Still Keeping Austin Weird

I went to Austin to visit Joben (my sister, Stacey) and it was probably the best trip I've had there so far. She picked me up with the kids she babysits and we played for a bit then went to dinner with her girls from Church. I'm pretty stoked that she's found such great people to surround herself with. These girls are from all over the place, one from Germany, San Diego, Oklahoma, the list goes on. We went to dinner at Shady Grove which is an awesome outdoor dining restaurant. Only one problem, it was freezing and rainy.

We all snuggled around a table that was covered but still really cold and windy. We made the best of it and it was a lot of fun. We kept that night pretty mellow, and Stace, Kira and I went home to watch the movie, "Leap Year" and they weren't big fans but I liked it, and we all decided we were moving to Ireland after that. I am quite the tomboy and not all into romance, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't like cheezy feel good romantic movies.

Saturday was awesome and Stacey and I decided to drive out to Lockhart to go to the oldest Texas BBQ which was ironically called "Smittys." This is kind of our family nickname, especially for my dad so it was pretty cool to go to a BBQ with that name. It was  an awesome drive to the town because it was the one sunny day that was beautiful but pretty cold. We put the top down in the jeep regardless and listened to Face to Face and some country to get us in the mood. We spent most of that day outside and it's a good thing because it was the only nice day of the 3. That night we went to see Joshua Radin at La Zona Rosa and it's a pretty blah venue but the bands were great. I actually bought a cd for the Good Old War guys that had a great stage presence. It was like acoustic folk and I think I just liked the percussionist because his hair was awesome.

We went to 6th street after which was crazy because UT played Oklahoma State and since OSU is only a few hours away, there were fans from both teams EVERYWHERE. We met with the girls, but not before Stacey told some poor guys that the bar they were looking for was 5 blocks away when really it was next door to the place we were going to. Madi's mom was hilarious. We went upstairs to the dance floor and she was dancing with everyone. She got recruited by some other girls and had a great time. Then there's Jessi. She has the most insane ridiculous dance moves that attracted a crowd to form a dance circle. She and the mountain man/leprechaun had a dance battle. It started a whole fiasco and people got really into it with dance moves that I wouldn't say were "good" but rather "entertaining."

Everyone in Austin is so NICE. If you walk anywhere, people always smile and say hello and for the first time, I actually believed  that a guy in a bar wasn't hitting on my sister or I, but actually just starting conversation. Once Stace and I were talking to the jeep at about midnight, we hear 3 people behind us. A guy in his 30's with a huge mo-hawk and his 2 girlfriends that live in Austin. Matt was his name and he was so dumbfounded that we would be leaving at midnight so he insisted that we go with him and his friends to upper 6th for a drink. We went and I'm so glad we did because upper 6th street is soooo nice. It is what it sounds like and it's a bit more upper class with cleaner bars and cleaner people. One of his friend's name was Becca which sounded funny because I've only known one other Becca besides me on my soccer team. We ended up taking them to their car afterward and Stacey and the other Becca decided to chat it up while Matt, Elizabeth and I laughed at the fact that the two had hardly spoke all night, and when we are saying goodbye, they insist on a full blown conversation.

Since Stace and I were sober, we had some energy when we got home and I don't know if it's because we hadn't seen each other in a while or because we honestly couldn't sleep, but we stayed up until 4 in the morning whispering in the dark like 6th graders. It went like this.. "you awake?" .. "yeah".. "you tired?".. "no.. you?".. "no.. wanna eat ice cream?"... and it went from there. We had a good time but it hurt in the morning when we woke up 4 hours later for church. Puffy eyes and all, we went to one of the best services I'd ever been to. The worship was alright but the pastor was really good and it was one message I'll never forget so I'm really glad we went.

After church we had an hour to kill before I went to the airport so we went to Mothers which is an awesome vegetarian/vegan restaurant that I needed after BBQ and cocktails the night before. The vibe at those kinds of places are so awesome. Everyone is so polite and has great attitudes. It's what I would describe as hippie and I'm super into those kinds of places so it was great. I had a great time and will be back in February for another half marathon. Until then, I'm leaving for Bali tomorrow and will have more stories in a couple weeks when I get back!

Some extra photos from the trip... 

