the second time we went to austin

You might remember that I gave Jeremy a trip to Austin for his Christmas gift. I was so proud of coming up with such a creative gift that was SO HIM: a tour of Shiner Brewery, trapeze lessons for him, a ghost tour, good restaurants. I had so much fun planning it. Though we're almost a full four months from Christmas, let me tell you about my gift from him.

Our tradition for now is to open gifts from each other on Christmas Eve. I was dying for him to open his gift. I made cute little cards with hand-sketched pictures: a beer bottle, a trapeze bar, the logo for Uchiko. As proud as I was of throwing this gift together, the cards MADE the gift. But he wanted me to open my present first. And I don't argue when someone wants me to open a gift. Imagine my surprise when I pulled an envelope from my stocking with "A Weekend in Austin," written on the front. I was so very confused. I don't have the best poker face, so I'm sure that my confusion was evident. Not to mention, it completely overshadowed any excitement.

My reaction was not what he expected, I'm sure. I fumbled through thanking him, looking at each part of my gift, knowing that when he opened his gift, he would understand. Though my gift to him was cuter, his was no less impressive. He is such a great gift-giver, and this one was no exception.

Thankfully, our trips to Austin were a month apart. And quite different. We drove down to Austin in time to make the matinee performance of The Lion King. I've wanted to see it for several years, but haven't had the chance. We were wowed by this musical! The puppetry and costuming, choreography and music is phenomenal. It totally lived up to it's hype.

After The Lion King, we headed to an early dinner. For some reason, we'd both decided on Mexican food. Though I'm sure there are hundreds of Mexican food places in Austin, we decided on a restaurant that's more familiar to me, Serrano's. (Only because I knew exactly where it is and where to park.) When I organize trips to Austin for my students, we always eat at this restaurant, but always order fajitas. This time, though, I decided to stay away from safe options like fajitas and enchiladas. Instead, I had fried oyster tacos. And, oh my gosh, they were great!

The next day, Jeremy had tickets for a food tour along South Congress in Austin. I was only mildly excited about this, hoping it wasn't a bust. And, perhaps, wondering if it was such a great tour, why didn't I come across it in my planning his trip? Boy, was I wrong. This was the highlight of our trip, and included several restaurants that I'd wanted to try. You should know that when I talk about this in person, I've been likened to Stefon on Saturday Night Live. It's actually a compliment.

We met our tour guide--and owner--from Austin Eats Food Tours at Jo's Coffee. He had an option of iced or hot coffee waiting for us, along with morning buns from La Patisserie to munch on while we made introductions among the 15 or so members of our group. Then we headed off to our first restaurant stop: Snack Bar. We were able to meet the owners who were so very passionate about their restaurant. We tried the Tamago Yoko; the description is in the menu picture below. It was so very different from anything I've ever had, and I loved it. It's highly likely that I'll eat almost anything with a fried egg on top. Snack Bar is a restaurant that we'll return to the next time we're in Austin.

Jo's Coffee | Snack Bar

Our next stop was up a slight hill at Guero's. We were seated around a grill where corn tortillas were being made. In front of us, plates with halves of tamales and queso. (If you're not from Texas, "queso" is cheese dip, not just the word for "cheese" in Spanish.) We also had mini margaritas made with fresh-squeezed lime juice. Which made me feel a little better since we were downing them at 10:45am. It's close to fresh-squeezed orange juice, right? Then they wrapped up some warm corn tortillas that we shared as we walked out the door.

Guero's

After Guero's, we headed to Hopdoddy. I claim the hamburger as my favorite food, so I was super excited to try this restaurant! It did not disappoint. Before the food came, we were able to order an adult beverage (Dutch treat). Jeremy and I shared a Black Cherry Hard Lemonade; it was refreshing for the 70 degree January day outside. The burgers that arrived at our tall tables were perfect and paired with Kennebec fries and three dipping sauces; my favorite sauce was horseradish honey mustard. For dessert--because who doesn't need dessert at this point--we had a mini caramel & sea salt shake. They were heavenly. 

hopdoddy: the classic burger

Honestly, I was a little concerned at this point that I was too full. But we continued on our journey to The Woodland where we had shrimp and grits. This was only my second time to have shrimp and grits; the first was in Savannah which clearly has the market on shrimp and grits. Again, these were delicious. I mean, really, if we'd just had one thing that wasn't good, we'd have been much better off at this point. After a peek at the menu, I decided that if we returned for a meal at The Woodland, I'd order the butternut squash ravioli. That's right up my alley.

