All Things Happen For A Reason

"All things happen for a reason."

But I still ask why they happen the way that they do. I am pretty sure that I always have.

We need a positive change of events in our life right now. I am going to try not to whine or be too down in this post or dwell on those feelings, but lately, that has been hard not to fall into feeling that way.

When I come home from work, there is always things to be done around home and I can only go so long letting the dishes pile up, the dust accumulate and the clutter take over my house before I want to go crazy. I think that is a sure cause of anxiety in my life - clutter and general messy-house syndrome. That is part of the reason that I like the fact that we have a town house right now and nothing bigger for me to clean and take care of.

Sidebar - A word to all single ladies out there - add one of the "most desirable qualities" on your ideal man list - that he helps clean the house. No matter how many times I ask mine to help out cleaning or picking things up more often, guys are pretty much immune to any type of clutter accumulation or dust or anything mess-related in the house! If your man already does clean and pick up, consider yourselves very lucky! On a side note, there are a few times now and then where Derick has started a load of laundry or has vacuumed or something, and for those times, you praise them like they are three years old and they just used the potty for the first time. Seriously, it is a pretty huge deal. For both of you.

Anywho, onto a happier subject!

Last night was the premiere of The Voice. I was curious as to how the show was going to play out and what exactly it was going to entail. I stopped watching Glee at 8pm and switched over to The Voice. I am not sorry I did. The show was amazing. I love the premise of the show. Judges do not get to see the contestants, but must judge them first, by their voice alone. If the judge thinks that individual has talent, they push a button on their modified gaming chair and it spins around so they can see the contestant singing their heart out. If more than one judge spins their chair, the contestant gets to decide which judge they want as their mentor. Otherwise, if only one judge spins around, that judge keeps the contestant. Last night I think there were three individuals who did not get picked at all. I think there should have been about one or two more who should not have gotten chosen, but clearly, I am not in the music business, so what do I know?!

I am already looking forward to next week when local music talent, Tim Mahoney will be auditioning for a position! I first heard about Tim Mahoney while up at BSU. He came and performed a couple times at the dorms and at the student union. I really liked his sound and his music. So, we'll see what happens with him on the show!!

-L

See and Make Foodie Experiment Night

I apologize for not being entirely timely with the following happenings, but life has kept me pretty busy and there has not been enough time in the day for me to get to my blog! So, you have been warned that this post may be a bit scatterbrained!

First things first. This weekend, I was reading through my Real Simple Magazine and in one of the back pages, there was an ad for an Eagle Eye brand skillet meal. I was really hungry at the time, and Derick must have been too, because he was sitting next to me, happened to look over and say, "Wow, that looks really good, and pretty easy to make I would imagine." I thought about it and agreed. We decided to attempt it - and our version turned out pretty yummy!

The ad in the magazine - our inspiration

Our version (using different noodles we had on hand, leaving out the corn and adding a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese! YUM!)

Derick said that he could eat this every day. I agree, it was pretty scrumptious and pretty healthy overall too - always a plus!

Also this weekend - Saturday night, I went to visit one of my college friends at her new place out in Chaska. We got caught up on each other's lives, ate pizza, chocolate chip cookies, drank Strongbow and watched a few episodes of Hoarders. while I was in her kitchen, I noticed the sign that she bought her roommate from Target. I NEED to get one of these for my house and cupcake side business:

Also, while doing laundry this weekend, I was pulling things out of the dryer and noticed this little guy had gone along for the ride:

He is one of Tucker's turtle toys! Tucker must have wanted his toy cleaned, and dropped it into the laundry basket and I didn't notice as I pulled clothes from the basket to put in the washer. The position the toy is in above is almost exactly how I found him once I was taking things out of the dryer! That was also funny just the way he was sitting on the edge of the dryer, waiting for me to notice him there! Tucker of course was anxiously waiting for me to toss his beloved toy back to him. Once he got it, he dropped it on the floor, sniffed at it a minute, and then it must have passed inspection because he took off running around with it again. It really it the little things in life!

