The Chisty's in Austin

As if this weekend wasn't fun filled enough, Sunday we got to see one of our favorite families in the world, the Chisty's! Z lives all the way in Hawaii and although Sarah lives up north in Dallas now, she's about to move to Wisconsin! And Mrs. (and Mr., though not pictured, he was there in spirit!) Chisty live in Montreal! So I am very very glad we got to see them before they leave Texas for who knows how long.

We took them to eat at Hopdoddy (if you haven't eaten there, go, right now), last time Z was in town we tried to go but the line was too crazy. This time we braved the line and it was worth it!

After stuffing our faces with amazing-ness on buns, we meandered down South Congress and popped in a few shops. We definitely went a little crazy at the Big Top Candy Shop. Candy is good. Later in the evening we went down to Auditorium Shores for a little walk and Brendon got verbally abused for not knowing who Stevie Ray Vaughn was. Oh Austin, you are ever entertaining.

Also, I swear I took these with an iPhone, not a flip phone from 2006. Grainy is cool right? It's like, retro.

Bromance.

It was so good seeing Z, Sarah, and Mrs. Chisty. They are seriously some of the nicest people in the whole world. I am always blown away by how wonderful the people in our lives are! I will say it a million times over, we are so lucky! It is really sad that our friend-families live so far away. Oh well, sounds like a good vacation opportunity! Hawaii? Wisconsin? Montreal? I'm in! We miss you guys already. Come back to Texas!!

Wurstfest 2012 and finished Dirndl 2.0

Saturday after racing over obstacles and through mud, we headed down home to good old New Braunfels and went to Wurstfest with my sister and Brendon's family. It was cray cray. Last year (uhh, look how different/young we look!) it wasn't crowded it at all, but dang it was insane this year. I guess it was probably because we went on a Saturday night, but it got so crowded you literally couldn't walk. When we left it was basically one giant mob inside and there was still a loooong line to get in. Where were all those people going to fit??

But before it got ridiculous we had a grand time hanging with family, drinking beer, and eating German food. And of course we were able to sport our new German gear!

Forgive the obscene use of flash in these photos, it gets dark so quickly now! I also didn't take nearly as many pictures as I would have liked, mainly because there were 300 people all up in your grill at all times and busting out a giant camera didn't seem like a logical plan.

Waiting in the three hour line to get potato pancakes with this crazy dude? Worth it, as always. It was so crowded that we had to go sit by the river to eat our food. There was zero seating anywhere!

 Mysterious Brendon.

Because of the massive amount of people, we stopped by the gazebo in the circle to take a few quick pictures. Although I grew up in this town, I don't think I had ever stepped foot in that gazebo until then!

Brendon got a TON of compliments on his get up. I'm not sure if it's because he's super tall (and a cutie) or what but so many random people kept giving him props. He did look pretty dang good in that lederhosen.

Julie sported my dress from last year, and she made it look good! I was really happy with my new dress. Forgive my ridiculous face and the terrible angle (I need a shorter photographer), but this is seriously the best full shot of this thing. Sad, I know. I've become such a lazy blogger.

Sewing details (preview here)! I used this Simplicity pattern and I altered it a lot. Obviously that is not a dirndl pattern, it's like a hobbit costume or something. I had to get a little creative to make it more like a traditional dirndl. I nixed the original "sleeves" that were attached to the bodice and made it sleeveless. I wore a shirt I already had under it. I shortened the dress and lowered the neckline, scandalous as always, and the original pattern was EXTRA wide in the bodice so I took out about two inches from the middle by cutting it down the center and creating a closure with about 8 hook and eyes. Those hook and eyes sucked so bad sewing in, but they were worth it. I added little ribbon loops so I could lace the yellow ribbon through the bodice and actually use it to make the dress more fitted, the original pattern had the option of sewing on some faux-ribbon-crisscross-action across the bodice. No thank you! I made the apron smaller and shorter, originally I think it was supposed to go all the way around the dress, that thing would have been huge.

