Think I'm going to Austin...

“Nothing feels like coming home as when I’m coming home to Texas.”

What a difference 5 degrees and sunshine makes. I left cold and rainy San Francisco this weekend for the sunshine of Austin, Texas. I forgot just how much I love the sunshine and how happy it can make a person.

Austin is a lot like San Francisco. It has a neat little downtown area with fun shops and fun bars surrounded by beautiful scenery. The downtown is, yes, a little smaller, and the surrounding area is a little more spread out, with not nearly as good public transit.

One nice thing about Austin that I have not found in other cities is clubs for 25 year olds and up. We went to Qua, a night club for 25 and up with a dance floor that has sting rays and water underneath. I have to say the biggest difference between Qua and any other night club was it was much less crowded, you do not have to worry about being hit on by 21 year olds and the bathrooms were much cleaner.































I love the shopping in Austin. Lots of outdoor malls and just fun shops downtown.

And the weather was gorgeous, did I mention the weather?

Las Vegas... the city of long lines

What happens in Vegas...

Oh who am I kidding, I'm blogging about what happened in Vegas.














My Vegas experience centered around walking and waiting in lines. Waiting in line for clubs, waiting in line for cash, waiting in line for food, waiting in line for a show, even waiting in line to make a purchase at Walgreens.

Most of the waiting ended in something amazing, though the Walgreens line had a less than exciting ending as they charged me for a $2 water that I had already paid $5 for at my hotel. Oh, and Vegas is expensive.

The hotels are pretty fancy. Each one has it's own special theme inside. The Venetian, for instance, is themed after Venice, with a canal that runs inside and out that you can ride a gondola on.













We stayed at the Paris which has an Eifle tower outside and nice little rooms inside. There was a great crepe place and an amazing buffet downstairs. Both which had those lines that I mentioned that made the food taste even more amazing... or maybe we were just that much more hungry and anything would have tasted good.













And, then of course there was The Shining themed hotel. Also known as the Flamingo.













We saw KA! which was a great show. I highly recommend it, and their giant drinks.
We ate at lots of great resteraunts including Mesa, Tao, and some sushi place with neat looking sushi and great tasting sake.














I did not gamble, but I rolled some dice and got some free drinks for standing around other gambling people.

All in all Vegas was fun, expensive, tiring, and AMAZING.

Where else can you stay in a castle that looks like it is built by legos?

Old enough to know better...

Young enough to be stupid and do it anyway.

When I was younger, my friend Liz let another friend cut her bangs. It was a whole awful incident of not accounting for how they would really look when her hair was dry. It took her a long time to forgive our friend for doing this to her, and even longer for those awful bangs to grow out.

10 years later, you think I would learn from her mistakes... not a chance. I decided I wanted bangs and having moved away from my hair dresser in Texas, I thought it would be better for me to do it than go to someone I did not trust. Little did I know, I should not trust myself.

Flash forward 4 months. I have been growing my hair out for almost a year hoping to eventually perm my hair and acheive this look.



















I told my friend yesterday what I was doing. She warned me, she begged me, not to do it. She said she was going for the same look and got this instead:



















I hesitated, because that is what my last perm looked like. But, I said, no, I will bring a picture, one of what I do not want and one of what I do.

Lets review:

YES











NO











The hair dresser copied one picture perfectly... guess which one.

I'll never learn.

Octoberfest in September in Seattle

Seattle is the city of surf, skyline and way too many Air force boys


















You’ve seen it in so many episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, but let me tell you, the flybys in between dramatic shots of Seattle’s skyline just does not do it justice.

Now, I did not do too many touristy things while in Seattle, but I did get to experience it’s amazing night life, beach scene, a little of Pike’s Place Market and the skyline at night. Every up had its down, but overall I had a wonderful time in Seattle.

The beaches were beautiful. The freezing cold water forming treterous waves that hit pointy black rocks were less than a warm invitation for me to join my friends to surf on that beautiful beach. But, I think I got just as good of an experience watching and taking photos.
















Pikes Place Market was interesting. There were loads of flowers and fruit. And, apparently there were people throwing fish. I could not see it if it was happening because there was a huge crowd of people to thick and tall to see through or over. But, there was lots of shouting.
















I was fortunate enough to be in Seattle for their Octoberfest (although it was September). I did not go to any of the activities surrounding the event, but it did make for a very exciting full of people night out at the bars. But, no matter how many people were out, we managed to run into the same group of people both nights at different bars. This may have been fun if these were cute charming boys. Alas, they were pilots with the Airforce, not cute enough to make up for the overwhelming lack of charm. Still, I had a fun night with my girls and lots of good food and drinks were had.

