Jennifer P's Day Off

 Not as action-packed as Ferris Bueller's day off, but then I'm not 18 years old. :-)

First I went downtown to the Whole Foods HQ for breakfast.
 

After that I had plans to walk around all the shops nearby -- Title Nine, Lululemon, Bookpeople, Chico's, West Elm, etc etc. But then I thought about it and realized I wasn't going to buy expensive yoga pants, or books or home decor. So what was the point, really?

However, I did stop in at the Lush store. And quickly discovered that 10:00 am on a Friday is a bad time to go to Lush. Because they had 3 salesgirls who had *just* opened the store so they were still all bright-eyed and busy-tailed and they Really! Wanted! To! Show! Me! Everything! Please let me demonstrate this shower gel! Me, I just wanted to wander the store and smell things but the salesgirls totally wouldn't leave me alone. So I got a few bath bombs that I already know and love and got out.


After that I went to the mall to Sephora in pursuit of concealer but was denied in my pursuit. So I texted Mason to meet me at home for lunch, came home, and met him for some Afternoon Delight. :-)

After he went back to work, I read a magazine and ate ice cream while Mao purred on top of me. Then after that I had to go lay down because eating ice cream was a terrible idea that made me feel awful. So I took a nap while Dumpster purred on top of me.

And I did a load of laundry. Aaack, a chore during my Day Off! I know! Boo! :-)

Then in the evening I'd set up plans to go to an art opening at City Hall. Basically, city hall solicits art and puts it everywhere throughout the building and it stays for a year, and then when the year is up they re-solicit and put up all new art with a new opening reception (free to the public). So we met our friends Elizabeth & Amanda and Amanda's boyfriend there and looked at art!

This was Mason's favorite piece:


And this was my favorite piece (it comes with a sign that says to yes, please touch the artwork)
 

 


Mason quickly got overheated and needing to get away from the crowds, and I looked at some more art but it wasn't fun without him, so we went into the short-film screening room to get a real chair and to get away from the people crowding doorways and hallways.


After the girls were done looking at art, we went to a bar and had a drink, and then we all traipsed around the Second Street district looking for a restaurant with less than an hour wait. We settled on Coal Vines and had luck, because the 40 minute wait turned out to be more like 5 minutes! We had wine and pizza and conversation and it was all delicious!
 

Then around 10:00 we broke up and went home, having had a lovely night.

All in all, not a bad Day Off. :-)

Pictures from December

CHRISTMAS

  

MASON'S KARAOKE DAY-BEFORE-BIRTHDAY PARTY

 

MASON'S NYE BIRTHDAY DINNER AT RIO'S

 

2012 in Review

Looking through my 2012 calendar to transfer birthdays lets me review the ending year

January
* Had the CNS Executives meeting in Austin. Was not invited to participate. :-(
* The episode of Kitchen Nightmares that Mason was filmed for (and ended up on the cutting room floor) aired
* Had a successful Girls' Night party at my place
February
* Shaved Kozmo. His personality changed entirely.
* Had a lovely movie & spa day at the Domain with my sweetheart, followed by dinner with our John & Laura. Heavenly day.
* Bought $1,000 worth of art for the office
March
* Saw the Nerdist at the Paramount
* Took my girlfriend to get an IUD
* Won my fight against unjust traffic ticket
* The Costa Ricans from Mason's work came to the States for a visit and we took them out on the town
* Went through bunionectomy
April
* Passover Seder at Tucker's
* Meredith's birthday party, held in an amazing condo
* Ignored SXSW yet again
* My business unit grew by 50% overnight
* Referred Work Husband to potential job at my office, he interviewed and was hired
May
* Misti & Nathan introduced us to the kava bar
* Went to a BBQ tasting at Dan & Tabby's
* Threw a pool party that was way too cold
* Threw an ice cream social at work
* Saw Jeremy & Pearl get married at an awesome little art gallery space!
June
* Missed Melissa's toga party. Heard it was amazing.
* Went to Houston for a death in Mason's family
* Went to Dallas for a surprise to see Paula Poundstone and eat at our favorite greek place
* Went to Houston for a medical emergency with Mason's aunt. Experienced possibly the sketchiest hotel in the Houston area.
* Saw the infamous(ly awful) Dave Chapelle show at the Paramount
* Threw the infamous(ly epic) PB&J party at the apartment clubhouse
* Experienced cricket-pocolypse in Austin
July
* Went to July 4 party at John & Laura's
* Fell in love with my Kindle
* Had girl day to go see Magic Mike
* Went to the Abercrombie (Mason's family) reunion
* Hosted all the Project Directors in North America for a meeting in Austin. Was not invited to participate. :-(
* Went to a new, terrible, endocrinologist that made me cry
* Halloween-themed going-away party for Grace
August
* Went to Robert's birthday dinner at Azul Tequila and met cool new people Samantha and James
* Went through continuous glucose monitoring, and it basically turned up nothing
* Had a birthday evening extraordinaire -- dinner at Roaring Fork followed by drinks at Midnight Cowboy. At Midnight Cowboy, the Cruise To Awesome gelled and we solidified our 8-person cruise group.
* Threw pool party for my 38th birthday.
* Went to Baltimore for Baltimoot! Met so many wonderful girls face-to-face for the first time!
* Went to Tom's Blackout birthday party
September
* Went to Houston and saw my first NFL game in person
* Went to Melissa's birthday party
* Saw Jeremy & Danielle get married in the park!
* Started membership at Lifetime Fitness
* Finally got back into my heels after my bunionectomy
October
* Hired an office manager and I moved from the front desk into an office!
* Went on the Cruise To Awesome with Misti & Nathan, Robert & Stefanie, John & Laura. So. Effing. Awesome.
* Saw two Comedy Central special tapings at the Moody Theater
* Had our Halloween party, where we met cool  new people Mike & Alissa
* Had nightmare move into new apartment
November
* Got my hair cut
* Secured the empty space across the hall for my office to expand
* Went to Stefanie's birthday dinner at Takoba, followed by Violet Crown
* Ignored the first ever Formula One race and brou-ha-ha in Austin
* Had Thanksgiving in Hot Springs with my sister and dad
* Had third wedding anniversary celebration and Mason legally changed his name
December
* Mason's work holiday party at the Driskill
* Chrismukkah party at Melissa & Tucker's
* Saw Louis CK at the Moody Theater
* Holiday party at Fletcher & Sara's
* Holiday party at Mike & Maggie's
* Did the Trail of Lights with Tom & Jamie
* And still to come: Mason's birthday New Year's Eve dinner

