(for those of you who only care about one aspect of this or
another, I’ve labeled it accordingly, scroll til you find what you want.)
Christmas 2011
Christmas was filled with high’s and low’s. We had the Burton’s come down to Mississippi
from Iowa (high). Ed and I have been
trying to make this happen for years and it finally did, YAY! It was very sweet to see Grammy, Karen, and
Charles experience our huge Christmas tree and in general, Christmas in
Natchez. It was also great to see the
brother and sister, their significant others, and all the babies (high). Of course there is always a little family
drama (low) involved when you get that many people together. However, everyone survived and Christmas was
a success.
It was a great first experience for me to see all the babies
opening their gifts at Christmas (high).
My family has kind of adopted this rule that only the babies get
Christmas presents, which leaves Ed and me out completely L (low), but I
understand that money is tight with everyone.
And just to be….nice (or an ass, depending on how you look at it) I got
everyone presents anyway. They were not
expensive presents, but something that could be cherished for years to come
(frames family photos). But back to the
kids! They were so cute and it’s always
so interesting to see how they differ in their little personalities (high). Elizabeth just tore through her presents,
while Brody methodically unwrapped and took in each one. I think I liked Evie’s approach best though,
she just slept through it all (she’s only about 9 weeks old).
I think everyone enjoyed Christmas lunch (high). I guess it’s lunch. It’s not at lunchtime, slightly thereafter,
and usually before 3 p.m. There was
plenty of food for all (even for me as a vegetarian) and it all tasted
nummy! Something that has become a sort
of family tradition is William Sonoma Pumpkin Butter as a dip. You cover cream cheese with the pumpkin
butter and sprinkle with green onions and bacon (for the meat eaters). Sooooo tasty!
For some reason broccoli-rice-casserole is another big hit with our
family. It’s always the first dish to
go.
After Christmas, Mom took the Burton women down to Antique
Alley in Natchez (high?). I’m not sure
if it’s what they had in mind for antiquing (it’s a little different in Iowa),
but I think they had fun and at least found it interesting. Ed and I joined them later and actually
picked up a couple of things. A wicker
basket-bowl that I thought could be useful, a teapot that Ed thought was
interesting, and a little “silver” tray for shits and giggles (it’s not
actually silver, not sure what it really was) all for right at 30$, yay (high)!
I think we were all starting to get “cabin-fever” (low)
because we all decided to leave ahead of schedule. Plus, Karen owns a business and evidently
needed to get back to it. Ed and I made
plans to visit the Ludlum’s and Theilen’s in Austin, TX for New Years.
New Years in Austin, TX!
So after seeing the Burton’s off, Ed and I immediately
jumped in the MINI and headed to Austin, TX.
It was our first road trip together in the MINI and I was a little
nervous that it wouldn’t work (too late, cause we already bought it!). It’s one thing to shoot around town,
something else to sit in a car for 9 hours and like each other. But we did it!
The trip there wasn’t bad at all. We took the back roads the whole way and it
made it more interesting and it seemed to take less time. Once there we were treated to the Austin
Experience by our lovely friends, Mr. and Mrs. Awesome (a.k.a. The
Ludlum’s). We also got to hang out a
little with Betsy and Trever Theilen, YAYAYAY!
We did a lot of bar/beer trying, food experimenting, and a lot more of
getting to know Austin on our own.
The Ludlum’s just bought a house and they were so nice as to
allow us to stay with them for New Years.
The first night we stayed in, but got some lovely pizza from their
neighborhood pizza place. We also
participated in some beer, pretty good!
(I’ll go ahead and admit that a lot of this is fuzzy, not
from drinking too much, but from raging allergies and what turns out to be a
crappy high temperature. No wonder my
brain felt like it was baking!)
The next day, since Alisa had to work and Matt wasn’t there
yet, Ed and I ventured out on our own and did some shopping and exploring. That’s when I basically realized Austin
would be my next more permanent home (more on that under Austin, TX). After being out and about for a while, we
headed back to the house for some relaxing until Alisa got home and we went to
dinner to one of the “food carts.” It
was an Indian food cart, and even though I’m not that fond of Indian food, I found
it all pretty great! Afterwards we went
to a pretty awesome bar, The Gingerman.
We eventually retired to ready for our next adventure. Now this is where things get fuzzy. My head was spinning and baking, so I’m not
exactly sure what happened next, but here’s a list of things we did do, in no
particular order.
-
went to the grocery store for food and beer
-
hung out with Betsy and Trevor (they were there
the first night, too)
-
went to another bar with Betsy and Trevor and on
the same night, went and met their new puppy, Landry…sooooo cute!
-
We went to the Kolache Factory and tried
Kolachies (sp?)
-
For new years night, we went to Mother’s (a
vegetarian restaurant) for dinner and then back to the Gingerman. We did a not so verbal countdown at the river
near Gingerman, where we hugged and kissed our significant others.
-
And I totally forgot that Alisa’s sister and
soon to be brother and law joined us on New Years Eve eve. (They actually got engaged New Years Eve!)
So that’s the New Years Eve rundown.
Austin, TX
At first, my verdict on Austin was…meh. But then, with a fresh pair of eyes, the next
day, Ed and I went into town on our own.
The more places I went and longer I was there, I started to try to
figure out what constituted a “place I want to live.” So Ed and I cam up with:
-
Small town feel
-
Big city stuff (availability of items we love,
stores we like, food that can be acquired, variety of things to do, the arts, something
for everyone!)
-
Variety of things to do
-
Being able to not live in the city, but be in
the city…difficult to find
And I’m sure there was more, but that’s all I can remember
now. I think we actually stopped there
as we felt that the list was already unattainable. But the more we experienced Austin, the more
we realized it fill the bill almost to a T.
Even though Austin is a big city, they keep a small town
feel. They have one of the best camera
stores I’ve ever been to (both online and in person). There is such a variety of things to do
there, we only really did one..er two… (the drinking and eating variety). We’ve also got a strong friend base there
already as well. Which only adds to the
awesomeness.
So the plan now is, Austin or bust!
