Trying to balance food, fitness, and fun!
Day 4, Saturday: Favorite quote (from a person, from a book, etc) and why you love it.
“Love’s a gift and truly handmade”
~Guy Clark, from lyrics to LA Freeway
This song lyric has been my favorite quote since college. It’s always just stuck out to me. Love is really a gift and it’s completely two-sided. You cultivate your love for something or someone in your own heart. It’s something you make yourself, or handmade.
Great idea from Heather! She decided to use Friday as an inspiration. As in the letters.
So here is my week in FRIDAY.
Food fail. I did a crap job of planning menus this week, especially for my lunches. Luckily today I had leftovers, so I just needed my coworkers to pick up a salad to go with it to make it enough for a meal. Thawed one of our smoked tenderloins for dinner, so at least that’s half planned.
Rain. We didn’t get any. People are not happy and it meant me working long hours the last few days. And maybe over the weekend.
Insane. That’s how this week has been. I look forward to yoga Saturday and Sunday. I had to miss it today due to working through lunch.
Downtown. Headed downtown again tonight to see Bill Burr at the Moontower Comedy Fest.
Awesome. As in my Thursday night at Shady Grove having dinner and seeing Dirty River Boys with Dan. It was almost derailed by work, I got two high priority assignments at 5 pm, but luckily it was something I had to wait to do in the office in the morning. Music totally made me forget about my long day at work. And the weather was perfect!
Yay for the week being OVER! I am looking forward to getting things done and getting some much needed rest if possible.
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We had a few people over last weekend. 
Ok like 16.
Dan and I hosted our very first party and first house concert, featuring Drew Kennedy. The concert was also used as a kick-start for his new album, which he played in it’s entirety. No, it’s not cheap, but it’s really a neat experience to go to. Small number of people and very intimate. This was the 3rd or 4th i’ve been to, but our first time hosting. It was hard, because we couldn’t invite everyone, in fact, I didn’t have anything to do with the logistics other than being there and getting the massive amount of groceries and helping food prep.
The food was awesome, or at least I thought so. I finally got to use my new Auburn serving platter! That’s homemade jalapeno summer sausage that my dad made.
Dan smoked a bunch of meat (bacon wrapped pork tenderloins, Canecuh sausages from Alabama, and a brisket), made his mom’s potato salad, beans, I made my mom’s famous 7 layer dip. We also had people bring oriental slaw, 7 layer greek dip, brownies, an awesome fruit bowl, and lots of drinks (our whole kitchen table was a bar).
During the first break at the concert, we sang Dan happy birthday
and they dug into his cookie cake (writing in Auburn orange of course!)
I think it’s safe to say, a good time was had by all. The evening ended with a 18 person slumber party! It’s a good thing we have room.
The next morning the yummy bbq was converted into breakfast tacos. I cropped this so you can’t see the disaster my house was on Sunday morning!
It got cleaned up for the most part, but then we all went to the softball benefit and I never finished the job. Not spotless, but it’ll do until the weekend.
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My veggie spiraler
I’ve only tried zucchini before, but other squashes, apples, potatoes, etc are on my list. It has 3 different blades to vary the size.
This spice from Savory Spice Shop. This was awesome on broiled pork chops. I will be back for a whole bottle! Says it’s great for poultry, burgers, meatloaf, and stuffed peppers. Oh the possibilities!
New venue and 2 new artists to me. We went to Texas Music Theater in San Marcos on Friday night to see grammy nominated writer Will Hoge (Dan was already a fan). Stewart Mann and the Statesboro Revue opened the show. It was all new to me and I had a great time. Not to mention, I got to have dinner with my good friend Alison and her husband before the show.
My mom (in pink) defended her Thin Mint Sprint age group title and had a PR on Saturday. That’s my sister running with her.
Photos not available yet, but we completed tore up our backyard on Saturday and Sunday. I hope this leads eventually to an awesome yard!
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Tuesday night Dan and I went to our first showcase of SXSW. I have never started that early in the week. This kid doesn’t play late on school nights anymore. This time of year is an exception.
We hit up the Red11 Showcase at the White Horse. 6 bands, $5 (free if you bought a wristband for SXSW). We’ve never bought bands, you can get by without one for many shows.
Dinner. Bomb Tacos food truck at the White Horse. There are many locations of Bomb Tacos but this one is supposedly the best. Yes, they were the bomb. I had chicken fajita, veggie, and pulled pork. Dan had 2 chicken fajita and beef fajita. They were indeed good. They offer flour and corn tortillas. I got mine on corn, but Dan ate the actual tortillas, because I was pretty sure they weren’t gluten free. So I guess I really had 3 small taco salads. I am sure I could have ordered that. Impressed. I liked the chicken fajita the best, as did Dan. The also offer nachos and quesadillas.
The show. Lincoln Durham, The Crooks, Dirty River Boys, Turnpike Troubadours, American Aquarium, and Jason Eady. We stayed for the first 5. I didn’t know it was inside. I wore a sweater and jeans. I was SO hot. I am never hot. Plus it was SUPER crowded in the bar. I actually, during the last act, bought a band tshirt to change into. Of course, when we went to leave, I was cold again and put the sweater back on. Whatever, I really wanted a Dirty River Boys shirt anyhow.
