Austin

Mark was in Austin for most of the week at a conference for work, so I joined him (via a quick Greyhound trip) for the weekend. Great city! Lots of interesting and unique shops and restaurants. I can see why their moto is "Keep Austin Weird".

Saturday, we started the day with hands down one of the best breakfasts I've ever had at "Juan In a Million" (from Man vs. Food fame.) We then wandered around the University of Texas's campus and saw its HUGE stadium (college football is really big in the south) and then we walked over to the capitol building. I will fully admit that I had no idea that Austin was even the capital of Texas. :-) Mark is quite the beer connoisseur so we next drove out to what felt like the absolute middle of nowhere to go on a tour of a brewery he had found online, Jester King. Afterwards, we went to a little town outside of Austin called Lockhart, the Texas capital of BBQ, and did a BBQ crawl of two of the most popular restaurants. It was good but I think I prefer BBQ completely drowned in sauce and these places forbid sauce altogether.

Our Saturday night was pretty fun. We were in a bit of a food coma and Mark needed to nap so we went back to the hotel and he ended up sleeping through when we were supposed to go watch the bats. (Every day at sundown, over a million bats fly out from underneath a particular bridge in Austin.) Oh well, all the more reason to go back to Austin! We then met up with a friend who had also moved down from Hoboken and went out on 6th Street, a great area with TONS of unique bars, almost all with live music and no cover. It reminded me of NYC or Hoboken, without the covers and with music. :-) Right off of 6th Street, we even stumbled across a pizza place called "Hoboken Pies"! The owner had moved down from Hoboken too. What a small world!

Sunday we ate breakfast at a lovely crepes place on the first floor of the hotel and then checked out the Pecan Street Festival, where I got really unique wooden earrings. We then said goodbye to Austin but one of the highlights of our weekend actually happened on the drive home. Mark had gotten a tip to check out a Czech bakery at a gas station on the way back. Kolaches seem to be very big down here for some reason, (someone had brought them in to my office so I had seen them before) and this bakery was full of all kinds! Plus tons of other yummy goodness. Apparently this gem was no secret as the line was literally out the door and there were knock off Czech bakeries at the same exit! When it was our turn to order, we got as much as we could and then rushed back to the car to enjoy it. So good!

We hope to make many more trips to Austin to check out all it has to offer, especially to finally see the bats. And I'm sure we will be stopping at the Czech bakery on the way there AND back next time. :-)

Success!

Success! So when I arrived at the happy hour, the only other people there worked for the building. Then, another girl arrived and I sat with her. She was very nice and ended up knowing half the people there. Through her, I got to meet so many wonderful, interesting people from all over the world that live in our building. The girl I had met in the elevator even ended up being friends with her! (Another instance of it being a small world.) After the happy hour, a bunch of went back to one of the guy's places to watch tv and I ended up staying there until pretty late. I had such a great time and met so many great people that I hope to hang out with again.

Tonight's happy hour was a wonderful success. :-)

Apartment Happy Hour, Take Two!

After the last apartment happy hour was such a fail, I'm determined that this one will go much better. The good news is that it has a theme: everyone is supposed to wear a shirt of their favorite team. What a great idea! It will be that icebreaker/excuse for me to actually approach someone I don't know that I was missing at the last happy hour. (This matches my new strategy for making friends of wearing things that people can strike up a conversation with me about.) Also, Mark is in Austin for work so I'll be by myself, hopefully that will make me more approachable.

Here goes nothing!

My Things Have Arrived!

Saturday night my movers finally came with my things. I didn't mind the fact that it took nearly twice as much time as they estimated, or that it cost much more than they had estimated, the only thing I was concerned with was if my things would arrive in one piece. So far, so good, although there are still many more boxes to go! It feels even more real now that my things are here and I won't be living out of a suitcase any longer.

Mark was in NJ for a long weekend and I decided to prepare a nice surprise for him when he returned Sunday by getting as much done on the apartment as I could. (This worked especially well since he thought the movers weren't coming until Sunday since they had switched their schedule last minute.) I ran all over Texas running errands, including a trip to IKEA where I got a double-long TV stand with pieces so heavy that I could barely lift them and in fact had to roll them in the garage and slide them in the hall to get them up to our apartment. I stayed up late putting together the stand, starting to paint and unpack.