And then? We had a bit of a break. The guide apologized for a delay, but I think that we were all happy for some down time. Actually, I'm pretty sure the break was caused by Texas liquor laws. Since our guide was about to buy local beer to drink at our next stop, he had to wait until noon to make the purchase. (We all know that purchasing alcohol before noon on Sundays is frowned upon by the Lord.) Once the beer was packed to go, we headed to our final destination: the food trucks. I was so excited.

Our first food truck was Hey!...You Gonna Eat That or What? It may have been my favorite stop of the day. We had a Shiner Bock beer battered Monte Cristo with cherry-fig jelly for dipping. To say that I wanted to lick the remaining jelly from the little cup would be an understatement. 

Our second food truck and final stop of the tour was Little Big Mikes. It's a personal pan pizza place and was new to the food truck scene. We had thick slices of Veggie Mac & Cheese pizza, covered with caramelized onions, macaroni and cheese, and sriracha aioli. It was delicious, but at this point, I was overly stuffed. So when I took two bites, and then dropped the rest of my pizza, I was only a smidge disappointed. I'm sure it was the Lord preventing me from being even more gluttonous. 

clockwise from top: local beer, Hey!...You Gonna Eat That or What?,

Monte Cristo with cherry-fig jelly, "i love you so much" outside of Jo's Coffee

Once the tour ended, we strolled along South Congress. Since it was "my" trip, Jeremy willingly went into a couple of junky antique stores before we headed back to the hotel to read and sleep off some of the food. For dinner, we decided ice cream would be enough. And it was. 

As wonderful as I thought Jeremy's trip to Austin was for him, this was for me. We had such a memorable time.

cute gift ideas

Because of the awful events of the week, I've read and listened to more news than any blog posts. Instead of reads for the weekend, I thought I'd share some things that I've seen recently that would make cute gifts!

These pencils are super cute! Although a little pricey, I think they'd be perfect paired with a book.

This cross body clutch from Marley Lilly has been a hit as a gift! I love a monogram, and I'm always tempted to order one for me. Every now and then, they offer the monogrammed clutch for less than $30. The clutch comes in over a dozen colors, with over two dozen monogram colors.

I think this tassel key fob is adorable. I really should keep something on my key chain to make my keys easier to find in my purse.

These bowls from West Elm are the perfect size for soup or ice cream. I have four different colors, instead of a set of one color. You can find the here, here, here, and here. A set of four would make a great gift!

a christmas gift for him

My sweet husband is difficult to buy for. If he wants something, he buys it. But he rarely wants anything.

(I, on the other hand, buy the things I want [that fit into our budget] and have a list a mile long of things I'd also love to have. Anthropologie or West Elm bowls, earrings, anything with a monogram, pens, slippers, mittens: the list really never ends. I love cute stuff, especially for my house.)

Back to Jeremy...for Christmas last year, I did a year of dates. He loved it, and it was lots of fun to put together. Twelve dates plus an extra since it was a leap year. Or since I couldn't narrow it down to one date in February. Whatever. Blue Man Group was in town on Leap Year Day. What better way to celebrate?

This Christmas, I felt a little overwhelmed at the thought of a gift nearly as creative. Since he was taking off the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, I decided to surprise him with a trip to Austin. When we first married, we took little trips pretty often. But busyness and life set in, and we chose to stay home during any free time. I knew that he'd love a few days away, though. So the planning began...

[Whenever we go on vacation, I scour Living Social and Groupon for the city we'll visit. The daily deals often include reduced rates for transportation, shows, restaurants, and lots more. I've gotten some really great deals, especially for our week in Chicago last summer. New things are posted every day, so a quick look at lunch every day can save lots of cash. We like to use our saved cash on nicer restaurants while away.]

