Rich & Elizabeth

We have been busy busy busy the last few weekends!

We went to Red’s Porch (two weekends in a row) – where all our working out and eating well was rewarded with chicken fried chicken, smashed potatoes and mac n’ cheese – yum! And somehow, the following Mondays at the gym, I stepped on the scale and managed to lose a pound after each weekend which is unbelievably fantastic.

Here we are at Doc’s – where we arrived early and my polyester shirt dress was suffocating in the heat so I had to run down to American Apparel and do a quick costume change into a new pair shorts. After this, we walked down to see the bats come out from under the SoCo bridge and at first we thought they were running late, but they just plain stood us up! But even more rude: While we were waiting, a deaf man was handing out buttons and since I have an ear that is purely aesthetic, I gave him a dollar. I thought I was being generous by sharing it with a stranger in need but do you know what he did when I handed him the dollar?? He looked at it and scoffed and then gave me a dirty look like, “What am I going to do with this?” and walked away! Bugger.

Anywho, over Memorial Day weekend, we went on a barge on Lake Travis. There were boats, boats and more boats anchored in the cove and a little yellow dinghy that delivered barbecue. Rich and I think that someone should start this service on the River – like Old Man River floating down the River! Or an ice cream truck in a boat (with or without “The Entertainer”…)!

This weekend – We got pizza! It was delicious and it was free with a coupon from the Pizza Garden which made it even better. And we got ice cream – let me tell you, for being such a hot state, finding an ice cream stand, let alone parlour, is a nearly impossible feat. However, we have found a slew of trailers that make shaved icees and they are quickly becoming our new “I’m hankerin for a sweet” treat – it’s like getting a dose of snow when you need it the most (when it is 100 degrees) minus the shoveling.

On Saturday, we went back to Pendernales Park (on our shortlist of places we love in Austin) to check out the swimming area, or “watering hole” as we call it. The water was so warm and more relaxing than refreshing. Well more relaxing for Rich…me and nature are still getting to know each other – let’s just say there were lil minnows sharing the water with us. And a spider that I killed with a rock. I mean, I let one of those six-legged creatures go free even though he was crawling awfully close to my sandal…and the one that didn’t get away was practically dead anyways so I felt like I was doing it a favor instead of letting him bake in the sun.

Thanks to the WiiFlix, we have gotten into a new show – Lie to Me. The first season was available and we watched the whole thing and now the second half of the second season is on Fox and is our new Monday date night now that 24 is over. As for movies, we saw MacGrueber which was really funny (went with no expectations) and Get Him to the Greek which was kinda funny (went with high expectations) And, what’s the deal with putting scenes in trailers that aren’t in the movie??

I have been a running machine lately! While Rich lifts weights, I run on the treadmill  and then he comes up and runs with me (kinda – he likes the treadmills  on the one side with their own personal tele and I prefer the treadmill on the other side directly under the fan that feels like a hurricane but keeps me from sweating) – some days my runs outlast “The View.” I even keep a log of my times and distance and I have realized that I am very competitive with myself. Gosh, I wonder what would happen if I started giving myself stickers instead of rewarding myself with ice cream…

See ya’ll in a couple weeks!

p.s. Only 9 days left until my Plane Day! Mom and Dad – you may have bought me the softest most perfectest tote from Banana and I absolutely adore it! And, I got it on sale – it was a steal!! xoxo

First things first, this is me (Elizabeth) and that (the blue thing) is a first place ribbon that I got for winning the balloon popping contest in archery. It came down to me and Rich and, even though his balloons were bigger, I got my first blue ribbon ever which is kinda a big deal since I used to be lucky to get a green ribbon in track in grade school (most people don’t even know that there is such a thing as a green ribbon!) Now we are in the intermediate class and I don’t think I will be getting any blue ribbons this time around – there is a woman in our class who could be a sniper with a bow and arrow! She is seriously so good and she wears a tennis skirt with sneakers and her Vuitton bag. Maybe for our last class I will wear a skirt and bring my (knock-off) Vuitton wallet for good luck…or, better yet, maybe I should buy one!

Here we are in Pendernales Park:

This past weekend, we went to Boston to visit Rich’s friends and had a lot of fun!

