justcallmebackok?

A few weeks ago, my friend J called me and said he was going to Austin and did I want to come? OF COURSE! I just got back and can't wait to blog all about it... but first I'm going to blog about two insignificant things that happened before Austin.

I met a neighbor in the elevator - there is never anyone in the elevator with me... but last week, there was. Of course, he was brown, and of course he lives on my floor. He made some awkward small talk and then invited me to his restaurant opening!!! I was very friendly and smiley and said that would be great, thanks! But, I probably won't go. On the fun scale, this guy didn't look like he had too many points and I hate Indian cuisine. I had to go to an Indian cuisine buffet in Chattanooga with two local browns and other work humans. It was terrible. There are so many too bright colors and so many weird smells. I only enjoyed a little bit of rice (but I was even afraid of that) and lots of water. I would drop 20 lbs if I was on an Indian cuisine diet.

Insignificant thing number two was that I did laundry last week. I haven't done laundry since Chattanooga and I was close to running out of clothes. I mean, I still had some variety left (I guess I have a lot of clothes) but I was missing some of my standard go-tos (i.e. new fave jeans) and... well, it was just time. I ended up doing 8 loads of laundry and I still have some sheets and towels to do! But, that isn't the point of this... it was my first trip to the laundry room. It was terrible. 2 old machines and weird settings. Also, no timer so I had to keep checking on my laundry. I got tired of checking so I took my book (not Twilight, I've already finished all of them) down there with me and sat on the washer waiting for it to finish. Well, this girl came in 3 different times wanting to do laundry. She got angrier with me each time she came in and saw me staking out the machines. Even though I wasn't so much staking them out as I was just waiting for them to be done. If she would have spoken to me and said "are you almost done?" I would have said "yes" but because she opened the door, looked at me, breathed heavy and left, I felt no need to tell her I'd be happy to share. And, anyway, she was probably in a bad mood because she fell asleep with her glasses on in the sun and she had weird raccoon eyes and a red face.

On to Austin. Have you ever met someone with something bad to say about Austin? I don't think that person exists. I'm smitten over the city! The glorious weather and fabulous company helped a bit, but really, the city is great. I went with my friend J from NOLA and he came with his friends K and J2. (It was so great to be hanging out with the boys- my favorite thing ever to do.) Friday I met them for outside happy hour beverages and then a went back to the hotel. We had a great view and SLEEP NUMBER BEDS!!!! The SNB's were a pretty big deal, until we couldn't figure out how to work them and had to sleep on a rock! We couldn't get it off of 80! My sleep number is not 80.

Anyway, Friday night we went to this great establishment via a taxi driven by Santa Clause. Santa was explaining to us that all Mexican food is the same because it has lettuce. Yes, it was that weird of a conversation. The restaurant was crowded and the party was in the parking lot. You get pitchers of margs and then take them out to the parking lot and just enjoyed the conversation while you waited for your table. A big part of our conversation was about this so weird cat that I guess lives at the restaurant. People were touching it! A weird, stray, beady eyed, Mexican cat. And they pet it. Inbelievable! Another round of margs and dinner was great. We then went to the "fratty" bars. The street was blocked off and everyone is just roaming and enjoying the scenery. So many rooftop decks! The bar we landed at had a so wild dance party with super sweet moves and beer cans and a terrible DJ. I mean, he was awful. On the rare occasion he was playing a song that you liked, it only lasted 45 seconds and then he had on another terrible song. Idiot. We still managed to dance and have a great time.

Saturday we woke up and the weather just got better. I did my best to be as low maintenance as possible since I was the only girl. I don't know how the boys think I did, but I think I did pretty well. We went to Patagonia (apparently a store very much liked by the boys but I've never heard of it) so J2 and K could by swimming trunks for the natural spring pool party we were going to and so J could by flippy floppies. We had lunch in a trailer park. People did not live there, but they served food out of them. Breakfast tacos. Barf. If I have to look at Mexican food again, I'll die. That's all they eat down there. And seriously- breakfast tacos? Yuk. BREAKFAST. TACOS!? Is that necessary? No.

Things that are not yuk? Barton Springs. It's a natural spring that the park people turned into a pool. It's huge! So you can really understand, you can view more photos on the website: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/parks/bartonsprings.htm. Even better, this amazing pool was voted number one teen hangout by local readers. We walked the entire perimeter of the pool and I got a great lesson from J2 on lifeguarding policies. And we also used up all of our SPF 30 to keep us safe from the sun. After some time chatting me and J2 decided to give the springs a try. We heard that the water was only 68 degrees, which I know is cold, but I don't think I understood HOW COLD 68 degrees is. Well, it's really cold. And since it's a natural pool, the bottom is rocks and algae and weird growing plants and did I mention, COLD? The most amazing part of the spring was getting out, not because you returned to a normal body temperature (which you did) but because the water was so fabulous to your skin!! We were all so soft after our dip in the water. It's the fountain of youth. We've found it. And that is probably why so many people are so fit in Austin and love running around without their shirts on. Despite our SPF application, everyone was pink when we left the number one teen hang out. Oh, and there was a man there wearing boxer briefs as a swimsuit.

