Locks of Love

After growing my hair out for a couple years, I finally had it long enough so that I could donate to Locks of Love. The ponytail ended up measuring a good 11 inches. And with record breaking heat here in Texas, I'm so glad to have that hair off my neck! Patrick took a couple steps back when he walked into our apartment that night...I guess he was just a bit surprised to see me!

Before

new haircut with Locks of Love ponytail

Pictures & Books

Our computer at home is literally sitting wide open on the floor with the monitor displaying a bright blue screen saying something about BIOS. So, that means my pictures of L.A., my new Locks of Love haircut, and our "new" chair are still living in my camera. Blah. I guess they'll show up eventually.

Last night, I finished a cute book that I actually ended up giving my Dad for Father's Day. And despite the title of the book, I think it's really a sweet and loving look at parenthood, but specifically about fathers. Written by mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, wives, and husbands - it let me reminisce about childhood and look towards the future of being a parent and a wife of a father. I hope my Dad enjoyed or is enjoying the book as much as I did.

Happy 4th of July! (a week later)

Our 4th of July consisted of Big Love, Californication, lots of walking to Auditorium Shores, throwing some bones with friends, eating fried chicken, lusting after all the puppies in the park, watching fireworks while listening to the Austin Symphony play 1812, and laughing at Patrick returning to the group with a large pink plastic coconut drink. Yay for days off of work!

Confession

I have a confession to make...I am now a Crocs wearer. Now, I was never a huge fan of the original Crocs style....they're ok, really cute on little kids but when they get big for grown ups, not really my style. But I always heard the raves on how comfortable they were and every time I tried them on, I knew it was true but just couldn't bring myself to actually buy them. Then I saw these:

and I wear them all the time and I wore them all over fashion central L.A. and nobody gave me dirty looks. Patrick thinks they are still hideous, but I've gotten so many compliments on them, so maybe he just doesn't know how cool his wife really is.

New Toy

Our computer has been acting funny ever since I turned it off the other day during a lightning storm. And I haven't been able to download my pictures from the LA trip yet. So, in the meantime I have to tell you about my favorite new toy.

Rachael and Hagan got it for us for Patrick's and my birthday and it's amazing! The Roku is the Netflix TV set top box instant player. So anything that you can instantly watch on Netflix on your computer, we can watch on our TV without having to do some crazy wiring hookup. I've been able to watch Showtime's This American Life (love Ira Glass), some of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival shorts (makes me want to go back) and the first feature film I saw on it was The Business of Being Born (started lots of thinking/discussion.)

I give the Roku two enthusiastic thumbs up!

Back in the ATX

Had lots of fun in L.A. but always good to come home to an amazing husband and two cuddly kitties. Will post a summary of the trip along with some visuals soon, but in the meantime wanted to share some exciting news....

Noooooo....not that.

Tiff's Treats will soon be in North Austin and available to deliver in the area!!! This makes me way too happy. And very reminiscent.

It's been awhile...

It's been over two months since I've written a post. And a lot of things have happened since April, so I'm going to continue my bullet style of last time in no particular order

• We flew to South Carolina to attend Patrick's cousin's wedding and got to hang out with a lot of family, eat some amazing food, and drink a lot of Newcastle. I definitely want to go back when we have more time to see more than the hotel room and visit the fam out there. Patrick's cousins are amazing people and I would love to spend more time with them and their kids since we rarely see them.
• For Mothers Day, Patrick and I trekked up to Arlington to spend it with both sets of parents, Laura, Eric & Sophie and some of my extended family. We got to surprise Mamaw (my Mom's mom, the last grandparent for both Patrick and me) with a homemade Trifle, assembled in our hotel room.
• We did not see the Maxwell/Scott clan in a hotel room for a third weekend in a row.
• Patrick got a promotion! He's now the Operations Manager, the #2 guy in Austin for his company. So, needless to say, he's been working crazy long hours.
• My 19 year old cat Lily passed away about a week ago. She lived a very long, good life and will be missed.

Rachael and Lily cuddling quite a few years ago

• After Lily's passing, and some begging from Rachael, Hagan and Rachael adopted an adorable kitten. Meet Professor Pork Chop! (Now Chloe and Calliope have a cat cousin!)

