Austin, TX

June 1st marked the end of our first year in Austin. Can you believe it? A year ago Friday we packed up our little lives and uhauled our butts down here in 100 degree heat. We were hella naive and optimistic (and slightly stupid), little did we know what was in store for us!

Turns out, I hated it here. I was away from everything familiar, thrown into a big city. My friends were hundreds of miles away. I was lonely and sad and wanted nothing more than to run away back to Denton. Last June was one of the roughest months of my life. I couldn't find a job, I spent the majority of my time alone, we were broke broke broke, and then I got pneumonia. I was seriously ready to give up. I mean, pneumonia? What kind of crap is that?

But I got over pneumonia, eventually. And I got a job (thanks Coffee Bean!). And things slowly perked up. We figured our way around town (at least our small corner of the city) and things didn't seem so unfamiliar and scary. We got to know people here. And slowly but surely this crazy city sucked me in.

Since then Austin has grown on me. Tremendously. I love it here. I love this stupid city. It's insane and scary and too big for me, but I love it. There is so much to see and so much to do. It's such a vibrant place full of vibrant people. Moving here almost broke me but it has made me into a stronger and better person. My life is drastically different now than it was a year ago. If you told last May I'd be where I am now, I'd laugh in your face.

I was thrown out of my comfort zone and into this mess and I have made it my home. Our home. Me, Brendon, and the cats are one happy little Austin family. Although Brendon says he hates it here, but I think he secretly loves it. Just like he secretly loves pharmacy school (ha, jk! pharmacy school is the devil). There are somethings that truly are terrible here (traffic!!!), but for the most part the good greatly outweighs the bad.

Last summer when I first started blogging on the reg (another good thing that came out of Austin, my month of unemployment kick started this blog!), I said I hoped I would learn to love Austin like I learned to love Denton. Your girl called it, I have. This is home now and it becomes more so everyday. And I plan on staying here as long as we can. Although moving into a nicer (safer) neighborhood would be nice. Tryin' to upgrade!

So thanks, Austin. Thanks for whooping my ass and making evolve into something better. Tough love.

McKinney Falls

Yesterday Brendon and I went on a little adventure to McKinney Falls State Park. It's a super cool (and seriously beautiful) park just south east of Austin... actually, it's in Austin. It took us like 15 minutes to get there.

I used to go there a lot growing up, so it was neat to come back and check it out. Not much has changed!

Onion Creek runs through the park and over these giant limestone rock formations. And by giant I mean like football field size giant. And there are water falls! And you can swim! It's seriously worth checking out if you are in the Austin area and like outdoorsy type stuff. The hike and bike trails are legit too.

We did a little hiking and little swimming. Actually a lot of hiking... because we got lost. We wandered all over that park accidentally. But the scenery was great, the weather was perfect, and the company was pretty good so we didn't mind too much. We found our way back to our car eventually.

Cactus everywhere! Brought back memories of running into them throughout my childhood. I want to say I fell into one while hopping a fence once. Pretty Texan of me eh? 

Legit swimmin' hole.

 A rather large rock.

The trails were beautiful. Everything was so green! I'm glad we got a chance to go before the heat kills everything off. I'm hoping for a wetter summer than last year. Our poor plants need it!

Just chillin' on a cliff. I only lasted a minute or so before my fear of heights got the best of me. Thanks for taking 100 pictures of the back of me, Mr. H.

I think at this point we were lost for sure and a tad bit hot and sweaty.

After we finally made it back to our car, we changed into our swimmin' suits and headed into the water to cool off.

Brendon did a little cliff jumping. I did not. I have a teensy weensy (huge) fear of water, especially water that has living things in it. Heights + water = NOPE.

This picture cracks me up. All I can think of is brachiation (click here for a good example of what that is). Thanks physical anthropology classes! I am a huge nerd. I miss studying primates!

My super cool water shoes. They may look horrendous, but they work wonders.

 Carefully testing out the water.

This was the extent of my water excursion. While I was chillin' in the shallows, Brendon called out "vampiro!" (vampire in Spanish). THANKS BABE.

We had a blast on our little adventure! Minus the gazillion bug bites I came home with. I can't wait to do this again, but I'm afraid soon it will be a little too hot to safely hike around for a hours. Heat exhaustion is not on my to-do list. Keeping my fingers crossed for a mild summer full of rain!

Vacation planning

Since our beach trip last weekend, Mr. H and I have hankering to go on our own little summer vacation. We have been brainstorming and thinking of (affordable) places to go for a week or so, and last night while going through our crazy storage closet (and stumbling upon a million ancient artifacts from our childhood and teen years), we remembered that we own a tent. And therefore decided to go camping! Enter more brainstorming. Where to camp?