"Normal" Face

so much for nice hair

I never know how this happens but it looks cool

Kimberly and Stace

too much for stacey

mountain man in the back scoping his competition

incredible

this girl stole the show

my favorite thing about this picture is the guy in the back posing as if he's in it

Joben in her Jeep.. TEXTING!!!!

1, 2, 3, 4....Michael.. Where's Michael!

Meet Michael Voors. He is one of a kind and has the ability to turn an ordinary night into an adventure. After living in Australia, Mike is home living in San Fransisco. He came to Long Beach to visit his boys (Reed in particular). He and Reed lived together for 7 years in college and have had a bizarre relationship ever since then. Reed considers him a brother and I've also adopted him as one of my best friends.

Before Mike came to LB, we all prepared our livers and our sleep patterns. He would be in town from Friday night through Sunday and flying home Sunday night. So we thought!

Friday night was a boys night so I laid low and really took advantage of the rest that I would lose the next 2 days. However, at 2:30am, I had a house full of 5 stinky men that wanted to sleep on my couches and floor, 2 of them fighting over who got to sleep in the bed with me. Reed and Mike wrestled over it and Reed finally got Mike to sleep in the living room where he cuddled with Stephen. These boys have the strangest relationship and I have yet to understand it.  

Needless to say, we got a late Saturday and that was fine because the surf wasn't much to get excited for anyway. We decided to go to Schooner's and meet Carson who is Reed's childhood friend from Encinitas. He and Mike are also really good friends through Reed and apparently they have the same bizarre taste in clothing. We had originally planned on going to Schooner's and jumping on my friends boat. Mike and Stephen didn't have trunks so they went down the street and bought some on sale. Stephen liked the cut off jean shorts look while Mike.. well Mike just looked like Mike.

He bought a woman's tank top that said "Fank You" on it with bright pink and blue shorts. Carson loves wearing camouflage. In the winter, he wears the long pants and long sleeve shirt. In the summer he wears the shorts and t shirt. He and Mike looked like quite the pair.

We decided to go to the corner and hang on the beach for a couple hours after Schooner's and then we came back to my house so the boys could play basketball. I'm not even sure what they were playing but it was really funny. It looked like they were in elementary school all over again.  They would huddle for the game plans and argue over rules. The five men were stinky and sweaty yet again.

Let me explain the title of this blog. The entire weekend I was mom for these boys. I made sure they ate, drank water and showered. I also made sure they didn't get lost. At any given time I would literally do a head count to make sure we hadn't lost anyone. There was always one straggler that would wander off and I put Mike's name in the title simply because he is the star of the show.

Saturday night was one of the most interesting I've had. It started in the car to pick up Quincy and go out down town. I drove everyone, Reed in the front, Carson, Mike, Steven, Orr (also visiting from SF who went to college with Reed), Tanner, and my girlfriend Sawnsearay who had no idea what she was getting herself into, all in the back. We had the best playlist going from the radio and at one point a new song that none of us had heard of came on. It sounded out of place because it was on 105.9. It's the song "No Speak Americano" and we literally were dancing for the entire drive to Quincy's. It's a mix of techno, Mexican, and almost like a yodeling theme. We found out who sang it and played it at Quincy's about 10 times before we left the house.

After a long night, we surfed Newport only to end up body surfing. It was terrible and at one point, I actually ditched my board and surfed on Mike. We went to Dukes for one last lunch before Mike went home. NOT! We talked him into missing his flight and he stayed for another week. We had a serious ping pong match at Nick's, went to LA to visit Gayrod (Jared) and by the end of the week we were all spent. Mike's wondering where his liver is while Reed and I are catching up on sleep. It was a great time and I'm already preparing myself for the next visit in a year.

Oregon Bound

I don't know of a more beautiful place, and when I find one I will let you know. Labor day weekend, Reedman, Stephonovich, Moon, his friend Patrick and I (Becca and the boys- the usual) went to the Prineville Reservoir to camp and wakeboard for the 3 day weekend and get out of the city life for a change. It started at the LB Airport where Stephen and I had already checked out mentally for the weekend.

Reed on the other hand was pacing 10 minutes before takeoff talking to his boss and other people that couldn't handle life without him for 3 days. We laughed while walking up to the plane while Reed acted like a duck- calm and cool on top, but paddling like crazy underneath. You'd never know he was a stress case because he never shows it.

