Weekend

I had a great weekend. Once day was go go go and then yesterday was nothing but lazy, a perfect split.

Saturday morning I took both of my 90 pound black labs to The Mighty Texas Dog Walk. One of my best friends had called and asked if I was interested in doing the three mile walk. This event helps to raise money for Texas Hearing and Service Dogs. These dogs are given to people who need them free of charge but it costs about thousands of dollars to get them trained to where they can be of service. It was amazing to see all of the dogs. At the beginning my dogs were so excited I was not sure that they were going to listen to me at all and instead just drag me around where ever they pleased. Molly the two year old almost knocked over a tent in order to get to the free treats. After the walk got under way they calmed down and sniffed hello to the other dogs along the way. It was fun, the dogs loved it, and we helped with a great cause. www.servicedogs.org

Then it was off to the grocery store to grab the fixings for baked beans, the dish I had agreed to bring to the boyfriend’s family Easter gathering that evening. Once all that was in the crock pot it was off to my sister’s to take pictures of her new house. She wanted a picture of her new husband, the new puppy, and herself in front of the house for the house warming invitation. She also wanted pictures of the interior to send to my grandmother and great aunt.

Then home to put the baked beans into a serving dish and head over to the boyfriend’s oldest brother’s house which is less than five minutes away. The boyfriend is the youngest of four. His oldest brother is sixteen years older. He also has 8 nieces and nephews, six boys and two girls. They are a very large family that was born here in Austin and they all still live very close. His mother lives about 5 blocks away in the house where he grew up. I really enjoyed seeing them all and getting to know them better. Even though they are all in town and the boyfriend and I have been together for almost two years, they all lead very different lives and it really is hard to get that many people together. There were kids running in every direction, tons of food, and then they turned on the Wii. Know the boyfriend and his brothers, no matter how old they get they will always be brothers and competitive beyond belief. It was fun to watch. Next thing I knew it was 10:30 and I was done.

The next morning we were up early and with a whole day of nothing to do. We went downtown to a favorite brunch spot before the crowds hits and had yummy food and then came home for a mid morning nap! The rest of the day was spent cooking snacks, reading and watching movies. A perfect day hanging out with the boyfriend and laughing.

Out of Town

I just got back from the pharmacy where I wanted to hug someone and punch someone all at the same time. I had gone inside to pick up a prescription; there was a woman who was waiting at the drive thru. The pharmaceutical tech was helping the woman and going through the basic, confirm your date of birth and address so you do not get the wrong medication routine when the customer snapped. She started yelling how this is ridiculous, she is there at least once a week why does she have to answer these questions? I am hoping that what ever medication she was picking up will help with the awful demeanor she has. The poor pharmaceutical tech basically ignored her out burst but I could see she was visibly shaken. I hate assholes.

On a lighter note I just got back from visiting my mom in Fort Worth for several days. It was so relaxing and I can really never get enough mom time. The bonus was that her best friend was in town from Tampa. This particular best friend was on the show Survivor Thailand and almost won. They have been best friends since high school and she was like a second mom to me so it was nice to spend time with them both this week.

I also got to see a very cool photography exhibit in Fort Worth which has several great museums by the way. This was the Barbara Crane exhibit at the Amon Carter, http://www.cartermuseum.org/. This woman has been taking amazing photos for over 60 years. I enjoyed how varied her work was. I was happy to stumble upon her show while I was in my hometown.

My First Garden

Apparently I have lost my mind. I have never kept a plant alive in my 32 years of life. I also have not tried very hard to keep plants alive. Everyone I talk to these days is doing the whole raised garden deal in their back yard, so I thought why can’t I? I did not want to build one, so I looked online to see if someone had basically a raised garden kit, I was thinking something along the lines of Linkin Logs. Well they have something like that but for $200 dollars. Since I am unemployed and there is no guarantee that anything I plant will survive I looked for another option. I found it, cinder blocks! They are cheap and you can make the space as big or as small as you please. Also the holes, you can put herbs in them! Bought the cinder blocks and then headed to a local nursery to talk to someone about my non green thumb. I found a very nice woman who is convinced I will have a very robust garden; I love other people’s optimism. I bought cilantro, dill, basil, eggplants, tomatoes, okra, squash, chili peppers, and green beans. I listened to everything the nice woman told me to do, I even took notes. Came home and got everything together and it looks really promising right now! My camera software is being a pain right now so I will have to post pictures later but right now I am filled with the optimism that the garden center lady had. I didn’t plant very much of each since I am the only one in the house that eats vegetables, I also wanted to kill as few plants as possible.

On another note one of my oldest friends is coming over from London and I can’t wait to see her! We went to high school together and then later lived in Boston together for the summer. She is now married to a wonderful British photographer. One of my favorite memories of my friend was when we were living in Boston and it was her birthday so we were going to have a party for her at our apartment. She was seeing three different men, and of course saw no problem with inviting all of them even though they did not know about each other. We had to put Happy 13th Birthday on the cake because she had lied about her age to all three men. She somehow pulled the evening off with not one of them realizing she had three dates there that night.