Hot sauce and hedgehogs

הי blogisphere-

Far too long world. So so sorry! I have been working my little tail off to catch myself up and have more freedom. I always think about updating and then I find something to clean or a nap to be taken. Busy life I lead, obviously. But no, seriously, I will be better. I swear. My mom thinks it's important that I keep up with this, so 50 years from now I can go back and see what I had for dinner in 2009. Ha.

Walter is officially in Austin now, which is pretty great. My partner in crime is here to get into trouble with me. Unfortunately we haven't had a ton of time together, with me working two jobs and him getting settled into his house/office and having to go back to Dallas for work last weekend, but it's all good. Plenty of time will be had.

My friend Jenny who was in Panama all summer is home in Austin, which is pretty cool. Another human to interact with and give me more excuses to not go out and make friends. Ha.

The week was pretty good. I housesat for Walt while he went back to Dallas to work for a couple of days. It was nice. I slept a lot and watched movies on Netflix. Ted Kennedy died and it was pretty heartbreaking for me. End of Camelot. Thursday night I went out with Jenny and our friend Coop for "Thrashing Thursday" as they have so adorably coined it. Jenny's husband was out of town on business so we "thrashed" at her apartment in South Austin. Jenny's husband got her as a birthday gift a subscription to the Bloody Mary of the Month Club. Which is pretty flippin' awesome. So every month she'll get a new bloody mary mix. This months was modmix, which was a wasabi and ginger bloody mary mix. SO delicious. You can find it here if you're at all interested. I might buy some more. We finished that off and bought a couple more bottles that didn't really get cracked open, but I'm sure they will be finished at a later date. I forget how much I love bloody mary's sometime. I probably need to keep the mix on hand at home.

Friday was my first day off in a week or so from both jobs. I cleaned up around Walt's apartment (mostly stuff that I had made a mess of) and then headed back to my place to clean up. I cleaned out both animal cages (Oh by the way, I got a pet hedgehog from my friend Jessie who was moving to Rhode Island for grad school, his name is Slice, he's pretty hysterical) and swept and mopped my room, on top of laundry and dishes. Spent the night grocery shopping, all healthy things so I can loose some weight, and playing Warcraft online. Sounds not so eventful, but I got a lot done which is always the goal on a day off.

Saturday I worked lunch at Threadgill's, did ok, and went to work out with Walt while he did his laundry. The work out center at his apartment complex is pretty funny. It's the size of a small living room with 2 treadmills, 1 elliptical machine, 1 multi-purpose lifting machine, a bunch of mismatched weights, and 2 tvs that weren't plugged in, and too high to actually plug in yourself. We did some treadmilling and a few weights and sit ups and headed out. At least we did something. Ha. We showered and went out for dinner at Buca di Beppo in North Austin. It was incredible. Theres also a location in DFW but they are always so busy we never bother. Then we went to see Taking Woodstock, which is the new movie by Ang Lee (the director behind Brokeback Mountain). I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thought it was fun seeing all the preparation behind the most famous musical festival of all time.

Today we went to the Austin Hot Sauce Festival at Waterloo Park. It's apparently the largest hot sauce festival in the world, and one of the largest annual contests in the world. We met up with a bunch of friends. Had some good salsa, burnt my mouth with a salsa (whatever, it's not fair to call it a salsa) called The Source. But it was incredibly hot and very dusty out there so after a few hours we headed home.

Tonight is our weekly (or becoming so) night with the Roquemores. Where we sit at their house Walt and Lindy talk about computers and design, Reese and I talk about celebrity gossip and politics, and the kids sit idol by wondering when their bed time is. Ha.

Have a great week folks.

-littleJ

The Return of Someone Special

Ciao Blogisphere-

Wow. It has been far too long since I last updated. I apologize. I have gotten word from a few close friends and parents that they missed hearing about my boring day to day life, so here I go again. Stress and drama have seemed to follow me a bit to Austin, so I've been spending the last 2 weeks pushing it as far away from me as humanly possible. There is always light at the end of the tunnel, no matter what happens on the way, and I'm figuring that out slowly but surely.

I can't really remember what everyday happening has occurred since my last update. I had to actually go back and re-read what I had written.

My car will be ready from all the repair on Wednesday of this upcoming week, which makes me OH so happy. Although, experiencing life without a car for the first time in my adult life, has really made me think. When you have a car, you never really think about not having a car, and how much it stops you from doing things. I know for sure it's stopped me from being social. People will ask me out for a drink after work or something and out of respect of not wanting to make someone lug me around I decline the invite.

I've been taking the bus to work every night. At first it was a fun little adventure. People watching every time I took a ride. Seeing how the other people live. Now it's become more of an annoyance. The last week or so, the bus has been running really late, it's been a lot hotter outside, with school about to start the busses have been 50x busier than before. But I really don't mean to complain. I'm honestly just spoiled to sitting alone in my car with my NPR and my air conditioning and having the freedom to do what I want, when I want. I do appreciate Austin for having such an awesome bus line available so that I'm not forced to walk in 200 degree weather to and from work every night. If this would have happened in almost any other city in Texas I would have been royally screwed.

The jobs are going as well as they can. I'm figuring out FOR SURE that I'm ready to be back in school so that someday I can have a big girl job. I'm seeing people I know that I went to high school with that are just graduating college and starting their big people jobs this fall and I'm a little jealous. But that's all me, ya know. It's all what I'm willing to work for and willing to do to get where I need to be. I'll get there...slowly but surely. I'll finish school and I'll be happy with my life.

BIg announcement. Many of you have asked, and I'm happy to let you know that we have a new roommate at Blue House. CATSPUTIN!!! Walter was kind enough to bring him to me after lots of confusion and drama, and after only about 2 hours he was out and ready to play. He seems very excited and into his new environment and likes my roommates, which is a big plus. He's taking a cute catnap on my bed right now. :)

I'm going home this weekend for the first time. My good friend and wonderful next door neighbor, Kelsey, is kind enough to let me borrow her car for the weekend to drive home to see my family. My sister and her boys are in town from Florida and we're doing our annual family pictures. So that should be exciting. Plus I get to go back to my old job and work a shift, which is uber exciting. I miss all my customers and old partners. :)

Ok. Enough. I'm going to go throw back a few beers and hang out with some friends.

littleJ