We met Emily Giffin! She is on a book tour and Stephie sent me a text saying she was in Boston that afternoon so we looked it up and she was just down the street from where we were having lunch! Emily thought Richie was so sweet for standing in line with me and our luggage – isn’t he just the best?! He even posed for a picture! I might just have to give him my blue ribbon

End of February through almost all of March news

1. We moved. We are happy to a) no longer be living downtown and b) have a nicer place twice the size for c) less money than we were paying to ride an elevator everyday up and down to and from our old place on the 18th floor. No more memos about concrete pours our concrete floors – we have trees and grass and bare feet (I love the ferocious vroom of  new vacuum)!

See pictures of the new place in the Photostream.

2. Bicycles. While riding home (to our old place – the day before we moved out), I got stopped at a red light about 50 feet from our parking ramp. Next to my car, on the sidewalk, was a young man unchaining his bicycle from a street post. I glanced over at him and then returned my gaze forward waiting for the light to change while sipping the delicious warm Caramel Apple Spice I had gotten on a routine afternoon coffee break with Rich. It was a blissful moment. And then, it was over.

Thud! What was that?! Yes, that would be the sound of the young man’s matte red urban ride bicycle hitting the side of my Prius. I turned, he peeked through the window and shrugged. I turned the car off (I meant to put it in park but, in my startled state, could not find the button), unbuckled my seat belt and got out of the car to look at the damage. I could not see any. The gentleman was walking away at this point but turned around, shrugged his shoulders again and insincerely said, “Sorry” in a flat tone – you know, the way you say “sorry” when you aren’t really sorry and actually got some sick satisfaction out of knowing that you ruined someone’s day. (i.e. when someone cuts you off at the grocery store and you innocently nudge them with your cart and say sorry. Not that I have done that, but you can imagine.)

Any who, I pulled into the garage and looked at the car again and there it was – a dent. Then, I did what any sane person would do. I ran down the stairs, onto the street and ran in the direction that the man with the bicycle was heading. I did not find him. What would I have done if I had found him? Not sure and it is probably a good thing that I didn’t. The dent is fixed now. Thank you Richie!  xoxo Prixie

3. We started archery lessons. Yes, bows and arrows – it’s a lot of fun! Rich is a natural – always accurate – the best in our class (“Do you see his form? It’s perfect. That’s what you need to be doing.”). I should be a natural (considering I am Korean and supposedly Koreans are really good at this sort of thing). Luckily, my non-existent, friendly competitive streak is kicking in and last class I did pretty well (I got the arrows to hit my target paper which was where I had set my goal). And, I got my eyes examined last week which I think may have helped (much easier to aim when when you can see where you are shooting).

4. SXSW. We went to 6th Street to see some great acts put on my Gorilla vs. Bear and My Old Kentucky Blog. It was a lot of fun! We ate lunch at the Old Pecan Street Cafe, went to shows as we pleased and spent the rest of the time people watching which was very entertaining in itself.

One of my favorites was the Golden Filter -
Penelope Trappes had a fantastic outfit!

And this stylish ensem was just one of many to be seen at the festival. Sure, some of the people look like they got dressed in the dark, but it worked for them! I want it to work for me too but for some reason I just can’t wrap my head around how to be eclectic without being kitschy. It’s like blondes who dye their hair blonde – natural but totally unnatural at the same time.

5. Shreveport. We went to visit Mike – it is turning out to be an annual thing. This weekend though was particularly cold (and when I say cold, I mean Buffalo spring – the lacrosse games we were going to watch were canceled because of S-N-O-W). But we did make it to one of the casinos on the water. I felt really confident that I would win big, convinced Rich to give me $10 and lost $10 – all within less than 20 minutes. Awe shucks!

Oh, and do you know what town we drove through to get there and back?? Buffalo! Yup, there is a Buffalo, Texas USA complete with metal buffalo lawn ornaments landmarks.

6. Red’s Porch. This might just be a new favorite place to eat. It is like having dinner in a tree house overlooking the Greenbelt and the chicken fried chicken (yes, now you know we are in the south) with the bacon gravy (just to reinforce that we are in the south) is delicious!

7. Bums. There are a lot of bums down here (as I am aware that there are everywhere – but here the weather is excellent and in my opinion, the place to be if you have to be somewhere). I see them a lot on the side of the road – at stop lights, off exit ramps, etc.  And I see a lot of nice people rolling down their windows and giving them money (or what appears to be a coupon, which I think makes great use of those weekly mailers). This got me thinking – do these people just extend a hand to everyone or are they basing their decision on something. And if the latter, then what is it – Is it the sign they are holding? Is it because they are punctual and never fail to be there on a daily basis? Is it because they have a furry friend to feed? Do they feel guilty?

