I love Austin

Well, I didn’t win the contest…but the guy who won had a very creative entry! And, except for my two friends who “accidentally” voted for him, I felt loved by everyone who came around me and encouraged me in my writing. Thanks! And, the silver lining to the entire thing is that I don’t have to decide between the 50 girlfriends that I promised a vacation to (:

Roy and I spent last weekend in Austin…he said he wanted an “Austin” weekend so I did my best (we typically have a reason to be in Austin since my parents live there but this time we didn’t). We were able to leave a few minutes early on Friday to beat the Dallas traffic. We made it to Austin around 8pm just in time to put our names on the hour long waiting list for Homeslice Pizza on South Congress. But, no worries, we waited across the street at Guerro’s and listened to some live music and shared a beer…it was SO Austin. After some amazing ricotta, sausage and red bell pepper pizza, we headed to my parent’s house.
On Saturday we woke pretty early to enjoy a quick breakfast with my family before heading out to Town Lake to kayak. When I was in school, I used to run the 3 mile trail at least twice a week…I always saw people taking canoes out on the lake…now you can conveniently rent them pretty cheap. We had the best time…me talking and Roy rowing. He loved it. We then grabbed our suits and went down to Barton Springs for a cool dip…and when I say “cool” I mean freezing my outer layer of skin off. Roy laughed at me as all the people and kids jumped in the water before me (when the pregnant woman got in, he counted her for two people). I finally braved the cold water and enjoyed the sun.
After a swim (or whatever you call it when I stand in the water and talk to Roy more), we drove to Wahoo tacos for some fish tacos. I learned to love Wahoo tacos when I spent the summer in Denver a few years ago…amazing food and really cheap. After finishing lunch, changing clothes and heading downtown to the UT campus, we met up with Dan and Amanda and their adorable four month twin boys for a yogurt date. Perhaps it wasn’t the best decision to ask them to meet us on the UT campus (read: no parking) but we had a great time.

After some fat free peanut butter yogurt (my favorite), we made the trek down to good ol’ Buda for some summertime birthday fun…Addison’s birthday. It was so great to see Nicole, Jessie, Holly, Danielle, Jay and all the parents…these were all friends from high school and since they’re still best friends with each other, I get to drop in when I can and pretend that we’re still as close as we were at one time. I loved it. Danielle and Jay invited us out for a drink a little bit later so when Roy and I left, I decided to take him downtown to the Texas State Capital (where apparently grasshoppers have taken over the place). After we arrived at the Gingerman (where Roy and I met in Dallas over two years ago now), we played darts until they arrived. After a fun night, we headed home (pretty early, 11pm…we’re old)!

On Sunday morning, we slept in, packed up our things and headed to Austin Stone for church (my church home away from Dallas). I love it there. Matt did a sermon on confessing your sins to the Lord for forgiveness but confessing your sins to one another for healing…again, it was profoundly simple. After church we made a quick jaunt to Wahoo tacos (yes, again) before the trip home. What a great weekend with Roy and all our friends. I love Austin.