Professor Pork Chop

• To celebrate my birthday next Monday, I'm heading out to the West coast to visit Courtney. A week long vacation and I can't wait! It will be so nice to get away for awhile, but I'll definitely be missing Patrick while I'm gone. Although, I'm sure he'll be fine playing a bit of Madden and enjoying some golf.

(Both photos stolen from my Sister)

Absence, Update & A Plug

I guess I had a lot to say in February and the beginning of March. But I feel like I've been incredibly busy over the past three weeks and haven't had much time to write. So, since I last wrote:

• Patrick and I have become obsessed/addicted to trying new wines and finding local vendors that sell our favorite Texas wines, thanks to the Hill Country Wine Trail. And now looking foward to the Austin Wine Festival!
• I traveled up to DFW metro to have some much needed girl time with both Amy and Courtney. And got to see Courtney's great-niece!
  
• Easter came and went and for the first time since I was a kid, Patrick and I dyed eggs!
• Our little niece Sophie turned the ripe old age of 1 year old, and apparently has grown teeth and visited the White House.
• The kitties became very interested in our storage closet that holds our water heater. Later, I found out we had a "visitor." After waiting a day in hopes that it would find it's own way out with no luck, I had to extract the scared little bat.

***And a plug for my sister: please visit and comment often on the FN Dish. She's the associate producer and we want her to keep that position! If you check out last week's video, you get to see Mr. Tony Bourdain rant on the Food Network - love that clip!

Zebras!

Over the course of two weekends, and driving all over the Hill Country tasting wine, Patrick and I got to see a lot of different wildlife, beautiful plants but most notably, animals you don’t normally see in urban Austin. I see a number of deer driving around the hills of west Austin, but it seems that parts of the Hill Country can pass for Africa. Yes, there are cows, calfs, and Beefmasters but we also saw havalinas, llamas, ostriches, sheep, antelope, and at one point, even zebras. As we were driving around a bend, I looked to my left, across Patrick driving, and noticed some rather large elk-like animals and the only thing I could come up within the two seconds before they went out of sight was, “Stuff over there!” Between the long day of driving and all the wine, I guess my mind was pretty useless at that point.

Winos - Part 3

The continuation of our Wine Trail experience...

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Mandola Estate Winery – We had missed the two wineries in Driftwood the weekend before, so we decided to start off there on Saturday. And to our surprise, our friends Tracy and Brent also decided to start there and also follow the same route as us for the day. So, we met up with them in the tasting room and all four of us got to try out some yummy wines. Patrick and I took away their Canto Felice which was a slightly sweet blend of 5 grape varieties, which tasted so good with the Chocolate covered cranberries paired with it. I just wished we had known that Mandola also had a restaurant at the winery, we just might have to take another trip down to Driftwood to try it out.

Driftwood Vineyards – This place was up on a hill which overlooked the rows and rows of grapevines. I would’ve loved to have seen the sun setting from the porch, but since it was about 3 in the afternoon and drizzly, that wasn’t going to happen. The only wine we weren’t too fond of was one of their white. And to be honest, I can’t remember if it was the Chardonnay or the Viognier, but whichever one it was, it tasted like a combination of asparagus and feet. Not good. Their Super Texan, Lone Star Cab, Longhorn Red and Syrah were all tasty, but for something a little different, we ended up bringing home a couple bottles of their Sangria.

Texas Hills Vineyard – By the time we had arrived at Texas Hills, we had visited a number of wineries, but the person guiding us through this sampling was by far the best. And I’m sad that I didn’t write down her name for future visits. She lead us through the list, and even though we were only alotted 5 samples per person, she just kept pouring so that we got to try almost all their wines. They had 3 Cabs where each came from a different vine: a 5 year old vine, a 20 year old vine and a 22 year old vine. I was amazed at the difference 2 years make! We bought the youngest and fruitiest of the three, from the Drew Tallant Vineyard and also the Cinque Vino Rosso, another blended grape wine which has a beautiful peppery finish. Next up is to buy is their Orange Muscato… At this point, we had to say goodbye to Brent and Tracy as they headed over to Fredericksburg and we headed home with a short stop at McReynolds Vineyards.

