Fall Festivals

So fall officially started on September 22nd but there wasn't the big hoorah or marketing emails that I received way back when Summer started. What I have been getting a lot of are festival emails. I get it, the weather is nicer, which in Texas means, not swealtering hot, so it's the perfect time for outdoor gatherings! Even Watson is loving the cooler weather, as shown by his multiple outdoor petitions (he taps on the door when he wants to go out).

Here are a list of festivals only this weekend, so prepare to not sleep, just eat, drink and be merry this weekend!

• Texas Craft Brewers festival (we're going to this one)
• The Old Pecan Street festival
• AUSTOBERFEST
• Texas Mead fest
• Getting Sauced! BBQ-sauce contest/festival - yum!
• Austin Teen Book festival
• Annual Grape Stomp
• Hairy Man festival - yes, I know!
• Moody Cotton Harvest festival
• Texas Tribune Festival
• Austin County Fair Kick-Off Dance & Shrimp Boil
• Capital City Black Film festival
• Out of Bounds Comedy festival
• Dharma and Yoga fest

 

'got my hair done

So I know it's not the best picture but for some stupid reason, I didn't take it right after the stylist finished, so that's the best you're getting unless you come visit me and check it out in person :p

Enjoying some vino during my haircut

I tried out a new salon, Bettie Bangs with a LivingSocial deal for a haircut, and partial highlights. There was a a scheduling issue the first weekend I had planned to go, so they threw in a deep conditioning for no cost. Brenna Sloane (who had half pink hair) cut and coloured my hair and did a fantastic job while I drank wine! It took some time to get used to having colour since I've had virgin hair for over 10 years now, but I really do like the change and apparently, so do most people, with the number of compliments I've been receiving. Really, I would have loved to go with something more drastic like red or blue or purple highlights, but the fact that I work in the corporate world and that those colours don't last for too long on dark hair, were a deterrent. Maybe I'll try Bumble and bumble's spray chalk for a quick colour fix the next time around...

Beantown again

Mimosas at Friendly Toast

Hanging out at Legal Seafoods
with Tim & Shannon

We visited Boston, aka  'Beantown' this past weekend for Al's cousin's wedding and even though it was a whirlwind trip, we made the best of it. Boston is one of my favorite places ever and I was so happy to be there again, along with the perfect weather.

We met up with two sets of friends for breakfast at the Friendly Toast and for lunch at Legal seafood respectively. That not only allowed us to meet old friends but it also meant brunch cocktails followed by New England clam chowder and raw oysters. Yay! 



The wedding party outside the
Boston College church

The wedding itself was very nice and Al's cousin, Kristina, the bride looked beautiful! Since we moved to Austin, we don't get to see Al's family that often, so this was a great opportunity to catch up. 




We were staying in Boston's little Italy, more commonly known as the North End and a trip there would not be complete without getting some Italian food or desserts. We didn't just eat there,but we brought home cannolis from the local's favorite, Maria's Pastry Shop. Yum, yum, yum!

Forza Roma!

Visiting Europe was only one part being a tourist, eating and drinking. While we were in Rome, Al was on a mission to watch a soccer game and be a soccer fan. We both grew up watching soccer and even though, I'm not big on the Italian league, I was still quite excited to go see my first real European futbol game. Al was more than happy to learn that there was an AS Roma vs. Napoli game during the few days we were there and we even managed to get awesome tickets the day before, along with a Roma team jersey for Al :)

It was a little bit of a trek to the stadium but fortunately Rome has good public transport and it's a lot of fun to be traveling with so many fans! The game was at the Stadio Olimpico and it had these cool sports statues outside plus this amazing mosaic walkway from the road to the stadium entrance. Since we were out-of-towners, we were put in the middle ground and the section was not as packed as the section with true die-hard Roma fans. The atmosphere was still lively and there were lots of chanting, fireworks and people running with Roma flags (see picture). We had amazing seats and could see the player's faces including our own Americano, Michael Bradley.

The first half of the game was pretty blah in my opinion because there were no goals, but after I complained to Al, he told me to hang in there. And sure enough, Roma scored a goal within the first 2 minutes after half-time! Yay! Then the game got even more exciting when Rome scored the 2nd goal and we didn't really have too much hope for Naples but they managed to redeem themselves with one goal at 84th minute. All in all, super fun and Forza Roma!

We got a yard...

...and a house to go along with it too!

So we had to move all of a sudden because our apartment complex, Riata was not as enthused with Watson as we were. We put on our extremely motivated hats and have been looking ever since Riata asked us to get rid of Watson! I have to give lots of credit to Ms. Patti Simon too who went above and beyond to help us find our new home.

Pictures here are of the wonderful home we were able to find with such short notice. We love it and are happy to be here minus all the drama in the past 2 weeks. Best of all, we still have Watson and he loves the yard too.

YAY for us all finding good homes!

I get around

When I first moved to Austin, I didn't know anyone except my hubby. Really. I was working at home and that didn't help either, so I looked to Meetup.com. It's a great website where you can find people with similar interests as you and schedule a time/day to 'meet up'. Not only does it help to make new friends, but encouraged me to explore places and events that I would have never been to otherwise.

 

The very first meetup that Al and I went to was with the Austin beer lover's meetup group. We met at this gem of a biergarten called Easy Tiger. I was excited but Al was a bit hesistant, afterall it did seem a lot like a blind date. However, after we both got warmed up, we met several interesting people and had a delicious time sampling the food and craft beers. And the best part, we made a really good friend, Corina who we're still meeting up with today!

That was one that we went to together, but there are some that Al and I follow separately because of our individual interests such as soccer and pottery respectively. I would highly recommend it to people of all ages, in all places with any type of interest. And keep in mind, it's what you make of it so don't expect too much of everyone else; only yourself.

Welcome 2013!

I never thought of myself as a blogger, but with this new year, I've decided to use this blog as a journal of sorts to share my adventures with the world. I hope whoever reads it, finds it somewhat interesting but mostly entertaining. I'd love to hear from you so don't feel shy and drop me a line or two.

Cheers!