fun

Weekend!

Saturday, the best day of the week, right? Well, it is for me. It’s the one day when I can both sleep in and stay up late. It’s the one day that I have all 24 hours to spend with Emil.

Saturday is for festivals and weddings. Saturday is for mini-vacays when the week has been rough. Saturday is for projects that take more than an evening. For some, Saturday is religious (Catholics have had vigil mass for years; recently other Christian religions have adopted the practice, too. For Jews it is the Sabbath.) In my world, Saturday is for FUN! Hiking. Tubing. Sailing. Sight-seeing. Exploring and loving this fun city and grand state where we live.

Recently, I was told that a retreat for a group I volunteer for will be on a Saturday. In June/July. (Did you see that word? VolUnTEER. Work for free.) Um. NO. My Saturdays are precious and few and are only reserved for things bigger than ~10 people who won’t give up their monthly happy hour (they were ~all unavailable on a Friday evening; also tough, but easier than a Saturday)…so that we don’t have to spend a sunny Saturday in a stuffy conference room doing admin work.

Of course, since I do have plans on most of those days, it kind of works itself out. They’ll be just fine without little ol’ me.

I’ve had some spoken-but-not written rules for Saturdays for a while. Now, they are getting put “to print”.

Saturday Rules v 1.0

1. Saturdays are the most protected day of my calendar. Whatever can pull me away from having fun has to be pretty effin’ compelling.
   When I do work on a Saturday, I have a five-hour minimum. If I give up the day of fun with family and friends, I get paid well.
2. Saturdays are not for any event lasting less than four hours.
3. Saturdays are not usually for any event with less than 40 people in attendance.
4. Weddings, Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremonies/parties, Quinceañera parties, Sweet 16 parties, 40th birthday parties, 50th anniversary parties, etc. are the the kind of events worthy of a Saturday. Each is a once-in-a-lifetime event for the guest(s) of honor.
5. Saturdays are also for annual events like festivals and fundraisers.

Showers – wedding & baby

Showers are the biggest offender. I will not go to Saturday showers unless it’s a giant (See Rule #3) co-ed party with beer and grilling, for example, instead of punch and lace. Babys, weddings, whatever. Showers are only a couple of hours long (See Rule #2), so they are relegated to Sunday afternoons or even “happy hour” time-slots.

These days almost no one has just one wedding shower, and almost no one has a shower just for the first baby. See Rule #4.

Fair Is Fair

Now, before anyone gets all pissy at my for this:

• I’ve been to my fair share of graduations, showers, baptisms, confirmations, and such. I was even coerced into going to not-one-but-two of my own graduations (when I had legitimate and logical reasons to miss both.)
• At a family wedding last fall, one newphew stood with the groom while his wife/son were at her brother’s wedding in a different state. If weddings get double-booked for the same family, imagine what happens when a less important event (like a shower) is added to the mix.
• I still host family showers, even when I can’t attend. I pitch in my share of the money and do some of the prep work. I’m just not there on the day of.
• Why would anyone want a guest to attend who didn’t want to be there?
  I know I never want that. (And in fact told that to a would-be-party-crasher for Luzaween. Him: “We’ve been at the game all day. We’re hot and tired and just want to drink.” Me: “Well this is a costume party, and if you don’t arrive in costume, you’ll be forced to wear a loser costume or asked to leave.” …with an implied “I’ve met you ONCE; no you can NOT bring your sweaty friends to come mooch free beer, dammit.”)
• Speaking of Luzaween, I/we threw Luzaween (in one capacity or another from 1998 to 2008. Eek. 10 years!) Lots of people came a couple of times. Several people never came at all. That was our one thing, and now it’s gone.

These are my rules as they stand as of today.

This weekend, Emil and I have plans to tube the Comal River with some new ChildFree friends!

Version 1.0. ’cause as sure as you make a set of rules, some dolt will test the most random exception ever and cause you to create a new rule.

Baby showers are their own animal. Older women can’t stop talking about the most grotesque horror stories of childbirth they’ve ever heard. It’s not polite to the mom-to-be. And the games. gah! Gone are the days of filling in the blanks on nursery rhymes. No, we smell the “poopie diapers”, do the laundry, and measure mom’s girth. Classy.

