A Texas Christmas - Day 9
Dec. 26th

Goodbye Texas :(

Woke up and had my mission - to pick up some Round Rock donuts! I can't tell you how many people I've heard say "I don't like donuts, never eat them. But I love RR donuts!" I was seriously glad I had my new winter coat - holy jeez it was 29 earlier that morning and by the time I ventured out around 9:30 it was 34 I think. Rather a painful breezy morning as I fueled up my Mom's car and got her a car wash on my way to get my sinful breakfast treat... eeee! I can only eat like 2 of them before I feel ill and can't begin to remember how I could down a bag of donut holes for breakfast every morning during high school. Healthy start to a quality day of education! :) After donuts it was off to the airport...

At the airport I had a very happy moment as I realized the Austin airport DOES have a ThunderCloud in it!! I never walked that far down so I didn't know! Oh happy days. I went to Earl Campbell's bar for a few beers and to waste time, then right before boarding I was going to hit up T-Cloud mmmm. This was after having a slight panic of indecision over several of my favorite Austin spots as options for my "last meal". Salt Lick BBQ... Mangia Pizza.... Schlotzky's... Amy's ice cream - oh the agony.

After being slightly delayed and sitting on the plane for about an hour, the man sitting next to me realized they were not kidding when they told us they were waiting for paint for the plane and he kinda disappeared only to come back and be the guy that saved the day! Apparently he worked for FedEx and got off the plane to make some calls and get our plane hooked up with some paint. Got back to Oakland safe and sound albeit much later than I would've liked. I was exhausted, but ridiculously happy to know Josh was on his way to meet me at the BART station :) We exchanged gifts, mine sucked. Ok they didn't totally suck, I got him what he asked, but they didn't fit him very well. He knows me well and got me a hat from this old, well known hat maker just down the street from my apartment in North Beach and a very very cool cookbook. It explains some of the technical stuff behind cooking that you wouldn't know otherwise when looking at a recipe. I'm excited I might actually learn to have fun with cooking and do it well... one day!

A Texas Christmas - Day 7 & 8
Dec. 24th & 25th

Christmas Eve!

Friday
Melanie came for a a very quick visit over coffee, but quick or not, I'll take it! I hate that my besties and I are so dang far apart. We opened up our gifts left with my mom from Chandra who spends every other Christmas in Colorado with family so we miss her terribly :( But we did receive the cutest family photo! Black and white, casual family photo taken by a professional photographer, it turned out great! Trey arrived just after Mel left and it was pouring down Texas rain style as we headed out for our day of "errands" ugh. Trey and I still needed to pick up a gift for Thomas since Dick's Sporting Goods was so helpful the other day. Academy to the rescue we found a Spurs shirt for Thomas! We swung by Cover 3 to have a yummy little lunch and to miss some of the rain, then went to visit Thomas in the hospital. God he didn't look good :( (as of writing this Mom says he's gotten a lot better, yay!) We organized his xmas cards and chatted a little considering he can barely talk :( After that we went to Cavender’s for Trey’s xmas shopping. After being convinced khaki goes with black, he got a cool jacket and we helped him decide on some jeans and then it was off to Nana's! It was a bit of a sad visit for me as her eyesight and hearing are just about gone and she seems to be getting more nice to the point of verbalizing her appreciation for our mom out loud and in front of us! (long history there) I'm afraid that means she is possibly feeling like getting her "affairs" in order. She also gave me and Trey cool gifts, inheritance items...
After Nana's we were finally on our way home to relax for Christmas Eve. Mr. Born came over as usual and brought some of his newest carvings to show me. I need to figure out when I'm going to play with mine! We had Mom's amazing tortilla soup for dinner, my chocolate glazed rum cake was a success and we stayed up chatting. I lovely evening :)