Originally we chose Big Bend. I went there as a child, but Brendon has never been, and it's beautiful and full of hiking and exploring opportunities. BUT it turns out the temperature highs for the summer are upwards of 110 degrees. Bleh, no thank you. We knocked that idea out. So we busted out googlemaps and started digitally roaming around the state and surrounding areas, thinking of places to camp (with summer temperatures in mind).

And we settled on Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas! Random enough for you?

(This lovely photo via here)

It's about an 8 hour drive (the same as the trip to Big Bend) and it's into the mountains! Not giant mountains, but still, mountains! It's full of bath houses built in around the 1920's where you can bathe in the natural hot spring water. You can drink it too (I'll get back to you on whether we're brave enough to do so). Plus, helloooo look at all that greenery! Can't wait to explore those mountains.

We're pretty stoked. We haven't camped in years (I think since we camped at the Grand Canyon? In like 2006???) and can you say road trip?! I love road trips. Especially with the always entertaining Brendon. Stopping wherever we want, snacking on beef jerky, and jamming out and dancing in the car. I seriously cannot wait. The last big (giant) road trip we went on alone together was to California and back (where we stopped and camped at the Grand Canyon). That was easily one of the most fun trips in my life. Bring it on again!

Counting down the days y'all. Can't wait.

Trimmin' my ends

After about putting it off for about 9 months, I finally bit the bullet and got my hair cut. A little.

My mom and I got our hair did together yesterday, we both got a trim (and a head massage, it was HEAVENLY). I was super nervous that I'd get too much cut off, but it turned out just fine and my hair looks and feels loads healthier. And I got some fancy Aveda stuff for my ends so hopefully that will help with future damage control. They were looking pretty dang bushy before.

So here we go, my monster hair before:

Excuse my "I just woke up 10 minutes ago" puffy face.

And tamed monster hair after:

I freaked out a little when my stylist told me she wanted to cut off two inches. I seriously gasped. But it needed to happen, my ends were lookin' rough. And when it's straightened you can't really tell it's any shorter (bonus! not that I ever style my hair...). I also got my thick ass hair thinned out a bit (because it was getting unruly and massive and it is summer and it is HOT) and my bangs (that were originally straight across) cut so they blend into my the rest of my hair. Fun stuff!

I intend on not cutting it again for a while. Because as much as I like having smooth, freshly cut hair, I really like having my wild hair too and I'm still trying to grow it to waist length. Just another 12 inches or so, no big deal.

Port Aransas 2012

Have you ever been to Port Aransas? Or as us regulars call it, Port A? I have been at least 1,002 times and there is always this weird seaweed plaguing the shore and floating around in the water, wrapping around your legs and making weenies like me scream. Not terrible, just slightly annoying.

Port A is a cool place. It's not real fancy, it's no South Padre, but it's laid back and I like it. Brendon and I spent three days and two nights there with my sister, my mom, Brendon's mom, his little brother, his brother's dad, his brother's dad's sister, and his brother's dad's sister's son. Confusing? Don't try to sort it out. Regardless, there were a lot of us. It was a lot fun!

Let's recap this sunny adventure y'all!

This is a terrible picture of both of us, but a few things must be discussed here:

First and foremost, we are extended members of the Cullen family, excuse our paleness.

Second, check out our hats. We stopped at Target last minute before heading out to get hats to protect our paleness. I wanted a cute little fedora but Julie and Brendon logically told me that it wouldn't shade my face too much, so I went with a big floppy hat. Wrong choice. The beach is windy y'all. I had to hold onto it the entire time so it wouldn't fly away (which it did a couple times), I gave up on it quickly. Brendon's hat however worked out great for him.

Third, never put on jean shorts right after applying sunscreen. Mine wiped off all my sunscreen so I got a TERRIBLE sunburn in the shape of shorts. Just where the shorts were. Most awkward sunburn ever.

See what I mean about paleness? LOOK AT MY SISTER. All tan and bronzed and crap, and I am albino. Also, creepy how much we walk alike huh?

Serious wind = hat shirt.

Our condo had floor to ceiling wood paneling. In every room. Including the bathrooms. I only had one panic attack.

All weekend I said that Brendon looked like Jason Mraz with his sunglasses and hat. I don't think I even know what Jason Mraz looks like.

 This ones for you Jules.

It always weirds me how alike we are. We're almost exactly the same size. People used to ask if we were twins. Except I was the test run and missed out on the good stuff, tanness and blond hair. And she got my moms face and I got my dads.

Brotherly sand castle adventures! Brendon's little brother got the tanness and light hair too. What's up with that?

You can't go to Port A without taking pictures inside the shark mouth.

And I'll leave you with this golden nugget:

Kind of bummed we got no group shots. I attribute it to everyone aside from my mom and I being constantly inebriated. Kidding! A little.