It was a lot of fun to sew and pretty easy, even with all the altering. It was refreshing to sew on good old cotton after the craziness of my Snow White costume. Although the cotton I used is really heavy. The skirt is extra extra gathered, turned out pretty bulky. Do overs (aka, the 2013 version): Use a lighter weight fabric for the skirt, taffeta for the bodice (ay, ay, fancy!), longer apron ties (maybe just a big ol' satin ribbon), make a short sleeved shirt to wear under it (we live in Texas after all) and cut the fabric amount for the skirt like in half. Way too much gathering.

And I leave you with this oddness:

A German boy creeping on a German girl with way too much messy hair. Look at all that ridiculous gathering in the back of that dress. Overkill.

Warrior Dash 2012

FIRE! And random people! On Saturday Brendon and I ran the Warrior Dash, and we had a lot of fun! This is the second obstacle course/5k I've run, Brendon and I did the Rebel Race in June. This was the second time Brendon did the Warrior Dash, he ran it before when we lived in Denton.

Compared to the Rebel Race, I think this course was way easier. The Rebel Race was basically a 5k cross country hike/run through ditches and gulleys and real big hills (covered in gravel), while this one was relatively flat. The obstacles were easier, I felt like there were fewer of them, but they were spread out pretty evenly. I am thankful for this because I was in much better shape back in June. When I moved to my new store in July I basically stopped running because I was and am just way too tired (and lazy). I love my job but it wears me out! 

Regardless, I still ran more this time than I thought I would, and we actually started off really strong, passing all the slow folks. BUT, of course, I pulled a muscle in my upper thigh (butt) on the first obstacle. Whomp, whomp, super embarassing. So we had to take a little pit stop for a few minutes. I was so pissed. It kind of screwed us over because it threw us behind a whole pack of slowish people so when we got to new obstacles, we basically had to stop running and wait in line for everyone to get over/around/through them. Not so fun. AND about half way through, while standing around waiting for people to climb up a hill, I got stung by a bee. Because that is my luck. I felt something tickling my back, so of course I went to grab at it and boom, stung on my pointer finger. Hurt like a mother, but luckily we pulled the stinger out pretty quickly, climbed up the hill, and I finished the race just fine.

The Warrior Dash had "cooler" obstacles than the Rebel Race. We got to jump over fire! And the mud was higher quality stuff, it smelled much less like animal feces and more just like mud. But instead of a shower station to rinse off, they just have these big water trucks that spray down a mass of people. Not very efficient. We were still really muddy when we got home.

Now pictures! These are all via my iPhone (cinco! It actually takes pretty dang good pictures!) because I was not trying to bring my good camera out there to get all muddy.

Pre-race! We were a little on the sleepy side. It was also really windy and a little cold!

Post race! There are no muddy pictures because we rinsed off before we dared to touch our belongings.

Muddy evidence left on the bottom of my pants.

We got big ol' medals, warrior hats, t-shirts, and free shades from Nissan! My sunglasses match my car now, y'all!

The best part of these things are the people who show up to them. Everyone is so fun! There was a stage with a DJ (I think a band was going to play later in the afternoon) and everyone was dancing!

See those people on the right? That's what everyone looked like after the race. MUDDY.

Of course they played Gangnam Style and we danced our butts off. Brendon was rockin' it.

We had a whole lot of fun. We were a little reluctant on our way out there because we have both been going nonstop for weeks and are hella tired these days, but it was so worth it. It's so much fun. If you have a chance, sign up for one of these things. You don't have to be in good shape (I'm proof!), just do it. It's a blast, I promise you'll love it. And if you have a choice between obstacle courses I highly recommend the Warrior Dash. Although it was pretty dang crowded and a bit easier than the Rebel Race, it was way more organized. A much better "event" in my opinion.

Just don't get stung by a bee and end up with a fat sausage finger for a few days. Because it's no fun. And not cute.

Although it doesn't really hurt, it burns, tingles, and itches like a mother. Bee's are stupid.