Saturday
Woke up and pulled a classic Shelby and broke one of mom's vases :( Not entirely my fault... it was in a bad place on a flimsy table! Sorry Mom. Although that was me getting Trey's opinion on my jacket mom bought me and I decided it was fantastic and I was keeping it! (earlier I had tried on Mom's new coat and liked it better which is where my indecision began). I made a frittata and english muffins with jam for breakfast and then Trey, Mom and I sat down to open presents. Mom got lots of little goodies and I got a very cool present from Nana: A purse made by my grandpa. He killed the deer, skinned the hide for the leather, designed the purse himself and did some leather work for a simple design, then sent it to be made into the purse. Amazing! I am very honored to have this and happy to have such a fun memory of my grandpa. Mom got me a cookbook and desk calendars I had picked out on etsy.com, a cute 40's looking winter hat, a scare and my new coat of course. Trey had previously gotten a wallet made by grandpa, but Nana wanted him to have this itty bitty fragile bible of hers. Mom said she didn't mean for it to be a message to Trey about religion, it was more that it was something special to her from her past and she wanted to pass it down to him. Very sweet. Trey and I had taken each other to the Spurs game so that was our gift.
Like many families, Christmas afternoon is meant for the movies!! One of my favorite things :) We all headed out to the Alamo Drafthouse to see True Grit, however once we got there they only had 2 tickets left! We were disappointed and a little unenthusiastically decided to see The Fighter instead - it was really good! Mom and I shared a bottle of champagne while Trey went with the beers and we also got chips and queso, fried pickles and a big bowl of popcorn with real melted butter! Oh... and I also had to have Amy's vanilla with espresso - mmm...
After the movie we hugged Trey goodbye as he had to get home, unpack and work the next day. Mom and I swung by Honda to get her car shopping a start. (and a few days later I learn she bought an Accord, ha!) Back home mom helped me strategize my packing, ugh. I still don't know how she can pack so neatly!! Even though I was checking my suitcase, my carry on was still a heavy pain, happens everytime I don't know why I am surprised by this or why I don't plan better. Then we sat down to bruscetta and a great bottle of wine: From Camellia Cellars “Diamo Grazie” 1999. yummy, while watching HGTV design shows. I love watching HGTV with other people - can't stand it by myself!

A Texas Christmas - Day 6
Dec. 23rd

In Boerne, TX at Trey's place. We woke up and went to pick up breakfast tacos for us and his coworkers - YUM! ...you know... I'll never understand why we don't have breakfast tacos in San Francisco. We've got Mexican food and we have the breakfast burrito. Is it really that far of a stretch to the breakfast taco?! Come on people! *sigh.
Mom was driving up from Round Rock to pick me up at Trey's work. He's a lighting consultant and his work has a great showroom so it was fun to look around and dream about what things I would get if I ever owned a place. It's over an hour and a half for sure and once Mom picked me up we were planning on meeting Aunt Elaine for lunch in Austin around noon. Well as 10:30 and then 11:00 rolled around, Trey and I had to laugh. Mom is NOT the quickest one out the door if she doesn't have to punch the work clock. However, this particular time I'll give her a little leeway as there was some incredibly heavy holiday traffic. Then once she did arrive, she had to have a chat with Trey & the guys and then of course got distracted by the fixtures, etc.

We finally left and Elaine was super sweet to be so flexible and not meet us til nearly 2pm for a late lunch. I picked East Side Cafe to eat at which I hadn't been to since my college graduation party! Love this place! It's a tiny house with a garden in back where they grow fruits and veggies that they use in their dishes and it's located on the "east side" of Austin, which is actually a cute area, but probably a hooker and a crack addict just a street over :P
We started off with brie and apple chutney and a bottle of champagne - cheers! I had a yummy salad and a side of acorn squash with ginger soy something or another. Elaine got me the cutest UT/Texas bracelet which I can't wait to wear next season as the Longhorns remind everyone how awesome they are!

After saying goodbye to Elaine, Mom and I took the scenic downtown Austin route home since the highway was still packed. On our agenda was a tiny bit of last minute shopping which took us over to the Domain where we went into Dick's sporting goods to get a Spurs hat for my Uncle Thomas. Walked in and immediately saw the racks of UT apparel, along with Texans and Cowboy stuff, so we figure there is a basketball section or something, but after wandering up to the second floor with no luck we ask the staff. No they don't carry Spurs stuff because "we aren't near San Antonio" was their reply. ... um... my reply "We aren't near Dallas or Houston, but you have Cowboy and Texan stuff... and for that matter, Houston & Dallas are twice as far away as San Antonio!" What the hell. I realized they did not carry Spurs items but I wanted a better answer, lol, so I asked a different sales person and got the same damn retort. I'm writing their marketing team because I can't handle such stupidity. I'm SO not an A&M fan, but there are a ton of them living in Austin, so if you aren't the co-op or a shop located right near campus, you should be selling Aggie stuff don't you think? After that we hopped over to Macy's hoping for better luck finding Josh a sweater he would like. He asked for one with a zipper by the neck which we found lots of, just none in his size :( I did my best, but once I got home and exchanged gifts with Josh, they were a disappointment, not the best fit. Oh well, guess we are going shopping soon! Never fear Mom and I did find a good buy ;) I got a new coat and just in time as Saturday, Christmas morning it was flippin freezing in Austin!
On the way home we grabbed ThunderCloud Subs - so simple, so good. I'm not sure many people outside of the ThunderCloud Fan Club understand. It's really sad they miss out. I worked at the RR location when I was 16 and still, to this day, best job ever! Ok... best job ever if you can afford to live on $5.00/hr. LOL! Ahhh... good times.

