M A xx W Cimetière de Bracieux L L

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Birthdays

I have to say that I think I've been pretty spoiled by my past few birthdays. Last year, I spent a week in L.A. hanging out with Courtney in the hills of Hollywood. The year before, I was in NYC, spending time with both Patrick's and my sisters and getting to visit our newborn niece. Three years ago, we actually threw a big Quarter of Century party and made fajitas for about 25 of our friends (learned our lesson with that....order take-out or else your home will smell like fajitas for 3 weeks.) So this year, I think I was a little bummed that I wasn't traveling or planning a party.

It was a nice birthday. Went to lunch with Tracy and our coworker Beth, enjoyed some Mexican Martinis with Patrick and Chris (and almost Susan, but she went to Chuy's instead of Trudy's), watched UT beat up against LSU (and then end up losing the 3rd game of the College World Series), and got a million texts, emails, voice mails, and messages on facebook wishing me a "Happy Birthday." I felt loved. But there was something missing and I'm not sure what that was. Maybe it was just because I've been spoiled before. Maybe it's hitting me that I'm so much closer to 30 than 20.

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Patrick surprised me with the soundtrack to Wicked and the promise of attending the show in August, so I've been addicted to Kristin Chenowith's voice for the past week and can't wait to lock in a date to see it!

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This past weekend, we had planned to go to the Real Ale Anniversary Party down in Blanco for some free beer and music, but with record setting temperatures (106 people!!) and heat warning advisories spreading across Central Texas, we opted for the cold 68 degree water of Barton Springs. Sophie seemed to love spinning in her duckie floatie in the shallow end while we attempted to lay down in order to cover our entire bodies with the water.

And between game night with our small group, Barton Springs, dinner at Guero's, poker with Jake & Jill, and a Goodbye brunch for our friend Steven (who finally gets to be in the same town as his girlfriend Iliana, my college roomie), our weekend was packed. Fun, but packed.

This coming weekend will prove to be no different, I'm sure. Independence Day with a trip up to DFW for the Knudsen family reunion. So excited to see some of these people, some I haven't seen since getting married, and some will be seeing them for the first time (lots of new babies!) I'm just praying for no traffic this weekend.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Double Dose Whipper Snapper


I'm in trouble now that there is a Hey Cupcake just down the street from where I live. Now how about setting up a Mighty Cone next door?

Friday, June 05, 2009

Friendship, Friendship, Just A Perfect Blendship

The past few weekends have been jam packed with get-togethers and dinners and barbecues. I absolutely love it, but the weekend just seems to fly by now. Patrick said, "Well, you said you wanted friends!"

When I moved back to Austin about a year after graduating from UT, I felt pretty isolated and lonely. The majority of my friends had left town to take jobs elsewhere and I hadn't yet found a niche here. I occasionally would hang out with people from the organization store I worked at but nothing really stuck, even though I still keep in touch with one of them. I started my current job, then Patrick and I started planning our wedding which took us on the road a lot, since the wedding was in Arlington. I liked a couple of the girls I worked with, but since Pat and I were out of town so much and I was a bit distracted with invitations, guest lists and flowers, I just didn't put in any real effort to forming new relationships. I mean, how many people were we already inviting to the wedding? We couldn't afford to add any more friends right now!

Well, those two girls at work became two of my really good friends (Hi Brandi and Tracy!) And they introduced us to a lot of their Chemical Engineering Doctorate friends. Think: extremely smart but fun, laid back group who like to play dominos, drink beer/wine and go bowling.

Then, one of our old friends pops back into our lives and moves to Austin with his girlfriend, then fiance, now wife. They introduced us to another couple who we really like and live near us, so another group is formed.

We find a church we absolutely love and start to become involved with a small group. While Patrick gets really busy at work, I'm getting to know a lot of them and growing pretty close to a few of them. I keep telling him I can't wait for him to meet them because I LOVE them. We finally go to lunch with one of the couples and he agrees that they are pretty awesome. We're now very excited to be planning to live in the same apartment complex, just a building or two away from them.

On top of all this, after a lot of prayers and now thanksgivings, Patrick's sister, brother-in-law, and their daughter move back to Austin. And like I've said a million times, so excited to have them here!

So, I guess it's my own fault we're so busy now, I asked for friends and Ask and Ye Shall Receive.
Now, if we can only get Brandi & Chris and Rachael & Hagan to Austin...