Semi-anniversary

It's been 6 months. The time sure does fly.


To celebrate, I took Jill to the arcades (in honor of our 50's style dates we like so much).


Jill is very competitive and doesn't like it when I try to shake her concentration. Someone should tell her to keep both hands on the wheel:


Ms. Pac Man was her favorite growing up. Again, the concentration:


And form to match:


We had a couple of cupcakes from Sugar Mamma's, but they didn't last long enough for a photo. We did a little better with the cream-filled cookie sandwich (vegan, of course):

Enter the dragon

Bruce Lee's movie gets re-purposed every 12 years into lame blog post titles. Indeed, this is the year of the dragon. Chinese New Year is probably the most important holiday for my family. As such, Jill and I made a quick run to Houston to celebrate with my family.

We had a really nice set menu meal at Yao's (which is quickly becoming my mom's favorite place to eat out):




On top of lobster, whole fish, sea cucumbers and pork belly - Yao's is famous for its mango pudding. It may not look impressive, but it really is amazing:


Afterward, Jill and I stopped by June's place to say hi and wish her a happy new year also:

Namaste

Jill was a bridesmaid at her high school friend Denise's wedding Saturday. The wedding was at a yoga studio in East Austin. Now, it sounded odd when I first heard that, but it turned out to be a very serene and calm ceremony.



One wall of the yoga studio was green, which made for some interesting pictures:



The reception was held in Georgetown - which is a bit of a hike from downtown Austin. However, we had a chance to sit with some of Jill's friends from her Alvin High School days, which was a lot of fun:


In a self-referencing way, I was asked to take the Alvin High School class reunion picture:

Cival Wars

Mollie scored some front row seats to the Cival Wars show at the Paramount recently. Has the theater always been bathed in colored lights?

The Staves opened up the evening. They are a very sweet sounding folk group from outside London. They really are worth checking out:

Honestly, I had never heard a Cival Wars tune until I went to their show. Mollie has a pretty good idea of my musical tastes, and she said I'd like the band - and I did:

Monument times

One of Jill's poems ('Precipice') was featured on the New York Times web site last week. To celebrate, we went to the East Side Cafe for dinner and dessert (an amazing blueberry crumble):

Today, Jill and I road-tripped out to East Texas. Great music, great conversation, and some mediocre scenery. On the way back, we stopped at the Monument Cafe in Georgetown for some good Southern cooking - liver and onions, with sides of fried vegetable strings, sweet potato fries, and eggplant marinara. Jill had pinto beans and a fruit salad.

Marathon kids 2012

Friday, Mollie and I went to the Marathon Kids benefit show at the Paramount. The show featured Shawn Colvin and Lyle Lovett:


Last year, the show featured Shawn Colvin and Patty Griffin. But Patty seems to be busy these days.

Healthy choices

My new year's resolution is to make better choices when it comes to food. Thus far, I've made a simple chicken salad a few times.


And last night, Jill and I ordered the vegan hummus pizza from East Side Pies.

Who bought the electric car

One of our VP's purchased a Fiskar Karma recently. It has solar panels embedded in the roof.

My neighbor's friend bought a Chevy Volt. At least I think it's a Volt.

Scrabble

This past weekend, Jill and I played a little game of Scrabble.

Jill has a very serious game face (she does not like to lose):


Unfortunately, the tiles did not go her way:


Our resulting board:

Jill found the experience taxing:

I, being the engineer, had to tally up our score with a calculator:

And yes, I won (258 versus 208).

Gingerbread, part 2

With the extra day I had off for New Year's, Jill and I finished our gingerbread edifice.



Color-matching the original icing was a bit of a challenge, but I got close:


Once we finished the building, we took a short meal break:


And then it was just a matter of creating the appropriate parking lot layout. Yes, our gingerbread edifice is a Walmart. Specifically, a Walmart on black Friday:


With Gummy Bear shoppers flipping over carts, trampling other Gummy Bears, and rushing to get their $5 waffle irons:


And a lone security guard at the front of the store struggling to maintain order:


If nothing else, we do have active imaginations.

Happy new year

We thought a bike ride would be a nice way to start the new year.

As always, safety first:



We cruised through town and ended up at the Posse East, where I had a burger and fries and Jill and I played The Game of Life (I won, btw):

Holiday parties, part 2

Jill, Mollie and I did a little New Year's Eve celebrating together. First up was a get together at Kate's renovated school house in central Austin. Next, we drove out to Cedar Park to wind up the evening with Jill's friend Brian and his crew. Um, btw - Mollie went out with Brian briefly. Very briefly...