And the last of my updates for now. Easter is upon us and you know what that means...EASTER CANDY at Target!! I picked up a solid milk chocolate bunny for Derick and I the last time I was there picking up a few groceries. That place was swarming with people! I am pleased to say that the ears and head are no more on my chocolate treat. YUM! These are our favorite types of bunnies! We like to stick them in the refrigerator/freezer and then nibble at them here and there. Mmm...chocolate bunny!

Here's dessert for the next week or so...

What is your favorite Easter candy? As far as people and candy go - I can remember my first college roommate's favorites for Halloween (those little Brachs mellowcreme ones) and Christmas (chocolate covered cherries). Haha. Derick's Grandpa really likes the chocolate covered cherries too. My guilty pleasures are usually the chocolate bunnies and the Reeses Peanutbutter Eggs. YUM.

Okay, enough about candy. I am craving candy now...

Happy almost Easter!
L

A Beautiful Snowy April Morning

Good morning, or to those of you living in Minnesota, should I say Good Smorning!

I woke up to a couple of inches of big, wet snowflake clumps collected in the grass, but thankfully, melting off the streets and sidewalks. As I was driving into work though, I was so tempted to pull over and snap some pictures. There is just something that is just beautiful and breathtaking about sticky snow covering the tree branches. I love it.

These first two were taken from our driveway before I left for work.

This one was taken while waiting at a stoplight on the way to work (I couldn't resist).

Another one taken closer to work while stopped at a light.

 I listened to the weather this morning on the way into work and they were saying that the snow should stop around noon today and with the highs the next few days and into the weekend being 50s and 60s, the snow shouldn't stick around long. I know that it is officially 3/4 of the way through April, and it should be spring weather, but I really enjoyed the snow show this morning. It just gets old that the majority of people who live here complain all the time about snow and cold. Even in March people were complaining. Newsflash people, March is often one of the snowiest months on record for the state (if you visit the link, scroll down to March). So, for today, I am HAPPY that there is this beautiful snow falling from the skies! Hmm...maybe I should check to see if Buck Hill is still open for one last run down the hill...

Anyway, it may be snowing outside, but inside my house, my plants are doing awesomely! This morning before work, I thought it would be a good idea to give the little plants some water. As I pulled out one of my window planters on the bottom shelf of the coffee table I am currently storing all my plants on, to my surprise and delight, my Morning Glories already budded and bloomed two different flowers! They are so pretty! My Snapdragons are coming up more as well. I am really excited for them to burst open in the late spring!

Morning Glories (a little more closed tonight than they were this morning)

-LD

Volunteerism

For as long as I can remember, volunteering has been something I have been involved with. More recently, I have felt truly passionate about it and have craved to be more a part of the things I care about. For instance, last year was my first year on the volunteer committee for the American Diabetes Association's (ADA) Step Out Walk to Fight Diabetes annual walk. I am on the committee again this year and will help out with the event here in October (Mark your calendars for October 29th this year!!).

This year I was also asked to be on the Camp Needlepoint planning committee (a diabetic kid's summer camp that I attended as a child, counseled for as a teenager/young adult and not assist with camp staff training - they call me Camp Mom). A slight add-on for this volunteer effort will be that I am going to be designing a new camp logo to be embroidered on t-shirts and things for the camp store. I was just requested to do this the past week!

The next item on my list - to slightly break up the ADA's committees that I am on, is I am the Secretary for our Homeowners Association Board. I really wanted to be more involved and hear more about what was going on with our association than what they had been telling us. I take all of the minutes at the meetings, plan the agenda for meetings and in late summer help plan the association picnic.

I think this is the last of my list - This year was my first year I have signed up to volunteer at the annual Diabetes Gala: Inspired to Stop Diabetes. The event is held at Treasure Island Casino and is a huge fundraiser for the ADA. I thought about trying to just attend the event or see how much it would cost to go, and I will admit, the price was a little out of my price range. Whew! I am just glad that I am going to be able to go and help out at the event - that way I can go and see what it is all about and then maybe some day I can attend as a guest. I am going to be helping out at the Silent Auction area all night - from the set-up, the actual time of the event and then tear-down. It is a black tie event, so I will have to make sure that I have a cute skirt or dress to wear (and clothes to change into later as we tear-down the room).