Trail of Lights

Last night Mason and I went to the Trail of Lights with our friends Tom & Jamie. Right after I moved here, the Trail of Lights disappeared for a few years due to lack of funds, and this year is the first year it's been back in operation.

I decided the best thing to do was to catch the shuttle that runs from the mall (rather than trying to drive & park ourselves), and to catch the first one out at 5:30. So we picked up Tom & Jamie at 5:00 and went to the mall. We only waited about 10 minutes before we were able to board a bus. Omigod there were so many buses there to shuttle people in and out of this thing!


The buses get their own lane, so we zipped right by the stopped-dead-still line of cars waiting to get in and were dropped off right next to the Zilker Tree, which had a food-trailer-court set up underneath it..

Tradition is to stand underneath the tree, look up, and spin. My friend Nathan was right -- counterclockwise *WAS* better than clockwise. Of course, I couldn't stand in the exact center, because there was a group of hippies camped out right in that spot having a drum circle or something. Oh Austin and your hippies.

We got kettle corn and water, and then we went down to the trail. Where we found a loooooong queue of people. My group decided to get in the end of the line and stand. I suggested blowing off the line. I said I couldn't see any reason why we couldn't just cross the empty park, as there were no fences or anything keeping us from doing so. But the rest of my party was against it, and when I suggested just going up to the entrance, Mason said that would be cutting in line and breaking the social contract. So we stood there. And stood there. For an hour. I got ants in my pants 4 or 5 times to do something different, but my party really thought waiting in line was the thing to do. Well, after an hour of this, somebody came running down the line hollering that the line was a lie and we were all waiting for nothing. Mason took off to go investigate while the other 3 of us held our place.

While Mason was gone, our line inched forward until.... it just dissolved. It completely fell apart. It was indeed a line to nowhere. As we reversed course and just headed toward the entrance, Mason texted us to abandon the line and just come up. We walked up, and walked right in. Turns out the park was ringed with hours-long lines to nowhere. People just see a line and they get in it without question. I feel vindicated that I was right, even though we didn't follow my instincts.

The trail is a very slow march, with a thousand SUV strollers running over your feet and lots of parents yelling "MASON!!!". All little boys seem to be named Mason right now. It was almost impossible to stop and get pictures without getting knocked over by the river of people all flowing forward, but I managed to get a few.
  

This display was neat -- first the cloud lights up and the left, with lightning and rain. Then it goes dark and a cloud lights up on the right, then a sun coming out from behind it. Then after that, the rainbow in the middle lights up. Then it all goes dark and starts over again.
 



I missed being able to get a picture of "The Island of Licensed Characters" (as coined by Mason), a display where Spongebob was next to Fat Albert was next to Underdog was next to The Simpsons was next to Mickey Mouse. It was bizarre. I did, however, get the Christmas Armadillos!


I also got this tree, who I felt sorry for because it was on the trail but didn't get dressed up like his friends.


Disney princesses were sprinkled all throughout the trail, and none of them were particularly special. We all, however, found this rave, disco ball Poseidon to be very special. Especially because his relation to Christmas is very unclear.



And Mason's favorite part of the trail. Santa in a space rocket for no apparent reason.

I would say we were 75% of the way through the trail when Mason's hips hurt, Tom's leg hurt, and we were all emotionally fried from being pressed in and banged against by adults, strollers, and out of control children. We just trudged our way through the last 25% of the trail, just looking to get out of there and be done.