Then it was on to dinner at this fabulous resort-type place (photos are on the FB) that has all these decks with tables everywhere and a live band and everyone watches the sunset over the lake. There was a 20 minute line to put your name on the list. And then 90 minutes for a table! We decided on drinks at the bar and watching the sunset (yes, it is as romantic as it sounds.) The view was so beautiful. And I'm not one for romantic, breathtaking views, but, honestly, it was gorgeous. Most exciting (besides photo ops) was when the sun actually sets, the entire restaurant breaks out into applause! I don't know how they all knew to do it, but they did.

We drove back into the city to get dinner somewhere else... NOT Mexican!! I don't think I've ever been happier to see a chicken caesar salad before! And, as far as chicken goes, mine was cooked fabulous. And the frozen marg, yum. I guess I can't complain about Mexican food so much if I love the Mexican drinks? Whatever, I'm going to.

Next stop was what I think they called the more "young professional" side of Austin... as opposed to the "fratty" night we had on Friday. Again, gorgeous weather and a great rooftop bar. While we are at the rooftop bar me and J have a PSU sighting! When we spy him, we do some giggling and some "we know him! we know him!", "what do we say! what do we say!" and decide that the best next course of action is to rush up to him and go "YOU WENT TO PENN STATE!" to which he responds "Yea?". Hahaha, anyway, chat chat chat he now lives in Austin but is originally from Dallas (this explains his nickname at PSU: "Tex") and he says I should meet his brother who lives in Dallas and is a year older than I am. (Um, husband alert!) It gets better! brother is in Austin and coming to the bar right now and I have to meet him! At this point i'm thinking, fabbbuuullousss!!! Brother gets there, just as tall as Tex (which is super tall), but more... hmm, what's the word.. stiff. Tex is so handsome and I think he is so so handsome because he is so smiley and friendly. Brother I just met was, um, I don't know, either not following my words (which is possible) or is just difficult to talk to. I don't know. Still, I need to make more friends in Dallas so I texted Tex (haha sounds funny) and "great to see you" blah blah "if your brother needs a new friend in Dallas, let me know" etc etc "let me know next time you're in Austin" blah blah, xoxodroid. I forget brothers name, but it doesn't start with a B (unless I continue to call him 'brother'), so according to the psychic he is not my husband. But maybe he knows my husband. Hmm..

That's a lot of words for what was really only 10 minutes of time at the bar. I rejoined my group and started into a great conversation with K (he's just so charming!). And this is when my crush on him was cemented. What I need to do now is find myself a K in Dallas and keep him for myself. Now, I'm thinking that K doesn't read my blog, but J does. And he may share this (Which, I guess that means now he might be reading this? - Hiiii K!) but, whatever. K is super cute and I had a fabulous crush on him all weekend, and since it's still the weekend....well... I love having crushes!

We had a great rest of the evening and went to another bar (and another rooftop deck!) and then back to the hotel for a rager. At this point in time we now know how to work the SNB's (hold in the buttons) but 30 is not my sleep number either. These SNB's are crap. Don't get one. And don't stay in a hotel that has them. It's a terrible sleep situation. Also a terrible situation? When I thought we were being robbed at 3AM, but really it was just J2 going to the bathroom. I was half asleep but trying to plot what I would do with this robber in the room, but then I realized that he belonged to us. And I went back to bed.

We woke up and watched the Food Network and got ready to checkout and go to the TGIFriday's Easter buffet in the hotel (Yes, TGIFriday's. Easter. Buffet.), but, apparently everyone goes to the TGIF's and since we didn't have a reservation that was a no go. Next best thing? You guessed it, Mexican. And more breakfast tacos. The filling of this taco was a basic egg, cheese, potato, bacon situation and I didn't eat it with the tortilla so that made me hate it less. But still, I'm over Mexican. We had great conversation and story telling, oh, and bird sightings. One flew into the back of my head. If you know me, which you probably do since you are reading this, you can imagine the squealing I did upon impact. I didn't see it (because I was mostly concerned about avian flu on my hair), but I guess I might have made a scene and caused people to stare. BUT! You would have done the same thing if the bird flew into you!

Andddd, you know how I have the dead bird issue, right? Well, of course one was spotted. On Saturday we saw a lot of crows and J2 shared with us "One crow for news, two for mirth, three crows a wedding, four a birth.." - so we were looking for crows in doubles and getting really excited for mirth! Now you're thinking, that sounds like alive birds? They were. Until this morning. Driving to brunch there were two crows on the side of the row, except one was dead and the other one was either trying to move it out of traffic or pick out it's eyes. Seriously, why do I see dead birds everywhere?? I'm sure I'll see more this week. Go figure!

Drive back was much easier than the drive there. Not so much stop and go, and clear skies. I also had my most favorite cd of them all with me: Train, Save Me San Francisco. I listened to it on repeat the entire drive. I love it. You should go DL it on the iTunes. Immede.

I wonder what J will think of this recap, and if it is appropriate. If he tells me I left something amazing out, well, I'll update later. Also, you may be wondering about the title. I don't think the story translates well via blog, so you'll just have to ask J for the story. But really, you should ask J2 since it is his story. A Spanish speaking housekeeper is involved. And a dead bird! (GO FIGURE!)