Back home

I am back in Austin and life has resumed normality. Dallas was a nice little vacation from daily life but I was very ready to come home. I do miss my fancy rented Camry though, that thing had some get up and go. Plus after driving that car for a week and going back to my big go-cart, I've decided I'm pretty sure my Xterra doesn't have power steering.

Tonight was a refreshingly quiet and routine evening, something that I missed so much in Dallas. Being at home with Brendon is my happy place. Hanging out on the couch, cooking dinner, giggling about silly things when someone should be studying; life is good here at the Hogan home.

Tonight we made pretty legit easy meal, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen. Spaghetti with Broccoli Cream Sauce. It's tasty, y'all. AND you get your veggies in. You could even make it with whole wheat pasta and be extra healthy. We haven't really gotten on board with the whole wheat pasta thing. It's just such so... gritty.

Scenes from the kitchen:

Not much smells better than sauteed butter, onions, and garlic. Okay maybe cookies in the oven.

Look at the mop on this boys head! He had been growing his hair out for his Ace Ventura costume and it has gotten slightly out of control. He needs a hair cut REAL bad. He is also now growing his "beard" out for "no shave November". We'll see how long that lasts.

It is good to be home. Make that recipe, y'all!

Birthday time for Kristy!

On Tuesday it was my best friends birthday. This was pretty awesome because not only is it a day celebrating her birth, but I just so happened to be in Dallas do so with her! Hurray for good timing!

To start the day off we went to this place called Jump It Up, which is basically a giant building full of inflatable bounce houses, slides, and obstacle courses. It was free for us and only $7 for Kennedy and we were the only people there. We had the whole place to ourselves. It was pretty awesome. We jumped around like we were 8 and loved it. Although it quickly sapped our energy, as we are not actually 8.

Look at this picture. Pretty awesome right? Let's discuss. Kristy is one of those people who are ridiculously photogenic no matter what their doing. Girlfriend does not take a bad picture. I mean, LOOK AT HER HAIR. Not fair. Also check out Kennedy in the corner. Looks like she is either hating or loving life A LOT.

Now lets look at my attempt to be cute while jumping:

MASSIVE FAIL. Why does my hair not cooperate? Why do I look so foolish? Why did I wear those grandma socks? 

MY HAIR HAS A MIND OF IT'S OWN. And, without further ado, the most ridiculous picture, ever:

Yep. That's pretty rough, eh? So to boost my ego, here's a decent picture of me, to prove I am capable of looking normal:

 After jumping around like kids, that night we had dinner at this little Italian place with her family and it was delicious. I ate a lot of bread.

Tiara for the birthday girl! And this next photo is pretty terrible as far as quality goes, but look how cute Greg and Roxanne are!

Of course there was a homemade card with a creepy ass party cat on the front. That's how I roll.

I hope Kristy had a wonderful birthday. I'm so happy I was here to celebrate with her and I'm so glad she was born 26 years (and a few days) ago! She is my bestest friend and I have had so much fun all week hanging out with her. I seriously dislike that this is not a normal thing. It was like a week of, "hey this is what it would be like if you lived remotely close to your best friend". Not fair.

And thank you, thank you, thank you Kristy, Ryan, Kennedy, and the kitties for being generally awesome, entertaining me all week, and treating me like family. You guys made this trip so much fun. Move to Austin, y'all!

And on that note, I must say that both Brendon and I are both very very lucky when it comes to friends. We have managed to find wonderful friends that not only welcome us into their lives, but into the lives of their families. Is it normal to be friends with your friends' parents and extended family members? If it's not, I don't care because it's great. I love that we have "friend-families". Kristy's family is so kind to us. Ryan's family is the same way! I feel welcomed into my best friend's and her husband's extended family. That's so awesome. And we have other friends with awesome families that spoil us. We won the friendship lotto I guess. Thank you friends for introducing us to your families, and thank you families for welcoming us into your lives when you totally didn't have to. You are all too dang sweet.