Yesterday I attended the Styles for Smiles event. A former coworker told me about the event and she was volunteering at the event the whole day. I went to the event, having sort of an idea about the event, but not entirely sure what I would be walking into. I had emailed a few friends to see if they wanted to go, but in the end, I just drove down by myself. I arrived pretty much right as the doors opened. (I was unsure of exactly where it was located in Minneapolis and where or what kind of parking would be available - I get a little anxious about happenings downtown). But all my worries were for naught. I found the location quite easily, and there was ample (free!) street parking around the building. I walked in, looked around and eventually ran into my former coworker. It was so good to see her! Everyone helping out at the event looked beautiful! Co-Founder and Executive Director, Hollie Mae (whom my coworker knows) looked like a glamorous movie star from the 50s/60s! 


There were free mini makeovers with free fake eyelashes! I had one done and LOVED the lipstick color the girl mixed up for me! I wished she could have potted some of that up for me! I got a free mini massage too! The eyelashes made me think of my dance competition and recital days, but was fun for the event! There was part of the building dedicated to selling clothes from the design house we were in: Kokoon. The clothes were beautiful! There was a dress that I fell in love with, but with my current lack of finances, there was no way I could purchase one. I didn't stay too long. I arrived right as the doors were opening at about 1pm and then left after the fashion show ended, around 2:30pm. I will have to keep tabs on both organizations! 


Anyway, that is just an update about things I have or am involved with. I am sure it makes me sound way busier than I am, but not all of the events are constant, or even that often! It just makes me feel good to help out and give back. I meet some of the best people doing these things too, so it's a win-win!


-LD

The Scams of Our Lives

This morning, while sitting eating breakfast and sifting through yesterday's mail, I came to the conclusion that I am going to be DONE with all of the scams out there. Well, almost.

Okay, a little background: After all the direct mail pieces came flowing through our mailbox, into our home and into my hands, about 99% of them have been directly shredded and recycled at that point. The lucky 1% that missed the shredder initially went on to be opened, and either then shredded and recycled or "pondered." The Cooking Club of America was one of the 1% that was pondered and then accepted. I sent in the forms and enrolled in the basic membership, but oh no, that was not enough for them. I was promptly enrolled in the Lifetime Membership Program. At first, the offer was so shiny and sparkly with its promises of free gifts, trial cookwear and test products. Now all it appears that this club is - is a tarnished hope of what it could have meant for me. Don't get me wrong, of the few "free" gifts I have received, I have enjoyed the personalized apron, assorted microfiber towel set and the collapsible strainer (this is probably my favorite). Derick told me this morning that his mom (who was/is also a member and has paid all her dues and has gotten the cookwear set) said that I will be very disappointed when I get it. Apparently the handles from her set broke off within a very short time of her receiving and using said cookwear. Great.

So, after thinking about it for a few seconds, and seeing a notice in the mail that I owed some $71 dollars for a knife (preview) that I had sent back weeks ago - it was time for me to drop out of this "club." I think the "club" part refers to the group of people whose job it is to constantly harass you for money. *sigh.*

The initial reason I said that I will be done almost with scams, is that I am still currently in the long-running endurance race that is Publisher's Clearing House.  Earlier this year, I decided to actually open one of the envelopes that came my way and send in the paperwork. I have lost track of the number of them that I have actually sent into that contest. Derick jokes that it must be some sort of endurance contest, like, after you send in 400 of the reply envelopes, you are the big winner. I am having my doubts, but keep sending it in anyway. Something to do, I guess. I like keeping that dream out there - as I am sure that everyone entertains at some point - about becoming suddenly richer than you have ever imagined. I mean, I know that money won't solve all the problems, but all I am asking is the chance to try to prove that theory wrong...HA!

Here's hoping!
-L

Post-Vacation, Book Update & Fish Frenzy!

Well, I am officially off "vacation mode." That is a sad, sad thing to have to admit!

