Lady Bird Lake

On Sunday, we decided to take an outdoor adventure since we both had to return to work on Monday. We debated on whether we should visit the greenbelt and take a new entrance or visit the Nature and Science Center where they have animal exhibits of local wildlife. In the end we decided it would be fun to finally walk the full trail around Lady Bird Lake.

We parked by the Long Center, walked towards Lamar and over the foot bridge and then made the loop back around. Because of construction we couldn't take the normal bridge back across, so we walked a little further to the Congress bridge. Because of more construction, Congress was closed off there and we got to stand in the middle of the bridge and snap some cool shots of the view into town.

It was terribly hot, and once again, we took our trip around 2:30, when it's scorching. Luckily we hit shady spots and we had Gypsy's portable water bowl for frequent stops. We were pooped after our walk (I think it was somewhere between 3 and 4 miles). We ended our exercise-tastic adventure with some Bill Miller BBQ. I had a baked potato and fruit salad; Joe had chopped beef sandwiches; we both had TALL glasses of sweet tea.

On Tuesday, Joe bought a bike and he has already ridden it twice. Once on the way home from buying it, and once to get Subway sandwiches. He's super excited for me to bring mine back from Houston so that we can go on excursions together.

The lights are bright on a Saturday night

If I had to create a list of top reasons why I love Joe, the contents of this post would be one bullet. Or maybe two.

Not only did he willingly venture out to the gay bars during Pride Weekend last night with me, Caleb and Stephanie, he actively participated in conversing and dancing. He was even accepting of the fact, though it was uncomfortable, that three gay men were attracted to him. And danced with him. And wanted to unbutton his shirt. And took his hat and traded it around.

The only negative aspect of the night had nothing to do with Joe. It was DAMN hot. We were already glistening before we started dancing as we had to wait in line for, oh say 25 minutes, in the 100% humidity, before setting foot into the sweltering club with no AC and just a few measly fans placed in unaccessible positions. They should have had more fans and misters. OOH misters - that would have helped A LOT.

Another highlight of the night was Stephanie making awesome fruity mojitos before we cabbed it to 4th St. Those were my drinks for the night, plus a beer earlier at Little Woodrows on Slaughter, our new favorite location. That's another post, for sure.

If it had to be put in one sentence, reason #1538 (or whatever number I'm at now) for why I heart Joe is "He is willing to actively participate in whatever he thinks will make me happy." And he does it with a smile and sometimes a really uncomfortable girly squeal.

Joe's new friends are Luiz, Scott and Fernando.

Out on the town

Tuesday night was a break from the ordinary. We ventured to 6th so that Joe could try karaoke out at Shakespeare's. The drink special on Tuesday is $2 Long Islands, so we each got one. Unfortunately, they were mediocre and had too much gin in them. We branched out to beer and wells, and I even got a free Sparks (beer and energy drink in one) from the waitress.

Joe was the second singer of the night and made a splash with Big Poppa by Notorious BIG. One of the Karaoke Jockeys (KJ) told him later that his performance was "hot!" and I think some of the women up front even took pictures of him while he sang. Does he have new followers?

We had to wait some time before he got to sing again, but luckily he got to perform his talents for a nice size group of CPK co-workers, who had shown up right before his second stage appearance. He swept them away with Forgot About Dre by Eminem and Dr. Dre.

Shakespeare's Karaoke Review: The KJs were ok, but did not seem to have a reliable rotation system. They did not have a projector showing the words on the big screen behind the singers, which is one of the things I enjoy about watching karaoke. I like to sing along in my head! And, it was hard to hear the singers because the music was too loud and the vocals were turned down.

Once done with that the group walked back towards 5th and Lavaca and then a few people, including Joe and I ventured in the direction of 4th street and the gay bar district. Joe is accepting and always down to try new things. Tuesday night is a pretty slow night, so we didn't stay long at either of the very empty Oilcan Harry's and Rainbow.

*It was actually Rain that we visited... I had a memory lapse and a confusion of words when I typed this post.

We concluded at some bar on Lavaca (I think) and then Caleb, Stephanie, Joe and I had our "Fourth Meal" at Jack in the Box. My late night, up till 4 am, equaled a hard early morning for the work the next day. But it was worth it!

Here's Caleb with Joe and I.