Two hours, 3 cocktails, and 3 episodes of Jersey Shore later, we landed in Portland. Moon and Patrick pick us up with the boat and caused quite the scene while taking up 2 lanes and causing a line 10 cars deep. We were on our way, but not after we had a hot mama (Pickled sausage- seriously gross).

Oregon just has a very peaceful vibe about it and I could live here. I've always thought that Austin would be my choice if I had to leave Southern California, but I think Oregon has it beat. Plus I could still surf in Oregon. This is the only place I've seen so far that has more trees than houses and relaxed people that aren't attached to their blackberries and iphones.

We stopped to fix the trailer lights just before dark, and of course our battery dies. While the boys tried to figure out that situation, I wondered around Skibowl, ultimately to hold a sign on the side of the road that read "Got Jumper Cables?" The boys got smart and switched the batteries from boat to car which worked--temporarily.

Four hours later we get to camp at about midnight and Reed and I go to set up the tent (Patrick and Moon packed everything). We layed out the Hyatt of tents to sleep all 5 of us except Patrick forgot to bring the polls for the tent. Option 2- smaller tent that sleeps 3 while Moon and Patrick sleep in the truck. It worked, though it was literally freezing outside. The temperature dropped to about 30 at night and got to a max of 70 during the day. It was just like fall though, sunny and cool. It's my favorite weather so I was happy, plus I got a new sleeping bag that I was excited to try out in low temperatures.

Next day comes and we are ready to get on the boat and uh-oh... Moon had put the battery in backwards which burnt out almost all the fuses. Town is about 20 minutes away so Moon and Pat jump in the truck to fix the problem while Reed, Stephen and I do what we know best- Nothing. We hung out all day at the campsite and enjoyed doing absolutely nothing. Five trips to town later, the boys finally figured it out but by that time, it was dark.

Sunday, we get on the water and of course the weather is about as bad as it ever got all weekend. It was about 60 degrees and windy but we made the best of it and recruited our neighbors to add more weight to the boat for bigger wake. One of the girls was Hannah and she was from Montana so of course the boys got a kick out of that and called her Hannah Montana all weekend.

We got one full day of wakeboarding and wake surfing in and an awesome trail run which I did twice because it was so beautiful. If I lived there I would run/cycle/swim just because it is GORGEOUS. I'm training for a half marathon next month so I ran up this road to Jasper Point that overlooked the entire lake. It was so pretty that it looked fake. Something about running in clean air and higher elevation that just makes me feel good too.

My favorite times were when the sun went down. We had our group and the other 2 surrounding campsites around a big bonfire to eat chili out of a can, hot dogs and bean/cheese burritos, while drinking choffee (hot chocolate and coffee- thank you sugar shack for that incredible idea.) Patrick was the best story teller and he won for best angry girlfriend voicemail - "you and your stupid friend, and his stupid boat and your stupid beer in your hand." She was mad, but we got a kick out of it.

The last day we woke and it was the coldest morning ever, probably upper 20's. Reed, Stephen and I go for a run to warm up. Stephen ran barefoot because he had no running shoes and the park ranger couldn't put together what was going on. At the top of the hill we notice it's glassy with no trace of wind and no boats because everyone was going home. We had an hour to leave so we decided to take advantage of the weather and get one last run in before going back to reality. Reed had cut his ankle the day before on the binding and it was giving him a hard time but he ended up having the best ride he'd every had.  Stephen finally stood up and actually enjoyed wakeboarding- He was a natural at the surfing.

We kept justifying that we had plenty of time to get to the airport. It felt as if I were waking up for work and I wanted to snooze for just 10 more minutes and I would play it back in my head like "well I just won't put on makeup." We procrastinated as much as possible until we literally gave ourselves JUST enough time to get to the airport that was 3 1/2 hours away.

That was dangerous not only because it was a holiday weekend, but also because everything that could have gone wrong that weekend, did go wrong. We made it though in enough time for the boys to have a beer and get on the plane just to watch more Jersey Shores. I swear the show is like a train wreck- It's so horrible yet you can't stop watching it.

                                                                        

In a nutshell, I had the best birthday I've ever had. I've never liked to make a big deal about my birthday so this was perfect. I actually forgot my birthday on the actual day until Reed said "Oh yeah, happy birthday!" It was simple, relaxing and so beautiful. I think we'll make this an annual event, hopefully with less malfunctions. Here's a great video of Reed eating it on his last ride of the day. :-)