Speaking of food, I found another AMAZING Thai restaurant. I am accruing a list of the best Thai across the country. I have one in Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco. I never found one in Dallas. Surprised? Not really.

Next stop... Vegas :)

Luv is in the Air... and I am on it

“Sometimes the journey is just as important as the destination”












I thought since I have started to travel again, I should get my blog back to it’s Wanderlust roots. Ill probably write about travels in between my last post and now later, but for now, I want to focus on how I get where I go.

I used to travel a whole lot more. I have been on almost every airline, but there is one I had never tried: Southwest. I used them for the first time every this weekend. And, while I was not looking forward to the whole seating as you come situation, it was a cheap ticket.

Even though I was the last on the plane (doomed to sit in the worst middle seat ever), I ended up with an aisle seat.

The first thing the surprised me was peanuts. We got peanuts on this flight. I do not remember the last time I was on a flight that handed out peanuts. How neat.

Now, not only do airlines not give out peanuts anymore, most don’t give out any snacks (without charging that is). Southwest did not just give us peanuts, they gave us a box of snacks. It included cookies, dried fruit, and those sticks you can dip in cheese.














The pilots and flight attendants were also a nice addition to the flight. They danced up and down the aisle when there was turbulence.They made funny announcements and comments during the flight and even had a contest to win free alcoholic beverages.

I did not win.

But I will be taking Southwest more often.

You can grown anything on trees these days!

"When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it."




















Poor Fig Tree.

He should have kept walking if He wanted something to eat. He could have found much better options. Such as, Milk... did you know milk grows on trees?















Or, if He walked even further... Lollipops! Much tastier than figs.















If He waited even further down the road He could have even had Sausage. Pay attention Alex, Liz, and oh so recently Bert, cuz you could benefit from this... Sausage is from plants not pigs. I have photo proof.



















So, He needn't have picked on the poor fig... I'm sure it got picked on enough being only a common fig.



















If He had just been a little more patient, He could have been lucky enough to discover the Flannel bush.....















Unfortunately for him... Joe got there first and used it all up.

PJ Sees a Who

"On the twelfth of August, in the Edmonton City
In the heat of the day, in a place oh so pretty
He was running... not caring what life might next bring
When PJ the Leffelman saw a very small thing"






















While in Edmonton, PJ and I played with the macro lens on his new camera. In between me dropping it and scratching it, we got a few cool pictures.







































































Yay close ups!

Canada... in right away to 20 minutes

"No Canadians before my coffee"















I have never really been to Canada before. I have been to Niagra Falls a few times, but I dont really think that counts. So, when I got a chance for a trip to Canada, I jumped at it. I was so excited. I have always heard how beautiful it is up there. And, when we were high up in the air seeing this.... my excitement just grew. I imagined spending the weekend hiking and taking beautiful pictures.
















Unfortunately, I fell asleep and when I woke up I was in Texas.
















As it turns out, not all of Canada is a beautiful hiking fantasy. But, Edmonton did have some fun things to offer, like the most gigantic mall in North America. So gigantic it had a pirate ship, waterpark, casinos and roller coasters in the middle of it.
















When I think of a roller coaster in the mall, I was not that impressed or worried about the ride. I was wrong to not prepare myself for a scarey coaster going time. Not only was the first drop a stomach wrenching time, I blacked out in the loopdy loops twice.

The other nice thing about Canada are the people. They are all very nice and energetic. So much so infact, that it was hard to deal with before my morning coffee was running through my veins. I needed that cup so I could match their energy. I was not successful however in matching their niceness. Everyone wants to talk with you and know about you just standing in an elevator they will start full on conversations with you. I tried to return the niceness, as much as I could, but that wasn't much. There are just sometimes (most of the time) that I dont like to talk.

Overall, I found it a very pleasant place to visit. Plus, in the Mall of giganticness, I gambled a little ($20) and won a lot ($505).















Yay Canada! I shall return soon.

Thanks Kristie!

"Watch your cat disappear"
















So, Nelly has never taken to a cat bed in her life. Actually, she doesn't take to most of the fancy smanshy stuff we try to buy her.

For instance, the Cat Sitter DVD...
I was all excited for her to chase at the TV. She did not even bat a paw at it. So, we gave it to a cat who cared.

I have bought a few beds before and given them away as well because Nelly wouldnt even set a paw in them. But, Kristie's post and pictures about the Love Bucket at Target just looked so cute, I had to give it another try.

I brought one home and waited... Nothing. I even tried to put her in it, and that did not help anything. I had pretty much given up hope when I left for work the following day. Later that day though, I got a happy text picture from PJ.
















Success!! Thanks Kristie!