This past weekend we went to Austin for about 36 hours. We stayed with a friend and explored all over the place. We ate at a great restaurant on Friday, had some odd shaved ice, and saw thousands of bats fly out from under a bridge. Saturday Teresa had a conference to go to, so me and my friend Robie hung out with our dogs. We went to the dog park in the morning, the farmers market around noon, and swimming in the afternoon. Olive is still not a fan of swimming, but she will learn to love it. I think she may need a doggie PFD. I think that will help her feel more confident when in the water, or at least I hope so. Saturday evening we went to see the Master Pancake Theater. It’s a live Mystery Science Theater 3000. It was pretty darn funny. After that we walked around downtown just a little and bumped into the Pride Parade. So we watched that for a short while before getting too hot and realizing that we should drive home before it got too late. It was a jam packed 36 hours, but we had a great time. I like Austin, just not the heat.

So, we have discovered that at the local bowling alley/glow in the dark mini golf/laser tag/arcade place, they have .50 cent Skee Ball. It’s fun to stop in for a few games. Last night it was giving me extra balls but only registering the score for 5…which made it look like I really was sucking…not true!

A dream of mine is to someday have the capabilities for fountain soda, Sonic ice, and a full-size Skee Ball game in my house.  I just have to graduate first…

On MLK Jr. day Teresa and I went to play some disc golf in Research Park. It was a glorious day outside. This was our first time in the park, and I must say that despite the course looking a little confusing at first, we had a good time. Well, we had a good time up until I lost a disc in the pond. Damn you water hazards! Oh well, now I just have to buy another disc.

Whew! A three day weekend is just what I needed to catch up on 10-Gallon-Hatting! It has been pretty busy around here for the last bit…Most importantly, I turned 30! Hooray! It is very exciting to be a real grownup…whatever that means! Wylie and I also had a few Christmases…We had one here, where we made a Tofurky and had champagne from Messina Hof (which is right down the road). Then we headed to Lowell, MA to visit with his folks. I was pretty nervous since I hadn’t met them before (but we were Facebook friends already, so I don’t know what I was worried about…). Turns out I had nothing to worry about! We had a super-funtastic time! I had never been to Massachusetts before really, so it was an adventure. It started in Austin, where there was some question about whether we should even try to get on the plane because there was a ton of snow happening in the Northeast…basically though, since we’re a couple of badasses, we did it. When we landed it was snowing and the wind was blowing it accross the tarmac and it looked really eerie. Very cool.

The good news is that all the snow made it so we got to chillax some, and I got some mad cookie skills from Wylie’s mom. (I have been practicing them here at home…excellent skills to have, I must say!)  In between the chilaxing we were very busy! We visited Concord, where I learned that it is REALLY fun to kick snow piles. And we went to Boston twice, and it made me want to go back when it is not 7 degrees with the windchill because everything is so cool! I saw Harvard Square (though not Click and Clack, even though I was looking!), and Boston Common, and Newbury Street and the “T” (not named for me, though I will continue to tell myself that it is), and the North End (where I had some amazing manacotti and a canolli and dined next to some very adorable old men, who in the story I made up in my head about them had something to do with important Italian families…if you know what I mean , and lots of historical things like the place where Paul Revere is buried! It is very cool to see the things I learned in history class.

We also squeezed in a road trip to Pittsburgh to see Wylie’s sister in The Nutcracker. It was really awesome and some pretty incredible stuff that those dancers can do. Along the way I saw the ACTUAL Eerie Canal (and I sang the song, and it made my heart do a little backflip to be right there singing about Sal!). And a trip to the beach at Plum Island. Again, it made me want to go back in the summer, but I was pretty enamored with a snow-covered beach!

It was a jam-packed trip, and I was glad that I had taken an extra day off to rest up before going back to work.  The spring semester looks like it is going to be pretty amazing at the SCS. I will be co-leading a group for first generation college students this semester, and I am super excited. We are also starting to think about looking for jobs for next year (if you know anyone who needs a really incredible, though unlicensed, psychologist, I’m SO your girl!)…which is kind of stressful. And, I am dedicated to finishing my dissertation this semester…in between practicing my cookie skills.

This week was really fun because we were having interviews for the next round of interns, and three awesome kids from my program at Auburn got interviews here, so we had some REALLY fun company!

Today was for relaxing, and I did it like a champ. I finished reading (for the second time) Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris. Can I just say that he is maybe the most funniest man alive. We also went and saw The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. It was very pretty and visually amazing, though I felt that the story left me wanting a little more. That being said, I am sure it’s not that easy to put a movie together when you didn’t get to finish it as planned, so I am overlooking some of that…

OK, one of my resolutions is to write on here more often so it’s not these mini-novels every month or so, and then I can start sharing more funny stories about our neighbors and their eternal quest to get their cat inside at odd hours…

I hope you are all having 2010′s that are off to great starts!

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