So, I did a little exploring and I found a bum I like and here is why: He chose the road surrounding the park which receives a moderate to high amount of traffic daily (he understands probability and appreciates a nice view). His sign is simply stated: “We can all use a helping hand” (the use of “we” is collective and since he did not use the word “need” or explain how he got there, he can’t be that selfish or want any pity). He has excellent posture – stands up straight (isn’t slouching on the ground) and looks forward (doesn’t walk by your car or stare you down). And he has a beard, one bag of personal possessions and no fido.

Well, that’s all that’s new! Toodle-lu!

We are leaving the downtown scene for the burbs! Moving at the end of the month and getting packed again (luckily, a lot of what we brought down here is nicely organized and ready to go thanks to all of the great plastic boxes from The Container Store). Our new place is so much bigger and we have a spare bedroom (technically a den) which will be perfect for visitors (So come on down and visit us!) Right now, I can do everything in less than 10 steps – cook dinner, do laundry, dry laundry, put away dishes, pay bills, eat dinner and watch tv. But in a few weeks, it might just take me 100! I might need to start taking mid-day naps to get all of the household chores done. There is a utility room for a FULL size washer and dryer (no more running laundry behind a closet door that sounds like it is going to take off) which means that I can do more laundry and have things hanging to dry out of sight. And there is a garden tub which just sound heavenly and his & hers sinks in the bathroom (so now we will really know who is messier). And the bedroom has a nice walk-in closet which we share now, but…there is also a closet in the den if you get my drift (just the right size for boy clothes and two big boxes of wheels if you ask me).

Rich is excited to be closer to our favorite car wash (he does it himself, I roll through the auto – both are fantastic) and I am excited to be closer to groceries and shopping. Hopefully we can sell our bar stools and get a dining table – I think it will make my dinners taste even better! And we will need a vacuum which I have always dreaded but after the concrete floors which have turned out to be a dust bunnies dream, I am looking forward to zoom zoomin around. Unfortunately, I don’t think that Palmer will be coming with us to the new place – unless he is a dandelion palm tree, I would have to say that he is not looking so hot these days…I think it was the 17 days without water that did him in; he just hasn’t been able to recover.

This should keep me busy while I wait for a job. I have been fishing but no bites (even went to the bookstore…application hard to interpret and kind of intense for stocking shelves with literature. Why do they need to know if I have any regrets in life? Or if I have a problem criticizing people’s work? (What are they looking for? I mean, if your job is done poorly, shouldn’t you be told?) Or if I think that people should keep their problems to themselves – needless to say, I said “I agree” even though thinking back on it, they probably wanted me to say, “Strongly disagree” but do they really want their employees to spread stories of their sorry personal lives around the store??)

I have been trying the Flat Belly Diet (by trying, I mean that I skimmed through the book and got the gist of it and based on my interpretation, I am eating mushy things (such a prunes and avocados) that don’t bulk up my tummy) as well as baking up a storm of carbohydrates which have been delicious and I do not regret (do you hear that bookstore??) indulging in them between my prunie fix. I made pretzels for one of our Superbowl snacks and they were so great that I am going to make more this week (perfect for Valentine’s day – they look like heart…although a hollow heart which probably doesn’t completely translate but a heart nonetheless). I had been drinking my Sassy Water (a staple of the Flat Belly Diet) but then I took a sip and the lemons must have gotten shaken too much because it was wicked strong and my taste buds are so scarred that I can’t bring myself to drink it quite yet.

In a couple weeks we start our archery classes! Yes, me and a bow and arrow – poetic. Rich thinks that this could be my calling and I could become the Black Widow of arrow shooting. Wouldn’t that be something! What if they have never seen such talent in their life and I get recruited to be a secret agent bow and arrow sniper??

It is a bit chilly down here and a little rainy but sure beats the snow! Hope everyone is keeping warm!

It was back to Buffalo for Christmas but not without a fight (or should I say fLight?) First our flight to Chicago was delayed then our flight from Chicago (to Buffalo) was canceled. So what did we do? We rented a car and at close to midnight (commencing Rich’s birthday) we were on the road. At around 7 a.m. after 7 hours of driving, it was time to give Rich a break from the wheel and with only about an hour left to go, my driving did not go unnoticed – by a state trooper… Grrr. But we continued onward and upon crossing the Buffalo city limit (both exhausted and now upset), there was no stopping – it was straight to the airport to pick up our suitcase (apparently our suitcase gets a plane ride even if we don’t). Well, our suitcase did not make it on that first plane out (nor the second or the third…) Still, no stopping us now – it was time to meet my parents, get a car and go to birthday lunch!