My time in the great state of Texas was really fun. As you probably have read about - day 1, day 2, day 3 and day 4!I got back into town Tuesday night and spent the rest of the week doing things around the house and relaxing. It was such an odd feeling to just be home for a few days! But, knowing me, I was busy, or at least tried to keep myself busy while on "home-vacation!"

Between my flights and my vacation time, I finished two books of the trilogy that I recently picked up. I snagged the first book at Target - after spending some time in the "books section." I read the back of the book and thought it sounded interesting, and really, like nothing that I have really ever read before. The Hunger Games is the first book. I had read that one and had ordered the other two on Amazon.com. They arrived about a week before I left for Texas, so I brought one with me on the plane and the other one in my suitcase.

I finished the next book, Catching Fire on the plane ride home. A great follow-up to the first book. The third book I picked up and started and finished reading as soon as I emptied out my suitcase! The ending left a little to be desired. There is a lot of action in these books and moments of extreme significance, and the end just seemed to kind of fizzle out for me. All in all, they were a good read, and made me want to grab and start reading the next one as soon as I was done with the previous one. I hear they are working out a movie deal adaptation for the books. That should be interesting. The books get pretty violent in parts of them - descriptions of blood and gore and crazy happenings.

A basic description of the first book (published in 2008): It introduces sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world in the country of Panem where North America once stood. This is where a powerful government working in a central city called the Capitol holds power. In the book, the Hunger Games are an annual televised event where the Capitol chooses one boy and one girl from each district (of which there are twelve) to fight to the death. The Hunger Games exist to demonstrate not even children are beyond the reach of the Capitol's power.

The second book, Catching Fire, was published in 2009, and the third book, Mockingjay, was published in 2010. So, I guess I was a little late to the party, but in this case, I guess it's better late than never!

The last book sitting on my nightstand is Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I acquired this book from the Champlin Library book sale. I had gotten a few other books from the sale that they were taking out of circulation. Water for Elephants' spine was almost completely removed from the book, but the pages of the book are just fine for reading.

I have been on a serious book-reading-binge since I picked up the second book of the Hunger Games series, and will need to find some more books to occupy my time after I dig into Water for Elephants here in the next few days. I am sure that my reading habits will slow a little, as the weather gets warmer and I am able to do more things outside, and the fact that I am not in the middle of a series also helps that cause!

On Saturday, Derick and I went to Fridley for the Minnesota Aquarium Society (MAS) fish show and raffle. It was pretty neat to see the fish that people were showing at the show! There were a TON of Discus fish. I think these fish might be cool to try and breed/own once we have a house with a fish room. They are very pretty and can be found in many different colors, but very finicky to care for and try to breed, therefore, they are expensive if you were to go into a pet store and try to buy one (the link is just for an example of how expensive they can get based on size and color. I have seen some as much as $150 per adult fish! 

There were a lot more tanks that I had thought would be there, and a LOT of things in the raffle! Derick bought some tickets to try to win the 75gal. tank setup, and there was a 29gal. Bio Cube tank there as well that we threw tickets into. We didn't win either of them, but that's okay - a slight sigh of relief - because where in our town house would we be able to fit another 75gal tank?! Yikes! The fish room is already full of fish! Although we had talked about if we had won the 29gal, we might have a good place then to start a saltwater aquarium!

Derick went back to the fish show on Sunday - and brought a TON of plants with him to try and sell. He sold almost all of them that he brought with him, traded some for some cherry shrimp (who are now zooming around the 5gal. tank). I sat in front of that tank yesterday for about 10 minutes just watching all of the shrimp running around in there! The rest of the plants he did not sell, he gave to someone who was just starting to grow plants. It's not like he won't have any more in a week or so! He also bought me some bigger shells for my "Shelly" tank, so that was fun to plunk them in there and watch them explore their new homes! (note: these are not my personal photos, just web ones that are the same kind of "Shellies" as mine are! Such cute lil' guys!)

