Baby it’s cold outside…

Well, interesting weather it has been. Highs in the 80s followed by a hard freeze overnight! Courtesy of the great state of Texas. Yesterday morning there was snow/ice on the ground and our rooftop.

This morning’s temp was a cool 28 degrees. We thought we’d escape to California to thaw out, only to find there’s a cold front blowing in there soon too! We are not cold weather people, people, what are you trying to do to us!

Nevertheless, we’re breaking out the thermals and mittens, and heading back to our CA home for the holidays. We fly out tomorrow morning and we’ll stay until Christmas Eve. Hope to see you sometime! Give us a call at 512-965-3481 or 3482 if you want to meet up. We plan our regular Claimjumper gathering next Thursday night.

Michael’s Parents Visit the Texans

Yee-haw! Michael’s parents came out to visit us last week. They are our first official house guests (besides my sis) and were the first to test out the new pool. From what I hear, “Chez Matthew” hotel, spa and resort gets two thumbs up!

So it’s true, the Matthews survived their week-long stay in, gulp, Texas, and you know what? They didn’t hate it! Sure, it’s not California (we are very aware of that, thank you very much), but I think where we live now is nicer than they expected (and certainly has less tumbleweeds, cactus, hay farms and cowboys, y’all).

They arrived last Tuesday and we hung ’round the new pad here for a few days. We had lots of sun, but also lots of wind. Perfect weather for lounging, but not so much actual swimming. Although we all took a dip here and there. And watched Bear swim in his brand new pool.

Thursday night, my grandmother (mom’s mom) arrived to spend some time with my parents. We had a Texas BBQ here in her honor. They took a trip to the Ladybird Wildflower Center in Austin; you can see their pics at my parents’ gallery.

Friday, we took the ‘rents down to the big city of Austin. We walked around some downtown parks, exposed them to Central Market, then had dinner at our favorite beachy restaurant – the Hula Hut. Turns out Friday night is quite the party scene out there, so of course, we fit right in!

On Saturday, we drove northwest to Uncle Jaime and Aunt Debbie (Mike’s sister)’s house in Gatesville. We got to see cousins Sarah and Charity, Alexis (now 4 months old!) and Charity’s boyfriend Robert.

More Texas BBQ, and of course good times with Tio y Tia. Baby Alexis is doing great, and just as cute as ever.

On Sunday, we got to video chat with Shawna and Baby Ayden back home in Cali. This was the first time Jaime & Debbie got to see the little sweetie – and I think Grammy & Grandpa (Colleen & Mike) were ecstatic to see him as well, as withdrawal symptoms had long overtaken them since their arrival!

Well, the week drew to a close on Monday as we drove through more hill country, and along Lake Travis back to Austin. We stopped for a bite to eat at The Oasis, which sits 400 feet above the lake. We didn’t take any pictures though, shame on us.

Anyway, there is a quick update on our California visitors. We were so honored to have Michael’s parents come and stay with us. Our home is all broken in now and we’re getting the entertaining business down, so we are ready for YOU to come and visit whenever you like! See all y’all real soon!

Photos are at the gallery.

Another End in Sight

We finally see the finish line on our house. They’ve given us a walk-through date of Feb 18, with a “guestimated” move-in date of the 28th. I am very thankful we get an extra day before the end of the month as our lease is up the last day.

Bobby – true to his loyal form – has decided to come help us move! He’ll be staying with us the entire week. I’m so thankful for friends like him (for more reasons than just his muscles).

So nearing the ending on construction is kind of bittersweet in that I’m very excited to move in, get out of this neighborhood, spread out, have a pool put in, etc. But I’m dreading the work that lays ahead for us as well. More than just the moving, since we decided to do a lot of the finish work ourselves we have a mountain of tasks awaiting. Tile, paint, fixtures, landscaping, blinds etc … all in good time.

We have been very happy with the whole construction process though. Most people gave us dire prophecies of how terrible our experience was bound to be, that any and all contractors are untrustworthy, that we would likely near divorce for all the decisions and compromises that had to be made. But none of these predictions came true. In fact, it’s been pretty painless. The only issue we are dealing with now is my inexplicable regret over half the decisions we made. I wish we had done this, or that, or not done this or that, etc. Poor Michael has to endure all of my inner monologues that somehow come spewing out of my mouth into aggravating outer monologues. A very big flaw of mine.

But anyway, we’ll keep you up to date on the final stretch of this journey. And I’ll try not to complain so much about this beautiful house we are being blessed with.

This One Goes Out to the One I Love

Way back in July, I started thinking about what Michael might like for his 30th birthday. Anyone who knows us well would know that we typically don’t buy gifts for each other. Somewhere around the 5th or 6th year of our relationship we decided it just brought unjustifiable stress, and was somewhat a waste of money to buy gifts “just because”. So we sometimes treat ourselves to things we want (like a cruise, or guitar hero) as a way to commemorate a holiday or milestone.