Apparently there are a ton of tall people in town. I was close for Dirty River, but I couldn’t see much at all. Doesn’t help that most of the guys in the band are also short! I have seen them several times, my first was at SXSW last year. LOVE them.
My first time seeing the Crooks. They had a lot of instruments in their set. 4 different types of guitars, banjo, maracas, tambourine, drums, accordion, trumpet, and some other percussion thing I don’t know the name of. I LOVE accordions! They were fun. I think i’d like them live more than on the radio.
My 2nd time seeing American Aquarium. Last year’s SXSW was my first. Dan LOVES them. That’s why we were so close, he’s a total man-fan.
Turnpike Troubadours. Really like them, but I haven’t seen them much. Good stuff.
I got 3 hours of sleep that night, but it was totally worth it 
Now looking ahead to see what, if any, other shows I’ll do this year. So far, I have been working so much, that I’ve had 0 time to study. Chronicle is being scoured over now.
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I slept awful Saturday night, but that didn’t stop me from waking up at 6 am on Sunday. Got dressed in my running clothes and went the the Hill Country Running Company post-Austin marathon breakfast. Yes, I am a poser and wore running clothes, because all of my other friends, even if they didn’t run the half or full, were going to be running before breakfast and dressed like runners.
I’d planned afterwards to go to the gym, but I ran out of time. Headed home and got ready to head of out town for the day. Our friend Adam Hood was playing in Luckenbach in a song swap with Courtney Patton and Brian Keane. 
It’s completely worth the 1.5 hour drive to get away, even if just for the afternoon.
They played from 1-5, the weather was nice, and the company was excellent.
Here’s a tour, just in case you’ve never been. If you haven’t, you need to. It’s famous world-wide and not just because of the country song of the same name
Is this not the cutest bathroom you’ve ever seen? It’s covered in license plates from all over the country, as it the outdoor stage.
There is the very tiny Hondo’s bar,
Which is connected to the post office/gift shop
The dancehall was closed, since the weather was so nice out, so they used the outdoor stage. The dancehall is a whole other experience, also enjoyable but I like outdoors better!
The worst part was having to drive home, but I was in such a good mood, I barely minded the time it took to get back to the city. It was so nice to go see a concert, sit at a picnic table, and just chill. It wasn’t late, it wasn’t smokey, and it wasn’t flooded with annoying people.
That’s my kind of Sunday!
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Minus Tuesday, which was a super high stress day at work, I have been feeling GREAT! Like I stayed out until 3 am on Saturday morning and I didn’t take a nap Saturday OR Sunday (although for my adrenals, that a nap probably would have been wise). And I have actually slept at night! Granted, I am still waking up at least twice, but once of those is by alarm to take my early morning dose of thyroid.
What have I been doing other than the new supplements, along with my regular medication?
Yoga. I did Yoga, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. My favorite of course is the class at Lululemon. I wish they were having them there in February. I did a small amount of Galloway before yoga on Sunday and it felt fine. But my issue wasn’t always how I felt, it was what my body reacted to on the inside. I haven’t done it again since. Maybe today.
Giving. I took half a day off on Friday, so I could volunteer for the Rogue 10k/30K packet pick-up. I may have played hookie I got to hang out with my gal Jenn and meet some new people.
Fun. Dinner at Garrido’s with Dan and our friend Heather on Friday night.
Is it just me, or does Dan’s steak, over potato cakes with giant roasted jalapeno on top look kind of naughty? Yeah, 90% of their menu is GF, I think he ordered that to keep me paws off of it (the potato cakes aren’t GF).
I got steak too, sorta. We didn’t eat dinner until late, so this was actually a 2nd light dinner for me. There was no way I could wait until 8:30 to eat!
Drive By Truckers show at the new Emo’s east after dinner. If it weren’t for drunk college kids, it would have been the perfect evening. Music heals. This girl doesn’t do front row for ANYONE anymore. But no matter what I say or how crazy the crowd is, I ALWAYS end up in the front row for DBT!
That’s my trying to be artistic pic of my Alabama guy, watching our favorite band from Alabama!
We didn’t get home until 3 am. WHEW! Long Friday was SO worth it. Exactly what we needed.
Saturday and Sunday, I worked on a few projects that were long overdue and did my taxes. Now I am waiting for Dan to do his, to decide who claims the house (depends who benefits more $ from it).
Besides some stress hiccups from work, I am feeling GOOD! Praying this lasts!
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Dan and I rang in the New Year in the booming metropolis of Schulenburg (1.5 hours away from where we live). We were going to have dinner at the venue, but prime rib was on the menu and i’m not a fan. So then we’d planned on Frank’s, which is apparently not open on Mondays. So we opted for Oakridge, which was interesting. We stood out like sore thumbs as non-locals, lol! I wasn’t thrilled with the food, but the salad bar was ok.