Unfortunately, I apparently pushed myself too much and hurt my back to the point that when I picked up Mark, I was walking like a 90 year old woman. He was really happy with all the work I did, but I learned my lesson to not hurt myself again by lifting things that I should know are way too heavy for me to lift.

The worst part is after all of that, the stand not only wasn't entirely done but had been chipped a little. One piece had come messed up and another, I had chipped with the 55" TV when I had put it on top. With all the work I did to put it together and how much pain I was in afterwards, I can not imagine dismantling and returning it so I'm hoping a black wood pen does the trick.

New Strategy: Fan Shirts

As a couple was leaving an elevator I was riding in, the boyfriend looked back and complimented me on my Carlo's Bakery shirt. I explained that I had just moved from an apartment two blocks away from that bakery (where "Cake Boss" is filmed) and this started a conversation, the girlfriend had moved from Hoboken as well! I got out of the elevator and talked to the nice couple and we exchanged numbers. What a wonderful way to meet people!

I've decided my new strategy for making friends should be to wear my Carlo's Bakery or Steelers shirts all the time because they always attract the nicest strangers to strike up conversation with me.

My Birthday Weekend

It was actually turned out to be a lovely birthday weekend. :-)

Saturday we went to a Carnegie Mellon alumni event (we are both alums) in Fort Worth to watch a weather balloon launch. It was interesting and especially so because they launch the balloon at 12a.m. GMT so it was like a countdown to my birthday beginning. We met a family there that had moved from NY sixteen years prior. The mother made a comment that she had always wanted to return but ended up having children and got "stuck" here. My. Worst. Nightmare. I either want to love it and stay or decide to return back to the east coast and leave. Not live with regret for the rest of my life... I saw the fear in Mark's eyes that he knew what I was thinking when she said that. And we both agreed that would never be us.

Sunday, Mark made us amazing sweet potato pancakes for breakfast and then I checked out a new church. I had driven past a mid-sized church in a really nice neighborhood earlier in the week and I was looking forward to checking it out. Christ Lutheran Church turned out to be as welcoming as it looked from the outside. A newly expanded facility and members who were so friendly that I was there for quite awhile as they walked me around introducing me to each other after the early service I attended.

While I was mingling at hospitality hour, my phone kept vibrating. I thought nothing of it, it was probably just a friendly happy birthday text or voicemail. But it kept vibrating. Finally, I checked it and discovered that Mark had texted, called, etc. 12 times! One of his texts revealed that he had gotten a flat tire on his bike ride and needed me to pick him up. It was time for me to leave.

Even with the unexpected flat tire, we made it to our next location, Malarkey's Tavern, just in time for kickoff. Malarkey's is a Steelers bar in Dallas and I was looking forward to checking out the first game of the season there. I had been a member of the Steelers In Hoboken Club so I was hoping to find a new community to watch the games with in Texas. It was a great spot. They had many Steelers decorations, even Pittsburgh items on the menu! Unfortunately, the game itself was not as enjoyable. The Steelers got slaughtered, it was pretty painful. One of my highlights of the day came at halftime though when a group of my friends surprised me with a "Happy Birthday" conference call. :-) So sweet!!

After the game, we headed home and Mark made a wonderful meal for us to eat while we had dinner with one of my closest friends and her boyfriend via Skype.

We ended our evening on a rather somber note, watching some of the coverage of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Usually I avoid these stories on my birthday, recognizing it in my own way, but this year I was not successful.

It was quite a sweet birthday, literally. Besides the sweet sentiments of the wonderful cards, messages, gifts, (Mark even got us tickets to the Steeler's game in Houston in a few weeks,) and phone calls that made my day, I also got a great deal of desserts. Mark's boss's wife made me an amazing white chocolate souffle key lime pie for my birthday cake, some friends sent me a box filled with brownies, another friend sent me a box of candy and of course the chocolates I had received on Friday at work.

