Tree lighting

I don't know what kind of bubble we were living in last year around Christmas, but we sure were unaware of a whole lot of festivities that go down in Austin for the holidays. I think it's probably because we were broke broke broke and just plain beat from Brendon's first semester of pharmacy school. Needless to say, we are in a better place this year (not that last year wasn't good!), and have discovered all kinds of fun things to do here in our big little city to get into the holiday spirit. As if I needed any help.

Last night we scooted downtown after Brendon got off work (we made it downtown in traffic and found parking in like a record breaking 15 minutes, go us) to see the capital tree lighting. Apparently there was a sing-a-long, but we missed that. We showed up just after they lit the tree I think, and there were like a gazillion people there. Austin has all sorts of fun things to do, but there are always just way too many people and I am not a fan of crowds. Regardless, since we showed up slightly late, people started clearing out and we had a good time checking out the lights and hanging out by (and in) the capital.

SEA OF PEOPLE, y'all. I'm not really a big fan of trees shaped like upside down ice cream cones, I'm more into those that look like trees, but this one was still cute and pretty to look at. They had the lights on the tree synced up with the music so that was entertaining.

It was REAL warm out, because Texas is skipping winter this year, so we popped into the capital to escape the humidity and ridiculous amount of people, dogs, and children flailing about.
 

I've been in the capital countless times, but I'll never get used to it. It's so grand! And so... old fashioned. I love all the little architectural details. They don't build things like this any more.

After chilling out in the AC for a bit we headed back out and luckily most of the crowd had dispersed!

This is what you look like when Brendon gets a hold of the camera (kidding babe! but really..), SUPER FLASH! Kristy, I give the outfit credit to you. That shirt little bow shirt IS extra cute with a fitted skirt! Ignore the overkill frumpy cardigan that I (Brendon) carried more than wore.

They had all kinds of light vehicles/sculptures. There was a big ol' snake, a bat, a butterfly, a dragonfly, and a sleigh with reindeer. And they all are made to be peddled (this one by lots of people) so they move! Pretty neat! We didn't get to see the snake in action (it was so big there was no where for it to go!), but it looked like it had tons of potential. And was pretty cool just sitting there. The eyes were from traffic lights!

Tree lighting shindig, I give you a thumbs up. I had a lot of fun, once the crowd died down. Very Austiny and very Christmasy. Although I still prefer small town events. I'm looking forward to Wassailfest in New Braunfels this Thursday! Be there or be square! A'wassailing we'll go!

Anniversary Celebration!

Yesterday was a very good day filled with love and cuddles and calling everything "the anniversary (whatever)". For instance, I sat in "the anniversary traffic", took "the anniversary nap", and we found "the anniversary awesome parking spot downtown". Just kidding about that last part, not sure if we actually said that, but we did find LEGIT parking downtown. Like steps from the restaurant, while fools were paying $8 to valet park their Mercedes. RICH PEOPLE.

For real though, yesterday was wonderful and once again Brendon spoiled me rotten with his awesome-husband skills. Even though we agreed NO PRESENTS, Brendon was bad (wonderful) and got me beautiful aquamarine (my birthstone y'all!) earrings and a necklace to match a ring he got me a few years back. I love them! He is too good to me! So for my gift, since Mr. H has been hankering for another tattoo, I agreed to fund it for him whenever we finalize his idea and find a good tattoo artist (know of any in Austin? holla atcha girl!). He wins in the gift giving department obviously. Slacker wife!

After relaxing and chillin' (and napping on my part) all afternoon yesterday we headed downtown to grub! We ate at Eddy V's and it was amazing. It's a fancy sea food and steak place. Pricey, but everything was so good. And I love, love, love seafood. The service was great, the food was phenomenal, and we had fun pretending we were fancy pants people. We got a giant crab cake as an appetizer, then Brendon got the sword fish, and I got ahi tuna. Oh and we had parmesan french fries and truffled macaroni and cheese on the side. It was all delicious. I consider myself a connoisseur of ahi tuna (HA) and that's seriously the best I have ever had, not to mention the biggest ahi tuna steak I've ever seen. And the dessert menu! Oh my goodness. I want to go there and just feast on desserts. They had so many good choices. We settled on the chocolate mousse because it is literally, my favorite food. It was divine. Seriously eat there if you ever get a chance (they are in Dallas and Ft. Worth too, northern friends!). I told Brendon last night he should have never taken me there because now it's my favorite place to eat ever. I am drooling now after typing all that. End food rave.

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE! How sweet is that? Our server was so nice! We even got a card that a bunch of the staff signed. I want to go back. Right now.

