My Writings. My Thoughts.
// February 3rd, 2008 // No Comments » // post
I am greatly saddened at the loss of our favorite local Mexican food place. Curra’s has closed it’s doors to all northern Austinites.
They had two locations for us only a few months ago: one by our old place near 2222 and Burnet and one by our new place at Parmer and McNeil. We found out a while ago that the Burnet location closed due to lack of funds. That was a heartbreaker, but at least we still had the one on Parmer. But that all changed last week.
We tried to have dinner there last Friday and found an eviction notice on the door. I checked the Web site tonight and they have removed that location. No more Curra’s for us.
I don’t know what we’re going to do. I’m at a loss. I don’t know of another decent Tex-Mex place up here. Don Luis was also pretty good, but they closed a few months ago. What’s wrong with you Northies? Can’t support a good Tex-Mex place when you see one?
So anyhow, if you happen to have some recommendations, PLEASE pass them on. I’ll get desperate soon. I can promise that. I can’t go more than two weeks without Tex-Mex/Mexican food. Help?
// January 29th, 2008 // No Comments » // post
I finished the 3M Half Marathon! And achieved a personal best time with a 10:35 mile over last year’s 11:01! I’m still basking in the glow. It’s amazing how something like that makes you feel like you’re on another plain.
I guess I’m officially a runner now. I never would have imagined this four years ago when I could hardly run more than 3 minutes at a time. I still say that I am not blessed with a runner’s body. I have to work hard at this. But the more I persevered through the beginning, the more I minded less that I ran at the back of the pack, the better I got - mentally and physically. My body adapted. My mind kept thinking positively. I think it’s amazing what we are capable of doing. And this is proof.
I now have 3 medals hanging on my wall as reminders that I can do whatever I put my mind to. Yay! <smile>
// January 25th, 2008 // No Comments » // post
We’ve been to Narnia!
Check out the trailer:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqzYukVDqy4&rel=0&color1=0xd6d6d6&color2=0xf0f0f0&border=0]
(Note the use of the never-dying movie font, Trajan.)
Now here’s a few of our photos:
Now of course we’re not the only ones who have been to Narnia. Tons of people have by this point. That’s why it’s so surprising that they would use this scene in the movie. Cathedral Cove is instantly recognizable by anyone who’s been there or anywhere in New Zealand. It was a great photo in my New Zealand calendar.
But I’m still excited. We’ve been to Narnia! That rocks!
// January 23rd, 2008 // No Comments » // post
I’ve been training all on my own for the 3M Half Marathon. Actually, it came as sort of an accident. I got a teensy bit lost on one of my runs and ended up running 8 miles - and had no problem with it. I figured if I can do that, I can do 13.1, so I started training.
The Half Marathon is this Sunday and I’m excited! I did two last year, but I specifically paid and trained for them in a very formal setting. It will be interesting to see if I still have it in me for this one.
I’ve been training around my new neighborhood for the entire almost-year we’ve lived here. It seems that I’ve pretty much conquered the area, save crossing a few major highways. Check out the green in the map below. It looks small, but it’s a pretty significant area.
I have a few recent running stories.
I was running around one morning and noticed that drivers were being extra nice to me. More people seemed to be waiting for me to run past the intersection rather than hurriedly turning so they wouldn’t have to wait another 5 seconds. I kind of took it in stride, it was nice weather after all, and wasn’t paying much attention. I then remembered that I was wearing my Race for the Cure t-shirt. “Oh, well maybe people like the cause,” I thought. It was only then that I realized, with true embarrassment, that I was wearing my usual bandanna to combat the cold around my ears. With my new short hair, you can’t see any of it sticking out of the bandanna! Luckily, I was almost home so I only had to blush for a few more blocks. I’ll be more careful next time! At least people are nice to supposed cancer victims!
I’ve also had some bad run-ins with angry drivers lately. I’m not sure what the deal is, but I’ve had two separate cars almost brush my leg… this morning it was as if the guy was actually aiming at me! I felt the heat! Ooo how I wish I could get these guys for something. It’s not like I’m running in the middle of the street. I need to get more runners in my neighborhood. That way drivers will at least be expecting one or two on the way to work.
Oh well, either way, it’s been nice to be running in the mornings. But it will be much nicer to remove the pressure of this upcoming race. Then I can just run for fun again. ;o)
// January 1st, 2008 // No Comments » // post
Ah, the holidays have finally ended. All of the fun visits with various relatives are over. And all I’m left with is some cool pictures… oh and a whole bunch of cool gifts! Click on any photo below to see the whole set from each holiday.
Thanksgiving Pictures:
Christmas Pictures:
The first year we’ve decorated the new house!
Dave’s Birthday Pictures:
New Year’s Eve Pictures:
That should do it for now. I hope that all of your holidays were as great as mine!
// December 2nd, 2007 // No Comments » // post
As some of you might know, Dave has had a full beard going since he grew it out a bit for his Halloween costume. I thought it was cool for a while, but it got bushy fast. Today, Dave decided it was time to get rid of the beard. (I’m sure a little prompting from the wife didn’t hurt.)
Dave shaved it in stages so that we could try out different looks. It’s also much more fun that way! We took pictures of each stage. The various stages are posted below, but you’ll have to see the entire photoset to see the fun we had.
// November 6th, 2007 // No Comments » // post
If you didn’t know, the BBQ movie was nominated for a Lone Star Emmy. So we dressed up and went out to Dallas to attend the black tie event. I was excited to buy a new dress for the occasion (new weight and all). I hope I get to wear the dress again someday… ;o) This was occasion #2 of dressing up this past week if you are keeping count.
I forgot my camera, so John M. was kind enough to share his pictures with us.
As for the event, BBQ didn’t win. But after we got a taste of the show, it was obvious that the real stars were those of local news. Only very few non-news, independent productions won. All-in-all, it was kind of a waste of time and we left 2/3 of the way through. (Filmmakers be warned, this is no real awards show. And when your local news calls itself “Emmy-award winning”, they aren’t talking about the real thing!) But it was fun to hang in Dallas for a couple of days. Dave and I needed it after basically an entire month of being apart.
// November 4th, 2007 // No Comments » // post
Dave and I have had quite the whirlwind of dressing up activities this week. I started by dressing up for our company-wide Haunted House on Friday 10/26 as a Demonette. The very next night, Dave and I headed out for a black tie event, The Lone Star Emmys. I’ll have photos of both of those to come.
Of course we dressed up for Halloween. We held a great Halloween party at our house and decorated for the occasion. We also used the fire pit for the first time. It was fun to have our good friends around us on our favorite holiday.
Then we just got back from the Texas Renaissance Festival. Both of our outfits have improved over the years and this was definitely the best so far. Anne and Bryan were the lucky people who got to join us this year in our nerdy fun. It was great to have them there. ;o)
// September 23rd, 2007 // No Comments » // post
Happy would-be 31st birthday, Greg! We’re thinking about ya! 
// September 13th, 2007 // No Comments » // post
Dave has been wearing his glasses all week thanks to a mild bout with conjunctivitis. He got his glasses in college. They are not the most attractive things in the world. I’ve been trying to get him in new frames for years and tomorrow I will finally accomplish that task.
I l-o-v-e men in glasses and Dave looks so good in most of the modern styles. It really brings out the German in him. I can’t wait!