To start our trip, we detoured just a bit so that we could drive through Shiner, Texas and visit the Spoetzel Brewery. (This was actually part of a birthday present that I gave Jeremy a couple of years ago, but we hadn't done!) It was so much fun! You receive four FREE tasting tokens to taste some of what they had on tap. The tour isn't very long, but you get to see the conveyor and the copper brew tanks.

reflection in the copper tanks

There isn't much to do in Shiner other than tour the brewery, so we made our way to Austin with one other planned stop in Gonzales, Texas. Gonzales is home of the Gonzales Memorial Museum which houses the "Come and Take It Cannon." The cannon is important in the beginning of the Texas Revolution. You can read more about it here or here. We toured the small museum and refreshed some bits of Texas history. (You know we take a full year of that in school, right?)

outside the Gonzales Memorial Museum

Then we headed to Austin! Our first night in Austin was a blast. We stayed downtown. (Thanks Dad for the hotel room!) We were able to walk to dinner. We found Parkside on 6th Street. Amazingly, we got in without a reservation. I had the yummiest oysters and sweet potato soup. Weird combo, but so good! The sweet potato soup had bits of toasted marshmallow on the bottom of the bowl. Just divine.

After dinner, we headed to a ghost tour. Before you get all worried about our salvation, you should try one. It's fun to hear even more history of a city with spooky stories thrown in. We love going on these tours when we visit major cities.

The next morning we had brunch at Magnolia Cafe (an Austin institution) before we drove out to do Jeremy's "big" Christmas gift. I found a one-hour trapeze session for him. He had so much fun and was so good at it! I loved watching him from the ground and videoing each turn he had to fly. They recommended he come back for the two-hour session.

 the 30 ft ladder to the trapeze platform

i wouldn't even think about climbing it

my super-talented + cute, amateur trapeze-artist husband

flying through the air, upside down

After trapeze lessons ended, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We are huge Top Chef fans. The winner of last season, Paul Qui, is from Austin. We were desperate to hit up his former restaurant, Uchiko. Y'all. It was phenomenal. I actually don't know if I will ever eat sushi that good ever again. Ever. Unless it's at Uchiko.

Before we left the next morning, we headed to Gourdough's for donuts  Although they have a brick-and-mortar store, we visited the Gourdough's food truck. They make the donuts to order and have the craziest, most decadent combos. Donuts are too sweet for me in the morning, so I opted for a breakfast taco at the truck next door. What a perfect set up!

We had a wonderful time in Austin, and it really was a perfect gift for Jeremy. There was a great mixture of activities and relaxing in the hotel room and eating great food. Next I'll share my gift from Jeremy...

a year of dates

This post has been in the works since, oh, December 26. I've meant to post, but then I needed pictures. And then I didn't like the pictures I took, so I needed new pictures. Let's just pretend that it's not 6 months until Christmas and that I take decent pictures. Okay?

From our early dating days, I knew that Husby loved experiences over things for gifts. For past birthdays, I've given him weekend trips, zip line passes (that I hated with every fiber of my being), and even a day at home with absolutely no interruptions and only good food. These things make his heart happy, and that makes me happy. (Except for the zip lining. That meant my heart almost exploded.)

Last fall, I stumbled on this blog where she gifted her husband with a year of dates. I knew that I wanted to do this for Husby's Christmas present. Wouldn't you know there are a few web sites dedicated to dates? And not just the dinner and a movie variety! I went through ideas here and here, making a list of possible dates. I even password protected a Word document once I had a complete list. And then I forgot the password. So I started all over.

Here's what Husby received for Christmas:

It's a stack of dates. Thirteen dates. I am fully aware that there are twelve months, but I love celebrating fun days, so I had to throw in an extra date for Leap Year Day. I cut pieces (to fit into a gift box) from a leftover cardboard moving box, and then decorated each piece of cardboard appropriately for the date, using paper, stamps, ink, pens and just a bit of paint that I already owned. Because I had planned for a couple of months, I had purchased a few gift cards along the way to be used for some of the dates. My goal was to be frugal in the execution so that I could spend more on the dates.

I'll post more details about each date. Here are all of the cards with a brief description:

1: ha ha comedy club, a comedy club in three acts with drinks & appetizers

2.14: hamburgers & capture my heart (Think capture the flag. I had Nerf guns and little stuffed hearts.)

2.29: blue man group

3: a mystery date (played an computer mystery game)

4: frisbee golf with a twist

   5: friday's for dinner; then to see The Avengers

6: restaurant crawl (a fancy way to say 'progressive dinner')

7: indoor camping (with a fire and the A/C, roasted hot dogs & s'mores, cards & snuggling)

8: italian date night. unfortunately, not in italy. :)

9: his choice!