So, the name of the game this week is to get back into the swing of things at work after being on vacation and doing our taxes tonight...dun, dun DUNNNNN! They are going to be especially painful this time around as we will owe money, and from Derick's initial looks through things, we will owe quite a bit due to a W2 mishap on his part and claiming too much I think. Oh well, we'll get through it just like we always have, one set-back at a time though please!!

-L

Texas Day 4

Compared to the past three days, and more specifically yesterday, today was quite laid back and chill. It was nice.:

First things first, Ben's aunt came over to pick us up and take us back into Austin for breakfast tacos at Juan in a Million. His aunt and I ordered Migas (with cheese): Migas
Two eggs scrambled with tortilla chips, onions and tomatoes, served with refried beans, potatoes and two flour tortillas. OMG. delicious! Here is the before shot:

and after:

I do have to say that I am not a huge fan of ANY refried beans, but I tried these with the tortilla chips and they were actually pretty good! YUM!

After we got back from breakfast, we hung out at the apt. for a little while and headed to one of the biggest grocery stores that I have ever seen. It was HUGE! We picked up some things to get us through the rest of my time here - and the rest of the missing ingredients for cookies I planned on making Ben. We got back and watched Despicable Me (love that movie). I made cookies while sort-of watching Up in the Air (very good flick). After I made cookies, Ben made homemade guacamole! Also delicious!

Here's to snack time!!

Practical Magic was next on the movie choice list (my choice and also my bad - bad movie). Ben had gotten a bread mix at the grocery store and made that when we had gotten back and then made grilled cheese with the homemade bread in the George Foreman grill! YUM!

Seriously, I think all I do is post about freakin' FOOD! haha.

The next movie on the agenda was Pineapple Express (also lame). Then I pretty much got antsy and could not sit through another entire movie without doing something, so we took Hurley for a mini-walk around the grounds. Came back, and now playing/watching Mod Nation Racers. Derick had gotten me the game and I thought it would be fun to play when I was here. Well, it turns out that I royally suck at playing that game, so I may need some a lot of practice.

I think the rest of the game plan for the night is to chill here. Tomorrow Ben has to go back to work, so I will be entertaining myself for the day, probably sans laptop. I hope it is really nice out tomorrow - I want to be in and or around the pool. I plan on reading a lot tomorrow too, maybe catch another movie or two... It's hard to believe I only really have tomorrow left to hangout here! AHHH! Time flies when you're having fun I guess. I'm just not sure I am ready to go back to the 40-degree weather in MN. ugh.

-L

Texas Day 3

Day 3 in Texas was just as much fun as the first two!

Let's see...

The first thing we did was head down to Austin, Texas. Our initial goal was to go to the Zilker Botanical Garden. We ended up parking in a ramp because there was quite a bit of road construction, and congestion from a few events happening downtown, so we just decided to park and walk around and find things to do. Well, we walked down a few blocks to the Downtown's Art Festival that was happening Saturday and Sunday! We went in and walked the entire thing! It was a lot of fun and there were some pretty awesome things we saw!

There were some really cool buildings downtown (as I am usually drawn to) and here is one of my favorites: It is called The Frost Tower. It is a bank building I guess:

We bummed around Austin, the art fair, a couple of art museums, ate lunch, walked down 6th street, and then decided to drive over to the Botanical Garden. That was awesome but SO HOT!!! Wow! (I will post more pictures of that probably later! I took them with another camera). After that, we headed back to the apt for some relax time and another couple of showers. gross.

Oh, here is my other roommate for the week, Hurley, meet the blog readers. Blog readers, meet Hurley:

He is a pretty snuggly roommate, if I do say so myself!

Later that night, we went out to an "Irish Pub." Wow - SO disappointed, there was nothing "Irish" about it other than the initial architecture. They were playing RAP music for crying out loud and they had no Irish beer and NO STRONGBOW!! Sad, sad day! We stayed there for a couple of hours. Then there was a guy who was going to play live music for us, Markie B:

He ended up mashing up songs that didn't go well together and was just getting worse and worse as it went on, so we decided to ditch that bar and head to another down the street with more live (and better) music. The band was pretty good:

I tried a beer that is "a Texan beer" that is pretty good:

I got my first official Texan Sunburn yesterday (no, it's not some crazy Texan drink or anything...) from all the walking around in the sunshine. Yeowza. It isn't too bad, but still, it sucks to get burnt!