But I felt like this was a monumental occasion, and I wanted to recognize it somehow. (Also, since I threw my (small) big sister a big shindig two years ago, I felt I had some minor expectations to live up to :)

I decided what Michael might like most is to see his Paul, since he gets lonely way out here without any guy friends around. So I got Michael Paul for his birthday. This gift meant Jess got to come along too, so I may have had some selfish motives. But this gift also meant that Jess and Paul got to come and see us in Austin, and celebrate both Michael’s birthday and an early Christmas. So it was a win, win, win.

Last Thursday night (3 days before the actual big day) I told him my parents had a coupon for one of our favorite places and wanted to meet for dinner. When we arrived at the table, he saw the balloons and gifts, and was surprised. (Especially at the princess theme). Then a shaggy haired person came up and offered him a beer. That was when PB&J made their big appearance.

Watch the video (very grainy, so sorry!):

The rest of the night was filled with laughter and joy. It was really a memorable evening. View all the pictures here.

A big happy 30th birthday to the love of my life, Michael. You are my pride and joy, and seeing your happiness made me feel like it was my birthday.

I love you!

The Parish Room – Elliott Yamin and The Last Goodnight

Anna and I went downtown Saturday night to see Elliott Yamin from American Idol play. Don’t you dare laugh at us for buying tickets, you would too and you know it. He was our favorite from that season. Just a genuine guy with genuine talent you couldn’t help but adore.

It turned out to be the most fun we’ve had in a long time! The opening acts were incredible, including The Last Goodnight, an up-and-coming band from Connecticut who are known for their song “Pictures of You.” They were so talented! Especially their keyboard player, who we agreed was the best we’ve probably ever seen. And of course, it takes a lot to impress us. After the show, the band was kind of hanging around so we got to meet them and take photos like giddy little fans. Hope they make it big one day!

This is Anna with the piano player. He was very sweet.

We didn’t get up close and personal to Elliott. Unfortunately, I guess he’s too big of a star now to mingle after the show. Although it was a small venue, which was cool.

I took a picture with “Sway” who was from the same season on AI as Elliott, and was singing backup in his band. What a cutie-patooty. Elliott’s set was amazing, his vocals were impeccable, and the band rocked! It was so much fun. Check out more pics at the gallery.

Last but not least, here’s a short video clip from Elliott. I’ll post some more to YouTube shortly.

Another Austin Visitor!

Our good friend Eric didn’t feel like he got enough quality time with us while we were in California, so he came all the way out to see us here when we got back. He also went to his cousin’s wedding since he was in town already.

We didn’t have a lot of time, but we did manage to show him some sights around town which he filmed (his profession at which he is very talented: see EricMaddox.com!)

Check out more photos at the gallery.

Relationships

Ok, on a lighter note from that last post, let me tell you about Bob and Jer’s trip. First, I can’t even tell you how great it was to have them here. Since Michael and I work at home and it’s hard to meet new people, we really don’t have any friends yet here in Austin outside of family. All of our other relationships have indeed become “long-distance.”

Michael and Bob became friends while playing on the same little league team together in ’91. Maybe it was their pitcher/catcher relationship that predestined them to remain friends for life. Michael met Jer during his freshman year of high school when they ran track together. By then, I had entered the picture, so in a sense I grew up with all three of them.

Bob and Jer are like the brothers I never had. There is something unique and irreplaceable about the friends you make during that phase of life – as teeanagers. No other relationship will ever compare. If I were to try to recollect all of the memories and life experiences we shared together it would literally take years. But it would be a blast …

Anyway, back to the trip. We picked up Bob Friday morning (Aug 24). That night we took him to one of our favorite places, The Oasis on Lake Travis. Saturday we went on a short hike down the Barton Springs greenbelt then spent the day on the water watching Bear swim. (I have some pics from my waterproof camera, but I need to scan them). That night we made our surprise pick-up at the airport and Jer joined the gang. We shocked their senses by taking them down to Sixth Street.

Sunday morning we went to the legendary Gospel Brunch at Stubb’s BBQ. The entertainment left a bit to be desired, but the food was great! That afternoon we introduced the boys to the Alamo Drafthouse (one of our favorites) and Texas’ own Central Market where we enjoyed a wine tasting.

Monday night we celebrated Bob’s 30th birthday with some more delicious BBQ from Bone Daddy’s House of Smoke. Another memorable event, especially for me as I felt a little out of place as the only female patron.

The rest of the week we sort of laid low around the house, working, watching movies, playing guitar hero, playing real instruments, and having our own brand of bbq’s.

Thursday we spent the day at my parents’ palatial pool, channeling our inner-children again, and eating, um … more bbq. I guess we’re not very creative.

That night we took the boys out to the property, and I think things began to make a little more sense, in terms of why we would decide to move here. It’s difficult to get a feel for the city in such a short time, and the fact that our current rental home is in what we like to call the “barrio” doesn’t give the best representation of what things will eventually be like. All in good time.

