Austin: Part 1

Today has been fabulous, quite honestly.

Even with U.S. Airways booking me on a flight to Austin from Phoenix that boarded at the same time my flight from San Jose landed. At a gate at least a mile away. Cardio: Part 1.

Fortunately, I am cheap... ahem... a planner and had packed a vegan protein cookie, an apple and a water bottle for lunch. Munched it happily while cozied up in the Red Bull can that flew us from Phoenix to Austin and started in on this. (I am hosting a book club the day after I get back from my adventure! How literary, right!?)

Landed in Austin and rented myself a car! It's adorable and red and the first car I've rented since I came of "car rental age." I passed 21... a few years ago...and thought I was all out of coming-of-age milestones. NOPE! Driving out of the Budget car rental lot in my little red Honda gave me that "Woo Hoo! I'm an adult!" feeling all over again. *giggle*

Because I am (again) a planner, I had the address for the nearest Golds Gym in my itinerary, and it felt SO. GOOD. to sweat after being cooped up in a plane all day.

3 sets:
24# Kettlebell Thrusters x 10 R / 10 L
10 Pushups

24# Kettlebell Wood Chopper Lunges x 10 R / 10 L
BOSU Twisted Mountain Climbers

40 # Cable Tricep Press x 15
10# Cable Lateral Shoulder Raise x 10

20 lazy-ish minutes on the Arc trainer for the sake of stretching my legs while "reading" Seinfeld on the closed captioned TVs and it was time to shower and hit up 6th Street!

Remember that "coming of age" thing? I feel old :) Somehow "Free Cover! Flaming Doctor Peppers and Jager Bombers for $3!" just didn't grip me like it used to.

I opted for El Sol y La Luna for Tofu Tacos and a Negro Modelo instead. They had a great Mariachi band playing and - for the first time, really - I really enjoyed Mariachi. The pizzacato violins and bubbly baseline was happy, rather than just blaring. It was a great chance to apply the "100%" practice. No book. No cell phone. No busywork. Just sat and ate and drank and watched the lights on the bar change from soft red to blue to white, listened to the band and let my thoughts wander through my delicious tofu tacos.

Settled in to Starbucks for some online business development/networking and a Decaf Soy Misto before E&J come in ... then it's down to Kyle for Katie's wedding!

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go!

(Ok. Bags are almost packed. But who's counting?)

Dropped my gals off at BWI this afternoon after a great morning of great weather in DC. Finally! We have been trying to venture out of the back bedroom (for those just joining: the only room with a wall mounted A/C unit) for 3 days and finally made our way into DC.





A walk up the Mall complete with obligatory "use the landmark as an accessory" photos









And a trip to the National Botanical Gardens and Conservatory which was really relaxing! The outdoor gardens are really beautiful.




Then made our way to Chinatown and had a great lunch at La Tasca! $50 worth of seafood tapas for $25 + gratuity thanks to Restaurant.com. (Seriously. If you guys haven't tried this website... DO. IT. Sign up for their emails because I certainly bought this $25 gift certificate for $0.86 thanks to an 80% off promo.) Yummy yummy FroYo + berries from TangySweet was then smuggled onto metro.

Took the girls to Baltimore just a few hours ago and have since been frantically packing. Just remembered to breathe thanks to Amy at Amy Vs Wild who kindly reminded me to continue filling my lungs with oxygen.

Wedding Dress: packed.
Wedding Shoes: packed.
10 Battery-Powered Paper Lanterns that I should have shipped 2 weeks ago: ummmm....

Off to make Brian a sandwich.

Life's a Beach

It doesn't get more Southern than:


Sweet Tea (ok... fake sweet tea with Splenda)



and Hush Puppies

Or more vacation-y than:
Ocean Spray


Piers


And beach reads

We're back home and back to the grind... putting together a cyber "moving sale" and packing stuff up for the big move.

Kitty is helping...


Sort of.

I Love Summer Vacation!

We have spent the last few days with some amazing friends, eating at some fabulous restaurants and thoroughly enjoying our first "summer vacation" in years!

Board games, beers, and sweaty sweaty workouts with best friends are seriously the most amazing reminder of how amazing it is to be young and unfettered. Hanging in Pinehurst, NC and touring Raleigh-Durham and Chapel Hill ... highlights include:

• Cranium: 2.25 players-vs-2 players
  
• Taboo: Couple-vs-Couple
• Michelob Ultra Peach/Dragonfruit
• Fresh vegetarian sandwiches at hippie markets
• Despicable Me (SO CUTE!)
• Trashy Reality Television
• Running and Plyometrics with a Kick-Ass fitness buddy
  

Speaking of unfettered... because we have really no where to be (hellooooo summer break!?) we're headed to the North Carolina shore, rather than heading home today! We're driving on down to Wilmington, NC to soak up some sun and some good Southern food.