Well, that's all for now! Stay tuned for more of my Texan adventures!!
-L

Fashion Sketches

I have recently noticed that I am constantly being drawn to fashion sketches. I received an email from myLifetime.com asking me to "come view the Project Runway Designers' takes on the Kate Middleton wedding dress!" I went there and found some good, bad and just plain ugly. Of all the photos on the site, The following were my favorite sketches, or my favorite dress, as noted in the captions below:

Althea Harper - like this sketch (and liked her as a contestant on PR)

Ben Chmura - liked the geometric feel of his sketch

Carmen Webber - Liked the sketch and the dress (minus the finger tassels)

Christopher Straub - one of my favorite PR designers (and native Minnesotan)

Daniel Franco - Love the picture, LOVE the dress!!

Irina Shabayeva - thought her sketch was interesting

Jason Troisi - one of the more "drawing/character sketches" I found

Joe Faris - This one made me laugh

Leanne Marshall - I love this picture! I could hang this in my house as artwork

Mondo Guerra - This one made me laugh as well - and I heart Mondo!

Shirin Askari - Liked the composition of the sketch

Wesley Nault - This one also made me giggle and think of retro advertisements for some reason

There are just so many different types and styles of fashion designer sketches out there. Some are really abstract while some are very realistic. Some are very proportionate while others seem to be dead-on. I just thought I would share one of my more recent enjoyments in the, I guess you could call it Design World!

LD

Texas Day 2

Texas Vacation: Day 2

Yesterday, Texas had a high of 90 degrees! YIKES! A lot of people were complaining that it was way too hot for March. I agree, it was hot, but I was liking every minute of it because, well, I am just VISITING!

First thing we did was head over to Round Rock Doughnuts (Featured on Man vs. Food) and bought a dozen glazed doughnuts. Omg - amazing. We came back to the apt, ate our glorious food while catching up on The Big Bang Theory. We got Hurley (Ben's dog) ready and headed out to the dog park. It is funny - they have a small dog area (which Hurley had all to himself) and a large dog area and a dog run - for the larger dogs as well. It was so nice to sit outside!!

Let's see, then we headed to the outlet mall which is pretty much right in Ben's back yard. Ikea was next. It was really odd to see an Ikea right in the middle of Round Rock...I am used to it being HUGE and by other HUGE things. Not that this one wasn't huge, but still. We walked from room to room looking at the cool or weird ways they set things up. It makes me want to totally decorate a house again.

After the outlet mall and Ikea it was time for my first real sushi experience. It was really good! I ordered the California roll (which I had had before) and the Philadelphia roll. Ben had spicy tuna, yellow tail and I think a spicy salmon roll (? not quite sure on that last one). I tried his yellow tail and I really liked it! Yum! I had forgotten just how filling sushi is though wow. Haha- you'll like this...as I was "trying" to eat my sushi, the chopsticks business was giving me issues. The waitress came over and gave me "kid chopsticks," you know, the ones where they barely separate them for you, wad up the wrapper they come in, and rubber band them together so they are idiot-proof? Yeah, that. Great. Oh, and I guess my limit for sushi is about a roll and a piece. YUM.

After we had filled up on sushi, we headed over to Target to get a couple things, came back to the apt and watched the movie Flipped. Then we hung out, played some Xbox bowling and waited until we were going to meet his aunt and her friend at Applebees for drinks. That was a lot of fun. Ben and his aunt knew both of the bartenders, and they were awesome. Overall, it was a really fun time :) Ben got hungry, and probably tired of being picked on, so we went to grab some food at Freebird (a place kind of like Chipotle, only way cooler). I got chips and queso and omg - it was probably some of the best queso I have ever eaten. Ever. yummm.

After that, we just came back, hung out, watched City of Ember and "Talking Animals" trailers on You Tube for BBC. Too funny!! Then it was off to bed around 1, 1:30.

