Kate's Visit to Austin

To celebrate the our wonderful country and our priceless freedom, Kate and I headed to the capital of Texas! We spent the 100+ degree weekend exploring Austin, eating lots of great food (mostly Mexican) and drinking lots of adult beverages (mostly margaritas)!

Guero's Taco Bar on South Congress - yummy!!

My beautiful baby sister!

Beautiful boots....everywhere!

An Austin sunset while we waited for the bats on Congress Street Bridge

The BATS!!

Lone Star beers and dancin' at the Broken Spoke

The Fourth on Lake Travis

Drinks at The Belmont on the Fourth

Thanks so much for coming to visit me, Kate!! I had so much fun with you, as always! Love you!

I've been tagged...

I haven't posted in forever! For those of you who don't know...I'm in the thrilling metropolis of Temple, Texas at the moment! (Not nearly as exciting as I'm making it out to be) I'll be here for another three weeks - only a four week assignment, then I have no idea where I'm going next.

There's really nothing else to update on (my life is pretty boring), but I was tagged twice (by Meredith and Tipi), so I thought I'd comply. Here goes:

8 x 8

Things I am looking forward to:
1. Kate's visit for the 4th of July
2. My 30th Birthday
3. A trip with my sisters to celebrate my 30th
4. OT pay
5. Going to Destin with the Fam sometime before the summer is over
6. My future
7. Kate's visit for the 4th of July
8. Finding out where I'm going next

Things I did yesterday: (WARNING: I'm boring!)
1. Worked
2. Read my book (at work)
3. Taught a newly diagnosed 14 year old diabetic how to check his blood sugar
4. Gave two IV antibiotics and some pain meds
5. Talked to my parents 4-5 times in about 2 hours
6. Made tacos in my hotel room
7. Took a quiz on Facebook
8. Went to bed at 9:00

Things I wish I could do:
1. Be home with my family
2. Be in Birmingham with my friends
3. Pay off my debt
4. Buy a house
5. Go to the beach
6. Go to the lake
7. Get a pedicure (I might actually do this one!)
8. Anything remotely exciting in Temple, TX

Shows I watch (all year)
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Private Practice
3. Greek
4. How I Met Your Mother
5. Big Bang Theory
6. 90210
7. Gossip Girl
8. My DVR is always full, but for some reason I can't think of another show!

Favorite foods
1. Anything Mexican
2. Guacamole from Rosa Mexicano
3. Sushi
4. Anything from my Mom's kitchen
5. Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich (I didn't get much in DC :( )
6. Boiled shrimp at the beach
7. Chili in the mountains
8. Red wine (that counts, doesn't it?)

Places I've traveled
1. Ireland
2. New York City
3. Big Sky, Montana
4. Washington, DC
5. Monterrey, Mexico
6. Victoria, BC
7. Seattle, WA
8. St. Thomas, USVI

Places I would like to travel:
1. Australia
2. London
3. Fiji
4. New Zealand
5. Alaska
6. Back to Ireland
7. South America
8. Africa

People I tag:
1. Allison Penuel
2. Mary Dickenson
3. Mallory Congleton
4. Denise Scroggins
5. Becky Engram
6. Amanda Roberson
7. Fran Skipper
8. Jessica Dills

I'll be sure to post pics from Kate's visit and our trip to Austin!

Family Easter Visit

Easter weekend, Mom, Dad and Kate came to visit me for a long weekend.  We had a fabulous time - the only thing missing was Alli, and Thad, Will, AG and Clydie!  I hadn't seen any of my family since the first part of January!  I had never gone that long without seeing them, so it was so great to finally be with at least part of my fam!

We ate lots of good food, drank lots of good wine, gin and beer (not at the same time, of course) and saw lots of great sites.  We did the Holocaust Museum, Mount Vernon, the Capitol, Georgetown, Arlington Cemetery, the White House, and the Portraiture Museum.  So much stuff crammed into such a short and rainy weekend.  

And for Easter morning, we drove to Gaithersburg to visit our former pastor, Mary Beth Lawrence, at her church.  It was great to see her and I think we really surprised her!  

We had such a great time and it made me so happy to be with the people I love so much!!  Here are a few random pics from the weekend:

Isn't my Daddy's new bowtie so cute?!

SNOW!

So the day after all of my friends in Birmingham, Auburn, Marietta and Winston got their snow, I finally got my snow in DC.  We got about 5 or 6 inches overnight and it was snowing like crazy the next morning.  Everything was beautiful covered in snow!!  But it was the biggest pain in the butt getting to work!  I'm a Georgia-girl and we don't learn how to drive in the snow down there, so there was no way I was going to drive.  The night before, I studied the bus schedule and maps and decided I'd brave it and take the bus.  Well, buses don't run on time in the snow either and, long story short, I waited in blizzard-like conditions (for me, at least) for over an hour, only to have the bus driver drive right past me!!  Needless to say, I was pretty pissed.  I finally wound up getting in to work at 1:15 that afternoon!!

Here are some pics from the 21st floor (the snow came before the move):

Another Move (for the better)

A couple of weekends ago, I moved apartments.  I'm now in Clarendon, which is a great neighborhood of Arlington - cool shops, great restaurants, a Whole Foods, and so close to a Metro!  My apartment is great, too - reminds me of Canterbury in Bham.  And, I have a pull-out sofa, so more room for y'all to come visit!

Elizabeth's Visit!

I'm catching up on some long overdue blogging tonight!

I'll go back a month to Valentine's weekend when Elizabeth came to DC to be my Valentine!  She flew in Thursday night and was such a good friend and brave girl to spend the day Friday exploring on her own while I went to work.  She shopped in Georgetown that day, which is fine with me, because if you know me, you know shopping is not my favorite hobby!  But, I met her after work and we went to Rosa Mexicano for their famous pomegranate margaritas and fresh guacamole!!

Saturday we cheesed it up at Madame Toussaud's with George Clooney and GW Bush, then visited the newly re-opened Ford's Theater and saw the coat Lincold was wearing the night he was shot and the room where he died across the street.  Very cool things to see on his 200th birthday!

Saturday night, we had Valentine's dinner with Lucy Mc at a cool new sushi place downtown.  Great dinner with great friends!  Elizabeth left me Sunday afternoon, but we had a great time and I'm so glad I have such a great friend in her!!

More to Come

I have been without cable and internet for too long now! But, the Comcast Man is coming on Thursday, so I will update this weekend!
In the meantime, Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Cheers!