It was a really fun trip. It was great to hang and "bond" with family and the beach was great. We decided if we're ever loaded we'll buy a little house down there. Dreamin' big.

Monday we were back to the daily grind. Work, work, work. And the good news is that Brendon is working too! No more school for a few months. YAY for two incomes! The bad news is that so far our schedules are pretty conflicting and that means not much husband and wife time. Hopefully it will get settled soon, I miss my man. And although Port A was a fun little escape from reality, we didn't get too much time together. I think this summer we need to take another little vacation, just us two. Any ideas on where to go?

Back to reality and Mother's Day

We are back! We spent the weekend in Port Aransas with family enjoying a whole lot of this:

We came home Sunday night and Brendon and I ended our little vacation with dinner and a movie. We saw Dark Shadows. My review of it is; cute and entertaining, but the trailer gives everything away. It was alright. The Avengers was waaay better, go see it now. RDJ Y'ALL.

Since we've been back I've slept in too late, worked, done zero working out, and am suffering the breakout of the century due to putting sunscreen on my face all weekend. My skin sucks.

But before I overload your eyes with scenes from the beach, I want to recap our mother's day shindig!

My sister, her boo Alex, my mom's friend Ray, and I hung out with my wonderful momma all day on mothers day and took her to Clear Springs in New Braunfels. I had never been there before, but I had heard through the grapevine that they had some good catfish. Turns out they do! Best catfish I've had in a long time, maybe ever. Plus the place is just super cool. It's in a really old building covered in old signs and all kinds of random crap. We got to sit up on the second level and look out over everything. Bonus!

Pretty sweet right? And like I said, the food is legit. I can't believe I had never been there before. It's so dang good, I plan on returning!

Cute face Jules.

There are a lot of things I can't stand about New Braunfels, but they have some damn good food there. I could spend a week just eating around the town. And I heard there's a waterpark there too. Every few years we spend a day at Schlitterbahn (as a kid we had season passes every summer, I was schlittered-out), it's been a while, I'm thinking we're due for a trip!

And PS, GO SPURS GO!

Instaweek & one year down!

Wow y'all, this week has been crazy. Actually this whole month has been crazy! There aren't enough hours in the day lately. We have been busy bees and I am ready for things to slow down. Work has been nuts for me and the end of the semester is always hectic for Brendon. But Tuesday Brendon finished his first year of pharmacy school!!!! One year down, three to go! Exciting stuff. Thus begins the summer of awesomeness. This is his only summer off while in school so we are determined to enjoy it!

Somehow with all the wildness lately I have kept up with my running and working out. Along with running as often as I can, I've been doing pilates and also a little light weight training with Brendon. I have become one of those people, who enjoy exercise. Hell may have frozen over y'all.

And here is my gift to myself for one month of being active:

Girly ass workout gear. Look at that sports bra. I saw it and was like, is this for real? A rainbow puked all over it. It was so ridiculous (and on clearance), I had to buy it. And I am officially an owner of those running shorts. You know the ones I'm talking about, the ones that college girls wear NONSTOP like it's a fashion trend (except mine are cheapos from Old Navy and not Nike, I can't bring myself to drop a whole bunch of money on something I'm going to sweat all over) and do so in large groups so it looks like everyone coordinated (who knows maybe they did... "Hey, are you going to wear a baggy t-shirt and running shorts again today? OMG ME TOO! Make sure to do your hair and make up though.").  The girls of UT, I swear. Okay, okay, END running short rant. Anyways I promise to only wear them while working out... and maybe to post workout food runs. But isn't that stuff cute?! Those little tank top things are awesome, super lightweight and soft. Plus they were like two for $10. WIN.

Next up on the list are shoes. My ankles have been KILLING me lately and I'm not sure if it's because I've been running too much on concrete (probably) or my ancient shoes are finally dying (the soles are starting to fall off). Brendon and I are running the Rebel Race (Central Texans, come run it with us!!! I may or may not die, but it will be fun!) next month, and you go through mud so that will be their last harrah. I have no idea what kind of shoes to get though. Anyone have a particular brand they love? The last time I bought tennis shoes was my junior year of high school (so sad they've lasted this long), sooo... I'm a little clueless.

SEE THAT? Muscles. Little tiny ones, but muscles.

And because I have the next three days off:

I PAINTED MY NAILS! Actually Greg painted them. Jk, he doesn't have thumbs. We can't wear nail polish at work, so this is the first time I've had nail polish on my fingers since.... last summer? I miss painting my nails! Yay for pretty colors on your fingers!

And I leave you with sleeping cats, because I feel like they haven't graced my blog with their presence in a while:

Life is good at the Hogan household. We are happy and the future is bright! Best summer ever? I sure hope so!