the one where we eat, well, everything

to say the food in austin is good is something of an understatement. to say we spent our whole vacation eating is something of an overstatement. but not by much.

it all started with brunch at magnolia cafe on south congress.

then there was pizza at home slice later that night.

and the best.barbecue.ever at the salt lick ind driftwood. (true texas hill country.) there was just a big pit in the main part of the restaurant. and on the pit was just a bunch of meat. and that meat was delicious.

the salt lick is a BYOB establishment, and the wait averages a couple of hours (we only waited for 45 minutes, which seems to be some kind of record) so people just bring huge coolers of ice and booze and make a night of it. which is probably pretty fun, if you're into that sort of thing.

and of course, there were the must-have breakfast tacos from local favorite, torchy's.

not pictured:

milkshakes from dirty martin's, late night and truly enormous gourmet donut from gordoughs (in a trailer!), big as yo' face burrito from the local mexican restaurant and delicious burgers from hopdoddy's.

and now if you'll excuse me, i think i'll go do about 1,000 sit-ups.

the one where we go to austin and have a wonderful time and i only leave one thing behind

here are two pieces of bad travel luck i have been having a lot lately.

1. delayed flights causing problems with connecting flights and/or extremely late arrivals and/or misplaced luggage.
2. leaving things behind on the plane, most recently a half-read book i was actually quite enjoying, and my iPod.

good news about our trip to austin.

only one of our four flights was delayed, and it was our last leg home so the only fall-out was a later than expected arrival. this is definitely the least harmful of all possible outcomes, plus it gave me an excuse to drink some diet coke today. (i needed it.)

and, i only left one thing behind, namely my swimming suit, which my cousin/our hostess has kindly agreed to ship back to me.

so, crises averted!

and, did i mention we had an oh-so-lovely time?

we did!

mostly thanks to the aforementioned cousin/hostess, plus her husband and adorable baby girl, who housed us, taught us all the locals' secrets and in general showed us a texas-sized good time.

i feel like i always give these trip recaps short shrift so i am going to really do it up right this time, with installments and all. congratulations on finishing installment one, and keep your eyes peeled for all the really juicy details soon. like, are texas drivers really friendly, as their state line signs suggest?

(spoiler alert: yes!)

more soon, ya'll.

here is a funny story about texas

a little while ago AWD and i were deciding where to go for the long memorial day weekend, and i suggested austin.

my cousin lives there so we can crash for free, i said.

AWD nodded.

i've heard they have totally cool shopping and really good food, i said.

AWD nodded.

plus everyone says if you are going to visit anywhere in texas, it should be austin, i said.

AWD nodded.

and i've never been to texas! i said.

and AWD looked at my like i had 11 eyes.

well, flying through the airport doesn't count, i said.

and AWD looked at me like i just sprouted a couple of extra noses, too.

so i stared back at him for a few seconds and then finally asked, what?

you went to the alamo! he shouted, not in a mean way but in an incredulous way.

you went to the alamo!

and that's when i remembered about my three-day business trip to san antonio last year.

i mean really, how could i have forgotten about that?

i went to the alamo!

for crying out loud.

but, we are still leaving tomorrow morning for austin. and i think it is going to be awesome.

have a wonderful long weekend, my babies! if i remember to come back from texas, i'll see you soon.

memory lane

every year for christmas my mom puts a movie in our stockings. this past christmas my stocking movie was a home-video-to-DVD transfer of, among other home movie gems, my elementary school talent show.

put it this way: i was eight. my hair was crimped. i was dancing. (my own choreography.) to kylie minogue.

i thought i would be 100 percent mortified to ever let anyone see something like that, but it turned out to be sort of fun to let AWD in on the childhood me. and he, sweetheart that he is, loved it.

so, with the barrier officially shattered, i decided to let everyone in on the childhood me. a little glimpse, at least. i am not the kind of person who has all my kid photos scanned in, ready to share at a moment's notice. because, well, the mortification referenced above. but, my mom scanned in a few shots when we were putting together the book of remembrance for grammie and grandpa's 60th wedding anniversary so now i at least have a few.

the scan quality is not great but the memories are.

there. now that i've cleared that hurdle, maybe truly horrible junior high photos are next?

come josephine, in my flying machine

it was the air show at andrews air force base this weekend.

and we went.

and it was awesome.

we got to crawl around in transport plane cargo holds and sit in helicopters and touch fighter jets and stand inside one of the planes used during the berlin airlift.

it was sunny and warm and there was nary a cloud in the sky.

we saw stunt pilots and stealth bombers (conclusion: approximately 100 percent of UFO sightings are probably stealth bomber sightings) and ended the day with a rather dazzling display from the blue angels.

in short, it was maybe one of the coolest things i've ever done.and it made me want to watch "top gun" something fierce.

good news minute

lots of good things going on lately. here are a few:

1. i got an e-mail from the japanese south african panasonic international annual promotional draw that i won $750,000! i haven't had a good spam like that in a while. made my day.