10: dinner & a ghost tour in a nearby haunted town

11: pizza and a drive-in movie

12: a return to our 'firsts': first date (Barnes & Noble), first restaurant



A Wish List

Over the weekend, Husby and I talked about plans for my birthday week. See if you can detect the theme:

"My mom is coming over on Tuesday night. We're going for sushi. Do you want to go?"

"Oooh...we still have that voucher for Marble Slab. Let's go on Wednesday."

"I can't decide what I should request for your mom to cook for my birthday dinner at their house on Thursday."

"Where should we go to dinner on Friday?"

"You know, Brent and Patti will be here on Saturday. I think I'll cook dinner, even though it's for my birthday."

Then he said that we needed to go shopping for my birthday. Bless him! Of course I have a few things in mind, but then he said that he's usually able to find a wish list on my blog. Since I haven't done a wish list since Christmas, I thought I'd help out my sweet husband. (Also if other people--like my brothers--need an idea, just choose one.)

1. I'm not sure whether I'd use this Anthropologie egg crate in the fridge or to store my rings and earrings. But I've had my eye on it for a while!

2. I l.o.v.e. serving ware. I have a ton, but I don't have all of the sizes I'd like. This serving bowl--also from Anthropologie--sure is cute:

3. I adore big earrings. Everyday, I wear pearls or big earrings. Here's a pair that caught my eye:

Etsy: Iris Jewelry Design

4. I'd be totally fine with a massage or pedicure Belladona:



5. I watched the Les Miserables 25th anniversary concert that I recorded on PBS. I loved it. It made me realize that I love it just as much as Wicked, which I thought was my new favorite musical. I was wrong. I can't decide between the DVD and CD of the concert, so I'd choose both.

6. One of my teacher friends came into my office today to show me her jazzed up Toms wedges. They were SO CUTE! She even bedazzled them. Now, I'd like a pair for summer. (Side note: I've recently begun wearing heals again. Almost every day. It's amazing.) I'd like these gray tie dye wedges. (Husby, if you read this: Racquet & Jog has Toms.)

Faves: Stocking Stuffer Ideas

I'm so proud of myself. Already, I've bought over half of the Christmas presents we'll give. Woo hoo! I've done lots of online shopping, which has been super nice, especially when free shipping is an offer. Here are a few of my favorite things, and things that would be great stocking stuffers.

Did you know that Texas is a producer of olive oil? It's pretty new, but I was able to taste some at Mistletoe & Magic--a holiday market with specialty boutiques. Oh. my. goodness. Texas Olive Ranch makes amazing olive oil. I was a little hesitant to try it, since they pride themselves on their oils being so good that no bread is needed for tasting. I wasn't keen on the idea of drinking olive oil. But once I did, I could have kept going. We had some great "cocktails"--oils mixed with balsamic vinegars. Oh, come on! Though we only had sips of each cocktail, I could have downed it!

One of my favorites was orange Rio Orange Olive Oil mixed with Orange & White Orange Infused White Balsamic Vinegar. I came home with the Arbequina Variety EVOO and Figalicious Fig Infused Dark Balsamic Vinegar. I can't wait to use it on a salad. Each bottle is $10. You can order online at Texas Olive Ranch, or in select stores (a list is found on their website).

Next up: Coconut Body Butter from The Body Shop. 

This stuff is fabulous. I bought a tub last year while honeymooning in San Francisco. Our hotel was next to excellent shopping. Unfortunately, Husby isn't the shopping type, so I only visited this one store. I hadn't been to The Body Shop previously, but the smell wafting from the store intigued us both. This cream is excellent. It's made from coconut oil, which is a solid, so it's super thick. I love it! They have tons of different scents: lemon, olive, grapefruit, almond. They're on sale now for $14 per tub, regulary $20. At either price, it's worth it.

Last year, Husby got Origins Skin Diver Active Charcoal Body Wash in his stocking. And then I started using it and discovered how fabulous it is!

It's a natural body wash that smells like rosemary and spearmint. I love it. Although $19.50 and pricier than drugstore body wash, it lasts for a long, long time. And it just smells so good!

Fingers crossed, I'll have my Christmas shopping done next week when I'm off for Thanksgiving. Then, I'll be able to wrap and be-ribbon the gifts to go under the tree.