We concluded the week with dinner at the Hula Hut on Lake Austin on Friday night. This time it was a “Mexonesian” theme instead of bbq. Just so they wouldn’t miss out on the full extent of our legendary Texas weather, a good thunderstorm rolled in while we were finishing up, dumping what seemed like 3 feet of rain in about an hour, and treating us to a memorable lightning display on our drive home.

It was a really fun week, and one we won’t soon forget. As always, pictures are at the gallery.

And the festivities continue all through the weekend

So we had a wonderful anniversary weekend, beginning last Thursday. We started off the day the way any couple would, really, with a visit to a surgeon to discuss removing my implants. ‘What?!’, you say? ‘But they’re hardly even noticeable!’

I know, I know, but they’ve been driving me crazy since the day I had them put in. And they really haven’t given me the quality of life improvement I was hoping for. They may be small, but the battery pack and leads under the skin just rub me the wrong way. I’m talking of course about the spinal cord stimulator system that I had put in last year. I guess you would just call it one implant though I have two incisions for the two surgical sites. To put it mildly, it hasn’t helped at all, so I’ve decided to have it taken out.

Anyway, back to the anniversary. You may remember we’ve booked a cruise in November as the actual celebration – a sort of commemorative trip, since that’s what we did for our honeymoon. And the hurricanes should explain why we waited til November to travel to the Caribbean.

But it seemed a shame to let the occasion go without some type of celebration, so this weekend we thought we’d go out of town on a little mini-vacation. Only we really didn’t feel like traveling since we have so many other trips going on this year. Instead, we stayed in downtown Austin, which turned out to be just perfect. A little “gettin’ to know ya” for this new city we now call home.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites on South Congress, Friday through Sunday. After letting them know it was our anniversary, we found ourselves in one of their best rooms – a corner suite with spectacular views of the city, Capitol building and river. The first night we enjoyed the hotel happy hour and reminisced about how we stayed at an Embassy Suites resort for our first anniversary – where I’m pretty sure I broke my butt by doing a canon ball into the shallow end of the pool. Ah, the memories. I kept the festivities under control at this happy hour though, and we didn’t go swimming.

On Saturday we walked all around town, beginning with lunch at a new Irish pub we found in the warehouse district. Very enjoyable, but too dim to get any good pics. After that, we hiked the rest of the 14 blocks to the Capitol and enjoyed a self-guided tour like regular old tourists. That afternoon we did go swimming, sans canon balls.

Saturday night we hit the town. We started at the historic Driskill Hotel on Sixth Street. We enjoyed a piano concert in their lounge. Next, we went to the Speakeasy, back down in the warehouse district. This is our favorite find so far. There is a rooftop terrace, with a great view of the city and tons of big loungy couch-type seating with big pillows. Finally, we had a bite to eat at a place called Saba next to the Cedar Street Courtyard, where perhaps the best 80s cover band ever to play the earth was rockin’ out, mullets blowing in the breeze of the fans on stage. By then it was midnight, a good two hours past our bedtime, so we called it a night.

Sunday we walked all around the retro shopping district on South Congress (“SoCo”) and enjoyed another great band at an original coffee shop named Jo’s. Can’t recall the name of the band, but they were probably the best music we heard all weekend. We finished the day by visiting the legendary Whole Foods downtown, and having lunch at the Waterloo Ice House.

Ok, I’d say that’s more documentation of a weekend than anyone would ever want or need. We had a lot of fun, but believe it or not, we’re about to have an even better weekend coming up, because our best friend in the world – Bob Sherwood – is coming to visit. CAN’T WAIT!!

PICS FROM THIS WEEKEND AT THE GALLERY.

Local Family Has Too Much Fun In One Day

Permanent Smiles Give Way to Delirious Exhaustion

Yesterday we finally made it over to McKinney Falls State Park, which is just 6.5 miles from our current abode. We were more than pleasantly surprised at the scenery, to say the least! The water was tantalizing, the current swift and refreshing. We picnicked under the tall oaks along one of the hiking trails, just yards from the creek which feeds the falls. The majority of our afternoon was spent floating and swimming around the base of the falls, with – yes – permanent smiles in place.

Of course, the day wouldn’t have been complete without famous Elgin Sausages on the charcoal bbq. Or, a leisurely float down the stream. Really couldn’t ask for a better day.

View the pics at the gallery!

Waiting in vain …

… but at least not in the rain.

Last night we met my parents, Anna & Rick down by the South Congress Bridge to view one of Austin’s most famous attractions – BATS! You may remember last year Michael and I came here during our first visit, and the bats performed beautifully.

Unfortunately, they suffered a bit of stage fright this time around, and failed to appear before we all decided to leave, long after sunset. So we’ll try again some time soon. But still, I think the story of the bats migrating here is so interesting. Read more about it here.

This time of year is supposed to be perfect for viewing this eco-extravaganza as the mother bats have given birth to their young, who are now ready to join the nightly excursions.

That the bats have chosen Austin as the perfect location to start their families reminds me of this other remarkable species I know of. The Barberious Matthewsian et soon Bernsteinicus, orginally native to California, recently migrated to Austin for the same reason – it just seems to be a beautiful place to raise their young.