2. yesterday was norway's constitution day (didn't you know?) so EH had us over for norwegian meatballs (favorite) and i made these rolls. i totally broke the rule to never try a new recipe for the first time when you will be feeding the result to a dinner party, but they turned out just fine so it didn't even matter. for dessert we dipped strawberries in sour cream and  brown sugar. if you think that sounds gross/weird, you're right. if you think it tastes gross/weird, you're wrong.

3. AWD accepted my proposal to ride our bikes to the dairy godmother tonight for a little frozen custard. the flavor of the day is mint chocolate chip. i can't wait!

it's supposed to be a gorgeous weekend here, and we have lots of outside plans, including weeding, planting and air show watching. i hope you have something fabulous planned as well! until monday, my babies.

cheek size

remember a little while ago when i told you i was having body image issues?

well, today i got a spanx catalog in the mail. which, for someone with still resolving and somewhat raw body image issues might seem like a cruel coincidence. but, without said spanx catalog i would never know that some people buy under-clothing products with "optional pads that add a cheek size for extra oomph."

yep, people actually buy things to make their butts look BIGGER.

and suddenly, i don't feel so bad.

there and back

i completely forgot to bring our camera to new york.

when i told AWD i forgot to pack it, he said, "maybe we can just enjoy ourselves then."

maybe i take too many pictures?

whether that is the case or not, AWD was right: we enjoyed ourselves indeed.

first and foremost, suvi marie's wedding was just blissful. she and groom paul we so glowing and happy and kissy and teary. when we were congratulating them at the temple, i said to paul, "well chosen." and he said, "it was such an easy choice." and then he started to cry a little. such beautiful tears or total joy. it was perfect.

we also met up with some old friends (of mine) from the old salt lake ensign 7th ward, which was so so nice and AWD was a sport about spending pretty much his whole weekend eating with strangers.

and we got to do two things i have been dying to do in new york. eat donuts from the doughnut plant (why not work both spellings into one sentence?) and walk on the highline. (too good not to snap a phone picture while AWD wasn't looking.)

the highline is a totally cool elevated park and sunday could not have been a more perfect day to walk along it. especially with a delicious donut/doughnut in hand. you spend so much time in new york at the bottom of buildings looking up, it was sort of nice to stroll along in the middle of them.

carl and ck were nice enough to let us stay in the apartment next door, which was a huge favor even though it is under renovation and had no working bathroom, and meeting new baby lesueur was the cherry on top of a true treat of a weekend.

and now we are finally back to a normal routine. which feels like sort of a treat, too.

road warriors

i am home from colorado!

but just long enough to unpack one suitcase and pack another one because AWD and i are off in a few hours for new york and the wedding of one suvi marie.

hurrah for love! and traveling adventures!

i'll admit i've been sort of a debbie downer about another trip so soon, especially one that involves 9+ hours on a bus, but at least AWD and i get to take this one together so that's a big point in its favor.

other things i am looking forward to about a weekend in new york:

cuddling a baby lesueur
brunch with old pals from the old ensign 7th ward
the highline (first time!)
the candy i bought to eat on the bus
the donut plant (also first time!)
sunny, sunny weather
wedding! true love!

things should be back to normal by monday, so let's catch up a little more then, shall we?

home of champions

we have been working long, long days here, but there are also worse places to spend long, long (loooong) days than the air force academy and the olympic training center.

especially since the training center cafeteria has a mcdonalds sundae machine. so, in other words, the olympic training center cafeteria is heaven.

big rock candy mountains

it's been nearly non-stop here at the warrior games, but i escaped yesterday just long enough for a brisk walk in the mountain air.

the end.

another (weekend) bites the dust

we had another weekend of downtown adventure, and even managed to outrun the rain storm that finally opened up saturday night.

friday night we headed to the hirschorn museum to see the nighttime light projection show, song 1. while we were waiting for the party to get started, we strolled around the sculpture garden and found ourselves!

(AWD: they have the big noses. me: and the small boobs.)

once the sun went down, we laid out our blanket and took in the show. it was a whole series of images, projected on to the side of the building, and set to different versions of that song, i only have eyes for you. we liked it.

and we liked the luke's lobster rolls that we had for dinner, too. a nice view of the capital lit up at night sealed the deal.

saturday we started in georgetown for the french market, which include roving bands, street side crepes, mimes, and over-priced antiques and table cloths. but that's georgetown for you.

and then it was back downtown to see colorful realm, an exhibit of japanese paintings by the artist jukuchu at the national gallery. we had to wait in line to get in, and the gallery was pretty crowded, but the paintings were gorgeous. how i love my japan, and its art.

and that was another weekend down!

sunday night i flew to colorado springs, where i'll be all week for the warrior games competition, hands down my all-time favorite thing about my job, though 10 days away from AWD is basically the opposite of my all-time favorite thing. silver lining: i saw michelle obama yesterday and i have a fluffy hotel bed and a television to keep me company.