided to stay in our 1 bedroom for at least another year. As nice as it is to stay in once place and not have to move, it's so hard to get motivated to cleaning junk out and getting rid of things. It was a lot easier to clear out piles of stuff when I knew I wouldn't want to move it to another apartment. I mean seriously, do we really need booklets from every retreat we've staffed?? (because combined over the years, that's a lot!) I think I'm just getting less sentimental over paper things.

I do however have a box of all the greeting and RSVP cards we got from our wedding and intend to scrapbook them at some point, but if you look on our fridge we still have both our Wedding and Rehearsal Dinner invitation held there with a magnet. I believe those are supposed to be preserved in a frame or something so that every time the door is opened, they don't go flying off to become playtoys for our kitties. So, I'm guessing that the scrapbook will have to wait until I actually get my stuff together enough to have a framed memento from the happiest day of my life. Wait, scratch that. I take that back, I have two framed mementos, our Marriage License and one of my favorite pictures from our wedding. It's just that everything else is being stored behind Patrick's leather "throne."

Wedding Season

July has been our wedding season. We've been to two weddings this month and still have one more to go to this weekend. With being an out of town guest to all three, I can't help but think of all of our friends and family that travelled from out of town to our wedding and how thankful I am that they gave up a weekend to spend it celebrating with us.

At Michelle and Eric's wedding, not only did we get to see two wonderful people tie the knot, but we also got to have fun with some good friends from CGS.

Michelle, Eric & their cake

Some of the folks at our table

The attending CGS crew

With the gorgeous green backdrop, we couldn't resist posing for some of our own pictures.

The Maxwells


Rebecca & Doug


Again, Jenny hamming it up

The third weekend in July, Patrick and I got to see a good friend of mine from college marry an amazing man. Karen and I were in a small group bible study together for the first two years of college. She is an amazing woman of God who I have always looked up to and am so happy that the two of them found each other. As I watched Karen walk down the aisle, I was in awe, she was one of the most beautiful brides I had ever seen. And then Patrick whispered in my ear "James is biting his lower lip." And then I looked at the groom, then looked back at Karen and tears started welling up in my eyes as I watched theirs do the same. Watching the those two marry each other was such a wonderful experience. It really brought back not-too-old-memories of seeing my groom as I walked towards him down the aisle.

After Karen changed from her gorgeous white wedding dress near the end of the reception.

I just wish I had gotten some more pictures, but the lighting at the reception was not quite right with my camera and the flash didn't want to cooperate.

See what I mean? blurry.

This Sunday we are heading out to Galveston for the last wedding of the season. Patrick's high school friend and college roommate, Kurt, is getting married and we can't wait to meet his new bride!

Almost a month later...

So, I've been 25 for almost a month now and I now have pictures (thanks to Brandi) to share from the wonderful party that we had!

Its like a mini CGS reunion!


Jenny is such a ham! I have more pics to prove it...love that new Austinite!


One of my two favorite girl twins ;o) - Haleigh and Sam


Nathan and Julie - yeah, I think most of what's on the table is still hanging out at our place, along with a cooler full of Lonestar.


Awww Rebecca and Doug are so cute!


Josh and Sarah - and if you weren't around for it, my goodness, this guy knows his Trivial Pursuit!


Julie won this one!


Boxers or Briefs? Next time, I want to play too!


No candles, so a shot of tequila will have to do, thanks hun (and Brandi!)

I'm not sure what was so funny, if you know or have ideas, please share!


Brandi finishing off the chocolate icing...mmmm