Concert featured the fabulous Gin Sisters and Fred Eaglesmith at Sengelmann Hall. This may be one of my favorite historic concert venues we’ve ever been to (minus the fact I had to stand because we were a little late). Plus they don’t allow smoking, which is a BIG deal in my book
Fred was really funny, i’d love to see him again. The crowd was different, which was nice. Older and very loyal fans. Dan kept saying how awesome it was to go out and feel so young!
The night was finished off with a champagne toast and singing. 
Rocking the glow-stick accessory over my wound bandage.
I drove us through the Whataburger drive-through and back to the hotel in the rain. It was only my 2nd time driving the Jeep and i’m still getting used to driving a standard again. We lived and I didn’t run into anyone or anything!
On another note, I CANNOT WAIT until Dan gets back from skiing in 2 weeks and that beard comes off! I HATE THE SKI TRIP BEARD.
St. Nick came to our house on Wednesday night. Not sure why I got anything, I haven’t been very good and I was in a bad mood from work when I opened my gifts (mostly because they were reminders of things I can’t currently do right now because of my stupid medical issues).
We headed downtown after gifts for dinner and a concert. We had dinner at Mellow Mushroom, because I know Dan loves it. I tried their gluten free pizza. Not.a.fan. The crust was like cardboard. A $20 piece of cardboard and the toppings were tasteless. :-( I’d eaten there before I was gluten free and liked it. Next time I go there, I am skipping pizza. At least Dan enjoyed his.
Then it was off to Hole in the Wall on the “drag” which is a main street (Guadalupe) that runs through the UT campus. We were there to see Mike Cooley play solo. I LOVE him, he’s my favorite member of the Drive By Truckers.
What I didn’t love was that I was exhausted. I literally fell asleep standing up a few times in the bar. I enjoyed the show, but I was just beat. I’m happy I went, because it was good, but it would have been more fun had I been able to be more alert. It’s a good thing the show wasn’t any later, or I would have likely been found propped up against a wall somewhere! 
Speaking of Mike Cooley, he has a new solo album coming out. Buy it here
Photo stolen from my friend Tricia, because her phone takes better pics 
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Fail. Left the camera at home, so there are almost no photos of a great weekend 
All crummy cell phone photos.
Headed on down to New Braunfels for dinner and concert at River Road Icehouse. I was falling asleep at 4:30 pm, so I am not sure how I survived Friday night. Dirty River Boys and Turnpike Troubadours were on the bill. Got to see a few people I don’t see often enough, including friends from Houston and an old college classmate.
Last person went to bed at 4 am, after backyard partying after the show. Since I was on the couch, I was up until then. I woke up at 6:30, got coffee, attempted a sad workout on 2.5 hours sleep. I just can’t sleep past a certain time, so lying around was pointless.
Coffee with my bff who I adore in Gruene the next morning. LOVE. Wasn’t long enough.
Our friends from Pennsylvania were in town for the weekend, on their honeymoon. They made a cross-country drive to Texas and were going to make an extended trip back down the Gulf Coast starting Sunday afternoon.
Then early lunch at hole in the wall Mexican place that I love. We’d only eaten breakfast there before. Lunch was a bit greasy, but I liked my food. Shrimp, chicken, and beef fajitas, with veggies and guacamole. Not a fan of their guacamole.
Then we headed to the gun range, our friend Erica, visiting from Vegas, wanted to go shoot with Dan. I slept for 30 minutes on the way out there. I swear it was 95 degrees already. I hid under the pavilion, but it was hot as hell under there too.
Then off Luckenbach for the Fest out West. It was fun, i’d do it again next year. In years past, they’d had it in West Texas, the region, not the city. I think it was too far for many people to drive, so this year they had events in Kerrville and Luckenbach, we only did the Luckenbach day.
I hugged the shade. It was HOT. It wasn’t miserable, but it was very warm. I am glad they let you bring in your own water, but I wish I’d brought more. We missed Dale Watson and anyone before him, but we did catch Reckless Kelly and Robert Earl Keen. Both bands bring back good memories, especially from college!
And it rained during the encore Rejoice!
We eventually headed indoors to the dancehall, it rained slowly for about an hour before we went to dinner, which was pretty much a bust. There were only 2 places open in Fredericksburg at 9 pm when we headed into town. We ended up at the Brewing Company. I guess you shouldn’t expect much when you arrive somewhere 20 minutes before the kitchen closes. I heard the beer was good, but out of 10 people, I think only 2 thought their food was ok. I was not one of those 2.
We then headed to the Hilton. Hahah, not really. Over to the Stonewall Motel. Since I was working on 3 hours of sleep total, I went to bed. Dan and I got the nice room, and apparently the only room that didn’t have issues. Dig the nautical/blue rose theme? 
The rest of our crew partied on the deck above the office until they were too tired to go any more.
The next morning I read local papers and had coffee at the cafe until everyone else woke up, then headed to a diner for late breakfast before everyone split to go their separate ways. Good but exhausting weekend!
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