I had been so worried that this year would be hard without my friends and family but I was so touched that in their own way, all of those people I missed so much went out of their way to be a part of my day anyway. It's the amazing people in my life that made my birthday special, no matter how far away they might have been and I am unbelievably grateful for that.

Good Start To My Birthday Weekend

Sunday is my birthday and to be honest, I've never had lower expectations for it since I am so far from friends and family this year.

But I have to admit, the weekend has started off pretty nicely. Today at work, I got a surprise delivery: a beautiful plant and a box of chocolates from a few of my closest friends back in NJ. How ridiculously thoughtful and perfect!! This evening, we joined our new friends S & J for dinner at a great new pizza restaurant, Dough, and then drinks afterwards at one of Mark's favorite bars, the Meddlesome Moth.

I am a bit nervous that this weekend will be tough not being able to see my friends and family but at least it's gotten off to a good start! :-)

New Routine

My routine back home in NJ/NYC was pretty regular. I'd get up and pack a large bookbag and head into the city to go to the gym. Then work, then commute home. I'd leave my apt around 7:15a.m. and get home around 7p.m. every day. My commute each way took around 35min and consisted of the PATH train and short walks before and after.

One of the nice things about my new job is that I have the flexibility to choose my own hours. After trying a few different time periods, I've finally settled on a new routine and it's very different than my old one.

I catch a 7:03a.m. bus to get to my office. Then, I leave work at 4:15p.m. to catch a bus home. This is one of the highlights of my day. After freezing all day in the AC at work, (I literally keep both a sweatshirt and a blanket at my desk,) the heat (usually around 100 degrees) and sun feel amazing. When the bus runs a bit late, I do get a little red so I kid that this is my daily tanning session. (Hey, I guess I did move from NJ!) :-) The bus literally stops across the street from my apartment and drops me off across the street from my office in 10 minutes so I'm home around 4:30 everyday. I then have some time to do errands/catch up on email and my (first) dvr until Mark gets home around 5:30/6 and then we go downstairs to the gym in our building. (Sidebar: it's nothing short of a miracle that I'm actually enjoying working out with Mark, I usually hate working out with people I know.) After the gym, Mark cooks us dinner and we hang out and watch tv and catch up on our day.

All in all, life feels much more laid back here and I love getting home from work so early and having a short commute.

Here are some of the wonderful views from my office. (Btw, I wait for the bus in front of the church in these shots.)

It's A Small World After All

My mother's first cousin's husband mentioned that he had a cousin in Dallas who had children around my age. He put me in touch with one of them, H and she said she'd meet up with me and Mark for dinner and bring her brother, J, and his wife, S. H, J, S and I emailed back and forth on Facebook to make plans and along the way, S befriended me and noticed we already had a mutual friend, my brother Jonathan! Apparently, the two of them had lived in the same dorm at NYU! What a small world! The five of us had a wonderful dinner and got along really well.

The next night, Mark and I were out for dinner/drinks with Mark's cousins and who walks in but S and J! What are the chances?

Since then, S's invited me out to (what turned out to be hot) yoga and we're having dinner later this week! I think I made my first friend. :-)

First United Lutheran Church

Places of worship in Dallas are MASSIVE. It was one of the first things I noticed about Texas when I visited. They look more like office buildings than the corner church I was used to back east. I even say a synagogue that looked like a (slightly) smaller version of Jerusalem itself!

Church has always been a part of my life and I hope to find a new church in Dallas. Today, I checked out my first church, First United Lutheran Church, which happened to be the smallest church I had seen. It was a decent but it reminded me a lot of the church I grew up in with a small congregation (everyone fit at the communion railing at the same time) and an old, traditional song list. I love traditional songs. Spending every Sunday in church with my family, I could practically hear my father singing right next to me. Those moments are especially dear to me since he passed away in November and I was surprised how emotional it made me to feel closer to him again.

Since it was a holiday weekend, (Labor Day,) it probably wasn't a good day to judge the size of the congregation (even the pastor was away on vacation so there was a substitute that day,) but since I'm looking for something a bit bigger that has a younger community so I can meet people, I think I'll keep looking.