Saturday, Emil & I wanted an adventure away from the Memorial Day weekend craziness. So, after lunch at Pita Fusion (OMG was it GOOD!), we drove out to a National Wildlife Refuge near Burnet.

Our Journey

On the way there, we ventured through some developments with marinas and/or boat docks. In one of them, we found this gorgeous windmill.

Next, we took the road less traveled through the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge. As is typical with a refuge, there weren’t really any places to stop and get photos, but it was a pretty drive with a lot of low water crossings. (And, now that we have iPhones, we have @waze, so we munched the dots on the entire road and racked up a bunch of points. Bonus!) It was strange to see homes and other obviously personal property inside the refuge. Our guess is that they were living there before it was declared a refuge. The road runs along Cow Creek, so of course we saw a lot of cows.

Just before we exited the refuge, we drove through the town of Oatmeal. I’d never heard of it until I heard Matthew Inman / @Oatmeal speak at SXSW (If you aren’t reading his comics, you should. The entire school system for Australia bought his “10 Words You Need To Stop Misspelling” posters for their classrooms. His stuff is not always safe for work, but it’s funny! And true. And real.) Anyway, they have a building with huge pavilions for family reunions and similar events. It looks exactly like the one in Deanville, Texas. They also have a “silo” piece of art painted like the Quaker Oatmeal container. Cute!

In Downtown Burnet, we found the “World’s Smallest City Park.” It’s just a grassy patch in front of their visitors’ center, but it has a gazebo and a giant bluebonnets statue.

Burnet’s “river walk” is a pretty park with lots of benches and shade.

I wish these ducks hadn’t been so scared. Their spot in the sun blew out all the color on the little yellow fuzzies.

From Burnet, we drove south to Marble Falls where we found a cute bar–with a ranch theme “R-”, the “R Bar & Grill–that had a shuffle board table. We spent most of the afternoon, there. Emil won every game but one. I have two “speeds” in shuffleboard: not worth a point and off the edge. We met a guy in a shuffleboard league who told us we were playing by all the wrong rules! Of course we were: Emil was in charge.

We meandered home via some of the central highways and stopped at the Brick House Tavern & Taphouse for a drink. I had given them one star in my Yelp review because they don’t have anything on their menu that I can even modify to eat. But, it was a nice place to have a beer & a Dr. Pepper and sit on the deck. I may have to revise my score of them.

We have a new warm-weather date that is just perfect for a “school night”: beer floats

Now, before you gross out–assuming we didn’t already lose you–it’s just beer for me and ice cream (in the form of a shake) for Emil.

Amazingly, a place that has both of these was initially difficult to find, but we realized on a lunch date at Waterloo that we can celebrate this little funness close to home, perfect for a “school night”!

P.S. This post brought to you by my new iPhone!!!

On the last day of our Mini-vacay, we were forced to get up early and check out of our cabin so we could make…

The morning Gorge tour was a bit early for me: 9am. The people there were clearly more “morning” than I am. But, with the help of caffeine, and after we finished the initial information and started the hike, I was ready.

In 2002 a massive flood hit Canyon Lake. In one day, they got their entire rainfall for a year: 34″. The extreme power through the overflow unearthed a gorge full of our planet’s history. The water flowed approximately 7 feet above the overflow (remember, there is a dam, too!) and then contained flowing about six weeks. The sound of that much water was described as several 747 airplanes taking off at the same time…and the water kept flowing for ~6 weeks!

Between hiking and learning, our tour lasted almost four hours. If you are ever in the area, the tour is a MUST DO! Tickets are only $10 and you only need 24 hours notice to sign up.

We had enjoyed the Lucky Sailor marina restaurant so much, we decided to try their “sister” and had lunch at Lucky’s Kitchen. meh. Once again, I’m reminded of how much I love Austin.

I-35 is always a “guess”, so we headed home back through the back roads that led us to Canyon Lake. This time, we drove through a little more of Wimberly. What a cute little town. We will have to go visit it one of these days!

