The World Surrounding Me

I’m not sure why, but the last few days, I’ve been a big bundle of stress. I could just feel my shoulders creeping up to my ears. My body was screaming at me to rest. Thankfully, today was my monthly “solitude day” at work — a day intended to get away from the office, recharge [...]

It was only in the mid 40s yesterday and the ground was wet, but that didn’t stop us from FINALLY trying out our new toys by playing a round of disc golf. From “Winter” 2010 From “Winter” 2010 We played at the Wells Branch course, an easy 9-hole course not too far from our house. [...]

Shortly after we got married, Matt did something both wonderful & horrible: he took me to New York City and while there, we visited Daniel’s Bagels (not far from Grand Central Station). Since that fantastic trip, I have been forever spoiled on finding a quality bagel in Austin. As I learned in a very influential [...]

Almost every time we met somebody in Maui and they asked where we were from, they’d say something like “Wow, Austin’s such a great town!” or “I hear that’s the best town in Texas” or just get all dreamy and say “Austin…” Inspired by those comments, and with much love for my adopted home town, [...]

I wish I could say it was snowing, but alas, it’s not. However, there is a bit of ice on our front steps, and there was some sort of freezing precip tonight (sleet, maybe?). I think Christmas lights look better under snow, especially lights on bushes. The glow of lights shining thru a layer of [...]

Just to let it be known that it’s WAY TOO HOT outside right now! I got out of the office (needed a break from the huge project I’m working on) and did a little shopping (when my brain feels broken as it did this afternoon, shopping somehow is a good escape). I nearly melted on [...]

Driving home today, I was amazed at how green our neighborhood is becoming. I don’t know why I didn’t notice it before -our lawn has been mowed once already this year, so surely things have been growing for a while. I just planted two new plants in our perennial/flower garden out front (just some sun-tolerant [...]

I took a quick trip to Connecticut this weekend to see my parents. We did many fun things, but one quick thing to blog about: Olde Cape Cod “Local Favorites” Chipotle Ranch dressing. Since when do Cape Cod & chipotles go together? It wasn’t actually bad, it was just odd to see the word “chipotle” [...]

I know some of our out-of-town guests are starting to think about packing, so here’s a note about what the weather’s supposed to be like. First, here is the best Austin weather link I know of. It’s our local news-only station’s weather page. I find it more accurate than the weather channel or other competitors. [...]

Well, hurricane Rita missed Austin completely. Barely a cloud in the sky and not a drop of rain here. The city was still deluged with people from Houston, but that’s something we’re willing to put up with, given their need to evacuate. The disappointing thing is that Rita was supposed to break the freakishly hot [...]