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...
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| "Normal" Face |
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| so much for nice hair |
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| I never know how this happens but it looks cool |
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| Kimberly and Stace |
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| too much for stacey |
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| mountain man in the back scoping his competition |
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| incredible |
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| this girl stole the show |
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| my favorite thing about this picture is the guy in the back posing as if he's in it |
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| Joben in her Jeep.. TEXTING!!!! |
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.
