Monday, June 1, 2009

What I love about Austin

There are so many great things to do in this city.  Alan and I decided we needed a relaxing weekend with no plans except the one's that were a game time decision.  We ended up doing some really fun "Austin" things.  Friday I stopped by Central Market on my way home and got some really great fresh whole wheat linguini and pesto for dinner.  I bought some veggies and just threw it all together and it was great! We rented a movie after dinner and called it a night. Saturday we got up and drove down to town lake for a nice 4 mile run.  It was nice but a little on the hot side.  After our run we went home and relaxed for a while then changed into our bathing suits and headed back downtown.  On our way we dropped Bruce off at the doggy day care, aka Susan and Barry's backyard to play with Mack their 1 1/2 year old chocolate lab.  From there we headed to Whole Foods, if you've never been to the Whole Foods downtown you're missing out on a great experience! It's the perfect place to go when you want something healthy but aren't sure what.  They have everything you can think of, so it's great for us indecisive people.  We settled on sushi, salad with a hodgepodge of goodness and some fruit.  We found a table out front and enjoyed people watching and reading some Austin magazines while we ate.  After lunch we went to another Austin favorite, Barton Springs.  Since the weather was so great it was a bit crowded but that didn't deter us.  We found a sunny spot that was nice until we couldn't take the heat any longer. So we sat on the side of the pool with our feet in the chilly but refreshing water.  We ran into Todd and Olivia Engstrom, friends from church, who were there enjoying their 5th anniversary along with a day without their toddler, Micah.  Olivia is due to have their second little boy in 2 weeks and you would have never thought she was eight and a half months pregnant, she looked great! After visiting with them for a while we decided we had gotten enough sun and headed home.  That evening we enjoyed a relaxing dinner at Z-Tejas.  We waited a little while to get a good table on the balcony and it was well worth it.  We had just sat down when I told Alan I thought I had seen lightning, he told me I was crazy.  Turns out there was a lightning storm out west that we got to watch during dinner and it was amazing!  Sunday we went to the early service at church and enjoyed a great sermon from Ronnie.  The afternoon was relaxing and now I'm looking forward to another great week.  We get to see little Ainsley this evening so that will definitely be the highlight of my day!