McReynolds Vineyards – I wasn’t quite sure we had pulled up in the correct place at first. There was a dog barking at our car out front, and I didn’t see a door to enter. We were concentrating so hard on not running over the dog, we didn’t see the construction of the new wine tasting room on our right. So, the McReynolds have a temporary place until the construction is finished. We crowded in there with a few other groups and were handed a number of generous pours by Mr. McReynolds himself while munching on his wife’s homemake brownies. I was a fan of their 2004 Merlot, while Patrick really liked the 2006, so we decided to take home both.

Make Your Vote Count Twice!

This is the first time in my short voting history where I have felt excited that my vote might actually count for something. For a moderate-liberal who usually votes democrat, living in a "red state" usually means that my vote gets thrown aside and forgotten about. And by the time the democratic primaries have made it to Texas, the candidate has already been chosen.

For the first time, I am seeing potential presidential candidates in TV commercials, visiting Texas, and even debating in my town, at my alma mater! Yes, I'm sure this will get old after awhile, but it's nice to finally be considered.

I have never voted in a primary and when I found out that Texas has a "two-step" process, that confused me even more. For those of you in the same boat as I am, check out the below information:

If you want to make sure your vote really counts (in effect, counts twice) for your candidate of choice, you do in fact need to do two things.

What to do:

1. Cast your vote in the usual way, either by Early Voting or on March 4th
2. At 7:15 PM on March 4th, after the primaries close, head (back) to your polling place. There, you sign a form that indicates your support for your candidate of choice. You can leave then, or you can stick around and help appoint delegates to the State Senate seat convention.

Special note for Austinites: Our State Senate district, represented by Kirk Watson, is the most powerful Democratic district in the state of Texas; we get eight additional delegates in the caucus portion. That's why it's extra-special important that if you feel very, very strongly about your candidate of choice, you need to get your arse to the caucus, stat. You don't have to for your primary vote to count, but if you want more than just party insiders to do the voting at the caucus, go!

For a more lengthy explanation of the delegate choosing process, go here.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Patrick! Hopefully, I'll be able to surprise you with a real one someday. I love you!

Lunar Eclipse

I remember sitting on the porch at the Blanton Dormitory my freshman year watching the lunar eclipse with Patrick and some other friends. I was so amazed at the brightness and richness of color that the moon cast off.

Just after 9 pm CST tonight, the moon, the earth and the sun will line up so perfectly that the full moon will turn a gorgeous shade of orangey-red for the last total lunar eclipse until 2010. So, if your somewhere it is not cloudy (unlike Austin), enjoy the view! It's an amazing experience. I'm sad that we won't be able to drag Patrick's telescope out to see it this time.

Funny Valentine

Candied Sweet Potatoes, Asparagus, and Strawberry Chipotle Pork Tenderloin

Our Valentine's evening consisted of a beautifully put together dinner, Shiraz-Syrah from Dry Comal Creek Vineyards and deciding to plop down in front of our TV so that we didn't miss Lost. Perfect evening!

Winos - Part 2

This is all about our second day trip through the Hill Country Wine Trail.

Sunday, February 10, 2008
Dry Comal Creek Vineyards – Patrick got the Red Flight and I got the White/Sweet Flight so that we could try 6 of their wines in addition to the sample of the Black Spanish we had. We couldn’t decide on what exactly we wanted to bring home with us, so we got a bottle of the Shiraz/Syrah and the Dry Comal Red. The Dry Comal Red is supposed to be a dual use wine – it goes great with barbecue or spicy foods as well as chocolate, so we can’t wait to put it to the test!

Comfort Cellars – We had started a little late on Sunday and after pulling up into the parking lot, we decided that we would rather just keep moving on to the other vineyards. We didn’t feel too adventurous about trying their Jalapeno Wine.

Singing Water Vineyards – This was quite a drive, but the scenery was totally worth it. This place focused on merlot the most, which isn’t usually a wine we reach for. But their Sweet Lupe (named for their dog) was wonderful and had a fruity sweetness to it that I’ve never tasted in a merlot before. We learned that MT-TH on the wine barrels mean “Medium Toast with Toasted Heads” which references how long the oak barrels have been toasted and whether the top/bottom are toasted as well.

Sister Creek Vineyards – At Sister Creek, we bought our only white wine of the weekend, the Muscat Reserve. Lightly sparkling, well balanced and I can’t wait to try it with Patrick’s cheesecake.