Mayfield

Yesterday was a warm one and I am hesitant about what temperatures the summer brings. But, it was a day off together, which meant we needed to go on an outing. We talked about swimming - I want to go to Deep Eddy Pool and Barton Springs sometime soon. But in the end, we decided on visiting Mayfield Nature Preserve, which was mentioned last week with our peacock picture.



We gathered Gypsy and some water and headed out. Upon arrival we discovered that dogs are not allowed - understandable in the garden area because of the peacocks. We trudged through the preserve trails for a little bit where my flipflop-feet got covered in dust and stabbed by a stick. After taking some pictures in a tree we headed home. Mayfield is still on our list of places to see, as the garden area looked really nice!

Mount Bonnell - hot, hot, hot!

We both took a day off of work (for different reasons) and made it a day of fun activities. It started with a little bit of sleeping in, which is always nice in the middle of the week. Once done with that, we hung out with some friends for a little bit, and Joe played story teller - something he does very well.

We then grabbed some Einstein Bros. and headed to Mount Bonnell. According to AustinCityGuide.com, "Austin's Mount Bonnell is one of Austin's oldest tourist attractions being documented as far back as 1850. It is the highest point within Austin City Limits at 785 feet." Like everything else we try, Mount Bonnell has been recommended by several people for beautiful, scenic views, which sparked our interest. It did not disappoint.

We went at a pretty toasty time of day, around 2:30 p.m. The puppins came along with us, of course. Mount Bonnell is located off of 35th Street, west of Mopac. The winding road takes you through West Lake Hills and some lovely houses. Once you turn on Mount Bonnell Road, you know you're climbing a mountain - Joe's Honda got a workout driving uphill.

After parking, we walked up a steady flight of rocky stairs in the shade. We came out on a round sitting area with several sets of natural rock benches and a lookout spot with the most gorgeous view of the Colorado River and the wealthy bits of Austin. By this time, Gypsy is panting like she just ran a marathon.

We continued down a rock path with lookouts on our left of boat docks, mansions and hillcountry scenery. After walking for about 10 minutes, while sweat dripped in our eyes, down our backs and through our hair, we realized the poppins pads were burning up and it was definately time to go. I wish it hadn't been so hot or we would have kept going.

Luckily we had a cup of ice water for Gypsy to drink out of, because I have never seen her pant this hard or this much. I carried her little scalding body back up the hill and down the stairs to the car, where we blasted the AC and headed home.

But before we made it back to Mopac, we passed the Mayfield Nature Preserve (now added to our list of to-do's) and saw a colorful and stoic peacock.

Joe and I concluded the evening with our first Capital City A&M Club Happy Hour. We did our best to meet and greet and make friends. Joe even found out about National Karaoke League from the president of the club. We'll see what happens with that! :)

Green Belting in Austin

After work today, Joe and I relaxed at the Barton Creek Upper North Greenbelt. We were supposed to meet some of Joe's co-workers, but as usual, it ended up being us two and the pooch.

We first learned of this area right after we moved to Austin, when a girl we met on 6th told us about it. She suggested we go to Twin Falls to really involve ourselves in true Austin culture. We went out in January to hike around a dry, but beautiful, wilderness trail. Now that we have had several downpours, the creek bed is flowing nicely and there are two waterfall areas that actually tumble with water - Twin Falls and Sculpture Falls. I have yet to see the latter, but Joe went a few weeks ago.

The weather was beautiful today and we found a small nook that was off the beaten path, somewhat. We trekked past Twin Falls and the party nest of people and dogs. Instead of being next to the large pool of water, we settled on big rocks along a little feeder creek. People passed by on the trail with bikes and dogs occasionally, but otherwise we were secluded. Two women stopped by to take some pictures of our view and deemed us lucky, because we "had the best view." We agreed.

Gypsy even ventured into the water a little, after I made her. When you set her on wet pebbles in the middle of the creek she has to get out somehow. Once she jumped around a little bit she was ready to run - as usual. The video doesn't seem to want to embed, so I will post it seperate.

Eeyore's Birthday Party

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Originally uploaded by pastelmagick

I wanted to post about this fun festival before the info becomes a dull memory. Last Saturday, Joe and I went to Eeyore's Birthday Party in Pease Park with the dog and some friends. It is an annual event in Austin and this year was the 45th anniversary. Originally started to honor the start of Spring, it's known for large drum circles, crazy costumes and occasional recreational drug use. It was a ton of fun to wear my black angel wings again and just to see so many fun-loving jugglers, dancers, crazy Austinites... I love where I live!