After dinner we wandered a block over to 6th street. We wanted to go to this bar called Darwin's that we had seen last time we wandering around there. We are big geeks and fans of Charles Darwin, so of course we wanted to check it out.

Turns out that place has absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Darwin and was just a grungy bar like all the others on 6th. We were really let down, we were expecting pictures of finches! Too nerdy for you? Props if you understood that. So we had one beer and watched some extremely drunk older people act a fool. And then peaced out.

Jim Beam dude as decor? Not Darwin-esque at all. Also, my cute husband.

Awkward there-are-wasted-old-ladies-dancing-behind-me face.

After leaving the un-naturalist inspired bar, we wandered around and people watched for a while. I think that is the only value 6th street holds for us. People watching. There are just sooo many weirdos (some of them a tad on the scary side). There was this lady walking around with grocery bags on her feet and around her neck while she was carrying her shoes. Whaaa?

Handsome husband! Oh how I love you! At the "Darwin" bar he untucked his shirt, rolled up his sleeves, and said "it just got casual". Endless love for this ever entertaining man.

And I'd like to take this moment to take a short break from our anniversary recap to introduce you to my latest sewing creation, the purple anniversary dress:

It's made of a super comfy and pretty purple linen. I'd say by far this is the most "well made" dress I've made so far. It's super tailored and I tried it on a gazillion times while making it to make sure it fit perfectly. I can't tell you how many times I restitched the waistline and back stitches to make sure it was perfect and everything was lined up. And there are pockets!

I used the same pattern as my holiday dress, just went with a different skirt and sleeve style. I added the collar just for fun. I made up my own pattern for it and everything! Can you tell I'm proud? Even Brendon said it was the best thing I've made! Yay!

And here's my handsome husband again:

Thanks for letting me take pictures of you, even if you make the fake smile.

When we got home we had some of our wedding cake! We (my dad and Lynne, as we were skipping off merrily (not soberly) into our limo post-wedding) saved the top tier so we could eat it on our one year anniversary because I guess that's what you do?

Mostly it tasted like freezer. It was delicious a year ago, but last night it was pretty gross. We ate enough so we have good luck, or whatever it's supposed to mean, and then chunked it. I think it probably would have tasted better if it was in some sort of air tight container, but it was just in the cake box freezin' all year. Word to the wise if you're getting hitched soon, invest in a big tupperware for your cake!

So that was our evening! We ended it by watching a movie and cuddling. We even stayed up until midnight! Not quite the wild night we had a year ago, but it was perfect. Brendon spoils me so badly! He wonders why I have a princess complex. I am so in love with my husband! One year of goodness down, bring on another!

Side note: after walking all night in heels (and eating 800lbs of food) my run this morning was brutal. My ankles said no, no, no! I guess maybe I should walk in heels more, because apparently my legs are out of practice.

Birthday weekend!

This past birthday weekend was really wonderful. I didn't want to make any big plans, I really just wanted to relax and have a happy day with my husband and family. I ended up being spoiled rotten and duh, I loved it. I am a lucky little lady. So brace yourself for 10,000 birthday weekend pictures y'all. Let's recap this bad boy.

Saturday morning Brendon and I slept in (!!!) and then made a breakfast taco feast. My favorite! Then I got to open my presents!

 Puttin' that birthday crown to use! Pardon my sleepy face and creepy Sophie.

Brendon was way too good to me and got me awesome goodies. He got me CLOTHES! My husband went shopping for me! And got really cute stuff! AND I got Harry Potter and Darth Vader key chain Lego men. Booya, best husband ever.

Oh and my new little lucky kitty cat!

Most awesome shorts ever? YES. Hot pink shorts. I AM IN LOVE.

Sophie dressed up fancy for the occasion.

After present time we went and saw the Hunger Games! Muy bueno. I think they did a great job. I wasn't really impressed with who they picked for the characters when I first saw the cast (still think Gale looks like a goon), but now that I've seen it I think they did an excellent job. The guy who plays Peeta won me over as soon as he smiled. And I loved the way they did the districts and the capital. Pretty damn close to what I pictured in my head. Also the soundtrack is BA.I highly recommend seeing the movie! But read the books first!!!

Anyway, after the movie we ran to the mall, came home and relaxed for a bit (I snuck in a nap!), and then got ready for dinner! We ate at Clay Pit, an Indian restaurant near downtown. It was so good. Such a neat place, we will definitely be back. We both got chicken korma (our favorite!) but as you can see below, Brendon got his significantly spicier than mine (his is a good 3 shades darker than mine!).

 Nom nom nom! So good.

After dinner we hiked around downtown for a while. We walked A LOT. We walked from basically MLK to 6th street and back, we got at least a good couple miles of walking in. Had to work off all that yummy food we ate! It was neat to see the capital in the evening. I'd never been there at night before, it's beautiful! They have it so well lit, it glows!