We got on the bus and sped back to the mall, which we appreciated anew as we observed the absolute gridlock surrounding the park for miles around it. Then we had a lovely sushi dinner at Nanami before taking Tom & Jamie home. Our sushi was restorative, but we were still all fried from our Trail of Lights experience.

I think in the end, the guys both thought it wasn't worth it and wished they hadn't done it. I think both of the gals felt that we were glad to have experienced it, because now we know and we'll never want to do it again, no matter how hyped up it is. The overwhelming and the busy just outweighed the fun, unfortunately.
 

43 Things

I've been working on a 43 Things list. It's basically a life list. Why 43? I dunno, cuz I'd heard of the 43 Things website before and it seemed as good a number as any.

I've been working on this list for a couple of months. I finally have 43 things. There is no time limit or deadline on these things. Some are easy, one or two are likely impossible, but if I did every one of them I think that'd be incredibly cool. They are all things I have never done.

I really tried to make it meaningful, and not full of just "see X place" and "travel to Y place". Here it is!
1.  Attend a Price is Right taping with Mason

2.  Become a tea snob

3.  Belly-dance

4.  Buy the U.S.-banned Elnett hairspray in London

5.  Camp overnight on a beach

6.  Complete a physical race or competition

7.  Cross-country ski or snowshoe

8.  Drive a Segway

9.  Drive stick shift

10. Eat seafood at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf

11. Follow a cleaning *routine* so that our place is always ready for spontaneous guests

12. Gawk at the Macy’s Manhattan Christmas windows

13. Get a little vanity that I can sit at to do my hair and makeup

14. Get good enough at small talk that I don’t dread it

15. Go out to breakfast with a friend before work

16. Go to one of those painting classes

17. Have a movie-style car-washing water fight with my husband

18. Host a miracle berries party

19. Ice skate

20. Implement a strength-training routine

21. Learn how to dance

22. Learn self-defense

23. Live in my own house that I bought

24. Pet a rabbit

25. Read tarot competently

26. Rent out a residence that I own to somebody else for income

27. See a luau in Hawaii

28. See the cherry blossoms in Japan

29. See the Newseum in Washington DC

30. Sew a piece of clothing

31. Shoot a gun

32. Shop at Powell’s bookstore in Portland

33. Sisters-only vacation with Amber (spa vacation?)

34. Speak on the radio as an expert

35. Surf

36. Take Kai on a trip

37. Throw a huge bash that people travel from all over to attend (10th wedding anniversary?)

38. Travel overnight by train

39. Undergo a full-body lift

40. Watch a SNL taping

41. Watch the entire Friday Night Lights series while exercising

42. Wear a giant floppy hat at one of those fancy pools where waiters bring you things to you poolside

43. Wine-taste in Sonoma

Mason's Office Holiday Party

Last night was Mason's work holiday party. It was held at The Driskill, an old fancy-ass hotel in downtown Austin. This year we got a room at a special discounted rate, because last year we didn't and we really wished we had.

I told Mason I wanted to check in right when we were allowed to, right at 3:00, to soak up all the fancy-ass holiday hotel that I possibly could. :-) So we checked in at 3:00. There was a faux-fur throw on the bed and all this crazy ornate stuff. The ceiling in the room was at least 20 feet high.
     

The hotel was done up for the holiday.
       

We got dressed up and were ready early and had to kill time in our room waiting for the party to begin. It was a really nice room, so this was not a problem.


When we walked into the party, it had taken over multiple rooms in the Driskill. Keep in mind this hotel dates back to 1886, so they don't have the kind of giant banquet rooms that modern hotels have. The theme of this party was Roaring 20's. In the main room was a live band, the buffet tables, an open bar, and a free photobooth, plus some gambling tables. There were two smaller rooms also containing dining tables, with open bars in each of them as well. There was a side room with two free tarot card readers, and another side room for poker with its own open whisky bar. Scattered throughout all the rooms were tables full of accessories (headbands, pearl necklaces, mustache-on-a-stick, nd feather boas) where I suited up. There were altogether at least 3 open bars, plus servers circulating with trays of wine & champagne, plus appetizers.
          

At 10:00 I hit my wall and bid Mason adieu. He was still killing it at poker.


We slept like drunken, overfed rocks.

The next morning we woke up early and decided to walk to Moonshine, since for once we'd be there early enough not to wait hours for a table. It was good, but a buffet is double-wasted on me since I don't partake of all the yummy baked goods and my stomach is tiny (especially so in the mornings). But they had a "green eggs" which was eggs scrambled with basil pesto, mozarella cheese, cherry tomatoes, and parmesan. They should just call that The Jennifer Special. :-)


After that, since we were already downtown, we went to Lavaca Street Bar, which is the home of Houston Texans watching parties in Austin. We just found out about this a couple of weeks ago, after years of Mason looking for a place that is a Houston Texans home bar (Damn You, Cowboys!!!).
 

I got bored and ran my phone down to 1% battery but whatever. Mason was ecstatic to be amongst his people.

All in all, a really fun weekend. And now I'm happy to be hanging with my homies, the kitties.