Today should be fun. We are headed to Austin to bum around and see what we can see there - go to the landscape garden and a couple of bars.

I have a feeling that the blog posts about here in Texas will mostly be about food...you have been warned. Pictures to follow.

-L

Texas Vacation!

I made it!

My grandma came and took me to the airport yesterday. We stopped at the 5-8 for lunch first. mmm Roadhouse burger!! Then it was off to MSP airport! Ok, I forgot how confusing airports can be - signs seem to disappear, even when they are the size of, well, me! Finding the bag drop gave me my first round of issues. Once that was done, I hopped in the growing line for the security checkpoint. The guy in front of me had a carry-on bag with a new PUPPY in it! I learned that you can carry on a puppy/cat if they can fit in the size bag he had - and there are only 2 allowed per flight! The guy was really nice and we chatted through most of the line as we waited to be scanned/groped, whichever your preference. But, to my surprise, myself and the majority of the people in line had to do NEITHER of those things! We just put our things in the bins and then walked through the metal detector! Nice! After that, I put my shoes back on, grabbed my stuff, and was off to the magical land of the terminal. Seriously, after the checkpoint, it is like the golden gates had been opened! There are full-fledged restaurants in there, a TON of shopping places - some of which I have never heard of and a lot of people roaming about. I tell you one thing, the airport is where the people-watching is AT! WOW!

The wait time for my plane once I had made it through the checkpoint and down to gate C-10 (I think it was the 2nd to last gate at the terminal, naturally) I had about an hour to an hour and a half until we boarded our plane. Nevertheless, time went by pretty quickly. I at one point roamed around a little in the terminal looking at some of the stuff they have there before settling in on one of the waiting chairs at the gate.

Boarding went pretty smoothly. For the boarding time, there was a guy in high school, (I later learned from St. Louis Park who was traveling to TX to look at colleges with his dad in the row behind us) and no one in the aisle seat. After the rest of the people had gotten on, the dad came up and ended up sitting next to me. They were both nice once we started talking. We didn't talk for too long, but I think what got us started was the SCREAMING toddler a few rows back. Oh it was BAD! Nothing was working for the kid and you just wanted to go back and see if there was anything you could do for the poor parents. oy vey! It just makes you feel bad for the parents! Finally they were able to calm him down for a short period of time so I was actually able to concentrate on my book. Seriously, the kid's blood curdling screams caused me to read and re-read the same sentence and paragraph in the book numerous times over. But I guess the upside was that I was able to get a little ways into the book on the trip down! The flight seemed rather short - about 2 hours.

After we landed, I texted Ben and let him know that I had just landed and that I had to head to baggage claim yet before I would be outside to meet him. Okay, the Austin airport is SO nice! The moment I got off the plane and out of the gate - I was like wow...very nice! I made my way to the baggage claim and who was sitting there waiting for me?! BEN! haha! It was so good to see him and a surprise that he actually came into the baggage claim area! I ran over, gave him a hug and waited for my bag to drop onto the carousel. Boy, was it HOT here! I wasn't quite ready to be thrown into that, but once the baggage came, we headed out to the parking ramp, I was sweating! Good thing I brought some capris, tanks and flip flops! I am going to get some good use out of those!!

After the airport, we made our way to his apartment (very nice by the way) we dropped off our stuff, let Hurley - his dog outside and then went back in and contemplated where to go for dinner. He decided to take me to Rudy's - a texan BBQ place. OMG yum! I might have to go back and get a bottle of their BBQ sauce for my dad...After dinner, we came back to the apt and hung out, watched some tv and just chilled. so nice - and I still cannot get over the weather here! Crazy!

All that I think may be on the docket for today is an awesome doughnut place, maybe the dog park, maybe the pool, and later, possibly meeting up for drinks with his aunt and going out with one of his bartender friends afterward? Not really sure, but we'll figure it out. I think Saturday is going to be our day to bum around Austin and go see some cool stuff there. I am really really excited to see the Zilkner garden!

Okay, that's all the update I have for now! I just have to wait for Ben to wake up before we can start the day!
-L