Brushing up on his Texas history. And looking handsome.

The lighting there was pretty, but I look like a damn Weasley. My hair looks so red!

I'd like to take this time to introduce you to my birthday dress up there. This is the dress that I saw before Christmas and passed up (even though it broke my inner fashionista's heart), then saw it a few weekends ago again and bit the big one and bought it. SO GLAD I DID. I love it. I had to shorten it about 4 inches, but other than that it is perfect. Do you see that giant satin bow? And that adorable collar? Favorite dress ever.

After exploring the capital, we headed into the heart of downtown, where all the crazies are! Excellent place to people watch. Austin is a beautiful city at night. And it really comes alive!

Here I am on 6th street sipping on a box of apple juice. I feel like that picture describes me pretty well. Weirdo fosho! 6th street makes me nervous, but we wandered down a little bit to check it out. It got crazier and crazier by the minute so we didn't last long. But it would be a nice place to chill in the evening before the party animals arrived. There are just SO many bars! How do you know which one to go into?

After our long (uphill) hike back to the car, we headed home. We didn't have any cake so I blew my mismatched birthday candles out in a piece of bread. Brendon wanted to stick them in a potato. Too weird for even me.

I had an absolutely wonderful birthday. I got to spend all day with my sweet husband, see the Hunger Games, relax, and I felt like a princess all day! AND I got to wear my birthday dress out on the town. Can it be my birthday everyday?

The next day the fun continued! My mom, sister, and Alex (Julie's main squeeze) came up to Austin to spend the day with me. So I basically got two birthdays! Jackpot!

That birthday card was the best. It has a cat box with "happy birthday" spelled out in what I can only assume is cat poo. Amazing. My family knows me so well.

Ladies! And the birthday crown makes another appearance.

Sophie got a lot of loving and pretended to hate it, as usual.

 She was so upset, she killed Alex.

Jk, he's alive. And he spent the day as me. We both celebrated our birthday.

Ummm, you see that? It was AMAZING. Chocolate heaven. There's a piece waiting for me in the fridge.

Although I missed my daddio and step momma this weekend, we have plans to meet up soon! I am seriously so lucky to have these loving and amazing (and weird) people in my life. Thank you for making my birthday so good y'all. You are the best. This was a fantastic start to my 24th year of life, and if it's any reflection of the next year to come, I can't wait!

Birthday boy celebration #2

Brendon is a lucky ducky and is basically getting a whole birthday week (that's how it always should be right?)! We celebrated with his momma this past weekend, we're going down to my dad's this coming weekend, and of course we celebrated on the day of!

Unfortunately Bren had to go to school, but once he got home, it was birthday time!

Pardon the post-it profanity. It's a part of a rap song we like? We're weird.

Birthday cuddles!

I made him a crown, because why not? It's a pretty sweet crown, I've got to hand it to myself. Gold spray paint, giant plastic jewels, and card stock, the materials of a true champion crafter. Kidding obviously. That thing is wonky as hell, but it has character!

We went out for dinner and drinks with a few of his friends. It was a blast! They are all hilarious. I can't imagine how rowdy they get when ladies are not present! I'm glad he has such good guys to go through the hell that is pharmacy school with.

After dinner and lots of drinks for the boys, we all headed downtown for a little bit. We popped into a little bar called the Library. It was cute! It had huge shelves of books on the walls. I have to admit, 6th street is a lot less scary on weekdays. All the bars had their windows and doors open, it was really kind of nice since the weather was so good. I'd like to go check it out during the day sometime or just walk around and people watch. So many weirdos, so little time.

Cops all ready to roll. There were a TON of them.

I baked Brendon a pumpkin pie as his birthday cake! He looooves pumpkin pie. I'd never made one before and I have to say it was definitely not my crowning culinary achievement. The mixture was just so watery when I poured it in the pie crust. I was like... is this right? And then to get the inside done enough I ended up burning the crust a little. Boo. But Brendon said it was good though so I guess it wasn't a total fail. But that might have been because of the massive amount of homemade whipped cream (YUM) he topped it with, also he was a taaaad tipsy. I don't like pumpkin pie so we'll have to take his word for it.

Lighting candles

This picture cracks me up.

And of course, somehow whipped cream ended up on his face. And shirt. I may or may not have been responsible.

I had a blast yesterday celebrating Brendon's birthday. I hope he had fun as well! Birthdays are the best. When we were driving home Brendon said, "Hey! This is our first birthday as husband and wife!", and I think it was a very successful first wedded birthday. Can't wait to celebrate at least a hundred more birthdays.