At home, Emil napped (surprise) while I took care of a few business tasks.

Our vacation commenced with The Princess Bride Quote-Along at the Alamo Drafthouse with Beth and Marc. Best movie experience EVER! SO much fun. As we entered the theater, they gave us blow up swords, bells, and bubbles. They pulled a couple up on stage for a movie-themed trivia duel and gave away Alamo passes to a future show. We were then instructed to ring the bells for any kisses/love, blow bubbles during the wedding scene, stand up and spin in our spots when Westley rolls down the hill, and play along with the swords during the fighting scenes. While most of us were quoting lots of lines of the movie, the first official quoted line on screen was none other than, “As you wish…” I can’t WAIT for them to host a Quote-Along for When Harry Met Sally and Legally Blonde!

Pretty impressive that this ONE guy did the WHOLE thing a Capella!

It’s REALLY good at 2:00 in…and then at 3:20 he shows how he made it.

Hat tip to Leanne H. for showing me this one that tells a little about Chanukkah (and that led to a whole group of similar parodies). Thanks, Leanne!

If you’ve never seen RENT, find the DVD or download, right now, and watch it immediately.

I’m not sure this is true, but I did read that the movie cast is the original Broadway cast (except for maybe one). In any case, it’s worth the watch for any teen/adult (Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material involving drugs and sexuality, and for some strong language.)

The story is about strength and survival and even Bohemia (Emil’s heritage)!
…and, no surprise, I cry like a baby at two pivotal points that I won’t divulge to anyone who has not seen it.

Here are just some of my favorite quotes:

• “There’s only us. There’s only this. Forget regret or life is yours to miss.”
• “You can’t buy love, but…you can rent it.”
• “I’ll pay you back with 10,000 kisses.”
• “Why does distance make us wise?”
• “I should tell you…”
• “525,600 minutes…how do YOU measure the life of a year?”
• “Will I wake tomorrow from this nightmare?…No day but today!”
• “I’d die without you….”
• “There’s only now. There’s only here…..Forget regret, or life is yours to miss.”

…and some of them will make you think, too!

Thanks, Julie, for finding this one!

One of my all-time favorite Internet videos:

Our week in DFW was full of fun (well, for one of us, at least.)

Sunday-drive up. We got a late start, but got there just fine. The hotel next to Emil’s class building was really nice. The only thing we missed was a mini-fridge.

Monday-While Emil had his first day of class, complete with his first night of studying, I spent the afternoon and evening with JJ & Becky and their kids. What fun we had with games, and supper, and trains, and more.

Tuesday-While Emil took his first test, I spent the day with Leanne. She was on vacation before her new job started. We had a great day making Challah and prepping for Friday services and the meal that would follow.

Wednesday-While Emil studied for the 2nd test, I spent the day with Sue and Bero at their home in Weatherford. We worked on her blog, traded Photoshop tricks, and picked gargantuan veggies from her garden. Vine-ripened tomatoes! Yum!

Thursday-While Emil took his 2nd test, I had no plans other than some editing to catch up on. I was a pretty disappointed in my food and WiFi choices for the day. If Las colinas is going to be such a corporate park—and with the construction of the Irving Convention Center complete with a light rail—they need to get with the times.

Friday-While Emil studied for his third test, I buzzed over to Fort Worth to hang with Jordan. I edited photos while she worked the UP desk at her real estate office. Then, we went to lunch and then spent the afternoon co-working before she had to leave to meet clients and I had to leave to get back to Leanne’s. I met Leanne at her Synagogue and attended services with her. She then welcomed me and several friends into her home for a proper meal for Shabbaz complete with blessings of the bread and wine and washing of our hands. It was a wonderful experience; I checked something off my bucket list.

Saturday-Emil’s last day of class and final test. I spent a good deal of time editing, but also carved out some time for myself at the pool.

Sunday-We slept in, had a yummy brunch, and made our way back home. Purrrrl seems to have zen’ed all week; she was bothered that our home arrival interrupted her nap. Thanks to our friend Cathy for checking in on Purrrrrl and Turtleor.