Saturday, September 11, 2010

West Side

If you have never been to Upper Crust Bakery, you are missing out. They have wifi, seating, parking, friendly staff, excellent grub and every bakery item you can imagine. Today I had an avocado sandwich on Honfleur (a country bread that is white and wheat mixed together) with balsamic vinaigrette. Yummy. I washed it down with a Maine Root Beer and followed it all with a fresh baked chocolate chip & walnut cookie.

The ambiance is different at Upper Crust than at a coffee shop. While I do love my time at a local coffee shop like Thunderbird or Flight Path, I sometimes want a place with a larger lunch menu and more seating. Upper Crust deserves its place in your top 5 local hangout list.

Enjoy!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Yoga

My search for affordable yoga may be over!! While conversing with my friend Maggie tonight about plans for our kiddos tomorrow (we are both nannies), she came across Ruta Maya. Apparently they offer various community classes free of charge with any purchase! I will check this out on Saturday and let y'all know what it's like, but I think free is going to make me smile. And the fact that it just HAS to also include a Soy Chai is merely icing on my yoga cake :)

Austin Storms

As anyone near a television knows, Austin got to dance with tropical storm Hermine over the last few days. We had up to 13 inches of rain in some parts of the city, a house went off the road (yes I said that correctly), a tornado warning was in effect, severe flood warnings were running on every channel all day and the sheets of water cascading down from the sky went in every direction due to the high winds.

I'm a California girl, so when I hear about things like this on the news, it freaks me out. Living in Austin though, I could see that just like the wild fires in California are only bad if you're under them, severe weather is only bad if you're ill-prepared and under it. From the window overlooking Camp Mabry, which backs up to my bosses' house, I saw a lot of water. That's all. Nothing scary, nothing torrential, nothing that made me long for LA traffic. Just a whole lotta rain. Rain that we needed. Rain that cooled us down for a spell. Rain that will mean a beautiful fall.

I wish I had pictures of the house, which Sarah and I did have the pleasure of seeing; the rain, which made everything look new; or either of us drenched, which we were at one point. Alas I do not, outside of my brain. I can tell you I loved it, and that's good enough for me!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Prop 8. Booooo

I feel the need to vent, and since basically no one reads this it might as well be here. The other night I was at the end of a good day. I had finally gotten to see the kiddo I nanny after she had been gone a week; I was closing in on my first month as a partial vegan (I only allow eggs) and feeling amazing; and I had just seen Public Enemies with Johnny Depp, who will one day be my husband, sorry Vanessa. It was a good day.

Then I got a text from a friend saying that her uncles' wedding she was supposed to photograph was cancelled due to yet another stay in the recent ruling that Prop 8 is unconstitutional. Her uncles (well, uncle and would-be uncle) were making the calls, crying.

What is wrong with our society? What has happened to the majority of Americans that has caused us to constantly turn toward each other? There is no one who needs protecting from gays who marry. What harm do they cause, what victims exist? They are two consenting adults. Adults who, when dating, are ridiculed for not being monogamous and clean. Adults who don't ask anything more than all of us ask: to be treated with respect.

I'm a Christian and I understand if you feel that churches should not be forced to marry a same sex couple, as that is a churches' prerogative. However, this country was established with the idea that all religious beliefs be respected, all people are equal and everyone has the same unalienable rights. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are the very basis of this country. It's who we are, what we're about. Not just for those who see the world the way YOU do. ALL people, as long as there is no one being harmed.

The only other argument I have heard is that the "institute of marriage" needs to be upheld. I'm sorry, but the institute of marriage is already a joke. AND it is with this belief that gays want the right to participate. They want to be respectful, honorable couples. We allow drunk people who have just met to marry, we allow drug addicts to marry, we thankfully allow bi-racial couples to marry. One day, our childrens' children will look back at this the way we in modern society look at those who tried to stop blacks from voting. With contempt, pity and disbelief.

Homosexuals aren't GOING anywhere. They've been around a lot longer than this country and they'll be around until the end of humanity. Get used to it. You don't have to like it any more than I have to like that people like Bush are alive, but get over yourselves and stop picking on others. You are responsible for your life, and they are responsible for theirs.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Moving, Painting and Fun

As of August 1st I officially got to call myself an Austinite. I moved further south to be closer to work, church and basically everything else that matters here!! I am loving my new locale and the chill local coffee shop whose internet I am currently using :)

I had this week off as my bosses were out of town, so here are the before and after pics of my new place! I spent the week painting. Woo hoo!

Bathroom Before:


Bathroom After:



Kitchen Before:


Kitchen After:


Living Room Before:


Living Room After:

Bedroom Before:


Bedroom After:


In addition to all the painting, I have also been keeping busy with helping other friends move and paint, figuring out my finances with the help of my aunt, and getting to know my new area. I found a non-profit I will start to volunteer with soon that helps gay and lesbian youth. It could not be more perfect for me and is only a couple of blocks from my new apartment. YAY!

I'm also looking for a second job to try and fix said finances, so wish me luck. Love you all!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Summer

The sunshine has finally been gracing Austin with its' presence! My nanny friends and I have been taking our kiddos to pools, sprinkler parks and various air conditioned places for a month now. Austin is blessed to have a colony of bats that live under our bridge, so we have very few mosquitos compared to the rest of the state, but somehow I still ended up with as many as 19 bites at one time. I'm certain it'll only get worse as the summer continues, but I am now armed with bug spray! I fell in love with the sun on my many contracts on ship in the heat, so I am happy to absorb all the vitamin D I can. Sun dresses, bathing suits and sandals are my outfit of choice and I can't stop smiling!!! Here's some of what I've been up to:

My friend Miranda Dodson is a singer/songwriter and performed at Stubbs. She's amazing and the show was too much fun. The Austin heat collided with a packed room and created something close to suffocation for most of us. Sweat was dripping off of everyone and we could barely move, but it was worth it. That girl's gonna be famous one day and we will all be able to remember seeing her first Stubbs gig!!


At the Thai Festival with Colins' friends we got to watch various cultural celebrations. I just loved this poster...clearly a copy of the "Jesus Loves You" slogan, this made me smile!


I just adored this creation at the Thai Festival. I'm unclear as to what it's for and why it's here, but if Buddha likes it, so do I!



This gorgeous creature is one of many butterflies that descend upon Austin in the beginning of summer. I have spent weeks now trying to not run over or step on caterpillars so they may turn into one of hundreds of species of my favorite insect!


Colin knows I love bridges, so he directed me to what is boringly called the "360 Bridge", after the highway it's on. What is NOT boring is this view at sunset!! Gorgeous, eh?



The night of Miranda's show, the Rot Rally was in town. Biker chick I am not, but I had to snap this little keepsake.



Polka-dots and pink toes. Looks like summer!!!!


While I will admit I am actually not a super fan of Sugar Mama's (mainly because the cup-cakery of the same name, though no affiliation, located in Skagway, Alaska is by far superior), I did very much enjoy hanging with a couple friends taking silly photos!


Right as the weather started to warm, I took a stroll along the river. I love this view!!!


Favorite Photos

If a picture is worth a thousand words...here's my life story from '09!

January: Oahu

February: Huatulco, Mexico

March: Puntarenas, Costa Rica

April: San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

May: Leon, Nicaragua

June: Ketchikan, Alaska

July: Valletta, Malta

Corsica, France

Dead Sea, Israel

August: Istanbul, Turkey

Rome, Italy

September: Piraeus, Greece

October: Queen Mary, California

November: Huntington Beach, California

December: Austin, Texas