Winos

We headed out to the Hill Country Wine Lovers Trail which is an annual event for the two weekends around Valentine's Day. We drove from winery to winery tasting flights of wine samples and ended up with bottles to fill our new wine fridge.

After visiting all these places, it's really neat to go into Whole Foods, HEB, or Central Market and see a wine we tasted out on the trail. "Hey, we've been there!"

Here's the first installment of the reviews by day:

Day 1 - Saturday, February 9, 2008
Fredericksburg Winery – It was the first place we went and weren’t too sure what to expect. They had a Dry Pinot Noir and a Sweet Merlot which kind of confused us. We bought the Christmas Trail mulled wine that is served warm. Later, when we went to other places, wineries would kind joke about this winery… “they’re kind of ‘out there’…”

Grape Creek Vineyards – After trying all eleven of their wines, we brought home a bottle of the Black Label Bellissimo which was really brought out by the salsa they paired with it. Beautiful place, but so busy with all the tours. And I'm not sure if it was the crowd or the wine, but I started getting pretty warm at their Black Label bar.

Torre di Pietra Vineyards – This was one of our favorite places on Saturday. Very busy due to the tour buses and limos that people had rented, but they had a wide range of wines to choose from and we only got to sample about half of them. We bought a bottle of Red Flirt and would have loved to have gotten a bottle of their Tango Port, but chose not to this early into the trail. We sat outside and enjoyed a couple of sandwiches we brought and played with the friendly vineyard kitty that roamed around.

Becker Vineyards – They had so much to choose from but the Zinfindel was by far our favorite here. Beautiful grounds with a lavender field, a tiny cottage, and band on the porch fiddling away.

Woodrose Winery – After a long day of driving and wine tasting, it was nice to sit down here and be served wine restaurant-style instead of standing at a bar. They had a small blues band playing on the deck outside and when we walked out, they were playing our song: At Last by Etta James. There were a couple of wines we liked here but ended up buying the Rosé of Sangiovese for something a little different to add to our growing collection.

Bird Watching

The Kitties love watching Planet Earth on the new TV!

Because I Win

Patrick and I have a bit of a competitive streak in our marriage. He likes to win. I like to win. But he really does not like to lose....especially to me. He beats me all the time at trivia games and I don't like it, but I can understand that he stores a lot of useless data in that head of his. Trivial Pursuit, no contest, he gets the full pie before I get two in. Scene It? He guesses "On Golden Pond" before any letters are filled in during the hangman portion. He even beat me at the Friends Scene It game that he got me for Valentine's last year.

There really are only a few things that I have found that I can beat him at consistently: air hockey, miniature golf, and Pente. Pente is a game Patrick used to play as a kid and I finally found the game and got it for him for Christmas. We've played a number of times, and he's won a lot of them, but I have to say, I can kick his ass at Pente.

The way to win is to either a) get 5 stones in a row: horizontally, vertically or diagonally or b) collect 5 pairs of your opponents stones.

I had the amber stones, Patrick had the green. Not only did I get 5 in a row, I got 6!! That's how good I am.

And if you can't tell in the picture above, here's a better view:

I've asked him a couple times since I won that game, if he wants to play again but he always seems to change the subject.

Plates

Here's your chance to vote for the new standard issue Texas License Plate. Voting is from February 4th - 11th.

My Thoughts on the Designs:

• My Texas - An updated version of the current plates. Looks ok.
• Lone Star Texas - Looks so cheesy - kind of like a Nascar hat.
• New Texas - Not a huge fan of the "composite skyline". Texas is BIG and everything is spread out!
• Natural Texas - As much as I like all things "Natural", this just looks muddled.
• Traditional Texas - Simple and to the point. I think this might be my favorite.

Locks

Today, I got out my ruler and measured the length of my hair from my chin. 8 inches. Two more inches to go to meet the minimum of 10 inches for Locks of Love. I might want to go longer, but it just depends on how long I can actually stand dealing with long hair. I feel like I've been growing my hair out forever, when in reality, it's only been a conscious decision for the past year or so. A couple of my friends have done it (Amy & Brent) which has inspired me go for the long wait. And even though my hair is not thick by any means and would need another 50 ponytails to make a wig, well, hopefully it will help at least one child.

I'll post pictures of before and after when the cutting day finally comes!