A Texas Christmas - Day 5Dec. 22nd

After breakfast with Dad, Tom & Barbara I packed up and we headed to San Antonio. First stop, visit Aunt Joanne's to see her, Debbie & my Mimi. Since falling twice and breaking near everything it seems, Mimi is home & doing great! Despite her requests to be taken to heaven, I am very happy to see her doing so well and am greatful to still have her with us. We made a pact that she is too stay around until I give her a grandbaby... those terms are still a bit negotiable as I'm not so confident she'll get one by her 90th birthday.


Then we headed down to the Market Square to my all time favorite mexican food restaurant, La Margarita. LOVE their food, love the market square and I love that they always have a fantastic mariachi band playing. Had a simple but favorite dish of mine: cheese enchilada with chili con carne sauce, crispy beef taco, side of guacamole and rice & beans. And of course a giant goblet of Dos XX to wash it all down :)

Early dinner left Trey & I plenty of time to get across town for our Christmas present to each other - Spurs game!! They played the Denver Nuggets and I can't begin to express what a phenominal game it was! SO MUCH FUN! Well fun and a slightly anxiety ridden 3rd quarter when they were down by 9. Neck & neck the whole game, down in the 3rd and then just a fantastic show in the 4th. GO SPURS!! Got my first jersey - #20 Ginobili :)

A Texas Christmas - Day 3 & 4
Monday & Tuesday Dec. 20th and 21st

Slept IN Monday morning due to staying up a bit late and from fighting my sinus infection, so by the time I got up there was time for a shower and coffee and then getting our butts in gear to Luling for the all time best BBQ for lunch! After stuffing my belly full of brisket, sausage, white bread, pickles and the famous Luling BBQ sauce... I asked for a driving tour to get started on my Texas photo collection. I am compiling pictures of everything that reminds me of Texas to make a coffee table book for myself one day.

We were off to a fantastic start as we stumbled upon a mother ostrich just off the side of the road hovering over her eggs! On the other side of the fence there was the male ostrich and some camels, of all things. It was awesome, I got some good shots. Then I realized my battery wasn't fully charged and that ended our photo excursion. But my Dad & Donna were troopers and swung back by the house for me to grab my other battery and we hit the road to Smithville where my Dad was born and raised and where I grew up going to my Mimi's house. I got shots of the house he was born in, his childhood home and then his 3rd house, as well as my Mimi's house and the school that both my Dad & his parents went to. Also in Smithville is the house I grew up loving, which is now known as the "Hope Floats" house. If you've seen the movie, you'll know what house I'm referring too. Coming back to Flatonia, we decided to catch Monday night BINGO at the Legion Hall. It was lots of fun, although none of us won a dime. I had the BEST red velvet cake (for $1!!), but when I tried to find a water fountain to wash it down, I found it was broken. My Dad replied "you'll just have to drink beer then". My Lone Star didn't quite pair well with my red velvet cake.

Tuesday: Today I insisted on getting my butt up in time to go to breakfast. This is not a flexible activity due to my Dad always meeting the gang at the same place at the same time every morning for yummy breakfast tacos. (Mine was egg, tiny crispy pieces of bacon, tiny pieces of potato that were fried up perfectly and homemade real mexican refried beans - mmmmm) We only had to be there at 8am, but this was more difficult than usual since I didn't fall asleep until about 1am and fought a cough that woke me up constantly all night long. After breakfast we went to the barn and sorted through some boxes of my childhood toys and books then came home and made a chocolate praline cake! Watched a movie, The Joneses, recommended, and then went to my favorite gift store where I always pick up a nick or nack. Bought a cute bobble ring. Later that evening we headed to Schulenberg to go to the "Cozy Theatre" to watch Tangled, but as officially run as the place is, Tangled wasn't the one showing, it was Unstoppable which my folks had already seen, but said they wouldn't mind seeing it again. I wasn't completely sold on the movie, but it was actually really good! Our pizza was delivered to us right before the movie started from the pizza place in the alley. Very handy, kinda like Alama Drafthouse!