fun

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.

Sometimes, the night of the week that is a traditional date night for normal couples is an adventure for us!

Emil’s wish for supper was Torchy’s Tacos. We know not to go there until a bit later because it gets really crowded. And, while it’s not a kid-friendly place, a lot of parents drag their ill-behaved sex trophies along. We planned to go over there at 7pm.

We normally get terrible service but great food at Torchy’s. The counter staff don’t listen well and mess up our orders all the time. However, even a messed up Torchy’s taco is fabulous. So, we endure. Tonight, we were behind a group of four: a mom with her two school-age boys and their grandmother. They spoke more Spanish than English, but seemed to speak and understand English just fine. However, in spite of good language skills, they were really struggling to order. They had a million questions and kept adding more items after the counter girl had totaled the order. The kids were barking for chips and nachos and lemonade and whatever else. Mom just added it to the list. Meanwhile, the line had grown out the door. A whopping $41.38 later (for tacos!) , they were finally signing the credit card receipt. About this time the owner opened the other register and took our order quickly and accurately. We were getting our drinks before they walked away from the counter. Cue our jokes about people from Alvin, Texas.

We were home for all of about 5 minutes before Emil requested a trip to Fry’s for some RAM, a new hard drive, and a monitor cable. Please understand why he needed these things for his desktop PC: Dungeons & Dragons. His gang from BCS used to gather weekly for a live game, but after a suspension from the host’s wife, they found a really good online version.

At Fry’s, we got great service at the RAM counter and, while chatting about our Twitter conversation about “criss-cross applesauce”, met a funny guy in line. As we were leaving, Emil insisted that the good service and attention from the fellow shopper was because of my boobs. Thanks, Honey; I love you, too. It was a funny notion. About the time we were back in the car and done laughing about it, Islands in the Stream came on the radio.

When we got back to our village, Emil drove the longest way to our building, so he could hear the rest of Beat It. Damn we are old/nerdy.

So, the rest of our evening is spent with him doing serious computer upgrades. I’m updating some bloggy/site things while I listen to the live show of the week from http://www.keithandthegirl.com/. FTW!

Happy holiday weekend, everyone. Be safe and take a moment to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for USA.

Two women & 2 young kids just ordered $42 worth (for here!) at Torchy’s Tacos. WTF? #tookforever

LOL @emil285 said we got better service @ Fry’s b/c of my ta tas. Clevage FTW! Then Islands in the Stream came on th radio. #notmakingthisup

Driving all the way around to our apartment so @emil285 can hear the rest of Beat It on the radio. (Must be 80s night on this station,)