Could we have skipped the lunch and gone to bed? If it was up to Rich, yes. But I had another agenda. His surprise party that night! We had to make it there and my logic (albeit logic of someone who requires 8 hours of sleep and did not get any) was that we must stick to the plan – lunch, bowtie party, surprise party! Rich got in a quick nap while I ran to Target for necessities so that we could shower and have no excuse for not going to the bowtie party (besides not having our bowties which were strategically packed in the lost luggage). The plan worked and with Brandon’s help (carrying on a faux conversation with a faux half-in-the-bag friend who needed a ride) we made it to the surprise party on the dot! At first, Rich had no idea what was going on but as soon as he figured out that the “Surprises” were for him he looked very flattered. It was a lot of fun! And he said he didn’t want a surprise party – pshaw!

The next morning (Christmas Eve), our suitcase was delivered and just in the (St.) Nick of time because it contained most of our Christmas presents. And, it also had my New Years dress which I had just bought the morning we left Austin (the thought of losing this dress before I even got to wear it was what fueled most of my stern inflections with the airline’s customer service). If I had not gotten it back, I would have had every right to be fuming because it was absolutely smashing (shame on those of you who I saw stumbling around midnight in their North Faces).

Anywho, what could be more upsetting than Ugg boots to a party? My last meal of 2009? I ordered the special – the “whole fish” – and what did I get? The whole fish! Head to tail including his lil fishy fin just at staring me. I screamed and the fella was taken back to the kitchen and returned to me without a head – this was still just not okay. It was still obvious that it was a fish. Ick! I mean, what was that? An audition for Survivor Southtowns?? I should have gone with the boeuf bourguignon – still not sure what that is (but it was “the” to-do in Julie and Julia) and it probably wouldn’t have come out with a tail.

We made it out to Eville for a few snowboarding runs (4 for me to be exact, but the last one was without a tumble which I figured a good time to call it a night before Olympic dreams got to my head) but 17 days, lots of yummy treats and Buffalo staples (Timmy Ho’s – how we have missed you), no gym – we are looking forward to working out again! But not this weekend – this weekend, I am on a sugar detox. Although on Friday night (after our big date to Barnes and Noble) we decided to do something crazy and stopped at Mighty Fine for a milkshake and walked out with a lemonade one! Yum!

So our trip was pretty much go-go-go until it was time to go home – then it came to a what-the-heck hault. We tried to check-in online the morning of our flight like good little travelers only to find out that our confirmation code was no longer valid. “Why?” you ask? Well, you see, when we called to refund our canceled flight from O’Hare to Buffalo, they decided to cancel the remainder of our reservation. Translation: They canceled our flight home and proceeded to “assist” us by offering to rebook our tickets for an amount more than the price of our two round trips. We declined and booked a flight home through Southwest. I remember flying being so much more fun when I was little…maybe because the seat was bigger. Seriously, maybe the 17 days of stuffing myself really did do me in, but airplane seating is very cozy to which my personal space says, “No thank you.”

So here we are back in Austin. I went to put on a pair of shoes that I wore trudging through the snow and the salt has made them so stiff and harsh that I can’t even force my lil piggies in them. Perhaps I will take them down to the pool for a quick soak. No snow here in case you were wondering.

Yesterday we went to see “Youth in Revolt” (which was very funny) at a Cinemark in Bee Caves (which had diy butter!) in an outdoor shopping center (the Hill Country Galleria) that I did not know about but must go back on a nice warm day to do a bit of shopping! It’s like an affordable version of the Domain – guilt-free shopping in a desirable outdoor setting. FYI: I am very disappointed the lack of after Christmas shopping. The sales are there, but not the merchandise (i.e., the lambie blanket at Bath and Body Works which I already have one of but love it so much that I wanted another and was holding out for their annual post holiday sale…but it’s just not to be found anywhere…). Back to the movie – $19 for the two of us! Before the popcorn and small cherry coke…instead of taking it out on the Red Box, I think Hollywood needs to work on the price of a movie ticket so that more people go to the show.

This morning we took a walk and I found a new house that I would like to buy! How much? Well, before I tell you the price (which is probably negotiable), let me remind you of that 4.8 million dollar number I found on Thanksgiving. I think you will agree, this one is a steal! At just a little over 1 million (percentage wise, that is quite a large cut in my kind request for shelter – you can’t deny me of shelter, can you??) and again, another spectacular view of the city.